I recently ran into a woman I trained years ago and she told me that I had made her hold a plank for 2 minutes and she hated it so much that she still thinks about me when she does her planks today.

While I remember the woman, I don’t remember asking her to hold a plank for 2 minutes. It’s my current belief that there’s no need to hold a plank for more than 60 seconds. Here’s why:

• Any plank can be made harder during the 60 second hold,

• All progressions increase the workload to the core muscles,

• Focus can be on adding more work to the upper and/or lower body depending on the progression.

Planks are hard for most people and in more than 15 years of training clients, I’ve only had one person tell me that they actually enjoyed doing the planks.

Despite its difficulty, the plank is an amazing exercise to strengthen all of your core muscles, shoulders, chest, glutes, and the muscles that run along your spine. This one exercise gives you all these benefits!

Like any other exercise, you should not feel any pain in your joints (shoulders, elbows, wrists), your low back or your neck. If you do, stop the exercise and stretch.

Work your way up to holding a plank for 60 seconds without pain and then consider adding the progressions as desired. Experiment with both the low plank (on forearms) and the high plank (straight leg push up position).

The plank variations in the video below will help you to challenge yourself while increasing your overall core strength and improving stability throughout your body.

Please consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program.

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