Why You Need to Do Plank Walkouts
Lee Boyce is a Toronto-based strength coach who helps clients and athletes reach strength and conditioning, sports performance, and hypertrophy goals. In his new column, Basics Made Better, he'll help you tweak classic exercises to squeeze out even more muscle gain. Follow him on Instagram.
One of the most celebrated movements in core training is also one of the toughest and most demanding: The ab wheel rollout. The reason it’s so effective is because it trains the core through what’s called “anti-extension.” Essentially, that means your abs are protecting your spine from arching, something that’s critical when you lift heavy weights overhead.
Yes, your lower back is capable of arching, but you should always get to control that. Bracing with your entire core (from abs to lower back muscles to obliques) is how you do that and maintain your neutral spine. Rollouts challenge you to brace under ever-increasing tension, and, when done correctly, they’re a terrific ab move.
But there are reasons to not rely on rollouts, plenty of them. First and foremost, for most people, the ab wheel rollout can be too difficult to actually do without arching. The rolling wheel can easily “get away” from you, so you lose control over part of the range of motion.
The second issue is even more critical: You want to train this bracing as a movement that connects your whole body, from toes up through shoulders. In a perfect world, that would mean doing a version that had you on your toes, perhaps starting in a pushup position. Most people aren’t strong enough to do this move from their toes, so they settle onto their knees. Especially if you’re a heavier lifter, this is your reality, and it’s just not training you as effectively as you might want.
Lastly, holding a narrow ab wheel with small handles can be just plain uncomfortable. If you don’t have mobile shoulders, that’s especially true, since the wheel forces your arms close, not the ideal position for your overhead movements.
Enter the plank walkout, a progression of the classic plank and an excellent substitute movement for the ab wheel rollout. Using the hands to walk your torso parallel to the ground creates a few unique benefits where the ab wheel falls short. First and foremost, this is now and equipment-free, go-anywhere move (hotel workouts!). Second, it lets you focus on training anti-extension correctly, with a flat spine, taking your time to walk out instead of battling that racing wheel. That’s a big deal.
Lastly, you have more control over the entire motion. Again, you’re no longer a prisoner of that wheel.
A post shared by @ coachleeboyce on May 11, 2020 at 9:10am PDT
Here’s the how-to:
Start in plank position, hands flat on the floor in front of you. It’s OK of your back rounds and your knees bend a bit.
Keeping the feet in the same place, begin walking the hands out away from your feet. As you get further out, let your heels raise so you’re on your tiptoes.
As you approach and move past a pushup position with your hands, be sure to keep the glutes squeezed and the abs engaged. That will help you maintain a neutral spine.
Stop when you’ve reached as far into extension as you can. This will be different for everyone. You’ve gone too far if you feel your lower back muscles instead of your ab muscles.
Hold in this extended plank position for 3 seconds. Then reverse the movement by walking your hands back to your feet. Stand up, then begin the next rep.
Do 3 sets of 5 to 8 reps.
If the name of the game is safety, while still attacking your trunk in one of the best ways possible, then look no further. As a bonus, you can expect a mean deltoid and triceps burn from putting your arms to work on these hand walks, so you can double your benefits.
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