Rotational Stability of The Trunk

Rotational Stability of The Trunk

 

The Super Plank is a great trunk stabilization technique.  It actually requires you to maintain a stable trunk while transitioning from a static position, 'dynamically' to another static position.  At the point of incorporating this activity into your program, you should have no problem maintaining static trunk positions.  The challenge here is dynamic stabilization.  You are moving from the Low Plank position to the High Plank position with minimal trunk rotation.   

 

Start Position: Low Plank

 I transfer my body weight onto my right arm in order to change the position of my left arm to the high plank position.  With this, a rotational load is placed on my trunk

Incorrect: This would need a correction, as you can see my left hip is no longer "squared-off" with the ground.  I gave in to the rotational force

Correct High Plank Position

Incorrect High Plank Position: I am in a jacknifed position rather than a high plank position

Transition from High Plank to Low Plank: Here, I transfer my bodyweight onto my right arm in order to reposition my left arm into a low plank position without losing the "squared-off" hip position with the ground

Incorrect transition of High Plank to Low Plank.  My right hip is higher than my left hip.  Both hips should be level and parallel to the ground

If you see your client performing the Super Plank technique with any of the "incorrect" behaviors mentioned above, attempt to correct them verbally or manually.  If they can not correct it, then this may be too advanced at this time.  Check out the previous posts for less aggressive stability techniques to master prior to returning to the Super Plank