Plank: how to do it, and how many

How it should look

Forearms down, glutes on, ribs down. Quality beats duration every time.

What it needs

Nothing. A floor and two forearms.

With nothing at all

Forearms on a bench or a counter. Raise the hands until the position feels solid rather than survivable.

The three faults that actually show up

Not an exhaustive list. These are the ones that turn up, in this order, and each is written as the fix rather than as the mistake.

The hips drift up

A tent is a rest, not a plank. Tuck the hips under until the body is one line from the ear to the ankle.

The hips sag

Come up to a bench. Two solid minutes on a counter beats twenty seconds on the floor in a shape you would not photograph.

It becomes a breath holding contest

Breathe normally throughout. A position you cannot breathe in is not a position you own.

Easier, and harder

The same movement, scaled. Take the easier version until it is easy, then take the harder one. Neither is a different exercise and neither is a lesser one.

Easier

Forearms on a bench. Raise until it feels solid.

Harder

Reach one arm forward, alternate, without letting the hips rotate.

Or swap it for

Forearms on a bench, raised until it is solid. Reach one arm forward and alternate. Add a weight on the back, once two minutes is easy

What an MDRN plan starts you on

Straight out of the plan engine, not out of an article. This is the band before anything moves it: experience sets it, the goal then tilts it, and the block moves it a rung at a time across twelve weeks, so your own plan may read heavier or longer than this.

New to this

2 sets of 10 when it leads the session, 2 sets of 12 when it does not. Stop with 4 in the tank.

Coming back to it

3 sets of 8 when it leads the session, 2 sets of 10 when it does not. Stop with 3 in the tank.

Training already

3 sets of 8 when it leads the session, 3 sets of 10 when it does not. Leave 2 in reserve.

Years of it

4 sets of 5 when it leads the session, 3 sets of 8 when it does not. Leave 1 to 2 in reserve.

The longer version

• The six movements a week of training actually needsPush, pull, hinge, squat, carry, brace. Every useful strength programme is a rearrangement of these six, and you can do all of them in a front room with no equipment.