Copenhagen Plank Raise

What is Copenhagen Plank Raise:

The Copenhagen Plank Raise is an advanced hip and core bodyweight exercise that primarily works the hip adductors (inner thigh muscles and the core muscles, especially the obliques. This exercise involves holding a side plank position while one supporting leg on an elevated surface and performing a raising and lowering motion with the hip.

Key Benefits:

  • Hip Mobility and Stability: Strengthens the hip adductors, improving mobility and stability and potentially aiding injury prevention.
  • Muscle Size and Definition: Consistent practice of this exercise can enhance the muscle size and definition of the obliques and hip adductors, potentially leading to a more sculpted appearance relative to the individual's body composition.
  • Core Strength and Stability: This exercise effectively targets and strengthens the obliques, leading to a stronger core, which is crucial for various activities, improved posture, and potentially mitigating back pain.
  • Convenience: This exercise can be performed virtually anywhere with just something to put one supporting leg on, making it accessible and convenient for most individuals.

Variations:

  • Heel Tap: A simple obliques exercise that involves lying on your back and crunching your obliques by tapping your heels / lateral flexion.
  • Russian Twist: A core exercise that targets the obliques through controlled twisting motions of the torso.
  • Side Plank Raise: A plank variation that works the obliques primarily through spinal lateral flexions.
  • Floor Windshield Wiper: A core exercise that primarily targets the obliques performed lying on your back and moving the lower body sideways, like a windshield wiper.

How to perform Copenhagen Plank Raises:

  • Starting Position: Get into a side plank position, placing one leg on a bench or sturdy elevated surface with your other leg hanging in the air. Prop yourself up onto your forearm for stability, keeping your body in a straight line from shoulders to feet.
  • Execution: Relax your adductors and core, letting your hip sink down. Then, engage them again, raising your body to the starting position.
  • Repetition: Hold the end/top position (end position of the concentric phase) then repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Breathing Technique:

Proper breathing is crucial for maximizing performance and maintaining stamina throughout the exercise. Experiment with what you're comfortable with and let you perform your best. For starters, you can try the following:

  • Inhale: Inhale while getting into the starting position and at the relaxed position.
  • Exhale: Exhale at the starting position/end of the concentric phase.
  • Stability Issue: The point of the exercise is to challenge the hip adductors and obliques through hip adduction and lateral flexion (the motion getting back into the starting position), not from the instability of the movement. So, feel free to use your non-supporting arm and the other leg to support your body if needed.
  • Scapular Engagement: Maintain scapular depression with neutral protraction/retraction throughout the movement to make the exercise execution more efficient.
  • Shoulder Rotation: Maintain slight shoulder external rotation for more efficient and safer exercise execution.
  • Pelvic Position: Maintain a neutral pelvic tilt for optimal core engagement and stability.
    •

    Additional Information:

    Ways to make it easier:

    • Decreasing the Range of Motion - partial reps, only go as far as you can handle
    • Doing it with your other hand on the ground or holding onto something for support
    • Using your other leg for support
    • Placing your supporting leg bent on the bench
    • Bending your non-supporting leg
    • Regressing to an easier variation/exercise

    Ways to make it harder:

    • Playing with the Tempo & adding an Isometric phase (pause/hold)
    • Placing your supporting foot on an unstable surface like a gymnastic rings or trx
    • Adding resistance - holding a dumbbell or something on your side, or wearing an ankle weight on your other foot
    • Progressing to a harder variation/exercise