Who doesn’t love a good ol’ fashioned side plank? They’re great for lateral core stability (your obliques for you meatheads out there) as well as challenging stability of the shoulder girdle. They’re a staple in a lot of training programs out there, and for good reason.

But after a while regular side planks can become… too vanilla. You’ll soon outgrow them simply due to the fact that they’ve become too easy. This is great because it means you’re getting stronger and your training is working!

But side planks are still a pretty solid choice to go to when it comes to training the core. Now it’s just a matter of progressing them to match your strength levels, you muscular jungle panda, you.

Here are 3 simple and perhaps more importantly, equipment free progressions to make side planks just a bit more challenging for you.

Feet Elevated

This progression is pretty basic. Elevate your feet and your obliques will now have to work even harder to prevent your hips from dipping towards the floor. This is a simple but nonetheless very effective progression to utilize.

Coaching cues:

elbow directly underneath shoulder
head in a neutral position
stagger or stack your feet
straight line from head to heel
avoid letting top shoulder turn forward

Feet Elevated High Side Plank

Just a slight deviation from the previous variation, however now your shoulder stability will really be called into action.

Before trying this one out, I’d get used to supporting your bodyweight on one arm via shoulder taps, single arm plank holds, and bear crawl variations. If you’ve got shoulder issues, you may want to steer clear or approach this variation with caution.

Coaching cues:

support hand directly underneath shoulder
head in a neutral position
stagger or stack your feet
straight line from head to heel
avoid letting top shoulder turn forward
if you have lax joints, avoid locking out your elbow 100%

Feet Elevated Star Side Plank

Ah, the sexy variation you’ve been waiting for.

I’ll be honest, this variation might as well be a direct exercise for your glutes and hips as they are doing a ton of work to hold your body in this position. So disclaimer, if you suck at miniband walks or your knees buckle regularly during single leg exercises, you’re gonna struggle with this one.