The Look

Planking is a very hard core exercise. It consist of holding your body straight as a board, hence the term planking. There are several variations to the exercise with varying levels of difficulty. Straight planks are done on hands or elbows and either toes or knees. Side planking is one elbow/hand and one knee or with you feet "scissored". The new release of my beloved BodyPump has side planking, as does CXWorks. In these classes, due to the difficulty of the move, I have been opting for the lower level, which means I have been doing them on one elbow and one knee. 

Thursday, Kevin had me straight planking on the BOSU. BOSU is short for "both sides up". It is a half ball with a flat surface on one side. This adds instability to whatever you are trying to do. So, take a plank (which is already challenging), add instability, and your core muscles scream at you, declaring that you have lost your mind. Kevin is on the ground next to me, showing me what he is wanting me to do. He tells me he wants me to move from a straight plank to a side plank. I drop one knee and rotate up into the same side plank that I've been doing in class. Kevin (who is in a side plank of his own) cocks his head, raises an eyebrow and looks at my face, then quick glance at my knee, then back at my face. I have NEVER seen that look on Kevin's face before, and never wanna see it again. Without a word I got the message, "What are you doing? Get that knee UP!" I picked up my knee bringing my plank into one of the harder levels. Kevin gave me a half smile and a slight nod. Sigh...this is what happens when your trainer believes in you more than you believe in yourself.