Sure, it's a simple movement that doesn't stir much excitement when you see someone holding the position in a corner of the gymbut if you level up to one of the toughest variations of the exercise around, the Copenhagen plank, you won't be so quick to snub your nose. 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). There is one exercise that you can do with zero equipment at home to strengthen your adductors and help prevent injury. [1], [2]. And remember - having your hip in contact with the bench is important. But its an under-appreciated exercise, and deserves a spotlight of its own. Keep your core engaged and stable during the exercise by contracting the muscles in your abdomen. prohockeystrength.com., the official website of the Strength and Conditioning Association of Professional Hockey. Disclaimer - the information on this website is for entertainment purposes only. It worked: Programs including this Copenhagen adductor exercise made male soccer players adductors stronger, and while its not a silver bullet for preventing groin strains, it seems to help. You would simply position your upper leg on their hands and keep the bottom leg off the floor. The Copenhagen plank or Copenhagen adduction exercise is a side plank variation that targets the muscles of the inner thigh and groin, the adductors. Again, youll hold a Copenhagen plank nowhere near the same amount of time you would a standard plank. Orthop J Sports Med. I wouldn't recommend more than 25 seconds or 10 slow breaths per side per set, she adds. Everyday activities like sitting at a desk for extended periods, leaning over your phone or tablet, and even sleeping in an awkward position can contribute to neck pain. 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. This is a surprisingly big jump from regular Copenhagen planks and a great target for those looking to really leverage the benefits of the exercise. You set up a Copenhagen plank like a side plank, except you place your top foot on a bench while hovering your bottom foot in the air. How often have you dismissed the plank? These modifications will add extra difficulty to the Copenhagen Plank and challenge your core and stabilizer muscles. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. It is located on the islands of Zealand (Sjlland) and Amager, at the southern end of The Sound (resund). During an 8-week preseason, they performed multiple sessions a week (starting with 2 weekly sessions, 1 set, 3-5 reps per side), while progressively increasing the repetitions (working up to 3 weekly sessions, 1 set, 12-15 reps per side). What to add a challenge to your planks? Try Copenhagen plank, a side plank variation that works best for a strong core and toned inner thighs. You perform compound movements to train multiple major muscle groups at once, do HIIT workouts to get your heart pumping and muscles shaking, and use circuits to structure your workouts so you don't get distracted between sets. For non-athletes, the exercise can simply help to create better hip stability, which is associated with reduced risk of back, hip and knee injuries as well as better posture. They are mainly included in rehab programs for athletes who have suffered an injury in the groin area, but they are often also found in strength programs. How Long Do You Really Need to Hold a Plank? Do you want to be doing more core strengthening exercises like Copenhagen Plank? Jeff Tomko is a freelance fitness writer who has written for Muscle and Fitness, Men's Fitness, and Men's Health. Numerous studies have shown a correlation between hip adductor strength and groin related injuries. Maintaining a straight body while doing Copenhagen plank is essential to ensure that your core and glutes are engaged and maximize the exercises effectiveness. However, this could take away the focus from the adductors and shift it more onto the core and shoulders. 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. Alternatives to Copenhagen Plank are an excellent way to challenge your core and increase stability. Here, you place your top knee on the bench and keep your bottom leg bent too. Say you notice that its much easier to do a Copenhagen plank on your right side than your left, a potential sign of a muscle imbalance. Don't let your chest collapse, so keep the top hand on your hip, or extended towards the ceiling. This regression involves performing the side plank on the forearm rather than extending the arm fully to increase stability. These muscles are called upon during lateral movements in your daily life (think: stepping to the side to avoid stomping on your pet, balancing on a subway car while it zooms forward). Large eccentric strength increase using the Copenhagen adduction exercise in football: a randomized controlled trial. Here Im using a DB because Im using a home gym. However, instead of your feet on the ground, place the top foot onto a chair, bench or another stable surface, while holding the bottom leg off the ground. In our opinion, the best way to progress this movement is to use a suspension trainer (like a TRX system) to rest your upper foot. Along with those variations, you can also progress the Copenhagen plank by increasing the duration of the exercise. Thats why she usually starts her clients off with their top knee bent at a 90-degree angle and their knee and calf fully resting on the bench (aka a short lever), she says. