Health
What Happens To Your Body When You Do Planks Every Day, Science Explains
Simple, easy, but burning and challenging.
What is planking?
Planking is a very simple exercise where your body is placed in a straight, stiff position (like a plank) with your two hands holding you up. And there are MANY ways plank can be done depending on your mood or which part of your core body you are training. The key to a successful plank is a steady position and holding yourself up for as long as possible.
That’s the quick gist of what the exercise is. Now, why is doing this exercise regularly so important? Let’s see what science has to say.
The core muscles
This exercise trains your core muscles including the transverse abdominus, the rectus abdominus, the external oblique muscle, and the glutes. What do they do? They are the ones that let you carry heavy things, improvement movement strengths like jumping, and strong back.
Better body posture
The exercise puts you in a straight position that maintains a healthy back posture. This also helps prevent back pain, whether that’s upper or below.
Metabolism boost!
Be surprised – planks actually burn more than sit-ups or crunches. This seemingly sedentary exercise is actually tougher than dynamic types of exercises. But this is also why it’s perfect for those of you who don’t have time to go out or have a lot of room for movements.
On top of that, it’s stretching your muscles and reduce the tension. This helps your brain remain in a relaxed state that reduces the stress hormones.
Check out how to do this simple exercise and burn some calories without losing breath!
Three important things to remember when doing plank:
- Don’t forget to breathe steadily, in and out.
- Keep a straight back posture from head to toe.
- Don’t aim far! 10 seconds is good enough for a beginner. Extend it by 5-10 more seconds for every other session.
- Make it four now: It’s not easy, so don’t beat yourself even if you can’t hold out 10 seconds. Yeah, we’ve all been there, looking down at this exercise until we’re 0.3 seconds actually doing it.
We hope you can enjoy doing this simple exercise!
Source: health.harvard
