What is Planche?

The Planche is an insane-level calisthenics hold where you support your body parallel to the ground on straight arms, targeting the shoulders, core and triceps. It also heavily engages chest, traps and lats and requires scapular protraction, posterior pelvic tilt and progressive skill work to build strength and balance.

How to Do Planche

  1. Set scapular position: Protract and depress the scapula, brace the core and squeeze glutes into a posterior pelvic tilt. Aim to keep hips level with shoulders for control.
  2. Grip parallettes: Place hands on parallettes shoulder-width, fingers forward. Press through the palms and straighten arms while avoiding locked hyperextension in the elbows.
  3. Shift body forward: Tip toes and slowly lean shoulders over your hands until feet lift. Move gradually to maintain balance and stop if you feel sharp shoulder pain.
  4. Adjust hip height: Experiment with hip position: higher hips shorten the lever (easier), lower hips increase deltoid load. Find the highest safe hold you can maintain.
  5. Use regressions: If holds under 3–5 seconds are hard, regress to tuck, straddle, pike or band-assisted planche variations to build strength and stability.
  6. Controlled descent: Return feet to the ground by leaning back while keeping scapular control and a braced core. Rest and recover shoulders between attempts.

Muscle Groups

Triceps, Chest, Core, Shoulders, Trapezius, Latissimus, Back

Description

Setup:
Protract and depress your scapula, shorten your core as much as possible while squeezing your glutes inwards (posterior pelvic tilt). Aim to keep your hips level with your shoulders for perfect execution. However, keeping hips lower will put more pressure on your delts and you will be more likely to lose protraction. Hips higher will make the lever a bit shorter and put less pressure on your delts - rendering the exercise a bit easier but looking less desirable.
Execution:
Tip toe and lean forward until your feet start to lift off the ground. Planche is an incredibly challenging movement so adjust height of your hips to allow yourself as long of a hold as possible. If you struggle to reach 3-5s hold in this progression, consider regressing to straddle planche, Straddle Pike Planche, One leg Planche, flying frog planche or tuck planche.

Movement Group

Push

Required Equipment

Parallettes

Progressions and Regressions

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of training the Planche?

Training the Planche builds exceptional shoulder and triceps strength, plus core stability, scapular control and full-body tension. It improves balance, proprioception and transferring push strength to other advanced calisthenics skills.

What common mistakes should I avoid when training the Planche?

Avoid poor scapular protraction, sagging hips, bent arms, and rushing progressions. Neglecting wrist conditioning and overloading deltoids too early increases injury risk — prioritize form and incremental loading.

How can I progress to a full Planche or find alternatives?

Progress through planche leans, tuck planche, advanced tuck, straddle and pike variations, plus band-assisted holds and parallettes work. Use consistent isometrics, wrist prep and gradual hold-time increases for safer progress.