17 Plank Exercises for Tight, Flat Abs

The plank is the one move that does it all — it helps tighten your abs, firm up your booty, and strengthen your arms. It’s one of the best overall core conditioners around, and unlike crunches, it keeps your spine protected in a neutral position.

Plus, it’s difficult to exhaust the number of planking possibilities. “There are dozens of ways to modify the plank so you’ll never get bored,” says exercise physiologist Martica Heaner, Ph.D., author of Cross-Training for Dummies and other fitness books.

Here are 17 plank exercises to work your abs.

1. Plank

Assume a push-up position: Get on all fours with your feet together and your body straight from head to heels. Make sure your wrists are directly beneath your shoulders. (You can also perform the plank on your forearms, making sure they’re parallel with your palms facing down.)
Make sure your wrists are directly beneath your shoulders.
Squeeze your glutes and brace your core by drawing your belly button toward your spine to lock your body into position. (To achieve this, it helps to imagine that someone is about to punch you in the gut.)

2. Side Plank

Set up in a high-plank position.
Shift your weight onto the outside edge of your right foot and into your right hand. Rotate your hips and shoulders so they’re square to the side.
Stack your left foot on top of your right, and align your shoulders so they are stacked on top of each other.
Engage your core and glutes to keep your body stable. Your body should be straight from your head to your hips to your heels.
Hold for 30 seconds to a minute, and then rest before you repeat.
Repeat on the other side for an equal amount of time and reps.

3. Mountain Climbers

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Assume a push-up position: feet together, core braced, body straight from head to heels, hands in line with and slightly wider than your shoulders.
Lift your right foot off the floor and draw your right knee toward your chest, making sure to keep your back flat, your butt down, and the rest of your body stationary. Tap the floor with your toes.
Return your right foot to the starting position, and immediately repeat with the opposite leg. That’s one rep.
Continue alternating legs, performing equal reps on both sides for time.

4. Plank Cross Tap

Start in a full plank with your arms straight, hands in line with (but slightly wider than) your shoulders, feet together, and body straight from head to heels.
Keeping your back flat, lift your right foot and bring your right knee to your left elbow.
Return to the starting position. Perform equal reps on both sides.

5. Pike Plank

Start in a plank position, with your hands on the ground directly below your shoulders and your feet hip-width apart.
Focus on creating a straight line from the top of your head to your heels, without letting your hips drop or your lower back arch excessively. Draw your belly-button in toward your spine, and squeeze your core to maintain the plank position.
Keeping your core engaged, drive your hips up and back into an upside-down “V” position — similar to downward-facing dog, except your heels don’t need to be flat on the ground in pike position. While in the pike position, your head should be in line with your arms, with your gaze cast through your legs.
Pause when you reach your full range of motion, and then lower back to plank.

6. Dolphin Plank

Start on your hands and knees, placing your knees directly below your hips, and your wrists directly below your shoulders.
On an exhale, lower your forearms to the mat, keeping them parallel and aligning your elbows below your shoulders. On an inhale, tuck your toes, and lift your hips toward the ceiling.
Keeping your shoulders over your elbows, gently let your head drop, walking your toes slightly forward. Eventually, lower your heels closer to the mat.
Work on making this a dynamic move by walking your feet back so you’re in a forearm plank and then walk back in to a dolphin plank, making sure to keep abs engaged throughout.

7. Bear Hold Plank

Set up in a tabletop position with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Your head should be neutral relative to your spine.
Make sure your low back is flat, your neck lengthened, and your abs are engaged.
Tuck your toes and press your hands into the floor to lift your knees a couple inches off the floor.
Squeeze your core and hold, remembering to breathe evenly.
Hold for 30 seconds to a minute.

8. Triple Bear Plank

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Get on all fours, with your feet together and your hands directly under your shoulders. Your knees should be bent 90 degrees below your hips and hovering a few inches above the ground.
Keeping your back flat and core engaged, hop your feet together to the left, then back to center, and then to the right.
Hop your feet back to center. That’s one rep.

9. Superman Plank

Begin in a high plank, with arms straight, wrists lined up under shoulders, legs shoulder-distance apart or slightly wider for better balance.
Keep your back completely flat, and engage your core to keep your lower back from dipping.
Extend your right arm forward while lifting your left leg back. Hold for two to five seconds, then bring your arm and leg back down.
Switch sides to extend your left arm forward, lifting your right leg up and back. Hold again, then switch.
Be sure to keep your active arm and leg parallel to the floor. Trying to raise them higher than parallel often results in the hips dipping, which puts stress on the lower back.

