The 5 Minute Plank Challenge - Week 2, Session 2

Remain horizontal at all costs! (take a 2-3 minute break in between sets)

Set 1 - 5:15

Set 2 - 2:43

Set 3 - 2:34

Set 4 - 2:37

Set 5 - 2:22

Cumulative Plank Time - 15:31

Oh, wait a minute. *record scratching* Let’s read that first one back: 5 minutes and 15 seconds? Yes, that’s not a typo. I’ve apparently completed the challenge after 5 sessions over the course of about 2 weeks (or 19 days from the first session to be exact). How utterly anti-climactic to anyone reading this. However I am pleasantly surprised as well as kind of in disbelief that it came so easy…well, it wasn’t easy (I was shaking up a storm in the last 40 seconds), but I’m definitely ahead of schedule. And notice how I didn’t mail in sets 2-5 despite reaching my goal in the first set (I was consciously shooting for the 15 minute cumulative mark). I was tempted to not even do anymore sets, but I guess the juices were pumping so may as well use that energy flow to push things forward.

What’s more is that I only got 4 hours of sleep last night. So enduring intensive physical activity after getting little sleep seems to be a growing pattern around these parts (but at least I ate something this time out and wasn’t hungover). And I was going to do a detailed writeup of what was going through my mind throughout the duration (much like I did with the other endurance challenges that I’ve conquered in this banner year for personal fitness), but really, I just kinda stayed suspended in the plank position for over 5 minutes (while only looking at my G-Shock 4 times, which helped mentally). My initial target was 4:34, but then I just kept pushing further. I focused intensely on my breathing and kept fighting the feeling of giving up while trying not to move at all as I went toe to toe with our old friend gravity. Plus, a few MJ demos and extended remixes were playing on the Hi-fi for effective musical motivation (thanks again, Mike!).

So that about sums it up. And if there was any doubt that I even did this, the soreness that I’m already feeling is proof that my body was pushed to the limit. Good times. And on that great note, time to have some fun this weekend and celebrate. Happy Friday!