Planche hand position for floor maltese?

For attaining the floor maltese, is it necessary to train the planche with fingers pointing back at 45 degrees?

I'm assuming the answer is yes, but I want to make sure before I go all the way back to square one on the planche.

No, it is not.

You can train maltese without ever training planche. They are two different positions. Obviously, they correlate to each other some though.

Most of the elite gymnasts don't focus on training planche on rings before they get their maltese, at least from what I am told of those who actually have maltese (and don't have planche) and those who have both.

Ah, nice. I'm glad I asked. It just seemed like planche on floor would be required before maltese on floor, and that the hand position of floor maltese is the same as 45 degree backwards planche hand position. Ergo, I concluded that this particular hand position would correlate greatly to floor maltese since the two positions are so similar.

Basically, if you're not looking to attain any of these skills on rings (moreso the planche) you don't need to train hands backwards at all. If you train it you will have better strength in the end because you get no leverage from your hands.., but that's up to you.

Maltese is gonna be hands backwards on both.

They are separate skills so attaining one does not mean you will necessarily have the other.