10. Spiderman Plank

Start in a plank position with your hands stacked underneath your shoulders and your feet about hip-width apart. Engage your abs, squeeze your glutes, and make sure your neck is in line with your spine so that there is a straight line from your head to heels.
Keeping your hips as level as possible, bring your right knee as close as possible to your right elbow. Pause, and then step back to the plank position.
Repeat on your left side, bringing your left knee to your left elbow.
Continue alternating sides until all reps are complete, performing equal reps on each.

11. Plank Up-Downs

Assume a plank position: forearms, palms, and the balls of your feet on the floor, body straight from your heels to the top of your head. Your feet should be shoulder width, your fingers spread wide, and your forearms parallel.
Without shrugging your shoulders toward your ears, or letting your hips sag or lift, shift your weight to your left and place your right palm flat on the floor below your right shoulder.
Still maintaining a perfectly straight body, shift your weight right, place your left hand flat, and straighten both arms to assume the top-of-a-push-up position.
Reverse the move, lowering onto your right forearm and then your left forearm back to the starting position, keeping your body straight the whole time.
Repeat the movement, this time placing your left hand in push-up position before your right hand. After both hands are in push-up position, lower onto your left forearm before your right forearm.
Continue the movement, alternating the arm that initiates the move on each rep.

12. Plank Jack

Start in push-up position: feet together, body straight from head to heels, arms straight and in line with but slightly wider than your shoulders. This is the starting position.
Keeping your core engaged, jump your legs outward, and then back to the starting position without letting your hips drop, as if performing a horizontal jumping jack.
Continuing performing for reps.

13. Commando Jack

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Start in a high plank with your feet hip width apart, body straight from head to heels and hands in line with (but slightly wider than) your shoulders. Optional: Loop a resistance band around your ankles.
Without letting your hips sag or lift, shift your weight to your left hand and lower your right forearm to the floor, following with the left forearm.
Keeping your core engaged, jump your legs outward, and then back to the starting position, as if performing a horizontal jumping jack.
Without shrugging your shoulders toward your ears, shift your weight to your left and place your right palm flat on the floor below your right shoulder.
Still maintaining a perfectly straight body, shift your weight to your right, place your left palm flat on the floor, and straighten both arms to return to a high plank. That’s one rep.
Repeat the sequence, alternating the arm that initiates the move on each rep.

14. Weighted Side Plank Hip Drop

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Lie on your left side propped up on your left elbow and forearm, shoulders stacked over your elbow, feet stacked on top of each other.
Grab a lightweight dumbbell with your right hand and hold it on your right hip, then raise your hips so that your body forms a straight line from your head to your heels.
Slowly lower your hips, and gently tap your left hip on the floor.
Reverse the move, returning to starting position.
Continue for reps, and switch sides, performing equal reps on each.

15. Forearm Side Plank With Crunch

Lie on your right side propped up on your right elbow and forearm, shoulders stacked over your elbow, legs stacked on top of each other, and place your left fingertips behind your left ear.
Raise your hips so that your body forms a straight line from head to heels. This is the starting position.
Keeping your core braced, crunch your abs and bring your left elbow and knee together.
Return to the starting position. Perform equal reps on both sides.

16. Copenhagen Side Plank

The Copenhagen side plank is an isometric oblique exercise that also works your adductors.

Lie on the ground on your side, perpendicular to a flat bench with your feet facing the bench.
Place the inner side of your top foot on top of the bench and lift up into a side forearm plank: forearm on the floor, shoulder stacked over elbow, and hips lifted so your body forms a straight line from head to heels.
Lift your bottom leg so it hovers above the ground. To modify, allow the bottom foot to rest on the ground.
Hold for the specified amount of time, then repeat the exercise on the opposite side.

17. Full Side Plank with Rotatio

Assume a high plank position with your arms straight and in line with (but slightly wider than) your shoulders.
Raise your right arm toward the ceiling, so that your body forms a sideways “T.” This is the starting position.
Reach under and behind your torso with your right hand, rotating from your upper back (not your lower back).
Return to the starting position. Do equal reps on both sides.

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