Planche Critique And Form Check

I've finally got a chance to get some of my planche attempts recorded. Here are videos of my really short full planche and some straddle planches. I've regressed on my planche progress the past month from not training it as much and this isn't my longest hold. My personal best for the full planche is 5-6 seconds without losing form. This is mainly for form checking, but any training suggestions or tips are welcome too.

I thought my form was perfect aside from minor things like feet not completely pointed and feet not touching for the full lay if you wanted to be picky, but I may be ignorant or blind to some other flaws or imperfections that you guys may be able to pick out.

As a side note, the videos were recorded almost immediately after the previous and I actually held several 1 second full planches and a solid 3 second full planche not long before the first video. I wished I've recorded the 3 second one instead.

Thanks for any critiques or help guys!

That's a really hard hand placement position! I bet you can do a straddle planche on the rings. But you can make your planche more beautifull by stretching your legs in your straddle planche and pointing your toes. Apart from that you definitely have a lot of strength! Can you post a video of your PB full planche?

Your form actually looks pretty good in video #1. Your shoulders are protracted and your back is rounded, which are the two most important parts. Aesthetically, you should put your feet together and point your toes. Overall, very good job!

Yaad Mohammad said:

That's a really hard hand placement position! I bet you can do a straddle planche on the rings. But you can make your planche more beautifull by stretching your legs in your straddle planche and pointing your toes. Apart from that you definitely have a lot of strength! Can you post a video of your PB full planche?

Thanks! I can also do full planche with the fingers pointing all the way back, but I'm most comfortable with 45 degrees backwards from sideways. I haven't really trained my ring planches yet aside from a few attempts before. I've done rings adv tuck planche but was stopped short of reaching farther due to me being afraid of falling off my 'high rings' lol. I'm going to try practicing with my rings set very low to the ground next time so I can try to enter straddle, half, or full lay easier without the mental block.

Yeah, I got to work on pointing the feet and toes, It's quite hard for me as I need more coordination for that. It's easier for me to point my toes in FL and body levers as I don't have to worry about balance. Do you mean widening the straddle more or full leg extension when you say stretching the legs in the straddle planche?

I can't really planche on PB unless I turn them out. Same with hands forward and hands sideways for floor planche. I've always trained my planches with fingers pointing back as my wrists are very inflexible and can't handle the strain of fingers forward, sideways, and PB. So a video of my PB planche would probably be a tuck planche. I think you may have mistaken my PB (personal best) for parallel bars planche in my original post lol. I reworded/edited my original post now to avoid the confusion.

jfslocum said:

Your form actually looks pretty good in video #1. Your shoulders are protracted and your back is rounded, which are the two most important parts. Aesthetically, you should put your feet together and point your toes. Overall, very good job!Your form actually looks pretty good in video #1. Your shoulders are protracted and your back is rounded, which are the two most important parts. Aesthetically, you should put your feet together and point your toes. Overall, very good job!

Thanks! I will work on those. It's kind of hard for me to point my toes for planche when I'm focusing on the other parts.

B1214N said:

Thanks! I can also do full planche with the fingers pointing all the way back, but I'm most comfortable with 45 degrees backwards from sideways. I haven't really trained my ring planches yet aside from a few attempts before. I've done rings adv tuck planche but was stopped short of reaching farther due to me being afraid of falling off my 'high rings' lol. I'm going to try practicing with my rings set very low to the ground next time so I can try to enter straddle, half, or full lay easier without the mental block.

 

Yeah, I got to work on pointing the feet and toes, It's quite hard for me as I need more coordination for that. It's easier for me to point my toes in FL and body levers as I don't have to worry about balance. Do you mean widening the straddle even more or full leg extension when you say stretching the legs in the straddle planche?

 

I can't really planche on PB unless I turn them out. Same with hands forward and hands sideways for floor planche. I've always trained my planches with fingers pointing back as my wrists are very inflexible and can't handle the strain of fingers forward, sideways, and PB. So a video of my PB planche would probably be a tuck planche. I think you may have mistaken my PB (personal best) for parallel bars planche in my original post lol. I reworded/edited my original post now to avoid the confusion.

Oh, confused me there. I mean stretching your legs in your straddle planche. But you could also do a more wide straddle planche as it's really narrow.

