Try these warmup plank exercises out at different times and see how well you can do:

1. 5 minute plank hold.

2. Hold 5 seconds at top, lower and hold 5 seconds with nose touching ground. Repeat 10 x. Do not jerk when starting upward flow to top position. Increase reps as you get stronger.

3. Start in top position, lower down over 5 seconds, change direction, raise for 5 seconds until back in top position. Repeat 10 x. Do not jerk up from the bottom, but allow the direction change to be smooth. Push through the struggle on last 1 or 2. I believe the start of the slow upward movement from bottom, when your arms are completely bent, is much like a bench press. For this reason, you can improve your bench press without weights by practicing this with more and more reps, pushing slowly through the burn and lighting up your biceps, triceps, delts, lats, traps and general chest region. Increase reps as you get stronger.

For each variation, your body should be straight from head to toe. Remember, slow and controlled movements as Fluid as possible. Feel the burn on those last reps. It will feel good.

You will burn serious calories doing these and build excellent upper body and core strength. The best part is you can do these anywhere at anytime. Have fun!

I'm honestly out of touch with American exercise I think. I've learnt what a plank is, I think, and I do it during the floor part of my workout. But I'm trying to work up to two minutes, I can't imagine five! And nothing else you've written makes sense to me, which makes me think I'm doing it wrong. =\ Someone just also taught me what squats are and I can barely do them. I do the girl version of push-ups. I don't know what crossfit means. Argh!

Fiddleman, I've only started doing intervals of max intensity with lower resting intervals interspersed after you posted abt it on the Challenge thread. And I don't know if I'm doing it right...? 20 mins on elliptical on interval program means 1:40 of low, 1:40 of high until 20 mins. Is that right?

Swizzly- sorry for any confusion. I will work on making sure my fitness posts are readable by folks with different levels of experiences and background. Sometimes, it makes perfect sense to me in my head, but may not come out reading that way!! Something for me to work on.

Anyways, back to the descriptions.

1) is definitely a straight up plank, but do hold it in a push up position if you can instead of on elbows. In other word, hands flat on the ground directly under your shoulders, straight body and on toes. For fun, you could vary it more by taking one foot off the ground.

2. and 3. Now that you have expressed confusion, I thought about this. These are not really planks, but rather push-up variations. Both start in a position position as described above in 1., but the execution of each rep is a little different. Instead of pumping up and down fast like a regular push-up, slow it down to controlled and very precise movements.

For 2, lower yourself to slightly above the ground and hold for 5 seconds. Now push up back to starting position of push-up and hold in position for 5 seconds. That is 1 rep.start out with 10 and increase as your core and upper body strengthens.

For 3, lower yourself to slightly above the ground counting slowly from 1 to 5. Instead of pausing as in 2, change directly seamlessly, and raise back to starting position over 5 seconds. The is 1 rep. Start out with 10 and increase as your core and upper body strengthens. The rep should be 1 continuous movement with no pausing as you slowly lower and slowly raise over the span of 10 seconds.

These are going to challenge you. As you get stronger in the core and upper body, they will be a welcoming exercise to really build strength. And you can make them harder and more advanced in any number of ways such as slower reps, more reps, 1 legged or 1 armed.

Is the more clear? Hope so!

Swizzly - your HIIT ( high intensity interval training) description of 120 second intervals sounds good. As a reminder, high intensity means 80% of cardio target rate for your age and weight. Low intensity means 40% or perhaps less. You should be recovering during the low interval where your pulse and breathing lower to a comfortable level before hitting the next high intensity interval. 20 minutes is a good amount of time. HITT is hard on your body, in a good way, so do this type of training days no more then 1-2 x a week.

Try these warmup plank exercises out at different times and see how well you can do:

1. 5 minute plank hold.

2. Hold 5 seconds at top' date=' lower and hold 5 seconds with nose touching ground. Repeat 10 x. Do not jerk when starting upward flow to top position. Increase reps as you get stronger.

3. Start in top position, lower down over 5 seconds, change direction, raise for 5 seconds until back in top position. Repeat 10 x. Do not jerk up from the bottom, but allow the direction change to be smooth. Push through the struggle on last 1 or 2. I believe the start of the slow upward movement from bottom, when your arms are completely bent, is much like a bench press. For this reason, you can improve your bench press without weights by practicing this with more and more reps, pushing slowly through the burn and lighting up your biceps, triceps, delts, lats, traps and general chest region. Increase reps as you get stronger.

For each variation, your body should be straight from head to toe. Remember, slow and controlled movements as Fluid as possible. Feel the burn on those last reps. It will feel good.

You will burn serious calories doing these and build excellent upper body and core strength. The best part is you can do these anywhere at anytime. Have fun![/quote']

WOW!! Hard to believe I would ever be strong enough (or sub "fit" for "strong") to do these. Motivational, indeed!!

Yup - they are challenging exercises, yet extremely simple in execution. They really activate your core strength. I struggled at them too a few months ago. They key is to keep working at it whenever you get the chance. No matter how fit you are, there is always room for improvement and that philosophy will keep you motivated over time.

I just tried a Yoga class, and I can tell you - no Planking for me just yet

So I've been trying to learn about planks only from reading about them. I thought they were done from the elbows, not from the hands (ie, like a push-up). Am I wrong?

There are different variations of planks. Doing them on the elbows is fine, but then the 2nd and 3rd exercises above cannot be done. Perhaps think of 2 and 3 as push up variations.

Another plank variation I have found for all of you fitness folks. Start in position of a push up, put one elbow down, put the other elbow down, reverse back to start position of a push up. That is one rep. Do 6 sets of 2 minute AMRAP ( as many reps as you can). This one is fun and reminds me of crawling through the jungle in Vietnam ( not like I have ever done this, but I imagine it).