Challenge Of The Week: Plank Jack

 Plank Jack

 

Add cardio to your abs exercise with the plank jack.

Plank hold is great for your abs, but adding the jumping jack movement with your feet drives this move to a whole new level! Adding a jump jack to the standard plank provides an excellent dynamic stability challenge that makes your abs scream as it engages your abdominal muscles even more, turn it into a great cardio workout that increases your heart rate, metabolic rate and burns even more calories.

With this move, you are working both your lower and upper body. It strengthens the core and lower back and it be performed anywhere without any equipment.

 

Muscles Worked:

Rectus

Abdominis

Obliques

Abductors

Gluteus maximus

How To Perform Plank Jack

 

1.      Start in the plank position either on forearms or on hands and the weight resting on the forearms or hands.

2.      The body should form a straight line from the shoulders to the feet

3.      Engage the core by tightening your abs.

4.      Like the jumping jack motion, jump the feet wide out to the sides. Jump as fast as you can keep the upper body still and straight, and don’t let your butt rise towards the ceiling.

5.      Return the feet to the starting position and that is 1 repetition.

6.      Do a total of 30 reps of jumping jacks, which counts as 1 set. Then perform 2-3 sets.

Tips: Do not raise your feet too high off the floor. As you bring your legs apart and back again try to just skim the surface of the floor and back again fast. This helps work your adductors (inside of your thigh) as well. 

You can make this exercise even more difficult by changing up your arm positioning. This creates an unbalanced foundation, so you have to work harder to perform the same exercise E.g.

1. Plank on Hands
2. Uneven Plank [i.e. on forearm and on hand] (Left Side)
3. Uneven Plank (Right Side)
4. Plank on Forearms

Variation

If the jump is too much work then step one foot out to each side at a time then step them both back in one foot at a time.

Check out the move in action!  

 

gif: protection.com

You can use this as warm in your workout regimen.