I am doing the Planche and Lever progressions posted previously on T-Nation by Coach Sommer. I’m progressing pretty well. But I’m still experimenting with where to place them in my split.
Right now, I’m doing the planches on chest day, the levers on back day, and both again on shoulder day. Since I am using a six-day split, that means I am only doing each of them them twice every six days.
Coach Sommer recommended doing them four times a week, but he was talking about gymnasts who weren’t also lifting weights. When asked how to incorporate them into a bodybuilding routine, he punted, since he’s a gymnastics coach.
Has anybody tried these exercises? How fast did you progress? Did you see any body composition changes? And where did you place the exercises in your training split?
Ah, the sweet sound of crickets chirping. I’m giving my post one (and only one) bump. Come on, nobody out there has integrated planches and levers into a bodybuilding program?
I have gotten as far as the lever tuck pullup on a pullup bar I have at home. I do them independently of my weights workout, about 2 times a week. I have yet to be able to do the true lever pullup though. I haven’t tried the plache progressions at all. I figured I would pick one and see how far I can get and then try the other. Tuck lever pullups are great for traps and whole upper back by the way. And I feel stronger in my deadlift as well(could be a coincidence).
Nope. I do that stuff for fun at the beach or at the pool…along with handstands and walking on my hands.
If you are doing a chest day, back day and shoulder day, you may be expending too much energy training your upper body and not being as efficient as you can be. Do you train legs once a week, but end up hitting your upper body 3-4 times per week?
I cannot give you a bodybuilding split routine perspective, however I will share with you where I place static strength work in our workouts. Perhaps this will give you some insight on where to place them in your own workouts.
Essentially we condition with full body workouts three to four times a week depending on the level of the athlete. After a thorough joint preparatation series (approx 1 hr), static strength training is the next order of business. I refer to this static strength training as “pre-strength” and have found it indispensible in the development of higher level strength elements. We generally spend 10-15 minutes on this portion of our training.
Perhaps an easy way to implement this type of training into your own workouts would be to simply spend 10 minutes working on the various elements prior to beginning your main workout. Your current schedule of splitting the static strengths also has merit and may work as well in the context of a weight lifting matrix. There are many ways to achieve your goals, don’t be afraid to experiment.
I’m doing both pretty much every day. I really like these. Thanks Coach Sommer for the instruction. Always wondered how gymnasts got such muscle. These exercises are pretty tough but they only take a few minutes to do. I’ve got the planche basic for 40 secs and the lever for a full minute. Trying now to extend the legs.
My personal opinion and I don’t think you’re going to like it, is that in order to make significant progression in the planche and lever is to cut back on your lifting. I progressed best when I completely stopped the weight lifting for a few weeks. Another way that worked was to lift 2x per week and keep one day for lever/planche work. I made progress with this, but I was also doing track workouts and polevaulting at the same time, so you could probably up the volume and still get results.
Try to prioritize these movements if you’re incorporating them into your program. They really require a lot of concentration. Try setting aside one day per week that uses just planche and lever development w/little to no weights.
I personally worked up to the front lever, but the planche is another story, im still working on that. I hope this info helps. Still waiting on Sommer’s book. I really hope it comes out soon. Keep us informed Charles.
BradS, thanks for the reply. I am new to these exercises, but I feel like they develop great static strength in the core and upper back, which obviously helps retract the shoulder blades and keep the lower back tight when deadlifting. So I don’t think it is your imagination.
Coach, thank you for chiming in. Your response made my thinking much clearer.
Thanks for posting the instructions on how to do these exercises in the first place, too. I have never seen them performed before. Now let’s see if other people at my gym start doing them.
Poper, thanks for the reply. I think you’re onto something when you say these exercises should be prioritized. And when you say they should replace another exercise, not just be added on top of every thing else. But what would they replace, exactly?
I have been scaling back my bodypart workouts by 2 or 3 sets. (So instead of 10x3 on the bench press, I’d do my planches and then 7x3 on the bench press.) Last winter I stopped playing any sports other than weightlifting and I work a desk job, so there are no other really taxing physical things I do.