Do you perform planks everyday? There are several reasons why you should!
Planks are one of the most effective exercises you can do at home, and they don’t take much time or effort to complete. If you consistently do them, you won’t have to wait long to witness real results, because several incredible changes will begin to happen in your mind and body.
Read on to find out what these are.
7 Benefits Of Doing Planks Everyday :
#1 Your Core Muscles Become Stronger
Planks involve the transverse abdominal muscles, oblique abdominal muscles, and the buttocks (all the major groups of core muscles)! When these are stronger, your entire body will be more stable, your waistline will be more trim, and your back will be more supported when you lift heavy items.
The plank is also a safe way to increase overall healthy muscle mass, which is important if you’re trying to gain healthy weight and shed fat.
#2 Your Risk Of Spinal Injury Is Reduced
Weak core muscles often lead to lower back pain due to the extra weight around your middle tilting your pelvis forward, and extending your lumbar spine in to an unnatural position. Long-term, this can lead to spinal disc problems and increased joint pain and stiffness. These can become quite costly problems to fix in serious cases (physical therapy, chiropractic intervention, and even surgery).
If you’d like to live life without these discomforts, strengthen your core by doing planks regularly. By strengthening these muscles, your joints will be less vulnerable to injury and pain.
Planks are an exercise that allow you to strengthen muscles without unnecessary strain on the spine. Perform them regularly to reduce back pain significantly and provide long-term support for your spine.
#3 Your Metabolism Accelerates
Did you know that everyday planks can burn more calories than other exercises? Planks are especially useful for people who lead a sedentary lifestyle, because their metabolisms already operate at a much lower rate than they could.
Adding daily planks to an at-home workout before or after work will increase your metabolism because they increase heart rate and respiration rate. When your muscles are engaged, your body begins using up stores of energy. If planking becomes a habit, your calories burned will be that much higher each day.
Along with planks, try taking a multivitamin to further increase your metabolism throughout the day and even during sleep.
#4 Your Posture Improves
Once doing planks becomes a habit, you’ll notice that you’re starting to keep your back straight more easily, almost unconsciously! When you increase your core strength, your posture will also improve, decreasing the strain on your spinal cord.
Improved posture helps you exude confidence and create better first impressions. If these are important things to you, consider adding planks to your daily workout!
#5 Your Coordination Improves
Have you ever tried to stand on one foot for an extended period of time? What happened? If you didn’t fall over, good! Your core must be strong!
A strong core makes it easier for you to complete more complex motions with your body that require coordination (dancing, twisting, balancing). Even though planks are a pretty stationary exercise, the payoff is immense.
#6 You Become More Flexible
Flexibility is a key advantage of doing planks. Doing them consistently stretches the muscles around the shoulders scapula, and collarbones–areas that harbor pain for many people. Your biceps and hip muscles also become more toned, and your feet and toes become flexible when doing planks.
#7 Your Mood Improves
Planking affects your nervous system. It stretches and relaxes muscles, which are usually stiff due to stress, releasing tension throughout the body. Since your mind and body are connected, releasing tension in the body will also help the mind relax and let go of unneeded stress.
Getting rid of stress relieves anxiety and symptoms of depression naturally. That’s right, a simple plank exercise can positively affect your mental health, too!
There are a few more things you need to know:
First of all, don’t be afraid of variety. Doing the same thing every single day gets a bit boring after a while.
Along with normal planks, you can do side planks, starfish planks, dolphin planks, or caterpillar planks. Changing things up won’t hurt the efficiency of this exercise one bit.
In fact, it’ll engage even more muscle groups in your body, giving you even better results.
Another important part of your health is your diet. To put it short, the healthier it is, the better. If you stick to a diet of your choice, while taking the challenge to add planks to your daily routine, you’ll probably get even better results from this change in lifestyle.
Keeping your calorie intake controlled and eating the right foods that will give your body the nutrients it needs will only help you reach your fitness goals more quickly.
And finally, don’t forget about discussing this with your doctor or health professional. Planking may seem like a really basic exercise, but that doesn’t mean it’s without risks. Improper form can lead to injuries.
Make sure to talk to your doctor before you begin any major change in workout, especially if you’re slightly overweight or have heart or back problems. Your doctor will tell you whether this exercise is advisable for you and give you all the necessary instructions and precautions.
Conclusion
Doing planks consistently has so many benefits, and we just touched on some of them in this article. Since they don’t take too long to do, and they work so many different muscles groups at the same time, they’re a very efficient exercise to add to your daily routine.
If you are looking for more exercises to add to your daily workout, check out one of our favorite no-equipment workouts here, our favorite yoga poses here, and our favorite high-intensity workout here.
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