Planche - Strength or balance?

[Jason6377]

I headr somewhere that all you need is perfect form to perform a good planche for a few secs, is that true?

[esance]

i think its mostly about the wrist flexibility and hand placement

[Syko Dragon]

Get this...It's both Strength AND Balance!! Technically, Strength can create Balance, and Balance can create Strength.

[chicanerous]

You heard completely wrong. Balance is nothing compared to the relative strength you need to hold a planche in good form.

Obviously, some idiot is now going to bring up bboy "planches" or something else completely inane and try to argue this.

[giovanni]

The ones with the hands the wrong way.

[CardTrix]

Chicanerous is right. You need some balance, but it's mostly strength. In order to hold a planche, either you must have your center of gravity over your support base (which is in between you hands), or provide a counter torque to prevent gravity from pulling you down. So having some balance (ie getting you center of gravity over your support base) will help, but you still need a lot of strength to prevent that shoulder joint from collapsing.

[SydLePirate]

I always though that balance was somewhat of a by-product of having strength in your stabalizers.

[NightHunter]

No, you get balance through functional training!

[chicanerous]

I always though that balance was somewhat of a by-product of having strength in your stabalizers.
Balance is strength, proprioception, reflex, and neurological adjustment to specific movements.

Stabilizers are, for the most part, major muscles not used in the movement that contract isometrically. When you shake during exercise, it's not because you're stabilizers aren't built up as some might say -- it's that neurologically you're still adapting to the exercise.

This is a good resource: http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Glossary.html

[esance]

i think most of you guys are right but your overlooking the flexibility used in planches. before i started doing them i hand no wrist flexibility but as i began strtching them my planches started to get better. since you have to put your hands low ( towards your midsection ) you need flexibility to find your center of gravity and get balanced.

[chicanerous]

The wrist flexibility needed is trivial compared to the strength needed to perform the hold. Also, it's better to practice with the fingers pointed towards the feet, which makes wrist flexibility no longer an issue.

[Rianu]

wrist flexibility really doesn't have anything to do with it. it would be lack of wrist flexibility. for instance, it would mean ur wrists would be less flexible then the average persons.

Oh wait! That's bogus, because i can barely bend my wrist to normal and im a planchesaurus.

Also, turn ur hands out slightly and you can no longer use that excuse.

Finally. Planche = strength. If you think its balance, then you obviously arent stronger enough. Think about it. if u lean too far forward u get lower to the ground -- still holdable. If you get too far backwards you get higher off the ground -- still holdable. It's all strength no matter what angle your at.

It's the reason that people can go from a swallow on the floor to a planche to a handstand and back down. It's all strength, you only lose "balance" if ur not strong enough.

[Skilzat85X]

It takes balance, no doubt. However, unlike most bboy freezes you will find, it takes more strength than it does balance.

Airbaby's, air chairs, etc require some deal of strength, but not all that much. They're mostly just balance. Well, naturally you need a pretty strong wrist for each of them (only the ones where you must bend your wrist at around a 90 degree angle).

However Planches take strength, lots of it. Probably the best way to gain this strength is by practicing them. And don't forget practicing tucked planches to build strength either.

[se7en.]

Is there anyway to condition balance? and Planche looks inhuman, it just doesnt look right, I guess its mostly upper body strength

[compleks]

Full body strength. But yes, a large degree of shoulder strength is required

Balance is a skill, and skills are developed through practise.