Planche progressions

Hi! My name is Mike and I have been doing Gymnastics Bodies faithfully for almost a year. My specific goals are to do a front lever and a planche. As expected, I have hit my first major road block. Can anyone offer some progressions for SE1>iM, the bent arm half straddle planche hold? I can't hold the position at all at this point. When I try to fall into it like the mobility video, I hit the ground pretty quickly. Thanks!

Hi Mike,

With these sorts of issues, the best place to begin looking for deficiencies is HBP/PE3 and sPL/PE5. I suggest posting form checks of those in the F1 subsection and submitting footage of your SE1>iM here.  Also one of coaches Alex has advised previously that the use of parallettes can be a good intermediary step to achieving the final position.

If you are more comfortable you may also submit your videos privately for review via your course's dashboard. We look forward to assiting you past your plateau.

Here's my feeble, but best, attempt. https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=lk16Bgd9oW4

Chantelle, also this link does not work.

The link is probably this one (Chantelle provided the edit link instead of the watch link,).

First of all I suggest entering the position in a more calm way, like from a planche lean, lean as much as you can, then go to a bottom of a PPP and lean even further. The main issue is your hand position, it needs to be much further back than that. Your forearm is almost vertical, at the start the elbow is even behind the wrist. That position will never work regardless of how hard you push into it. You have to lean into this position and the amount of lean needs to be enough so that your center of mass is between your supporting hands. Look at how at the forearm angle of the athlete's demonstration video and compare it to yours.

I also suggest you form check your HBP PE3 and sPL/PE5. Usually this position works like a test for how well you've mastered those.

Great advice, Christian. I second the form checks of HBP/PE3 and sPL/PE5.