Straddle Planche + Advanced tuck planche hold

Here is my latest straddle planche:

What I noticed myself is that my lower back is arched, but then I did some research. I see that a lot of people have an arched back in the lower back. Couldn't actually find one without an arched back. So I was wondering if my form is good apart from my legs being too low.

Then there is my max advanced tuck planche hold, which is strangely enough around 10s only.

I know I've posted a lot of things related to planche, but this move is seriously incredibly hard. No matter how hard I train, I never seem to get it right. I've achieved other moves like the OABL 10s, without even training for it and I train the planche almost always and I still don't progress that well.

this is my friend Matteo

Actually no lower back is allowed on high quality skills. straight lower back does not mean arched. the difference is low but sensible.  

alex87 said:

this is my friend Matteo

Actually no lower back is allowed on high quality skills. straight lower back does not mean arched. the difference is low but sensible.  

 

teo.png

Yes, but that's a full planche. Whenever I attempt a full planche (I slightly get my feet of the ground for a second), my back also remains completely straight. Try looking up straddle planche with a flat back.

Yaad I'm feeling you...I think it has to do with the property of your body. Some people (with relative long arms) are more inclined to the pulling (Front lever for example) work and others (short arms) more on the pressing. For example when I started GST after reading coach Sommers book I learned a front lever only after a couple of weeks. Also a One Arm Chin was not that of a big deal, were other people (usually with short arms) tend to see this as "high" level. For me the planche is "high" level (it's all relative).

On the other hand I'm also struggling severely with the planche/iron cross. I'm still training it though since it has enormous benefits in itself (my tendons are thick and feel rock solid). 

Note that I'm not saying that people with long arms will not achieve a decent planche. I'm only saying that from my experience people with long arms tend to have more trouble with pressing stuff and less with pulling.

B.t.w I see that you're also from Holland   ! From what city are you? Maybe we can meet up someday and share experiences in real life someday! 

Groeten uit Amsterdam! (Greeting from Amsterdam).

Rachid Tahri said:

Yaad I'm feeling you...I think it has to do with the property of your body. Some people (with relative long arms) are more inclined to the pulling (Front lever for example) work and others (short arms) more on the pressing. For example when I started GST after reading coach Sommers book I learned a front lever only after a couple of weeks. Also a One Arm Chin was not that of a big deal, were other people (usually with short arms) tend to see this as "high" level. For me the planche is "high" level (it's all relative).

On the other hand I'm also struggling severely with the planche/iron cross. I'm still training it though since it has enormous benefits in itself (my tendons are thick and feel rock solid).

Note that I'm not saying that people with long arms will not achieve a decent planche. I'm only saying that from my experience people with long arms tend to have more trouble with pressing stuff and less with pulling.

B.t.w I see that you're also from Holland ! From what city are you? Maybe we can meet up someday and share experiences in real life someday!

Groeten uit Amsterdam! (Greeting from Amsterdam).

Well I don't seem to have any problems with any other move. I can do bowers, human flags and even a maltese variation of that, bent arm one arm front lever, one arm back lever and many other moves, but it's the planche that takes me the longest. I really wonder if it's the long arms

I have the same problem as you. When I do my straddle planche and try to flat my back I flex at the hips and when I extend my hips I arch my lower back. We can't keep a posterior pelvic tilt without flexing at the hips. It's a mobility problem. I think we need more rectus femoris active flexibility and also some exercises that hit the glutes. A good exercise to work on I think would be reverse hyperextensions with the legs in a straddle position but maybe someone can give better input.

Arched back in the straddle plache is improper form.

Banzas is spot on: your issue is most likely mobility. 

Joshua Slocum said:

Arched back in the straddle plache is improper form.

Banzas is spot on: your issue is most likely mobility.

I think you're right. Because I don't have this problem performing other variations of the planche!

Can you get into a proper straddle back lever? If not, then it's definitely a mobility problem.

Other than that, I thought it looked pretty solid.

At high level of hips mobility the butt is so squeezed that if you observe it you can see strong contraction over this section. the volume of the butt that is elevated from the lower back is higher as your active split becomes opened and opened. for this reason seems that the lower back is arched., but listen to joshua.

To that add the fact that arched lower back is linked to lack of protraction and and depression, as you can see in you video.

As the protraction is poor, you possibility to stay hollow and squeeze you abs is low. abs and lower back are antagonist muscles, so if you are squeezing your abs the elevation of the legs is due you butt muscles.

Cody said:

Can you get into a proper straddle back lever? If not, then it's definitely a mobility problem.

Other than that, I thought it looked pretty solid.

I can't even my straddle back and front lever are like that.

alex87 said:

At high level of hips mobility the butt is so squeezed that if you observe it you can see strong contraction over this section. the volume of the butt that is elevated from the lower back is higher as your active split becomes opened and opened. for this reason seems that the lower back is arched., but listen to joshua.

To that add the fact that arched lower back is linked to lack of protraction and and depression, as you can see in you video.

As the protraction is poor, you possibility to stay hollow and squeeze you abs is low. abs and lower back are antagonist muscles, so if you are squeezing your abs the elevation of the legs is due you butt muscles.

So I just need to practice my split more and protract more heavily

This is actually a question I have had for a while. So lying prone on the floor, and assuming a straddle, if I were to fully posterior pelvic tilt, I feel an immense stretch on what I believe on my hip abductors.  I guess I have to work on mobility here.

So in a straddle planche, are we supposed to be in a full posterior pelvic tilt? Butt fully contracted and abs squeezed as much as possible? 

Try standing up in the best side splits that you can do.  From there, start working on standing straight up with your pelvis tilted upward and your belly sucked in.  Your entire abdominal girdle should be flexed.  What you will find is that you have some tight spots in your hips and adductors. 

After a while you can begin to explore the pose by rotating your hips in circles and tilting your pelvis back in forth.

If you are going to do that, don't stare at chicks while you are doing it.  Learned that the hard way...