It seems like many people think that doing a million sit-ups is the key to strengthening your core. I don’t have the attention span to do hundreds of sit-ups, so I prefer finding other exercises that work my core more effectively. In my opinion, nothing really works as well as a good plank. It takes a lot of core strength to hold a proper plank position. It’s important to have your back in as straight of a line as possible. Probably the biggest mistake that people make when planking is having their butt sticking up to much. I prefer to hold my planks with my elbows on the ground as I find it is easier for me to maintain proper plank in this position. If I need to drop to my knees, then straight arms allow me to maintain a straight line from my head down.

Once you’ve got the standard plank positioning down, there are many different things you can do to make it more challenging. The first thing you can try is to add on to how long you can hold your plank. I can typically make it a minute holding a standard plank. This week in boxing, we had to add in throwing elbows while holding our plank. It was significantly harder than I thought it would be. So this is a great way to step up your plank game. My abs were on fire after doing this on both sides.