How to make a weight loss bar correctly. This is one of the most difficult but effective exercises.
The plank is one of the most challenging fitness exercises. Some people find it easier to do a complex with weights than to stand for a minute in a motionless position when almost all muscles are tense. It feels like you are not working with your own weight, but with an additional 20 kg.
The coach of the REBOOT sports studios, Victoria Limanskaya, explains the difficulty of the exercise, thanks to which George Hood got into the Guinness Book of Records: he stood in the bar for more than 8 hours.
What is the use of the plank?
The plank is the holding of the body in a certain position. Any exercise is a counteraction of external forces that exert their influence on the body or segment. In the case of a plank, the body is subjected to gravity, which wants to pull the body to the surface of the earth. For the minute that you are in the bar, the body burns from 5 to 15 calories.
Plank: why the body trembles and shakes
The center of gravity is located in the region of the fifth lumbar and first sacral vertebra. This part of the body pulls down when you are in a horizontal position. Under the influence of gravity, certain parts of the body want to perform certain actions or disrupt the exercise, and muscles that interfere with this are included in the work, for example:
- the rectus and oblique muscles keep the spine from extending;
- flexor muscles keep the hips from extending;
- the quadriceps muscle of the thigh keeps the lower leg from extending;
- the serratus anterior keeps the scapula in a stable state.
What is the effectiveness of the bar?
The plank is a global exercise in which almost all large and small muscle groups are involved. For this reason, it is difficult to do it. The isometric mode of operation is also switched on: the muscles are tense for the shortest possible time and are in a static position. They are in a state close to ischemia: blood vessels and capillaries are pinched, the muscle receives less blood and oxygen, there is no resting phase, metabolites accumulate, and muscle fiber gets tired much faster than in a dynamic model.
The plank is a great exercise for developing strength and stabilizing your core. With a strong core, movement of the limbs becomes more economical, synchronized, and graceful, and coordination improves. Correct movement of the body along different trajectories due to a strong core is one of the important goals of athletes.
How to do the bar: video
Exercise 1. Reducing the support area.
From the classic position on the forearms, we come out onto straight arms. Reduce the forearm-palm support area. Then we remain on three points of support – we remove either one arm or one leg.
Objective: to keep the central part of the body stationary. The third stage of difficulty is to stay on two points of support: being in the bar on straight arms, you tear off your legs and arm diagonally from the surface.
Exercise 2. Overcoming external forces.
We deliberately yield to the force of gravity in order to then overcome it with great effort. For example, being in the position of the side plank on the forearms, we rush the pelvis to the floor, tilting it, and then return it to its original position.
Exercise 3. Changing planes.
Exercise develops not only core strength, but also coordination, by changing the position of the body relative to the planes. From the plank position on straight arms, we lift the leg up and, following the lower leg, turn our face towards the ceiling, remaining on almost two points of support.
Exercise 4. Unstable fulcrum.
Task: add instabilities to one or more pivot points. Can be used:
- the ball, leaning on it either with one hand or foot or with two hands or two legs at once;
- barefoot, leaning on it with elbows or straight arms;
- loops TRX.
Tip: Try to get distracted when standing in the plank. Imagine the sea or mountains, try to hear sound or smell. Make the exercise a kind of meditation. Or find a special song for the plank, such that you can’t help but sing along and want to listen to it to the end.