Static strength
Planche
Hold your whole body level above the floor, supported only by your hands on straight arms. The planche is one of the hardest holds in calisthenics and gymnastics, and it is built slowly.
- Difficulty
- Expert
- editorial estimate
- Steps to it
- 3 steps
- Advanced → Expert
- Usually done on
- Floor, Parallel bars
Prepared by Calisthenics Balkan. Not yet reviewed by a qualified coach. 6 sources
The road at a glance
A short overview with links. Every step is explained in full under Progressions.
Helps to have first
Leads towards
No movement in the Atlas builds directly on this one yet.
01
What it is
In a planche the whole body is held off the floor, level, with the hands as the only contact. The arms are straight and the shoulders are pushed forward until they are well ahead of the hands, so the hands end up beside the hips instead of under the shoulders. The picture shows it from the side; the legs and the trunk make one horizontal line.
The posture criteria quoted in a 2025 study of the rings version ask for straight arms, shoulders flexed until the hands reach the vertical plane of the hips, and shoulder blades spread apart (protraction), with the shoulders, hips and feet in one horizontal line. In that study of seven national-level gymnasts the biceps and the front of the shoulder were the most active muscles, with the serratus anterior close behind. It is a small study and it tested the rings version, not the floor.
In gymnastics the planche is a hold element: the rule book lists it on the floor, with a straddle version, and as a support scale on the rings, and asks for the position to be held still. That is a rule of scoring, not a target for training, and this page gives no hold times.
Straight arms, shoulders far ahead of the hands, and a body that stays level. The lean makes the hold possible and makes it hard.
History and origin
The origin of the planche is not documented in the sources we read, so we name no first person and no year. Wikipedia says the word is French for plank. It appears in the gymnastics rule book as a hold element and in calisthenics as a basic strength skill.
02
How it is done
- 1
Set the hands
Place the hands flat on the floor, parallettes or bars, beside the hips. Straighten the arms and lock the elbows. Parallettes or bars take stress off the wrists.
- 2
Lean forward
Push the shoulders forward over and past the hands and spread the shoulder blades apart. The further you lean, the harder the hold, so lean as far as you can control.
- 3
Lift
When the lean is enough, lift the feet off the floor, tucked at first. The hips come up as the knees open.
- 4
Hold level
Keep the arms straight and the shoulders, hips and feet in one line, with the core tight. Do not let the hips pike up or the body sag.
- 5
Come down
Lower the feet to the floor before the arms bend or the line breaks, and stop while the position is still clean.
03
Progressions
These are common steps, not the only road. The sources agree on the order tuck, advanced tuck, straddle, full, and Wikipedia lists a frog stand before them. The straddle planche, with the legs apart, has no picture here: seen from the side its legs, spread to both sides, would only look shorter. Move on when a step is controlled, not when you reach a number.
What to have first
Wrists ready for load
The hands carry your whole weight. One source says a lot of wrist, straight-arm and shoulder strength is needed. If supporting yourself on the wrists hurts, ask a qualified person.
Strong straight-arm shoulders
The shoulders do the holding in a straight-arm position. Push-ups and supports are the base; there is no number to reach first.
A steady support
Parallettes, bars or a floor that cannot slide, so the hands stay put. The Calisthenics Parks page suggests learning on parallettes or parallel bars before the floor.
- 1
Step 1·Advanced
Tuck planche
The knees are drawn tight to the chest and the hips are low, below shoulder height, with the arms straight. The lever is short, so you can learn the shoulder lean and the straight-arm support. A coaching article says each later step needs more forward lean.
Technical note: Keep the elbows locked; the hips stay low and the knees close to the chest.
- 2
Step 2·Advanced
Advanced tuck planche
The hips rise up to shoulder height, the back is straight and level, and the legs begin to untuck as the lever lengthens. The shoulders lean further forward, which puts more stress on them. After this come the straddle planche, with the legs straight and apart, and the full planche.
Technical note: Raise the hips, then open the knees a little at a time; do not rush the lean.
- 3
Step 3·ExpertGoal
Planche
The legs are straight and together and the whole body is one level line from the shoulders to the toes, the hands beside the hips. In competition the position must be held still for two seconds. That is a scoring rule, not a training target.
