Rarely. I tore the L4-L5 disc about 20 years ago. The L3-L4 disc is also bulging. I’ve been through PT and Pain Management with regular steroid injections for 2 years. Unless I do a lot of core work it will go out regularly. But by the same token, doing a lot of core work also makes my back go out. So I have be extra careful to do the right core work to strength my back and core, but not do too much to ensure my back doesn’t go out. I have some regular groin, hip, and hamstring stretches I do before and after almost every bike session. Since doing those and doing SYSTM yoga fairly regularly I’ve noticed my groin and hips and hamstrings are much looser. But the low back pain still comes and goes regardless. I always just to have to be extra cautious with my back.
You’re welcome @emacdoug
A much younger fellow rider who has had low back damage recommended the Original 12 minute workout to me back in August and I honestly can’t believe how effective it is for me. The short time frame accomplishes SO MUCH if you stick with it. I’m 65 next month and I plan to do this until I’m no longer dwelling on this planet!
The 6pack Abs thing was another that popped up alongside on YouTube and its short time frame is a great accompaniment that helps balance out the other workout, addressing the front side of the body, while the other addresses the posterior more.
I did some of the SYSTM Strength and Mobility exercises for awhile, and they were fairly good, but none I did came close to making the changes these do.
Foundation Training is great stuff, with tons more options than I’ve tried but I’m confident in them. Dr Eric Goodman knows his stuff, and gets it across well.
The only caution I would give is to start moderate to easy on the Original 12minutes thing. If you’re like me and try to give it your all immediately, it’s going to stretch you, maybe STRAIN you, in ways you haven’t done before. Work into it.
I did the workout recently while relatives were visiting us, and they got a lot of laughs out of my grunts and groans as I did it. It sounds tough, and it is, but once you’ve developed things awhile, it’s just invigorating.
I feel like my posture has improved significantly from this one workout, and low back pain is notably absent from my daily existence for some time now. I hope it becomes true for you as well!
So I just did the Plank CORE endurance assessment. First time doing a forearm plank for months, but I’ve been doing the 6pack Abs 8pt Plank Challenge a few times a week since mid-November.
Held out till 4:35. Mild shaking started just before 2 minutes. I remembered that it is critical to keep a very firm core INCLUDING your upper legs, i.e. firmly engaged quads. That helped a lot, and I held good form throughout, but the shaking got pretty serious by the end!
Quads are gonna hurt as I do the last 2 January Challenge rides right now. I have The Bat and the UCI Centre 6: MTB Race left, and then I’m away from home and bikes for a week. 
I’d forgotten about foundation training, but it really is great for the whole body.
I just LOVE a plank! Low plank, high plank, side plank, plank with toe taps, arm raises, leg raises, arm and leg raises… On and on the list goes.
All available in SYSTM strength and mobility. Full body 20 once a week and you’re sorted!!
Strong core for full pedal engagement, balance and building bone density in the collar bone (just in case you come off!!) All good stuff 
2023 goals
Impressive management and making the best of your personal mechanics @emacdoug ! You have stated some of my key strategies for every athlete- keep moving and figure out what works for you!
How were your final 2 January badge rides @DouthatBiker? You smashed the challenge! And YES! Activating glutes and quads… pushing forearms into the ground… tightening entire core will ALL help you maintain form and extend your time.
@coach.jinger.g
Thank you! Good reminder about pressing forearms as well. It’s very easy to think it’s better to relax as much as you can and just let a couple parts do the hard work, but so many areas need to be engaged to share the load and support the work of other body parts.
It’s really amazing to me how the simple addition of the engagement of what seemed an unimportant muscle or part can quite radically improve one’s performance at a task.
My final 2 rides of the January challenge certainly were CHALLENGING!
I did The Bat first, and it hit a lot harder than it did in early December. Quads were nearly screaming early, like the very first interval. I wondered how I’d manage to get through it and then do another I figured to be worse.
But I just took what was thrown at me and bit off each interval set as it came, and I finished, and with a tiny improvement over December’s numbers.
Then I got right into the second one, the UCI Mountain Bike races.
That was actually very tough but I also really connected to the first person viewpoint of the bike mounted camera, and the extremely tough course they rode. The grade changes were SO frequent and steep, and the technical demands on the riders so real that I found myself actually RACING for the first time in many years. I threw everything I had left into the pedals and was throwing my body side to side almost as if I was on that course. My KICKR Bike made it such a blast with all the ups and downs!
