What's Harder? Planche vs Maltese

That is my question. I remember seeing this somewhere on this forum a long time ago, but I couldn't find any information about it.

For those who can do both... which is harder? You'd assume maltese, but you may have noticed that many more gymnasts do maltese on rings rather than planche.

I'm just asking for floor skills because seeing Yibing Chen do a maltese on the floor got me questioning... and people who do planches with their bodies arched towards the ground have it easier than those with a straight body.

For the floor definately maltese. On rings it depends from person to person.

From what I'm told, I concur with Razz's answer. I have heard of some people who had an easier time training malt than legs together planche.

I'm pretty sure I'll get a rings maltese before legs together planche myself..

In my experience, it is a matter of having a good hollow position.

If you can get into a good hollow position for a planche, then maltese should be easy.

If your maltese is not hollow, you will have a very hard time with getting the planche.

I got my maltese after 3 weeks of training it, but I have been training my planche on and off for 2 years and still can't hold it on the rings. My coach has told me to really take a step back and work on my hollow position.

What I have noticed is that gymnasts that have a good planche, always have a good maltese. However, it doesn't work the other way around!

So is a planche not a straight body hold? Or is it only a hollow when it's on the rings?

A planche should be straight body and hollow, it is just that many attempting planche and maltese arch it.

Yeah after the seminar I really noticed a BIG difference in having a good hollow position or not!

The thing about maltese and planche is that many people try to do them without having a good hollow and end up arching. This makes the position look really ugly.

Wangtang6911 said:

The thing about maltese and planche is that many people try to do them without having a good hollow and end up arching. This makes the position look really ugly.

I had arched maltese at first time (2 years ) and it was looked like aeroplane is leaving the airport

Seriously...for me it was not a matter of a good hollow position but technique didn't suited to me. Didn't lean enough on shoulders and wanted to hold with pecs and aaaaaaa....