The Planche Progressions

The Planche Progressions

Obviously, for those of us who are mere mortals, it is not possible to simply remove the legs from the floor and go directly to the planche. However with the proper progressions and patience, this position is attainable by a reasonably fit, hard working athlete. While working the various planches, strive to hold the hips level with the shoulders. Make sure that the elbows are straight. Bending the elbows greatly lessens the intensity of these exercises and will greatly slow your progress. Almost straight is still bent, so be diligent and keep them straight.

One final general note on planches; hand positions on the planche series exercises is completely optional. Some prefer fingers forward, others to the side. Some swear by support on fingertips (my favorite) and others completely flat. Just experiment and find the grip that you prefer. If you find that a flat hand support on the floor is too uncomfortable for your wrists, these progressions can also be performed on a set of push-up bars.

Frog Stand
Begin this position by assuming a full squat and placing your hands on the ground directly in front of your feet. By directly, I mean right next to your toes. Arrange yourself so that your knees are resting against your bent elbows. Now gradually lean forward taking your weight both unto your hands and also unto your knees by leaning them on your elbows. Using your knees on your elbows will allow your legs to help your shoulders bear the load of your bodyweight. As you continue leaning forward you will eventually be able to remove your feet completely from the floor and hold yourself up with only your hands on the floor and your knees on your elbows for support.

Balance is also a key to this exercise. As you first begin to learn how to lean forward in this position, you will often probably overextend and fall forward. Don’t worry have fun with it and enjoy some new training. Some pillows placed in front of you will help to cushion any crash landings.

Notice that this is the only static position in our progressions with bent elbows. Continue holding sets of this position until you have reached your one minute total time.



Tuck Planche
The main difference between the frog stand and the tuck planche is that now your weight will be entirely supported on your arms only. Once again begin in a full squat and place your hands next to your toes. Now, as in the frog stand, lean forward taking all of your weight on your arms and shoulders alone. Do not use your knees on your elbows for assistance. Holding the knees tightly to the chest will make this exercise easier.

At first you may only be able to briefly raise off the ground. Do not worry. Keep adding small sets together to reach your goal of 60 seconds total. Simply continue working the position, striving to lift your hips to shoulder high. With consistent practice it is possible to increase your strength in static positions relatively quickly.



Advanced Tuck Planche
Once you feel comfortable with the tuck planche and are able to hold it for 60 seconds with correct hips and elbows, you can increase the difficulty of this exercise by progressing on to the Advanced Tuck Planche. The primary difference between the tuck and advanced tuck planche is the position of the back. Note that in the tuck planche the back is curved, while in the advanced tuck planche the back appears flat. While holding your hips shoulder high, try to extend your hips back behind you until your back is flat. This “flattening” will greatly increase the intensity of the tuck planche. In fact, I think you will be extremely surprised at how much harder such a small movement can make the tuck planche.

Continue working this position, until you are once again able to hold the static for 60 seconds correctly in a single set with your back completely straight (“flat”).



Straddle Planche
Once you have mastered the advanced tuck planche position you are ready to work on the straddle planche. Finally! After months of hard consistent work the end is now in sight. While learning this skill, it is also beneficial to practice the next progression (the tuck planche push-up) at the same time. One will build upon the other.

From the advanced tuck planche position, simply begin to extend your knees behind you from their position on your chest. Balance is critical here. As you extend your legs farther behind, you will also have to lean a little farther forward to compensate. The wider your legs are the easier the straddle planche will be (note: for those of you planning for the future, as you get stronger in the straddle planche you can increase the difficulty by bringing your legs closer together).

Make small adjustments from workout to workout trying to either increase the length of your static hold or the extention of your position. Do not try to increase both at the same workout. BE PREPARED - just a small movement will greatly lessen your leverage on this exercise and make the movement much harder.

This movement is so much more difficult, that it is not necessary to be able to hold it for 60 seconds before moving on. Once you can hold a straddle planche correctly for 10 seconds you will be able to move on. I know, I know . . . only 10 seconds! But trust me, it will feel like much longer while you are doing it.


Tuck Planche Pushups
By the time you begin working straddle planches, you will have achieved a reasonable amount of static strength and are ready to begin adding a dynamic movement to your static hold. The description of a tuck planche push-up is fairly straightforward; while in an advanced tuck planche position, simply attempt to perform a pushup. To receive the full benefit, be sure (or at least try!) to maintain the hips level with the shoulders during the descent and ascent of this movement. Don’t forget to fully straighten the elbows at the to of the movement. Reps and sets are completely up to you.




Straddle Planche Pushups
Once you have learned both the straddle planche and tuck planche push-ups, you are now strong enough to tackle straddle planche push-ups. You could consider the planche pushup a super bench press or a full body press. In addition to working the triceps, chest and front delts, you also have a full contraction of the lats, middle back and lower back as well as the traps. The triceps and the forearms are also working hard stabilizing the elbow joint. Core strength is extremely taxed as the upper and lower abs, obliques, serratus and hip flexors all struggle to maintain the stretched (body) position.

From the straddle planche, begin to lower yourself to the ground. Be careful to keep the hips level with the shoulders as you descend, as there is a tendency when first learning this skill to simply try to dip the shoulders forward. Pause just off the ground and extend back up to the straddle planche. Also be aware that as you rise from the bottom position, it will be quite a struggle to maintain your hips level with your shoulders.




Variations
At first you may only be able to lower but not lift out of this position. This is fine. Any of Pavel’s kettlebell variations for learning military presses will also work fine here. For example:
1) Lower slightly, hold for a few seconds and continue lowering and holding.
2) Try to lower as slowly as possible, taking 10, 20 or even 30 seconds to complete the descent.
3) Lower all the way, lift up slightly and lower again and repeat.

GymnasticBodies.com






fridays workout

45kg Snatch - max for day; 10 min rest
55kg Clean & jerk - max for day; 10 min rest
70kg Front squat - max for day


3 sets:
A1. Good morning x 10; no rest
A2. Hanging leg raise x 15

saturday

60 kg bench press
21 hspu (off the bar 15+6) 21muscle up off the bar (7+4+2+4+4) 21inverted pullup butt2bar (11+10)

21 laps (50METRE POOL) FIRST EVER YEH YEH (goal next time wall turn 2touch)

olympic weightlifting + gymnastics rings

ring strength
lord of the rings

iron cross
inverted iron cross
front lever
back lever
body raise
left raise
skin the cat
ring hand stand
ring planche



iron mind
olympic weightlifting training
BW56kg ivan ivanov 175kg clean n jerk

petar tanev 205kg clean n jerk

georgi gardev 170kg snatch

BW69kg galabin boevski 250kg back squat




BW83kg pyrros dimas 150kg snatch
170kg clean n jerk

BW 60kg naim suleymanoglu SNATCH

ronny weller 190kg snatch

jackie chan training, free standing hand stand pushups

1:55 jackie free standing handstand pushups

some double unders included

suss padd work (aka shit), dropped hand level

parallettes planche pushups

parallettes

freestanding paraletes hand stand pushups

leg raises

planche pushups

ring strength

jordan jovtchev gymnastics

ring strength
ring pullups
L pullups
false grip pullups


core drills
hanging leg raises

skin the cat

front lever

straight body raises

back lever

muscle ups (no kip)

5rnds 25airsquat25pushup25doubleunders5pullup5snatches35kg 19.19mins
45kgsnatch
60kg c&j

snatch & the grey man