A Plank Routine That Gives You Buff Arms AND a Strong Core? Yes, Please!

This month's Do-It-At-Home exercise is a scorcher! TruFit Evanston trainer Sarah Laspas takes us through this compound plank exercise that you can use as your whole workout OR work into a routine.

Here's what Sarah has to say about this exercise:
"While sit-ups and crunches may get you 'vanity abs', they aren’t particularly effective when it comes to strengthening your entire mid-section, which is the make-or-break step in laying a solid fitness foundation. Since trading in traditional sit-ups and crunches for exercises like the one I demonstrate in the video, my core is the strongest it’s ever been, I no longer dread doing ab work, and I don’t experience lower back pain anymore.

I recommend doing core work throughout your workout rather than saving it all until the end, otherwise it becomes way too tempting to skip it all together. One way that works for me is to do a core-centric exercise in between sets of another exercise that doesn’t work the same muscles. For example, I might do the exercise shown in the video in between sets of squats with hammer curls, but I would not do it in between sets of push-ups or shoulder presses because the plank variations in the exercise require your chest and shoulder muscles to do some work."

Ok, are you ready and intrigued?? Let's watch!

Let's recap the exercise directions:

1. Get yourself into a high side plank position on your right side (this means your right hand is lined up under your right shoulder and your feet are stacked one on top of the other or staggered; squeeze your butt cheeks).
2. Take your left arm and reach it underneath your waist, making sure not to rotate your hips, and then reach back up to the ceiling. Do this twice.
3. In one piece, rotate yourself into a high front plank. From here lower yourself into a low plank one arm at a time and come back up into a high plank. Do this twice, leading with the right arm. Your ending position will be a high front plank. (Challenge: See if you can do this without moving your hips side to side.)
4. From here, rotate yourself into a high side plank on your left side.
5. Take your right arm and reach it underneath your waist, making sure not to rotate your hips, and then reach back up to the ceiling. Do this twice.
6. Once again, rotate yourself into a high front plank. You'll repeat going into a low plank and back to a high plank twice again but this time will lead with your left arm.
7. And, like Sarah says, you can either repeat this routine for as long as you can or you can do it for a certain number or repetitions (like 3-5 on each side, for example).

Now, for an at-home circuit like the one Sarah was suggesting, here's a little something you could do (click on the exercise names for videos):
Exercise 1: Goblet squats 10-15x (if you don't have weights at home, try holding something like laundry detergent or a big book)
Exercise 2: Prone swimmers 15x each side
Exercise 3: Single leg reaches 10-15x each side
Exercise 4: SARAH'S AWESOME EXERCISE!

Do each exercise back to back as a circuit for 20-30 minutes! And you'll be SMOKED and ready to conquer the world!

Try it out, let us know what you think by leaving us a comment!

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To learn more about Sarah, head to her website or email her at [email protected]!