It’s time to get your core and shoulders working with this Home Exercise of the Week!  In the video you’ll notice that this exercise has a really long name! (obviously at the time of filming it I couldn’t think of anything better)  So instead I have shortened it to One Arm Plank Shoulder Circles.

I’m going to be honest with you and say this exercise is hard!  That being said there are modifications to make it easier until you get stronger.

The plank part of the exercise is isometric which means the joint angle and muscle length doesn’t change during contraction.  This is really going to work your core!  The shoulder circle part of the exercise works your deltoids and in particular, your posterior deltoid and upper back muscles.

Let’s take a look at the key points to remember when doing One Arm Plank Shoulder Circles.

• keep your feet wide to stabilize yourself during the movement
• keep your body straight throughout (no butts sticking up!)
• pull your belly button in towards your spine to keep your abdominal muscles flexed
• raise one arm out to the side keeping it in line with your upper body
• move your arm in small circles at an even, medium pace (this is going to burn!)
• start by doing forward circles for 10 to 20 seconds or for 15 to 20 repetitions then go backwards for the same amount of time or reps
• breath deeply and evenly throughout the exercise

As I mentioned earlier, there is a way to make the exercise easier if you are having trouble.  To do this, put your knees on the floor instead of being on your toes.  Keep in mind though that you still need to keep your body straight with this modification so no bending at the waist.

So there you have One Arm Plank Shoulder Circles!  If you have progressed to the point where this exercise is starting to get easy, try holding on to a dumbbell when doing the shoulder circles.  This will step up the intensity and maybe even cause you to utter some profanity while doing it!