Running With Perseverance

I am thrilled that my physical therapy seems to be working. My longer runs have not caused any set-backs, and I expect to be cleared for even longer runs (8 miles?) this week.

I am a good patient. I do all of my exercises almost every day. I have enjoyed learning new strength moves, being shown the proper form for exercises I thought I knew how to do, and seeing and feeling the progress I was making. But, I am getting sick of doing so many damn planks!

While the trainer added and subtracted different glute and leg exercises to my program, he’s had me doing some variation of planks since day one.  I like my new lunge exercise with a trunk rotation. I don’t mind the airplane pose even though I almost fall over after a few reps. I will push through the fitball pike exercises. But I am just plain bored with planks. Last week after I snoozed through my workout time because I just didn’t want to do them, I knew I needed an attitude adjustment.

In my current program, the planks take me about 10 minutes. While they are 10 tedious minutes, they are only 10 minutes. I can get through 10 minutes a day in order to get strong for my fall races.

With all my whining about my planks, friends have been asking about my routine. These are the three main plank routines that the trainer has had me do.  I did each progression for 1-2 weeks and then moved on to the next one. For the front planks, put your knees down between reps.  For the side planks, put your hips down between reps. Proper form is very important–you want to engage your core and your lower back. I’m also outlining the warm-up, which actually feels good to do at the beginning and end of my workouts, and at the beginning and end of my day.

Warm-Up (10 reps each, 1 set)
Cat-cow sequence
Sidewsie cat-cow sequence
     (on all fours with flat back, rotate back into forward/backward “C”)
On back with knees bent, feet flat on floor, rotate hips so knees touch floor on each side

First Plank Progression (8 second hold for each rep, 3 sets)
Front planks on elbows (6 reps)
Side planks on elbow with both feet on floor, top leg in front (not stacked) (6 reps/side)

Second Plank Progression (8 second hold for each rep, 3 sets)
Front planks on elbows (6 reps)
Side planks on elbow with feet slightly elevated (such as on a yoga block) (6 reps/side)

Third Plank Progression (3 sets) 
Front planks on elbows holding one foot slightly elevated (6 reps/side, 8 sec hold)
Side planks on elbow with upper body rotation to face floor (15 reps/side, no hold)

I use the stopwatch function on my iPhone or iPod nano to keep track of the time. It keeps me from cheating on the 8 second hold and gives me something to focus on. When I first started out, I took about 15 seconds per rep (8-10 sec hold, a few sec pause in between), but I trimmed that to about 10 seconds per rep (8 sec hold, a brief pause in between).

For those of you who hold your planks for 1-2 minutes, I’d love to know if you find this approach (multiple short reps) easier or harder.

What is your least favorite exercise that you do anyway?