Planks are a great abs exercise that should be incorporated into your abs workouts. The only downside to Planks is that your body can adapt rather quickly to them. The upside is there are a wide variety of ways to perform a Plank… some much more challenging than others.
Here’s a killer plank variation performed by Nick Nilsson, creator of The Best Abs Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of…
In addition to working your abs and obliques, this Plank variation has the side benefit of strengthening your shoulder stabilizer muscles beyond what a regular Plank would do.
Nick has a way of making minor tweaks to an exercise that make a huge difference in results. He’s known as an exercise “mad scientist” and the King of Exercise Variety. But he’s very strategic with how he adds variety to his workouts. Here’s a short Q & A to make sure that you are using variety in the most effective way possible…
How To Strategically Incorporate Variety Into Your Training
Scott: What variables do you change when adding variety to your workoutsl?
Nick Nilsson: For me, I have two ways of approach training variety. The first is almost completely random…and I’ll do that only when I’m between programs and I just want to have some fun in the gym. It’s pretty much instinctive training.
Second, if I’m after a specific goal and I want to incorporate variety, I’ll work with four main variables.
1. Number of sets
2. Rest between sets
3. Rep ranges
4. Exercise selection
My approach is to basically overtrain myself, gradually increasing the number of sets over a period of weeks while simultaneously decreasing the rest between sets. I’ll adjust the rep ranges from higher at the start of the week to lower towards the end of the week (micro-periodization) and I’ll rotate some exercises in and out, while keeping some core movements like squats, deadlifts and bench press.
After I get to the point of overtraining, I’ll drop the number of sets, increase the rest and bring the rep ranges down. All this helps build strength very quickly.
Scott: Can someone add too much variety to their training?
Nick Nilsson: Absolutely. Even though I’m known as the “Mad Scientist of Muscle”, probably about 75% of my training is with conventional exercises. You have to give your body a consistent stimulus so it knows what to adapt to, otherwise you’re just shotgunning. Honestly, one of the best programs I’ve got (Muscle Explosion) takes variety to the minimum, allowing you just ONE exercise for massive volume over the course of 5 days (I know you’re familiar with that, Scott!).
Note: I follow the 28 Day Muscle Explosion program once every year, in an effort to shock my body into growth.
Scott: What’s the best approach for strategically adding variety in an effort to produce MEASURABLE results?
Nick Nilsson: Don’t change everything all at once and have a REASON for changing things. If you just start randomly changing things, you won’t know why something happened and you won’t be able to duplicate it. Knowing why something works is the most powerful thing you can learn in your training.
Scott: Solid advice from the mad scientist of muscle! I’ve been incorporating Nick’s unique exercises into my training for over 6 years. They are a perfect compliment to any type of training program.
Give the above Plank variation a try and let us know what you think.
UPDATE: Immediately after sharing this post I received an email from Drew… a fellow MM Physique Artist. Drew shared how he incorporates the above Plank variation into his training…
Drew: “Yeah, love this one. Nilsson is a genius. I do it in decreasing seconds by rounds: 30/30, 25/25, 20/20, 15/15, 10/10, 5/5, then follow immediately with a 1 minute regular plank. I do it about twice a week as a great finisher after either an upper or lower body workout and it really kicks me in the gut!”
Outstanding! Thanks for the great share Drew.
Sculpt a Masterpiece,
Scott Tousignant
About The Author
Scott Tousignant, BHK, is a Certified Fitness Consultant with a passion for transforming fitness enthusiasts into goal driven, dedicated, and voracious physique artists who take pride in their body, fitness, health, and lifestyle. Embraced by physique artists around the world, his Metabolic Masterpiece Body Sculpting Programs will guide you through the process of sculpting your body into a work of art, by applying what Scott has coined, The A.T.T.R.A.C.T. Formula.
With his synergistic, boredom busting body sculpting workouts you will melt stubborn fat and gain muscle while skyrocketing your metabolism!
The art of molding and chiseling an aesthetically pleasing physique with ideal proportions and spectacular symmetry is one of life’s most rewarding and fulfilling experiences. It’s an opportunity for self growth and self discovery that will impact every area of your life.