How wide should my feet be?

Start with your feet about hip-width apart, and wider if your hips rock when you lift a hand. Bringing your feet closer together over time is one of the simplest ways to make the exercise harder.

Should shoulder taps be done fast or slow?

Slow. The training comes from keeping your hips still while a hand is off the floor, and fast taps usually turn into rocking from side to side. Lift, tap, place the hand back down and settle before switching sides.

How many shoulder taps should I do?

Beginners can start with 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 taps per side and build toward 10 to 20 per side as control improves. In a timed circuit, 20 to 40 seconds of slow, clean taps works well, and the set should end when the hips start to rock.

What can I do if my wrists hurt in a high plank?

Hold push-up handles to keep your wrists straight, or place your hands on a bench or box so less of your weight goes through them. If they still hurt, train the same core job without wrist load using the Dead Bug while you build up.

What should I progress to after shoulder taps?

First make the taps harder by narrowing your stance or pausing on each shoulder. When you can do that with your hips square, the Dumbbell Renegade Row adds a dumbbell row to the same anti-rotation job.

Plank Shoulder Tap

What Is the Plank Shoulder Tap?

Plank Shoulder Tap is a compound exercise that primarily targets the core and also engages the shoulders, chest and triceps that hold the upper body up in a high plank. It is a beginner-level movement in which you hold a straight-arm plank and lift one hand at a time to touch the opposite shoulder, so the trunk has to stop the body from twisting and sagging every time a hand leaves the floor.

That is what sets it apart from a standard plank. Holding a plank on both hands trains the trunk to resist sagging, while each shoulder tap briefly removes a point of support and asks the abdominals and obliques to resist rotation as well. Coaches use it as an anti-rotation drill in warm-ups, core finishers, bootcamp classes and bodyweight circuits, and the main coaching cue is simple: keep the hips quiet. Some coaches and physical therapists also use a slow set of shoulder taps as a quick check of trunk, hip and shoulder control.

The rectus abdominis and obliques do most of the work, with the glutes helping to keep the hips level. On the supporting side, the serratus anterior, deltoid, chest and triceps press the floor away while that arm carries more of the body's weight. In an EMG study of 21 healthy men, the upper trapezius was less active than the serratus anterior and the middle and lower trapezius during shoulder taps and several other plank variations, so the taps load the muscles that steady the shoulder blade more than the upper traps. A wider stance makes it easier to stay square, a narrower stance or a short pause on each shoulder makes it harder, and adding a push-up between taps brings in more chest and triceps work.

Shoulder taps suit anyone who can already hold a solid Plank on straight arms for 20 to 30 seconds. If that is not there yet, build up with the plank itself, an Incline Push-Up and the Dead Bug, or do the taps with your hands on a bench. Shoulder taps are also the unloaded lead-in to the Dumbbell Renegade Row, which adds a dumbbell row to the same anti-rotation job. During each rep, focus on keeping both hips level and pointed at the floor, since that is where most of the core training comes from.

Muscles Worked

MuscleActivation

External Oblique: Primary
Rectus Abdominis: Primary
Deltoid: High
Serratus Anterior: High
Lower Trapezius: Medium
Pectoralis Major: Medium
Triceps Brachii (Lateral Head): Medium
Gluteus Maximus: Low
Gluteus Medius: Low
Rectus Femoris: Low

Instructions

Start on your hands and knees with your hands flat on the floor directly under your shoulders, about shoulder-width apart, fingers spread.
Step your feet back into a high plank on the balls of your feet, about hip-width apart, or wider if you need more stability. Keep your arms straight and your body in a line from head to heels.
Brace your abs, squeeze your glutes and press the floor away so your hips stay level with your shoulders and your chest does not sink.
Keep your head in line with your body, eyes on the floor just ahead of your hands.
Shift a little weight onto your left hand without moving your hips, then lift your right hand and touch your left shoulder.
Place your right hand back on the floor under your right shoulder and settle the plank.
Repeat with your left hand touching your right shoulder.
Keep alternating slowly for the planned number of taps on each side, with your hips square to the floor throughout.
To finish, lower your knees to the floor.

Common Mistakes

Rocking the hips
Letting the hips sway or turn toward the lifting hand removes the anti-rotation work that makes the exercise worthwhile.
Rushing the taps
Racing through the reps turns the set into a side-to-side shuffle, so each tap should be slow enough that the body is still before the next one.
Feet too close too soon
A narrow stance shrinks the base of support, so most people have to rock to lift a hand until their core control catches up.
Sagging lower back
When the abs and glutes switch off, the hips drop and the lower back arches, so the spine takes the strain instead of the trunk muscles.
Piking the hips
Pushing the hips high toward the ceiling shortens the lever and takes much of the load off the core.
Sinking into the supporting shoulder
Letting the chest drop between the shoulder blades on the supporting side loads the shoulder joint instead of the muscles that should be pressing the floor away.

Injuries

Plank Shoulder Tap is a low risk exercise when performed with proper technique. The main strain points are the wrists, which stay bent back under the body's weight for the whole set, the lower back, which sags into an arch when the brace gives out, and the supporting shoulder, which takes more of the upper body's weight each time the other hand lifts.

Keep your hands directly under your shoulders with the fingers spread, press the floor away so your chest does not sink between your shoulder blades, and squeeze your glutes so your hips stay level. Set your feet as wide as you need to tap without the hips rocking, and move slowly enough that every tap is controlled. If your wrists are uncomfortable in a high plank, hold push-up handles to keep them straight or set your hands on a bench.

To make it easier, drop your knees to the floor, place your hands on a bench or box, or widen your stance. To make it harder, bring your feet closer together, pause for 2 to 3 seconds on each shoulder, or add a push-up between each pair of taps. Once you can tap slowly with your hips staying square, the Dumbbell Renegade Row adds a load to the same pattern.

Stop the set if you feel sharp pain in the wrist, shoulder or lower back, or if your hips keep sagging or rocking and you cannot correct them. Those are signs that the set has outlasted your plank, so rest or switch to an easier version.

Overview

Primary Focus: Core
Equipment: Body weight
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Beginner

Alternative Exercises

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How wide should my feet be?: Start with your feet about hip-width apart, and wider if your hips rock when you lift a hand. Bringing your feet closer together over time is one of the simplest ways to make the exercise harder.
Q: Should shoulder taps be done fast or slow?: Slow. The training comes from keeping your hips still while a hand is off the floor, and fast taps usually turn into rocking from side to side. Lift, tap, place the hand back down and settle before switching sides.
Q: How many shoulder taps should I do?: Beginners can start with 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 taps per side and build toward 10 to 20 per side as control improves. In a timed circuit, 20 to 40 seconds of slow, clean taps works well, and the set should end when the hips start to rock.
Q: What can I do if my wrists hurt in a high plank?: Hold push-up handles to keep your wrists straight, or place your hands on a bench or box so less of your weight goes through them. If they still hurt, train the same core job without wrist load using the Dead Bug while you build up.
Q: What should I progress to after shoulder taps?: First make the taps harder by narrowing your stance or pausing on each shoulder. When you can do that with your hips square, the Dumbbell Renegade Row adds a dumbbell row to the same anti-rotation job.