How to do the reverse plank exercise

2024 Author: Arianna Cook | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:23

Why is the reverse bar so popular, what effect does it have on the body? Contraindication for static posture. Various exercise options and recommendations for implementation. The reverse plank is one of the most popular exercises that allows you to create ideal conditions for strengthening the muscle corset and increasing muscle tone only with your own weight. This fixed position is less popular than the classic straight plank, but has even more benefits.

What muscles work with the reverse plank

It is impossible to keep in good shape without increased vital activity, but not everyone can go in for sports by visiting sports or gyms. There are gymnastic complexes, performing which you can form the desired parameters of the figure and get rid of excess weight at home, without the use of exercise equipment or sports accessories. The reverse plank is one such exercise.

Let's find out which muscles work during the reverse plank exercise:

During this exercise, all abdominal muscles are involved: straight, pyramidal.
The external internal and oblique muscles are involved if the classic reverse bar is slightly modified.
During the exercise, the lumbar muscles are stretched, including the square muscle of the lower back, one of the main components of the human muscle corset.
Since you have to lean on your own limbs during a fixed pose, the muscles of the thighs are involved - flexors (front), extensors (back), medial (adductor), and calf muscles.
The muscles of the upper extremities work: large muscles of the forearm, brachioradialis and brachialis, as well as the muscles of the shoulder - elbow and triceps.

That is, an exercise from one statistical position allows you to develop several muscle groups at once.

Benefits of the Reverse Plank for the Body

Thanks to the load on absolutely all muscle groups, the blood flow accelerates, the saturation of organs and organic systems with oxygen increases, and the tone of the body rises.

Through regular exercise, you can achieve the following result:

Reduce the thickness of the fat layer in the lower abdomen, one of the most problematic areas of the female figure.
Strengthen the muscles of the upper abdomen.
Improve the tone of the back muscles, get rid of lower back pain, strengthen the muscle corset, and maintain correct posture.
Through this exercise, you can increase your own flexibility.
The reverse plank allows you to strengthen the muscles of the upper limbs, prepare them for the load when working with weights

To summarize, you can see that one exercise can help you lose weight, correct posture and stop pathological changes that cause muscle pain in the lumbar region.

Contraindications to exercise reverse plank

Sports activities have some limitations. You should train based on your own physiological parameters, health status and age factors.

Do not perform the reverse plank exercise in such situations:

During pregnancy, regardless of the trimester, as it can provoke uterine tone due to overstrain of the abdominal muscles.
If there is a history of a vertebral hernia or a recent compression fracture, destabilization of the skeletal system due to muscle tension can provoke a deterioration.
After operations on the abdominal organs and caesarean section, since the muscles during the fixed position are intensively stretched, the seams may come apart. After operations, before intensive sports activities, it is necessary to withstand a period of 6 months to 1 year, depending on the individual characteristics of recovery.
You should not choose this exercise after injuries to the elbows and shoulder joints of a different nature.

Injuries to the hands and wrists when performing the reverse plank are relative contraindications. A slight modification of the exercise - support on the elbows - allows you to effectively load the muscles of the whole body.

When choosing a way to perform the reverse plank, you need to take into account your own health.

How to do the reverse plank

The exercise has several options, it can be modified to make it easier to perform and some elements and turns can be added to increase efficiency. In order not to be injured or slipping, before starting classes, you should take care of your own convenience - spread a rug or mat. It is quite difficult to get a fracture after falling from such a height, but the bruises and abrasions that are possible when hitting the floor can also be very painful.

How to do the reverse plank correctly in the classic version

The classic version of the reverse plank, which can be mastered by novice athletes who are unfamiliar with the basics of training, is done as follows:

You need to spread a non-slip rug on the floor. Then you should sit comfortably on it, stretch your legs in front of you and connect them together.
The back is slightly reclined, approximately 45 degrees, and with the hands they lean behind the back so that the hands are in the same projection with the shoulders. The fingers of the hands must be turned towards you.
Then, with their feet and hands, they rest on the floor and try to push the body up to the ceiling, due to the tension of the muscles of the legs, lifting the buttocks.
It is necessary to try so that no bends and bulges appear on the body during deflection. Ideally, the body should be one line.
The pose is fixed for at least 15 seconds. All this time, you need to observe one position without relaxing the stomach or buttocks, otherwise there will be no sense in performing this exercise.
The buttocks should be lowered slowly, it is advisable to allow yourself to relax only at the moment the buttocks touch the floor.

Experienced athletes, who have mastered the reverse plank to automatism, repeat the fixed posture as soon as they lower themselves onto the mat. Beginners can rest a little after returning to the starting position.

Reverse plank modifications on straight arms

There are many modifications of the straight arm reverse plank to help develop the muscles of different groups. With any change in the starting position, the intensity of the load is redistributed.

