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I Tried Planking for 5 Minutes Every Day for a MonthCall me a masochist, but I love a good plank.
Bodyweight exercises, like the good old plank, are simple to work into your fitness routine in that they require no extra gear. But in recent months, I lost sight of the obvious benefits of planking, so we went on hiatus. I would usually throw in a few plank holds after some post-run squats and crunches, but one day I was running late for a meeting and thought, "I'll skip them just this once." And, of course, I never planked again that entire season. That's what happens. You think these movements are so small they don't matter, but guess what? They totally do. I realized my core felt like a loaf of sourdough bread and my back ached like I was 90. So I told myself it's time to re-plank my way to fitness. (A good place to start. One (and stay committed to it) is by setting a monthly goal, so I gave myself the target of planking five minutes a day for an entire month. The five minutes didn't have to be consecutive, but the amount of work needed to add up to that. I ended up learning much more—about my routines, my feelings about exercise, and why sprinting toward a finish line might not always work.
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Day 1It's the first minute of my first plank and there's nothing but me, my living room floor, dead silence, and the timer on my iPhone. One timer dings. I move from a forearm plank to a side plank. Great! Ding. Another side plank. Three tiny beads of sweat form on my forehead. I take a little break then eke my way through the other planks and have one thought: "Twenty-nine more days?"
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Day 2Instead of conquering my five minutes' worth of planks all in a row, I decide to separate them between sprints of work. Ideally, this would force me to get up from my desk and use the rest of my body for 60 seconds at a time. Not so ideal: I do two plank holds, forget about the rest until after dinner, and am forced to do the remaining minutes on a full stomach. I do not recommend this.
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Day 3Yep, more planks. Forearm planks, side planks, and straight-arm planks are my sweet spot, but I flirt with the idea of planks with leg lifts until—nope, yeah, gonna have to work up to that.
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Day 4Oops, forgot to plank today, but I think I've discovered the problem. Habits get locked in when they're instituted by a trigger action. (Changing into pajamas signals it's time to brush your teeth, etc.) I haven't found a trigger for my planking, and what doesn't get scheduled doesn't get done.
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Day 5: Aha! Here's my trigger action—running. I do my two sets of five-minute planks (making up for yesterday) right after a Fitness girls and my other core exercises. They're getting slightly easier.
Day 6: Since I don't have plans to run today, I try to knock out my quota in the morning. Sleepy arms don't like planks, but I do find one new trick. Instead of setting a one-minute alarm five times, I download a timer app, which can be programmed to automatically reset a one-minute timer. No breaks, but I'm finished much faster. Day 7: Now I'm really getting creative. Full plank, forearm plank, side planks, and a bicycle plank. (OK, maybe I made this exercise up, but I felt like moving my legs.) Day 8: Time to check up on proper plank form. I realize my back and hips are dipping, so I focus on engaging my core like I'm about to get punched in the stomach—and whaddya know, the planks become both easier (I feel much more solid) and harder (all the other muscles I was ignoring begin to activate). Day 9: I turn on a short YouTube workout video to watch instead of my timer and it helps the seconds tick by. And then 20 minutes pass and I realize I'm still lying on the floor watching YouTube in my workout clothes. Day 10: Five solid planks before showering in the morning. Boom. Day 11: I'm so busy with work and deadlines that exercise is the last thing on my mind. I forget to plank. Day 12: I forget to plank again. I think about how finding time for exercise can feel like a luxury. In the hierarchy of daily priorities, something's always gotta give. Day 13: I remember to plank, but don't feel like it. Not going to lie, I feel pretty guilty. Day 14: Why do we self-sabotage our exercise habits? This is a real question. There are 1,440 minutes in a day, and this activity only takes up five. Instead of planking, I probably spent a half hour telling myself "don't forget" and another five minutes lying in bed thinking "you forgot." I fall asleep. Day 15: Determined to make up for my failures, I resolve that this is going to happen. I get down on the floor, set my timer, and planking is hard again. I feel like I've gone backward, and the struggle is real. Day 16: I don't...feel...like…planking. Period. Day 17: I don't plank, and in the process, I learn something new about myself. When I feel forced to do something, I can quickly grow to resent it. And right now doing five minutes of planks no longer feels like a choice. It feels like a chore. Day 18: Planking today feels like doing the dishes or remembering to take out the trash. I wonder if I'd feel differently if I tweaked my goal, such as increasing my time by planking longer instead of doing the same one-minute rounds five times every day. I decide to stick to my original plan and opt for that challenge another day. |