A few questions about planche progression

Hi guys! I know that planche progression always summons a lot of questions. I have been looking through the forum, but didn't find any answers to the questions that bother me. Hope you can help me out here.

1. Planche has to be performed with straight arms. However, I found that when my arms are absolutely straight I feel a lot of pressure in my forearm muscles. First, I thought that my technique is not right with hollowing the shoulders and leaning with the right position of elbows, but then I realized that if I make a minuscule bent in my arms (less than a centimeter) the pressure relocates to the shoulders and I can feel the right tension. I wonder if this is the right techniques of doing the planche with just an extremely little and unnoticeable bent in your elbows or I am still doing something wrong here?

2. I have a problem with a straddle position. It concerns not only planche, but every gymnastic element I try in this position: levers, L-sits etc... I had a dislocation of my spine sacrum and I guess it might be the reason why I feel quite a deal of discomfort holding my legs in this position or it is just a lack of flexibility. Is it possible to substitute straddle positions for knees bent positions without jeopardizing the whole progression or I should continue to work on my flexibility?

Thank you!

Other more knowledgeable people will answer, but here's my take on 2):

I don't think it's much of a problem, but the problem with using a gradual layout progression is that you can't be exactly sure how far you're laying out, so progress might come a bit slower.

I'd say if it doesn't hurt, keep working your flexibility. When did your spine sacrum dislocate?

Rik de Kort said:

I'd say if it doesn't hurt, keep working your flexibility. When did your spine sacrum dislocate?

It doesn't hurt, but there is a weird feeling like something is stuck in the lower part of my spine and I just cannot straighten up my straddling legs while I feel much more comfortable if my legs are together. I dislocated it about 6 years ago and I don't know if it is still possible to fix it...

You should strive to keep the arms locked as that builds the most strength. I sometimes get pain in my forearms too when I work planche, if it is not that bad then I wouldn't worry about it. You might be doing something wrong if you're feeling it most in your forearms rather than shoulders and lats when you have locked arms and need to bend it to get the right feeling.

For your question regarding the straddle position, it is ok to substitute that with more open tucks and half lay, you can still progress to full lay from those.

Thanks for the feedback!

Well I'd say that it hurts even more if I train on PB. And how do you sub a single leg for straddles?