Are Side Planks Worth It?

Cory Cripe, DVRT Master (Fitness Lying Down)

I was never impressed with the side plank exercise. I thought it was dumb and something only girls did to “tone” their midsection. I’ve realized now that side planks alone are dumb, it’s just that they were incomplete.

There wasn’t anything to connect the lower body to the upper body. And that’s what the core is all about, isn’t it? Making those connections – especially those cross-connections. Well, to find out that if I can effectively use an Ultimate Sandbag to make those connections the side plank is no longer incomplete, but now has significant value in anyone’s training!

When we can connect one side of our lower body with the opposite side of our upper body there is a whole new level of brain/body connection not even Chuck Woolery from the Love Connection can compete with!

Now what common activity seems to run parallel with using your leg and opposite arm? Walking! And though it’s important to revisit the ground with this important DVRT drill, your training shouldn’t end there. We need to allow the benefits of the USB side planks to have carry-over into our everyday lives.

I’d like to talk about a very popular, some say the most functional exercise: weighted carries. Whether the weight is on your shoulder, or in your hands. Whether you are carrying with one hand, or two. The side plank using the USB will make you better at weighted carries – and let’s not just stop there! How many times in your day are you carrying something from one location to another? And, more often than not, the weight isn’t balanced on both sides which will create more stress on that cross-pattern!

Take home message…if you want to walk better while carrying something, get good at the different side plank variations with The Ultimate Sandbag. Include them in your movement prep/warm-up or superset them when you are planning to do your weighted carries! So many movement benefits waiting for you to discover!

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