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. This is a dynamic alternative that can be applied at any regression or progression stage to increase intensity and difficulty. Similar to the Nordic hamstring exercise, the Copenhagen adduction exercise (CAE) is a bodyweight movement popularized by Danish researchers and sports therapists. In addition to helping run RFS, he's also the head editor for Fortunately, with side plank variations its not so difficult. Regularly practicing Copenhagen planks, however, can strengthen these key lower-body muscles and help keep injuries at bay. Position your elbow directly under your shoulder as if you were doing a side plank. AJSM. If you want to build more strength, muscle, & body control, the regular bodyweight dips might no longer be enough. Normally when we think side plank, we prioritize bracing our entire core. Previously, Kristen was the Chief Content Officer at aSweatLife.com, where she led content and editorial strategy. The Copenhagen plank is an excellent exercise to test your core strength, stability, coordination, and balance. 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. Elevate your feet onto a box or bench while doing the Copenhagen plank to increase the intensity. Additionally, be careful not to overexert yourself start with more accessible variations and work your way up as you get stronger. A kettlebell or dumbbell work fine, but for just like TGUs I find the kettlebell to work a little bit better. (And yes, those two words are very similar. and our More broadly, you may think of the adductors as crucial stabilizer and core muscles. But what good does it actually do for you and your body? 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. Hold this position. The first is that it strengthens your frontal plane. In order of easiest to hardest, the progression goes: While planks are often done for increasingly long periods of time, you dont have to take that approach to get the benefits out of the Copenhagen plank. As such, a better name might be the adductor plank, or adductor side plank, but the Copenhagen name has stuck. By avoiding common mistakes and progressing from basic form to more advanced variations, you can maximize the benefits of the exercise and get the most out of it. You can do Copenhagen Plank up to three times a week, making sure to give your body enough time to recover between sets. This means your core and adductors have to work extra hard to maintain stability. For another fantastic ab exercise, check out the landmine rollout. Does it affect your daily workout routine? I wouldn't recommend more than 25 seconds or 10 slow breaths per side per set, she adds. But what makes the Copenhagen special is that you do not rest your feet or knees on the ground. By the end of this article, you will clearly understand the vital aspect of the most challenging exercise and learn the essential techniques needed to master the Copenhagen plank.. Just 10 seconds at a time, over three sets, is a great place to start. Plus, they'll be challenged to prevent you from rotating forward, says Ros. This exercise got its name (and its mild popularity) from research out of Denmark that showed it helps to prevent groin pulls in athletes. The human body doesnt cope with imbalances very well in fact, imbalances are a recipe for disaster when it comes to injuries. 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. Copenhagen Plank Watch on What is a Copenhagen Plank? Some of the most common exercises to target the inner thighs include. However, jumping from tuck planche to advanced tuck is quite an enormous task ahead. The Copenhagen plank is a unilateral exercise, meaning it targets just one side of the body at a time. ). 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. Hold this position for a minimum of 15 seconds, 3-4 times on each side, Keep your core, glutes, and back engaged throughout to maintain the correct posture, If the knee of your top leg is feeling uncomfortable during the plank hold, bend it on the bench to decrease the strain in that area, If performing this exercise on a hard floor, place a mat under your body to provide more comfort to your hand. Check out .css-16acfp5{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.125rem;text-decoration-color:#d2232e;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-16acfp5:hover{color:#000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;background-color:yellow;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}our entire Form Check series. The exercise is isometric, which means you hold your body in one position while contracting your muscles. 