How to do weighted planks: Simple but Effective

13 min readMar 11, 2022

If you are good at bodyweight planks, you may want to do weighted planks. In this article, we will talk about weighted plank with all the details that matter to you and that will help you boost your core strength and thicken your six-pack muscles.

So, if you think you’re ready or should incorporate planks with weights into your workout routine, you should try plank exercises with weight, whether at home or in the gym.

Weighted planks, sometimes called ‘loaded planks’, are a progression of the basic plank exercise by adding a weight such a weight plate to increase the resistance.

Table of Contents

Is weighted plank effective?

Adding weight to your plank helps build back strength and stability and greatly increases core strength.

The weighted plank is an isolated exercise. This means that it does not involve any movement. Its effect is low so you won’t irritate your joints either.

It engages the whole body and can help improve your posture. It’s a great choice for people who sit at desks all day or suffer from lower back pain.

Apart from the obvious physical strength they build, weighted planks help you feel mental strength. Holding an isometric move steady whilst resisting the body’s urge to move develops self-discipline and focus.

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How do you do weighted planks?

weighted plank

Once you can do a two-minute plank without weights, you can challenge your core strength by placing a weight plate on your back during the plank exercise.

The weighted plank can be a challenge but it will definitely boost your core strength.

Sit on your knees and place your hands on the floor in front of you, keeping your arms straight.
Get into a plank position with your forearms on the floor below your shoulder, keeping your back as flat as possible.
Place a weight plate on your back and keeping your core tight hold in this position for as long as possible.
Once you stop hold in the plank position, ask your friend to remove the weight plate.
Do twice for a better result.

Tips:

During the exercise, your body should be straight and rigid. Don’t let your lower back sag or raise your hips.
Keep your glutes and core muscles contracted.
Make sure there is some space between your shoulders and your ears. Keep your shoulders low.
To make the weighted plank easier, you can perform it on your knees instead of on your toes.

What type of weights can you use for a weighted plank?

Weight plates

Weight plates are the most popular choice because they can lie flat against your body. They are usually placed on your lower back but can also be on your glutes. Just make sure it’s in the middle. It is possible to get it on your own if you are a gym-goer on your own. But it’s much easier and safer to get a partner to place the weight. Everything is better with friends. The board you use depends on your current core strength.

A weighted vest or backpack

An easy option, especially if you’re alone, is to use a weighted vest or a backpack. Just slip it on and get into plank mode. You will feel the extra load right away and not have to worry about it slipping.

Are weighted planks good?

If you want to challenge your core strength or strengthen your core, so yes, weighted planks are good.

Weighted planks work better than bodyweight planks and will help you build a strong core, thicken your abs, and may reveal your six-pack abs.

Whether you are a bodybuilder, weightlifter, athlete, or general fitness enthusiast, having a solid build will help you perform better at weightlifting, running, and in your sport.

Who should do the weighted planks?

The short answer is everyone. But here are more in-depth details of the different athletes who can benefit from weighted planks and how.

Strength and Power Athletes

Weighted planks are a beneficial exercise for powerlifters, weightlifters, and strongman athletes. Because they increase core strength, ability to brace, and proper core stabilization and positioning needed for loaded movements like carries, squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses. In addition, it can help increase strength and muscle hypertrophy in the abdominals, obliques, and deep core muscles, all of which are active in strength lifting, power competition, and most functional fitness exercises.

Everyone Else

Weighted planks are a foundational strengthening exercise that challenges isometric control and strength of the abs, obliques, and spinal stabilizers. You can develop weighted planks to be a more challenging shape to increase dynamic core strength and functional fitness.

Reps, and Programming Recommendations

Here are two different ways to add a weighted plank to your program based on goals:

To gain core strength:

For general core strength and development, athletes can use a combination of load and non-loaded planks. Start with the recommendations below, then increase the difficulty by adding more time to your plank or increasing the weight. Do two to three sets of 45–60 seconds, resting 60–90 seconds between sets.

To improve muscle endurance:

Increased core endurance and stamina can be developed through longer duration sets and increased time in a stressed state. Try to perform two to four sets of one to two minutes, resting between 30–60 seconds. You can add planks to full-body circuits as active rest periods for more advanced training programs.

How long should you do weighted planks?

If you can hold weighted planks for five minutes, that’s very amazing.

The ideal goal to reach first is to maintain weighted planks for 120 seconds. This is a great way to see how effective your core is.

