The Copenhagen plank, also commonly referred simply as an adductor side plank, is a fantastic exercise to include into your fitness routine. Copenhagen Plank Lift Exercise Demo Video and Info Advanced Plank Exercises for Insane Core Strength, Exercises That Will Help You Improve Your Grip Strength, Neck Pain: Simple Exercises to Improve Mobility and Combat Stiffness, Strengthen Your Feet With These Easy Toe Point Stretches, How to Keep Heels Down and Squat Like a Pro: Tips for Maximum Workout Benefits, Bodyweight Dips for Beginners: Progressions to Master the Exercise, From Tuck Planche to Advanced Tuck Planche: Your Step-By-Step Guide, 15 Advanced Dip Variations to Level Up Your Calisthenics Routine, The Best Bodyweight Pull Workout: Get Strong and Sculpted. As well as developing hip strength, the Copenhagen plank is also a great way to activate the core muscles, especially the obliques. The Copenhagen Hold, as shown below, is a unique plank variation that specifically targets the musculature of the inner groin. Place right foot on top of a bench and rest left toes gently on the floor. How to Add the Copenhagen Plank to Your Routine, How to Train In All 3 Planes of Motion and Why It Matters, Modification: Copenhagen Plank with Short Lever, Progression: Copenhagen Plank with Kettlebell or Knee Drive, 7 Abs Exercises to Tighten Stomach Muscles for a Strong Core, The Best Inner-Thigh Exercises That Reach Those Hard-to-Target Adductors, How to Strengthen Your Hip Flexors Plus, 5 Exercises to Try, The Best Core Stability Exercises to Level Up Your Workouts, How to Do a Curtsy Lunge to Build Your Booty, How to Do the Bear Crawl Exercise to Boost Strength and Coordination, 7 Hip Thrust Variations to Build Lower-Body Strength at Any Fitness Level. This will improve abdominal and adductor activation. The Copenhagen plank, also known as the Copenhagen adductor plank due to its target muscles, or the Copenhagen plank hold, is a more challenging side plank variation. Drive your right knee forward. Does it affect your daily workout routine? When it comes to the Copenhagen plank, the more surface area of your leg that rests on the bench, the easier the exercise will be, says Ros. In 2013, Serner and colleagues compared 8 adductor exercises and found the Copenhagen adduction exercise to elicit high activation of the adductor longus. Numerous studies have shown a correlation between hip adductor strength and groin related injuries. This variation can be used as a progression for a beginner, or as a regression from the original exercises to focus on improving your form. In another study by Haroy and colleagues (2018), a group of male soccer players completed a 36-week long adductor strengthening program using the Copenhagen Adduction exercise. To do this exercise, lie on your side with your feet and legs stacked, then prop yourself up on one arm while keeping the other arm extended. Is the Copenhagen Adduction Exercise Smart for Groin Injuries? What are the techniques to master the Copenhagen Plank?. Abductors bring your leg away from your body, just like an alien abduction takes a person away from Earth. To make the Copenhagen adductor plank even harder, you could also switch the support system to a suspended one. The Copenhagen plank works your arms, shoulders, core, and adductors. But what makes the Copenhagen special is that you do not rest your feet or knees on the ground. We last saw Copenhagen planks in our rundown of the best bodyweight exercises that actually build strength. Lift the hips up until your body is in a straight line with the lower leg off the floor. Doing Copenhagen Plank is a great way to strengthen your core, improve stability and reduce injury chances. Youll notice the closer you get your knee to the bench, the easier it becomes as youre working with less lever. The bottom leg hangs underneath the bench. However, this could take away the focus from the adductors and shift it more onto the core and shoulders. By squeezing your legs together, you will engage your core muscles to keep yourself straight while holding the isometric contraction. Still, your obliques, the muscles responsible for rotating your trunk, get a large chunk of the action. To start, youll need a bench, or ideally a raised platform that doesnt have a back on it, like an ottoman. Just like the abdominal muscles, they often work in everyday life as stabilizers, not necessarily movers. These both reduce the amount of load and effort placed on the top leg, thus making it easier to hold. This plank variation challenges even the strongest coreand gives runners an extra form boost, too. Place your top leg onto a bench or raised surface. For another fantastic ab exercise, check out the landmine rollout. To begin with start with your knee on the chair. Gaze forward and maintain a straight line from head to heels. Squeeze your legs together and maintain this position for a few seconds before releasing them back to the starting position. Start with as much of your leg on the support as possible. How to do a Copenhagen Plank: Technique, Benefits, and Variations These muscles are responsible for moving your legs to the center of your body. The main technique for mastering the Copenhagen Plank exercise is to keep your core and glutes tight. Plus, the exercise works your shoulder stability, particularly if you perform the exercise on your palm rather than your forearm, which reduces the surface area youre balancing on, she adds. You can further challenge your shoulder stability and cores anti-rotation capacity by holding a kettlebell with your free hand (with the bottom of the bell pointed toward the ceiling), extending your arm straight up, and holding it there. If youve worked up to 4 breaths fo 10 seconds each side and youre not feeling challenged, you can add some weight. Exercises You Should Be Doing: Copenhagen Side Plank Shenanigans What are the risk factors for Copenhagen Plank? Rotating your shoulders forward will cause you to lose balance, so keep your shoulders in line with your chest throughout the movement. 