Plank
The basic trunk hold. Learn to keep your body rigid and straight while gravity tries to bend it.
The movement
Set
01 Set
Forearms down, knees on the floor, elbows under shoulders.
02 Hold
Lift the knees; squeeze the glutes and brace the trunk.
How to do it
Setup
- Put your forearms on the floor with your elbows under your shoulders and your hands relaxed.
- Step your feet back until your body forms one line from head to heels.
Execution
- Squeeze your glutes, tuck your pelvis slightly, and tighten your stomach as though bracing for a poke.
- Keep breathing steadily while holding that tension, in shallow breaths.
- Hold until your body line starts to break, then rest.
Form cues
- Glutes on and ribs down. Work the position rather than waiting it out.
- Push the floor away so your shoulder blades do not sink together.
Common mistakes
- Hips sagging, which loads your lower back instead of your stomach.
- Hips lifted high, which makes the time easier and the exercise pointless.
- Holding your breath for the whole set.
Worth knowing
- A shaking plank with a straight line is fine. A comfortable plank with a sagging line is the one to worry about.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
The plank looks like lying face down and is really a lesson in holding a position. Gravity pulls your middle toward the floor, and every muscle from your shoulders to your glutes works together to refuse. Holding a straight, braced spine under load is the skill underneath nearly all serious training, and the plank is that skill on its own.
Quality beats duration by a wide margin. A sagging plank held for several minutes builds nothing but tolerance for a bad position. A hard thirty seconds with your glutes locked, your ribs down and the floor actively pushed away is worth more than five loose minutes.
Once you can hold a minute in good shape, the plank is not failing you. It is telling you to move on. Put your feet up on a box, have someone place a weight plate on your back, or progress to side planks and renegade rows.