Table of Contents
The wall plank is a standing core exercise where you place your hands on a wall at shoulder height, step back, and hold your body in a straight line from ear to shoulder, hip, knee and ankle. It is the safest way for beginners and seniors to build core strength before progressing to a floor plank. The standing wall plank is one of the core exercises in my Strengthen Your Core program and my online course, Building a Stronger Core.
Standing Wall Plank Benefits
My clinical opinion is that everyone will benefit from the standing wall plank (or any well executed plank, for that matter).
Here are five primary benefits from the standing wall plank exercise:
- First, the standing wall plank is a great starter (or restarter if you are just returning) exercise to reinforce proper postural alignment that you will take into your daily activities, whether that is opening a door or lifting an object. Your push and pull activities will be easier and safer.
- Second, the standing wall plank creates resistance in your abdominal region and allows you to build core strength.
- Third, it is safe for the spine and can be done by most anyone.
- Fourth, it engages your shoulder musculature as you push into the wall. This allows you to build upper body strength that you can take into daily activities like opening and closing doors.
- Fifth, the weight bearing through the wrists, forearms and upper arms benefits the bones in those areas. If you cannot weight bear through the wrist when you do the standing wall plank, then use your forearms to support you. The result? The bones in your forearm will feel the effects and benefit from the stress.
Follow the video below and find the standing wall plank that is best for you. Use the follow-on planks to progress your plank portfolio and get stronger.
How to Do a Plank the Right Way
Doing the plank the right way means finding the right plank for you. The plank develops strength in your inner core musculature, your transverse abdominis, the deepest layer of your abdominal muscles. But with good form and good posture, a plank does much more than that. You can strengthen your deep shoulder muscles and work on hip and ankle stabilization at the same time.
In my clinical practice, I think of a plank as a transition. It trains you to hold a good body position so that you can move on to more difficult exercises safely. That is why I teach the plank as a progression of five levels, from the wall all the way down to the floor. Start at the level that challenges you without breaking your form, and progress from there.
In the video below I demonstrate all five levels.
Your Form Checklist for Every Plank
Whatever level you work at, check these points every time:
- Keep your ear, shoulder, hip, knee and ankle in a straight line.
- Place your hands shoulder width apart, with your arms at roughly 90 degrees to your body.
- Bear weight evenly through your hands.
- Keep your shoulder blades neutral. Do not let them collapse together, and do not over-round them apart. We tend to over-round when we rely on the superficial rectus abdominis instead of the deep core.
- On lower surfaces, keep your weight through the balls of your feet, spread evenly from the big-toe knuckle to the little-toe knuckle (the first and fifth metatarsal heads).
- Gently tuck your tummy. Do not let your hips sag.
- Keep your elbow and knee joints soft, or unlocked, whenever your arms or legs are extended.
A cue I use with my clients: imagine a yardstick along your back touching the back of your head, the middle of your thoracic spine, and your sacrum. All three points stay in contact.
Level 1: The Wall Plank
If you have never done a plank before, start at the wall. Place your hands on the wall shoulder width apart, step back, and hold your body in one straight line. If your wrists do not love the position, you can make a fist and bear weight through your knuckles, wear winter mitts, or place padding under your hands to reduce the extension at the wrist.
Level 2: Plank on a Counter or Stairs
If the wall plank feels good but you do not feel a challenge through your core, look for a lower surface at about belly button height. Your kitchen counter works nicely. If you have stairs, this is somewhere around the fourth or fifth step, depending on your height. As the surface gets lower, step back a little further and shift your weight onto the balls of your feet.
Level 3: Plank on a Chair
The next lower surface most of us have at home is a chair. As you set up, send your buttocks back and bend your knees enough to align your spine, so your posture is perfect before you even enter the plank. Hands under your shoulders, step back onto the balls of your feet, and gently tuck your tummy. If you add challenges at this height, bring your hands a little closer to the midline of the chair so you can trust the chair and know you are safe.
Level 4: Plank on the Floor
Most people see a plank on the floor as the ultimate goal. I see it differently. A plank is truly just a transition to being able to do a more difficult exercise using a good body position. By the time you reach the floor, you have trained your shoulders to hold you in a neutral position without rounding or collapsing, and your deep core, hips and ankles are all doing their job.
If your shoulders are your weak point, you can make any plank more challenging by coming down onto your forearms, whether from chair height or on the floor.
Level 5: Elevate and Challenge Your Plank
Once the floor plank is solid, you can raise your feet a couple of inches and build up from there, introduce controlled movement, or add unstable surfaces such as the stability ball variations later in this post. You can also lift one hand, then the other, or one foot, then the other. When you lift one foot, the supporting ankle, the supporting hip, and the hip holding the raised leg all work harder, and your whole core works harder with them. You can even combine an opposite arm and leg lift.
Make the plank work for you.
When Should You Progress to the Next Plank Level?
You do not need to hold a plank indefinitely. Planks are static holds, so you are building endurance. Build your endurance at each level in stages:
- Hold for 5 seconds; repeat six times.
- Hold for 10 seconds; repeat three times.
