Here’s a good exercise. You just hold this pose for a long time. It works your whole freakin body.
Start out lying on your stomach. Then prop yourself up on your toes and forearms, with your arms facing in front of you, and your hands together. Keep your body in a straight line. If your stomach slips toward the floor, you’re too tired or weak.
Hold this for 30 or 60 seconds, or maybe 5 minutes if you’re good. Then do a couple more reps! 
P.S. That’s my shirt hanging down to the floor, not my gut! 
Hey! I just started to workout and I started doin g the plank. I can laast for 1min 10 seconds… and was wondering if you coul;d give me tips for indurance,..? Also, how often should I perform this? Is everyday to often?
Nice job Gen! 1:10 is a great time, especially if you are doing the plank as part of a full workout routine.
The best way to improve is to keep doing the plank, and also do a few exercises such as push-ups. (Anything that works your core or shoulders.) My one tip for endurance is to get really motivated – holding the position requires a lot of mental toughness, so work on focusing your mind and working through the pain. That’s the biggest part.
You could also compete against a friend and see who can hold it longer
Feel free to do this every day or every other day; or 2-3 times per week. The harder and longer you do the plank on a given day, the more rest you will need afterwards.
So if do short, moderate workouts, you could do the plank daily. But if you do 30-45 minute intense workouts including multiple planks and other exercises, cut back to 2-3 times per week.
I entered into a foolish bet when drunk with a colleague. I have $1000 riding on my ability to hold a plank for ten minutes on September 15th. I haven’t done any specific training yet, but held one for 3:10 with a bit left to spare. Is ten minutes possible?
10 minutes is possible, I’ve heard some people doing 10+ minutes. You’re on yourr way. Good luck!
working on rehabbing from a pyriformis injury and core body like the plank and bridging are top on the list. Got any other suggested exercises that will help?
i can do it for 3 minutes , bt my form drops in the last few minutes .
i can do it for 30 minutes but my form drops in the last ( correction to my last post)
I have to say the plan is my favorite workout, although I must say, I was entroduced to it 4 years ago by my coach (boxing and football) and we failed out class if we didn’t get a minimum of 3min 30
Today I can hit 5min 00, I believe I could do it longer but my arms litterally fall asleep and it becomes very painful, I believe this is because I do not have a soft place to do this though (mostly concrete, dirt, and wood, not ideal places)
i can do it for 5 mins 10 seconds and i want to hold it for longer, any tips?
uhh it’s a little hard to believe that you can hold the plank for 30 minutes – that is to say i dont believe you
Holding a plank for 10+ minutes is a waste of 10+ minutes. You could have done many squats or dead lifts in that time which are a better exercise anyway.
@Blah
I’d have to disagree. The plank is a wonderful exercise for core stability and is not a waste of time by any means.
Squats and deadlifts are great exercises, but you’re comparing apples to oranges here.