Plank time
Last year when I started physical therapy for my back pain I said that I liked yoga and tried to never do anything that hurt my back, like planks. My therapist said I SHOULD be doing planks though - just with more core/glute engagement to take the strain off my back. And maybe that was my problem- weak core leads to unsupported back muscles leads to back pain.
So we did some planks where I’d have my knees down and I practiced full planks but only for a few seconds.
I spent last year doing lots of exercises to build up strength. I learned what position I could hold on strained my back, and then planks in classes were not a challenge.
I’m in some fitness groups were people would mention holding a plank for a minute or two. seem like a cool idea, but I could barely hold a plank for 30 seconds. I tried to go as long as I could and made it 45. I’ve read about a five minute plank challenge! What? Impossible! But I got to thinking, what if I really tried to build up to something like that? So that begin my plank New Year’s resolution.
Five minutes is 300 seconds. There are 365 days in a year. So what if I just added a second on every single day in 2021? Even if I had to take a month to level off, I'd make it.
I used a habit tracker app on my phone to time myself and try to hold a plank for five minutes a day. Not five consecutive minutes, but throughout January I would hold a plank for about 30 seconds, several times a day, for a grand total of 3-5 minutes.
I figure if I add on a second every day, I’ll be at 300 by the end of the year maybe?
In February I started adding on the seconds and guess what? I can now hold a plank for longer than 45! 52, in fact! On February 1, I tried to hold my plank for 31 seconds. February 2, 32 seconds.
Without feeling bad, I am passed my 45 second record already :)
Not every plank I do is 50+ seconds - I still do a lot of 10-30 second ones throughout the day to just add minutes. But every day I am adding that second.
See you at a minute! If this goes well, every month of the year I'll be at month * 30 seconds... march = 90 seconds, april = 2 minutes. Is this going to give me all the strength I need? Make me magically fit? Even be good? Maybe not! But I know I'm below average now, so let's see what happens, worst case I'll at least get to normal!
