PLANK MISTAKES AND ITS CORRECTION

Updated: Jul 31, 2021

People usually think that if they are able to hold a plank for more than 1min than they are really strong, but the truth is most of the people hold it in the wrong way just to beat the timer and completely ignore the purpose of doing a plank.

Only when we know the purpose of an exercise we will be able to correct all the mistakes which we usually tend to do.

ITS NOT ABOUT HOW LONG YOU HOLD IT,ITS ABOUT HOW WELL YOU HOLD IT FOR LONG.

Lets look into the purpose of holding a plank :

The major purpose of holding a plank is to build you core strength so that you can get more aware of your core muscles and also engage them properly with most of exercises which requires their active involvement.

"CORE MUSCLES DOESNT JUST MEAN ABS"

1.HOLDING IN AN ANTERIOR PELVIC TILT

Anterior Pelvic Tilt means excessive curve at the lower back which will not only reduce your core muscles activation but also put more strain on your spinal cord thus deviating us from our purpose of building core strength.

Make sure that you posteriorly tilt your pelvis while holding a plank so that you can increase the core muscles activation and keep your back safe.

2.VARIATION IN THE HIP HEIGHT

Keeping hips too low is not ideal as this might also force you into an anterior pelvic tilt leading to lesser core engagement.

Keeping hips too high isn't as bad as keeping it low but be aware of anterior pelvic tilt and as your strength increases try to lower it down.

Ideal position is to keep the hips parallel to the floor so that you put the maximum stress on your core muscles thus building its strength.

3.WRONG ARM POSITIONING

Keeping arms joined together can lead to internal rotation at the shoulders which may not be an ideal position to practice frequently.

Keep the arms separated and thumbs pointing upward for more external rotation at shoulders and keeping the shoulders safe.

You can also try facing the palms upward(if comfortable),this creates more external rotation at the shoulders.

4.WRONG SHOULDER POSITIONING

Shoulder shrugging leads to excessive stress on the upper trap muscles and it's not an ideal position to hold long as it may cause neck pain before you test out your core strength.

There are two shoulder positions which you can try for activating different back muscles. :

1. Shoulders retracted(activates lower and mid trap muscles)

Here we have to squeeze our upper back muscles assuming that we have to touch the shoulder blades behind the back.

2. Shoulders protracted( activates serratus anterior muscle)

Here we have to press the arms on the floor assuming that we have to increase the distance between shoulder blades.

5.WRONG NECK POSITIONING

Neck Position while performing plank also matters a lot since proper core engagement is required with most of the exercises and with the plank we learn how to engage the core muscles properly, if the neck positioning is not proper then you wont be able to transfer those good positioning into other exercises.

Looking downward will lead to excessive neck flexion and this is not an ideal position to hold a plank.

Looking forward will lead to excessive neck extension which is not an ideal position to hold a plank as well.

Look forward at a 45 degree angle such that your neck is neutral and you are not putting any excessive strain on your neck muscles,

6.WRONG LEG POSITIONING

Bending the knees leads to less engagement of our core muscles which would not be an ideal position to hold a plank.

Keep the knees locked and squeeze your glutes so that you can get a good engagement of your core muscles and make the most of the time for which you are holding a plank.

7.HOLDING YOUR BREATH

Holding your breath might make you feel dizzy and if you keep practicing it then you will never be able to hold a plank for long and you will go out of breathe before testing out your core strength.

A beginner should start with shallow breathes and as you get more aware about the core muscles engagement you can switch to deep breathes without losing out on the core muscles engagement.

HAVE A QUICK LOOK ON HOW A GOOD PLANK SHOULD LOOK LIKE

When you incorporate all these changes you will find that your plank holding time will reduce significantly but you will get the most out of the time for which you are holding the plank in terms of building the strength and endurance of your core muscles.

For more details on plank make sure to watch this video on our Youtube channel :