~The plank challenge~
 

I've decided to do the plank 5 minutes a day. For my stomic. I'll take breaks when I can't take it. But does anyone want to do this with me? For our stomachs?

(I mean in 1 minute sets)

Please note what Lyria said:

I didn't know what you were talking about at first... you mean your stomach? Planks are were you leave your forearm flat on the ground and hold up your body with your feet right? I think I described that correctly.

Kelli - yes, that's the plank. I can't do it for 5 min... I have sucky upper body strength, but I need to be doing this for my back anyway... so yeah, I'll join you. Work on it every day.... the best thing you can do is try to do it every day and work up to gradually adding on time. If you can do the plank for 5 min a day you're a rockstar in my book!

I effin' hate the plank! Props to you for doing it for 5 minutes. I'll have to work up to that eventually.

You can try planking on the side too, it's a bit weirder for core strength.

I will join. My trainer makes me hold them for a 1 min at a time. But I can try to do it longer.

I figured thats what it was and that is a toughie! I had to do it in an aerobics class in college. I will try to start doing it, but no way for 5 mintues right now!

I'm in! I'm going to start at 1 minute and work my way up. I'll do side planks too.

How do you do a side plank?

Planks and side planks are diff tough! I try to do them during commercial breaks on TV :)

Awesome guys!
I know I can't do 5 minutes straight. What I mean is 5 sets of 1 minutes, one after the other. I have to work up to more then that. That's super strength if I could!

Thank you all: shortandfluffy, Feral, Jess7286, Kayhm0711, and tiffany0809 for undertaking this pain in the butt challenge, and anyone else who joins. Planks suck, but at least in an effective way.

freedomreins- I found video instructions for a sideplank:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqzrb67Dwf8

and heres one for the plank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xs5m...eature=related

Planks are difficult but not impossible. My trainer has me do 3 for about 30 seconds. I haven't done one in a while, but it feels great to complete them.

Whew! 5 min is a LONG plank! Good luck - I will work on getting my 30 seconds up to 3-4 min.

i'm in! its gonna take me forever but i will definitely try! :)

i'm definitely in!! i'm up for any challenge that will firm up my stomach!

good idea! I'll join.. I usually watch TV in the evening with my boyfriend, so during commercials will be a perfect time to do them! :)

Thanks for the video links! I've not seen a side plank before. I'm going to join you and try out the planks too, probably just the regular one for now though :D

Tamara-is doing sets of 30 seconds better? Yeah, it feels good once your done, becuase your stomic feels tight.

diary-I'm not sure if a 5 minute plank is possiable. 3 mintues would be pretty long too, I hope to work my way up to that also.

diornotwar-That's the spirit! :D

Samantha417-I know that feeling. I think we can all agree we want a firm flatter stomic. I can't wait!

kuhrisuh & lights76-that's a great idea, we should all do that. =D

freedomreins-Your welcome! I'm going to start the side plank later this week, when I've got the normal plank down.

To everyone doing the challenge, let us know if you see any results!

I'm in.

I'm planning on doing 3 min for regular plank and 2 min for each side also.

And SnowWolf, stomic = stomach ;) Sorry, pet peeve of mine, lol.

stargzr- Awesome! I've done my five minutes for yesturday. The only problem was my dog kept attacking me, trying to lick my face, I think he thought something was wrong with me. lol I'm going to start doing the same as you, sounds like a better plan.:)


mkendrick-haha, I'm sorry, sometimes I'm such a bad speller. Hope we all start seeing results, already my stomach;) feels leaner or tighter. Not so muffin-like.

i'm about to go do my plank at the gym! wish me luck! lol

diornotwar-haha, good luck! Go break a sweat!

I'm in! I think I'll start out with five one minute planks, and maybe work my way up from there.

I'm in!! Planks are hard core and I have a bad back, sooo 5 mins is not likely for me. I just did a trial; barely eeked out 30 seconds. I'll do 5 sets of 20-30 seconds for now, and work my way up.

Thanks for the thread! Great idea :D

I really want to get better at doing the plank! To increase my core strength I've started doing a really simple exercise: I just tense up my stomach muscles. I'm doing it right now while I'm relaxing on the computer. I hold it for as long as I can, then release. It sounds simple, but I can really feel the burn, and I can now do it for several minutes at a time, whereas at the beginning I could only really hold for maybe 45 seconds.

When I do the plank, I can hold it for about 20 seconds. I would love to build up to 1 minute at a time!

Whoa man, I just did my 5 minutes (3 min regular, 1 min on each side) in 30 second intervals. I've honestly never tried the plank, it's definitely harder than it looks! But I'm walking around my apartment poking my abs, haha, I love that firm feeling!

I was on my living room floor watching TV while I did it, and at one point my cat jumped onto my back and started purring while I held myself up, haha.

