This 10-Minute Plank Series Works Your Body Hard and Fast

Can’t find an hour in the day to exercise? No problem. Trainer Liv McIlkenny designed a 10-minute plank series that does the absolute most for your body in the least amount of time. “Planks work your whole body,” she says. “That’s why they’re my thing.”

On an episode of Well+Good’s series Good Moves, McIlkenny demonstrates the 10-minute routine, which consists of two series of eight plank-based moves she notes “you are for sure going to feel,” with a short window to breathe between. (Out-of-shape writer’s note: You can make this break not short, if you need to—that’s the beauty of the pause button!)

Included in the series are proper planks, side planks, army pushups, pike ups, and more. Each is held for 30 seconds, which may seem like an eternity while you’re in the pose but is actually just… 30 seconds. Each step of the way, McIlkenny calls out proper form to prevent injury while also ensuring you get the most out of every move. (The “plank body scan” can help with this, too.)

The next time you find yourself in the third hour of the reality TV show binge you’re using as a 2020 coping mechanism, or with 10 minutes to spare because you’ve given in to your kid’s pleas for their own screen-time break, consider throwing down a mat for this fiery 10-minute interlude. You won’t, like, love every minute of it, but you will feel stronger and, with repeated efforts over time, more fit. Plus you’ll have more time for everything else you need to do—even if that everything else is, necessarily, nothing at all.

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