Loving the Plank Pose
Are you looking for an exercise to do intermittently throughout the day? Are you wanting a stronger core?
During my strength training this morning, plank pose was part of the workout. I just got back to doing planks 3 months ago and really loving it! Getting stronger and stronger every week! My workout buddy who is a very accomplished national fitness competitor, thought my form was really great today and took my picture.
We got to talking about all the benefits and I remembered some of my friends sharing with me that after they had a baby, this was one of their main go to exercises to get their abs back in shape. Plank pose is ideal to do throughout the day. Do a plank to take a break from work. Do a plank while watching TV. Perhaps plank and meditate all at the same time!
Here is a list of all the benefits of doing planks:
8 Benefits to Practicing Plank Pose Every Day
- Strengthens Your Core
- Increases Muscle Definition
- Heightens Metabolism
- Reduces Back Pain
- Gives You Better Posture
- Improves Balance
- Enhances Bone and Joint Health
- Boosts Mood and Relieves Stress
Well all of this must be true as I learned from my friend about a 62 year old former US Marine, George Hood, who just set the Guinness World record of holding a plank for 8 hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds! He did this to raise awareness for mental illness. Hood is also a retired Drug Enforcement Administration supervisory special agent.
In a story conducted by CNN, Hood said in addition to his plank training… “Then I do 700 pushups a day, 2,000 sit-ups a day in sets of a hundred, 500 leg squats a day. For upper body and the arms, I do approximately 300 arm curls a day.”
In case you are wondering how he stayed in a plank for 8 hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds without a bathroom break, well… he did have a catheter. You gotta do what you gotta do!
Can you imagine the mental toughness and pure determination a person must have in order to conquer this goal? I have always said the best athletes and most successful business people are not necessarily the fastest, strongest or most educated. Those who achieve the highest of merits are those who have heart, drive, determination, tenacity, diligence and the true commitment to challenge themselves to do better every day and in every part of their lives. I love the saying in the movie A League of their Own when Tom Hanks says to Geena Davis “It is the hard that makes it great”.
So if you are scratching your head thinking about how you need to get back to the gym or maybe you have plateaued and need to increase the intensity of your workouts, let me leave you with this last comment Hood made to CNN….. “Everybody has to start somewhere,” Hood said. “Every tree that’s planted has roots. Once that tree is planted and those roots start to grow, whether it be 30 seconds or a minute or 5 minutes or an hour (of holding a plank), you start repeating the process and taking care of your tree, it will grow and you will improve and you will actually get better.”
Get Planking! We can always get better at anything if we commit to the task!