Inchworm to Low to High Plank
This chain adds a forearm-to-hands transition at the end of every inchworm walkout: fold, walk out, drop to a low plank, press back up to a high plank, walk home. It suits intermediates who want shoulder and triceps work stitched into their moving core drill. Coached by Maddy (NASM-CPT) — these are the exact form cues he gives on every client's first week.
Muscles worked
Sets & reps by goal
| Goal | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 4 × 3–5 full sequences | 2 min |
| Muscle | 3–4 × 6–10 sequences | 60–90 s |
| Endurance | 3 × 10–14 sequences | 45–60 s |
Rep ranges per Helms 2014 · Schoenfeld 2016.
Level — Intermediate
Intermediate — the up-down transition is where form breaks first when fatigued.
Proper form — 5 cues
- Walk out to a high plank first — shoulders over wrists, glutes tight — before any transition begins.
- Lower to the forearms one arm at a time: right forearm down, left down, keeping hips level.
- Press back up hand-by-hand, placing each palm where the elbow just was.
- Alternate which arm leads the drop on every rep so one shoulder does not do all the pressing.
- Only after the high plank is re-established do the hands start walking back to the feet.
Breathing: Exhale on each press from forearms to palms; keep the walkout breathing unhurried.
The 3 mistakes Maddy corrects most
How to program inchworm to low to high plank
| Goal | Phase | Sets | Reps | Tempo | Rest | RPE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| strength | weeks 1–4 · build | 4 | 3 sequences | slow · 3 s per transition | 2 min | 7 |
| strength | weeks 5–8 · intensify | 4 | 4 sequences | slow · 3 s per transition | 2 min | 8 |
| strength | weeks 9–12 · peak | 4 | 5 sequences | slow · minimal hip sway | 2 min | 8–9 |
| hypertrophy | weeks 1–4 · build | 3 | 6–8 sequences | controlled | 60–90 s | 7 |
| hypertrophy | weeks 5–8 · intensify | 3–4 | 8–10 sequences | controlled | 60–90 s | 8 |
| hypertrophy | weeks 9–12 · peak | 4 | 10 sequences | controlled | 60–90 s | 8–9 |
| endurance | weeks 1–4 · build | 3 | 10–11 sequences | smooth · continuous | 45–60 s | 6 |
| endurance | weeks 5–8 · intensify | 3 | 12 sequences | smooth · continuous | 45–60 s | 7 |
| endurance | weeks 9–12 · peak | 3 | 13–14 sequences | smooth · continuous | 45–60 s | 7–8 |
| beginner | weeks 1–4 · learn | 2 | 4 sequences (knees down) | easy · knees down in transitions | 60–90 s | 5 |
| beginner | weeks 5–8 · groove | 3 | 5 sequences (knees down) | easy · knees down in transitions | 60–90 s | 6 |
| beginner | weeks 9–12 · load | 3 | 6 sequences (full) | controlled · first full transitions | 60–90 s | 6–7 |
Tempo = descriptive — flow/combination movements do not use 4-digit tempo.
Common questions
What does the low-to-high transition add over a plain inchworm?
A pressing element. Each up-down is close to half a push-up per arm, so the shoulders and triceps accumulate real work while the trunk keeps its anti-rotation job. Over a set of eight sequences, that is sixteen single-arm presses the plain inchworm never gives you.
My wrists hurt during the transitions — what should I change?
Place the whole palm down and stack shoulders over wrists rather than letting the hands land ahead of you, and spread the fingers to widen the base. If discomfort persists, reduce the sequences per set or spend more of the rep on the forearms, where the wrists are unloaded.
Can beginners attempt this version?
Better to build up to it. Learn the plain inchworm and the plank up-down separately first — the modified knees-down version of this chain exists precisely as the bridge. When you can do eight clean plank up-downs without hip sway, combining the two movements becomes reasonable.
Should I alternate which arm leads the low-to-high transition?
Yes — switch the leading arm every rep or every set. The arm that presses up first does noticeably more triceps and shoulder work, and the trunk has to resist rotation toward the opposite side. Always leading with your dominant arm quietly builds a strength and stability imbalance that eventually shows up as one hip dipping. Alternating keeps the load symmetrical and doubles the anti-rotation practice you get from the same number of repetitions. Count in pairs so both sides match.
How is this different from just doing plank up-downs on their own?
Plank up-downs isolate the forearm-to-palm transition; this drill wraps that transition inside a full movement chain — hinge, walkout, transition, walk back, stand. You collect a hamstring stretch and repeated core re-bracing that static up-downs never provide, at the cost of fewer total transitions per minute. If your goal is pure shoulder-triceps volume, straight up-downs are more efficient. If you want a warm-up or conditioning piece that trains the whole chain, the inchworm version wins.
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