Summer of Core Day 19: Forearm Plank

Well, here we are at Week 3. Incredible, right?

Normally, I’d say let’s continue on with adding five seconds on to your plank, which you can, but I am structuring this week around forearm plank, so if you’re comfortable doing your plank on your forearms, do it and add five seconds to last week’s plank time.

Alignment Points to Consider

• Stack your elbows under your shoulders. A good way to figure this out is to set your elbows on the ground and wrap your hands around the outsides of your elbows. This enables you to use the length of your forearm as a measure to line up your elbows under your shoulders.
• Start on your knees. Just like in straight-arm plank, understanding the engagement in your lower abdominals, turning them on, so to speak, is the main point of control here. Lower your hips enough so you have good core engagement, your abs are working and your back is flat.
• When your kneeling plank is solid, lift your knees. Stay in a flat line, like a board, shoulders, hips, heels making a straight, diagonal line.
• Keep your shoulder strong. If you feel your chest sagging or your shoulders slipping up toward your ears, press down through your forearms to get those shoulders flat and your chest broad. You’ll be working your shoulders a lot in this variation, so drop to your knees if your form starts to disintegrate.

Building strength

This week you should be holding your plank at least 10 seconds longer than you did the first day. That’s a great improvement. Keep it going. Make sure to record your time so you have it for next week!

Let’s Practice Together

Join me Tuesday in class at 9 a.m. for vinyasa flow and at 4:30 for Active Recovery at Soul, where we’ll go through some of last week’s and this week’s moves together.

By the way, Active Recovery is a great class for anyone who is a little tighter than the average yogi. I structure the class to get the body very warm so we can move into deep stretches and restorative poses with more ease. I love teaching this class, and if you haven’t tried it yet join us at 4:30 on Tuesday!

~ Shoshana