Sit-ups and crunches were the perfect go to exercises and some people still do them for ABS, while planks were largely ignored. According to Harvard Health, planks, in which you assume a position and hold it, are the gold standard for working your core muscles, while classic sit-ups and crunches have fallen out of favor. People are more focused on working the core, full body rather than focus on independent muscles. But why?
The first reason is that sit-ups are hard on your back as you work out. They push your curved spine against the floor and work your hip flexors, the muscles that run from the thighs to the lumbar vertebrae in the lower back. When the hip flexors are too strong or too tight, they tug on the lower spine, which can create lower back discomfort.
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Secondly, plank exercises recruit a better balance of muscles on the front, sides, and back of the body during exercise than do sit-ups, which target just a few muscles. Planks work on most of your core muscles at the same time.
Lastly planks emulate day to day activities as well as sports and recreational activities and they call on your core muscles to work together, not in isolation. Sit-ups or crunches strengthen just a few muscle groups. Through dynamic patterns of movement, a good core workout like plank exercises helps strengthen the entire set of core muscles you use every day.
