Planche leans stalled

Would like to hear others opinion.

I have been working for many months now on the planche lean sPL/PE5 focusing on perfecting my form. More specifically, I have been trying to increase my lean as much as possible without losing protraction and without rounding the lower upper back which used to happen in the past. So basically what I have been doing all this time is perfecting my form by repeating weeks 1-4 all the time. The thing is that although I have really good form now, If I try to increase much more the lean it seems basically almost impossible. What I mean is that if I keep my shoulder blades protracted and my whole body shape tight and hollow as it should be I cannot lean any more. It feels like I am really stable on the ground - like the only way to lean more is basically raise my feet (true planche) or lose protraction and put more stress on the elbows.

Right now, my wrists are around my lower ribs.

Do you think that this is due to structural balance so it would be almost impossible to further increase lean?

Or more strength is needed from the Lower traps and serratus anterior muscles to keep the scapula protracted while increasing the lean angle?  

Can you post a video please?

I wish alex but I am in London and for my MSc and I am all alone no-one to hold my camera. I now that a video will possibly clear everything...

A video would be ideal. If you can't video yourself, it means that even you probably haven't seen your form for a while, so you may be doing something wrong (like loosing protraction) and not even know it. Nobody needs to hold the camera though, use a tripod or sit your camera on a book.

I noticed that you didn't mention depression, this is very important to maintain along with protraction. Try to focus on depression as well as protraction the next time while pushing up hard off the ground instead of just leaning forward.

Go through the whole 30s template in this "intermediate" position.  Extra strength might help open up further ROM.  Just don't train additional ROM and additional time simultaneously.

I prefer to not work on intermediate ROM, my suggestion is work on the 3x6s week until you've reached the necessary lean. then move on.

Alex, do you mind sharing why you prefer not to work on intermediate ROM?  I haven't started planche leans yet, so my suggestion was just based on what has worked for me on other exercises.  I will be starting them next week and want to learn as much as I can from more experienced members.

Spphysio said:

Right now, my wrists are around my lower ribs.

I thought this was the standard -- that's what the video looks like to me.  How low is low enough for mastery?

between hips and ribsbasket (english level 0 )

If it makes you feel better it took me 12 months to master these. A lot of hard work and patience. I felt these were impossible as well. I think it just took that long for my elbow connective tissue to adapt.

alex87 said:

I prefer to not work on intermediate ROM, my suggestion is work on the 3x6s week until you've reached the necessary lean. then move on.

So Alex...You mean repeat the first microcyle. Or just the first week 3x6s until you reach the necessary lean.

alex87 said:

I prefer to not work on intermediate ROM, my suggestion is work on the 3x6s week until you've reached the necessary lean. then move on.

Why is this Alex? Will 3x6s give enough stimulus to allow the adaptations needed to increase the lean?

I think Alex is referring to do loops on weeks 1 to 4 until the required lean is achieved; at least is what I would do (actually is what I did). Then, when the lean is achieved you can start to build volume over time being the safest way to advance.

I understood that, earlier a lot of folks were promoting do full cycles at a reduced ROM and then reset and add ROM.

I've been doing a sort of hybrid, push at a given ROM but there would often come a sort of breakthrough where there would naturally be more ROM, and from there I'd do some sort of reset.

Interesting to hear the various approaches to this important stepping stone.

I found that 6 seconds was not enough stimulus, but 12 seconds was. So I worked on getting 4x12 seconds initially with reduced range and kept trying to push to full ROM. I think it will vary for person to person.

I prefer Alex's approach. Low reps / high sets have been great for me to learn the more detail oriented movements, like pl leans

I agree with Mark, at least in my own training. I've found working on a longer hold time and gradually increasing ROM to be more beneficial. I've also found this approach is a much safer and more gradual way to build elbow strength.

That's a big part of my reasoning as well Colin, working through to later weeks gives more time for the elbow to condition, so seems to be the safer approach.