asana: sideplank

yoga book / asanas / sideplank

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Last update: 30 December 2018
Name: Side plank
Level: A

classification

Classic: Strengthening posture on the floor

Contraindication

Various disorders of the shoulder joint may cause pain, especially when performing the exercise with the forearm resting on a support. Depending on the type of disorder, performing the exercise may also be contraindicated.

effects

Preparation

Shoulder in general

For this exercise, it is advisable to warm up the shoulder muscles. To do this, you can practise transitions between the downward dog and the upward dog positions.

follow-up

Derived asanas:

Similar asanas:

Diagnostics (No.)

(885) shoulder joint:

This posture can cause problems with the shoulder joint, especially those associated with lateral abduction, such as impingement syndrome (external subacromial impingement).

(711) Hip joint: Extension

The difficulty in extending the hip joints so that no flexion remains is usually less caused by a lack of strength in the hip extensors, since the hip extensors are not used to extend the hip. a3> remains, is usually less caused by a lack of strength in the hip extensors, as most people’s everyday lives involve activities such as walking or climbing stairs, which provide sufficient strengthening stimuli in relation to the demands of this posture. On the other hand, the widespread flexion-dominated lifestyle (lots of sitting) as well as various sports tend to shorten the hip flexors , so that regardless of the available strength of the hip extensors, the extended angle cannot be achieved.

(752) Hip joint: Avoid abduction and adduction

The difficulty in keeping the pelvis at the correct height usually lies in weakness of the abductors of the hip joints, such as the small gluteal muscles. The pelvis then tends to hang too low.

(911) Sole of the foot: Cramp

In this position, a cramp in the sole of the foot may occur relatively rarely. It should then be checked whether increased tone in the intrinsic foot muscles is partly responsible for this.

Variants:

with arms outstretched

with vasisthasana_leg

Kopenhagen-plank

Kopenhagen-variant on the knee

with weight

instructions

  1. From a prone position, raise your upper body slightly and place your right arm across the floor at shoulder height.
  2. Press your forearm firmly onto the floor, straighten your knee joints and hip joints.
  3. Adjust the distance between your feet and your forearm if necessary.
  4. Rotate your upper body 90° so that your shoulder line and pelvic transverse axis are in a vertical plane. Align yourself precisely so that your pelvis is neither too high nor too low, but rather your body is aligned along its longitudinal axis.
  5. Extend your left arm upwards at a 90° angle to your spine, in line with your shoulder.

Details

  1. This posture is a simplification of ardha vasisthasana.
  2. Variations are possible with the upper leg slightly raised but not rotated, and with the upper leg as in vasisthasana.
  3. The position of the pelvis is important for this posture. The hip joints should be extended, placing them in line with the heels and shoulder joints. As an alternative movement, the pelvis is often lifted under flexion in the hip joints. This results in a shift in mass, which relieves the upper extremities, not least by reducing the lever arms. The forearm on the floor makes the exercise much easier than the straight arm in vasisthasana, making it much easier to focus on the hip joints.
  4. The position of the pelvis in relation to its longitudinal axis is primarily limited by restrictions in the flexibility of the hip flexors. If these are not flexible enough, flexion remains in the hip joints, more rarely also with an uncomfortable hollow back feeling.
  5. The variations of the side plank also serve to strengthen the core muscles, the autochthonous back muscles, and the oblique abdominal muscles.
  6. In addition to the standard version, one leg can also be raised; see the corresponding variants. Regardless of its position, the raised leg will place greater demands on and strengthen the abductors of the hip joint of the supporting leg, which is usually noticed as greater effort. It is also important to pay attention to differences between the sides, as these can also affect the gait cycle if they are sufficiently pronounced.
  7. For additional strengthening, the supporting arm can be pushed away from the feet with force, which stimulates the deltoid muscle more intensely and, above all, the supraspinatus muscle much more intensely. This is interesting in that this muscle is increasingly affected by lesions of its tendon attachment with age (see rotator cuff lesion) and this lateral abduction provides a stimulus for maintenance and strengthening. Dog elbow stand, elbow stand and right-angled elbow stand on the other hand, do not belong to the category of exercises that have a preventive effect here, as the elbows diverge as a result of endorotational evasive moments in the shoulder joint and not from the work of the supraspinatus. Depending on the force exerted, this can lead to uncomfortable tension on the skin, but this should be more moderate than in the dog elbow stand or right-angled elbow stand. Here, too, the combination of a belt around the forearms close to the elbows and a blanket under the forearms can help to alleviate unpleasant pressure and uncomfortable pulling on the skin. The variant with the forearms resting on the ground is much better suited to this type of work, as with the hands resting on the ground, varus stress in the elbow joint would occur, which must be absorbed by the lateral collateral ligament. Another option would be to press the elbows towards each other, which strengthens the pectoralis major much more and also the deltoid, clavicular part. In contrast to the dog elbow stand and the right-angled elbow stand, less force is required here to perceive a noticeable movement of the bone structure within the surrounding skin at the elbow, as the shoulder joint is not in maximum frontal abduction and thus the endorotating moments in the shoulder joint are significantly lower.
  8. If there is a significant restriction of flexibility in the shoulder joint in the direction of frontal abduction, it may not be possible to position the forearm orthogonally to the longitudinal axis of the body; in this case, it must be positioned as close to this axis as possible.
  9. The head should be kept in line with the thoracic spine until further notice. If it is tilted back (reclined), this can cause uncomfortable tension in the neck.

variants

with raised leg

Instructions

  1. Take the side plank position as described above.
  2. Slowly and without momentum, lift your upper leg a few centimetres away from your lower leg.

