PLANKTOBER is an initiative of Touched by Olivia Foundation to enable a coming together of community to create a positive and lasting impact. We will be working with charities, government, corporates and changemakers to take collective action to drive connectedness. Through the raising of funds and awareness achieved through planking 5 minutes a day (or more or less, your choice!), we will harness social capital and enhance local assets to strengthen our community.  Funds raised will be applied towards The LIVVIng Room project at Five Dock, NSW

You can register to participate as an individual, family or team or solely make a donation and set a fundraising goal based on number of minutes planked. You will be encouraged to seek sponsors and donations through your own fundraising. So, say you set a goal of 5 minutes every day during October, then it’s totally up to you whether you smash it all out at once, or break the 5 mins down into increments that suit you to do during each day!! There will be a few weekly challenges and incentives, so get into it. Winners will receive a prize from our generous sponsors, so keep an eye out on our social media and your emails.

Planktober starts on the 1st of October and ends on the 31st of October.

That's great you're taking part in PLANKTOBER with Saint Ignatius' College! Please click here to visit the Riverview page and register.  We suggest that you do this on your laptop as other mobile devices may not have the functionality displayed for you to register as required.  

You can register any time up to 31 October.  Every minute counts so don't worry if you can't do the whole month or simply choose to do part of the month.  We just love that you've chosen to plank for our cause!  

Yes, you absolutely can!! Any group can register as a team and the more people we get planking the merrier!! And just because you’ve entered a team, doesn’t mean you can’t also register as an individual. Why not plank more and get the benefits!

Registration is FREE! There are no costs to register!!! 

Funds raised will be applied towards creating a new build, called The LIVVIng Room.  Thanks to a partnership with the City of Canada Bay, NSW, we are working together to build a social enterprise cafe and share community space at Five Dock, to replace the existing Livvi's Cafe.  For more details on our projects, visit www.touchedbyolivia.com.au

There will be weekly challenges, and we will announce the winner on our social media and via email, as well as directly contacting the winners. Winners for the most fundraised will be announced in November once it is all collected and finalised and will be posted on our social media, email subscription and our Planktober website.

You will receive an electronic certificate of completion. And to keep you motivated throughout the campaign we have awards to recognise your achievements. You could aim as high as the sky and be crowned a platinum planker. Check out the goals you could set for each of the awards on the website.

We aim to cater for all fitness levels to take part, and we encourage everyone to work to their ability. Planking can take many variations so think about the alternatives to keep you planking and not flanking! Some examples include planking on your knees or why not try a vertical plank on a wall. Every plank counts! You can also mix it up and try changing the rest periods during sets and the planking intervals e.g 1 minute on or 30 seconds on etc.

However, if you are not sure consult your health professional prior. Being able to complete a 30 second plank (without stopping) is a good place to start. If you struggle to complete that we recommend a little bit of pre-season training. You are also welcome to do alternatives to planks such as sit-ups, crunches and mountain climbers.

YES YES and YES you can participate however you will need to ask you parent/guardian to help you set up your registration and get you started.

When you go register for Planktober, select the TEAM option which will allow you to enter the team name, register as many team members as you like and insert contact details. Make sure you nominate a Team Captain. All team members will then be sent a link so they can complete their registration to officially join the team. Organising the team before would be a good option so you can finalise team members and don’t forget to have a fun name in case you get on the leaderboard!!

Other members can join the team at any time simply by searching the team name when they register. 

Find out who the team captain is and ask them to add you to the team. You will then be sent a link via email so you can officially register yourself on that team. Or if you know your team name, you can simply click to register and search for the name. Then proceed to join the team following the prompts.

There is no limit to your team size. Grab your sports club, your school, your work mates, whatever works for you. Of course, you may want to set up team challenges to get some friendly rivalry so feel free to work these groups into separate teams to maximise the fun!

Whilst encouraged, that is completely up to you. If that is something you don’t want to do, we understand and you can increase awareness through other methods. If it is something you want to do, you will be the voice of the community and funds will help local communities create spaces that foster inclusion, connection and a sense of belonging.

Out top 5 fundraising tips include:

• Set a fundraising benchmark. Be ambitious and keep trying to reach your target and more!!! Letting people know what your goal is could inspire them to help you out.
• To get the ball rolling donate to yourself to get closer to your goals. People who support themselves are more likely to raise additional donations and will keep you more accountable.
• Use the Share links when registering to share your registration and your fundraising goals on facebook, twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or by email. Enlighten people about why you are doing Planktober and don’t forget to tag us in your photos or use #Planktober.
• Get your friends, family, co-workers, gym buddies, teammates or anyone who wants to get their summer bod together and start a team and work towards fundraising and smashing goals together.
• Make sure you thank your supporters! All it takes is a simple message on your social media posts, email or conversation to encourage more people to donate.

If working on your core isn’t your thing that’s totally fine and we understand that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. You can make a donation without planking, which we thank you for!!

Donations will close during November so you will have some time to finalise donations and get as much as you can after October.

When you register you will get the opportunity to share and invite your network (yep, give your friends a good old spamming!) to throw some well deserved sponsorship money to your cause. You can also email others the link to this page or share it on social media, which can encourage others to participate as well as to donate.

We recommend asking for sponsorship as early as possible. Consider asking friends, family, colleagues, work mates, people from your gym and sports teams and other business contacts including suppliers and clients. The more the merrier!!

If you are donating from within Australia, then you bet it is!! $2 and over is 100% tax deductible.

Planking might not be suitable for everyone which is why we offer alternative core exercises instead. You can find more information under RESOURCES then PLANK ALTERNATIVES. This will provide alternative exercise, correct techniques and tips.

Good question, why would you want to put your body through pain for a whole month but we can reassure you that there are a number of reasons why:

• Planks are a good all-round full body exercise. They work your abs, back, shoulders, arms and legs.
• You can do planks pretty much anywhere with no equipment. In your living room when watching tv, in the kitchen, at work, at a local park. You need no equipment for a basic plank
• The human body physically and mentally responds really well to planks. You should feel and see results quite quickly, so don’t forget to take a before and after photo for yourself.
• There are variations to the normal plank, just in case you want to lighten your load a little or make it harder for those crazy people.

Well now you’re showing off!! But in all seriousness, you do what works for YOU! We don’t expect anyone to do 5 minutes straight except the crazy fitness fanatics (you know who you are!). All you have to do is complete 5 minutes per day, and this can be broken down across the day.

For example, a routine like this might suit you perfectly - 1 minute in the morning, 1 minute at lunch, 1 minute when you’re watching tv, 1 minute before dinner and 1 minute before bed. Or, you can do 2 x 30 second planks each time with a break in between, or get it all done in one go and crack that 5 minute plank straight up!

We get that you are busy and also love a sleep-in lazy Netflix kind of day especially in winter. The best option is to catch up tomorrow or in the next few days as long as by the end of the month you have completed 155 minutes of planking (5 minutes per day).

You can time you planking using a stopwatch, any fitness apps (Nike, strava, fitbit, underarmour etc.) or using a watch.

On your dashboard, you will find a button to upload your planked minutes. Make sure you do this after each plank so we can track you on the leaderboard!

Stop and get advice from a suitably qualified health professional. Perhaps there is an alternative exercise you can do e.g situps or mountain climbers.