Planks
Are you doing the 30-Day Plank Challenge with us? These suckers are hard, but not impossible. It never hurts to have some tricks up your sleeve to help you hold your position when you think you can’t go o-n-e s-e-c-o-n-d longer.
When you’re starting to shake but you’re still a ways from completing your goal time, try using one of these tips…
1. Start Talking!
Yup. Out loud. Coach yourself on your plank position “Pull up your butt”, “Keep your back flat”. Give yourself encouragement “You can do this!”, “only 30 more seconds – you’ve GOT this!”.
2. Visualize Results
This is hard work, but you’re finally taking steps toward how you want your body to look. Conjure up a visual of what you’ll look like with tight abs instead of a saggy gut. What will you wear? How good are you going to feel? How proud of yourself will you be?
3. Go To Your ‘Happy Place’
Think of something that makes you happy. Spend some time remembering that vacation in Hawaii, or mentally plan the garden you’ll plant in the spring. Focus hard enough on it that you’re in that moment.
4. Catch Up On Your Reading
Grab the magazine you never have time to read. Start that book you loaded on your Kindle but haven’t gotten to yet.
5. Compete With Yourself
Set your phone timer and lay it on the floor right in front of your face. Pretend you’re in a race and it’s important that you finish. Count the timer down out loud, imagine everyone cheering you on from the sidelines. Push yourself to the finish line.
6. Use The Buddy System
Are you competitive? Enlist a friend or partner to plank with you. If you’re at all competitive, you will stick it out until your timer says 0:00. If your friend/partner starts to weaken, pump them up and encourage them to beat you. It’s a win-win.
7. Shake it Up!
If you’re really having trouble, be gentle and rock yourself a bit. Gently push yourself back with your arms and rock from your toes to the balls of your feet, then bring yourself back into position again. Slowly rock forward and backward (I found this eats up the time really quickly and is a great distraction).
8. Rock It Out!
If you’re someone who doesn’t enjoy the self talk and quiet reflection approach, turn on “Eye of the Tiger” and crank up the volume!
We can do this people! Let’s help each other out by commenting below with any tricks you have or words of encouragement.
We need motivation, and after reading your feedback, it sounds like you may need some too. Let’s help each other out.
We need to exercise, but with our crazy schedules, we know that committing ourselves to an exercise program that requires a chunk of time or a long-term commitment is setting ourselves up for failure. Sound familiar? We’ve found that exercising at home allows us to adjust our exercise times to our constantly changing schedules. We look for exercises that require a minimum of equipment, and produce quick results.
Our problem area? Abs. The best exercise we’ve found to strengthen the core that gives you ridiculously fast results is…The Plank.
What’s a “Plank”?
The plank (also called a front hold, hover, or abdominal bridge) is an isometric core strength exercise that involves maintaining a difficult position for extended periods of time. The most common plank is the front plank which is held in a push-up position with the body’s weight borne on forearms, elbows, and toes. -source: Wikipedia
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I was so embarrassed by the original photos of my side view, that my husband graciously allowed me to use him as a model.(Pleeeaase, join me in this challenge. I so need it!)
The plank engages and strengthens the muscles of the abdomen, back and shoulders. I swear it also strengthens the muscles in your butt too, but maybe that’s just in my case because my butt keeps dropping and I have to keep tightening it to pull it back up into position.
Here’s the challenge:
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Do you think it sounds too hard? Don’t be a weenie. Check this out…
The current world record (according to Guinness World Records) for the plank position is 3 hours 7 minutes and 15 seconds, set in Newport, Kentucky on 20 April 2013 by George Hood.
Bless your heart, George, but with all due respect….are you frickin’ crazy?!
We can DO this!!
We’re starting next Monday, January 20th. Comment below if you’re in.
Motivation and Encouragement:
[label]Read[/label]We Can Do This! – 8 Trick for Holding a Plank Position Longer
Hey friends. We’re unofficially officially naming Coral our go-to fitness expert. If you haven’t read up on what she wrote before, start HERE. Short story: Coral is a mom of two who was sick of not being happy with her body. She didn’t do anything other than start moving…in her home…with nothing special at all. That, and better eating, resulted in the more toned version of her hot self.
Are you feeling lazy and big? Wanna be fit and thinner? Well, duh.
Without further ado, here’s Coral, who will give you the quick, cheap, and easy way to avoid the Jingle Bulge. She’s honest, she’s funny and she’s been in your shoes.
