The plank
Average time taken to master, 1 month. Description Although on first glance this looks like a simple exercise only suitable for beginners once you try to hold the position for one minute without sagging at the hips or lifting your bum in the air you will soon find that it is deceptively more difficult than it appears. Because this is a static hold that builds core strength through isometric contraction it is a great exercise for developing the core muscles fast and as it also helps with the press up, full ab wheel rollout and the Lalanne push up I thoroughly recommend this as a great exercise that should be included in most workout routines.
To begin lie face down on the floor with your arms positioned so that your hands are in line with your forehead and your upper arms are directly under your shoulders. Your hands and forearms should be flat on the ground and your elbows should be bent at 90 degrees. From there simply hold the position keeping your abs tight by pulling your belly button in towards your spine and making sure that your whole body is in perfect alignment at all times with no sagging of the hips.
Make sure you breathe throughout the exercise and if you purse the lips and breathe out slowly you will find that you can tense your abs even more. Take it easy when you first try this exercise and build up to holding the position for a minute or longer in your own time. If you would like help with the right diet and exercise you can find out more Here
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Facts on strength building
To build pure strength all bodyweight exercises have to be kept within the 1-6 repetition range.
Once you can do the required number of repetitions in an exercise change to a more demanding one
You can build strength and stay the same weight if that is your goal.
Strength training requires short workouts of no more than 30-45 minutes to be most effective.
Facts on muscle building
To build a combination of muscle and strength all exercises have to be kept within the 6-12 repetition range.
The best muscle building diet requires two grams of protein for every kilo of your bodyweight.
The quickest way to build muscle requires an increase in bodyweight.
Each muscle should be trained no more than once or a maximum of twice per week for best results.
Facts on abs building
Diet accounts for 80% of the success in building great abs.
You cannot spot reduce fat from any one area of your body or in other words you cannot pick and choose were to lose fat. It has to be done gradually throughout the whole body.
To lose weight eat 4 or 5 small meals a day with each meal containing protein. This keeps your metabolism high and stops your body going into starvation mode which is when it will store fat.
Do not lose more than 1 or 2 pound of weight per week.
The best three abs exercises are the dragon flag, full abs rollout and full hanging leg raise.
Sit ups and crunches are terrible fat burning exercises. You would have to do 1000 sit-ups every night for over 2 weeks to burn 1 pound of fat.
In one study on rats, one group was given all their food in one meal per day as opposed to the other group which had the same amount of food but in small meals throughout the day. The results showed that ones who ate all there food in one meal put on weight whilst the others did not.
Doing lots of cardio without muscle building will result in large muscle loss because your body will adapt to make the cardio easy by losing the heavy muscle. The result could be someone who has very little muscle but still carries some fat.
Exercises that are weight bearing like running and walking are better for burning calories than non weight bearing ones such as cross trainers and cycling.
Facts on flexibility
All workouts should begin with dynamic stretchinginvolving two sets of 10 to 15 repetitions of each movement used.
All workouts should end with a cool down of static passive stretching.
The quickest flexibility results are gained with isometric stretching.
Isometric stretching should be done towards the end of a workout and never more than 3-4 times per week.