Yaad Mohammad said:

Oh, confused me there. I mean stretching your legs in your straddle planche. But you could also do a more wide straddle planche as it's really narrow.

Stretching the legs for straddle flexibility or fully extended knees?

Both for the straddle!

Ok I see, thanks! I think my knees are already locked out though.

I have a question for anyone, do most people who planche on PB or sideways hand placement have to condition their wrists at the beginning or at some point or has it never been an issue for them? I was under the impression that everyone or most people don't have to worry about that based on a number of people switching fingers forward for fingers sideways or PB without mentioning mobility/conditioning for the latter two, but I'm not sure.

B1214N said:

Ok I see, thanks! I think my knees are already locked out though.

 

I have a question for anyone, do most people who planche on PB or sideways hand placement have to condition their wrists at the beginning or at some point or has it never been an issue for them? I was under the impression that everyone or most people don't have to worry about that based on a number of people switching fingers forward for fingers sideways or PB without mentioning mobility/conditioning for the latter two, but I'm not sure.

Most people, including me, when they start planche work their wrists become overworked. This usually happens round the tuck-planche stage. At this point you have to rest or you can stretch them and do wrist push-ups. That's what I did, don't have any problem now. I only have pain in my wrist when doing a lot of straddle planches etc. It should be easy for you to move on to the PB or do them sideways as doing them backwards requires some more strength. I'd start off with doing some tuck planches then moving slowly to advanced tuck to get used to it.

Wow. very impressive!! That hand placement makes you look like a gymnast. I like your straight arms! 

B1214N said:

if you wanted to be picky

  B) not sure if you really want to get critiqued.

B1214N said:

I thought my form was perfect aside from minor things like feet not completely pointed and feet not touching for the full lay if you wanted to be picky, but I may be ignorant or blind to some other flaws or imperfections that you guys may be able to pick out.

 

As a side note, the videos were recorded almost immediately after the previous and I actually held several 1 second full planches and a solid 3 second full planche not long before the first video. I wished I've recorded the 3 second one instead.

 

Thanks for any critiques or help guys!

and you know It is not perfect when you say "aside from"

I'll just quote coach. "Mmm Hmm. That's fascinating. Now do it again. And this time; do it right."

I have no doubt that you have a solid planche. Please upload your best next time. I'm looking forward to the product of your hard work. Thank you.

Yaad Mohammad said:

Most people, including me, when they start planche work their wrists become overworked. This usually happens round the tuck-planche stage. At this point you have to rest or you can stretch them and do wrist push-ups. That's what I did, don't have any problem now. I only have pain in my wrist when doing a lot of straddle planches etc. It should be easy for you to move on to the PB or do them sideways as doing them backwards requires some more strength. I'd start off with doing some tuck planches then moving slowly to advanced tuck to get used to it.

I can do tuck planche on PB and adv tuck planche with the fingers sideways and any farther would hurt my wrists very badly. So you guys do condition your wrists as you progress more in the sideways/PB position. I thought people in general didn't need to worry about it when doing planches with those hand positions because I've never heard of anyone talk about wrists flexibility or conditioning being an issue there before.

Richard Burns said:

   B) not sure if you really want to get critiqued.

Yeah, I didn't really think there were any issues with form aside from the two I mentioned, but I did want to make sure there were no other mistakes. It's also one of my only videos recorded of my planche so I did also want to show off a little and see what you guys thought.  I was also wondering if I should pack the neck, but haven't really seen gymnasts or hardly anyone do it.

Richard Burns said:

and you know It is not perfect when you say "aside from"

I'll just quote coach. "Mmm Hmm. That's fascinating. Now do it again. And this time; do it right."

I have no doubt that you have a solid planche. Please upload your best next time. I'm looking forward to the product of your hard work. Thank you.

Yes, I will work hard to try to get the picture perfect planche!   I wish I have gotten my 5-6 second personal best planche recorded or at least a 3 second hold, but it's not like I can always predict how long I would be able to hold it beforehand when my dad is helping me record lol. I'm working to get back into my previous shape and improve my time and also to be able to do straddle or full planche push-ups. I will post a longer hold next time if you want. So thanks for your encouragement!

