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Yoga practitioners have long known the ability of Plank Pose. Now the military is catching up. The Navy Physical Readiness Test (PRT) that service members need to pass now features a one-minute forearm plank as a substitute of a two-minute sit-up test.

The PRT is a method of assessing the overall fitness of Navy recruits, reservists, and other sailors. The goal is to make sure that they maintain physical and mental stamina and the strength they should perform their shipboard and other military duties. The test “evaluates aerobic capability, or cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular strength, and muscular endurance,” in line with Navy guidelines.

Plank vs. sit-up

Earlier this yr, the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) determined that forearm plank is a greater test of core strength and abdominal muscle endurance. In response to a memo published by the Navy Administration, the repeated spinal flexion movement of the “curl-up” (also often known as a “sit-up”) isn’t “operationally relevant, may aggravate lower-back injuries, and doesn’t appropriately challenge the abdominal musculature.”

Sit-ups compress and flex the lumbar spine, which may put pressure on the lower back. Moreover, sit-ups could cause tight muscles within the hip flexors, which can even transfer strain to the back muscles. Then again, plank poses (including forearm plank) stabilize the core muscles, which in turn stabilize your entire body during movement. The pose also strengthens your shoulder and gluteal muscles. Working in concert, these muscles help improve your posture, which may help keep you energetic and avoid injury.

Fundamentals of forearm plank

The official memo for the Navy PRT describes forearm plank as a functional exercise—the type that prepares your body for every day activities. The shipboard tasks that require pulling, pushing, lifting, or carrying use significant core strength. You furthermore may need strength within the arms, shoulders, pelvic floor and even the back muscles–all of that are activated if you hold a plank.

Forearm plank is an isometric core exercise which uses your body weight to counter the force of gravity. On this pose, you hold your trunk and legs in a straight line off the bottom supported by your toes and forearms. On this position, gravity causes a downward force in your trunk, but your core muscles work to create an upward force that counteracts it. The more strength you’ve got in your core, the less likely your trunk will sag or collapse to the bottom.

Per Navy Planking Standards, plank prompts the ab and trunk muscles in a way that mimics the most important function of the abdominal musculature: to stabilize your spine. With stronger core muscles supporting your trunk, your spine can move freely without injury when you perform your every day activities.

Plank pose for  posture

“I spend loads of time hunching over to achieve the controls in my helicopter,” says Lieutenant Commander Erin Edwards, a Navy helicopter pilot, flight instructor, and yoga practitioner. “[This posture], combined with the vibrations of the aircraft and the burden of my gear, induces tons of stress onto my lower back.”

Consequently, Edwards designs her fitness regimen to make sure her health and safety for her duties as a pilot. “The very best method to help combat the strain on my body while I’m flying is by maintaining a powerful core. Yoga has been my best treatment,” she says.

Edwards calls the previous Navy PRT “a sit-up race against the clock.” She says that with a purpose to move fast enough to get an ideal rating of 100 sit-ups inside 2 minutes, sailors tended to employ their hip flexors and other muscles.

She says she’s grateful for the PRT’s transition to forearm plank because she feels it’s more core focused. As a yoga practitioner, Edwards found the switch to this strength test a straightforward transition. Edwards hopes that it encourage more sailors to take up yoga for its advantages of flexibility, strength, and focus.

Let Lieutenant Commander Erin Edwards guide you thru a sequence that may provide help to construct as much as Forearm Plank Pose. This Core Sequence Will Help You Nail the Navy’s Strength Test—Really.

About our contributor

Ingrid Yang is an internal medicine physician, yoga therapist, and creator of Adaptive Yoga and Hatha Yoga Asanas. Dr. Yang has been teaching yoga for greater than 20 years and leads trainings and retreats all around the world, with a special concentrate on kinesthetic physiology and healing through breathwork, meditation and mind-body connection. Discover more at www.ingridyang.com or on Instagram.