Consider the options for the reverse bar:

The simplest change in the starting position is turning the hands with the fingers towards you before lifting the body, this forces the biceps, not the shoulder muscle, to strain.
If you need to work out the shoulder joints well, then when performing the reverse plank, the hands should be placed as far away from the body as possible. You should not immediately move the brushes far away from the buttocks, the distance should be increased gradually. You should focus on pulling pains in the shoulder area. As soon as the ligaments of the joints are stretched so much that when performing a static pose, there will be no discomfort in the shoulder area, the hands can be pushed further.
You can increase the stretch of the gluteus and thigh muscles during the reverse plank by doing a hip lift exercise. While mastering it, you should rise from this starting position - you need to sit on the floor, lean back 35-45 degrees with your body, lean on your hands, whose fingers are turned towards you, and bend your legs at the knees. The feet should rest completely on the floor. You should climb into the half-bridge without bending the body. Having mastered this pose, they begin to modify it. Hands are placed closer to the body, and the legs are fully extended. In the final position, the body is significantly bent.
A rather difficult version of the reverse plank, in which the load on the supporting limbs increases, allows you to work out the thigh muscles and take care of your own stretch. The starting position is the classic reverse plank. Swinging legs forward can be done simultaneously with lifting to a fixed position or when you are already in it. It is easier to maintain balance if the swinging leg is bent, more difficult when the straight limb is raised. It is most difficult to perform the exercise when the leg is raised very slowly and just as slowly lowered.
The next version of the reverse plank will help get rid of the most problematic fat deposits for women, which are located on the inner and outer thighs. When performing this exercise, you must first fix the position at the highest point, and then take your legs to the side. The easiest option is to rise to the opposite plank and make 3 swings with one leg, then lower, rest, rise again and do the same swings with the other leg.
You can also work out the oblique abdominal muscles by twisting. To do this, without changing the position of the body, rotate the pelvis in a fixed position.
The reverse plank is complicated by lifting and stretching the arms in turn, with a simultaneous swing of the leg and arm, both with the limbs of the same name, and those that are on different sides.
The version of the reverse plank with weighting is rarely performed. In this case, a dumbbell is taken in one hand and, having risen to a fixed position, they attract the load with an arm bent at the elbow to the chest.

There are several more options for the reverse plank exercise. You can stretch the muscles of the legs by resting on the heel during a fixed position and performing movements with the foot, stretching the toes. To quickly tighten the abdominal muscles, an exercise from the bodyflex complex is connected to the main position - deep abdominal breathing.

Recommendations on how to do the reverse plank exercise correctly

Static exercises - various bars - are now gaining more and more admirers, both among athletes and among amateurs who are engaged in physical education to improve their own condition and reduce weight. However, calories are burned during a static position only if taken in accordance with the basic rules.

Reverse plank rules:

You need to immediately tune in to the fact that the muscles of the arms will have to be strained at full strength. Those who are trying to master the exercise should not have any injuries to the wrists, otherwise you can get a subluxation or dislocation of the wrist joint. Performing the reverse plank on the elbows, it is impossible to get a beautiful relief of the muscles of the forearms.
It is better to introduce the reverse bar into the stretching complex, performing the exercise after the main workout, while the muscles and ligaments have not "cooled down". When fixing the main position, almost all muscles are stretched, if they are not warmed up enough, you can get a sprain or tear of the ligaments.
When carrying out the reverse bar, it is necessary to monitor the position of the body. Try to keep the body and legs in a straight line. An exception is the version of the exercise with the maximum lift of the hips.
Having risen to a fixed position, you should simultaneously draw in your stomach and buttocks.
In the first 2-3 days, it is enough to fix the basic reverse bar for 15-20 seconds. To make it easier, you can take a break in breathing by sucking in your stomach. Only after learning to automatically breathe with the chest during a fixed position, they begin to increase the time for lifting the body to 45-60 seconds.
It is desirable to achieve continuous exercise for 3-4 minutes. This does not mean that you need to spend all this time in a fixed position - this is beyond the power of even trained pitching.
The frequency of the exercise is 2-3 approaches 3 times, 5-6 times a week.
In the event that the legs begin to shake, the reverse bar must be interrupted and rest. Rest should not be passive; care should be taken to keep the muscles warm. Active rest consists in even breathing, calm walking, bending to the side, raising the legs.
You should not try to spend as long as possible in a fixed position. The focus should be on the correct performance of the exercises: the hips and torso should be in one line, the chin is pressed to the chest - the head should not be thrown back.

Correct execution of the reverse plank helps not only to get rid of excess calories and strengthen the muscles of the back, abdomen and upper limbs, but also to increase stress resistance. Since during a fixed posture you have to focus on your own feelings, make sure that all muscles work at full strength, you will not be able to be distracted by extraneous thoughts. Full concentration on your own feelings helps to gain peace of mind.

As soon as the classic version of the reverse plank can be mastered to automatism, the exercise must be complicated. Otherwise, the progress of strengthening the muscles stops.

How to do the reverse plank - watch the video: