Full Planche (Oct 2019)

[Fraser_9to5]

WEEK 20

Reading up was a great use of my time and I found several new ab exercises and also decided that a handstand is worth learning. A lot of people use a handstand as a starting position before descending into a straddle planche and there’s also a seated tuck into handstand transition that looks like it will build the right strength for planche.

To give my body a break from planche training I will switch to handstand training for a few weeks. The format will be the same as learning frog stand, which is 5 x 20 secs of a strength move followed by balancing practice.

20 Feb

Bent Arm Tuck Planche – 9,14,15,10,8 secs
Handstand To Wall – 17,19,23,20 secs
L-Sit with High Feet (end on foam roller) – 7,8 secs

To get the tuck handstand press it’s recommended to do a bent arm tuck planche for a stable base to push off. These were tough but taught me that my core is not the limiting factor in my tuck planche because I could hold my legs there easily. A regular L-Sit isn’t a problem so with straight legs I’m looking to hold them up over an object, in this case a ~50cm foam roller. Handstands were against the wall with the intention of pushing my feet off to balance for 2-3 secs, which didn’t really work.

23 Feb

Bent Arm Tuck Planche – 20,12,15,12,14 secs
Handstand (aided) – 30,35,13,15 secs
Free Handstand Practice – 3 mins

Glad to see the strength from bent arm tucks come through and I hit my first 20 second hold. My wife caught my legs for the handstand but that felt more awkward than using the wall. I tried the standard ‘kick the legs up’ into a handstand hold and while it didn’t last more than 1-2 seconds I feel like that’s the best way to improve. I laid out cushions to soften my fall but the main problem was fatigue from the aided handstands, so next time I’ll jump straight into free handstands.

Here’s a few sets from the 20th

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A post shared by 9to5 Strength (@9to5strength) on Feb 20, 2020 at 2:58am PST

[Fraser_9to5]

WEEK 21

25 Feb

Wrist warm up 3 x 10
Shoulder warm up
Free Handstand Practice – 5 mins
A1 Wall Handstand Flutter kicks – 30,35,25 secs
A2 Reverse Table Top – 25,30,30 secs
Handstand Pike Pushups – 5
Hollow Body Hold – 35,20,30 secs
Tuck Planche – 12 secs

This was more structured having looked online for a good routine. It turns out I was on the right path with the wall handstand, so now I bring one leg away from the wall in what would be its correct position, then try to get the second leg to meet it and hold the balance there.

27 Feb

Wrist warm up 3 x 10
Shoulder warm up
Free Handstand Practice – 5 mins
A1 Wall Handstand Flutter kicks – 30,30,25 secs
A2 Reverse Table Top – 3 x 30 secs
Hollow Body Hold – 30,25,20 secs

Holding the correct position takes a lot out of me and I only really have three good sets. I do 10-12 attempts during the free practice but since I want to end up going from a tuck into handstand then the ‘kick the legs up’ approach might not be that useful to me.

I did want a third session this week but I was very busy.

[Fraser_9to5]

WEEK 22

3 Mar

Tuck to Press Handstand Practice – 10
Headstand to Handstand Press – 4
Wall Handstand Flutter – 15, 20, 5 secs
Hollow Body Holds – 30,35,30 secs

8 Mar

Handstand Pushups – 2,3,3,2
Bent Arm Tuck Planche – 20, 15 secs
Hollow Body Hold – 3 x 30 secs

[Fraser_9to5]

WEEK 23-26

10 Mar

Tuck to Press Handstand Practice – 10
Headstand to Handstand Press – 5
Hollow Body – 3 x 30 secs

13-22 Mar

I had a fever, trouble breathing, then whole body aches and finally an upset stomach. I didn’t do any calisthenics in that time.

26 Mar

Bent Arm Tuck Planche – 20,14 secs
Tuck Planche – 8,5 secs
Pseudo Planche Push ups – 6,6
L-Sit High Feet – 18,15 secs

2 Apr

Tuck to Press Handstand Practice – 9
Handstand Press – 6
Pseudo Planche Pushup – 8,9,6
L-Sit High Feet – 2 x 15 secs

I’m comfortable in a bent/straight arm tuck but beyond that it’s new territory. I probably need to work on my handstand balance so that when I do extend into the position I can hold it.

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A post shared by 9to5 Strength (@9to5strength) on Apr 2, 2020 at 5:19am PDT

[Fraser_9to5]

WEEK 27

I’m coming back to Tuck Planche as I really want to nail it for 20 seconds then get into advanced tuck.

8 Apr

Tuck Planche – 15, 10 secs
PPPu – 8,8,6
Bent Arm Tuck Planche – 11 secs

I did a short session on the living room floor and having had time away from tucks I started off with a personal best of 15 seconds (previous was 13 secs on 22 Jan). I’m confident I have the exercises to improve and I’ll implement them in twice weekly training and work my way to 20 seconds.

12 Apr

Tuck Planche – 10,9,10,5,5 secs
Raised Planche Lean – 20, 16 secs

I was surprised at how weak I felt when doing these and that it was a real struggle to get to 10 seconds compared to a few days earlier. Typing it up now I realised that I did circuit training with a lot of push ups and some planche lean a few days ago and that must have knackered me. I will look to train either Wed/Sat or Wed/Sun and stick to the 4-5 exercises I feel are most beneficial. I have renewed my patience but I’m expecting to hit 20 seconds by my first session of May.

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