Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Doubly hard plank on stability balls AKA the testicular plank



I was doing this double plank on two ball exercise yesterday with a client who needs more of a challenge in his plank without actually bearing all of his weight on his hands. So he's been mastering this exercise for the last couple weeks. We were having a good chuckle yesterday in session (he was still working hard of course) and he came up with the perfect name for it.

THE TESTICULAR PLANK.

I take what I do very seriously but I don't take life too seriously, at least I try to find the moments where I can lighten up.

I've searched the net for a demo of this exercise and there's nothing. So above is a picture of a what I mean but with two separate balls instead.
I wonder if people just aren't doing this anywhere. Let me know if you are and have seen it around!
Given this is an advanced core exercise, don't try it unless you've already mastered a plank with your elbows on one ball. If that's getting easy, then you can advance to a plank with each elbow on it's own ball.

The way I describe getting stable on the ball is like squeezing cleavage together. Make sure the balls are pressing tightly against one another and make fists. And then when you get super stable and confident, you can start doing tiny chest flies separating the balls. This can really load the lower back so take 'er easy until you're sure your core muscles can support a neutral spine as you add movement. Also, be careful adding a fly movement if you have any shoulder injuries. Make sure you keep your shoulder blades down your back and keep the neck relaxed. Keep the spine in neutral and don't go concave in the chest. Then you'll get the full benefit of this exercise.

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