- Hold for 15 seconds; repeat two times.
- Hold for 30 seconds, once.
- Hold for 30 seconds; repeat two times.
- Hold for 30 seconds; repeat three times.
When you can easily perform three consecutive 30-second holds, with 30-second rests between each hold, you are ready to consider the next challenge level. Success at each step is how you ensure safe progression. If in doubt, always err on the side of caution. Better to master a level that is just below your full challenge than to struggle with a pose.
If you feel stress in your back or discomfort in your shoulders, that is your body telling you that you did enough for now.
Modified Plank Options for Seniors and Beginners
Every level above the floor is a modified plank. The wall plank, the counter plank and the chair plank are not lesser versions of the “real” plank. They are the right plank for you if they are the level that challenges you while your form stays perfect. This is especially true for seniors, for anyone returning to exercise, and for people managing wrist, shoulder or balance limitations. The forearm variation and the wrist modifications in the form checklist apply at every level.
If you have osteoporosis, osteopenia or low bone density, I cover which plank and pushup variations are appropriate at each stage, and which to avoid, in my guide to planks and pushups with osteoporosis.
Standing Wall Plank with Stability Ball
Here are the instructions for the wall plank exercise with stability ball.
- Place the ball just below shoulder height.
- Point your hands in towards the wall.
- Point fingers towards the wall.
- Tuck shoulder blades down and back.
- When you stand tall, you should feel a little pressure through the shoulders because you have to hold the ball in this position.
- At this point the standing wall plank exercise does not involve a lot of core work.
- To engage your core, take a step back about six inches back.
- As you start to lean into the ball, you will feel your abdominals start to engage.
It is important at this point to stay strong through the shoulders and don’t round your back. Keep your posture in good form. Use the strength of the shoulder blades and of the rotator cuff muscles to draw the shoulders down and back.
Hold it for the duration, then step out, and back up again.
Standing Wall Plank with Stability Ball Variation
A variation of the wall plank exercise would be to make controlled movements of the ball. Control the movement of the ball in various directions:
- To the right and back to center.
- To the left and back to center.
- Up and back to center.
- Down and back to center.
You can even move up on diagonals, or make circles with the ball.
At any point, you start to feel stress in the back or any discomfort in the shoulders, that’s your body telling you that you did enough right now.
Come back and do it again in 10 seconds, 15 seconds, or 30 seconds. Those are standing wall plank exercise variations that you can do with the ball up against the wall.
Free Osteoporosis Exercise Course
Get my 7-day email course: the safest exercises to start after an osteoporosis diagnosis. Each day you’ll receive a short lesson on how to build stronger bones. Start now.
Stronger bones in just 7 days with my free email course.
Standing Wall Plank Exercise Variation with Cushions for Support
Another standing wall plank exercise variation in my book, Strengthen Your Core, is to use the ball up onto and against a sofa.
Some of you might find it too difficult to go from the standing wall plank to one with the sofa as a support. To address this, you can double up the sofa cushions.
Forearm Wall Plank on the Stability Ball
If you find that your shoulders and wrists are really uncomfortable in this position, then, by all means, you could certainly do the plank with your forearms up against the ball.
- Position as shown in the video.
- Forearms are shoulder width apart.
- Push into the ball as you step back.
- Keep your abdominals tight.
Core Strengthening Exercises for Seniors
The standing wall plank exercise using the sofa for support is one of a number of plank core exercises from my book, Strengthen Your Core and my online course, Building a Stronger Core.
I cover several variations of this exercise in this blog post. The exercises are appropriate core strengthening exercises for seniors and beginners because they improve their core strength while allowing them to gradually increase the challenge in each variation. Let’s cover each variation.
Challenge #1
This basic challenge is a good starting core strengthening exercise for many seniors. Follow these steps:
- Take a sofa cushion and place it on top of the ottoman. Placing the extra cushion on top raises the support surface by about eight inches. The higher the surface, the gentler the plank.
- Place another sofa cushion firmly against the wall or into the back of the sofa and use the back to support the ball.
- During the gentler variation, allow the ball to rest into the back of the chair or into the back of the sofa.
- Push into the ball.
- Your fingers always push in the direction of the force.
- Your force should be directed in a diagonal direction towards the back of the chair, almost where the chair and the cushion meet.
- Engage your shoulder blades.
- You should feel the pressure.
- Take a half a step back.
- You should feel a little more weight through your shoulders.
- Control the ball and move it right and left.
- You do not have to control all the directions of the ball because it’s resting up against the back of the sofa (or wall).
Challenge #2
You can make any of the core strengthening exercises for seniors more challenging when you pull the ball away from the back of the sofa.
In this variation, you have to control the ball when it is sitting slightly away from the back of the sofa. The back of the sofa is there in case you need backup. Here are the instructions for this variation:
- Shift the stability ball forward away from the back of the sofa and rest it unsupported.
- Step back.
- Now your shoulders have a much greater load because you have to control the ball.
- Move it back, forth, and side to side.
- This requires a lot more effort both in the abdominal wall and through the shoulders.
- You will hold your plank for the duration that is necessary for you.
