Plank day two. 24 plank arm raises, 24 plank leg raises and 24 slow climbers as one round, 2 minutes rest, 3, 4 or 5 sets by level. Slow climbers return from Day 7; the two taps have been swapped for two raises, so this session lifts limbs away from the floor rather than moving them across the body.
Plank arm raises keep the plank and lift one straight arm forward to shoulder height, hold it a moment, lower and lift the other - 12 per arm, the trunk resisting the pull toward the empty side every time. Plank leg raises lift one straight leg off the floor from the glute while the hips stay level, 12 per leg. Then slow climbers, one knee drawn slowly in under the body and returned, 12 per leg. Arm, leg, then knee: three ways to make a plank stand on three points instead of four, and 72 of them a set. Removing a hand loads the shoulders and the anti-rotation muscles of the trunk; removing a foot loads the glutes and the anti-extension muscles; drawing a knee through loads both while the plank shortens. It is a plank day, and it is a shoulder day, and it is a core day, and it does not care which you call it.
Feet wide, hips level, the moving limb the only thing moving. In arm raises, keep the raised arm at shoulder height rather than reaching for the ceiling. In leg raises, stop at hip height - higher is the lower back, not the glute. In slow climbers, the knee travels over a full count and the hips stay down.
Arm up, leg up, knee through - seventy-two reps a set of proving the plank does not need all four points to hold.
Make it Harder: Suspend every raised arm and every raised leg for a two-count at the top before lowering.
Make it Easier: Reduce each count to 16 and take the feet as wide as they will go.
