Believe to Achieve

4:05... impressive

now i've got motivation for tonight's...

let the pain ensue...

4:05, Extremely impressive to say the least! 2:05 is absolutely exhausting for me, so I cannot even imagine holding it for two additional minutes.

4:05! go julie go! i have a feeling this 5:00 thing isn't going to take long for you to reach.

does a straight arm barefoot plank for 5:03 count? It felt pretty miserable. No worries this was a trial. I was trying to compare as my friend Kim said straight arms was harder and I disagreed but never had done one. They are pretty close but I think elbows may be harder still. Different muscles in the arms used to stabilize. What are your opinions?

Nevels, you must be at 10:00 planks by now, right?

Julie, I'll give the straight-arm plank a try. With my wingspan, it's probably going to be even more brutal for me, but we shall see. I cannot imagine something worse than the plank and I'm just hoping to get half-way to 5:00. Seriously, I'm extremely impressed by anyone that can do 3:00 (right now, for me a 30 miler would be less exhausting than 3:00) and 5:00 is just out of this world. You'll get to 5:00 before long!

I am counting my straight plank for 5:03 now since Allie said it was more difficult : D. But I still think it may be subjective so I MUST also do 5 for the elbow type.

Oh and GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!!

well since you upped the ante, i guess i'll take a stab at the straight-armed plank tonight after the run.

(eerily reminiscent of exercises my track/xc coach had us do when we would do pushups, but she would call out "up...down...", and occasionally hold us in one or the other... the down position is torture...)

I attempted the straight-arm plank after work and held it for 2:30 which would have been a PR in the forearm position. Plus, I could have probably held it for another ten seconds. I was surprised I could hold this one for a longer period of time. Also, I think it's easier to cheat a little bit in this position since you can temporally relieve the pain by adjusting your arms. My conclusion is that you can go for a longer period of time with the straight-arm plank, but it’s more dangerous (i.e., I was shaking so bad I almost sprained my wrist).

I agree about the "cheating" as I lowered myself just a 1/2 inch by bending my elbows out to relieve the intense shaking but still maintained form... however I still SHOOK INTENSELY, it just felt easier for two seconds : D. My shoulders took on a lot of the stress. 24 hours later they were sure sore.

nevels, whenever I think of track coaches, I feel like quitting so I don't reminisce anymore. Those were tough times. I was so NOT good at track. I "survived" it and only ran because my friends did. Funny, none of them run anymore.