Life With Elisa: Yoga Asana Series

Phalakasana

(Pah - la - KAHS - anna)

Yes this is also a yoga pose :) One that some of us have a love/hate relationship with! Especially when the teacher says when you enter the pose "We are staying here for 10 breathes"

So why is the plank a toughy to us mentally? We are just holding our own body weight?
Isn't it funny how as we delve deeper into the yoga asanas, we find out and will see in future posts how challenging using our own body weight can be. No gym membership, no crazy routines, simply using our own body as our machine to help strengthen and lengthen. So cool.

I remember when I was living in Australia, I was down at the beach for a walk and there were a group of guys using the outdoor gym (we have it here in Ireland but not as well laid out or useful in my opinion). One guy commented how hard he was finding the workout and all they were using was their own body weight! So become comfortable with being uncomfortable until the day that hard poses to you now become easy poses!

Okay back to the point Elisa.... PLANK! Also known as top of a push up and the introduction to the infamous chaturanga 😀

Alot goes in this this simple isometric hold. An isometric hold is when the muscle does not move during an exercise, a static contraction of the muscle.

It is a strong posture and one a lot of people practice without correct form. The hip dips, one arm is stronger than the other, sore wrists, sore legs, it's a challenging pose.

Before we go into the anatomy of this posture, let's find out the

Benefits:

it works your entire body
strengthens core abdominal muscles
strengthens arms, wrists, shoulders and lower back
its bad ass when you can hold it for a long time!!!

I have a dodgy left wrist so coming up is a tip from me to you!

💡 I try to foam roll my arms before class. I had a sports massage recently and my chest and arms were soooooo tight. So now, I try to roll the muscles in my arms before a yoga class or even the gym to heat the muscles and loosen them out. A sore wrist could be from a trapment in the shoulder or elbow or even just from tight forearms!

Get one of these balls. They're called peanut balls 😊 or you can use a tennis/lacrossee ball. And just roll your arm up and down it. Finding any pressure points and hold on them to release the tension.

I could start a whole new topic about foam rolling but lets get back to our plank 😂

Anatomy:

In our plank pose we are aiming for a straight spine. As you can see in the below picture, everything is in line nicely. No rotation anywhere, no pelvic tilts. Straight and solid. This is the aim.

There are a few problems that can arise with this pose:

Dipping hips down which is tragic for your lower back.
Dipping the torso causing a hallow in the upper back. This is also tragic for the shoulders and could potentially cause issues if not performed correctly.
Hyper Extending the elbows. Hyperextension means when a limb/joint can go beyond it's normal limit or range of movement. I have hyperextension in my elbows and I have to be very careful so anyone out there with flexi elbows, keep a slight bend always. I will start reminding you throughout this series of when Hyperextension can occur.

(Plank with bad form)

We want to lift the hips always focusing on a straight spine, straight body from heels to head. Pushing the mat away from you, pushing heels back and gazing down. Lifting up through your upper back.

It can be quite a tough on the wrists especially if you have a sore one so remember what I told you above, try foam rolling your forearm if you suffer from pain. It helps me!

Muscles:

The arm has muscles that we all tend to forget about. I bet you didn't really ever think of the muscles in your arms huh?

(Top view)

(Under view)

Holding planks both on the hands and on our forearms will help increase the strength in our arm and shoulder muscles along with the rest of our body 😄 But AGAIN, we have to stretch and release tension in our arms like an other body part!! I will do a post on foam rolling. It's a very interesting topic.

Plank pose turns on all of our muscles, and it sure feels like it. Shoulders, upper back, arms, abdominals, lower back, legs, feet, everything is working to keep the body in a straight line.

As you can see in the below (not so great) photo, we are contracting ALOT of muscle during a plank.

Forearms
Triceps
Abdominals
Traps
Lower back
Glutes
Hamstrings
Calves
Achilles
Quads

What an amazing pose to build strength all over.

To make this pose easier, you can always drop to your knees while still engaging everything.

The best way to get into correct alignment while on your knees is to come into full plank and set yourself up, then drop you knees without moving anything else. This way everything is still engaged and in correct alignment with just a little bit of weight taken off.

So into our checklist:

Toes tucked heels pressing back

Legs engaged with a minor bend in the knees if required

Soft glutes (bum)

Tailbone and pubic bone drawing slightly back (this will happen once you engage the heels back too)

Abdominals lightly engaged (This helps support your back and reduce any curve in the spine)

Shoulder blades drawing back

Chest extending forward

Back of the neck long

Breath:

Breath is a massive issue with isometric holds. People tend to hold their breathe. So within plank pose keep your breath as natural as possible allowing fresh oxygen into your body.

And that's it. Practice practice practice.