[Planche Lean] What Should I Enhance Before Moving Into a Deeper Lean?

Hello!

I think I'm at about 60-70% lean at this point. I'm going to stay here until my form is OK, then move on to 80+%.

A few points from me:

1. Overall it seems your body is not tight enough.

2. Lock in your PPT, squeeze your glutes

3. Protract harder, really engage your core and lats

4. Get your feet onto a surface that reduces friction. I think you have a towel on a carpet. If you don't have access to a wooden floor try and use a tray or a piece of Perspex while wearing socks. This reduction in friction really challenges the lean and is incredibly beneficial

Haven't mastered this myself yet, but comparing this to the official video your hips should be higher

I second point 4. for getting that on the edge of a precipice feeling. A frisbee under the feet works well.

Look at around the 6 second mark, I can see you've got a nice rounding in the mid-upper back near your shoulders. As soon as you start to lean more, your back starts to sag between your shoulders, and your hips drop towards the floor. This is exactly what I was talking about in the other thread. So instead of thinking about trying to move your head forward, push your body up and forward while maintaining protraction and tensing your lats and abs.

I agree that you're sagging at the hips too much, getting more PPT should sort this out. With more PPT you should start to feel yourself starting to create lift from your abs.

hey thats a good idea putting that there to get consistent lean. i will definitely start doing that

I like the idea with the Rumble Roller as a borderline  

You should try protract a lot more and you are lacking a bit of PPT.

Your hole Body should be as tight as possible.

Grip the floor as hard as possible and try to rotate your hands to the outside.

Start in a pushup-position and protract and depress the scapula. Your core should be as tight as possible (PPT).

Then start leaning Forward and try to Keep protraction, depression and PPT all at once.
 

It's not unusual to start shaking like hell during the last seconds of a set.
 

Thank you all for the awesome advice. This one has way too many cues.

The reason behind the instability you see is because I kept feeling like my ppt was pushing my hips down too much, so I lessen it a bit which makes it feel like they're way too high; so I ppt harder and so on.

I'll start applying these tips one at a time. I might have to do this daily for my body to adjust. It feels as if planks were for nothing!

Nash said:

 It feels as if planks were for nothing!

Absolutely not. When you're in plank at the start with your hands below your shoulders everything looks good. You just need to learn to take that and add the lean, keep doing what you're doing. Small criticisms aside I think you're totally on the right path.

thecolin said:

Absolutely not. When you're in plank at the start with your hands below your shoulders everything looks good. You just need to learn to take that and add the lean, keep doing what you're doing. Small criticisms aside I think you're totally on the right path.

Thank you Colin.

Yeah, I feel the opposite way about the planks, Nash. I'm still nearing mastery of the single-arm variety, but each occasion I've played with planche leans over the course of my training has felt stronger than the last. Noticing those improvements has got me putting a lot of focus on the planks, because I can feel the payoff. Also, I think the entry from plank to lean is vital in maintaining proper form. Make sure to fully engage all your cues while in the plank position so that all you have to worry about after that is finding the lean.

trw said:

but each occasion I've played with planche leans over the course of my training has felt stronger than the last. Noticing those improvements has got me putting a lot of focus on the planks, because I can feel the payoff.

That's a great strategy for complicated elements. I started doing the same with H1 and will repeat for other complicated ones.

Hm, I suppose so, though for me it was not about strategy so much as play. Unless play is a strategy of its own...

I've been playing with this with a mirror this time and a big discovery is when I'm fully depressed I can't achieve a rounded upper back and as much protraction, but if I elevate my shoulders a tiny bit in achieve a much better form.

Are we supposed to be at 100% depression or is 90% OK?

Nash said:

I've been playing with this with a mirror this time and a big discovery is when I'm fully depressed I can't achieve a rounded upper back and as much protraction, but if I elevate my shoulders a tiny bit in achieve a much better form.

Are we supposed to be at 100% depression or is 90% OK?

I just posted an explanation to this in another thread not so long ago.  The answer is because it's anatomically impossible to both fully protract and fully depress the scapulae at the same time. So protraction is more important in the planche so aim for full protraction and as much scapular depression as possible (around 90-95%).

Nice! I can go to sleep now. Thank you for the clarification.