Power Planks & Motivation

Source of picture: sweatsparkles

If you work at something worthwhile for long enough, pretty soon you will find yourself on the other side- the side of achievement, relief and pride.

This happened to me today. I've countlessly attempted to perform a 'plank' exercise at my gym (not to be confused with a popular stupidity called 'planking'). I managed to hold myself in a 'plank' position for 3 minutes. The first time I tried to do it, I wasn't even able to stay on my knees for long as my shoulders would give way and my stomach wouldn't cooperate with the pressure I put on it. (Not to mention that I clearly didn't have abs that resembled the rock hard facade that people in the 'Ab Pro King' advert had.) But today, I finally cracked that barrier. And although this may seem  a very minuscule accomplishment in the exercise world, it was an accomplishment nonetheless. 

My stomach is the most untoned area of my body. I have heard of people who, no matter how hard they train their abdominal muscles, don't produce the results that show the work put into them. It may have something to do with the genes... I think (or would like to hope) that I fall into this category. To try and count how many sit ups, crunches, planks and all the mini-exercises in between that I've done is a tedious task. The results don't show for it. My stomach is only relatively flat, when I should have a six pack and I could only 'plank' on my knees for the most part. So to have finally achieved a goal like a 3 minute plank on my toes, is utter bliss!

I suspect these are the little things that everyone aims for. They contribute to a continual motivation and by achieving them one by one (even if it means taking weeks and months to get there), they keep going back for more - at least that's why I do it. I'll be able to walk into my next gym class, knowing I can plank (properly) and keep up with the class instructor. Haha. I can plank!