Strengthen Your Core: Do Planks Instead of Sit Ups
Cindy Molina, PT, MSPT, CMPT | May 18, 2019
Sit ups were once a very popular exercise to improve your waistline, but sit ups cause a large compression force onto the discs and vertebrae of our lumbar spine. Sit ups overuse and tighten the hip flexors, a muscle that attaches to the spine and causes more stress on the low back. This promotes poor posture, which can lead to low back pain and disc bulges.
The plank exercise is an isometric exercise, which means no joints are moving during the exercise. This is a very safe way to strengthen muscles. Many more muscles are active during a plank exercise than with sit ups. In addition to the abdominals, the glutes, legs, arms and shoulder stabilizer muscles are all active. The plank exercise encourages proper alignment of the spine. Planks are generally held for 30-60 seconds and you can vary your routine by resting on your palms or your forearms. You can also do side planks to target muscles on each side of your body. A safe option for doing planks is to hold the contraction until you begin to wobble. Stop when you can no longer hold a solid plank.
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