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How to make your planks even more challenging for your core

Planks are about as much fun as a dental visit. But this new plank variation—called the plyo pushup to plank transfer—kicks up the excitement factor by adding an explosive and dynamic component to the isometric exercise.

Related: The awesome new exercise to skyrocket your bench press

Every muscle from your shoulders to your glutes must fight to stay stable as you forcefully go back and forth between an elevated plank position to an elevated pushup position. Check it out in the video above.

Focus on driving your forearms through the bench upon landing in a plank. This ensures more scapular protraction—or separation of the shoulder blades—which engages key shoulder stabilizer muscles called the serratus anterior. They’re the muscles that resemble shark gills along the side of your rib cage.

Try it: You can plug the exercise into a circuit as your core movement. Or you can perform the move for 20 seconds, followed by a 10-second rest for 5 to 10 rounds.