How to do the Plank
Step by step
- Set your forearms on the floor under your shoulders and extend your legs straight behind you.
- Rise onto your toes so your body forms one straight line from head to heels.
- Draw your belly in and gently squeeze your glutes to lock the position.
- Keep your neck long by looking at the floor just ahead of your hands.
- Hold and breathe steadily, stopping when your hips start to sag.
The thing people get wrong
Do not let your hips sag or pike up - a flat, braced line is worth more than a long, sloppy hold.
Coaching cue
Push the floor away through your forearms and pull your elbows back toward your toes.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Drop to your knees, keeping the same straight line from head to knees.
- Harder: Hold longer, or lift one foot off the floor at a time.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Core
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.