Lol, my physical therapist has me doing these. Right now I am a wuss with only 10 reps of ten seconds with 3 seconds between, but the goal is to do 10 reps of 30 seconds, which I hope to achieve by the end of June. Bone-spurs poking into your spinal column blow! :(

I just did my 5 sets of 1 minutes. Pain in the butt. I feel 10 times better after though!!! I can't wait to see more firmness, I can feel the tightness. But it's not tight enough for me.

stargzr-lol, it does feel so good! I hope I can be sore tomarrow, I'll love to feel that, I'll be thinking to myself, "...yeah." I can't wait to have a flat tummy, planks will get me there much faster. *pictures*

Paja-Welcome to this challenge! :)

shasha12-Don't worry, you'll work up to it, I just got my body used a 1 minute plank, it's difficult. Aw, thanks. This will really help all of us. And hey, maybe doing shorter planks work better? =)

mkendrick-hehe, I was doing the same, I kept lifting up my shirt and seeing my stomach muscles tighter, I was like, "oh yeah-getting there," and I was poking it too. lol Funny about your cat, what is it with animals and the plank? That's cute.

eratosthanes-awww, you'll get there. :hug: I'm sorry about those bone-spurs. :( I hope you get much better. How are you feeling?

Just so you know - 5 minute planks are definitely achievable :)

I can hold a plank (or bridge) for 6 minutes.

As part of our benchmarking tests my dragonboat club holds monthly we have to hold a plank for a long as possible. 5 minutes is considered the top benchmark to achieve... I went longer for a challenge.

I dont actually do planks in my ab routine though lol. Oh, and don't forget that your stomach muscles are like any other muscle in your body - they need rest to heal and thus increase in strength. You dont need to work them every day, in fact its far better for them if you do it 3, maybe 4 times a week.

Good luck guys!

i definitely have to take days off! my bad low back really has to rest. I tried to do my 5 sets again just now, and I only got through 2 sets because my back was NOT having it.

Can't wait till my abs are toned and tight and my back doesn't hurt anymore!

Lyria- WOW! 6 min! Crazy! The longest I have hit was 2 min. lol.

Lyria-Wow, 6. Way to go! It would be a good idea to have a rest day, good advice. Thank you. :)

star-Good job! That's great that your posture seems straighter. I think your core is still alittle tight. Bumber, I didn't really feel any sore-ness. I want to feel that really bad! Maybe I'm doing something wrong. I do still think there is an impovement.

shasha12-aw, I'm sorry about your back. Rest your back, don't overwork yourself. Hey, the fact that you tried shows alot. :) We will get those sexy flat abs. (lol, that feels so wierd to write.)

gatorgirl6- But 2 minutes is still really tuff. lol

Snow wolf - no prob :D people always seem to get hung up on working the poor ol' abs forgetting they need some love and care as well lol. Ultimately a flat stomach and ripply abs will come from a low body fat percentage more than 100 crunches a day (oh and good genes...most people will always have that little bit of a "bump"). However a good strong core is vital for excellent posture and keeping your back in good nick (posture will also help with a pot belly... standing straight elongates the torso making you look leaner and flatter).

I have a very sway back so my stomach will always stick out slightly lol, but hey, its strong! Can't complain! ...except when wearing that tiny skin tight little dress I want :P

Lyria- Thanks again for sharing your knowlegde. :) I confess, I always get really worked up, "I'm going to do this!...and I'm doing to...blah blah blah." Your right, we have to give the abs a breather. lol Everyone should not do planks on thier rest days. Thanks agian for all the tips and info. :)

Star-Welcome! =) Yeah, I've noticed that too. I always try my best to be very straight, and I shake all the time too, my face turns alittle red. lol I've just been doing the regular. Last night I did just too, so I have to make up those other 3 minutes! I could feel the burn-finally! I was like, "whoa...pain. YES." I'm going to do my lat 3 minutes today, this was suppose to be my rest day, but this is my personal challenge. :D...accually I'll do 5 minutes today, might as well. Tomarrow can be my rest day. And to replace the 3 yesturday, I'll do 3 side planks-then rest tomarrow. Does that make sense, how I'm wording it?

Oh, and my stumach looks a tiny bit smaller, less bulge. The challenge is working!!!

stargzr-yeah, well we need rest days from it. We all should be able to cut some slack with ourselves once and awile, it's nice to take a break.
I did only 1 before going to bed I was very tired after walking from 4:30pm to 6:30. Then at 7:00 my brother and I went to the park, we happend to run into my friend, her sister, and my friend's boyfriend. They were playing basketball, I asked if we could join. So we played intensely-I'm very competitive. Until 8:00, I was sweeting and smelling like a fish. bleh. But we lost. :( They had an upper hand with players. Anyway, after that my brother and I played on the swings, I kept jumping into the air from the swing.

Then we walked around the park, then he wanted to go home, so I walked him home and started walking again until 9:20. My feet really hurt, becuase I did run/jog acouple of times and I was dark. What was scary... I was on gaurd. There was this grawl in a corner in a dark area. I stopped and listened again to hear what I thought I heard. It was deep,throaty, and low. Instentaniously I was booking it, a nano second the growl stopped I was running as fast as I could go and then when I got tired I kept running, until I was sure it wasn't running after me. We have had some mountian lion/bob cat/coyote problems in the area (live in desert). I know I can stand my own ground if something ever came to that, but I flew out of there like white on rice. I'm never doing that again at night.

So I did not stop moving yesturday, from 4:30 to 9:20 I was pretty much exercising. Gez.

I was running on a bowl of cearel, and two peaces of kfc chicken. And lots and lots of water.

The funny thing is, I've been very upset this week-very hard week. I just want to keep putting on foot infront of the other, instead of sitting around, I've been walking to be alone and escape. When I'm upset I don't get as hungry.