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've been seeing some reconsiderations of the almighty plank, in a lot of fitness circles, lately. For example, I saw one video where a couple of osteopaths (I think) were saying rather than trying to hold the plank for longer and longer, one ought to do a series of shorter static planks (so, Sumo, more like what you are saying with pushups). I think planks are probably okay but, I wouldn't try to rely totally on them to build core strength.
I have had really good effects from a Pilates mat sequence, done regularly. And swimming with good posture and core focus, does certainly do one good, IMO.
I've been seeing some reconsiderations of the almighty plank, in a lot of fitness circles, lately. For example, I saw one video where a couple of osteopaths (I think) were saying rather than trying to hold the plank for longer and longer, one ought to do a series of shorter static planks (so, Sumo, more like what you are saying with pushups). I think planks are probably okay but, I wouldn't try to rely totally on them to build core strength.
I have had really good effects from a Pilates mat sequence, done regularly. And swimming with good posture and core focus, does certainly do one good, IMO.
