After many years of building basic strength, I’m finally starting to get somewhere with this planche training. Take a look at my first straddle planche holds…
V-sit on the parallettes
The V-sit is the next step towards working the manna skill in gymnastics. It requires a LOT of triceps, hip flexors, and abdominals. You can also work this on the floor if you want to.
deep press handstand pushups
I’m at it again this week with another exercise on the parallettes. This time I do handstand pushups, using the parallettes to get a deeper range-of-motion. This is heavy on the triceps and deltoids…
english straddle L on parallette
This week I have a video working the parallettes. I use one parallette to do what’s called a “straddle L” in gymnastics. There is a lot of stabilizer muscle work in this skill, plus triceps, abdominals and hip flexors.
peck flys on scooters
Scooters you probably remember from your high school or middle school gym days. For bodyweight training, you can use them for all sorts of things. Here I’m doing peck flys, which you might normally do on a bench with barbels. The scooters work quite well. Adjust the weight by starting on your knees, or on your toes, but with legs apart. Try to keep your arms straight. My left arm bends a lot, not sure what to do about that yet…
ab wheel demo
The ab wheel is a great addition to anyone’s training toolbox. Good for beginners, good for experts. Can do amazing things for your abdominal muscles…
circles on the mushroom
A lot of people see the mushroom sitting in my living room and ask me, what the hell is that thing? Heh, finally you can see a demo.
For the gymnasts out there, this is basic stuff. In fact the mushroom is like training wheels for the pommel horse, and other strength gymnastics training. For me, it took a few years just to get this down. Now I’m starting work on the flair… eventually!!
one-arm balance
If you’re looking to do more balancing exercises, this one works the deltoids, abs, and hip-flexors a lot.
circular hand walk
Walking on your hands involves a lot of deltoid strength, but surprisingly it also requires quite a bit of abdominal strength as well. Add a touch of hip-flexors, and you have the makings of a tough exercise that works the whole body. In our video we do the skill in a circular movement, to add intensity.
planche freeze – 5 seconds
I’ve been working on the arm-bar and planche exercises for a long time. I talk about them on this blog quite a bit. My strength at the planche has been slowly improving, so I’m confident enough with it now to post a video. Basically I go into an elbow planche, and then slide forward and off the elbows, holding fulling extended with straight legs for about five seconds.