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I did 70 plank tucks every day for a week - here are my results
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By Sam Hopes last updated May 30, 2023
This exercise is no joke

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Woman outdoors doing a high plank on the ground with buildings in the background
(Image credit: Shutterstock images)
However you approach plank tucks, they're a killer full-body exercise
that will test your muscles. I added to our ever-growing plank challenge
bank at Tom’s Guide and did 70 reps every day for one week.

If plank tucks haven’t entered your workout regime before, the exercise
works your shoulders, arms, core muscles, hip flexors, lower back and
legs. In fact, there aren't many muscles the exercise doesn't hit. To do
plank tucks, you’ll start in a plank position, jump both legs between
your hands, then jump back again. But several variations fire up your
core even more.

Along with some of the best plank variations we’ve tried, this one
torched my muscles and ramped up my heart rate. If you plan to try them
and haven’t before, I recommend speaking with a personal trainer to
check your form. Here’s what happened when I hammered out nearly 500
reps — and ouch.

How to do plank tucks
Woman performing a high plank in the left image and a plank tuck with
knees bent in the second image

(Image credit: Shutterstock images)
There are other ways to try this, but the below method is arguably the
most well-known plank tuck.

Start in a straight-arm plank position with shoulders stacked over your
wrists
Engage your ab muscles, then bend your knees and begin to lean forward
Jump both feet between your hands, lifting your hips as you move
Keep your weight in the balls of your feet, then jump both feet back
into your starting position.
As mentioned, your core muscles are the primary focus. The move hits
your rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis (deeper core muscles) and
internal and external obliques. But that's not all. You’ll also target
your shoulders, arms, lower back, hip flexors and leg muscles.

I did 70 plank tucks every day for a week — here are my results
Well, doing a plank every morning for a week surprised our fitness
editor, so what would 70 plank tucks a day do? I decided to find out.

DAY 1
Plank tucks can form part of cardio training as jumping raises your
heart rate. I felt puffed after 70 reps on day one, and my abs, hips and
quads were firing on all cylinders. It’s similar to plank jacks but
without lateral leg engagement.

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More than anything, I’ve got a limited range of motion during this
exercise, and 70 reps took forever. Tall people (I’m 5”2, so I don’t qualify) and anyone with tight hip flexors or wrist pain might struggle
with the jump forward on this one, but there are ways around it.

DAYS 2 AND 3
For the next few days, I headed to the gym and hit the TRX — suspension trainers offer a brilliant plank tuck variation if you need one.
Stepping your feet through the handles and lowering them to plank height
allows you to drive your knees toward your elbows from an elevated
position; this helped me crunch my abs and draw my naval in without
feeling restricted by a low starting position.

Equally, you could elevate your arms with push-up bars instead — if you
want to practice jumping. Balancing your feet on a stability ball is a
popular option for torching your muscles and challenging coordination
and core stability.

DAYS 4 AND 5
By day four, it was time to mix it up again, as I had started to get
bored. This time, I placed sliders underneath my feet and focused on
driving my knees toward my elbows on the floor. To add further
instability (which I instantly regretted), I then added a Plankpad
underneath my shoulders (see the photo of when I started using a
Plankpad every day below) and finished my reps with a wobble.

Writer Sam performing a plank on the Plankpad in her home

(Image credit: Sam Hopes)
The friction creates a slight drag as you tuck your knees toward your
hands, putting the lower body through the wringer. I found my shoulders
more active using this method, and I practiced squeezing every muscle
group to guide the sliders forward without dropping my hips or dipping
into my lower back.

If you’re building a home gym full of the best home gym equipment,
sliders are an affordable way to elevate various exercises like
alligator crawls and moving bear planks. However, you could just as
easily use a dishcloth or sweatshirt if you wanted.

DAYS 6 AND 7
During the last few days, I decided to play around with time under
tension (TUT), deliberately slowing down my movements to work my muscles
harder for longer. I recommend only doing this if you need the extra engagement, but it helps me focus on expanding my breath and correcting
form. If you struggle to control your breath, a 5-minute breathing
exercise could help you bring awareness to it.

Verdict
My hips were feeling tight by the end of the week. I love any exercise
that targets the hip flexor muscles, as they’re some of the most
underused and weak muscles in the human body, along with the glutes.

I finished up my last day with this one move to reduce hip flexor pain — it’s my favorite lower back and hip stretch and the most underrated
exercise in my books. But you should add mobility and stretching
regularly to your exercise routine (several times a week), not just when
you feel tight.

We cover more Tom’s Guide-approved stretching exercises below.

MORE FROM TOM'S GUIDE
I did this crunch that targets your obliques & inner thighs for a week
This Pilates for beginners workout torches your abs in 20 minutes
These 4 stretches boost flexibility and build strength
Sam Hopes
Sam Hopes
Senior Staff Writer - Fitness
Sam Hopes is a level III qualified fitness trainer, level II reiki practitioner, and senior fitness writer at Future PLC, the publisher of
Tom's Guide. She is also about to undertake her Yoga For Athletes
training course. Having trained to work with mind and body, Sam is a big advocate of using mindfulness techniques in sport and fitness, and their
impact on performance. She’s also passionate about the fundamentals of training and building sustainable training methods. When she's not
writing up her experiences with the latest fitness tech and workouts,
you’ll find her writing about nutrition, sleep, recovery, and wellness.

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