What does doing the abdominal plank do for you?

A plank doesn’t look like much, but it’s an amazing workout. Planking tones and strengthens all the muscles in your core – abdominals, obliques, hips, and back. It also works your glutes and hamstrings while improving posture and balance.

The smallest, most controlled exercises are often the more effective.

But, eight hours? Nope. Planks should be measured in seconds, not minutes, and certainly not hours.

@Love_my_doggie What’s a good amount of time to shoot for?

Time to shoot for? I’d say as long as you can last or maybe 30 sec to a minute longer. For me personally, it would be just long enough to get in position & then I’d be falling on the floor. (if I lasted that long) I’m pretty sure that the person who did the 8 hr 1 min had been working very hard to get to that point. I’m also sure that you need to start out slow & work your way up daily & push yourself a little more each day. When I was walking, I only walked a ½ mile on my first day.By the time I became proficient at it, I was walking 4 miles a day. I found the 4 miles at the end to be much easier than the ½ mile I began with!!!

Good luck achieving your goal!!!

I think that the plank with arms fully extended is a good exercise for beginners who find it hard to do push-ups. If you struggle to do good push-ups then the plank can be very helpful to you.

I’ve held a plank with my arms extended for 8½ minutes. I never practice doing it. It’s boring. I’d rather do push-ups and pull-ups. I can do over 20 perfect pull-ups (all the way up and all the way down with no kicking or jerking).

Good health!