Tom's Guide has another fitness challenge for you today.

We can't seem to get enough of planks right now and are trying over 14 variations of the best planks. This time, we decided to tackle the Chinese plank every day for a week, accumulating 7 minutes each time.

If you are not familiar with the Chinese plank, you should do it in a prone position, with the upper back and heels supported by a bench or other support, and the rest of the body unsupported. Below are the instructions for the Chinese plank and what it looked like when I did it every day for a week.

The Chinese plank turns the convention upside down by turning the regular plank upside down. Grab two study surfaces, such as an exercise bench or box, and your body weight. That's it.

Normal planks primarily work the entire front of the body, including the abs, shoulders, arms, chest, quads, glutes, lower back, and hamstrings. They are quite powerful all-rounders. This variety works the entire front of the body, including the abs, shoulders, arms, chest, quads, glutes, hips, and hamstrings. [This variation is isometric, or static, and targets and strengthens the trunk and posterior chain muscles, including the latissimus dorsi, erector spinae, glutes, hamstrings, and calf muscles. It requires good support of the heels and shoulder blades, but has many benefits if done correctly.

Methods include.

Still recovering.

As mentioned above, Tom's Guide is familiar with plank variations, but I had never done this event. On the first day, I decided to start with 30 second holds and aim for 7 sets of 60 second holds. It's easy to get carried away with a challenge like this, but I didn't want to overdo it too early.

As a quick side note, I don't recommend doing this every day. But we need rest and recovery to build strength and grow muscles. We are testing these exercises to report our experience, not to recommend them to others.

Like the 12-minute reverse plank (see below), this plank requires an elevated (upward) position. If you suffer from sciatica or lower back pain, it is recommended that you consult a medical specialist before performing this exercise.

After the first day, the muscles in the back of the body felt burned. In the Chinese plank, compound contractions are very important. You need to squeeze as many muscle groups as possible, activate the hips, glutes, and trunk, lift the lower back, and keep the spine neutral.

A common mistake is to lower the hips toward the ground or raise the hips too much, putting too much stress on the spine. I focused most of my time on maintaining a straight line from head to toe and counting down the timer.

By the fourth day, I was starting to find my groove, with my core and gluteal muscles deeply heated. At this point, I extended my 60-second holds to seven sets.

I get bored easily; on day 5, it was time to make a change. For the supine Chinese plank, place the front of your shoulders on the bench and place your chin on the bench. Press the backs of your feet against the bench on the opposite side, and from here, lift your hips slightly to engage your core muscles.

The prone plank shifts the focus to the front of the body and should engage the core to prevent a drop in the hips. The last two days I reverted to the regular Chinese plank because it is difficult to breathe in this posture.

Still eager to play with the variables available, I applied one of the best adjustable dumbbells to my quads. If you do it, start light and build basic strength with your own body weight. Adding weight would put my muscles into overdrive, and I had to focus on deep, controlled breathing in order to achieve a 7-minute time on day 6.

With the end in sight, I quickly reflected on my week. The hardest plank challenge I had attempted so far was the plank in the prone position, and I finished both the reverse plank challenge and this effort with a satisfying sense of fatigue. My muscles were tired, so I kept it simple for the remaining minutes and crossed the finish line with more vigor than I had in the first few days.

If you are interested in other variations of the Chinese plank, you can try different arm positions. For example, placing your elbows on the bench will activate your arms, shoulders, abs, and rhomboids more.

You can also try increasing the distance between the benches further. However, even if you choose this variation, make sure you can push down from the shoulders and heels, and if your hips start to drop, return the bench to its original position. Either way, remember to breathe. You also need to practice contracting your entire body, as detailed in the 10-minute RKC Planks Challenge.

The Chinese Plank is definitely one of the juicier plank challenges I have tried, but it is not suitable for everyone. If this exercise is difficult for you, try a weighted gluteal bridge and try a weighted hip thrust. The same muscle groups can be used and strengthened, and the hip thrust upward involves a similar movement pattern and involvement of the glutes.

I added this movement for hip flexor pain at the end of the session, combined with dead hangs (see image below), followed by arm, shoulder, and thigh stretches. For other upper body stretching and workout ideas, here are some TG-approved recommendations.