Since I chose to get on board with one of our favorite Ambassador's challenges #PlankWithBex AKA Rebekah Borucki, the go-to-fitness-is-fun guru, I landed my first plank at 2m:16s and 4 days later I'm at 2m:30s. For us at Plank®, every pose or physical activity can be taken to the next level by incorporating a little Ridiculous Body Awareness™ aka Yoga. Thus, in addition to the tips I sent to Bex, I use a plethora of yoga tools so I can #PlankOnPlank for a bit longer each day.

If you are like me and can't absorb too many tips at once, I thought I'd share a couple of additional tips I applied each time I took to my mat (preferably a Plank Yoga Mat, but any mat will do...).

Let us know if our Plank Tips help you to hold your planks for those extra 5 seconds or beyond.

Relax Your Shoulders:

• Melt shoulders away from ears and feel the neck become longer
• Melt INNER shoulders and feel your back soften and the neck become even longer

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Bone Awareness, align rib cage in the center of the upper trunk:

• Breathe fully into the back of the body, filling your back with air from OUTER shoulder to OUTER shoulder and SIDE RIBS to SIDE RIBS
• Breathe fully into the mid-back, separating the back ribs and lifting the rib cage

For Plank, yoga is all about developing a Ridiculous Body Awareness in order to protect and support the body whenever strain or stress shows up. It becomes your job to center the heavy bones of the body to the center of its musculature, thus spreading the body weight, the muscles and all the supporting bits, evenly between your front, back and side bodies.