Last Updated on 4 weeks by Isreal Olabanji DST RN
A lot of people seeing someone plank thinks of it as an easy and effortless task. But, when they do it themselves, they realize the toughness and efforts required to plank. When was the first time you see someone plank? You might too have thought of it as a regular, effortless task unless and until you tried it yourself.
Apart from its toughness, a lot of people still don’t think of a plank as a beneficial exercise. The posture in a plank seems as if no effort is made, no exercise is being done. However, those who have done it know that it is one of the toughest and strength requiring exercise with an endurance demand.
Why is that so? Well, planking involves such a posture that provides no support to the back and the abdominal core. To maintain a straight stance, the body exerts pressure on the abdomen and back.
The back muscles, abdomen, shoulders, legs, and thighs are all involved in this exercise.
Plank is used for having a straight back and a good posture. If you want straight, upright shoulders and a good posture, you must try planks.
How much to plank?
Here is how to plank longer? In the beginning, one can plank for around about 30 seconds. This is because the abdominal muscles and the back muscles of the vertebral column are not that strong to hold the back straight for a longer time. But by doing this exercise with frequency and adopting some other techniques, one can plank for a minute or even longer than that.
How to plank?
The technique of plank exercise is very easy. Lie down on a flat surface with your face towards the ground. Place both hands on the floor with palms open or fisted. Your lower arm should be resting on the ground from your hands to the elbow. Now lift your body while supporting it on your feet and hands. And maintain a straight posture for as long as you can endure.
How to plank longer?
One cannot plank for more than 30 seconds in the beginning but if the plank is daily repeated, the time will increase for sure. On the first day, 30 seconds plank might be very tough but that becomes easy the 2nd day, easier the 3rd day so on. Eventually, this becomes a warm-up. So to if you want to plank longer, do it regularly.
But, even then you have to increase the time yourself too so that this time becomes easier for you tomorrow. How to do it? Let’s see:
These are 5 best ways that will help you plank longer:
Play media
When you are about to plank, place your smartphone in front of you and play something that you love. This can be a song, a video, or something that could grab your attention. This will try to focus you on that thing and will let you have the perception of less time being passed.
Count something
Another effective method is to start counting something. Psychology says that if a human is focused on counting something, they rarely focus or concentrate on other things because they don’t want to make a mistake. This will be useful in diverting your mind towards counting and the time will pass by quickly.
Incur thoughts
Another way to help you plank longer is to plank for 30 seconds and more and then when you’re stressed out, incur a thought in your mind and start thinking about it. This way the conscious mind is deceived in the middle of something and it takes time for the conscious mind to get back to realizing that some exercise is going on. In the meantime, you would have planked much longer than expected.
Talk to someone
Talking to someone involves our brain in several activities concerning, hearing, speaking, thinking, and processing. When you make your mind busy with such things, there’s a huge possibility that you’ll plank longer and your body won’t focus much on the stress on the muscles.
Start in the end
Trick your mind and body both by starting to count or starting a stopwatch when you’re stressed out with the plank. If you have done it for 30 seconds and you are already exhausted, start from right there, by starting the stopwatch and telling your body that the exercise has begun just now. This way the body, connected with your minds, is pushed to do it for more time and the body has no choice rather than stressing itself a bit more.
By following these 5 techniques, you will be able to plank for a long time but all these techniques will work if you are doing it with consistency, regularly. So if you want your abs and back to get strong and have an upright posture of your back, start doing planks today and increase their time by adopting these techniques.
