Performing the Tuck Planche is somewhat of a milestone on your Planche Progression. For the first time you will be airborne except for your hands touching the floor. This requires not only the arm strength to hold up your whole bodyweight, but also enough balance to not simply fall over. It is already one of the harder Calisthenics exercises, despite being early in your Planche progression. With enough determination, though, you can unlock this vital skill just like I did. Follow my easy, structured routine for your Planche progression along with reinforcing exercises and you will learn the Tuck Planche as well.
What is the Tuck Planche
The Tuck Planche is like a regular Planche but with your knees tucked at the height of your belly or chest. Doing this will keep the center of gravity more toward the placement of your hands. The weight of your body travels down in a straighter path through your shoulder than with a full Planche, making it an easier exercise to learn and master.
You cannot jump from doing Push-Ups to the full Planche in a day. Even this step in-between can be challenging, especially if you are a taller person. Nevertheless, the technique is a crucial intermediary step towards learning the Planche and certainly one that is possible for anyone who puts their mind to it.
How to Perform a Tuck Planche with Proper Form
This is how you perform the Tuck Planche with perfect form:
- Get into a Planche Lean position, a Straight Arm Plank (Push-Up Position), leaning forward until your center of mass is right above your hands.
- Point your hands 45-degrees outward and keep your elbows fully extended.
- Protract your scapula by bending your shoulders forward all the way.
- Round your back by bringing your knees forward while keeping your hands in place.
- Gently raise your feet off the floor as you feel that the center of balance is right above your hands.
- Hold the Tuck Planche for 10 seconds or longer.
Benefits of the Tuck Planche
The Tuck Planche is the first step in your progression towards the full Planche where your feet come completely free from the floor while your upper body maintains the full Planche positions. This means you are in the process of strengthening those upper body muscles and readying them for more advanced Planche variations. This Planche technique:
- Helps develop the balance needed for more advanced Planche variations
- Strengthens the Shoulders (mostly the anteriors)
- Strengthens the Arms (biceps and triceps)
- Strengthens the Back (rhomboids, scapula and trapezoids)
- Strengthens to a lesser extent the chest and core
The muscles worked are largely the same as the full Planche when it comes to the upper body, especially the shoulders, arms and back.
Tuck Planche Progression
Assuming the proper position is important with the Planche. Even before you lift your feet off the floor, you will learn the proper position of your hands, arms and shoulders with the Planche Lean. After that, you can start practicing this more advanced technique.
The progression is as follows:
- Complete your Push-Up progression until you can do 3 sets of 12 Push-Ups
- Complete your Planche Lean until you master it (2 times 20 second hold)
- Practice by kneeling on the floor while your upper body is in the Planche position, gently rock yourself forward off the floor.
- When you find the point of balance for your body, keep attempting the proper form as described above.
Mastering the Tuck Planche
To master the technique:
- Perform 2x 20 second Tuck Planche Holds
- 3x a week
- For 3 weeks
Reinforcing exercises:
- Planche Lean
- Scapula Push-Ups
- Pike Push-Ups
Once You Master the Tuck Planche
The next two stages of Planche progression are:
Use the Right Planche Equipment
Using the right Planche Equipment can be essential in mastering all Planche variations with success and as efficiently as possible. The most important tools you should invest in are Parallettes and Wrist Wraps.
Parallettes give you a bit of a raise off the floor, but also allow you to use a hammer grip instead of having to bend your wrists. This lessens the risks of both acute and lingering injury. For that same reason, using Wrist Wraps as a beginner is important. The best strategy for Wrist Wraps is to wear them while you’re learning to master the next progression step and stop using them when you’re practicing any previous progression step.
Body Type and Tuck Planche Difficulties
The taller you are, the more difficult the Planche will be in general. Your body acts as a lever. The longer the lever the more force is exercised on the fulcrum (your shoulders). This is not such a big problem for the Tuck Planche where you keep your body compact. But you may face problems with having enough space between your arms to tuck your knees in without having your knees, shins or feet touching the floor.
Using Parallettes will mitigate these problems effectively as they provide just enough of a raise to keep your limbs clear off the floor.
Conclusions About the Tuck Planche
With the Tuck Planche under your belt, you’ve taken a small leap forward on your journey to master the full Planche. As a static hold, this is already one of the more challenging techniques despite not being very technical in execution. The reasons why this is a difficult technique are the large downward pressure of your entire bodyweight going through just your shoulders and the necessity to maintain good balance.
I often equate this to first learning how to walk. First you crawl, then you kneel, then you stand assisted, then you make your first step, and so on. Just like with walking, which is only possible if your feet stand firm, so your hands and body posture must be firm when attempting the Tuck Plance or full Planche. This makes practicing the proper posture through the Planche Lean a necessity. Only then can you ease yourself into taking the first baby steps by lifting off the floor.
With a disciplined, structured method of getting solid footing (with your hands and arms in this case) and good balance, the Planche becomes possible. Your future progression from this variation to the full Planche will see the gradual straightening of your body.
Good luck achieving the Tuck Planche and let me know if you have any questions.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Tuck Planche
I found a few more questions on the internet about this Planche.
Difference Tuck Planche vs Frog Stand
The Tuck Planche and Frog Stand are very similar in upper body posture and to a degree how you hold your legs as well. A beginner version looks most like a Frog Stand when you tuck in your knees all the way. The more advanced executions extend the legs out and up and introduce more of a forward lean to accommodate the shift in balance.
How long to tuck planche?
You master the technique if you can hold it twice (2x) for twenty (20) seconds. It can take months to work your way up to that point, first completing Push-Ups and then the Planche Lean. Even with the Planche Lean mastered, the step from leaning to hovering will take a little, careful practice.
