The Power of Planks by Yoga by Dayna

The technique for setting up PLANK POSE starts with establishing your base. Connect your hands or forearms to a wall in front of you and press into it with intention from the armpit. The action of pressing into the wall firmly will help engage serratus anterior muscles and create a stable base for your shoulder girdle.  Your shoulder girdle cannot be purchased on Amazon.  It’s the entire system of muscles working together to stabilize your shoulder.  Shoulders are the most versatile and unstable joint in the body.  We depend on it for almost every activity.  However, no area of your body works alone.  You must establish a solid base from which to work.

Once you understand the basis for PLANK POSE on the wall, you can try the pose on your yoga mat.  This version requires more strength because your entire body weight is fighting gravity.  So, start with the wall version and get it right! 

BENEFITS OF PLANK POSE

You work important abdominal muscles including your internal obliques, your external obliques, and your transverse abs.  Your anterior deltoids and pecs are obviously working hard as you press your palms or forearms into the wall or floor. 

THE BOXER'S MUSCLE

Interestingly, many people refer to serratus as the boxer’s muscle because it is the strongest protractor of the scapula. That means it sends the scapula forward around the rib cage. This anatomical movement is primarily what allows for the whole movement seen in a punch.  This muscle is a key stabilizer of the scapula and that is how it should be used in many yoga postures.  

When not working properly, you may feel discomfort in your armpit area or just to the lower inside edge of your shoulder blades.  Think of the Serratus Anterior as a Serratus knife.  It lines the muscles that protect your lungs.  Asthmatics often have underdeveloped Serratus muscles.  Practice feeling your breath expansion in one lung at a time.  For example, if you are lying down and twist your legs to the right (arms stay loosely by your sides), breathe into your left side ribs.  Are you feeling enough expansion?  Try both sides and compare. 

CHALLENGE YOURSELF WITH SIDE PLANK POSE (VASISTASANA)

SIDE PLANK gained some notoriety from Fishman, Loren M. MD, B.Phil.  A recent study continues to promote the SIDE PLANK with the convex (bumpy) side down.  Those are the muscles that are underworked and weak.  

See the actual study:

https://journals.lww.com/topicsingeriatricrehabilitation/abstract/2024/01000/isometric_yoga_like_maneuvers_improve_adult.2.aspx

SIDE PLANK actually requires a certain balance in strength and flexibility to do it with ease.  The most basic version of side plank is as if you were standing in anatomical position, then abducted one arm, and then someone tipped you sideways to balance on that abducted arm. Ideally, your body is in a single plane, with your torso and pelvis neither in front of nor behind your shoulder girdle.   

The technique for setting up SIDE PLANK POSE starts with establishing your base. Connect your hand or forearm to your mat and press into it with intention from the armpit. The action of pressing into the floor (or wall) firmly will help engage serratus anterior and create a stable base for your shoulder girdle. 

REVISED PLANK FOR SCOLIOSIS

https://youtu.be/aWg--Uf1wzw?si=fHrrKdlwv2VNIpHQ

In this study, we assess the possible benefits of asymmetrical strengthening of truncal muscles on the convex side of the scoliotic curve through a single yoga pose, the side plank pose, in idiopathic and degenerative scoliosis.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4268609/#!po=1.51515 

CONCLUSION OF STUDY

Asymmetrically strengthening the convex side of the primary curve with daily practice of the side plank pose held for as long as possible for an average of 6.8 months significantly reduced the angle of primary scoliotic curves. The authors speculate that the SIDE PLANK pose is useful for strengthening the convex side's quadratus lumborum, iliopsoas, transverses abdominus, oblique, intercostal, and paraspinal musculature, which, in turn, might straighten the spine.   These results warrant further testing. 

National Library of Medicine, Serial Case Reporting Yoga for Idiopathic and Degenerative Scoliosis, Loren M Fishman, Erik J Groessl, Karen J Sherman

Glob Adv Health Med. 2014 Sep 1;3(5):16–21

CAUTION

There are some cautions to keep in mind if you’re exploring vasistasana. One of the most important parts of doing this pose safely is to keep the shoulder in a neutral position in the joint and use the big muscles to support it. This is so that you’re not over-using the little rotator cuff muscles.