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Exercises

Plank

Isometric hold on forearms or hands — the gold standard for core stability.

Execution

  1. Forearms or palms shoulder-width on the floor, elbows directly under the shoulders.
  2. Body forms a straight line from head to heels; actively brace glutes and abs.
  3. Pull the shoulders away from the ears, neck long, gaze between the hands.
  4. Hold the position — no sagging, no lower-back arch, no piked hips.

Tips

  • Keep breathing evenly — do not hold your breath.
  • Beginners: 3 × 20-30 s, advanced 3 × 60-90 s; stop the moment form breaks.

What the plank is good for

The trunk isn't a muscle you make grow, it's a stabilization system. Its main job isn't to flex the torso, it's to brace it against outside forces. That's exactly what the plank trains: it's an anti-extension exercise — the body resists gravity's pull on the hips.

That covers the job that actually matters in daily life and in training, and it does so with minimal load on the lumbar spine. It's part of the "big three" biomechanist Stuart McGill distilled from decades of measurements.

Execution

Forearms under the shoulders, elbows roughly shoulder-width apart. The body forms a line from head to heels. Two things matter that are hard to see from outside: the glutes are firmly braced, and the ribs pull down slightly so no lower-back arch forms. Do both and you'll feel the plank noticeably harder after twenty seconds than someone who's just "surviving" it.

Common mistakes

  • Hips sagging. The classic mistake and the only one that really causes harm — it shifts the load onto the lower back.
  • Glutes too high. Looks clean but takes the work away from the trunk.
  • Holding for minutes. Past two minutes you're training endurance in a position, not stability. Several shorter, genuinely braced sets are better.

Programming

Three to five sets of 20 to 45 seconds at maximum tension clearly beat a single three-minute set. If you can hold longer, make the exercise harder instead of longer: raise one arm or one leg, put the forearms on an unstable surface, or move to the side plank for the obliques.