If you feel this is too challenging or not challenging enough, change the amount of time. Retreat to just 60 seconds and work your way up to 120 seconds. Or maybe go for a full two minutes if you’re feeling strong.

If you feel strong, you better keep going. Put on that plate and feel the difference.

Are 30-second weighted planks long enough?

If 120 seconds or 60 seconds seems impossible, weighted planks for 30 seconds may be the right choice for you, especially if you are a beginner.

If you’re practicing the weighted planks as if it’s your job, 30 seconds won’t be long enough to get a more advanced plank.

Anyway, 30 seconds is just right for a beginner to get started with this exercise. Once you reach 30 seconds, repeat for several days.

The key to weighted planks is that you need to challenge yourself to hold them for longer so that you can progress.

Choose the shape that works best for you and push yourself to reach 120 seconds in the end.

How much weight to start?

To start, try for about 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs).

This amount of weight should increase your fitness program immediately. You will feel the difference. Don’t stress if you can’t hold the plank for a long time. The added weight will push your limits but ultimately lead to more strength, better posture, and increased stability.

The weighted plank is your new best friend in bodyweight fitness.

What muscles do weighted planks work?

Weighted planks are an essential movement with wide applications for strength, power, fitness sports, exercise. The muscles below work in an isometric manner to support strong core growth and reinforce proper core tension and bracing capacities both with and without load.

Rectus Abdominis

The rectus abdominis muscle, known as the six-pack muscle, is automatically contracted in this exercise to resist spinal extension. They are responsible for the flexion of the spine.

Transverse Abdominals

The transverse abdominals are deeper core muscles (lower rectus abdominis) and stabilize the core during each exercise. This muscle is taxed during squats, deadlifts, and in most loaded movements.

Gluteals

Pressing the glutes (gluteus) can also help reduce hard core, and is often used in plank and other strength lifts as a cue to improve performance.

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Weighted planks benefits

Some people wonder how useful weighted planks are but adding weights to regular planks can give you some of the following amazing benefits.

1. Helps you build more muscle:

Weighted planks are a strength training exercise, which means they are mostly for improving muscle strength and endurance. Excess muscle is not only beneficial to your health in many ways but is also visually appealing.

In general, the more weight you have to move, the more muscle you will build with the exercise. This is one of the reasons why people go to the gym instead of doing bodyweight exercises at home.

As a beginner to strength training, weighted planks are a great choice for bodyweight exercise to build muscle mass. However, at some point, your body weight may stop being resistant enough to build additional muscle mass using planks. When this is the case, you can start doing plank exercises to be able to build additional muscle mass.

Weighted planks are a type of isometric exercise. In simpler words, this means that you engage your muscles more steadily, without moving much. On the other hand, you have isotonic exercises where you dynamically engage your muscles, by movement.

Isotonic exercises are generally more beneficial for building muscle. This means that other isotonic AB exercises are likely to be better than plank exercises for building larger muscles.

Keep in mind that before you can see the larger abdominal muscles, you must lose enough body fat.

2. Can improve athletic performance:

Improvement in a particular sport or exercise does not necessarily come from doing those activities more. Cross-training training in a different sport can be beneficial.

A training exercise such as the plank is performed to strengthen the core muscles. Weighted planks instead of planks only have your body weight more than that.

One study noted that 6 weeks of core strength training significantly improved 5,000m running performance compared to a non-core strength training group.

Another small study measured that a 6-week core strength training program improved performance in 50 meters front crawl swimming compared to no core strength training.

3. Helps you build fast muscle:

Not all muscles are the same, they can be made up of different types of muscle fibers. These different types have different characteristics with attendant advantages and disadvantages.

The common classification for these muscle fibers is Type 1; slow-twitch muscle, and Type 2, fast-twitch muscle. Your muscle groups are not made up of one or the other, but rather a certain ratio of type 1 versus type 2 fibers. The way you train can affect that ratio.

The type 1, slow-twitch muscle fibers are generally more useful for longer duration workouts such as jogging, swimming at a low pace, and cycling at a low pace, core activities that you can do with intensity for a long period.

Type 2, fast-twitch muscle fibers are generally more useful for a short duration, fast body movement workouts like sprints, weightlifting, javelin throwing, and basic activities that you can only do for a short period.

