Modification because of inflamation
Group: Author: James Murray | Posted: 2026-04-26
Hi,
I’m wondering if when doing the plank and press-ups from the knees, if the knees should be farther back as if in a plank so that the straight diagonal line can be created from the knees to the head?
Replies
Section titled “Replies”Reply by Patrick — 2026-04-28
Section titled “Reply by Patrick — 2026-04-28”There are a few different ways to enter the plank, but the most appropriate one for you for the time being is to step one leg back at a time, until both legs are rigid and the body forms a single straight diagonal line from the heels through the hips, shoulders, and head. One knee can stay on the ground while the other leg extends back, then you swap. That’s how the leg rigidity comes online to support the rest of the form, rather than lifting the knees from a tabletop position.
We don’t actually encourage plank from the knees as a modification. It removes the elements that make the form what it is: the distributed activation through the legs and the opposing forces between the feet and the hands. Without those, the geometry might look right on paper but the work the form is doing is mostly lost.
If holding the full plank feels out of reach right now, the recommendation is to enter it cleanly and hold for even a second or two, then build from there over time. The activation to focus on is drawing the shoulders down while opposing the tiptoes against the palms of the hands. The body adapts to that opposition relatively quickly, and the duration extends as the patterns settle in.
Given the inflammation you’re working with, it’s worth checking whether stepping into the plank is what’s irritating things, particularly the ankle. If so, a useful alternative for now is to work on standing form instead: feet hip-width apart, shoulders drawing down, heels gripping mildly in toward each other, with extension up through the back of the neck. That’s effectively a perpendicular plank, with the same rigidity vertically and no load through the shoulder girdle. The same patterns carry into it, just oriented differently.
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