- Step out (or slightly forward) and stand in a relaxed stance.
Challenge #3
Now we’re going to progress the difficulty or challenge of this core strengthening plank exercise for seniors. Here are the instructions:
- Remove the sofa pillow on top of the sofa or ottoman. This will lower the height by about eight inches.
- Put the ball up against the back of the sofa.
- Make sure that everything feels good and that you are in control. You should be able to hold this for the duration of your pose.
- When you are comfortable you can add to the challenge.
- Move the ball two inches away from the back of the sofa.
- Fingers are pointing down in the direction of your force.
- You do not want your force going back or else that’s where the ball is going to go.
- You want the force to be where you want the ball to stay.
- Step back and draw your shoulder blades down and back.
- Draw your hands firmly into the ball, long through the back of the neck.
- If you wanted an additional challenge whether at this height or the other height, you can start gently rocking the ball to the left, to the right, even towards the back but don’t bring it too far this way in case it goes off the sofa.
Challenge #4
Here is another variation of the core strengthening exercises for seniors and beginners. If you are comfortable with the plank and want to add a challenge for the hip girdle or for your ankle, you could always transfer the weight to one foot and lift the other foot.
- Lift your left foot off the floor.
- If you’re not comfortable actually lifting the foot off, just the act of transferring the weight to one foot to one side and then transferring the weight to the other side adds to a great challenge that can be incorporated within this plank.
Those are ideas for taking this plank and creating other variations of it. It is really only limited by your imagination.
Strengthen Your Core
Strengthen Your Core is an exercise program designed for people at all levels to develop their core strength. There are over seventy poses presented in the program at four different levels: Beginner, Active, Athletic and Elite. The seventy poses have many variations. So the possibilities for you are almost endless!
But Strengthen Your Core is not about quantity of poses. There is one ideal pose for you and a progression of poses that will build your core strength. The goal of Strengthen Your Core is to find that ideal pose for you.
Stronger bones in just 7 days with our free email course.
Get my 7-day email course: the safest exercises to start after an osteoporosis diagnosis.
Stronger bones in just 7 days with my free email course.
FAQs: Wall Plank Exercise
What is a wall plank?
A wall plank is a standing core exercise where you place your hands on a wall shoulder width apart, step your feet back, and hold your body in a straight line from ear to shoulder, hip, knee and ankle. It strengthens the deep core muscles, including the transverse abdominis, along with the shoulders. It is the safest entry point to plank training for beginners and seniors.
How do you do a wall plank?
Place your hands on a wall at shoulder height and shoulder width apart, with your arms at roughly 90 degrees to your body. Step back until your body forms one straight line, keep your shoulder blades neutral, and gently tuck your tummy. Hold with good form, then step back in and stand tall.
How long should you hold a wall plank?
Hold only as long as you can keep perfect form. Planks build endurance, so progress in stages: from six 5-second holds, to three 10-second holds, to two 15-second holds, and up to three 30-second holds. When you can easily perform three consecutive 30-second holds with 30-second rests between them, you are ready for the next challenge level.
Are wall planks effective?
Yes. A wall plank creates resistance through your abdominal wall and builds strength in your deep core, shoulders, hips and ankles, provided you hold good alignment. For many people it is more effective than a poorly performed floor plank, because good form is what makes a plank work.
What is the difference between a wall plank and a floor plank?
The exercise is the same; the angle is different. The more upright you are, the less of your body weight your core and shoulders have to support, which makes the wall plank the gentlest version and the floor plank the most demanding. Progressing from wall to counter to chair to floor lets you increase the load gradually while keeping the same form.
What is a modified plank?
A modified plank is any plank variation that reduces the load to match your current strength, such as a wall plank, a counter plank, a chair plank, or a forearm plank. Modified planks use the same straight-line body position as a floor plank. They are the appropriate starting point for most beginners and seniors.
Are planks safe for seniors?
Yes, when done at the right level. An inclined plank against a wall, counter or chair is safe for the spine and appropriate for most seniors. Start at the wall and progress to lower surfaces only when you can hold good form.
Are planks safe if you have osteoporosis?
In most cases, yes. Modified planks are generally safe with osteoporosis when performed with a neutral spine and without breath holding, and wall and table progressions are the entry point, with full floor variations a goal rather than a starting place. Active vertebral fractures, severe kyphosis, and wrist problems are clear reasons to avoid standard floor variations. See my full guide to planks and pushups with osteoporosis for which variations are appropriate at each stage.
How often should you do planks?
Planks do not need to be part of your exercise program more than twice a week. Do them at the end of your routine so your abdominals are not fatigued before other exercises that need their support. Once a plank level has become easy for you, you can incorporate it into a daily routine.
What if planks hurt my wrists?
Reduce the bend at your wrists by placing a folded facecloth under the fleshy part of your hands, using dumbbells or push-up bars as hand supports, or bearing weight through your knuckles with your wrists neutral. Spread your fingers wide with weight through the knuckles of your index and little fingers. If weight bearing through the wrists is still too uncomfortable, do your planks from your forearms instead.
Margaret Martin
Further Readings
Comments