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. Bourne M, et al. Holding your breath can cause you to become dizzy and affect your form, so make sure to keep breathing steadily while doing the Copenhagen Plank. Required fields are marked *. This can be achieved by positioning yourself further away from the bench, or closer if you want to decrease the intensity. It is an intense exercise that requires a lot of balance and strength to execute correctly. Find the right variation that provides zero pain. 2019:1-34. Its such a good exercise and I know I have to do it, but sometimes I'm like, I just wanna do a side plank because I know how hard it is.. We suggest starting about two inches out. Engage core, grounding through left elbow and side of left foot, and lift hips and knees off the floor. This will help ensure that your hips dont drop or sway during the exercise. If youre coming off of a knee injury, or have a history of knee pain, try the regression variations first. It targets the leg adductors, which are muscles often neglected in training, but they play an essential role in our everyday lives and workouts. Similar to a standard side plank, your obliques are required to help create stability as you hold the position. This will ensure that you are engaging and strengthening your adductors correctly. What are the techniques to master the Copenhagen Plank?. This will allow you to scale your planks difficulty level. Strengthening your adductors through Copenhagen Plank will help create balance in the hip area and reduce injury chances. At the end of the program, these athletes demonstrated a 35.7% increase in eccentric hip adduction strength! The knee-assisted plank simply requires you to use your knee as support to provide extra stability. This will add extra tension and difficulty to the exercise, targeting your adductors more effectively. But the movement does need to be executed properly to ensure you gain the benefits and dont cause injury to your back. Similar to a side plank, start on your side with the forearm on the ground, hips and shoulders stacked, and legs straight. Begin by lying on your right side with your shoulder, elbow, and forearm stacked in a. I like to say [hold the plank for] five breaths because that way people actually breathe., While the Copenhagen plank can be an ideal exercise for optimizing lower-body strength and core stability, you should consult your health-care provider if you're experiencing any knee pain during the move, which may occur if youve had an injury or surgery on the arae in the past, says Ros. Along with your abductors, adductors, and hip flexors, the Copenhagen plank challenges practically every part of the core (which plays a key role in keeping your spine stable and safe), says Ros. You wouldn't feel side plank in your chest. The benefits of healthier hips can address musculoskeletal problems in other areas of the body too, such as knee pain and back ache. Gaze forward and maintain a straight line from head to heels. Start with as much of your leg on the support as possible. Ishoi et al in 2016 had 24 male soccer players perform the Copenhagen adduction exercise two times a week, while progressively increasing the number of sets and repetitions over the course of 8 weeks (starting with 2 sets of 6 each and ending with 3 sets of 15 each). How to: Copenhagen Plank Primary Muscles Used:Upper Legs, Hip Adductors Exercise Families:Hip Adduction Equipment:Chair Trainer:Kayla Itsines Lying l Sign Up Sweat Programs Articles Community Support 7) Hold for 2-4 slow breaths, aiming for 7-10 second exhales. It is located on the islands of Zealand (Sjlland) and Amager, at the southern end of The Sound (resund). In team. Idk I don't feel it in my core at all though. For more exercises to target your adductors, use a fitness app to help you build the perfect inner thigh workout. Shoulder Calisthenics Workout Bodyweight Training Arena, Full Body Calisthenics For Women Beginners | Female Calisthenics. From here we are going to raise our hips up by contracting our adductors until are hips are in a straight line. Start by lying on your side, like you would for a regular side plank. Position your elbow directly under your shoulder as if you were doing a side plank. Lifting your hips off the ground until your back is straight, you simply hold this side plank position for the duration specified. Copenhagen Plank Variations. If you can nail those, you've just dominated the. Check out our Hip Resilience program! Rotating your shoulders forward will cause you to lose balance, so keep your shoulders in line with your chest throughout the movement. Haroy J, et al. 2. Place right foot on top of a bench and rest left toes gently on the floor. The adductors make up one of the biggest muscle groups in your lower body. These should be performed slowly and with control. The exercise is isometric and involves a squeezing movement to keep your legs together. The exercise is isometric, which means you hold your body in one position while contracting your muscles. 2013;48(14):1108-1114. Once the static version becomes to hard, we can simply introduce some movement and perform the copenhagen plank for reps instead of time. To hold the correct position and avoid losing your balance, tense your whole body along with the adductors. Copenhagen Sideplank Exercise Progressions and Regressions to [P]Rehab Your Groin [P]rehab 224K subscribers Subscribe 8.6K views 3 years ago FULL article here:. Great view of my childhood trophies here. prohockeystrength.com., the official website of the Strength and Conditioning Association of Professional Hockey. Including the Copenhagen Adduction exercise in the FIFA 11+ provides missing eccentric hip adduction strength effect in male soccer players: a randomized controlled trial. As well as hip adduction, Copenhagen planks will also help develop overall core strength by engaging the abdominals and obliques. Once you have mastered the regular two-leg Copenhagen plank, try doing it on a single leg for an extra challenge. The lower-body and core exercise is no joke. The Copenhagen plank comes with a range of variations that can either decrease or increase the intensity and help you progress in your adductor strengthening program. Always pick a difficulty level that you can maintain perfect form throughout. Still, your obliques, the muscles responsible for rotating your trunk, get a large chunk of the action. If youve worked up to 4 breaths fo 10 seconds each side and youre not feeling challenged, you can add some weight. This modified Copenhagen plank variation is aimed at beginners who need to strengthen their hip muscles but still dont have the strength required to perform the full version. Its essential to be aware of common mistakes when doing the Copenhagen Plank exercise: Make sure to squeeze your legs together correctly when doing the Copenhagen Plank. 