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. EMG evaluations of hip adduction exercises for soccer players: implications for exercise selection in prevention and treatment of groin injuries. This help increases the strength of your adductors and improves your overall hip stability and balance. So your next question might be why you should train them in the first place. The body and leg then lower, so the foot just gently touches the floor, and then is repeated for desired repetitions. At the end of the program, these athletes demonstrated a 35.7% increase in eccentric hip adduction strength! All else equal I prefer this over the bent-knee variation because in real life the adductors contact with the ankle/foot as the contact point, so I think this transfers over to sports and real life better. The knees caving in is often the cause of many injuries. This will increase shoulder and core strength and improve coordination and balance. As such, a better name might be the adductor plank, or adductor side plank, but the Copenhagen name has stuck. The Copenhagen plank, also known as the Copenhagen adduction exercise, is a side plank variation that focuses on the adductor muscles of the inner thigh and groin. The reality is many people will naturally do movements and exercises that strengthen the hip abductors (the outside of the hips). J Sci Med Sport. All these variations are excellent alternatives to the Copenhagen Plank that you can use to challenge your core and build stability in different ways. Copenhagen Side Plank w/ Leg Lift There's really nothing fancy here. But what good does it actually do for you and your body? Move it out more, and the lever becomes longer and more challenging. This movement is an advanced exercise that also works your entire body. Simply put, no other exercises have been shown to be as beneficial for targeting the groin region as the Copenhagen adduction exercises. A 30 second hold would be really good and a 60 second hold would demonstrate very good adduction strength. The Ultimate Test of Strength: The Copenhagen Plank. So building up the strength of those stabilizer muscles [in your legs and core] is important., Ready to give the exercise a shot? Great view of my childhood trophies here. This exercise requires extra balance and stability, as youll need to maintain your balance while waiting on the unstable surface of the Swiss ball. From there don't just think about haphazardly lifting the bottom leg towards the top. She has experience in copywriting and digital marketing, and she's an award-winning freelancer who works with B2C clients in health and wellness. Youll notice the closer you get your knee to the bench, the easier it becomes as youre working with less lever. If youre still not comfortable with that, you may need to do side planks (from the knees is fine) to build up your core strength, and look elsewhere for adductor exercises. Return the hips to the floor under control. Place yourself in a perpendicular position to a bench, in a forearm side plank position, Place your upper leg on top of the bench and keep the bottom one off the floor, Place a mat under your arm to provide more comfort to your elbow, Keep the core engaged to maintain the correct posture, Use a lower bench to further decrease the intensity and support your back, Bend your upper leg on the bench and use that knee as support to reduce the intensity and add stability, Place yourself in a perpendicular position to a bench, in an extended side plank position, Bend the bottom leg on the floor and use the knee as support, Use a mat to put under your leg to provide extra comfort to your knee. Mix the Copenhagen plank into your usual resistance training regimen and try holding it for 10 to 20 seconds at a time, doing three to four sets on each side, suggests Ros. The Copenhagen plank primarily targets the adductor muscles of the hip. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); All Content Copyright Roman Fitness Systems 2019. The basic idea is to support your upper body on your forearm or hand, while your leg is supported on a bench or another object. 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. Buyers Guide to Cold Plunge Pools and Baths, Oblique Crunches How to Perform & Benefits. And yet, [the inner and outer thighs are] often neglected parts of the body, so some people have weak adductors without really knowing it, she explains. Want to learn more? Lift your hips mostly with the top leg, but use some support from the bottom leg to help. Losing weight can be a challenge, but its definitely doable. This can be achieved by positioning yourself further away from the bench, or closer if you want to decrease the intensity. This is called active rest.. To begin with start with your knee on the chair. By working mainly on the groin muscles in our legs, the Copenhagen plank benefits the hips and adductors by making them stronger and decreasing the risk of strains and injuries. The Copenhagen plank is one of the most challenging plank variations out there, a side plank variation that requires extra glute and hip adductor focus and builds all-around ab and core. Build abs, obliques, and shoulder strength with the Copenhagen plank delt raise. and our Position your elbow directly under your shoulder as if you were doing a side plank. This will challenge the stabilizer muscles in the core and strengthen your shoulder muscles, making it an excellent alternative for Copenhagen Plank. Required fields are marked *. AJSM. But ALSO think about driving or pushing the knee of the top leg INTO the bench or table. According to experts, squatting is one of the most effective exercises for improving athletic performance. Countless studies have shown that the Copenhagen adductor plank is second-to-none when it comes to developing adductor strength. Gently tap your butt to a chair and stand back up. In team practices, a partner can stand up and hold your leg while youre doing the exercise. You can do Copenhagen Plank up to three times a week, making sure to give your body enough time to