You dont need any equipment for these exercises, but a mat is optional core stability and they’re likely to answer with “planks.” This traditional core exercise targets the abdominal muscles, including those deep in your midsection, like the transverse abdominis, as well as the obliques (on the side of the torso) and the rectus abdominis (those muscles that people refer to as the “six pack”). But it also gets the glutes, quads, shoulders, arms, and back involved in the action. In other words, it’s one total-body exercise.
Deputy Editor, Health & Fitness plank, though, there are plenty of ways to switch it up—especially if you want to turn up the challenge. Enter: these two dynamic plank progressions from Runner’s World Advertisement - Continue Reading Below., Men’s Health fitness director. You’ll find these variations included in the new Runner’s World and Men’s Health collaboration, called 20-Minute Functional Core, in the All Out Studio app, which is included within the Runner’s World+ premium membership.
Before you add these exercises to your routine, it’s important to master a regular, isometric run coach and certified strength coach, Jess Movold, and Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S:
- Exactly How To Do a Plank, Plus Variations
- Deputy Editor, Health & Fitness
- Is Running With Ankle Weights Desirable
- How to Best Combine Strength Training and Running
- Don’t let hips dip down or pike up
These dynamic variations kick up your heart rate as you activate your abs: These dynamic variations kick up your heart rate as you activate your abs Benefits of Lifting Light Weights. Or, perform them as a Tabata: Do each exercise for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, and repeat for 4 total rounds, alternating the moves. It will take 4 total minutes to complete.
You don’t need any equipment for these exercises, but a mat is optional.
Bear Plank to Plank Shoulder Tap
Start on all fours, shoulders over wrists and knees under hips. Lift knees just an inch or two off the floor. Maintain a flat back and press the floor away with hands. Tap right hand to left shoulder. Place back in bear plank. Tap left hand to right shoulder. Place back in bear plank. Jump feet back into high plank position, legs straight. Perform a shoulder tap on each side. Then jump feet back into bear plank, knees right under hips. Repeat entire sequence.
High Plank With Knee-to-Elbow Cross
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below, shoulders over wrists, forming a straight line from head to heels. Drive right knee to right elbow. Then step back to plank. Drive right knee to left elbow. Then step back to plank. Drive left knee to left elbow. Step back to plank. Drive left knee to right elbow. Step back to plank. Repeat entire sequence.
Mallory Creveling, an ACE-certified personal trainer and RRCA-certified run coach, joined the Runner's World and Bicycling team in August 2021. She has more than a decade of experience covering fitness, health, and nutrition. As a freelance writer, her work appeared in Women's Health, Self, Men's Journal, Reader's Digest, and more. She has also held staff editorial positions at Family Circle and Shape magazines, as well as DailyBurn.com. A former New Yorker/Brooklynite, she's now based in Easton, PA.