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. 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. Related article: Advanced Plank Exercises for Insane Core Strength. Your #1 site for all things sports rehab, sports performance, and orthopedic rehabilitation is: https://www.sportsrehabexpert.com/http://www.annarbor.physio . Plus, the exercise works your shoulder stability, particularly if you perform the exercise on your palm rather than your forearm, which reduces the surface area youre balancing on, she adds. If done correctly and youre really focusing on what it's targeting [read: the core and thighs], the Copenhagen plank is really hard to hold for even 10 good seconds, says Analisse Ros, C.S.C.S., a certified personal trainer and strength and conditioning specialist in Connecticut. 5) Take a deep exhale and engage your abs and glutes. Then when they're moving laterally and going full speed [such as in sports], they pull their groin muscle, or they have super tight hip flexors. What's more,the hip abductors and adductors both play a key role in stabilizing your pelvis, and if one of those muscle groups isn't strong enough to offer that essential support, you could develop lower back pain, Leigha VandenToorn, C.S.C.S., P.P.S.C., an NASM-certified personal trainer, previously told Shape. Jeff Tomko is a freelance fitness writer who has written for Muscle and Fitness, Men's Fitness, and Men's Health. If youre performing the exercise with your right arm on the floor, for example, youll fire up your right sides obliques and left legs adductors and abductors, she adds. Its mainly used to strengthen the groin and hip muscles. The Copenhagen Hold, as shown below, is a unique plank variation that specifically targets the musculature of the inner groin. Lift the hips up until your body is in a straight line with the lower leg off the floor and hold. Place your left foot on a bench, box or Ottoman, right elbow on the bench. One of the primary benefits of the Copenhagen plank: It strengthens your hip abductors and adductors, muscles that are responsible for moving your leg away from or toward, respectively, the midline of your body, says Ros. It is an intense exercise that requires a lot of balance and strength to execute correctly. Remember to breathe normally throughout the exercise. If the answer is no, then youre not ready for this exercise and should go back to regular side planks first until youre stronger. Essentially, athletes who participate in sports with kicking or running are at a higher risk of groin pain, usually in the form of muscle strains or sports hernias. Aside from the main variation, there are several options to progress and regress the Copenhagen plank. Activate your core muscles and raise your hips, so your torso is perpendicular to the floor. The knees caving in is often the cause of many injuries. Squeeze your thighs to hold this position. 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 Copenhagen plank, or Copenhagen adduction exercise, is a side plank variation that targets the muscles of the inner thigh and groin- the adductors. Anytime youre standing on one leg (like every step you take while walking) the adductors work to prevent your knee from caving in. 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. We may earn a commission from links on this page. Position yourself in an extended side plank position, perpendicular to a bench, Place the top leg on the bench, using the internal part of your foot to support the hold, Extend out the bottom leg while keeping it off the floor, With your top hand, hold a kettlebell up from the handle, with the weight underside facing up (bottom-up), You can use a dumbbell to decrease the intensity and increase stability, If you need to regress this version, simply position yourself in a forearm side plank, Be sure to perform this on a well-leveled, smooth floor to avoid losing balance, Place yourself in a perpendicular position to a TRX, in an extended side plank position, Place your top foot on the TRX handle section, As an alternative to a TRX, you could use gymnastics rings or a thick elastic band as a support system, Raise up the TRX or rings to increase the intensity, Keep the body in position and avoid swinging by tensing all your muscles, from your adductors and glutes to your core and arm, Add weight to hold up to further increase the intensity. If you can nail those, youve just dominated the once-indomitable exercise. Focus on controlling your movements through the transition from one position to another, all while maintaining perfect form. Smith Machine Bench Press: Is It Right for You? Published: Oct 13, 2020 Yes, you can hold a plank for hours upon hours. 