The "10 second" rule of Plank

Picture taken from: https://www.spotebi.com/exercise-guide/up-down-plank/

So, are you trying to improve your stay in plank position for some time and you are still struggling?

I have a method that helped me to do it better.

A disclaimer here:  I am not saying that this is the technically perfect way of doing plank. But it should help you to stretch your stay in the position.

What is this "10 second rule" then?

To understand, lets go back a few days back. We all are stuck with the lockdown in  different phases in different areas. Before the lock down, I was preparing for a 10k marathon to be conducted in the month of May. I was practicing pretty fine. Basically, I was in a good shape.

But then lockdown happened.

I tried doing workout at home for few days. Later, the enthusiasm vanished and I ended up a lazy fellow. Add to that, few COVID patients were  found in the society. Even getting out of home to get milk or veggies, fruits became impossible.

Once the unlock 1.0 started, I first tried climbing up the stairs and realized, I am in a very bad shape.

So, back to workout. Designed few set of exercises for legs, upper body and core. Plank was ofcourse one of them.

7 days back I tried my first plank after a long interval. I couldn't believe, but, I failed to cross 30 sec. mark. Little unimaginable compared to my usual practice.

Second day, I unknowingly followed a method that helped me to touch 40 sec mark. So, I applied the next day again and it worked. Touched 50 sec. Next day, I could touch 60 sec mark. Four days of application led me to believe that I have a method that can help me to improve my stay in plank position. I call it a "10 sec rule"

"10 second rule"

 What unknowing thing I did on second day has nothing to do with the position in plank. I followed the regular way as shown above. The method deals with the controlled breathing. So, its a 10 second breathing pattern, I followed and it helped me.

As I start in plank position, I take a deep breathe over a period of first 3 seconds of the 10 second haul. I hold the breathe for next 4 seconds and later release it out in next 3 seconds. This makes one cycle. By the end of one cycle you complete 10 seconds. Holding the breathe kind of allows you to keep control on the core.

This way, if you want to touch 30 second mark, you have to complete only 3 cycles of controlled breathing. This makes life easier, as your task is now divided into three parts unlike earlier where you only concentrated on staying in right plank position for every passing second. With every new day arriving, your earlier cycle becomes easier and the last cycle is the one where you struggle, but with these 3 steps to follow, you some how manage to complete the cycle. The next day, even this last cycle become easier, allowing you to try one more cycle.

Starting with 40 seconds on 2nd day (first day of 10 second rule), in 7 days, today I have managed to touch to 100 seconds mark. Yes, I completed 10 cycles of controlled breathing. Today, I felt little challenging. I am not sure, if the method will help me to go beyond 100 second mark. I am going to try it anyway. But if it doesn't workout, I have another game plan to extend my stay in plank position.

As said earlier, I am not claiming that this is the right way to do plank. May be it is wrong. But it is helping me to improve my time. At the same, I feel my core little better than last week same day.

What do you think? You want to try out?

Let me know, if it helps you to increase your plank time.