7 Plank Exercises For Seniors

7 Plank Exercises For Seniors

I'm going to demonstrate all 7 exercises on the floor.  Keep in mind though, if you can't get on or off the floor, you can just as easily do these exercises on a bed.

However, I'd suggest if you have the ability to get up and down from the floor that you do the exercises on the floor. By getting on and off the floor regularly, you maintain your ability to get up and down from the floor.

1. Half Plank

The half plank is the easiest of all of the plank exercises for seniors in this post.

For this exercise, you're going to be kneeling on your knees.

If you have trouble kneeling on your knees, you can use a rolled-up yoga mat like as padding.

Kneel on the yoga mat but not with the mat just under the top of your shins so that your kneecap is hanging a little bit off of the front.

This way, your pressure goes through the shins rather than through the knees.

Brace on your forearms as shown in the picture above.

You want your shoulders to be directly over top of your elbows. If your shoulders are too far in front or too far behind your elbows, you're going to have to use your shoulder muscles a lot more to stabilize.

Try to maintain a direct line between your shoulder and your pelvis.

Ideally, you want shoulders, pelvis, and knees to all be in alignment.  However, that may not be possible, especially if you have tight hip flexors.

Tighten your tummy muscles and flatten your lower back out.

Then squeeze your glute (buttock) muscles to try to push your hips as far down towards the floor as you can without allowing your back to arch.

Try to hold this for at least 30 seconds working up to a minute or more.

2. Knee Push-Up

For the second exercise, you're going to come down to a push-up position and hinge through your knees.

This is a modified push-up, but you're also focusing on keeping your tummy muscles tight.  So it's both a core strengthening exercise as well as an arm strengthening exercise.

This exercise is also good for seniors who have osteoporosis or osteopenia. Weight-bearing through your arms actually helps to build bone density.

Try to do 10 repetitions of push-ups, working up to more if you can.

3. Full Plank

The full plank is much like the half plank except instead of being on your knees and shins, you're bracing though the toes of your feet.

This requires both more core and arm strength because you're holding a greater percentage of your body mass.

It also requires more wrist extension mobility.

If you don't have enough extension in your wrists, you can do the first exercise in this post to improve your wrist mobility.

You can also modify the plank by doing it from your fists.

I would recommend using a mat if you're going to put your knuckles on the floor just to make it a little bit more comfortable. This option can be uncomfortable though if you have arthritis in your fingers.

Again, work up to holding the plank for 30-60 seconds as you're able.

4. Full Plank Push-Up

The next plank exercise is doing a full push up.

Focus on keeping your abdominal and glute exercises engaged during the exercise.  Don't just push with your arms.

To learn more about proper push-up technique, check out this post about How To Fix Shoulder Pain From Push Ups.

5. Plank with Hip Extension

When you walk, you have to be able to extend your hip.  However, you don't want your back to arch extend your hip.

To help correct this, start from a plank position.

Alternate extending one hip backward and then the other.

Make sure to squeeze your glutes while doing this and don't allow your lower back to arch.

6. Forearm Plank

If you have too much pain putting weight on your hands but want a harder exercise than the half plank, you can return to the forearm support position.

However, this time, instead of putting your weight though your shins, support your lower body on your toes.

This is actually a harder core workout than the full plank because you're more parallel to the ground.

Still make sure to activate your glutes and abdominals throughout the exercise.

7. Forearm Plank With Hip Extension

If you can do the forearm plank without difficulty, you can add hip extensions to it just as described with a full plank.

Conclusion

So those were the 7 senior-friendly plank exercises.

Again, keep in mind you can do all of those on the bed if you can't get up and down from the floor.

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