Planks are one of the best exercises to strengthen your core. Where pushups are known for building your upper body. The surprising fact is if we look at the two exercises then we can see a lot of similarities in the form of doing pushups and planks.
If we remove the upward and downward movement from pushups then the exercise form that we get is similar to planks.
When you are doing planks you might want to know how many pushups are equal to one minute plank. In this article, you will know that 1 minute plank is equivalent to how many push-ups.
Let’s begin.
1 Minute plank is equivalent to how many push-ups
Both planks and pushups engage different muscle groups thus you can’t get similar results while doing one of the two exercises. But both exercises do workout some common muscle groups. In general, 1 minute plank is equivalent to roughly 30 pushups.
While doing planks, it mainly engages your abdominal muscle or core. Whereas doing pushups engages your biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest and core.
Thus the common muscle group both exercise train is your core.
When you can do more than 30 pushups you stay in that position for roughly one minute. And it’s because the form of doing regular pushups matches the plank form it can be said that 1-minute plank is equal to doing 30 pushups.
But this doesn’t mean pushups can be replaced by planks.
When you are doing planks you are training your core. While doing pushups along with core muscles it trains other muscles in your upper body.
So if you only do planks you can’t get similar results to someone who also does pushups.
The only muscle group both exercise trains is your core. So if you do 1 minute plank then it will improve your core strength. But it will not tone or build your upper body.
Can plank replace pushups?
When we are talking about plank and pushups, both are different types of exercise that train different muscle groups and can’t be substitute exercises for one another.
The thing is doing pushups is difficult for beginners. Whereas plank is a simple bodyweight exercise and does not require that much body strength. So most people can do the plank. But they might not be able to be in a plank position for one minute. They might be able to do the plank for 30 seconds.
Whereas a beginner who can do pushups generally will do less than 10 pushups. And there will be many people who aren’t even able to do one regular pushup with proper form.
Those people who can’t do normal pushups they need to start by doing modified pushups or knee pushups.
After some days of doing knee pushups, their body strength will improve and then they will able to do regular pushups.
If you are someone who can’t do pushups and thinking to get similar results from doing planks the fact is it’s not possible.
You need to build your body strength by doing knee pushups and wall pushups. Along with these two pushup variations you can also do a plank and which will help you to be able to do regular pushups faster.
If you just wanted to know if 1 minute plank is equivalent to how many pushups then the answer is it’s equivalent to 30 pushups.
Related: Pushup routine for beginners.
1 minute plank is equivalent to how many calories
While doing a plank you might want to know that 1 minute plank is equivalent to how many calories. You can burn up to 2-5 calories by doing planks for 1 minute.
In general, you will be doing 3-4 sets of the plank. So, in a plank workout session, you can burn up to 6-20 calories.
Are push-ups or planks better?
Pushups and planks target different muscle groups and the effectiveness of these two exercises also varies. So it can’t be said that one exercise is better than the other.
However, depending on your workout goal, you can pick one exercise over another.
To burn calories and to build your upper body pushups will outperform plank.
Where plank is good for burning your abdominal fat and working out your core.
So, depending on what outcome you want to get from your workout you can easily choose one exercise over another.
Related: Daily exercises you should do to stay fit.
How many planks should a beginner do?
To make the plank effective and get to your fitness goals you should be doing multiple sets of plank.
The common practice among many fitness people is to do plank for three sets. And in each set, you will need to be in plank position for more than 30 seconds.
You should also know that you should not plank for very long. Anything above 3-5 minutes is considered a long planking duration.
The sweet spot is to plank for 1 minute.
So to answer the question – how many planks should a beginner do? The answer is depending on your fitness level a beginner should plank for 3-4 sets.
Doing 3-4 sets of plank is more than enough to achieve your fitness goals.
Conclusion
1 minute plank is equivalent to how many push-ups? The answer is it’s equivalent to approx 30 regular pushups.
Plank is a bodyweight exercise which can give some impressive results when it comes to building your core strength.
Where pushups are good for building your upper body. Planks and pushups are two different types of exercise and can’t be a substitute for one another.
