Planks are pointless

Bird dogs are hard in that you have to keep a neutral spine while moving the extremeties. It's anti extension and anti-rotation and you want it to be symmetrical on both sides. Hips comes into play a lot. Add to that, you can't see if you're swaying, or shifting, or if your pelvis is rotating, so you have to rely on the feel. Best is someone instructing you because what you're feeling is not always what's going on.

This is of course if we really want to be strict about it, but that's the real purpose of the exercise. It's not just lifting your arms and legs. Moving from strength to control is another form of difficulty.

Yeah I think you got the right idea. He's coming from a point of view of lower back pain and is biased in that regard, though most of us will experience periodic episodes of back pain. I also wouldn't say that the cutoff is necessarily 10 seconds or whatever, as long as the quality of the exercise remains. I think that what happen is that people with chronic lower back pain can easily hurt more if you pass a threshold that is often not very apparent. I could also theorise that for practical purposes, most reflexive stabilisation of the core in daily life (to support an activity and reduce pain) happens in shorter durations. I haven't read what he's using to back the 10 seconds up with and I've found myself disagreeing with his study finds before. He did kinda overemphasize the whole "flexion cause disc denegeration" thing a few years ago, which is without context and brought a lot of bad shit with it.

That aside, fun part is when you can hold the plank well and then start moving into different exercises with it. That's the next level of progression.

Have you ever come across this movement? A superman combined with a bird dog. I couldn't believe how tough it was to do.

 
Have you ever come across this movement? A superman combined with a bird dog. I couldn't believe how tough it was to do.



i asked my physical therapist "does bird-dogs just notice how i said " just" (provide therapy for the lumbar , the back, the obliques, the stomach, etc "she said " it stabliizes and gives therapy to both the back, the stomach and the even does a lot of good for the neck and the shoulders ,i just dont see how it can provide comfort to the neck region?1?

edit : okay i am relooking at it .. its different when you watch someone doing it ; i guess it can stretch the neck
BTW i did your neck bridge at a university on the grass i am not a student at the college i was just using the dental clinic .. i took 15 mg of muscle relaxers , i took lyrica , anti infamatory .. it did nothing for the pain ... your'neck nodds" i tried those too .. still ,extricating pain so i said " fuck it " i told the hygenist i need to go outside for a smoke ( i dont smoke ) so i went out there and did a neck bridge helped a bit
 
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I feel that planks work for me, but lately I have been incorporating Hollow Body in my ab routine and man, those are killer!
 
Pavel tsatsouline recommends 10-second planks with extreme abdominal contraction, in his podcast with Tim ferris he calls it the best ab exercise.
 
I got excited when I read this:

"Basically holding repeated holds of 10 seconds is best for the average person. But for people looking for better back health they should be doing the Big 3 everyday."

but then I saw

"The 'Big 3' involves curl ups, side-plank and bird dog, a pose which involves starting on the hands and knees the reaching out the opposite arm and leg."

and I lost interest
You would be foolish to lose interest. Those are movements that pay huge dividends to any athlete and as another poster above me said the bird-dog is very rarely performed correctly.

If Dr. McGill says they are good you take a seat and start taking notes.
 
The bigger question is: why do a plank when you can do an Olympic press?

you can spend one minute planking or do a full intensity squat or Olympic press. U really think the plank is better? Lol no.

so from that point of view the are useless.

they are better than sitting on the couch tho.
 
I like a plank as a warmup to a deadlift.
My dead went up most when I was planking a lot.
Just focuses the mind on holding those muscles rigid.
 
Lots of plank, crab this, crawl that - and they are all probably great. Hundreds of body weight exercises that are surely awesome. Do some sort of ab work - wheels, planks, leg raises. No idea what is best, just progress and stop sweating the latest interweb opinions.
 
Planks and other isometrics are great to work on stability without draining the cns.

Personally i do some variation daily together with mobility work and other yogaish activity.
Usually i do short sets where i focus on tension and form.

They should assist and not replace lifting though.
 
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