Over 15yrs working as a Personal Trainer to midlife and senior clients, I’ve become very familiar with
all the barriers to fitness. Some are obvious – lack of time or motivation, no knowledge of technique
or what type of exercise is appropriate? Some barriers are more subtle – diminished body
confidence and perceived lack of ability? Regardless, the barriers exist and prevent so many people
from stepping forwards, even though the desire to move – to become stronger and more capable is
there.

Latterly, I’ve put a focus on small habits and routine because whilst the big shiny fitness goals and
traditional New Year’s resolutions to transform are laudable, statistics tell us that they’re rarely
followed through. The power of integrating small, daily exercises – balance, strength, flexibility, is
definitely underestimated.

In August 2025 I started a 14-day plank challenge. I committed to going live in a Facebook group
every day, leading a sequence of planks using Tabata – 8 x 20 seconds of plank with 10 seconds
break in between each exercise. I started with 24 people and no expectations. To my surprise, this
merry little band stayed together and stuck with it. After 14 days I realised we’d sown the seeds of a
habit, so we just kept going…

Fast forward to February 2026 and we’d amassed 480 people in our ‘Plank-A-Long’ group. I’d gone
live every single day for 6 months and many had followed along – lots religiously. And, we were
beginning to see astonishing results.

This wasn’t a kind of “I told you so” moment for me, I’ve been genuinely astonished at how our body
composition has changed with this daily practice. I only set out to help people form a habit – to help
people get moving and do some strength work because something is better than nothing and every
little bit helps.

In fact, we’ve achieved so much more.

Personally, I’ve lost weight, gained muscle/tone and strength with no additional changes to exercise
or diet BUT the group feedback is more important and here’s what people have to say…

“I definitely notice my chest and arms looking more defined, core feeling stronger and more
defined too, which is nice to see as I’m now in my 60’s”

“Only 20 sec reps but they’re still tough. I’ve been doing this since 1 st January. I notice my core
and waist has more definition and glutes – making my jeans slightly loose.”

“I love this daily practice so much. It’s real and doable.”

“I struggled with planks for the first few days but when I began the ‘nursery slope’ exercises you
provided to suit my limitations, it was great. So now I really feel a difference.”

“I’ve lost circa 4 – 6lbs over the last few months and have definitely noticed a more toned tummy
and upper body. The only real change in the last few months has been daily planking!”

“I love this group and practice. It’s hard but doable, although I haven’t tried some of the
challenging planks yet. I feel the physical effects like improving strength in my core and lower
back but also mental resilience – doing it even when it’s late or I don’t feel like it. I CAN!”

“The daily planking has been inspirational and I’m seeing many benefits. Longer walks are easier;
the planks can be challenging but that’s what life is about and 20 seconds at a time is doable.”

I chose to focus on the plank because it’s a safe, fundamental strength exercise. It also has a myriad
of variations which keeps things interesting and adds significant physical challenges – it’s a coached
progression. I opted to use Tabata because I’m a life-long fan of this interval training – the music
helps as a distraction too! If I can encourage people to engage for 20 seconds, during the 10 second
rest, I can usually nudge people to try for another 20 and it provides an easy way for people to track
their own progress with manageable goals. With the plank variations, we’re also working every
muscle group, so whilst planks are associated with core strength, because we switch up every 20
seconds with variations, we’re improving strength in the core, glutes, arms, shoulders and noticing
better posture, easing of lower back pain and a vast improvement in overall body confidence and
capability.

Given the success and the consistent feedback, Plank-A-Long has shifted gears to become a focused
community of members who know it works. No gym, no equipment, no massive time commitment
but a significant impact on health and wellbeing. It’s a simple format – I deliver a plank sequence
daily in a Facebook group and people catch up in their own time, some like early doors, others do
planks in the evening and lots do it with partners or family members.
This is a ‘join any time’ scenario for a small monthly subscription of £8/month which helps with
commitment and supports my efforts to coach live daily. Lots begin with basic planks and many
can’t manage the full 8 x 20 seconds initially but this is a personal work in progress within a
supportive community and from experience over the first six months, everybody sees and feels
positive results.

The Facebook group is here – https://www.facebook.com/groups/plankalong
The link to join is here – https://ko-fi.com/plankalongwithfiona

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