How planking strengthens our cores and our community

If you've swung by Office Nomads around lunchtime in the past few months, you may have been greeted by an unexpected sight.

community planking

Yup. A small group of our members, planking.

At a coworking space? Right there in the middle of the room? What?

Well, it's a fun story. And we want to share it with you because it's more than just a silly thing we've been doing in the office of late. It's one small way that the members of Office Nomads have been building not just their core strength, but their community.

There are a few reasons why we think it's been so successful and we want to share those tips with you to inspire you to get something awesome started in your community!

A Collaborative Attitude

It all started with a conversation about Cotivation. Clint, a newer member of the Office Nomads community, had asked to host the next Cotivation round. As he was getting himself organized as the host, he was talking with Mike about what kind of goals people usually set for the five-week sessions. Mike listed out some of the goals he'd worked on before, and then he shared that he really wanted to start planking every day. Not today of course, but someday.

Someday.

"I'll do it with you if you start right now." said Clint.

Jess, another member sitting nearby, said "I'll do it with you too."

That was literally all it took. They were off.

Consistency

From there, it just caught on and gathered steam. Every day, right around the end of the lunch hour, members would gather together and make their way to the floor. The consistency of the gatherings made it easy for members to jump in if they felt like it, or wait until another day if they were not up to it.

"I think it brought people out of their shells," Clint told us. "Some people had never planked before and it was a safe space to give it a try. Other people totally surprised us with their planking skills and that was fun too."

Simplicity

The nice part about planking is that it takes little to no effort to coordinate. Someone usually just chimes up "Planking, anyone?" and then we begin. One person is in charge of keeping time and occasionally shouting out how long it's been since we started.

"It was fun and approachable. You can plank for 30 seconds and you're still planking," said Clint.

This new daily ritual included members who came every day to join in, and some members who just came one time for a laugh. Clint (or someone else if Clint wasn't around) diligently kept track of everyone's planking times so they could watch their progress as the weeks ticked on.

Levity

Funny things happened during planking sessions. A visitor came in who had never been to the space before and was greeted by a circle of 10 people all butts-up. It was clearly not what he expected to see, but his reaction was absolutely priceless.

Occasionally one of the office dogs would join in the fun, licking faces that were closer to the ground than they usually are.

Every session to date has involved laughter. Because sometimes all you need is a break and an opportunity to do something different.

For us, as it always has been, it's the little things. They really are simply the best.

We hope this inspires you to do something simple and fun to bring your community a little closer together.