In this video I show you how to take a simple exercise like the plank and put it through a 3 dimensional make over.

Most people just think of core as the abdominals but it is much more than that.

Years ago this was brought home to me when I pulled a muscle in-between my ribs. It meant that I couldn’t do a sit up, or a plank. It meant I couldn’t hang on a bar, it meant I couldn’t throw a ball and it meant I couldn’t cough without pain. All those movements involve the “core”, so now I think of core muscles as any muscle used in in moving the pelvis or the trunk. So, when we really think about it, core muscles can be any muscles between the toes and the nose.

Try these plank exercises. You’ll notice when I give an exercise a 3D make over I start in the sagittal plane. This is the most familiar movement to most of us. Then I move into the frontal plane. This one is, again, familiar to us but to a lesser extent. Lastly, I take the movements into the transverse plane or rotation. Our body usually isn’t as strong in this plane and can lack coordination there, so be careful when you try something for the first time.

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