The shaking, the sweating, and the relief you feel when those excruciating 60 seconds are finally over are all things that we can easily relate to! A plank is a strength training exercise that focuses on building your core muscles but has total body toning benefits as well.
When you do planks daily, your arms, back, abs, and legs become stronger, and muscle definition really forms. Doing just 60 seconds of planks a day is a simple way to strengthen your core and work multiple muscle groups at once.
Don’t worry if you can’t do the full 60 seconds at first. It’s a goal to work up to.
You can even break it into six 10-second planks, three 20-second planks or two 30-second planks. The important part is maintaining good form while gradually building your strength.
Apart from strengthening your abdominal muscles, planks can help improve core stability, posture and overall body strength. Here are some of the biggest benefits of adding a plank to your daily routine.
Tone and Strengthen Your Belly
Three of the primary abdominal muscle groups involved in creating a strong, defined core include:
- Transverse abdominis
- Rectus abdominis
- Oblique muscles
Planks engage these muscles simultaneously, making them an effective exercise for strengthening and toning your core.
However, there is an important difference between toning your abdominal muscles and losing belly fat. Planks strengthen the muscles underneath your belly, but they cannot specifically burn fat from your stomach.
Reducing overall body fat generally requires a combination of nutrition, physical activity and healthy lifestyle habits. As body fat decreases, stronger abdominal muscles may become more visible and defined.
These muscles are present around our stomach and right below our chest. The accumulation of fats around these muscles makes our belly bulky. Planks target these muscles in our abdomen, and as these muscles get worked, the fat around them melts and drains out through the body’s lymphatic system. This results in a toned, flat belly and the appearance of abs and eventually that 6 pack!
PLANKS STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE MUSCLES
The plank exercise targets these muscles in our body:
- Glutes (hip and thigh muscles)
- Shoulder muscles
- Arm muscles
- Hamstrings
- Abdominal muscles
- Back muscles
All these muscles make the core of our body. Strengthening these muscles improves our metabolism, keeps our body strong, active, and healthy.
IMPROVE YOUR BALANCE AND POSTURE
In the planking position, we try to keep our body straight while shifting the entire weight of our body on our forearms and toes (forearm plank) or our palms and toes (standard plank). As our arms become aligned to our shoulders and our back and legs remain straight and stretched out for 60 seconds, the muscles begin to relax. Our body does not feel stiff anymore, and we can easily maintain a correct posture without feeling the pain that we generally feel. Improved posture gives us a confident walk, and we feel a little taller and bolder than before.
Moreover, doing planks for 60 seconds every day improves our balance as our glutes, abdomen, and back become stronger. Soon, you will notice that it will become relatively easy for you to do side planks or frontal planks with one arm.
CAN PLANKS HELP WITH BACK PAIN
When our core muscles become strong and our posture improves, our back naturally becomes straight. Doing 60 seconds of plank every day reduces the tension and swelling in our back muscles. This improves the alignment of our spine and should mitigate future pain.
Planks are found to be extremely effective for relieving lower back pain. According to Healthline, researchers have found that core-building exercises like planks are more effective than physiotherapy when it comes to reducing back pain.
The results of a medical study conducted in 2017 with 120 participants revealed that along with other core-building exercises, frontal and side planks were very effective for reducing back pain.
However, planks aren’t a treatment for every type of back pain. Back pain can have many causes, and certain exercises may not be appropriate for everyone.
If you have persistent or significant back pain, talk with an appropriate healthcare professional before starting a new exercise routine.
WHY PLANK FOR 60 SECONDS EVERY DAY?
Interestingly, experts find shorter planks to be more effective than holding the plank position for 10 minutes or longer. Medical experts and fitness trainers recommend that people should hold the plank for 20-60 seconds at one time because just within these few seconds, their body can attain all the benefits of planking. But to see improved results, they can do the planking exercise in sets. For example, they could do 4 sets of 20 seconds each.
According to another article in Men’s Health magazine, it was stated that after 60 seconds, there are no more added benefits of staying in the plank pose. In fact, after 60 seconds, your back starts to sag a little, and you cause additional strain on your arms and leg muscles. So, if you are doing it just to beat the world record of planking for more than 8 hours, you will end up causing more harm than good to your body.
Try:
20 seconds of planking → rest → repeat three times
As you become stronger, increase the length of each plank until you can maintain good form for the full 60 seconds.
Holding a plank longer isn’t necessarily better if your form begins to suffer. Quality and consistency are more important than simply watching the clock.
Will Planking for 60 Seconds a Day Flatten Your Stomach?
Planking every day can strengthen and tone your abdominal muscles, but planks alone will not flatten your stomach or specifically remove belly fat.
If your goal is a more defined stomach, think about the different factors involved.
Exercise builds and strengthens muscle. Nutrition and overall activity influence body fat. Body sculpting addresses different cosmetic goals related to the shape and contour of specific areas.
At TushToners, we believe understanding these differences is important when deciding how to approach your individual body goals.
Planks and Body Sculpting
Planks are an excellent way to strengthen your abdominal muscles, but exercise and body sculpting aren’t the same thing.
If you have a strong core but are still concerned about the appearance of your stomach, waist or other stubborn areas, non-invasive body sculpting may provide another option for addressing those specific areas. Check out results from our clients.
TushToners offers both professional and at-home body-sculpting solutions designed for people looking to improve the appearance and contour of targeted areas.
Final Word
Why should you plank for 60 seconds a day? Because it is a simple exercise that requires no equipment, takes only a minute and works several important muscle groups at the same time.
Start wherever you can. Ten seconds, 20 seconds or the full minute all count.
Focus on proper form, stay consistent and work your way toward 60 seconds a day.
