How to Do a Planche Pushup

The planche pushup is the gold standard of the pushup exercise. With your whole lower body raised in the air as you do the pushup, you put focused tension on your chest, shoulders and back, which resonates through your entire body. In addition, there are few people, athletes or otherwise, who won't be really impressed by a planche pushup.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

1. Work up to it. Create a plan for yourself that will get you doing one planche pushup over a few weeks or months of training. Start by working up to doing sets of 50 pushups without problem. Then gradually begin to move your hands towards your abdomen so that you start to focus your muscles for the planche pushup.

2. Do a tucked, negative planche. In the full version of the planche pushup, your legs will be fully extended and in the air as you do the exercise. To get started, though, plant your hands on the ground and raise your legs in a tucked position. Balance yourself by resting your knees on your elbows. Once you have your balance lower yourself as far as possible. Then resume the initial position. Continue with these negative until you feel confident with them.

3. Do a partial planche. Once you have built your strength adequately you can extend your legs. You will probably find that you will need to angle your legs upwards so that they form a 20- or 30-degree angle to your body. Do the partial planche like this, making sure that when you do the pushup you're moving straight up and down.

4. Move to the full planche. Start from a position where your hands are planted by your abdomen and you're suspending yourself midway between the up and down positions. Extend your legs all the way and raise them off the ground, balancing yourself on your hands. Keep tension throughout your whole body. Raise yourself up and down in a straight line, keeping your body as straight as an arrow as you go.