10 Second Plank Challenge

Every week in my ladies only ‘legs bums n tums’ class we do a 10 second plank challenge.

It looks like this:

10 second plank
10 plank hip dips
10 knee to inside elbow planks
10 plank jacks
10 knee to inside elbow planks
10 plank hip dips
10 second plank

It’s kinda tough and not many of my ladies complete it without putting their knees down at least once, new comers tend to collapse in a heap half way through.

We do the sequence three times.

Last week on the third round I said ‘let’s go for 15!’. One of my regulars, Sarah, rolled her eyes but got stuck in.

At the end of the class Sarah was telling a couple of newcomers how excited she was that, having been to my class 5 weeks in a row, today was the first time she’s been able to complete the 10 second plank challenge, and that she was a little disappointed when we went for 15 because she couldn’t do it!

Little did Sarah know she had just discovered for herself two very important lessons in training.

1 – Repetition

In order to get better at something you have to do it repeatedly.

If I did a different ab routine each week, randomly choosing exercises for each class Sarah would never have been able to complete the challenge. Sure she would wake up the next day with sore abs and ‘feel’ like she’d worked hard, but then, nothing.

No improvement in core strength, no results of any kind.

But because we do the same challenge every class Sarah’s body has started to adapt and grow stronger (that’s from just 45 minutes a week!).

2 – Progression

Secondly, in order to keep getting stronger we have to keep pushing ourselves past our capabilities.

If I let Sarah stop at 10 seconds, she would feel good because she was capable of completing it, but she would also stop getting stronger.

But because I plan all my classes in the same way I plan all my sessions for my clients, I knew it was time for my regulars to step it up a gear, so we did two sets at 10 to give everyone a feeling of accomplishment (essential for motivation), and one set at 15 to ensure we continue to progress.

This doesn’t work for the class hoppers. Those ladies that like try a different class each week to keep things ‘interesting’.

Class hopping leads to zero results in the long term. But Sarah who now comes every week is starting to see the benefits.

It’s a common mistake that people think as long as they’re in the gym they’re ‘doing something’ but the truth is you need a plan that promotes regular progression and you need to be consistent in what you do if you want to see long lasting results.

So the take homes for today are:

1. Don’t be a class hopper. If you want to see results stick to one class/routine/programme and repeat it regularly, increasing the intensity each time.
2. Always have a plan.

I make plans for my clients and my clients get results.

If you’d like me to make a plan for you get in touch.