You should know that core strength is more than just a fitness buzz term to remind you that you probably don’t do enough sit-ups. It refers to the strength of deep muscle groups in your abdomen, back, and glutes — the three main muscle groups essential to supporting your spine and helping you maintain your balance. In case you you do involves sitting for a large part of your day, it is more important to your health than you think to strengthening these core muscles. For hours on end you aren’t sitting at your desk with perfect posture, but strengthening your core could help support your spine and prevent the pain and poor posture that comes from sitting slumped over your desk all day long.
Exercising your core can seem tedious when your go-to exercise is literally sitting up and laying back down 100 times in a row. In fact working your core means more than just your abdominal muscles, but also engaging your glutes and back muscles as well so that the work of supporting your spine is distributed throughout your body. This is important for everyone that is top-heavy and strains their back regularly. Full core workout can be much more physically engaging and mentally stimulating than sit-ups.
Planks are amazing exercise in working your core, they maintain the stability of the core muscles, that support proper posture by safeguarding an erect position and proper alignment of the spine and allows for more three-dimensional activation, from hip to shoulder, whereas the crunch is an isolated move that hits just your abs, according to Dr. Jinger Gottschall, assistant professor of kinesiology at Penn State University,
These exercises have many overall health benefits beyond toning your abs, they also improve your mood, help reduce back pain, and increase your flexibility. Planks can be a bit of a challenge at first because they engage several muscle groups simultaneously. Here is 28-day plank challenge will ease you into core work and have your tummy flatter and posture improved in no time!
The 28 Day Plank Challenge
This challenge increases the time you will hold your body in the plank position each day. Your goal is to be able to hold the plank for 4 minutes straight by the end of the challenge.
The most important part of doing this challenge is to doing it correctly. Here Scott Herman Fitness shows you how to do a proper plank.
DAY 1 – START WITH 20 SECONDS
DAY 2 – ALSO HOLD 20 SECONDS
DAY 3 – HOLD FOR 30 SECONDS
DAY 4 – ALSO HOLD 30 SECONDS
DAY 5 – TRY TO HOLD 40 SECONDS
DAY 6 – HAVE REST DAY
DAY 7 – HOLD 45 SECONDS
DAY 8 –ALSO HOLD 45 SECONDS
DAY 9 –NOW TRY 60 SECONDS
DAY 10 – ALSO HOLD 60 SECONDS
DAY 11 –AGAIN HOLD 60 SECONDS
DAY 12 –NOW HOLD 90 SECONDS
DAY 13 – HAVE REST DAY
DAY 14 – ALSO HOLD 90 SECONDS
DAY 15 – AGAIN 90 SECONDS
DAY 16 – YOU SHOULD TRY NOW TO HOLD 120 SECONDS
DAY 17 – AGAING 120 SECONDS
DAY 18 – TRY NOW 150 SECONDS
DAY 19 – HAVE REST DAY
DAY 20 – HOLD AGAIN 150 SECONDS
DAY 21 – AND AGAIN 150 SECONDS
DAY 22 – NOW HOLD 180 SECONDS
DAY 23 –AGAIN HOLD 180 SECONDS
DAY 24 – TRY TO HOLD 210 SECONDS THIS TIME
DAY 25 – HAVE REST DAY
DAY 26 – HOLD 210 SECONDS
DAY 27 –NOW HOLD 240 SECONDS
DAY 28 – You should hold as long as possible