Details

  1. When the upper leg is raised, its gravity is no longer transferred proportionally to the ground via the lower foot. It is also no longer possible to lift the pelvis with the adductors of the upper leg, so that the abductors of the lower hip joint have to work significantly harder to keep the supported body weight, now increased by the upper leg, lifted. a7> have to work significantly harder to keep the supported partial body weight, now increased by the upper leg, raised.
  2. This exercise provides even better strengthening of the abductors of the hip joint (lower leg), especially the small gluteal muscles, than the standard version. Here, attention should be paid to side differences. If any are present, they should be worked on, for example by practising the more difficult side in a ratio of 70:30 until the side difference is no longer detectable.

with vasisthasana leg

Instructions

  1. Adopt the position with your arms stretched out as described above.
  2. Lift one leg as far as possible without lifting or tilting your pelvis. Instead, keep it in the same position as before you lifted your leg.

Details

  1. This variation corresponds to the above variation with the raised leg in the vasisthasana position. The effect of strengthening the abductors of the hip joint (lower leg) is not enhanced compared to the above variation, but rather slightly weakened, as the effective lever arm is smaller.
  2. Compared to the normal vasisthasana, this posture is much more stable and requires less balancing and less strength from the upper extremities. Therefore, it can be used to practise the raised leg aspect in a calm manner.

on the upper leg (Kopenhagen-plank)

Instructions

  1. Take the same basic stance as described above, but instead of placing your lower foot on the floor, place the upper foot on a raised surface such as a chair or weight bench, with the inside edge of your foot touching the surface. Hold your lower leg so that it does not exert any gravitational force on the floor.
  2. Raise your pelvis so that the hip joint of your upper leg is between your heel and the shoulder on the same side.

Details

  1. This variation does not strengthen the abductors of the lower hip joint, but rather the adductors of the supporting leg.
  2. The strengthening takes place in a very short sarcomere length. It is therefore generally advisable not to perform these variations too frequently without stretching the adductors or working them in other exercises with greater sarcomere length.
  3. This variant is well suited for the rehabilitation of a footballer’s groin (gracilis syndrome), especially since the sarcomere length at which the abductors work is not harmful to the tendon tissue.
  4. If the exercise is too easy, a weight plate can be placed on top of the pelvis or on the bent knee, whose gravity causes the adductors of the upper leg to work harder. However, the weight plate can also be placed on the lower knee so that the adductors of the lower leg also work harder than just holding the same leg. The main difference is that during the exercise, the adductors of the other leg can recover more or less depending on which leg is being exercised.
  5. Due to the large mass supported by the upper leg on a long lever arm, damage to the outer meniscus or the inner collateral ligament may become apparent. The amount of body weight supported by this leg also plays a role here, as it proportionally encompasses the entire body mass up to the shoulder of the supporting arm. The outer meniscus can be felt more intensely the more insufficient the inner collateral ligament may be. In this case, this variant should not be performed as described; pain in the outer meniscus should be avoided at all costs. However, it may be possible to leave the lower leg lying passively on the floor or even abduct it with a certain amount of force so that there is no longer any pain in the outer meniscus. This would be a sensible variation that should be performed repeatedly over a longer period of time, as it is known that ligaments adapt to tensile stress over longer periods of time.

on upper knee (Copenhagen variant for endorotators)

Instructions

  1. Set up as for the Copenhagen plank, but instead of placing your foot on the bench, place your knee on it and move your pelvis up and down using the strength of your adductors.

Details

  1. This Copenhagen variant for the internal rotators not only strengthens the adductors in general, but also the internal rotators of the hip joint in particular. This is due to the special design, in which the pelvis moves vertically up and down relative to the supporting knee. If the pelvis is raised high, the thigh is in an internal rotation position; if it is lowered far, it is in an external rotation position. Care must be taken to ensure that the knee cannot slip off the supporting object in the far exorotated position.
  2. In the far end rotated position, you may experience a cramp-like sensation in some adductors. In this case, it is advisable not to lift the pelvis so far.
  3. In principle, the sarcomere length at which the end rotators are strengthened can also be determined quite freely in this exercise. If not only more strength but also more resting tone is urgently needed, one would work with a working range in which the hip joint is above the knee. If, in addition to strengthening, more mobility of the end rotators is required in addition to strengthening, a working range with a large sarcomere length, i.e. with the hip joint below the knee, would be used.

with weight

Instructions

  1. Assume the position as described above, but place a dumbbell, weight plate or other heavy object on top of your pelvis and perform the exercise as usual.

Details

  1. This variation is helpful for anyone who finds the normal version too easy. Depending on the strength of the abductors and the oblique abdominal muscles, more vigorous work is desirable, which cannot be achieved with body weight alone, even if the variation with the leg raised was not difficult enough. This is particularly important in the rehabilitation of disorders such as GTPS (insofar as this affects the tendons of the abductors and not one of the subgluteal bursae) or, for example, runner’s knee, which is often due to weakness of the abductors, this exercise is helpful. If there are damaged tendons, the posture can preferably be performed purely isometrically without movement. The same applies to footballer’s groin, which requires sustained strengthening or restoration of the tendons of the adductors.