Quality Vs. Quantity, Which is Better? The Plank
Today we are going to be talking about quality versus quantity. Many people always go for quantity for the plank and never consider quality. What I mean by this is…. people will try and hold a plank for an extended period, whether it’s one minute, 3 minutes, or 5 minutes, etc. Now, this is all fine and what not but is holding a 5-minute plank worth it? And are you get the desired benefits from the exercise? In a sense, you are challenging your muscular endurance, but you need to think to yourself.. are you getting the most out of holding a plank like this?
There has been a common misconception that holding a plank for a long extended period without falling or anything is the best way to utilize this exercise. However, people rarely ever consider quality and what I mean by quality is getting maximal contraction from a plank. This means “squeezing your core (e.g., abdominals, glutes, etc.) as hard as you can. By “squeezing” your core muscles as hard you can while holding a plank, you’ll notice that there is a big difference regarding difficulty and muscle activation. If you haven’t ever tried this out, I’d highly recommend you give this a try next time!
What you see with most people when holding a plank is that when they engage in the “plank position” and “hold it,” they are slightly relaxed. They aren’t full contracting their muscles and maximizing their overall body stiffness. This is why sometimes, you’ll see people holding a plank for 5 minutes and then think that’s crazy impressive! “Wo, that guy can hold a plank for 5 minutes, he must have a strong core”. People will think this, and that’s not always the case. Think of it this way, if you were performing a 300lb bench press but were just holding the isometric position for as long as you can (holding the bar near your chest), versus doing the same thing but with 150lbs. What would be more challenging? Obviously, the person holding the 300lbs is going to struggle a lot more and fatigue much quicker. The primary reason for this is because their obviously a greater load placed on them but also because there is more “muscle activation” occurring to hold the bar up. The same thing applies for the plank. When you “squeeze” your muscles very forcefully during the plank and hold the position, it’s going to be a lot more challenging to sustain.
So, that’s just my little piece of advice to you. I’m not saying going for quantity is a bad thing, you’re still getting a lot out of the exercise but try going for quality next time. You will notice a huge difference regarding the difficulty and muscle activation. When going for quality, you will probably notice you will fail quicker, but this is a good thing because your training your muscles to act more forcefully now as opposed to being slightly relaxed.
Try for quality next time 😉
Remi
