Regular exercise is essential to maintain and maintain a healthy body. These exercises are broadly classified into aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise, and are subdivided into various forms such as using various exercise methods and tools. Plank is a simple type of exercise in which you stand on your stomach with your elbows and toes. In addition, it is known as one of the effective exercises to help strengthen the core muscles that play the role of the central axis of the body by penetrating the spine and pelvis with the advantage of being able to use the muscles of the whole body evenly. Now, let’s take a closer look at the correct posture and its effects when doing the plank exercise.
plank exercise posture
The most important part of plank exercise is correct posture. First, place your elbows on the floor and your knees off the floor. And your shoulders should be perpendicular to the water surface, and your back should be in a straight line. The clavicle and shoulder blades should be firmly fixed so as not to be pushed back, the hips should not sag below the waist, and a straight line from head to toe should be maintained. In addition, it is recommended to keep the toes neatly gathered and to attach the heels, and to maintain a tension state by tightening the inner thighs to maintain a stable posture. When doing the plank exercise, hold the posture for 20 to 30 seconds, and when you get used to it, it is recommended to increase the time by 1 minute or more. It can be difficult to exceed 10 seconds at first, so gradually increasing the time is a good way not to overdo it. In addition, if you do the wrong posture during the plank exercise, it can have adverse effects on your health. If you bend your back too much, it can put a strain on your spine, and if your hips sag too much, it can put a strain on your back. Therefore, it is very important to exercise with the correct posture, such as whether the elbow is in a vertical plane with the floor and the neck, waist, and leg parts are all kept in a straight line.
Plank exercise effect
1. Strengthen your core muscles
One of the biggest health benefits of plank exercise is that it strengthens your core muscles, as mentioned earlier. Core muscles are the muscles that support the spine, pelvis, and abdomen, which are the central parts of the human body. It is excellent at helping these core muscles during plank exercise, and if you keep doing it, your spine straightens and it helps a lot in creating a stable and upright posture. It is also known to be effective in strengthening and maintaining the abdominal muscles as it is excellent in helping to strengthen the muscles surrounding the abdomen.
2. Relieve back pain
Since the core muscles span the spine, pelvis, and buttocks, weakness in the core muscles is the main cause of back pain. It is said to be effective in preventing and alleviating low back pain symptoms because it helps to strengthen the back muscles without putting too much strain on the spine during plank exercise. In particular, if you are in the occupational group where you sit for a long time, doing plank exercise regularly helps prevent turtle neck syndrome and chair disease by strengthening the back muscles.
3. Increased flexibility
Plank exercise is said to help improve body flexibility because it uses the muscles of the lower body, such as the shoulder, shoulder blade, and clavicle, as well as the thigh and calf of the upper body. Doing various applied plank exercises such as the side plank, which further strengthens the flanks and thighs, and the donkey kick plank, which further strengthens the pelvic and buttock muscles, will help increase flexibility and improve balance.
4. Activation of metabolism
Plank exercise is said to be effective in helping to activate body metabolism because it has the advantage of whole-body muscles that use the muscles of the entire body. In addition, this improved metabolism helps to increase the basal metabolic rate, which is the amount of energy used for metabolism, and it is said that it can help suppress the accumulation of body fat and control weight through efficient calorie consumption. In addition, excellent metabolic activation works to energize the body, and it also has a beneficial effect on relieving stress by relaxing stiff muscles.
