The Requirements

Hi there.

So, this is still my first weak practicing and let me tell you - my shoulders are pretty sore!
I will post my weekly routine in the end of this weak so you could see what is that I'm doing.

But first, lets start from basics. what do you need to have, for planching?
Planche is a really hard thing to do, it involves so many fitness aspects and I will cover that in this post.

I sense that there is an argument whether this is a strength skill or a balance one.
For my own opinion, it's a mix of those two - You simply can't hold your entire body up in the air without a massive shoulders and lower back strength and also, you might just fall on your head without the full body balance, when trying to reach forward and overload those shoulders for increasing front side leverage.


Strength
As I said, the most working muscles are the shoulders and core (Lower back, Abs and everything between).
Most trainees, myself included, don't put a lot of attention to their core - especially the lower back.
In fact, having a strong lower back can benefit you a lot!
A better posture, reducing the common lower back pains, and of course, helping you with extreme skills as the front lever, back lever, human flag and the glorious planche.

So, those are the muscles involved in the position:

Shoulders - responsible for holding your torso up in the air.

Core - raising your legs up.

Chest and upper back - Helping your shoulders keeping your rib cage in the air.

Triceps- Will work for stabilization . also kicks in when you want to go forward for the planche push-ups.

Gluts, quads and hamstrings - need to be strong too so your legs will be straight.

Flexibility
Having a flexible wrists is a key ability for preventing injuries and having a perfect form.
Since your palms are the only thing that connect your body to the ground, most of the pressure will be focused on your wrist's joints.
Working on flexible your wrists, and getting it stronger is a must.

One of the progressions for a full straight legs planche is the straddle planche, where your legs are spread out behind you, decreasing the leverage your legs makes.
The higher the angle between your legs, the easiest the straddle planche will be for your shoulders and core.
So, if you planning on ever get to the straddle planche (I guess otherwise you wouldn't read my blog) you should spend time on working on your front split and dynamic leg flexibility, So when you will eventually get there, you will be prepared.

The straddle planche looks like this-

Balance
As I said, your entire body is relied on your wrists, and your palms are the only balance source it got.
You will have to know how to control your balance in order to keep the position.
My recommendation is working on a handstand.
In the handstand position, you also use only your palms for balancing and that can be a good practice. Also, the handstand can contribute to your wrists flexibility and shoulders strength.


For summary, the planche is a journey, And during that journey you will learn new skills and improve your body overall fitness.

See you later.

Introduction

Hello everyone.

My name is Daniel Kagan and I'm 27 Years old from Isreal.

I've been training in Street workout for almost one year and I had one goal in my mind for the entire period- To be able to hold a proper Planche position, and to do a couple of the glorious planche push ups.

For those of you who do not know what planche is, have a look in this short video, demonstrate a perfect planche form:

Ok so it looks pretty crazy, holding yourself in that horizontally position for so long.
Adding the ability to actually get yourself down to the floor and push up again, all that without putting your legs to the ground, and you get a pretty crazy package.

In Order to do that perfectly, one shall have a very strong shoulders and core muscles.
But, and I will post a more detailed review about that anatomic topic, It requires a full body coordination to maintain this, so basically, If you're doing the Plance - You are a Beast.

So when I first heard about that, I thought that this maneuver is crazy and possible only by hardcore gymnastics trainers that put their life to the task.
But as my research advanced about it, I started to get the idea that it may be possible to who ever really wants it.
And I, as a guy that has been to a lot of sport types in is life, and like to sweat, got the feeling that it is possible to me.

So, I added some shoulder exercises and specific core muscles moves to my workout plan in order to get going.
It was really hard, and its been almost an year since I heard about it, and my progression went as slow as a broken leg turtle.

And now, I've decided to dedicate my fitness life ONLY for that maneuver, as long as it will take.
I will put up a workout plan, adjusted for that specific kind of move.
I will share everything I do and find out about it, in case anyone reading this blog will get motivated to do that trick.

So now it's official, My days of planche training starts NOW, on 3/11/2013, hope it will take less than a year.

LET'S GO!!!