Assessment
Strengthen Your Core With a Forearm Plank
Holding for 20 seconds can improve body stability
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Quick Win
A forearm plank works the muscles that stabilize your spine and helps to improve posture. Both are important for movements you do every day.
Try This Today
- Lie face down on a mat or towel and set your forearms flat on the ground, like the iconic sphinx statue of Egypt.
- With your feet hip-width apart, push down on your hands and forearms, tighten your abdominal muscles and lift your body off the floor into a plank position. Keep your spine straight, navel pulled in and tailbone tucked while you press your toes into the floor and squeeze your glutes.
- Hold for 20 seconds. Don’t let your head and neck collapse and keep your shoulders away from your ears. If a full plank is too much, modify the exercise by positioning yourself holding the pose on your knees rather than your toes.
Why
A strong core is important for getting out of a chair, lifting a grocery bag and going up stairs — and for reducing your risk of falling. A plank works your lower and upper abdomen, including the internal and external obliques — the muscles that move your body from side to side. In a study of 60 adults ages 60 to 69 who were in good physical health but didn't exercise, those who were assigned to do plank exercises three days a week for 12 weeks had better strength and endurance at the end of the trial than those in the control group. The results, published in the Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation in 2023, also found that doing planks improved some measures related to people’s immune health and lung function.
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