recover between sets. Similar to a standard side plank, your obliques are required to help create stability as you hold the position. Some of the most common exercises to target the inner thighs include. Copenhagen plank is a side plank variation that targets our adductors or inner thigh muscles. And dont let the difficulty level discourage you or make you feel inadequate even pros like Ros think the Copenhagen plank is an exhausting but worthwhile move. It can be regressed or progressed, which makes it perfect for any skill level. The science has shown that when you have an imbalance between adduction or internal rotation strength of the hip and abduction or external rotation strength of the hip then you are likely to experience groin pain - basically the adductor group isn't as strong as it needs to be to counteract the strength of muscles like glute medius which want to turn your knees outwards. Because we're going to work a lot of lateral stability in this plank, you're going to start to get a lot of hip effect, Samuel says. Copenhagen Plank is an exercise to make your inner thigh muscles strong that can help reduce groin pain and injuries during sports activities. Youre almost there, but Samuel says theres one final piece to the Copenhagen puzzle. 5.1K views 3 years ago Here I have one of my awesome clients Mitch performing a modified regression of the Copenhagen plank as he's performing it with his knee, shin, foot, and ankle on the. What are the techniques to master the Copenhagen Plank?. Haroy J, et al. Bourne M, et al. In this article, we will discuss how to perform the Copenhagen side plank correctly, different variations of it, and alternative exercises to work on effectively strengthening your adductors. Ahead, learn details on all the benefits a Copenhagen plank has to offer and find out how to do one with perfect form every single time no matter how you modify or spice up the move. Again the same rules apply, start off at the knee and lower towards the foot as you get stronger, and don't sacrifice your form! Thanks for reading. Generally speaking, I think core exercise can be sprinkled in every training session during rest periods from major strength movements. This plank variation challenges even the strongest coreand gives runners an extra form boost, too. Before you try any Copenhagen plank, its important to master the traditional side plank, which will help you build up the core strength necessary to tackle the challenging lower-body exercise, says Ros. As well as hip adduction, Copenhagen planks will also help develop overall core strength by engaging the abdominals and obliques. Just 10 seconds at a time, over three sets, is a great place to start. It doesn't just target your obliques like a side plank, but it also fires up your adductors and your abductors your inner and outer thigh muscles. Sound complicated? In the meantime, you can strengthen your adductors with other isometric exercises. Begin by lying on your right side with your shoulder, elbow, and forearm stacked in a. Whether youre an athlete, a fitness enthusiast, or simply looking to enhance your hand strength, these exercises will help you achieve your goals. Doing the copenhagen plank for 1 min, I really feel it in my inner thigh. Place your top shin on the bench. It is also great for improving core strength and stability, especially in the obliques. To attack the obliques and get some added value by tapping into the adductors and abductors, a smart modality to implement would be the Copenhagen plank. Make sure to progress from the more accessible variations to the more challenging ones as you get stronger. This can make Copenhagen Planks a critical exercise in your strength training plan to help reduce groin injuries. Watch Ros demonstrate the move below. Then return to the starting position and repeat. JOSPT. Focus on controlling your movements through the transition from one position to another, all while maintaining perfect form. An individual starts by lying on his or her side with the forearm supported on the floor and the top leg being held by a partner at either the ankle or the knee. And this training can do you some good: Improving your core stability not only helps prevent injuries in your back, but it can also improve your athletic performance, she notes. Lift the hips up until your body is in a straight line with the lower leg off the floor and hold. In addition to helping run RFS, he's also the head editor for That's what makes this a great plank, Samuel says. Another way to increase intensity is to perform a Copenhagen plank raise. Due to the close proximity of the origin of the adductors and the insertion of the abdominal muscles, this further supports the use of Copenhagen plank variations in rehab or injury risk reduction programs for the groin. Our website content, services, and products are not intended to serve as medical advice and are intended for informational and educational purposes only. It's mainly used to strengthen the groin and hip muscles. Most importantly, remember to breathe, says Ros. We last saw Copenhagen planks in our rundown of the best bodyweight exercises that actually build strength. Hip adductor muscle strength is reduced preceding and during the onset of groin pain in elite junior Australian football players. Now you're not only like working the adductors in the leg that's on top of the bench, but you're also using your hip flexors to bring the bottom leg [up to] 90 degrees, she explains. The Copenhagen plank, also commonly referred simply as an adductor side plank, is a fantastic exercise to include into your fitness routine. Engage core, grounding through left elbow and side of left foot, and lift hips and knees off the floor.
Categorías