Tis the season y’all. This is the time of year that we are surrounded by all the good stuff, the parties, the snuggles on the couch watching holiday movies, the baking, the sweets, the booze etc. and it’s also the time leading up to New Year’s resolutions. So what do we do? We set goals for AFTER the holidays right? Well hot damn we can just work all this off in January? Oh joy! Now for me that means I will eat whatever I want, as much as I want, drink all the cocktails and chillax cause I’m going to have all this extra time and energy in the new year. Maybe I’ll even join a gym (Insert massive eye roll). This approach might be great for some. They might miraculously have surplus time and energy in January. It’s possible I’m sure but look at the mentality behind that. Binge until you are ready to cut it out completely? Isn’t that a bit like binge drinking & drugging before checking yourself into rehab? That’s pretty effed up but we’ve all done it.
photo credit: thegardenbuzz via photopin cc
If we want long lasting changes it can’t be seasonal. So I’d like to propose a challenge to end the year. Let’s start moving our asses now. I’m not implying that we shouldn’t partake in the festivities so don’t get me wrong. This isn’t an all or nothing cold turkey kind of venture. There must be balance. We can totally party and enjoy traditions but just because we’re going to have Christmas cookies and egg nog with Aunt Sally on Saturday doesn’t mean we need to stuff our pie holes with cookies all damn week. We gotta earn it so we can enjoy guilt free. Plan ahead, eat well leading up to those events and get in your workouts. It’s possible.
Believe it or not there are people out there that love to workout. I however am most definitely not one of those people. I still search for excuses and need to try like hell to fight the urge to justify letting myself off the hook so I need to get creative with how I fit it in. Just like you I’m busy, I’m tired, I don’t want to give up time with my family and I need my social life. All of these become more amplified during the holidays. It’s exhausting but I feel totally empowered when I can make it work. Even if I finish a workout at 10:45 at night because I procrastinated all freaking day I still feel like I’ve conquered the world. So how can you fit a workout in with all this shit going on?
Got kids?
They make for awesome weights and workout buddies. It’s fun for them and a killer workout for you. I have a pretty light weight (my 10 week old) and a heavy weight (my 6 year old) & it’s pretty easy to incorporate exercise into our play. At this point rocking my son to sleep is impossible. He wants squats!
Got a couch?
I’ve been asked how I keep my arms toned. Well, truth is I work upper body either standing in front of or while camped out on the couch watching the tube and I’ve put in A LOT of hours like that. I kinda feel like a lame ass even admitting that but there are days when I get home from work and just need to sit down and veg so I plunk my ass down with a set of dumbbells and bust out variations of bicep and shoulder moves.
Got a smart phone?
I know y’all can afford free & I know that y’all can carve out at least 15 minutes of your day to get your heiny moving. You have got to download the Nike Training Club app. There are tons of options in this app. Seriously tons. There are full workouts for cardio, strength, HIIT etc. with video tutorials on each and every move but when I’m super swamped I’ll look under the “Get Focused” tab to find a 15 minute workout and squeeze that shit in. They are actually pretty intense and although 15 minutes a day might not get you ripped it will keep you in the habit of staying active. You can add in the longer workouts come January when you’ve got all that extra time laying around *wink wink*. Until then get your 15 minutes in before heading out to the next holiday party.
That’s it, guys. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. So why not start the new year feeling good about the changes you’ve already made eh? Let everyone else make resolutions while you continue towards your goals. I mean shit, if you can start this during the holidays you’re already a freaking rock star.
Do you find this to be inspiring or overwhelming?
A lot of us moms look down at our lower stomach pooch (or more – let’s be honest) and dream of the days where we could rock a pair of pants without that ever-present waist roll from leggings, tights, you-choose-your-pant.
Kelly Ripa hasn’t ever been big, per se, but she has had years where she struggled with her weight, whether it was physical or emotional. We’ve all been there at some point, haven’t we? Instead of just letting it go, she did something about it.
You can feel how you want about the always energetic Kelly Ripa but you can’t deny her hard work and determination. No, you can’t. Nope. I won’t hear of it.
Kelly goes to the gym 7 days a week, she has a ton of money, special classes she takes, access to the best foods (and even someone to prepare it if she wants). It hardly seems fair to compare ourselves to someone who has that kind of privilege.
What if I told you that I knew someone with a body JUST as incredible (actually, more healthy-looking), has no access to any high end food, diet plans, trainers and consultants. Oh, and this person has two kids and an aversion to the kitchen. The pics say “PP” which is referring to “postpartum”. Yep, that second baby was JUST born!
Now we’re talkin’!
This is Coral and she is our go-to QUICK, CHEAP and EASY fitness friend. We’re busy, we don’t have gobs of money and, if we’re being truthful, the whole thought of trainers, special plans, babysitters to go to the gym and all that business is just too much some days. Most days. Have I mentioned that Coral DOES NOT like to work out. Thank goodness, someone who gets it.
via Instagram @coral_forfitngiggles
Follow us on Bloglovin’ to read the upcoming post by Coral which will give you a little inspiration to start your thin-down before the New Year. Wouldn’t you rather just sit on the couch? Perfect. The workout includes the couch.
If you’re not familiar with Bloglovin, it’s a place where you can create a free account to have your favorite websites send you updates via email at the time and frequency you choose. No spam, just goodness. This is where you do it: CLICK RIGHT HERE.
