Planche Push-up - Week 2

An uneventful week in terms of progress, but we did get some tips from a friend.

Day 1

No new exercises or changes. The push-ups are definitely challenging; I'm unable to complete all 3 sets in one go. I need 1 short break in the second set and during the last set the narrow pushups are killing me and I need 3 or 4 breaks.

For the dips a friend of ours suggested to use 2 benches in an elevated position and to dip between them. This is a great tip and worked quite well, this is how we'll be doing them until we can progress to ring dips.

In addition to the bench dip tip our friend also suggested to do some static holds with straight arms after the dip reps. This is more challenging than it sounds but should be much more useful in working towards a planche than most of the other exercises.

For next week we'll keep the majority of the program the same, but we'll add some static holds to the dips to build up straight arm strength.

Day 2

The adjusted program went well this week. I was able to add some weight to the Scott curls and kick into the handstand rather than crawling up the wall.

The same friend gave some tips for the handstand that I'll be sure to try out next week. Just holding it against the wall will build bad habits as you don't need to engage your core and other muscles in the same way when you're trying to balance it without support.

We again filled out the day with a single set of squats with just the barbell to failure, but with 60kg this time.

Next Week

Next week we should be able to hold the plank for a little longer, add some static holds, and figure out how to better work towards a free standing handstand.

Program Used