Planking time?

does it really matter? do some other exercises and your abs will benefit more

Oh sure. I was just thinking of what is a good goal time? What is a good goal intensity (i.e. weight on my back).

It is more of a question of at which point will I stop benefitting? Say if I can plank for 5 min vs. 10 min, or with 45 lb on my back vs. 135 lb.

To which ends should I explore?

are you trying to run faster or plank?

where on Earth did you even hear about this stupid crap? spend that 5 mins you'd try looking like a moron planking and use it to run or do some drills. WAYYYYY more beneficial.

The world record is something 1hr 20mins why not shoot for that?

hey, despite what everyone says, planking is great for all around core strength.

rather than trying to go longer, make it harder. Try:

Bird dog plank - lift up the left arm and right leg while in plank.

Hip touches - alternate hip touches i.e. right hand to right hip, left hand to left hip. do this as fast as you can without breaking form.

Knee to elbow - right knee to right elbow, left knee to left elbow.

Side plank - lift the top leg up and down. work up to 20 per side

side plank - knee to chest from this routine

http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/oregon-project-stability-routine?page=2

Think about people who are very strong for their size (rock climbers, gymnasts, wrestlers, etc).

Do you think these people do planks for minutes on end?

The only worse exercise is probably crunches.

Push ups will give you some arm strength (you do use your arms when running, at least sometimes) and also hit those same muscles you were working with the plank!

Seriously, if you work up to like 100 push ups a day, you will probably be stronger than necessary for an elite runner (and have decent ab strength too).

Not saying that planking is useless, but at what point in your marathon/10k/5k/steeple do you actually get into that position??????

Alwyn cosgrove, one of the most respected performance trainers stated that when an athlete can do a proper plank for 3 minutes he no longer includes them in the exercise program

Coach wrote:

Alwyn cosgrove, one of the most respected performance trainers stated that when an athlete can do a proper plank for 3 minutes he no longer includes them in the exercise program

Well, I'll take that into account considering I can do it for 3 minutes now. I'll try to include it as a warmup though and start some more dynamic exercises.

And as for Ray, I guess this exercise doesn't have a tremendous amount of specificity :P

Speaking of specific exercises, what are your opinions on the one where you stay in place and swing your arms very quickly in the running motion? I tried that the other day and it felt great for my arms and my abs were suitably shaken up.

The stop planking and run more is just a mouthbreather argument.

Once you can do 3 min softwood planks it is time to move to hardwood planks. These will help your stamina in ways that won't get you busted like Merritt did.