I've been having spine issues that came from being overly aggressive doing a plank variation ("stir the pot") and I'm wondering whether planks are necessary in general. I never get this sort of injury from swimming (while I do swim in a style that emphasizes engaging the core.)
Just curious if others have experience in not doing any specialized core training other than what you get from doing hard swimming (and whether that feels like enough)? I want to reduce risk of injury but at the same time don't want to set myself up for even worse instability from losing core strength that I feel comes from doing the planks.
I have some serious spinal arthritis. Prevents me from running at all and pains me to bike more than a few miles as well. I have always done pushups, never planks. It seems to me it's just a static pushup. I generally do upwards of 100 a day and at times have gotten over 5000 per month. I find both pushups and swimming are good for the spine because they work the core supporting the spinal column.
I have some serious spinal arthritis. Prevents me from running at all and pains me to bike more than a few miles as well. I have always done pushups, never planks. It seems to me it's just a static pushup. I generally do upwards of 100 a day and at times have gotten over 5000 per month. I find both pushups and swimming are good for the spine because they work the core supporting the spinal column.
