Should I keep relying on paralletes?

Hey

Today I used paralletes for the first time. Well not really paralletes but a couple of dumbells on a cushion to stop them from rolling. I'm training planche progressions and I was surprised at how much easier it was to hold an advanced tuck planche. I've been frustrated with my progress on planche progressions but maybe it's because my wrist has been injured in the past and not allowing it to recover fully was affecting me. Then I tried l-sits. If I do l-sits on my fingertips or palms I can't even hold them for 10 seconds, but on the dumbells I was able to hold a 30 second l-sit. My wrist injury has gotten worse so at the moment I have no choice but to use paralletes but I was wondering whether I should carry on using them after I've recovered or not. The reason I ask is because I'm concerned that if I rely on them then won't be able to do the skills I learned without them. Kind of like people using lifting straps when their grip is too weak for the deadlift. I never thought that it would make this much of a difference to the difficulty of an exercise.

Also, it's always my right wrist that keeps getting injured. Maybe it's because it wasn't fully recovered before I started training again, I don't know. My left wrist never has any problems.

I still feel a bit of tension when I stretch my right wrist and it isn't very happy about holding a barbell but it's come a long way as far as gymnastics by just being on my hands and doing the wrist stuff.

Floor is preferred but you do what you have to do.

Hiten said:

Should I keep relying on paralletes? ... I'm concerned that if I rely on them then won't be able to do the skills I learned without them...

Progress on the parallets is better than no progress without. Plus it is only wise to be conscientious of your long-term wrist health.

Do not be overly concerned about making all parts of your training pristine and perfect. Do your best, work hard and move on. As long as you are training consistently, you will already be making better progress than 99% of all the other people around you.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thank you Blairbob and Thank you Coach. I'll keep using them for now. I tried headstands using them today and it was a lot easier to keep balance.

I used dumbells as parellets like yourself right from the off. Theres no shame in it if it keep you training. If your joints dont permit it, don't do it. Although if you're using dumbells you might want to wrap a small cloth around each grip for padding. It may just be my size but the grip kinda ripped my hands to shreds. Thought they would harden up with time but after about 6 months of it I can safely say they didnt.

You can also play around with your wrist position on floor, hands placed backwards while harder to balance initially is much easier on the wrist. Perform ur wrist pushups reguluarly and eventually ur wrists will adapt.