Technical note: Stop when the arms bend or the line breaks, not after a set time.
04
Community
No one is publicly working on this movement. Add it to your profile and be the first.
Tips from the community
Tips are personal experience, not medical advice or a training plan.
There are no tips for this movement yet.
05
Common mistakes
Bent arms
The criteria call for straight arms with the elbows locked. Arms that bend turn the hold into something else and drop the shoulders.
Too little lean
Without enough forward lean the hands cannot sit near the hips and the feet cannot lift cleanly. The lean is also where the stress goes, so add it slowly.
Hips pushed up
Hips that rise above the shoulders break the line. Rising hips are how the tuck becomes the advanced tuck, but in the full planche the shoulders, hips and feet are level.
Shoulders not pushed forward
Shoulders that stay over the hands, or blades that stay together, are not the position the criteria describe. The shoulders go forward and the blades spread apart.
A hard arch or a sag
Sources disagree: an older text says no arch at all, a modern article says a slight arch is fine. Both want the body level and not sagging.
Rushing the steps
Each step asks for more lean and more strength. Skipping to a longer lever before the shorter one is controlled is where the shoulders and wrists get overloaded.
06
Variations and related skills
Straddle planche
Stance
The legs are straight and apart. The rule book lists it as a separate floor hold element. It has no picture here because a side view cannot show it truthfully.
Frog stand
Wikipedia lists a frog stand before the tuck planche. The other sources we read do not describe it, so we do not either.
Parallettes, bars or floor
Equipment
The same position on different supports. Parallettes and bars reduce the stress on the wrists, according to the Calisthenics Parks page.
Support scale on rings
Equipment
The rings version, which the rule book calls a support scale and which the 2025 study measured. The rings move, so it is harder to hold still.
A straight-arm support with the legs out in front, a much shorter lever and a common place to start building straight-arm strength.
Another straight-arm hold on the hands, upright instead of level.
A level, straight-body hold on a bar instead of on the hands, usually learned alongside the planche.
Related skillsOne-Arm Push-Up
On Calisthenics Balkan
- Read about Static strength in LearnThe movement family this skill belongs to, and how it fits into calisthenics.
- Athletes with Planche on their profileSkill labels on profiles are set by the athletes themselves and are not verified.
- All movements in the AtlasCalisthenics movements, one at a time: what they are, how they are done and the steps that lead to them.
07
Sources
What this page relies on. Titles and publishers are written as published.
The small numbers in the text point to the entries below.
- 1Men's Artistic Gymnastics Code of Points 2025-2028FIG (International Gymnastics Federation); competition rules, used only for the hold-element rule and the names of the elements
- 2Electromyographic Analysis of the Support Scale in Gymnastics and Its Related Preconditioning Strengthening ExercisesRosaci, Nigro, Cortesi, Ciacci, Bartolomei and Fantozzi, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2025; 7 national-level gymnasts, the rings version of the planche
- 3Tuck to Advanced Tuck PlancheLegendary Strength, 2012; a coaching article that cites Coach Sommer, hips, back and lean in the tuck steps
- 4PlancheCalisthenics Parks skill database; a community page with no named author, cues and the order tuck, advanced tuck, straddle
- 5Injury incidence and patterns among Dutch calisthenics athletes: a cross-sectional observational studyJournal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2025; 181 athletes, injuries in general, the planche is not singled out
- 6Planche (exercise)Wikipedia; definition, the list frog stand to full planche and the origin of the word only, the weakest of the sources
A note on safety. This page describes the movement in general. It is not a training plan and not medical advice. We found no study of injury from the planche, of the load on the biceps tendon, or of hold times, and we make no claims about them. In a 2025 survey of 181 Dutch calisthenics athletes, 59% had been injured in the previous year, most often at the shoulders, wrists, elbows and back; the survey does not single out the planche. The hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders carry the whole body, so build up gradually, stop when the position is no longer clean, and ask a qualified coach, doctor or physiotherapist about pain in the wrist, elbow or shoulder.
Prepared by Calisthenics Balkan. Not yet reviewed by a qualified coach.
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