Happy Planksgiving!!!

We are a little under a week from Thanksgiving which marks the start of the holidays. It's around this time that temperatures drop forcing people inside and we are transitioning from pumpkin flavored everything to peppermint flavored everything. It's no wonder that everybody puts on weight this time of year with the increasing sedentary lifestyle, bad (delicious) food and lots of boozing.  Maybe it's a conspiracy by all the gyms to make us as fat as possible in November/December so we will sign up for their gyms in January. Might have to contact George Noory and the researchers at Coast to Coast AM to look into that one.

Journalism

But not at LPD because we are not just celebrating Thanksgiving but Planksgiving too. Abs are the ultimate vanity muscle. Everybody wants them and they are always on the cover of every magazine. For men it's the 'six week plan for a chiseled core' and for women it's getting a 'flat tummy'. By the way the real 'secret' to having a six pack is your diet not your workout, stop doing crunches and start eating veggies.  Having great abs is not just for the cameras though. But to understand that we need to start forgetting traditional ab training and start learning core training instead.

Dr. Stu McGill is a prominent researcher and kinesiology professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada and he is known as Dr. Spine. In a nutshell, McGill theorizes that the role of our spines and entire core is to stabilize our bodies.McGill thinks that by flexing our spines we increase our risk of irritating or herniating disks.  By keeping our cores strong and stable it allows the rest of our body to remain flexible. Don't think you just need a strong back either; when we have muscle imbalances and/or bad posture our bodies are not operating at full capacity. Remember being fit is about balance. You should be training your chest/back, quads/hamstrings, and abs/back equally to maintain that balance.

So instead of doing crunches, situps or V-ups let's learn how to do a plank.

If you are just starting with the plank start by holding the position for 10 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. Do this for three sets. As you get stronger increase your time in the plank position by 5-10 seconds every week. I do a work/rest ratio of 1:1; so 30 seconds of work 30 seconds of rest. If you are a beginner and you follow this progression you should be able to do a plank for a full 60 seconds by the end of the year.

 If planks get too easy there are variations to make them harder. A simple way to is to elevate your feet or add instability. For example assume the plank position and lift one foot off the ground while maintaining a straight line. Another good variation is to put your forearms on a swiss ball instead of the floor.

 Good Luck and Happy Planksgiving!!!!!!