How many plank shoulder taps should a beginner do?

Aim for 3 sets of 16 to 20 taps in total, eight to ten per side, moving slowly enough that each hand is off the floor for about a second. Rest a minute. When the hips stop moving at that pace, do not add taps: bring the feet closer together, which is the real progression, and only then add sets. Two or three times a week fits alongside other core work.

How do I make plank shoulder taps easier or harder?

Put your hands on a bench or against a wall to take weight off, and set the feet wide, to make them easier. To make them harder, bring the feet together, hold each tap for two seconds, tap the opposite hip as well as the shoulder, or wear a light vest. Adding speed is not a progression, however hard it feels.

What are plank shoulder taps good for?

They train the trunk to resist rotation, which is what your core actually does when you carry a bag in one hand, press one dumbbell, or run, and they do it without any equipment. They are a poor choice if your wrists dislike the high plank position, where a forearm plank with a leg lift trades one demand for another, and they will not build visible abs on their own, since the load never rises.

Beginner

Plank Shoulder Taps

Lifting one hand off the floor threatens to rotate your body toward the free side, and the obliques work overtime to stop it. That makes shoulder taps a clean anti-rotation drill dressed up as a plank, training the exact stability athletes need for single-arm pressing and carrying. The slower and more controlled the taps, the harder the core has to brace.

Equipment: Body Weight
Body part: Abs
Type: Functional, Strength
Browse by muscle: Abdominal External Oblique, Upper Rectus Abdominals, Lower Rectus Abdominals
Browse by movement: Anti-Rotation, Core Brace

How to do it

1
Start in a high plank with hands under your shoulders and feet about hip-width apart.
2
Brace your abs and squeeze your glutes to lock the torso.
3
Slowly lift one hand and tap the opposite shoulder.
4
Return the hand to the floor without letting your hips dip or swing.
5
Alternate sides for the target number of taps.
6
Keep your breathing steady and your pace deliberate.

Tips

Widen your feet to give yourself a broader base and less to fight against.
Aim to keep a full water glass balanced on your low back; if it would spill, you are rotating.
Move at the tap, not the hips; the win is a torso that never twists.

Variations

Common mistakes

The hips pike up toward the ceiling to make the hand lift easy, which shortens the lever and lets the obliques off the hook entirely.
Taps turn into a race, with the free hand slapping the shoulder and dropping back before the torso ever has to hold anything. Two counts up, two counts down.
The supporting elbow locks hard and hyperextends as the weight shifts across, parking the load on the joint instead of the shoulder and trunk. Keep a small bend in it.
Hands set wider than the shoulders make the position feel steadier while pushing the supporting shoulder into a stretched spot under load; stack them under the joints.
Reaching only as far as the chest instead of the opposite shoulder halves the cross-body distance, and the anti-rotation demand goes with it.

Frequently asked

How many plank shoulder taps should a beginner do?: Aim for 3 sets of 16 to 20 taps in total, eight to ten per side, moving slowly enough that each hand is off the floor for about a second. Rest a minute. When the hips stop moving at that pace, do not add taps: bring the feet closer together, which is the real progression, and only then add sets. Two or three times a week fits alongside other core work.
How do I make plank shoulder taps easier or harder?: Put your hands on a bench or against a wall to take weight off, and set the feet wide, to make them easier. To make them harder, bring the feet together, hold each tap for two seconds, tap the opposite hip as well as the shoulder, or wear a light vest. Adding speed is not a progression, however hard it feels.
What are plank shoulder taps good for?: They train the trunk to resist rotation, which is what your core actually does when you carry a bag in one hand, press one dumbbell, or run, and they do it without any equipment. They are a poor choice if your wrists dislike the high plank position, where a forearm plank with a leg lift trades one demand for another, and they will not build visible abs on their own, since the load never rises.

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