Plank Poseफलकासन
Phalakāsana — a beginner balance pose that works the abdominals, shoulders, chest.
20–45SECONDS HELD
One line on the timetable. Plank Pose is held 20–45 seconds, with the breath moving throughout — and it takes its place inside 5 of the practices posted on this site.
ਸਰੋਤ·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
How to do Plank Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Come to all fours with the hands directly under the shoulders and the fingers spread wide.
Step both feet back until the body makes one line from the crown to the heels.
Press the floor away so the space between the shoulder blades stays broad rather than sinking.
Firm the thighs, lengthen the tailbone towards the heels, and keep the front ribs drawn in.
Look at the floor a little ahead of the hands and hold with even breathing.
Hold: 20–45 seconds. Keep the breath moving throughout — if you are holding it, the pose is too much for today.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Plank Pose does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Loads the abdominal wall isometrically to hold the pelvis in one line with the ribs.
- Puts the wrists, forearms and shoulders under a share of body weight in a fixed position.
- Trains the muscles around the shoulder blade to hold the chest up away from the floor.
Plank Pose is one of 31 balance poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses held on a reduced base — one foot, two hands, or the forearms.
Who should skip Plank Pose, or change it
- Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome — come onto the forearms or the fists instead.
- Shoulder injury, where holding body weight through a straight arm is not appropriate.
- Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair.
- Later pregnancy, where the abdominal wall is already under load — drop the knees or work at a wall.
- Low back pain that appears as soon as the hips sag.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Plank Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeHips drifting up so the pose becomes a shallow dog shape.
FixLower the hips until shoulders, hips and heels line up, then hold for less time.
MistakeChest sinking between the shoulders.
FixPush the floor away actively and widen the upper back.
MistakeHolding the breath to keep the shape.
FixShorten the hold to a length you can breathe through.
How the energy figure on a yoga timetable is reached
- Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart, so no per-pose figure is published here — not by this site and not by anyone.
- The pose is matched to the nearest style of practice in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Plank Pose sits at code 02175, yoga, Power, 4 MET.
- That MET value is put through the standard ACSM relationship for a stated reference adult of 70 kg.
- The result is the cost of a practice of that kind for as long as you practise — not the cost of holding this one shape.
- Scale it to yourself: the relationship is linear in body mass, so multiply by your own weight in kilograms and divide by 70.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200
= 4 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 4.90 kcal per minute
The same practice, hour by hour
Read it the way you would read a timetable: pick the length of session you actually sit down for, and that is the figure.
| Time practising | 10 ਮਿੰਟ | 20 ਮਿੰਟ | 30 ਮਿੰਟ | 45 ਮਿੰਟ | 60 ਮਿੰਟ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 49 | 98 | 147 | 221 | 294 |
ਸਰੋਤ·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02175 · 4 MET · 70 kg reference adult·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How do you do Plank Pose?
Come to all fours with the hands directly under the shoulders and the fingers spread wide. Step both feet back until the body makes one line from the crown to the heels. Press the floor away so the space between the shoulder blades stays broad rather than sinking. Firm the thighs, lengthen the tailbone towards the heels, and keep the front ribs drawn in. Look at the floor a little ahead of the hands and hold with even breathing. Hold for 20–45 seconds.
What does Plank Pose work?
Primarily the abdominals, shoulders, chest, with the quadriceps, glutes, wrists assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: loads the abdominal wall isometrically to hold the pelvis in one line with the ribs.
Who should not do Plank Pose?
Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome — come onto the forearms or the fists instead. Shoulder injury, where holding body weight through a straight arm is not appropriate. Recent abdominal surgery or a hernia repair. Later pregnancy, where the abdominal wall is already under load — drop the knees or work at a wall. Low back pain that appears as soon as the hips sag. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
Is Plank Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Plank Pose is a beginner-level pose on this site, which means it is learnable in a first class and has a version that works for most bodies. The cautions above still apply.
How many calories does Plank Pose burn?
The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Plank Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02175, yoga, Power, at 4 MET — about 147 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.
The rest of the balance poses on the wall
More balance poses — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written ਅਤੇ what it is written from. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.
ਸਰੋਤ·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
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