Assisted planche training with rubber bands (with video)

I read about the use of rubber bands to help with attaining the planche proper, so I tried a set-up in my garage, it seems to be working well so far! Feedback is appreciated...see the second video if you only want to watch one, in that one you can see the complete set-up:

I'm doing these in addition to planche push-up variations (2 days/week) and isometric hold planche variations (on the other day of the week when I'm not doing these assisted planche holds). I do 2 days/week of Gymnastic Strength Training™ in addition to my 2-3 days/week of OL and PL training.

I hope someone finds these helpful.

Hey Garrett, nice videos.

Round out those shoulders pushing them up like a mad cat in yoga besides the slight arch in back.

D'ya know how much weight those bands are taking enough.

Some experimentation of mine with using bands and a swiss ball was that the angle of my planche ( straight body assisted ) in my shoulders was roughly equal to the angle used in a static planche progression ( tuck, straddle, 1/2 lay, full ). This will vary somewhat person to person because of differing body sizes but it's something I noted.

Blair,

Here's the info I could find:

2nd / 7th Level Lower Resistance Band (3/16" thick, 7/8" wide and 10 - 35 lbs. resistance)

Obviously, that's per band. The angle reduces the vertical force from simply straight up and down (again, obviously)

Nice setup! Have you tried fingers backwards at all?

Garret, nice work. I used this method too years ago... It didnt produce the results I was after, but maybe it will do more for you.

Just make sure you lean forward as much as you can. The main problem with transitioning to a more advanced position in the planche is building the strength in the arms to body new, deeper angle. The bands can be used to solve this problem by using a deeper angle than what you are used to, and building some of the strength there. Later on, I would prefer to see you take the bands higher and higher up you legs and towards your waist than using lighter bands or decreasing the anchor height.

Good luck, my friend,

Ido Portal.

slizzardman said:

Nice setup! Have you tried fingers backwards at all?

A little bit. I'm not a big fan of fingers backwards at this point, but that could change as I work in other's suggestions of getting further forward.

Ido Portal said:

Just make sure you lean forward as much as you can. The main problem with transitioning to a more advanced position in the planche is building the strength in the arms to body new, deeper angle. The bands can be used to solve this problem by using a deeper angle than what you are used to, and building some of the strength there. Later on, I would prefer to see you take the bands higher and higher up you legs and towards your waist than using lighter bands or decreasing the anchor height.

Thanks for the advice Ido. I'll try the progression you mentioned as I go onward. This isn't the only planche training I'm doing, just something new I added to the rotation, as I had stalled on the isometric holds for a good while (everything else was making steady progress).

Garrett,

at the time when I incorporated this into my training I also choose to implement it as part of my training together with normal static holds and other exercises.

One of the better ones with the bands was:

from a full planche with the bands, lift butt high and bring the shoulders back into a pike press position (off the floor) and back to the planche for 1-3 reps with a 3 sec static hold at the planche and pike position. It helps to understand the shoulder placement and the amount of movement which need to occur forward for a correct planche position. Brutal after 5-12 normal static sets.

Enjoy,

Ido.

Ido Portal said:

Garrett,

at the time when I incorporated this into my training I also choose to implement it as part of my training together with normal static holds and other exercises.

One of the better ones with the bands was:

from a full planche with the bands, lift butt high and bring the shoulders back into a pike press position (off the floor) and back to the planche for 1-3 reps with a 3 sec static hold at the planche and pike position. It helps to understand the shoulder placement and the amount of movement which need to occur forward for a correct planche position. Brutal after 5-12 normal static sets.

Enjoy,

Ido.

Ido,

That sounds awesome, as I'm also working on my pike press to HS...two birds with one stone sounds great.

Ido Portal said:

from a full planche with the bands, lift butt high and bring the shoulders back into a pike press position (off the floor) and back to the planche for 1-3 reps with a 3 sec static hold at the planche and pike position. It helps to understand the shoulder placement and the amount of movement which need to occur forward for a correct planche position. Brutal after 5-12 normal static sets.

Enjoy,

Ido.

I tried this for the first time last week. It's an awesome exercise! As Jordan Jovchev would say: it "really makes the muscle"

I also combined it with planche pushups: pike <-> planche <-> pushup

They're definitely a good exercise like pseudos.

But yeah, the best workout plan or exercise is always the one you're not doing....

braindx said:

They're definitely a good exercise like pseudos.

But yeah, the best workout plan or exercise is always the one you're not doing....

I'm not the biggest fan of that saying, sort of like "you always find it in the last place you look..."

Tested my tuck planche iso holds last night, relatively easily got PRs (and I hadn't done them in weeks, on top of setting a bench press PR only 3 days prior), so I'd say this new approach--which was really just switching out one exercise for another in the same "family"--is working for me.

How about the saying changes to "a better plan than the one you're doing now is one that gets you there faster or breaks through plateaus..." I like that a lot better.

Garrett Smith said:

braindx said:

They're definitely a good exercise like pseudos.

But yeah, the best workout plan or exercise is always the one you're not doing....

I'm not the biggest fan of that saying, sort of like "you always find it in the last place you look..."

Tested my tuck planche iso holds last night, relatively easily got PRs (and I hadn't done them in weeks, on top of setting a bench press PR only 3 days prior), so I'd say this new approach--which was really just switching out one exercise for another in the same "family"--is working for me.

How about the saying changes to "a better plan than the one you're doing now is one that gets you there faster or breaks through plateaus..." I like that a lot better.

Garrett Smith said:

I'm not the biggest fan of that saying, sort of like "you always find it in the last place you look..."

Of course it's the last place you look. It would be silly to keep looking after you had found it. =D