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Plank to dragon-flag plan (4 weeks)
Intermediate · 25–39 · Multi-week plan · 3 days a week
A four-week progression that builds from solid planks toward an advanced dragon-flag. Below is a research-backed prompt for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, copy it, paste the reply into sweatcue, and run the whole bodyweight workout hands-free.
Session at a glance
This is how sweatcue structures the session once you paste it in, timed blocks with auto-starting rest and spoken cues. Figures are read from the prompt itself.
The prompt
Copy the complete prompt (it wraps the request below so the AI returns a clean, runnable session).
Why it's built this way
A structured progression that gradually increases the difficulty of anti-extension holds (hollow body, long-lever plank, then dragon-flag variations) is a sound way to build serious trunk strength, overload comes from harder leverage rather than added weight. Training core a few times a week with hard-but-not-to-failure sets fits the evidence for strength gains. Honest caveat: the full dragon-flag is a demanding skill; 4 weeks gets most intermediates to tuck or negative versions, not necessarily the full move.
Sources: Schoenfeld et al., Sports Med 2016 (training frequency); Androulakis-Korakakis et al., Sports Med 2020 (minimum effective dose for strength); Refalo et al., Sports Med 2023 (proximity to failure / reps-in-reserve)
Who this plan is for
Built with one person in mind: Want real trunk strength and visible abs, direct core training, not spot-reduction.
- You’re an intermediate-level trainer and you want to get measurably stronger.
- You want to train with little or no equipment, this one needs none, bodyweight.
- You want a structured, progressing plan rather than a one-off session.
Who should adapt or skip it
- It’s low-risk for healthy adults. Scale the loads and reps to your own level rather than copying the top of every range on day one.
- As with any new routine, check with a clinician first if you have a medical condition, are injured, pregnant, or returning from a long lay-off. This is general information, not medical advice.
What a 2-week plan looks like
This is a multi-week plan that progresses as you go, the AI builds the later weeks harder. Here’s the rhythm of the opening fortnight, at about 3 sessions a week:
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | ● | · | ● | · | ● | · | · |
| Week 2 | ● | · | ● | · | ● | · | · |
● This session· Rest, a walk, or light mobility
Keep session days apart where you can, and adjust for how you feel. When you paste the AI’s reply into sweatcue, each session runs hands-free with spoken cues and timers.
Run it hands-free in sweatcue
sweatcue is an AI workout dashboard: paste the AI's reply and it runs the whole session on screen and out loud, auto timers, spoken cues for every set, rest and rep, and your live numbers. The AI writes it; sweatcue runs it.
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More bodyweight & related workouts
New to prompting an AI for workouts?
Start with the full workout library, learn the method in how to write a workout prompt, or see what an AI workout dashboard does.