Side Plank
obliques
What moves the load, and what it costs
3.5MET
Obliques is the prime mover, with the abs, glutes assisting. The best exercise for the muscles on the side of the trunk, and one that many people find dramatically harder on one side than the other.
Cue: Stack the hips and push the bottom shoulder away from the floor rather than sinking into it.
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·वर्गवारी: कॅलिस्थेनिक्स, हलके·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
SHARED AXIS · SEVEN VALUES FROM ONE TABLE · HIGHLIGHTED ROW IS THIS MOVEMENT
The compendium files side plank under a category, not a lift. Read the ladder as position, not precision: this is heavier work than sitting quietly by a factor of 3.5, and middling for conditioning work.
Turning that MET value into a real energy cost
- Map the movement to a published category. The compendium measures categories of conditioning work, never individual lifts, so side plank is filed under कॅलिस्थेनिक्स, हलके किंवा मध्यम श्रम, सर्वसाधारण (उदा. पाठीचे व्यायाम).
- Take the category's MET value — 3.5. One MET is the cost of sitting quietly, so this is 3.5 times resting metabolism.
- Multiply by 3.5 to get millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the unit the MET is actually defined in.
- Multiply by your bodyweight in kilograms and divide by 200. The result is kilocalories per minute of work.
- Count working minutes only. Under load, not under the roof — a set of eight is about 25 seconds of the hour you were there.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × body mass (kg) ÷ 200 Side Plank: 3.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal/min
स्रोत·ACSM metabolic equation + 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·REFERENCE BODY MASS 70 KG·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
What is actually doing the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| ObliquesExternal and internal obliques | Prime mover | Rotate and side-bend the trunk, and resist rotation. The internal oblique on one side works with the external oblique on the other. |
| AbsRectus abdominis | Synergist / stabiliser | धड पुढे वाकवतो आणि, त्याहून उपयुक्त म्हणजे, ते मागे ताणले जाण्यास विरोध करतो. क्रंच आणि प्लँक दोन्ही यावर भार देतात — पण वेगवेगळ्या प्रकारे. |
| GlutesGluteus maximus, medius आणि minimus | Synergist / stabiliser | हिप ताणतो (maximus), आणि तो बाजूला नेतो व स्थिर ठेवतो (medius आणि minimus). शरीरातील सर्वात बलवान एकच स्नायुगट. |
The prime mover produces the movement against the resistance; synergists assist and stabilisers hold a joint still without moving it. An exercise trains the whole muscle it loads — there is no way to work only part of a muscle, and no exercise removes fat from the area around it.
Set up, then earn the rep
Bodyweight. Held for time, not counted in reps — the set ends when the position breaks, not when the clock does.
PATTERN · BRACE
- Lie on your side with the elbow directly under the shoulder and the feet stacked or staggered.
- Lift the hips until the body is in a straight line from ear to ankle.
- Stack the hips and push the bottom shoulder away from the floor rather than sinking into it.
- Press the bottom shoulder down away from the ear and keep the top hip stacked over the bottom one.
- Hold, breathing normally, then lower under control and switch sides.
- Match the time on both sides to the weaker one.
Where this one breaks down
Not theory. These are the faults you correct on a gym floor, and the correction that actually works.
Hips dropping or rolling forward.
Stack the hips and squeeze the top glute. If the position sags, drop to the bottom knee.
Sinking into the bottom shoulder.
Actively push the floor away.
Only training the stronger side properly.
Side-to-side differences here are common and worth fixing. Set the time by the weaker side.
Regress it, or progress it
Prescription: load, reps, rest
Read off the goal, then hold the technique constant as the load climbs. Derived from the movement's mechanics, not invented for this page: a held position is measured in seconds, and the set ends when the position breaks.
| Goal | Sets | Hold | Rest | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Learning the position | 2–3 | 15–20 sec | 45–60 sec | Stop the set when the position breaks, not when the timer does. |
| Building capacity | 3–4 | 30–45 sec | 60 sec | Add time before you add load, up to about a minute per set. |
| Strength (loaded) | 3–4 | 20–30 sec | 90 sec | Past a minute of easy holding, add resistance rather than more seconds. |
| Fat loss / circuits | 3–4 | 30–40 sec | 20–30 sec | Short rests keep the heart rate up; the position still has to hold. |
Time under load, in kilocalories
Read these as minutes of work, not minutes in the building. A set of eight takes about twenty-five seconds; the rest of the hour is rest, chalk and queueing.
Mapped category: कॅलिस्थेनिक्स, हलके किंवा मध्यम श्रम, सर्वसाधारण (उदा. पाठीचे व्यायाम) — 3.5 MET. That is the published category this movement is filed under, not a measurement of this specific lift.
Worked at 3.5 MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal per working minute for a 70 kg adult. Scale it by your own bodyweight; the equation is linear. The full activity dataset lives at BurnLab.
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·CATEGORY VALUE, NOT A PER-EXERCISE MEASUREMENT·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
If the rack is taken
Substitutes train the same prime mover through the same pattern with different kit. Computed from the muscle and pattern data on this card, not hand-picked to fill a grid.
यासाठी कोणतेही साहित्य लागत नाही, म्हणूनच तो प्रवासातील आणि घरातील प्रत्येक कार्यक्रमात बसतो. प्रत्येक साहित्याविना करता येणारा व्यायाम एकत्र दिलेला आहे.
Where it sits in a week
One movement is not a programme. The twelve templates put these in order, including 6 that need no gym at all.
The questions that come up on the floor
What muscles does the side plank work?
Side Plank is an isometric hold in which the obliques is the prime mover, assisted by the abs, glutes. Rotate and side-bend the trunk, and resist rotation. The internal oblique on one side works with the external oblique on the other.
Is the side plank good for beginners?
Yes. It rates 2 out of 5 for technical difficulty on this site — learnable in a session or two; low injury cost if it goes wrong. Start with the lightest sensible load and two or three sets of 30–40 sec.
What can I do instead of the side plank at home?
Nothing is needed — the side plank already requires no equipment at all, which is why it belongs in any home programme.
How many sets and reps of the side plank should I do?
For muscle size, 3–4 sets of 30–45 sec with 60 sec rest. For strength, 2–3 sets of 15–20 sec with 45–60 sec rest. In your first month, 3–4 sets of 30–40 sec, stopping well short of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle group matters more than the exact rep number in any of these ranges.
Does the side plank burn fat from the obliques?
No. No exercise removes fat from the area it trains — spot reduction has been tested repeatedly and does not happen. Training the obliques builds the muscle underneath; where body fat is lost from is decided by an overall calorie deficit and by your genetics, not by which exercise you chose.
Muscle roles follow standard kinesiology references and are described by joint action rather than by gym convention — see how this site is built. Energy figures are derived from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Every reference is named and dated on the sources page. General information only — not medical or coaching advice. Load, form and progression should be adjusted to your own experience and any injury history. When in doubt, get coached in person.
स्रोत·Published exercise references·MUSCLE ROLES ASSIGNED BY JOINT ACTION·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
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