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Stop Doing Planks! (DO THIS INSTEAD)

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1

Planks are one of the most commonly performed ab exercises. They are also one of the worst ab exercises you can do. In this video, I-m going to show you why planks are most often a waste of time when it comes to getting stronger abs that look good in any lighting. More importantly, I-m going to give you many different standard plank alternatives to give your abs the challenge that they need to start seeing much better results for your hard work. The key to any ab exercises effectiveness is how much it is capable of demanding effort when doing it. Simply doing a thousand reps of a crunch is not going to do nearly as much for your ab strength and development as doing much fewer reps of a more challenging series of ab movements. The issue with the plank is that we very quickly outgrow its effectiveness. In fact, I believe that if you can easily do 60 seconds of a standard on elbows plank that you should definitely be looking for a much harder version of the exercise. The best part about planks is that there are many different ways to do them. Just changing the number of points of contact with the ground for instance is a tremendous way to get a better effect from the exercise by making the core work harder to maintain your stability. That said, we do more than just change the points of contact in this video. Instead, I show you how to start by performing standing versions of this popular and overused ab exercise for a better effect. When standing, you can perform the oak tree step out plank. Place your arms into the same position as you would when doing a plank on your elbows on the ground and wrap a resistance band around your elbows and wrists. Now, step away from the anchor point to increase the resistance and try not to allow the band to bend your torso to the side. This is a great plank alternative since it introduces a new force vector into the equation (the challenge in the frontal plane) that is nonexistent with the standard version of the exercise. You can alternatively, hold some dumbbells in your hands and do a tight grapevine walk to one side and then the other. The rotation of the hips places a challenge on the core to remain stabile and prevent excessive motion at the core. The use of the weights increases the amount of force the abs and obliques will have to generate to prevent the excessive motion. This can be made even harder by placing the weights overhead and reaching your arms as high above you as you can while still doing the side walk. You can obviously make the more familiar plank (done on your elbows on the ground) more challenging as well. The first way I like to do this is by adding a resistance band to the exercise and performing a plank press out. The unilateral press here places a challenge on the torso again to make sure you don-t allow your body to tilt towards the side the band is on. Keep pressing and holding the plank and you will find you won-t be able to last nearly as long as you do when simply planking alone. You can also place your feet on a wall to dramatically increase the challenge (and effectiveness) of the plank. The jax plank is a perfect way to do this. Try to keep your feet pressed into the wall at all times to ensure that your core is working hard. Finally, the tilting barbell and twisting barbell plank variations are super challenging but very rewarding alternatives to a standard plank. You may find that you can only do these for 10 seconds at a time. That is perfectly fine. If you treat your planks as a series of timed holding reps instead of one static hold throughout, you will find that you will be able to use more difficult variations and get more out of them in the long run. If you-re looking for a program that looks to challenge you at every opportunity but gets you faster results than with any other program you-ve used, head to and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Start training with the same program used by today-s top pro athletes and start looking like an athlete sooner than ever expected
Date: 2022-04-22

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Comments and reviews: 10

FuriousMike
I think you've completely failed to grasp the concept and rationale for the plank pose's existence. Most average people do not have varying sizes of dumbbells. Most average people do not have a large resistance band. Most people don't have a home gym. A lot of people don't even have a gym membership. The plank was designed for the busy office workers who spend most of their day at a computer and sitting, but also don't have a lot of money to afford to buy all of these things, and don't have access to a gym. For Most people the planks are a challenge, I still can't get past 30 seconds. In summary: Your advise was impractical for Most people, and whilst it might be accurate for your weight lifting bros; for MOST people, you should be more specific. -Stop doing planks if they aren't challenging- or something different than your false advertising video for those trying to perfect their planking form. Good day sir.
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Lou
WADR listening to these exercise videos is a challenge.
Just when I start organizing a routine involving planks and push-ups and other exercises that can be done at home without sophisticated equipment; here comes a video telling one to stop doing this. Then when I stop and start something else; here comes another video telling you to stop what you started and start what you stopped.
Anyway pusups and planks etc r not boring or easy for regular Joe's north of 50. Gimme a break. Not everybody is an athletic 25 year old.
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Ibrahim
Instead of telling us that plank sucks and do not help in building abs, you better say that planks helps building and strengthening core and are complementary to abs exercises-
Few years ago I got diagnosed with a lower back disc, and couldn-t walk for few weeks - Instead of doing a surgery (as advised by many doctors) I did work on my cores and abs and plank was a major part of my daily program - that lead to me today living healthily and able to run, play any sports etc-
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D'Anna
I come here for the Jeff tough love, and stay for all the phenomenal comments everyone leaves.
In case any of you EVER forget-
Women LOVE, LOVE a guy with witty humor SO MUCH MORE than your 2-4-6-8 (Jesse baby shark) packs.
So don't get discouraged when you see what Jeff can think up with indoor turf and a bar.
Your abs may come 'n go, but your AMAZING gift of humor is with you FORRRRREVERRRRRR!
--
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christopher
As long as planks are still challenging to you then go for it, it is when it becomes easy that you need to take it to the next level to continue to make gains, that applies to all the exercises. the problem is that is not mentioned so the ones that are not at the advanced stages are thinking ( OMG I can barely do the standard plank now he wants me to do these other ones)
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Akeem
Jeff: -I hate planks-
Then shows variations of planks.
Well I love planks and I end my sessions with a plank after a workout. I have proven that planks increase core strength and balance. So yes Jeff you should've said -are basic low planks getting boring try these to challenge yourself - instead of saying -I hate planks-
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sport
I thought I saw Jeff do a variation of the banded press-out plank, which consisted of a pull down, instead of a press. I've found that to really spiff this up, you can work it like a bird-dog plank by lifting the opposite leg and having to maintain stability as you pull the resistance band from overhead to your side.
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Veemon
Wow. everytime I watch his videos I learn more. I was just reading on how situps are becoming obsolete and planks are preferred.
And I kept thinking. planking in one position for minutes. sounds really boring. there must be a better way, a more dynamic core exercise.
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Jack
Dogs literally plank for the bulk of their waking hours, I don't think they think about it enough to hate it. Great variations on the exercise there, I do have a hard time keeping up the interest for the plank. It's like that one person you can never remember the name of.
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JGC792INFINITEE
Great video, I have been doing regular planks for the last two weeks now, and I have seen some positive results, but that has also been accompanied by some back and neck discomfort. glad I ran across this video about alternating planks.
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