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. The Copenhagen plank also works on core stabilization. If you do it right, you should be giving everything you have for seconds. No, you place one leg (your top leg) on a bench. These modifications will add extra difficulty to the Copenhagen Plank and challenge your core and stabilizer muscles. All these variations are excellent alternatives to the Copenhagen Plank that you can use to challenge your core and build stability in different ways. It is a fairly technical exercise; for this reason, we will describe in detail how to perform it successfully and apply regressions or progressions when needed. Many of the muscles in this group are thin and can be prone to tears or strains (pulls), so the researchers used this exercise to strengthen the adductors. How are we going to fix it? Remember to maintain proper form throughout the exercise and stop immediately if you feel pain or discomfort. These adductor muscles include the: adductor longus, adductor brevis, adductor magnus, and gracillis. 2016;26(11):1334-1342. Subscribe to receive exclusive updates, deals, 10% off any program, and access to our private monthly research review. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. For even more stability challenges, move off of your forearm and onto your hand. 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. Thorborg K, et al. Additional information: Adductor longus and pectineus will also contribute to hip flexion, while adductor magnus (posterior head) also contributes to hip extension. The Ultimate Test of Strength: The Copenhagen Plank. 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. Your bottom leg can be straight if using a chair or bench, or it can be bent if the surface prevents you from straightening the leg, such as when using an ottoman or couch. Check out some of our other similar blogs: Adductor Strain,Groin Pain Rehab, Nordic Hamstring Curl. Popular with Strength Coaches and Physical Therapists alike, the movement can help improve lumbopelvic stability, core strength, and healthy hip function. Groin injuries are particularly common in sports that involve kicking, running or even jumping and weakness in adduction strength has recently been highlighted as a root cause in new research. Once you have mastered the basic form of the Copenhagen Plank, you can progress to more advanced variations. If you notice your form is breaking down, consider scaling back to a modification. This helps strengthen the deep core muscles, essential for everyday activities like lifting or carrying heavy loads. This helps to improve exercises like lateral side squats too. This variation requires you to alternate between a high plank and low plank position while keeping your core engaged and stable throughout the motion. This particular exercise you can do 1-2 times per week for 2-3 sets, and that will have you well on your toward stronger adductors, better posture, fewer injuries, and some compliments on your inner thighs. Start with the top leg bent, and slowly move the bottom leg and body up and down. 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. Scand J Med Sci Sports. ^ So interpreted in Carl Valle (2020-04-17), "Is the Copenhagen Adduction . 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. Training them effectively, like training all other muscles, will improve their form as well as their function. Place your top shin on the bench. 1. Prone Cobra Push Up How to, Benefits and Muscles Worked, Featured image and video demonstration credit AchieveFitnessBoston. If so, there is good news stretches can help improve your toe point. This will mean as you place your leg on the raised surface, and lift your hips, your back should naturally be nice and straight. With the top arm, grab a light dumbbell or kettlebell and hold it up in the air as you do so. While the Copenhagen adduction exercise doesn't appear to be functional, Haroy et al i Show more Shop the E3 Rehab store Copenhagen Planks for Strength and Reducing Risk of Groin Injury. Based on the look of it, you can probably guess that the Copenhagen plank is a seriously challenging move. Or, try driving your bottom knee up so it's in line with your hips, keeping it bent at a 90-degree angle, suggests Ros. Stronger adduction means you can move your leg with more power and precision. The Copenhagen plank is a practical adaptation of the Copenhagen adduction exercise, which involves a training partner holding the top leg (as opposed to resting it on a bench). Similarly, the ability to protect your hips with stronger adduction, will help with weightlifting too and this subsequently means you can lift or train more intensity during squats, deadlifts and other exercises, which will lead to increased strength in other muscles such as the quads, glutes and hamstrings. Check this article review of the best resistance bands: Torroband Resistance Bands: The Best Resistance Bands for Home Fitness. How can I make the Copenhagen Plank harder? So building up the strength of those stabilizer muscles [in your legs and core] is important., Ready to give the exercise a shot? Copenhagen Side Plank w/ Leg Lift There's really nothing fancy here. Then return to the starting position and repeat. Copenhagen Plank - Exercise demonstration video and information for Olympic weightlifting - The Copenhagen plank is a simple exercise for adductor strength and hip stability.