Tip: The Plank Pull

Test your planking ability with single-arm plank pulls. This is a great exercise to test and build both anti-rotation and anti-extension strength and stability.

It's essentially a single-arm lat "pulldown" done from plank position. It can be done with bands or on an adjustable cable column with the pulley set to a low height.

The Set Up

1. Anchor a band to a stable apparatus, or set the pulley low to the ground on a cable machine.
2. Grab the band or handle, take a few steps back, and get in a plank position.
3. Using one arm, perform reps reaching over head and then pulling back to the shoulders (replicating a lat pulldown).
4. Do the same number of reps on the other arm.

Tips

• The hips and shoulders will have the tendency to twist up, but work to keep both level with the ground throughout the set. The objective is to maintain a perfectly neutral position as you do reps.
• Make it tougher by narrowing up your foot stance. A wider stance will make it easier to resist rotation, so using a narrower stance makes the exercise more difficult.
• Make sure to position yourself far enough back that you can use full range of motion on each rep. You don’t want to have any slack in the band or cable when your arm is fully extended in front.