Planking is a very simple and short exercise that you can do anywhere, anytime but don’t get fooled by the simplicity, it’s easy to do but very hard to keep doing.
So the team tried planking for about a month, no competition but the only deal we had is that we list the duration of our planks, how many times we do the planks, and also record our experiences and here are some things we discovered and experienced.
The first week we tried 1 minute, three times a day, by the end of the day, we reconciled to do 30 seconds, three times a day then gradually increasing the duration of the planks.
Posture
Careful not to put pressure on our lower back and hips, we amazingly aligned the position of planks, on the second week of planking we noticed that we had been sitting and standing straight planking does help with our posture. Especially for us, who usually sit in front of the computer or couch and/or slouching all the time. Correcting our posture helps our planking and thus helped us maintain a longer plank. As planking strengthens the core it also helps reduce back pains.
Body
Planking benefits the body and the muscles as we’ve learned later that it strengthens the abdominal muscles, works out the four muscle group in the stomach. Helps control the beer belly from getting out of hand, though I didn’t get the six-pack abs I was dreaming about at least I got it toned down a notch and not going wild (think Dad bod).
Energy
We were able to hold our planks longer as the week progresses, we also noticed that we’re much more active and flexible that we started adding other variations of planks but during the first few days my body was already shaking and in pain as we stare into our timer waiting for the clock to reach the desired time.
Appetite
With increased energy comes the increase in our appetites, we never followed a strict diet but we tried to eat healthy but cutting down on bacon, the body tends to reject some foods that we usually like before we did the Plank Challenge so we ate less of the junk foods and more of the carbs and the proteins.
Mindset
During the first few days of the planking challenge, I was prepared to quit. But encouraged by the tFI team, I decided not to abandon the challenge. Overall we felt more alive and ready to take on the next challenge, I’m glad I didn’t quit early in the game, for every exercise or any physical activity the body releases Endorphins which helps relieve stress and boosts your mood, which is the “feel good” chemicals your body releases, partner it with the fact that body is fit and healthy gives a very positive active mindset.
Lifestyle
With changes to our body, the 30-day plank challenges encouraged us more to stay fit, healthy and eat right. We plan to continue doing planks and adding it to our daily regimen. We plan to do more Biking, hiking, and other outdoor activities, we are really excited to share all of our experiences in the coming days.