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Core · On the floor

Plank

A plank is a horizontal handstand. Same straight arms, same body braced as one block, same shoulders pushing the floor away. That's why it's used as an entry test, and why it stays in the warm-up long after.

This one is done on your hands, arms straight, not on your forearms. The forearm version works your core too, but it leaves your shoulders and wrists resting, and those are exactly what the handstand is going to load.

Family
Core
Equipment
None
Type
Hold
Plank, filmed for the app (17 seconds)

Train this exercise in the app

How to do it

  1. Place your hands on the floor under your shoulders, fingers forward, and stretch your legs out behind you.
  2. Lock your elbows by rotating them backward.
  3. Squeeze your glutes, pull your ribs in and tilt your pelvis backward, trying to round your lower back.
  4. Push the floor away through your shoulders, as in a scapular push-up, until your upper back rounds slightly. Imagine a string attached between your shoulder blades pulling you up toward the ceiling.
  5. Hold, keeping one straight line from heels to head, eyes on the floor between your hands.
  6. Breathe slowly and as fully as you can, without ever holding your breath.

The two mistakes that turn it into a plain ab exercise

Letting your chest sink between your shoulders. Your arms hold, but your shoulder blades squeeze together and your chest drops. Upside down, that's exactly the position that sinks your weight into your wrists. Push the floor away until you feel your upper back round a little.

Letting your hips sag. As your abs tire, your hips drop and your lower back arches. You're still holding, but you're rehearsing the banana instead of the line. Squeeze your glutes, pull your ribs in and tilt your pelvis backward to round your lower back, and end the set as soon as your hips give way: a shorter, straight plank is worth more than a long one that sags.

A coach in your ear

Upside down, you can't read a screen. In the app, a voice guides you through the exercise and tells you what to fix right when you need it. For example, when your chest sinks between your shoulders:

“Round your upper back”

Train this exercise

Related exercises

Hollow body holdThe handstand shape, practiced lying on your back with the lower back pressed down.CoreHoldWall plankFeet on the wall at hip height: the first time your shoulders carry your weight overhead.ShouldersHoldWall walksGetting to the wall without a kick-up, walking your feet up while your hands come in.ShouldersReps

All exercises: the catalog