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balance training
I’m getting ready to hopefully do the Illinois Gymnastics strength circuit next week, so I’ve been training! Today I’m going to go through some 20/20 timed intervals and I’ll go through these 10 exercises which are similar to what the Illinois gymnasts do for their circuit. This should help me get ready for the butt kicking I'm about to receive. Looks something like this -
I found a really cool way to change up my workout with a very cool product call the xtreme rollers. They are kind of like perfect pushups… but on steroids, with myriad ways to switch up whatever you are working on in the gym. They all will require using your bodyweight as resistance which you all know I love, and they are all great for core stability and strength.
While I’ve been on a break I’ve had many of YOU ask me for a video on how to learn a Planche - so, here you go. I have with me today a former University of Illinois Gymanst Chris Silcox - you can check his channel out here - Chris has been doing cirque performances and teaching acrobatics and stretching and today we are going to teach you how you can learn a planche.
A planche is a straight armed horizontal hold that gymnasts usually do on the floor or rings and can come in many forms - either straddle or a more difficult legs together. This is not an easy move, and it takes gymnasts years of practice to be able to do it well. It takes plenty of balance and strength to do a good planche, and that takes lots of time to develop.
you need to lean your shoulders over your wrists to balance out the weight from your lower body. And, your shoulders need to be strong enough to support that weight. That’s usually the hang up.
So how do you learn a planche? I say it over and over again, practice.
But don’t just practice jumping up to a planche, you need to do lots of stuff - I think the first thing to practice is a press to handstand.
This is the beginning to getting your shoulders over your wrists which are turned out a bit, and pressing your body over your head with straight arms. You can even practice lowering down from handstand and getting your shoulders over your wrists as you slowly come down. From this straddle press, as this gets easier, practice a pike press with your legs together. This is more difficult than the straddle press since it adds more weight to the bottom side of that wine bottle and thus requires you to get those shoulders even more forward over the wrists, and thus more load is placed on the shoulders and more strength is required to press your butt over your head.
If straddle presses become doable, try from an L Sit on Paralletes and master your presses up and down on paralletes. If you can learn to do multiple press handstands in a row on paralletes, that would be a GREAT start! Today We are using the Halo Trainer as well as the Extreme Rollers which are like perfect pushups on steroids with 9 rollers on the bottom and and are a fun thing to use to mix up your workout routine.
To Help with your shoulder strength, I recommend practicing handstand pushups, and if you have a spotter, gymnasts do planche presses where a spotter will hold one shoulder and one leg and lower you down, and lift you up. The hand on the shoulder is so you don’t fall forward on your face and it teaches you to get the shoulders forward to offset the weight from your lower body.
Depending on where you are at in your development, something else you can practice which will help is planche roll outs on a ball. Keep your arms straight and roll forward and back without going too far over your wrists and falling on your face. Keep your body straight and squeeze your butt. Also note that you want to keep your chest hollow and extended - very important.
Any questions? Leave them below in the comments. Also, let me know how long you can hold your planche. I competed a straddle planche, but never legs together - couldn’t quite hold that long enough to not have deductions.
What is it?
Let’s get something straight. I’m not in the business of training angels or training folks to be better sharp shooters on their X-box. Instead, Halo Training has a broader meaning of structure and function. The definition of a halo is a cosmic ring that surrounds something. There is a duel meaning with HALO. The Halo Trainer physically surrounds a stability ball, like a ring around a sphere. Halo Training is a systematic method to address the core in a three-dimensional approach as an integrated ring of muscles around the spine from the scapula to the pelvis. I realize that the muscles are even more integrated than these upper and lower landmarks and that is why I refer to Halo Training as integrated body weight training. To put it another way, Halo Training is a process of repurposing the stability ball to make it the most effective user experience, no matter what level of fitness you may be at right now. The Halo® Trainer is a versatile, free-standing, friction-fitting piece of equipment provides ergonomic handlebars that improve already popular equipment such as the Stability Ball™, BOSU® and TRX®.
