How to do the Weighted Plank
Step by step
- Get into a forearm plank with elbows under your shoulders and your body in one straight line.
- Have someone lay a weight plate or dumbbell flat on your upper back, between the shoulder blades.
- Brace your abs and squeeze your glutes so your hips stay level and your back stays flat under the load.
- Hold for the set time, breathing steadily.
- Have them lift the weight off before you drop your knees to the floor.
The thing people get wrong
Do not try to place or balance the weight on yourself - it can slide off. Start light, keep it high on the back, and only add load once your flat plank holds.
Coaching cue
Squeeze your glutes hard; the extra load pulls your hips down first.
Stay safe
Stay in the plank until the weight is lifted off you so it cannot slide onto your neck or hands.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Hold an unweighted plank until you can keep it flat for 45 seconds.
- Harder: Add weight in small jumps or extend the hold.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Core
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.