Trunk muscle activation in prone plank exercises with different body tilts

Body tilt changes could affect the intensity/difficulty of core stability exercises, but there is still a lack of knowledge about its impact.

To analyse the trunk muscles activation during prone plank exercises at different body tilts.

Twenty-four young adults who performed recreational gymnastic activities participated in this study. Electromyography activity of the rectus abdominis (RA), external oblique (EO), internal oblique (IO) and erector spinae (ES) was recorded during the performance of six variations of the prone plank exercise (planking with feet supported on the ground [conventional horizontal position] and planking with feet supported on wall bars at five different heights increasing the angle tilt) and an inverted position exercise.

The RA, EO and IO activation in all prone plank variations were higher than those observed in the conventional prone plank. In addition, the coefficient of variation of the muscle activation increased with the declination angle, reaching the highest values in the inverted position for the RA and ES muscles.

The results seem to indicate that the body tilt variation could be used as an easy and inexpensive strategy for modulating the neuromuscular demands and the motor control challenge during planking exercises.