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Plank

Elbow-PlankThere’s a lot of hype around the plank, and although it is a great exercise to activate the abs, quads,  chest, and triceps in a total body fashion, many of us actually don’t benefit from the plank when it is on the ground. If we don’t benefit from it …………. (thenines.com) why is there so much hype from it?

Our current society is sitting….and not only sitting, but sitting and either looking down or totally supported in a reclined position. What does this do to our posture? Well it definitely rounds our shoulders forward, rounds the upper part of our back, flattens out the lower part of  our back, and ultimately closes down the front part of our body we shorten around our chest and are dominoes.

When you do a static laying on the ground your pinning your arms to the floor and what position are her hands and her shoulders and that rounded position. We spend most of our day in this position should we work out in this position? I would argue that we actually need to focus much more on opening and strengthening the front part of our body in that lengthened position. Perhaps you move your blank up put your hot your hands high up on the wall reach as high as you can walk your feet out a box of at least 6 inches to a foot away from the wall raise up on your tiptoes and lean into the wall you should feel your abdominals kick on. But you should also feel a nice stretch within your lats in your pics.

We also don’t want to dream statically we really want to be able to handle dynamic fluid movement in our normal daily life. And what I really want is everything to work in synergy. So I would challenge you to start with trying to lift one hand at a time off of the wall when you get good at this then progress to lifting opposite hand and opposite leg off of the wall in the ground.

This takes care of the sagittal plane how about getting opening through the transverse plane many of us have heard of thread the needle but for those that have it I would suggest that this take the place of your planks when you’re on the ground. The rotation will not only ask your abs to work but will help with the cocontraction between your abdominals and the muscles in your back at the same time working on lengthening through those tissues that get tight throughout. Our daily lives.

 

About Dr. Eric Hefferon

Dr. Eric Hefferon received his advanced doctorate degree in physical therapy from the innovative A.T. Still University. He has been practicing in the west valley for 6 years and has made strong ties to local gyms and medical practitioners. Dr. Hefferon started Impact Physical Therapy due to his passion for an individualized healthcare approach. He knew by creating a clinic that was out of network he could help give patients the results they deserve. His treatment style attracts patients from all over the valley and even out of state. People will travel to seek Dr. Hefferon’s solutions!

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