Front Plank Variations

Most people have done a front plank before. It’s a great exercise, engaging pretty much all your core muscles. In particular it engages the transverse abdominis, which acts a corset muscle and sucks everything in. So makes your waist look thinner when the muscle is strong. But the same old front plank every time can get seriously boring. So I thought I would share a few of my favourite front plank variations with you. So you can get all the benefits of the front plank, but keep your workouts interesting at the same time.
Standard Front Plank
Position:
Kneel on all fours on the floor.
Rest on your elbows and feet holding your body up.
Technique:
Hold position still.
Points To Remember:
Make sure your back remains flat, i.e. your hips don’t sag down or raise up too high.
Make sure your elbows stay directly beneath your shoulders and don’t slide further forward.

Front Plank with alternate leg lift

Start in the same position as above. Raise your feet off the floor alternately. The most important thing is you need to be able to do this without tilting your body to the side. So it may be that you can only slightly/very quickly lift off the floor to begin with. Then as you get stronger you can lift it slower, hold for a second then put back down.

Straight Arm Plank with alternate shoulder tap

Same positon as above, except you are in a straight arm position. Raise 1 hand off the floor and tap the front of the other shoulder. As above, you must prevent your body from tilting as you do this. The slower you do it, the harder it will be.

Rolling Plank

This one incorporates 2 of my favourite exercises! The front plank and the side plank. Start in the front plank position, then slowly role into the side plank position, hold briefly, come back to front plank, hold, then role slowly into other side plank position. And just keep rolling between the 3. Try to make sure you get one foot over the top of the other as you roll into side plank as you would in a normal side plank. And make sure you keep your hips fully raised up as you roll into side plank.

Front Plank Variations – So there are 3 of my favourite side plank variations. Give them a go and jazz up your workout.