Iron Cross and Planche Progress Form Check and Feedback

Hello friends, 

I think I've been making some good progress on my iron cross and planche training and just wanted to get some second opinions on my form. I do bodyweight training for fitness purposes and because it's really fun so I'm mostly concerned about my form in the sense of is my technique safe and a good building block for future advanced moves.

Side note: I've been a lurker on these forums for some time now, thank you to everyone who's contributed here! I couldn't find section with a list of rules on how to post on these forums so if I did something wrong in my post I apologize. 

Iron Cross:

Here's my iron cross attempts from my last training session. I go from the easiest band (green) to the hardest (red). I think my form is good and that I'm getting closer to the full move but I'd like to know what others think. I know I should go lower so that I'm more parallel, definitely working on that! In terms of my technique, I'm trying to keep my shoulders rolled forward with a protracted back and of course locked arms.

For the black and red straps, I recognize that I need to do more work keeping my shoulders depressed and rolled forward. I will say those attempts were at the end of my work out when I was running low on gas. Currently I'm planning to wind it back a couple notches until I'm more ready for those resistances. 

I was also told that the rings are too close and too short in my current setup and that it is assisting me so in the future I'll try to adjust my setup so that my ring straps are longer. Not sure if getting them further apart in my current setup is safe though because the bars are slopes and I'm afraid they might move mid cross practice. 

Planche:

My full planche is pretty new so excuse the awkward way in which I enter the position.

For my planches, I'm concerned about my upper back. In some tutorials I've come across, mostly from the calisthenics community, I've noticed an emphasis on having a more rounded upper back so I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. I don't really recall having a rounded upper back being mentioned often from gymnastics people though, besides maintaining protraction. In the book overcoming gravity regarding planches, it says not to round out the upper back. I'd just like to know how bad my form is so at the end of the video I have an angle of my back to show how it is shaped. If someone could let me know if that position is good or bad and why, I'd appreciate it. I would also like to add that keeping my back rounded has been very difficult. I can't keep it rounded even in an advanced tuck and never really felt strong trying to round out.

It seems that I don't have posterior pelvic tilt on lock down either. With that said, I'm fairly satisfied with how straight my full planche is though not really bothered by my pelvis position. If anyone disagrees with that, I'd love to know the reasoning behind it.

Also, the full planche portion was shot today while the straddle planche was shot a couple days before, hence why the lighting is different. 

Again, I would really appreciate some feedback! I'm 23 years old, 5,3 ft and 111 lbs.

All the best,

Efran

7 hours ago, Efran Himel said:

Hello friends, 

 

I think I've been making some good progress on my iron cross and planche training and just wanted to get some second opinions on my form. I do bodyweight training for fitness purposes and because it's really fun so I'm mostly concerned about my form in the sense of is my technique safe and a good building block for future advanced moves.

Side note: I've been a lurker on these forums for some time now, thank you to everyone who's contributed here! I couldn't find section with a list of rules on how to post on these forums so if I did something wrong in my post I apologize. 

 

Iron Cross:

 

Here's my iron cross attempts from my last training session. I go from the easiest band (green) to the hardest (red). I think my form is good and that I'm getting closer to the full move but I'd like to know what others think. I know I should go lower so that I'm more parallel, definitely working on that! In terms of my technique, I'm trying to keep my shoulders rolled forward with a protracted back and of course locked arms.

For the black and red straps, I recognize that I need to do more work keeping my shoulders depressed and rolled forward. I will say those attempts were at the end of my work out when I was running low on gas. Currently I'm planning to wind it back a couple notches until I'm more ready for those resistances. 

I was also told that the rings are too close and too short in my current setup and that it is assisting me so in the future I'll try to adjust my setup so that my ring straps are longer. Not sure if getting them further apart in my current setup is safe though because the bars are slopes and I'm afraid they might move mid cross practice. 

 

Planche:

My full planche is pretty new so excuse the awkward way in which I enter the position.

For my planches, I'm concerned about my upper back. In some tutorials I've come across, mostly from the calisthenics community, I've noticed an emphasis on having a more rounded upper back so I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. I don't really recall having a rounded upper back being mentioned often from gymnastics people though, besides maintaining protraction. In the book overcoming gravity regarding planches, it says not to round out the upper back. I'd just like to know how bad my form is so at the end of the video I have an angle of my back to show how it is shaped. If someone could let me know if that position is good or bad and why, I'd appreciate it. I would also like to add that keeping my back rounded has been very difficult. I can't keep it rounded even in an advanced tuck and never really felt strong trying to round out.

It seems that I don't have posterior pelvic tilt on lock down either. With that said, I'm fairly satisfied with how straight my full planche is though not really bothered by my pelvis position. If anyone disagrees with that, I'd love to know the reasoning behind it.

Also, the full planche portion was shot today while the straddle planche was shot a couple days before, hence why the lighting is different. 

 

Again, I would really appreciate some feedback! I'm 23 years old, 5,3 ft and 111 lbs.

All the best,

Efran

Hi Efra, well since the planche on rings is a prereq for training safely the iron cross we must talk about planches. in your case, you lack protraction in the floor version. so my suggestion is first building up planche confidence with perfect form, then transfer on the rings. then think about crosses.

Hi Alessandro, 

Thank you for the feedback! I'll stay back from more iron cross training then. 

I'm terms of my planche form, I should focus on building more strength in protraction then correct? I'll be sure to go down in planche progression and add in specific protraction work. Is there anything else I should be concerned about in regards to my planche form? 

The biggest bap here is between shoulders and protraction. The protraction is not enough strong.

Understood! 

So then work more on floor planche and protraction - - > then work on planche ring training - - > then iron cross work. 

Thank you! 

On 7/31/2020 at 4:15 PM, Efran Himel said:

Understood! 

So then work more on floor planche and protraction - - > then work on planche ring training - - > then iron cross work. 

Thank you! 

 

This the general work that can additionally and specifically structured.