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Edit: At the earlier stages it’s a strength exercise, but later, as your capacity improves, it becomes an endurance exercise. Again, the main purpose is to teach the body to resist forces that might cause you to hyperextend your lower back. Planks help prevent an anterior-posterior chain imbalance.
Cable crunch is a massive improvement from planks. You get a good stretch, there’s more than zero range of motion, and you can adjust weight for progressive overload.
Roman chair knee or leg raises are good too. Russian twist or cable twist for obliques.
Planks have no range of motion, no stretch, no progressive overload. It is an absolutely shit exercise IMO.
Well, range of motion and stretch aren’t really valid criticisms for plank IMO. It’s intended to train your core to resist extension forces and train proper neutral posture under load in your lower back. Cable crunch doesn’t do that, and in the context of lower back pain, crunches could be detrimental. With the plank, there is progressive overload, if you do more than one set and you progress the exercise. This might look like an appeal to authority, but the trainers and physiotherapists I learned from state that.
You’re free to believe it’s a shit exercise, but I have personally benefited from it, and so have my clients.
What would you recommend instead?
Edit: At the earlier stages it’s a strength exercise, but later, as your capacity improves, it becomes an endurance exercise. Again, the main purpose is to teach the body to resist forces that might cause you to hyperextend your lower back. Planks help prevent an anterior-posterior chain imbalance.
Cable crunch is a massive improvement from planks. You get a good stretch, there’s more than zero range of motion, and you can adjust weight for progressive overload.
Roman chair knee or leg raises are good too. Russian twist or cable twist for obliques.
Planks have no range of motion, no stretch, no progressive overload. It is an absolutely shit exercise IMO.
Well, range of motion and stretch aren’t really valid criticisms for plank IMO. It’s intended to train your core to resist extension forces and train proper neutral posture under load in your lower back. Cable crunch doesn’t do that, and in the context of lower back pain, crunches could be detrimental. With the plank, there is progressive overload, if you do more than one set and you progress the exercise. This might look like an appeal to authority, but the trainers and physiotherapists I learned from state that.
You’re free to believe it’s a shit exercise, but I have personally benefited from it, and so have my clients.