BUST STOMACH FAT WITH THE PLANK!!!

Culled from fitness bloggers

 

For a long time this has been one of my favorite exercises. It’s one of those that you see someone doing in the gym and you think to yourself, “Yeah that looks pretty easy!” Of course in reality its a lot harder than it looks, but what does it do? Put simply it’s a core exercise designed to improve strength and tone in the stomach and lower back. It’s particularly favored by both serious athletes and newbies alike. Even post-natal moms are often advised to do the plank as static stomach exercises place less aggressive stress on your stomach muscles following child-birth.

 

Performing the Plank

First bend your elbows at 90 degress, forearms on the floor, elbows beneath your shoulders. Your body should be straight like a plank of wood from your head to your feet. This is important. Many newbies will lift their bum up in the air so they look more like a hump-back bridge! This is not a plank. For those who are struggling with the plank then a modified plank with your knees on the floor will make it a lot easier.

 

Whats a Good Time For The Plank?

I’ve always been able to hold the plank for a reasonable while. I remember in my early 30′s being able to hold for 3 minutes. Nowadays I can do about 2 minutes. The plank is an exercise that with practise you can greatly improve your own time. In fact the best way to develop your strength is to do the plank in steps, 30 seconds and then a pause for 10 (or however long you need) and so on.

 

Plank Variations

The great think about the plank is that there are plenty of variations and tweaks you can make to vary things up a little, from one foot off the floor to even one arm off the floor (what I call hitch-hiker planks).

 

The World Record for the Abdominal Plank is 1 hour and 5 minutes…ouch! I wince just thinking about that!

 

If you’ve tried it, how long can you hold the plank for?

UNLEASH YOUR INNER BARBARIAN

Conan the Barbarian ...... the very word conjures an image of muscular perfection, athleticism and male virility. Conan has been acted by two seriously built and ripped men, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Mormoa ( who also acted the part of Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones). 

 

 

The thing about Conan's body is that it combines a highly developed and defined physique with athleticism and cardiovascular endurance (try swinging a 10 pound sword at 100 people!). This kind of body requires not only an intense and highly specific training, but also a clean and protein rich diet.

I have been researching the various workouts used by high performance athletes to build and maintain muscle mass and definition without sacrificing flexibility and agility.  In this article, you will find a workout designed to build you into a high performance behemoth like our man Conan.

The workout is meant to be performed 3 days a week with about 25% of your body weight or as much as you can handle without sacrificing good form. The remainder of the week should be devoted to rest and recovery. This is because if performed properly, each workout will break down your muscles to the point of growth. Rest for about 2 mins between sets so that you can push each set to the maximum. Try keeping each workout within 90 mins so as to reduce the probability of overtraining. You will notice that I included 30 mins of cardio; this will help build your heart and give you the cardiovascular endurance required to actually use the body you have built effectively.

Day 1: Monday

30 mins of Cardio

25 pull ups

Seated Military pulls   4x10

Squats                            4x10 

Dumbell Bench press   4x10

50 Ab Crunches

25 Pull ups                    4x10

50 Pushups

Day 2: Wednesday

30 mins

Lat Pulldowns ( various grips)   4x10

Rope pushdowns                          4x10

Bulgarian Split Squats                 4x10

Barbell shrugs                              4x10

50 Ab Crunches   

100 pushups

Day 3: Friday

25 Pull Ups

Dumbell Flyes                     4x10

Barbell bent over rows        4x10

Deadlifts                              4x10

25 Box Jumps

Barbell Bench press            4x 10

Increase your weights with each workout; as a rule of thumb I normally start a workout from the weight level where I stopped at the last workout. this keeps my muscles challenged and growing. Make sure you fuel your body with good clean food before and after working out. Failure to eat before working out could lead to loss of strength and even fainting. 

cHEERS

Cheers,