Disclaimer: this post is mostly an AI-generated summary of my previous journal entries. I prefer to spend my limited time/energy on new posts, but I might give this a more thorough edit in the future.
A friend and I set out to work toward a full planche push-up. We both knew it was ambitious. I was already a regular gym goer, but my training had mostly been conventional strength work, and neither of us was close to a tucked planche. Online advice disagreed about where to begin, so I assembled a simple foundation: planks, push-ups, dips, pull-ups, overhead presses, planche leans, and handstand work.
The first reality check
Even the basic sessions were harder than expected. The planche leans were brief, the push-up sets needed breaks, and we had to improvise dips between benches. A friend suggested straight-arm holds after dips, which seemed more relevant to the goal. Planks got longer and some weights went up, but progress on the lean was difficult to measure: changing the angle a little could make it dramatically harder.
The shoulder changed the project
My shoulder had already been bothering me, and the discomfort kept returning. I skipped dips or replaced them with straight-arm holds, left out push-ups and handstands, and adjusted sessions around what felt manageable. Work deadlines, travel, and illness also broke up the routine. We still trained when we could, but the weekly log had become more about constraints than planche progress.
After a vacation, my physio suggested exercises for my shoulder alignment and posture, and I paused the planche work. I noticed some improvement, but also tension and occasional sharp pain. We adjusted exercise form together. Later my friend and I cautiously tried part of the program again, including shallow dips, while I was still doing the shoulder exercises. It was a small return, not a resolution.
A different next step
By the last update, the shoulder was still uncertain. My physio suggested a scan, and work was heading into another busy stretch. I decided to rebuild a regular strength routine, use a shorter version of the shoulder exercises as a warm-up, and leave the planche work aside for the first few weeks. I did not reach the push-up, and I did not want to keep turning every week into another account of why I hadn't. The goal is still interesting to me; the original series ended while I made room to recover and train consistently again.
Looking back
Sadly my shoulder is still not perfect. I have tried many different exercises and stretches, had doctors and physios look at it, and tried many different things. None of that solved the problem completely. Recently I have de-loaded almost all my exercises and reduced the strength work signficantly. This feels like it's helping and I can slowly increase the load again. Nowhere near ready to start planche work again though.