floor planche vs parallet planche

Greetings,

A newbie to gymnastics training, I've purchased Coach Sommer's book and have begun a basic starter program.

There is not one single hold that i do not have issues with, however, the planche progression is especially difficult. At the moment, i can hold a frog stand for almost a minute. When trying to transition to the advanced frog stand, i cannot hold for even 2 seconds with my arms PERFECTLY straight. If i unlock my elbows ever so slightly (to an observer it would still look like my arms were straight), i can hold that position for 10-15secs. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that my wrists and hands feel like they're going to break, right from the start. Normally i would say deal with it, but i am a massage therapist by trade, and tend to be somewhat paranoid about damaging that area of my body.

Today, after reading through some other posts, i tried the advanced frog stand on two 2.5lb dumbbells instead of flat on the floor. I was able to hold the position for 10-12secs. So my question is this: would it be advantageous to keep using the dumbbells until i'm proficient in the tuck planche, and after having built up the core strength in that position, go back to the floor version and see if i can build up my wrist/hand tolerance?

thank you for your time

bst said:

Greetings,

A newbie to gymnastics training, I've purchased Coach Sommer's book and have begun a basic starter program.

There is not one single hold that i do not have issues with, however, the planche progression is especially difficult. At the moment, i can hold a frog stand for almost a minute. When trying to transition to the advanced frog stand, i cannot hold for even 2 seconds with my arms PERFECTLY straight. If i unlock my elbows ever so slightly (to an observer it would still look like my arms were straight), i can hold that position for 10-15secs. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that my wrists and hands feel like they're going to break, right from the start. Normally i would say deal with it, but i am a massage therapist by trade, and tend to be somewhat paranoid about damaging that area of my body.

Today, after reading through some other posts, i tried the advanced frog stand on two 2.5lb dumbbells instead of flat on the floor. I was able to hold the position for 10-12secs. So my question is this: would it be advantageous to keep using the dumbbells until i'm proficient in the tuck planche, and after having built up the core strength in that position, go back to the floor version and see if i can build up my wrist/hand tolerance?

thank you for your time

********** Don't know if this helps but if you use the wrist prehab by Coach Sommers it's a good bet that your wrists can improve to the point that you can use them. Mine did.

Brandon Green

Brandon, I edited your post so we could see more clearly what you posted.

To echo Brandon, you need to simply make your wrists stronger. The wrist prehab series and doing wall HS besides just spending time on your hands will develop this over time.

Yep. I experienced the same thing, my hands and wrists could not support the planche at first. It will come, just be consistent.

This is the wrist series. There's more than that here, but the beginning two minutes or so contains the whole wrist series. Don't try to do this the way these kids are, do each stretch and movement independently and take your time building up. Especially on the wrist pushups; fingertip, first knuckle, and dorsal(back of wrist) are all important, and very hard. So start off with your feet on the floor and your hands on the couch for the dorsals. The others you will probably be able to start on your knees on the floor, but if you can't then create an incline that will let you do the movements. Your wrists will get stronger pretty quickly. You can do these almost every day, especially once your body adapts to doing the work.

Imo you shoud stick to training the planche on dumbbells or paralletts one you get proficient with them, give it a try on the floor, plus do the wrist strengthening excercises others mentioned because you will only benefit from them.

Cheers,

Chris