The last time I saw the planks of Copenhagen An overview of the best bodyweight exercises to actually build strengthBut it’s an underrated exercise that deserves the spotlight in its own right.of copenhagen board A bit like a side plank: YTry to keep your body steady by leaning on your hand or elbow and keeping your other arm off the ground. But what makes Copenhagen special is that your feet and knees don’t touch the ground.no you place 1 Place your leg (top leg) on the bench. This means that you need to use the inner thigh muscles of your upper leg to lift you up. It’s a killer leg exercise that not only adds variety to your routine, but it has benefits.
What are the benefits of the Copenhagen Plank?
The name of this exercise (and its mild popularity) comes from a Danish study that showed it helped prevent groin pulls in athletes. It has the role of pulling our feet together. Researchers used this exercise to strengthen the adductor muscles, as many of the muscles in this group are thin and prone to tearing and pulling (“pulling”).
It worked 😛A program that includes this “Copenhagen adductor exercise” Strengthened the adductor muscles of male soccer playersis not a silver bullet for preventing groin strain, but it seems to help.
In addition to strengthening your adductors, the Copenhagen Plank also includes elements of your regular side plank. Even the abductors, the muscles on the outside of the hip, seem to get a little boost from training this exercise.
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(And yes, those two words are very similar. Abductors bring your leg away from your body, just like an alien abduction takes a person away from Earth. Adductors bring your legs in toward your midline; the two letter D’s in the middle may help you remember that they bring the legs together.)
How exactly do I do a Copenhagen plank?
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. In team practices, a partner can stand up and hold your leg while you’re doing the exercise.
Start with as much of your leg on the support as possible. In order of easiest to hardest, the progression goes:
- Knee or thigh on the bench
- Shin or foot on the bench
- Dipping the hips toward the ground and back up, repeatedly (This can be done in either position.)
While planks are often done for increasingly long periods of time, you don’t have to take that approach to get the benefits out of the Copenhagen plank. Try a 10-second hold, repeated three times with rest in between as needed. When that gets easy, try a harder variation.
What if I can’t do a Copenhagen plank?
If you can’t do any of the versions above, even the one with your knee on the bench, one way to modify is to keep your free leg on the ground. Lift your hips mostly with the top leg, but use some support from the bottom leg to help.
If you’re 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. This striped adductor exercise You can also do single leg movements like stepping up to work the adductor muscles along with the other leg muscles.
