Yarr! Happy international talk like a pirate day! Today we’ll be looking at a staple of piratey life, the plank!

Well, almost; the plank we’ll be talking about is not the one you’re made to walk off into shark filled waters, but an awesome abdominal exercise.

We have already mentioned that the plank is one of our favourite isometric exercises as it is simple to execute and engages the whole core. The heart of the exercise is to keep your body – legs to head – in a straight line for a length of time. The most common variation, the one which we usually refer to when we say “plank”, is the front hold, in which you support yourself on your forearms and toes.

When in this position, be careful to keep your back aligned – that is the whole point of the exercise. If you’re not perfectly aligned, arching up is better than sagging down, but if you’re just starting out it’s a good idea to have someone spot for you until you get a feel for what the position feels like.

The position of your arms and hands will make a difference to your stability, so make sure that your elbows are directly under your shoulders and your arms are turned so that the bottom of your fists (the pinky finger side) are on the ground.

Remember to breathe when doing this exercise. Take deep, slow breaths – even if you’re not moving, several of your muscles will be under tension, so they need that air!

The duration of the plank is up to you. The current world record for a front hold is 5 hours 15 minutes, but most of us common mortals are quite happy with anything over 60 seconds, while anything over 3 minutes is excellent. The best we’ve done is about 8 minutes, but there’s no need to go that length unless you’re practicing to break the world record. You simply won’t get as much benefit after the first few minutes, and let’s face it, it gets boring.

Plank variations

Once you get familiar with the basic plank, you might want to try a variation to make it more challenging or to give yourself some variety.

Remember that the important part of the exercise is keeping your body in line; if you stick to that condition, you can try almost any position and it’s a plank variation.

You can shift the emphasis of the common plank by keeping your arms straight and resting on your hands rather than this elbow. This variation places offloads stress from your core onto your arms and shoulders.

Another common variation is the side plank. Instead of resting on both your forearms and your toes, turn to one side so you’re resting on one forearm and the side of one foot. Your forearm should be pointed away from you for stability. This variation makes it a little harder to balance, which is great because you will have to engage more your core to stabilize.

Another variation is the reverse plank. This time, you’re lying belly up, supporting yourself on your hands and your heels. Focus on the alignment of your body. Your arms should be vertical, directly under your shoulders, with your hands flat and pointing towards your feet. This variation is great if you’re trying to build up to a bridge. In fact, strictly speaking it’s more of a bridge position than a bridge position, but we’re including it here anyway because it follows the same principles as the plank, and it’s great for the back!

One final variation which we really like is the one arm, one leg plank. You start off on your hands and your toes, then you take one arm and the opposite leg off the floor. No really, try it. Again, it requires a keen sense of balance, so it makes you work much harder.

There are of course a ton of other variations on the basic exercise, including ones where you use a medicine ball or some other unstable support to make it more difficult. The above are just the ones we use most often.

Experiment, practice, and happy pirating!

Image Credits

• Header image: Walking the Plank – originally published in Pyle, Howard (August–September 1887). “Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Main”. Harper’s Magazine.