Very nice planches

(makes me wish I was 65Kg lighter too....... )

FredInChina said:

Very nice planches

(makes me wish I was 65Kg lighter too....... )

Thanks! It's definitely easier when you're lighter, but I'm sure you can do it too if you train hard and long enough... well at least a straddle planche if not unless you're over 7ft tall.

Good job! Try doing it on floor from a lateral point of view next time.  

B1214N said:

(...) I'm sure you can do it too if you train hard and long enough...

haha, thank you for the vote of confidence... ket me first rehab my left supraspinatus tendon that got repaired in Dec; the pesky thing was ruptured; then we'll see

Paolo said:

Good job! Try doing it on floor from a lateral point of view next time. 

Thanks! Sure, I'll try to get one recorded with a lateral view next time when I get back to being able to hold couple second full planches easily and consistently again. Currently, a 3+ second full planche is still hard to come by for me. I am also starting to train planche push-ups which hopefully should help increase my planche strength. How is your planche training coming along?

Paolo said:

If you have problems with your wrists try getting these items: wrist roller, twist yo' wrist, captains of crush grippers, handmaster plus, eagle loops, flex ex, hand fitness trainer, tiger paws, etc. - Just to name a few.

Thanks! Will check them out! I used to do wrist curls and reverse wrist curls a long time ago. I think hammer grip wrist curls may also help too since they move the wrists in the same way as PB and sideways hand placement.

B1214N said:

I can do tuck planche on PB and adv tuck planche with the fingers sideways and any farther would hurt my wrists very badly. So you guys do condition your wrists as you progress more in the sideways/PB position. I thought people in general didn't need to worry about it when doing planches with those hand positions because I've never heard of anyone talk about wrists flexibility or conditioning being an issue there before.

If you have problems with your wrists try getting these items: wrist roller, twist yo' wrist, captains of crush grippers, handmaster plus, eagle loops, flex ex, hand fitness trainer, tiger paws, etc. - Just to name a few.

B1214N said:

Thanks! Sure, I'll try to get one recorded with a lateral view next time when I get back to being able to hold couple second full planches easily and consistently again. Currently, a 3+ second full planche is still hard to come by for me. I am also starting to train planche push-ups which hopefully should help increase my planche strength. How is your planche training coming along?

 

 

Thanks! Will check them out! I used to do wrist curls and reverse wrist curls a long time ago. I think hammer grip wrist curls may also help too since they move the wrists in the same way as PB and sideways hand placement.

I just got my first straddle planche push up two days ago. 1.5 SPPU to be exact lol. I'm going to attempt an Erb later today because I can lock out at the top of a SPPU for at least 2 seconds. Too bad I can't maintain hollow body. 

That was very good! The form was good and it's nice and controlled. Keep up the great work! Did you start by practicing planche push-ups with an easier body position or did you use PPP? How long can you hold the full planche now?

B1214N said:

That was very good! The form was good and it's nice and controlled. Keep up the great work! Did you start by practicing planche push-ups with an easier body position or did you use PPP? How long can you hold the full planche now?

Thanks! I haven't done any PPP at all this year, but I have been practicing Half Lay Straddle Planche Push ups though. I always make sure I lock out at the top. When I get some resistance bands or chest expander, I'm going to work on PPP and scapular push ups - an exercise I've been neglecting. Do you think that's why I can't maintain hollow body throughout the whole movement? When I saw Carucyn's straddle planche push up in his video (My Planche), my SPPU didn't look like his 

Wow ... Hopefully I can get something like that if I train hard enough and long enough. You're really powerful! I can't say good job enough.

Paolo said:

....scapular push ups - an exercise I've been neglecting. Do you think that's why I can't maintain hollow body throughout the whole movement? When I saw Carucyn's straddle planche push up in his video (My Planche), my SPPU didn't look like his 

I don't think that is the case. I think you will get a more hollow body when you get stronger and better at planche push-ups. You are just slightly more arched while Carucyn has a flat lower back, but you both pike a little. If you meant protraction, then it does look like Carucyn's planche push-ups has the same amount of protraction throughout the whole movement. Maybe he's not fully protracted at the top? Anyways, I don't see anything wrong with your scapular movement because retraction is natural in the bent arm planche and eccentric. Just make sure you are protracting in the concentric.

if you pike a little in the half full is not a real problem. in italy school of gymnastic is not a version that is often used the half full lay, simply because in this position the activation of butt muscles is more difficult than in straddle position