I was getting a little bored with my walking and running routine and with my favorite 10 minute workout, so I decided to try something different for November. I saw a post in my fitness group for a 30-day Plank Challenge. I thought it would be good to build a little core strength since that seems to be a struggle for me. I also wanted something I could do even if I have work travel. I started it on October 27th and so far have only missed doing planks 2 of the days and I was even able to fit it in while traveling for work the last week of October. The plank poses are progressively harder and you move on to the next one when you can hold the current level for a minute or so. The website has a link to a worksheet which I didn’t fill out, but I can see that it might be very helpful to track your progress. I started on level 2 because I could already do that for about 45 seconds without struggling. Now, I’ve worked up to a minute for that one and have added 30 second for each leg on level 3. The first set of levels are:
- Elbows & knees
- Elbows & toes (See pose #8 on the picture)
- Elbows & toes with one leg raised (then switch)
- Elbows & toes with alternating arms pushing up to the top position of a push up
Although the 30-day Plank Challenge website has good pictures and descriptions as well, I saved/printed it as a PDF and put it on Evernote so I can see it on all of my devices. There is a second set of 4 exercises for the side plank. I can already hold those for a long period of time from yoga, although the leg lift one from the side is a challenge still.
What are you doing to mix up your workouts?
