Planks To Sculpt Your Core For Summer
Perhaps seemingly acting as a passive exercise, standing in place and wasting time, but a plank like an exercise offers brilliant results on the whole body and metabolism.
This exercise is holding the body in one position relying on the hands. There are several variations and modes of the performance of the plank, but all equally offer great results. Holding the body in this position gives you strength to the core of the body, back, and abdominal muscles.
Plank (abdominal bridge) is one of the best exercises that strengthen the deep muscles of the body, which provide a good basis for the facade upgrade. With this exercise, you do not perform movements, but keep a certain position on the body, although there are also such modifications that include motion. Primary is a static exercise (closed kinetic chain) that does not require equipment and is practical and efficient with the possibility of improvisation and modification.
The plank is more effective than fast-acting exercises that most often activate only the superficial muscles and primarily focus and isolate a smaller group of muscles. Unlike such exercises, the plank isometrically activates the muscles of the back, chest, arms, and thighs, which is the basis for better endurance and the potency of the entire muscular joint on the body. Once you improve the stabilization of the body you will have a better basis for performing other different exercises.
There are various combinations of the plank (straight, sideways, modified) for beginners and advanced practitioners that target different groups of muses.
EXERCISE DETAILS
-Target muscle: Rectus Abdominis
-Stabilizers: Obliques, Iliopsoas, Tensor Fasciae Latae, Quadriceps, Sartorius, Sternal (Lower) Pectoralis major, Serratus Anterior
-Mechanics: Isolation
–Force: Push
STARTING POSITION
Plank is a static exercise. There are no movements, and the most important thing is to hold the body properly. Lie on the floor with your stomach down. Bend your elbows by 90 degrees and lie in a resting position leaning against them. The body must form a straight line from head to toe.
EXECUTION
The essence of the exercise is to “hover” with the body above the floor just a few minutes a day and it is leaning on the hands and feet only. Undoubtedly, keep in this position and only two minutes – it’s not an easy task, so hold this position for the desired time period, normal breathing and then slowly return to the starting position. At that moment, a lot of muscles are activated. But as a result of this exercise, you will have a strong back, a taut butt-free butt, sculpted legs, a flat stomach and beautiful hands.
Below we show you two videos of how to perform the plank exercise.