The plank, great for protecting your back

Our back/spine (besides helping with all sorts of upper body movements in our twisting, turning, stretching and bending) is a lot like a pipe that holds the electrical wiring (nerves) that send electrical signals to our different body parts, whether it’s vital organs, involuntary actions, or our skeletal movement. If our back is not strengthened and properly protected and something mashes this casing that holds your nerves, it can cause all sorts of problems. 

Example: if wiring gets severed or grounded out that supplies a subdivision with power, this could affect all the different houses in that particular grid, so it would be very important to the power company to keep the supply line protected from the elements so as to provide uninterrupted power and signal going into this area. It is much more important that we protect this part of our central nervous system, (the spine).

The Plank is an exercise that you can do almost anywhere, and no equipment is necessary. This is a static exercise (also known as isometric and will affect muscles at high intensities without joint movement).
This affects the core area of the body (abdominals) and is an area that most of us would like to shape anyhow. This gets muscles all around the core and does not just focus on one area like crunches and sit-ups do. Exercising only one side of our core can cause muscle imbalance. The best way that I can describe a muscle imbalance is to compare it to hanging a weight off of one side of a bicycle instead of balancing the weight evenly with both sides. We know what will happen if we try to ride the bike, it will keep trying to pull us in the direction of where most of the weight is hanging on. This is much how fat and muscle work if it’s not evenly distributed and it will eventually cause a strain on our skeletal structure because of the pull in that direction. This can also lead to a degenerative condition in these areas and can lead up to the point that a doctor will try to convince you to repair it through surgery, or at the least a chiropractor for a long series of decompression treatments. We can avoid a lot of potential injury and increase our quality of life by staying consistent with a few exercises that only take a small amount of time but could prevent some big problems later.

How to do the Plank: lie face down on the floor with your body straight and your forearms resting on the floor. Slowly press your body up off the floor onto your forearms and toes. Keep your abs pulled in tight and your back flat while holding this position. It is something almost anyone can do for a few seconds and when done with consistency you will find that you can hold the position for longer. 

The neat thing is this: whenever muscular strength or endurance is increased, you can feel good about this area being not only stronger but better protected with muscle support. This is your way of surrounding a wore down skeletal area of the body a natural splint.
This is very important when launching a fitness routine as well. All the bouncing around that we do when we first start out can cause compression and inflammation around nerves and when this happens, it can put a lot of pressure on the area along with potential inflammation flare-ups, and besides the pain and aggravation, it can also make so the signal that our brain is trying to send out to different parts of our body do not reach their destination properly. 

Our back and neck should be looked at as one of our most guarded investments, since it is through these that the brain sends its messages whether voluntary or involuntary for almost all of our life functions. Whether for prevention of back problems or strengthening a weak one, less then 3 minutes a day could make a big difference.