How Long Should You Hold a Plank?

When it comes to exercises that are meant to help your entire body, there are several out there. However, one of the most dreaded ones is the plank. It can force your entire body to work, which is why people dread them. But, the benefits of these are what keeps people coming back to this exercise that can easily be done in your own home.

Plank Exercise Benefits

What are the benefits of the plank exercise? There are several. Some of these include:

1. It can help strengthen your core better than other types of exercises out there. When you do the plank exercise, you will find that it works all four muscles in the stomach!
2. It increases muscle definition for those who already have impressive stomach muscles. It creates lean muscle throughout the body which in turn helps to define these muscles even more.
3. Along with the stronger muscles, you will find that it helps to heighten your metabolism, which can help you to burn even more calories while exercising.
4. If you suffer with back pain, the plank exercise helps to relieve this. As the core becomes stronger, the back muscles are not working as hard to support a person.
5. Helps to have better posture...which is important for those who may work at a desk all day.
6. It can help to improve balance since you are strengthening the core muscles.
7. You find that it helps to improve your joints as the muscles are getting stronger to support you.
8. Any type of exercise can help to boost your mood and relieve stress, and the plank exercise is no exception to this rule.

How Long Should You Hold a Plank?

With the benefits being known, you will find that many people are eager to put this exercise to practice. However, how long should you hold a plank? Believe it or not there are actually challenges on how long to hold a plank exercise, with the leader being around 8 hours and some change. However, you don’t have to do it for this long to see the benefits.

Most experts recommend that holding a plank for 60 seconds and doing this for 3 times can help you to see results. Of course, just starting out, you may find that you can only hold this for 20 seconds or so. One idea is to hold the plank for 10 seconds, rest for 5 seconds, then repeat until you hit 60 seconds or longer.