As a strength training exercise for beginners, weighted planks will initially help you build type 2 muscle fibers. Once you reach the point where planks begin to be a less intense exercise, they will help you build more type 1 muscle fibers. If you add external weights at this point, you can continue to build muscle fibers faster than type 2.

4. Improve osteoporosis:

Exercise can help improve and prevent osteoporosis from getting worse, which is basically the strength of your bones.

This is useful for avoiding bone fractures. Depending on your age, you might not be worried about something like that right now. However, exercising now can help you avoid bone fractures in 40 years. The things you do today have an impact on the future.

The way many parts of your body work is that by challenging them, you initiate the movement processes that strengthen those body parts. The same goes for your bones, by putting pressure on them you make them stronger in the long run.

Weighted planks put more pressure on your bones than bodyweight planks. This, in turn, will benefit your bone density in the long run.

5. Makes your planks more time-efficient:

Another benefit of weighted planks is that they can help you reduce the time it takes to get a good workout. A good workout session doesn’t necessarily have to do with duration.

For example, to build muscle, you basically want to put enough stress on your muscles for the muscle growth processes to begin. This does not necessarily take up a lot of time out of your day.

A more intense cardio workout can train your cardiovascular system in a shorter period than a single exercise at a lower intensity.

Doing weighted planks in place of bodyweight planks can help with both of these things. Even just for individuals at an intermediate strength training level bodyweight planks can take a while to feel challenging. Weighted planks are especially useful if you have difficulty finding enough time throughout the day to exercise.

6. Improves posture:

When you do planks, and even more so with weighted planks, with the right technique, you are training the muscles that are important for good posture.

Improving your posture will help you avoid related injuries. One small study even reports that open nonverbal presentations, in which good posture helps, are attractive.

Keep in mind that the abdominal muscles are not the only muscles that are important for good posture. Other muscles like your back muscles and even your butt muscles also play a role. You can do a lot of abdominal exercises and still have bad posture.

Do weighted planks help with abs?

The answer is absolutely yes, thanks to weighted planks. First, you need to master and strengthen regular planks like the high plank and forearm plank, you may be wondering if there is some way to make it more challenging, without adding movement or making variations in the mix.

So correct posture while performing weighted planks is more important than the time you hold the plank for or the weight you add to challenge yourself. Adding weights to your usual planks will help improve lung capacity, back strength, and stability, as well as energize and strengthen your core and help you burn extra belly fat.

Conclusion

Overall, it’s amazing that you can get so many important benefits from making a single change to your plank exercise routine.

One thing to remember is that while there are benefits to weighted planks, your risk of injury is generally higher as well. Make sure your plank technique is good before adding weights, and pay extra attention to technique when adding weights.

Especially if you’re a beginner or intermediate exerciser, you’ll want to

start with a regular plank without any extra weights and build up from there. Once you feel that you can start doing weighted planks, you can start with lower weights first, and if all goes well, move on to higher weights.

If you feel pain in any part of the body, it may be a sign that you are overdoing it. In this case, you may need some rest, better lifestyle habits, a lower intensity workout schedule, or it could be a sign that plank exercises with weighted planks are not right for you.

Also, keep in mind that consistency is a big factor for an exercise plan. The more you like the exercise you do, the easier it is to do it consistently. If you love doing weighted planks, this is great. If not regular planks, plank alternatives, and other exercises can also offer a lot of benefits.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I add weight to plank?

A weighted plank is when you add weight to your upper back once you are in a plank position and hold it for as long as possible.

Where should weighted planks be placed?

They are usually placed on your lower back but can also be on your glutes. Just make sure it’s in the middle. It is possible to get it on your own if you are a gym-goer on your own.

Is weighted plank safe?

The answer is absolutely yes, thanks to weighted planks providing a way to increase density, according to Aaron Leventhal, CSCS, trainer, and owner of Fit Studio in Minneapolis.

How much weight do you gain doing a plank?

The plank is indeed a great full-body move, but you can make plank exercises more challenging by adding props to your workout. And I don’t need anything fancy: the small weight of 1–3 pounds will do the trick. Keeping it light ensures that your shoulders do not strain and can maintain proper form.

Are weighted planks good for abs?

It will definitely define your abs to the fullest and help you get the perfect abs. It makes you feel stronger in other exercises and you will feel more balanced than before. The planks target all your major core muscles and prevent any kind of spinal or back injury especially if you like to lift weights.

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Originally published at https://stepbyfitness.com/ on 11 March 2022