This 10-Minute Plank Workout Will Fire Up Your Core in 5 Moves

Planks—and even harder plank variations—are an effective, full-body move that doesn’t require a lot of space, fancy equipment, or a gym membership. Each move shifts your center of gravity and forces your abdominals, arms, back, and glutes to stabilize your body.

To help you become a plank pro, we had a fitness trainer share a 10-minute, five-move plank sequence, which includes several variations on the standard plank position. Can’t get enough planks? Another fitness expert shares their favorite plank exercises, too. Keep reading the only plank workouts you’ll need.

• Stacey Lei Krauss is a fitness trainer, registered yoga teacher, and founder and creator of the Cardio Yoga program.
• Kirsten Brown is a Fitness Manager at Crunch Fitness.

10-Minute Plank Routine

Stacey Lei Krauss, registered yoga teacher and founder and creator of the Cardio Yoga program, came up with this sequence to achieve stronger core muscles, improved balance, and a true sense of accomplishment. To get started, simply clear a space on the floor. Complete the entire cycle three times per week, taking 30 seconds between each move to roll your wrists and shoulders.

Standard Plank

Jason Lee

Targets: Abdominals

• Begin on all fours, with hands directly under shoulders, knees, and feet hip-distance apart and fingers spread out. If you’re a beginner, rest on your forearms instead. (This also applies to all subsequent exercises.)
• Tuck toes underneath feet so that all 10 toes lie flat. Extend your legs and push up your hips so your body is in a straight line from shoulders to heels.
• Draw in your abs, squeeze your glutes, and keep your head in a neutral position in line with your spine. Hold for 30 seconds. Don’t forget to breathe!

(For a more in-depth refresher here’s how to do a proper plank.)

Flutter Feet

Jason Lee

Targets: Abs, glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps

• Begin in the standard plank position.
• Lift your right leg 3 inches off the floor, point your toes, and keep your leg straight. With your torso completely still, gently and quickly pulse your leg up and down five times, firing up your glutes, hamstrings, and quad muscles.
• Return to the starting position. This is one rep. Repeat nine times, then switch sides and do 10 more.

Cross-Body Plank

Jason Lee

Targets: Obliques

• Begin in the standard plank position.
• Lift your right leg 3 inches off the floor, point your toes, and draw your right knee toward your chest and diagonally across your body until your knee taps your left elbow (or your left armpit if you’re resting on your forearms).
• Return to the starting position. Repeat nine times, then switch sides and do 10 more.

Falling Leaf

Jason Lee

Targets: Shoulders

• Begin in the standard plank position.
• With your abs engaged, rotate your right shoulder and hip up toward the ceiling in one fluid movement, twisting your feet so that the inside of your right foot and the outside of your left foot rest on the floor. Extend your arm so that it’s pointing toward the ceiling.
• Return to the starting position. Repeat four times, then switch sides and do five more.

Heart-to-Heart

Jason Lee

Targets: Back muscles and triceps

• Begin in a modified version of the standard plank position.
• Place your feet several inches wider than hip distance apart and your hands underneath your chest. Turn your hands slightly toward each other so that your thumbs and index fingers touch to form an upside-down heart.
• Use your toes to push your body and rock forward so that the center of your chest aligns with the heart formed by your hands. Keep your chest, back, and triceps engaged and hold for 30 seconds. It’s a very subtle movement that packs a serious punch.

Bonus Plank Workout Moves

Kirsten Brown, a fitness manager at Crunch Fitness, loves planks for their effectiveness. “The plank is an isometric core strength exercise that requires maintaining the body in a straight, in-line position. It is the isometric part of the definition that makes this exercise so hard, which involves the static contraction of a muscle without any visible movement,” says Brown.

These plank variations, including the standard push-up, are Brown’s favorites. Try one at a time or mix them up to create your own 10-minute routine.

Mountain Climbers

“Mountain climbers, also known as running planks, target the full body while also adding a cardio component to the plank,” says Brown.

Targets: Full body

• Begin in a plank position with hands and toes on the floor. Hands should be directly under shoulders with head relaxed and looking at the floor.
• Engage the abdominals by drawing up the navel towards the spine, keeping the torso and the body in a neutral spine position from top to bottom.
• Pull one knee into the chest as far as possible without losing the plank position. Once the knee is drawn in, switch legs by extending the leg back out and pulling the opposite knee in towards the chest.
• Keeping the hips down the entire time, run the knees toward the chest as far and fast as possible without losing position.

Shoulder Taps

Targets: Core

• Begin in a plank position.
• Keeping the shoulders nice and relaxed in the plank position, bring the palm of one hand to the opposite shoulder without moving the hips from the parallel position.
• Return the hand to the starting position before reaching the other hand to the opposite shoulder.

Note: This particular plank requires more oblique stability in order to stabilize the hips throughout the movement.

Plank Up-Downs

Targets: Core

• Begin in a high plank position.
• With feet hip-width apart or slightly wider, bend the left arm, placing the left elbow on the mat before following suit with the right arm.
• Now place the left hand on the mat, straighten the left arm before placing the right hand on the mat, followed by the right arm.
• Switch sides and repeat this up-down movement, again being careful to keep the hips parallel to the ground and the spine in neutral.

Push-Up

Targets: Triceps, pectoral muscles, and shoulders.

• Begin in the plank position.
• Making sure the abs are contracted and tightened, take a deep inhale as you slowly bend your elbows and lower the entire body towards the floor.
• Exhale and contract the chest muscles pressing up through the hands back to the starting position and repeat.

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