Bar planche is one of the movements that can help you improve your level in this sport, because it is a way to show your statics or push strength while doing a freestyle combo in the bar, without having to change to the parallel bars. It also allows you to energize your combos, making "strength stops" that add tension so you can then break with your dynamics.

Por eso me parece importante hacer este tutorial para intentar ayudarles a que consigan este movimiento y lo añadan a su repertorio.

That why I think it is important that you achieve this movement and add it to your repertory.

Muscles involved

For bar planche, the muscles that you are going to use are the same as in regular straddle planche or handstand (you have plans in the app for both). The main muscles will be shoulders and triceps, with some collaboration of the pecs, traps and core. In this case, given the supine hold to the bar, which is a little more uncomfortable, you will get more activation in your biceps, that will be completely elongated, in a isometric contraction.

Starting from zero

As requirements to do bar planche, I think that the ideal is that you can do straddle planche on the floor or parallel bars, for at least 5 seconds. So lets see a quick reminder of how to achieve straddle planche:

• First you should strenghten your regular push ups, being able to do at least 4 sets of 20 reps.
• Then decline push ups, until you can do 4 sets of 15.
• Next will be pike push ups, 4 sets of 15.
• And then you should start with frogstand to handstand, until you can do 4 sets of 4 reps.
• Next you should do tucked planche to handstand, until you achieve 4
  sets of 3 reps. Elbows can be unlocked.
• Finally you should do handstand to straddle planche, in eccentric
  contraction, until you can hold it for 5 seconds, and then directly
  without handstand on the floor or parallel bars for another 5
  seconds.

Obviously, to do all this requirements, you will spend some weeks or months training each phase, taking as much as you need to achieve each step. If you want to do this process guided by Calisteniapp, just start the planche mastery plan until you get to the straddle planche.

Specific Exercises

Once you can straddle planche, we will start working with some specific training for bar planche, that will consist in the following:

First we will directly try it. Your muscles and connective tissue are ready for sure after achieving straddle planche. So do a supine hold and try it. If you have a thick bar, it will be easier in it. If you cannot lock your elbows completely or get your legs to the level of your torso, keep strengthening it so your body adapts. We will do 4 tries at the start of each training, after a good warm up.

The other specific exercise that we will use will be hollow body bar dips. Do a supine hold and try to get distance between your legs and the bar, pushing against the bar and contracting your abs. You should have protracted scapula, and pelvic retro-version, so your back is rounded and your lower back is not arched. The do your dips, trying to hold this posture as much as possible and trying to not touch the bar with your thighs. When you lock your elbows to start a new rep, try to fully recover the posture before starting the new rep.

You can see a video of this exercise in the dip section of the app.

Routine

Here you have the routine so you can work with those exercises. As you can see, at the same time that we train for bar planche, we will keep strengthening regular straddle planche because that will be really helpful. In the app you can find this routine as "Lanzarote". Or you can check it by clicking here

• 4x1 Bar planche tries
• 4x5" Straddle planche
• 4x5" Handstand to straddle
• 4x10 Hollow body bar dips
• 4x12 Assisted handstand push ups
• 4x15 Bar dips

My recommendation is to do it 2 times a week.

Technique

Finally lets see some technical details about how to do it correctly. We have 3 main points: elbows fully locked, feet and waist at the same level as shoulders, and scapular protraction or rounded upper back. If you lose your scapular protraction , your lower back will round a lot and it will look banana, which is one of the most common mistakes.

The correct execution of a bar planche looks like the person is floating in the air, very beautiful!