Weird planche and maltese look alike?

[Brian Li]

Hey guys, I've seen a video of this guy attempting a planche and ended up doing a weird arched planche that was really low to the ground like a floor maltese, but at shoulder width. The arms were in line with the torso and it looks like a sagging arched maltese from the side. The lean is more than in a regular full planche and its definitely not the typical arched planches we see. I'm guessing he has some abnormal limb measurements that enable him to do his planche this way since he does sort of look like it in the video, but I'm not entirely sure since he looks to have short and small legs which should move his COG closer to his shoulders and less forward lean. His body is also arched which makes the lever shorter. Can anyone explain this? What do you guys think?

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I've tried doing what he did, but could not and I can hold a good full planche for a few seconds and can do a straddle floor maltese.

[Rik de Kort]

His body completely drops, his scapula fully retract, which ends in him just having a bad, low planche. It's just a 'planche' without the proper protraction.

The way it's filmed (skateboard lens which enlarges stuff in the middle) makes the proportions look weird, but his arms are in the normal position from what I can see. It's just that his shoulder is smack dab in the middle of the video, so it looks like it's elongated.

That technique is used in certain types of movie as well...

[Brian Li]

LOL I didn't see the distortion from the lens when I wrote this topic. This doesn't actually distort the height of his planche in relation to the floor right?

I don't think collapsed shoulders in the planche would automatically make his planche go so low with that crazy lean angle though. Shouldn't it require less forward lean since his hips are sagging and he is arched which shortens the lever, but his hands are still placed at the hips or farther. I just didn't think they were possible with that forward lean angle. I have only seen these weird extremely low planches done on youtube by two people.

Do you think this low planche creates more or equal torque at the shoulders compared to a proper planche based on its extreme forward lean angle?

I've attached an image of a planche with collapsed shoulders (retracted scapulae) and not so low hips to show that planches without the proper protraction can still be done at about normal height.

[Coach Sommer]

The first planche shown above is @#$% and the result of completely incorrect preparation and training. And no it will never get better unless he basically starts over to correct the physical deficiencies.

Xiaopeng (the Chinese athlete in the photo above) is more than strong enough to perform a correct planche. The photo above was taken during the part of his floor routine he descends out of a held straddle planche. You can see this portion of his routine in the video below at approx the 26 second mark.

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Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Brian Li]

Thanks Coach! It's amazing how you can instantly recognize what movements and skills were done just before the picture.

[Brian Li]

Hey guys, I'm sorry about reviving this thread, but I've just found a youtube video that I've seen before and wanted to post here initially back then when I couldn't find it. It shows the maltese and planche hybrid I was talking about and differs from the one in the video posted on my first post here in that it had a nearly straight body with only slightly sagged hips and arched back. This "hybrid" looks like it could be done with a completely straight body and arms and looks to be the maltese counterpart of the narrow arm PB victorian done by Sai.

 

I was wondering how one would train up to this and if it is a good skill? I would imagine this skill to be harder than a planche, but it seems like it is actually easier since the athlete in the video fatigues into it from a good planche. I don't really understand the mechanics and physics of this skill either.

 

[Joshua Naterman]

What I see: He shrugs his shoulders up as he lowers down to keep his hands in line with his center of gravity, which may be lower than average because he has long legs and a fairly thin upper body. The wide base of support on the paralletes/push up bars also gives a larger base of support to the movement, which is probably a pretty good part of what makes this possible. You can see that he his pretty far back on the supports, which gives him a bit of a counter-lever, much like hands-forward planche does.

 

There are a lot of things at work, including body proportions, but for this performance you can clearly see the scapular elevation. Is this a good idea? I can't say, I mean if the entire scapular musculature is actually working CORRECTLY then this probably won't be harmful, but from a GST perspective I don't think there's a payoff.

 

Keeping the arms close requires less strength at the shoulder girdle than a maltese width hand stance, but the maltese width actually allows you to use your pecs to a greater degree, which strengthens the position. Proper planche training develops the requisite scapular strength, and having a more depressed scapula allows for a greater angle between the upper arm and the center of gravity, which in turn means the muscles holding you up have to do less work.

 

Going further than that is very complex, and I honestly don't think there's any useful purpose to doing so.

 

Is it a good skill? For GB purposes, probably not. You're better off focusing on developing a ring planche and whatever the proper steps are for intermediate or advanced ring strength if you're at the level where this kind of thing can be safely considered.

[Brian Li]

Thanks Joshua! That was very helpful and informative. A maltese with shoulder width grip does look pretty cool though. I suppose this can't be done on rings since they won't be able to give a wide base of support like on PB. I've seen shrugged up rings malteses before with the triceps squeezing the lats, but they still were wider than shoulder width grip.

 

One of those narrower malteses on rings: