If you’ve never had a strong core, you might not realize just how much it can impact your daily life. A strong torso helps shield against injury, can improve back (and possibly even knee) pain, improves posture, and promotes more efficient movement overall. If you’re new to exercise and/or have limited time to work out, prioritizing core strength is a smart strategy because it can make a dramatic difference in so many ways, and doesn’t take much time.
Core exercises are a great place to start if you are new to working out because most core moves are pretty simple, require minimal (if any) equipment, can be performed at home, and can be learned in minutes.
Why is doing a challenge important? When you’re trying to improve at something in life, the first step to success is setting a goal—this gives us motivation on those days we don’t want to exercise. Also, as you progress through this challenge, you will see improvement, and progress is highly motivating.
Like any challenge in life, you need to put in the work, be patient, stay positive, and celebrate small improvements.
The goal of this 30-day plank challenge is to see how long can you hold a plank. Obviously, we need to practice planking, but we also need to do other core exercises that will help us build a solid foundation.
Keep these things in mind as you progress through the challenge:
- Practice proper form above all else.
- Each week will get progressively harder.
- At the end of each week, you’ll test to see how long you can hold a plank.
- Rest days are a must—these allow your body to recover and get stronger.
- Schedule time on your calendar each day to get your workout in.
- Adjust the time you hold the plank and the rest intervals (either increase or decrease one or both) depending on your fitness level.
- All of these exercises can be done at home without any equipment.
For more guidance on how to execute these moves with good form, check out this article.
Looking for more fitness challenges? Check out our other plans:
The 28-Day Squat Challenge
The 30-Day Walking Challenge
The 28-Day Run-Yoga-Meditation Challenge
Infographic designed by Tierra Wilson.