I burned all my matches fighting thru the women’s race, and then had to regather myself for another effort with the men’s race. To my surprise, I was able to find the motivation again, and put myself back into race mode. This was a great way to get my last workout on a bike for a bit!
I’m traveling today and don’t have a bike with me and don’t expect to get to ride for the next 6 days. I’m already feeling some withdrawal anxiety! 
A bit late in the game but got to it today after my daughter challenged me to some gymnastics (initially) but I talked her into doing planks instead.
She managed 1.36 and I managed 2.03 (which surprised me (haven’t been paying much attention to such things for a while).
In “Half Monty” style, I felt I could have gone longer. But didn’t.
Something to work at.
Not been training regularly at all, wish you could see the cat sabotage in the midst of my 40 second shakefest😂
Goals. Great checkup thread!
I am always curious when some distribution is given as to what data set this is based on.
Where do these numbers come from - the general population, people who claim to exercise, what is the age range?
Great question @Heretic !
Here are two references for the plank test:
Strand SL, Hjelm J, Shoepe TC, Fajardo MA. Norms for an isometric muscle endurance test. J Hum Kinet. 2014 Apr 9;40:93-102. doi: 10.2478/hukin-2014-0011. PMID: 25031677; PMCID: PMC4096102.
Bohannon RW, Steffl M, Glenney SS, Green M, Cashwell L, Prajerova K, Bunn J. The prone bridge test: Performance, validity, and reliability among older and younger adults. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2018 Apr;22(2):385-389. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2017.07.005. Epub 2017 Jul 25. PMID: 29861239.
I’m very late to this, but managed 2:40 this morning. I need to review some of the tips in here to see if I can at least make it to 3:00.
Reviving an old thread, sort of a follow-up to the Forearm Plank endurance.
I still do the previously linked 2 Foundation Training workouts (Original 12mins, and 6pack Abs 8pt plank) regularly. I’ve extended the 12mins to about 16-19 now, and I now take no 10second rests with the 8pt plank, holding it throughout the workout video and beyond, most recently to 5-1/2 minutes, and stopping wasn’t because I was losing form or feeling I had to stop due to fatigue.
After a comment on my Strava about that hold and how it’s hard to hold a plank that long, I knew the 8pt plank is not as tough as other planks, including the Forearm Plank, so I thought I’d revisit this by doing a forearm plank while watching the 8pt plank video yesterday. I had done the Original 12mins workout first, extending it to 19 minutes to get some make-up time, having missed it for a few days.
Then I did the forearm plank. The reason I play the video anyway is because it helps me to listen to Dr Goodman going through the 8 Tabata style reps of the 20second on, 10second rests. Focusing on that allowed me to mentally pretend it was just another 8pt plank workout, which has become pretty easy to do now for me.
The Forearm Plank is NOT!! 
I held out for 4 minutes but my legs were shakin’ and bakin’ and my big toes were screaming out, “WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS?”
But I held good form through my core throughout, and worked to tighten up everything as much as possible to control the shaking legs. I lost over half a minute from when I did this challenge last time, so…
I’m going to include the Forearm Plank into my workouts every other time, rotating with the 8pt plank HOLD, which I think is also a very good tool and does some different things, but I know my Forearm plank needs some development.
I’m determined to top 5 minutes on it soon, so it’s now part of the plan, and I’m curious how much I can gain on my PR.
4 days ago, I did my Foundation Training workout, then the Forearm Plank HOLD again after rotating the 8pt plank HOLD in the previous time. I managed to surpass my 5minute goal by 4 seconds. Held firm, mostly without the shakes until about 3:30, and then I controlled them well even longer, but eventually was fighting hard to stay tight in my core and as relaxed as possible in my head and neck (while at the same time holding head in good level place and not dipping nor craning at all.) That was a new focus and did help a lot as I got near the end of my endurance.
I’ve raised my goal another 30 seconds now. I definitely felt the consequences of that 5minute plank for a few days after. Probably won’t attempt that for another week or more, but will continue rotating between 8pt plank and Forearm in my semi-regular workouts.
FWIW at my recent bike fit the fitter and i discussed core work etc. I was chuffed to say i had recently hit 3 1/2 minutes planking. He asked me about form and the went onto say that the phyios attached to the bike fit buisness advise clients to do 30s plank’s then 30 seconds rest and then plank for 30s again rest and then perhaps vary the plank as discussed above. To fatigue. He explained their view was that unless we are being watched inevitably, form falls away the longer one might plank. So the benefit is lost. Apparently there is some research that supports the 30s on/off approach. I must admit i find it easier! Though just occasionally my ego demands a longer plank