1) Set up with your head perpendicular to a bench and facing away. As your adductors get stronger, slowly move more of your calf off the bench until just your foot is resting on it (the classic Copenhagen plank), she suggests. For more information, please see our The Copenhagen plank lift is a dynamic variation of the Copenhagen plank for adductor strength and hip stability. EMG evaluations of hip adduction exercises for soccer players: implications for exercise selection in prevention and treatment of groin injuries. Serner A, et al. Remember to breathe normally throughout the exercise. Most importantly, remember to breathe, says Ros. Check out our Hip Resilience program! Obviously, this trains the adductor muscles. The closer your body is to the bench, the easier the movement becomes. J Sci Med Sport. She has experience in copywriting and digital marketing, and she's an award-winning freelancer who works with B2C clients in health and wellness. Squeeze your inner thigh muscles hard so that right thigh . Ultimately, the scientific research around Copenhagen planks is very positive and suggests athletes can improve performance and avoid injuries by including the exercise into their fitness routines. It is an intense exercise that requires a lot of balance and strength to execute correctly. They continued the program into the 28 week long season, keeping repetitions and intensity high, but reducing the training frequency (reducing to 1 weekly session, 1 set, 12-15 reps per side). This helps to improve exercises like lateral side squats too. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. You can make the exercise easier by resting the bottom leg on the floor, or positioning yourself closer to the bench. Some of these muscles also have secondary actions, including hip flexion (adductor brevis and gracilis), internal rotation (adductor longus, adductor brevis, and pectineus), and extension (anterior head of adductor magnus). Copenhagen Plank is an exercise to make your inner thigh muscles strong that can help reduce groin pain and injuries during sports activities. Orthop J Sports Med. Ishoi L, et al. Every time you take a stride, you're essentially on the one leg, she explains. This particular exercise you can do 1-2 times per week for 2-3 sets, and that will have you well on your toward stronger adductors, better posture, fewer injuries, and some compliments on your inner thighs. You can also check out his Instagram, he's pretty easy on the eyes. Jeff Tomko is a freelance fitness writer who has written for Muscle and Fitness, Men's Fitness, and Men's Health. Benefits. Your email address will not be published. It is also important to keep your legs wide when performing Copenhagen plank, as this will target the adductor muscles more effectively and add an extra challenge to the exercise. It stands to reason that strengthening your groin muscles will reduce the risk of injuring your groin, and that's exactly what the science says: And in particular, having strong eccentric adductor strength, or strength when your adductors are being lengthened which happens in a lot physical activities "seem important to consider, especially in prevention, as this resembles the situation where the muscle-tendinous structures are at the highest risk of injury" Serner et al (2014). Once youre ready to tackle the Copenhagen plank, try one of the modifications below and progress through other variations as you build up strength and stability. Planks arent that easy to add weight to. Published: Oct 13, 2020 Yes, you can hold a plank for hours upon hours. To progress, straighten the top leg and perform the same movement. Once the static version becomes to hard, we can simply introduce some movement and perform the copenhagen plank for reps instead of time. If the variation with the top leg straight is too challenging, you can either rest the bottom leg on the ground or bend the top knee. Its such a good exercise and I know I have to do it, but sometimes I'm like, I just wanna do a side plank because I know how hard it is.. You wouldn't feel side plank in your chest. Coachs Tip Ensure you use a bench or raised surface that is roughly the same height as your head when you hold the side plank. Remember the Copenhagen keys: maintain stability and squeeze your glutes and shoulder blades while fighting off rotation in both directions. If you're performing the exercise with your right arm on the floor, for example, you'll fire up your right side's obliques and left leg's adductors and abductors, she adds. This helps strengthen the deep core muscles, essential for everyday activities like lifting or carrying heavy loads. Remember the Copenhagen keys: maintain stability and squeeze your glutes and shoulder blades while fighting off rotation in both directions. Enter the Copenhagen Plank. The Copenhagen is a little bit different, according to Samuel. JOSPT. For this progression, you will hold the same side plank position but move your chest toward the ground in a slow, controlled movement. The Copenhagen plank is a practical adaptation of the Copenhagen adduction exercise, which involves a training partner holding the top leg (as opposed to resting it on a bench). Copenhagen Plank - Olympic Weightlifting: Catalyst Athletics Required fields are marked *. Furthermore, you must keep your body straight while holding the plank position. You want to be able to plant your feet and quickly turn to move in the opposite direction of your opponent. , Your email address will not be published. Once you can hold a given position for about 30 seconds, you can increase the difficulty by moving the point of contact on your leg further down, which lengthens the lever and increases the demands on the adductors. How (and Why) to Do Copenhagen Planks - lifehacker.com.au