I’ve started getting back pain, and I believe it’s from planks I’ve been doing for GPP abs. My program is 7 minutes at RPE 7. Accordingly, I would do a plank at the beginning of each minute and hold it generally between 20-30secs. This amounts to 7 planks. After reading the BBM pain management guide, I think I should continue doing planks at a reduced intensity and volume and build back up again. Something like doing only 3 sets of planks for a 10-15sec hold to start. Would u guys agree with this?
Erik,
What makes you think your back pain is from planks? You can certainly reduce the exposure if you feel strongly about it, but I don’t think they’re likely connected.
-Jordan
Hi Jordan,
Because it’s a new pain that I didn’t experience before adding planks to my program. Also, today I was pain free before planks, and symptomatic shortly after. I googled online and results said planks can cause back pain. But if u don’t think it’s due to planks, then Im not sure what specifically is causing it. Can u kindly suggest a plan of action for me to manage this?
Cheers
Eric
We tend not to blame specific movements, but rather the dosage of stimulus compared to one’s tolerance. To whatever extent planks may or may not be related, it would be more likely to be due to the overall dose compared to the exercise itself.
Here are our guidelines for managing pain in training:
https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog…ining-what-do/
Decreasing the dose is a reasonable way to start if there seems to be a close relationship there.
Ok, thanks for the advice guys!