How long should a beginner hold a bear plank?

Three to four holds of 20 to 30 seconds with 45 seconds of rest is a solid start, two or three times a week. Build to 45 seconds, then stop adding time and add difficulty instead, because a two-minute hold mostly teaches you to tolerate boredom. Every hold should end while the position is still good, not when it collapses.

How do I make the bear plank easier or harder?

To make it easier, put your hands on a bench so the angle takes weight off, or keep the knees on the floor and brace hard without hovering. To make it harder, lift one hand off the floor and hold, drag a light weight across the floor from side to side, or start crawling forward and back while keeping the same low hover.

What is the bear plank good for?

It teaches you to hold a neutral spine while bracing hard, which is the skill underneath carries, crawls, overhead pressing, and every heavy lift you will do later, and the short lever makes it accessible on day one. It is a poor choice if your wrists complain in that position, where a forearm plank is kinder, and it stops being a training stimulus once you can hold it comfortably for a minute.

Beginner

Bear Plank Hold

The bear plank teaches you to brace hard with the knees floating just off the floor, which shortens the lever compared with a full plank and puts the work squarely on the abs rather than the shoulders. It is a superb starting point for anyone learning to keep a neutral spine under load, and it doubles as an anti-extension primer before crawls, carries, and pressing. Keep the hover shallow and the tension high.

Equipment: Body Weight
Body part: Abs
Type: Functional, Strength
Browse by muscle: Upper Rectus Abdominals, Lower Rectus Abdominals
Browse by movement: Core Brace

How to do it

1
Set your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips with toes tucked.
2
Exhale hard and draw your ribs down toward your hips to flatten your low back.
3
Lift your knees one to two inches off the floor and hold that hover.
4
Keep your spine level with a flat line from head to hips.
5
Breathe shallowly through the brace without letting your back arch.
6
Lower the knees under control when your form starts to break.

Tips

Picture pushing the floor away to spread your shoulder blades and stay tall through the mid-back.
Keep the hover low; lifting the knees high turns it into a rest position and kills the tension.
If your hips shoot up, reset and think about tucking your tailbone slightly.

Variations

Common mistakes

Over a long hold the knees drift back behind the hips, which lengthens the lever without you choosing it and pulls the lower back into an arch.
Lifting the knees before the ribs come down gives you a braced-looking hover sitting on top of an arched lower back. Exhale hard, flatten the back, then lift.
Knees pressed together under the hips leave a narrow base and the hover starts rocking side to side; set them about hip-width so bracing, not balancing, is the limit.
Toes left flat instead of tucked let the shins slide as you lift, and the hover ends up coming from the hip flexors rather than from the brace.
Tapping the knees up and down for reps turns a hold into a set of small leg lifts, when the whole point is staying up, ribs down, for the full time.

Frequently asked

How long should a beginner hold a bear plank?: Three to four holds of 20 to 30 seconds with 45 seconds of rest is a solid start, two or three times a week. Build to 45 seconds, then stop adding time and add difficulty instead, because a two-minute hold mostly teaches you to tolerate boredom. Every hold should end while the position is still good, not when it collapses.
How do I make the bear plank easier or harder?: To make it easier, put your hands on a bench so the angle takes weight off, or keep the knees on the floor and brace hard without hovering. To make it harder, lift one hand off the floor and hold, drag a light weight across the floor from side to side, or start crawling forward and back while keeping the same low hover.
What is the bear plank good for?: It teaches you to hold a neutral spine while bracing hard, which is the skill underneath carries, crawls, overhead pressing, and every heavy lift you will do later, and the short lever makes it accessible on day one. It is a poor choice if your wrists complain in that position, where a forearm plank is kinder, and it stops being a training stimulus once you can hold it comfortably for a minute.

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