June 28, 2025, 3:35 pm | Read time: 5 minutes
Join our 30-day plank challenge! It’s a great opportunity to enhance core muscles, as well as overall body stability and coordination. With just one minute a day, you can make significant progress in a month. Personal trainer and FITBOOK expert Alina Bock explains the benefits.
The plank, known in German as “Unterarmstütz,” not only trains the visible abdominal muscles but also many other core muscles that protect the body and ensure a stable center. This stability is crucial for our health and well-being. With just one minute of planking per day, you can benefit your entire body. And what is ideal for starting a new fitness routine? That’s right, a challenge that sparks ambition. So let’s get started with our plank challenge.
Overview
The Right Technique
To benefit from the 30-day plank challenge, you must first master the correct technique. It’s often mistakenly assumed that you only need to rest your forearms and toes. However, the most important aspect is maintaining abdominal tension throughout the exercise to make it truly effective:
- First, get into position: Place your forearms parallel on the ground. You can either form fists and place them sideways or lay your palms flat on the ground.
- Now the key part: tighten your abs. Pull your navel inward and tilt your pelvis toward the ground. The lower back should appear slightly rounded from the outside. You should feel the abdominal tension even before lifting your body.
- Now lift your body off the ground and hold it like a plank. If the classic plank is too challenging, you can perform it on your knees.
- For added tension: While in the plank position, create the sensation that your elbows want to pull toward your toes and vice versa. This compresses the body and significantly increases abdominal tension.
The Plank Trains More Than Just the Abs
Do you think the plank only trains the abdominal muscles? Then you’re mistaken. While the exercise is often associated with the visible abs, the so-called six-pack, planks also engage numerous other muscles that are part of the core:
- rectus abdominis (straight abdominal muscles)
- external oblique (oblique abdominal muscles)
- transverse abdominis (deep abdominal muscles)
- erector spinae (back extensors)
Additionally, the following muscles support:
- gluteus maximus (gluteal muscles)
- deltoideus (shoulder muscles)
- latissimus dorsi (broad back muscles)
- trapezius (trapezius muscles)
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Benefits of the 30-Day Plank Challenge
Have you avoided planks but love new challenges? Then we hope to entice you with our plank challenge and encourage you to make this effective bodyweight exercise part of your fitness routine. You would benefit in multiple ways. With the numerous muscles that the plank trains, a host of advantages come along.
Planks Enhance Overall Core Stability
Regular plank execution promotes the collaboration of various muscles through the activation and engagement of intra- and intermuscular coordination. This leads to strengthening the stability of the entire core.
A strengthened and stable core positively impacts other exercises where stability is a prerequisite. Such exercises include squats, deadlifts, hip lifts, shoulder presses, and many more.
A Stable Core Reduces Injury Risk in Other Exercises
The stronger the core, the lower the risk of injury, especially in the back area. Particularly in exercises like deadlifts, squats, or standing strength exercises such as shoulder presses with a barbell, mastering the plank helps generate and maintain crucial abdominal tension while avoiding a hollow back.
A Strong Core Alleviates Back Pain
People who spend most of their day sitting due to their job often suffer from back pain. This is because a poor posture at the desk, where one leans forward and rounds the back, overstretches the lower back and underactivates the abdominal muscles. This leads to overloading the intervertebral discs, which can result in a bulging disc or even a herniated disc after years of incorrect loading.
To counteract this, you should strengthen both the visible and deeper abdominal muscles. The plank is ideal for this.
Planks Strengthen the Pelvic Floor
Building abdominal tension as described activates and trains the pelvic floor. Those who complete our plank challenge and perform the exercise for one minute over 30 days can expect to strengthen the deep muscles, including the pelvic floor. Functions such as continence, upright posture, and stability can be enhanced.
The Plank Can Be Done Anytime, Anywhere
Another advantage of the plank is its flexibility in terms of location and time. The plank can be performed without equipment, whether in the gym, at home, or even during work breaks. Anytime and quickly. All you need is some motivation, perhaps a mat, and a minute! There are no more excuses to start. The plank challenge can begin.