planche hand placement

[Josh Shaw]

i just have a quick question on the planche progressions and hand placement. my frogstand has gotten pretty solid and i'm looking to move on to the advanced frogstand. i'm having some trouble straightening my arms though. normally i have my hands about shoulder width, with my fingers forward and a little out. when i try to straighten my arms, the strain on my wrists feels like it might be too much, and i can't keep my balance long enough to hold it. i've seen some people do the planche with their fingers pointing backward instead of forward, so i tried that out. it obviously took the strain off my wrists and felt easier to balance. is proper hand placement just a matter of what's comfortable, or is there a certain way they should be in order to maximize strength benefits and to work through the progressions? thanks.

[Razz]

completely 100% optional. If you want to move on to advanced ring strength one day, then hands back is the better option because it helps progressively put more stress on and prepare your elbow joint when you move through progressions.

[Sternford]

completely 100% optional. If you want to move on to advanced ring strength one day, then hands back is the better option because it helps progressively put more stress on and prepare your elbow joint when you move through progressions.

Progressively? I can somewhat do a tuck planche with my hands forward, but when I put them backward I can't even get into a frog stand

[Razz]

yes, progressively. from frog stand -> full planche if you use hands backwards there will be progressively more pressure on biceps..

[Joshua Naterman]

Fingers back is WAY harder, and this is how I train. As Razz says, this is harder on the bicep tendon. You have to make progress a little slower at first, but the end result is that you end up with a stronger bicep tendon than if you practiced fingers forward.

Fingers forward is easier because your hand and wrist not only provide a cantilever effect through the reflexive firing of the wrist flexors but it also literally moves the center of balance forward. These two effects allow a more advanced position to be held with less muscular strength. Obviously, this is much harder on the wrists and wrist flexors.

Fingers backwards: Much easier on the wrist flexors, but WAY WAY harder on the biceps tendon. There is no cantilever, so you can't shift the weight any farther forward than your wrist. You are also directly placing the load on the inner elbow, which means you need far more biceps tendon conditioning, and much more strength in the shoulders and chest since these are the ONLY muscles that are keeping your arm angle stable. That's why it is so much harder at first, but the benefits are many if you stick with it. This also prepares you FAR MORE for the rings planche, which is also in the fingers backward position. This may be why I have no difference in my planche ability in FX versus rings.

Since you should be practicing Manna work with fingers back, and possibly straddle L as well ( I do both) you don't lose anything in the wrist conditioning department either.