Core for the Strike
Plank, side plank, dead bugs and glute bridges: the trunk a strike, a jump and a shoulder-to-shoulder duel all come from.
Hear the coach on this drill
Every line the Audio Coach says in this drill, played back to back; the time beside each is when it comes in the 10-minute drill. No account needed.
Set-up
A mat or a carpeted patch of floor with room to lie flat and to stretch the arms overhead, somewhere the parent can see the player side on, since the hips are what they are watching. No ball and no shoes, and a phone timer for the planks.
What you need
- Nothing but the space
The ground: 7 × 7 ft (about 2 × 2 m). One child can run it alone in a backyard. The space and equipment check lists every drill that fits the ground you have.
How to run it
- Set up. A mat or carpet with room to lie flat. No ball, and no shoes needed.
- Plank. Forearms down, body one straight line from heels to head. Thirty seconds. Rest thirty.
- Side plank. On one forearm, hips lifted and stacked, twenty seconds each side.
- Dead bug. On the back, arms up and knees over hips. Lower the opposite arm and leg slowly, back flat to the floor. Ten each side.
- Glute bridge. On the back, feet flat, lift the hips until the body is straight from knees to shoulders. Fifteen, squeezing at the top.
- Again. Run the four once more, then one last timed plank. Write the time down.
Coaching points
- One straight line in the plank: hips neither sagging nor piked
- The lower back stays pressed to the floor through every dead bug
- Slow and controlled beats fast and many
What to watch: Hips sagging in the plank, the lower back arching in the dead bug, and the neck straining. Shorter and straight wins.
Common mistakes
- The hips sagging in the plank, which loads the lower back and trains nothing
- The hips piked up in the air to make the plank easier
- The lower back arching off the floor in the dead bug
- Rushing the dead bug so it becomes a flutter rather than a controlled lower
- Straining the neck by looking forward in the plank instead of at the floor
What good looks like
A good target: A 60-second plank held in one straight line, with 10 clean dead bugs each side.
Progressions and variations
Making it harder
- Level 1: Plank on the knees, and the dead bug with the heels on the floor
- Level 2: The full plank at thirty seconds and the dead bug with the legs lifted
- Level 3: Side planks lengthened to thirty seconds
- Level 4: A single-leg glute bridge, ten each side
- Level 5: The plank with one foot lifted for ten seconds at a time
- Level 6: A ninety-second plank held in one straight line
Alone, with a sibling, or in a group
- Solo: a timer and a reflection to check the line; chase the plank time.
- Sibling: planks side by side, and the first to break resets both.
- Co-op: a circle of planks with one leader calling the changes.
Adjusting it by age
- U14: Shorter holds and a plank on the knees to start, with the parent beside them doing it too. The game is the straight line, checked in a mirror or by a sibling.
- U18: Longer holds, the single-leg bridge and the lifted-foot plank, done twice through. Place it after the ball work and before the cool-down, not before a strike session.
For the parent running it
- Watch the hips, not the clock. A plank with the hips sagging or piked teaches nothing; stop it and reset rather than counting on.
On their own: A phone timer and a mirror or a window reflection to check the hips. Write down the longest straight plank.
Safety
- A mat on a hard floor for the forearms and the back
- Stop a plank at the first sag; a held sag is what hurts a lower back
More on training safely at home: Safety at Home.
Related drills
Ladder & Cone Agility
Quick feet through a ladder (or cones as substitutes), followed by short sprints.
Sprint Intervals
Repeated 30m sprints with walk-back recovery.
Cut and Go
Accelerate to a cone, brake properly, cut, and accelerate away again.
Single-Leg Balance Circuit
Single-leg holds, reaches and airplane holds on a square of floor: the ankle strength a sharp first step is built on.
Run it with the Audio Coach
In Spatrian the Audio Coach talks your player through this drill while they play it, and each run goes on their own training record, which their coach or personal trainer can read and, for a homeschool family, counts as PE time. The beta is opening to a small first group of players and families.