What’s better for you than Forearm Plank?

Planking is all the rage these days, but many fitness experts recommend upping the ante and mastering this Beast Mode pose in a more challenging - but safer for your shoulders - way. The downside of Planking on your forearms is that your elbows trap your shoulders in a Down & In Direction, making them ripe for injury. Strong upper back muscles remain lax and out of reach., All the pressure lands in the fragile cup of your shoulder head, your Rotator Cuff.

In Yoga, we Plank from our hands. It saves your shoulders, beefs up your back, and actually engages your core MORE than using your forearms. Learn More. Recovery from Rotator Cuff tears can take months, often leaving you with a permanent range of motion loss. Shoulder injuries happen when you put a large load on the Rotator Cuff, a group of 4 small muscles designed solely to secure your arm to your body, not to carry your full upper body weight. As tough as it is to learn, we need to adopt the type of Plank Pose that recruits our larger, more capable back muscles to do the heavy lifting. Take a look at the image above. She is making progress! Her shoulders still roll downward, but no longer dangerously inward, toward her collar bones. Because her elbows are free, and not fixed, she is able to tap her Posterior Delts, Lats, and her Traps to eventually lift those shoulders up.

Unlike Forearm Plank, your elbows are key in Chaturanga Dandasana. They root directly backward from their proper position, a 90-degree angle closely-held along the sides of your body. If that’s where they are, you have all the room you need to employ your upper and middle Trapezius, as well as your enormously powerful Latissiums Dorsi to take those elbows isometrically backward, simultaneously lifting your shoulder heads up with your Posterior Delts, significantly protecting the vulnerable attachments of your Rotator Cuff. Doing Low Plank in this way builds tremendous back and core strength, thickens bone mass in your upper body, and protects your shoulders from spurs, tendonitis, and tears.

It’s Tough! Yes, it is. I won’t lie. But totally worth it!

Have a look at the poor girl in the image above. Her elbows are in the right place, why can’t she press up? What’s missing? Cassical Hatha Yoga, the Old School kind, teaches you a lot of really cool secrets. One of these ‘Shhhh, don’t tell everyone!’ Yoga Hacks is called Hasta Bandha, the ‘Hand Lock’. Can you see how her fingers are peeling up off her mat? Well, I’m not going to spill the beans for everyone to read. The skinny on this secret is best left to those willing to put in the work. But, have a look at the image below. I think you’ll catch my drift.

When you learn to engage the Yogic Hand Lock, your Core Strength soars and your shoulders lift much more easily. This is because you are using the arch of your palm as an energetic suction cup to draw what we call Rebounce Energy upward into your chest, back and belly. As a result, you crush your rounding middle back, cure your nagging forward head posture, and start to Plank like a Pro!

Without Hasta Bandha, the Yogic ‘Hand Lock’, her beautiful Plank would be saggy mess.

There are numerous Locks in Classical Yoga. We call them Bandhas and use them to tone our Pelvic Floors, breathe better in our Respiratory Diaphragms, and detox our Thyroid Glands. The key is to learn how to use them properly from an experienced Instructor - one who practices in this way, herself.

When we are lifting weights, using the elliptical machine, or running some miles, we are pretty much using only our long muscles, the ones that stretch from bone to bone. This is not a bad thing; in fact, it’s great! But, it’s not the whole story. In Old School Hatha Yoga, we also recruit and tone our Round Muscles. These muscles support our organs, protect our endocrine glands, and house important aspects of our nervous system. They also help us move more Life Force (Prana) into our Bodies when we coordinate their contraction with Yogic Breathing (Pranayama).

Kate will be teaching the Yoga Low Plank all month in our Yoga Club. Why not give your shoulders a break and try it the Yoga Way? Bet your friends will be impressed! You can always go back to your forearms, but she thinks you’ll be more than pleased. Plus, you will learn a lot of cool Yoga Secrets along the way. She’s got tricks up her sleeve for every level of Practice. Even if you are a Beginner with spaghetti noodle arms - take Heart. She’ll help you get this!

Here’s some of what she’s got on tap for Members this month!

Yoga Planking for over 40 years - That’s a lot of Good JuJu to share.