Belly up to belly down. Contraction versus isometry. Rep against time. Turtle against ...?
No: while training the same muscle district, crunch and plank are not the same.
So the question you can ask yourself is: which ones do I include in training?
Index
The crunch, the abs standard
Enduring symbol of abdominal training, the crunch consists of a shortening-stretching of the muscles: that of the rectus abdominis. Posted over the centuries at the end of millions of gym cards, the crunch has represented the "abdominal training" par excellence for several decades.
Obsessively performed by some, shunned with elegance and scientificity by others.
My favorite excuse: however, today with deadlifts and squats I have already done the abs.
His majesty of patience, the plank
A completely different world, that of the plank. We are as part of isometric training: the muscle in question is contracted, but maintains the same length for the entire duration of the execution.
Elbows safely resting on the ground, static position, which never will be.
After that, there are the jokes: do you want to know what it feels like in eternity? Do plank for more than a minute.
And if you think the men's plank world record is 4 hours, 19 minutes and 55 seconds, well.
variants
There are many variations of crunch and plank. You can overload the former, or you can spice them with lateral movements, for example. The plank can be carried sideways, or made more difficult by squeezing muscles only geographically away from the abdomen (it is the RKC plank).
In any case, the large number of variations makes it difficult to make an effective calculation of the training quality of these two exercises.
Scientific data
The rectus abdominis - your future tortoise - it is most active during the crunch. The obliques - very useful, among other things, for use the core as a solid container for the spine - they are more active during the plank.
At the level of "risk", if you can talk so, the two exercises are equivalent, and if you want to dodge the sets of abs, I have bad news for you: neither is dangerous!
Net that you do not have medical problems in the lower back: in this case, it's a whole different kettle of fish.
The spine is not as fragile as we have been led to believe for a long time: it simply needs to be treated in the right way. Anyhow, neither crunches nor planks offer an opportunity for this injuries.
So, what do I choose between crunch and plank?
It goes for everything, but for the abs even more: DO IT!
To train the core there are several exercises available - which do not end in crunches and plank. The secret is to do them all, alternate combinations of exercises and sets and rep patterns, adding overloads, modulating recovery times, and so on.
The abdominals in fact benefit from various, intense, "long" workouts.
The important thing, in fact, is to make them.
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