The pandemic has made me less active. Being home most of the time these past years, I could not burn everything I ate and the results were obvious.

My middle became softer and rounder and my waist and hips gained an inch or so. I could no longer fit into several pants that I used to wear with ease. Weight-wise, I was not too bad. I gained only 5 pounds, at most, although as of this writing, I have lost half of it already. Still, the belly fat remained despite the weight loss. I also could not do forward bends that well anymore with this obstruction. It also did not help that, with age, my metabolic rate probably declined, making me burn food slower than before.

A few days ago, I decided to go back to planking. I used to do this during my vinyasa yoga years but stopped when I got into yin yoga. Planking helps burn belly fat but does not require high-impact or high-intensity routines. It engages and strengthens multiple core muscles, helps increase metabolic rate, and improves posture.

As a senior, I need to be more mindful of the kind of exercises that I should be doing. Planking suits me as it only requires me to stay still on my yoga mat.

My current daily routine is one-minute planking, done in 3 sets or repetitions. In between each set, I do a Child’s Pose to rest and recharge. Yesterday, I unlocked an achievement when I got to do a plank for 2 minutes straight without much effort. It was just a test run though. I intend to stick with 1-minute planks for a while and work instead on increasing the reps.

Belly fat is one of the most stubborn and difficult areas to burn compared to other body parts. Planking alone will not burn all of it so I may have to combine it with other intense exercises. It is a good start though.

Here’s a video I found of how to plank correctly.

I’ve only been planking daily for about a week so it will take me months to see progress. Let’s see how things are in a couple of months.