Today's Five Minute Workout

 

 

 

     Ok guys and gals I am periodically going to start posting a five minute workout routine. Most of my students are either new to fitness or have not worked out in awhile so I routinely start them off with a five minute workout everyday to get them into the habit of working out daily. Key word there is: habit. The idea is to get yourself into a routine before you decide to tackle a large weight loss or fitness goal. Having built a successful everyday habit in place will guarantee your success. Starting out small with just five minutes a day makes it easy for anyone to get in shape and feeling good. Even though five minutes is not a long time, it still is better than doing nothing and with a little creativity you can make it a fun challenge.

     For today's five minute workout you are going to do only one movement: The plank. To perform a plank hold your body in a rigid position with just your forearms and toes in contact with the ground holding your body up. If you want to use the standard pushup position with your hands on the ground instead of your forearms go ahead. Keep your core tight to maintain a flat-as-a-board body posture. Set a stopwatch or timer for five minutes, get into the plank position and hold it there as long as possible. Try to stick it out for the entire five minutes. If you have to rest, lower yourself down but get back up as soon as you are able to. Five minutes is not a lot of time and you want to try to spend as much time performing the movement than resting. Stay strong and keep track of how long you can hold the plank at one time before having to rest. If you can make the entire five minutes, congratulations, you are truly a fit human being. Keep track of your time so that you can perform this workout again tomorrow and try to beat your previous time.

     To recap, set a timer for 5 minutes, get in the plank position, hold it for as long as you can until the five minutes is up. That's all there is to it. Good luck, stay strong and leave a comment to let me know how you did!

 

Plank variations: