ДАВАЙ
CALISTHENICS
TRAINING
PROGRAM
By Valentin Blanc
FROM ZERO to
FULL PLANCHE
• Complete program
• Technical advices
ДАВАЙ
davaiscalisthenics.com
CALISTHENICS
1
ДАВАЙ
1-PRINCIPLES
CALISTHENICS
Steps 1 and 2 are essentially muscle strengthening exercises to prepare you if you are not, and to be
able to train afterwards in order to reach the planch.
In order to reach a clean full planch, we will have to work in different ways
throughout this
progression: first of all, we will work on the planch directly, and at the
same time we will work on the
handstand, which is a perfect complement to get the fullplanch . Finally,
we will work in
combinations, because the amount of effort and the resulting progress is
multiplied.
MINDSET
The planch is an unavoidable static movement that is not the easiest to perform. Nevertheless,
you must be aware of the enormous psychological dimension involved in the practice of this
sport. Your state of mind directly conditions the way you use your body, both through your
daily posture and in your practice of Calisthenics. An individual closed in on himself or with
a negative state of mind will have a naturally forward curved posture, a posture close to the
«hollow body», which can eventually predestine him to push, a logical thing when we know
that the push is a force used most of the time in humans to hit / destroy / defend themselves.
In the context of your training specifically focused on the planch, your state of mind will
directly determine if you will go out and hold a fall, or gain height and try to fly. These are two
completely different paths/feelings, which result in different muscle implications. The person
who is anxious about the planch will fight a fall. Example: He will let most of his weight go
forward, letting the back of his hand take off. He will then hold the fall by pulling the bar with
his pinkie and ring finger. Another case, he will let an angle be created at the wrist, which will
help him to retain the fall forward, but which will make his angle more acute, will over involve
the front chain, and will make it more difficult for him to pull the bar.
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ДАВАЙ
1-PRINCIPLES
CALISTHENICS
will prevent him from taking full advantage of the essential posterior chain of the arm. The
confident person will unconsciously keep the wrist in the axis of the bar, a more or less balanced
pressure from the front to the back of the hand, equally involving the front (biceps) and back
(triceps) muscular chain, which will allow him to try to climb and maintain his height, rather
than holding a fall.
So you see that the physical is only the continuity of something immaterial that happens in you.
In fact, the major part of the work happens in itself. Don’t define anything as unbelievable or
infeasible, never say to yourself «is it, but when is it», the conditional makes things conditional.
After 6 years of Calisthenics, I assure you that the best at the beginning are not necessarily the
best at the end. Among my friends and my team, I have dozens of cases of people without any
physical predispositions, who started out fat or very weak physically, yet with the strength of their
minds and hard work they managed to obtain incredible skills. It all starts with understanding,
I’m human, these people with incredible abilities are simply other humans, and we can all provide
work more or less similar to others (normally constituted). There comes this important work of
unconditional visualization, continually strive to see yourself doing what you dream, because it
all starts in your head. Convince yourself that you can get it all, because it is a battle against your
subconscious that every «winner» who gets what he wants has won.
I would conclude this message with these last words, get out of this state of mind of «no pain no
gain», when there is bread, there is no gain. How do you hope to match people who thrive on
what they do under duress? «No pain no gain» means that you are embarking on a chore, for
which you will need motivation, support, that envy and pleasure will not be with you to carry
you in each of your efforts. In response to this slogan, I would say DAVAI! Because in this vision
of things, it’s a pleasure to push the effort to its limits that requires no fuel, it’s a pleasure to fail
because each failure is a step towards your goal, it’s a pleasure that does not require «Motivation»,
that does not induce unnecessary and superfluous comparisons, because you have fun, you love,
you do it yourself, for you, and this is the only way you can achieve incredible things.
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ДАВАЙ
1-PRINCIPLES
CALISTHENICS
IMPORTANT INFORMATION / RECOMMENDATIONS
As for the elastic work spread out along this program, don’t take too big elastic. Unless you
really have no choice at the beginning, it is more interesting to take a light one and make a
number of knots to adjust the tension as needed, and then remove them gradually. This will
help you to quantify your progress, and to untie yourself more gradually. The presence of the
elastic should not make the exercise simple, it should simplify it, but you should feel that it
works.
The present combinations can be followed literally, but are only examples, the best being for you
to personalize them, for example to replace some impossible dips by victorian or easier variants,
the V-sit by L-sit, and to incorporate some skills you have that are not to my knowledge.
And to finish before letting you follow this program: be positive, notice each of your progress
whatever it is: gain of endurance, ease, or even simply reproduce a similar performance in a
less favourable state. Congratulate yourself, it’s the only praise that is worth something and that
really impacts you.
LEXICON
FOR ALL TECHNICAL INFORMATION RELATED TO THE EXECUTION OF THE
PLANCHE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5RhTAZh-jw
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ДАВАЙ
1-PRINCIPLES
CALISTHENICS
In order to progress, you’re going to have to push yourself to the limit. However, you can’t push
your body to the maximum continuously, especially as you risk, when you start this program,
going from isolated work to unit work, to work in quantity through combinations. I would
therefore ask you, that for each transitional period, you take the time to accustom your body
to the new type of effort by staying one to two weeks on an effort more or less equal to 80% of
your capacity.
Example: - a change of training type - the passage of a stage of the program - the passage to a
more advanced variant of a skill
Arrange your work rhythm (3 to 5 days per week) according to your feelings, do not hesitate to
take 2 to 3 consecutive days off when you feel it is necessary, part of the progress is in the right
pace of work and the necessary rest. If after 4 days of rest, you don’t really feel better, maintain the rest period, and start again with a reduced rhythm and intensity that will allow you to
maintain a stable rhythm.
You will then be able to work on maximum every other week, when you can train this way
without having to endure it.
You will have to manage the intensity of your work according to the form you feel at the moment. Example: I feel good, without tensions, I tried a «max» training, and can again provide a
max training, so I can maintain the rhythm for the moment. I feel that the effort I’m asking my
body to make is too intense - I stay at 80% until my body gets used to it.
Never ask your body to do anything that involves PAIN! Pain is a message, listen to your body
and don’t hurt it. You can reasonably work on a stiff limb, as it is an inevitable consequence of
this particularly intense sport. However, at the slightest pain I would ask you to change your
way of doing things if it is possible (change of grip), otherwise, stop working on the movement
in question.
If you are injured, consult a health professional. An osteopath, able and authorized to diagnose
and often to solve the problem on his own, trained in muscular, osseous, tendinous or nervous
issues, will be of great support to you throughout your sporting life. The general practitioner
can prescribe an appointment with a physiotherapist. However, physiotherapy will not be able
to help you in all respects, as the practitioners are not authorised to make a diagnosis, and they
can only treat some of the problems you may encounter. Finally, if no health professional can
diagnose or cure you, refer you to your doctor who can prescribe medical imaging (X-rays/
scans).
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ДАВАЙ
PROGRAMME
CALISTHENICS
LEVEL 1
FOLLOW OUR STEP-BY-STEP PROGRAM AFTER YOU HAVE PLACED YOURSELF
ACCORDING TO YOUR LEVEL IN ONE OF THE 6 STEPS YOU HAVE IN FRONT OF
YOU.
STEP 1: base 1/2
DIFFICULTY
level 1
TIME
1h30. - 2h00.
Carry out this circuit five times, observing the indicated resting times and increasing them if necessary.
Finish with 3 series of pulls focusing on the movement of your shoulder blades!
Estimated training duration -1h30 to 2 hours
Workload - 3 to 5 days per week, adjust according to form, feeling, and pace of life.
Rest day: light stretching / handstand throwing attempts at leisure
Take the next step as soon as you’re able.
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ДАВАЙ
PROGRAMME
CALISTHENICS
LEVEL 2
STEP 2: base 2/2
DIFFICULTY
level 2
TIME
1h30. - 2h00.
Carry out this circuit five times, observing the indicated resting times and increasing them if necessary.
Finish with 3 series of pulls focusing on the movement of your shoulder blades!
Estimated training duration -1h30 to 2 hours
Workload - 3 to 5 days per week, adjust according to form, feeling, and pace of life.
Rest day: light stretching / handstand throwing attempts at leisure
Take the next step as soon as you’re able.
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ДАВАЙ
PROGRAMME
CALISTHENICS
LEVEL 3
STEP 3: bad form straddle
DIFFICULT
level 3
Maximum hold straddle planch to be repeated 3 times spaced 2
to 3 minutes apart, elastic at pelvis.
-40 minutes of combinations - follow the examples, don’t hesitate to incorporate elements that you control (handstand flag,
victorian, handstand pushups, press handstand). Each combination must be pushed until it fails, not in the fail/fall direction
due to a technical error, but due to physical failure, the inability
to continue to hold the bar and provide more.
*It is not a question of making a perfect impossible, but of starting to prepare for it (one arm by one arm, or negative alone) and
involving the triceps (helps to «rest» to prolong the effort).
TIME
1h30. - 2h00.
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ДАВАЙ
PROGRAMME
CALISTHENICS
LEVEL 3
STEP 3: bad form straddle
DIFFICULTY
level 3
TIME
1h30. - 2h00.
Finish with 3 series of pulls focusing on the movement of your shoulder blades!
Estimated training duration -1h30 to 2 hours
Workload - 3 to 5 days per week, adjust according to form, feeling, and pace of life.
Rest day: light stretching / handstand throwing attempts at leisure
*It is not a question of making a perfect impossible, but of starting to prepare for it (one arm by one arm, or
negative alone) and involving the triceps (helps to «rest» to prolong the effort).
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ДАВАЙ
CALISTHENICS
PROGRAMME
LEVEL 4
STEP 4: clean straddle/full bad form
Carry out this circuit five times, observing the indicated resting times
and increasing them if necessary.
DIFFICULTY
level 4
TIME
1h30. - 2h00.
Finish with 3 series of pulls focusing on the movement of your shoulder blades!
Estimated training duration -1h30 to 2 hours
Workload - 3 to 5 days per week, adjust according to form, feeling, and pace of life.
Rest day: light stretching / handstand throwing attempts at leisure
Go to the next step as soon as you can lift a full planch and hold for a few seconds even bad form, and your
straddle planch is straight + starts to gain height
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ДАВАЙ
PROGRAMME
CALISTHENICS
LEVEL 5
STEP 5: full good line
One hour of combinations - follow the examples, don’t hesitate to incorporate elements that you control or wish to control (victorian - handstand
flag - flag to straddle even bad form - side planch even bad form)!
Finish with 3 series of pulls, focusing on the movement of your shoulder
blades!
DIFFICULTY
level 5
TIME
1h30. - 2h00.
Finish with 3 series of pulls focusing on the movement of your shoulder blades!
Estimated training duration -1h30 to 2 hours
Workload - 3 to 5 days per week, adjust according to form, feeling, and pace of life.
Rest day: light stretching / handstand throwing attempts at leisure
Move on to the next step as soon as you can hold a full planch straight, regardless of your back shape, angle and
elevation.
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ДАВАЙ
CALISTHENICS
PROGRAMME
LEVEL 6
STEP 6: clean full + hollow body
One hour of combinations - follow the examples, don’t hesitate to incorporate elements you control or want to control (victorian - handstand flag
- flag to straddle even bad form - side planch even bad form) !
IMPORTANT INDICATION, the only difference between step 5 and 6 is the way of
practicing and the focus. So far I’ve asked you to push each of your efforts to failure, either through combinations or by spamming a specific exercise to prepare
yourself in terms of strength, the time has come to convert this into a proper
movement. No more pushing the suits to failure, you’re now going to have to decrease the load on each suit by focusing more on the slower clean lean form before takeoff, focus on placement, extension, gestures and coordination, no more
silly and nasty pushing.
Filmed work if possible to help you correct yourself.
NO OVER-LIFTING OF THE SHOULDERS LEAVES THEM IN THEIR SOCKETS NO
ABUSIVE ABS ABSORB IT IS ONLY A CONSEQUENCE OF THE RETROVERSION,
JUST REMEMBER TO SUPPORT YOUR RETROVERSION WELL, TO TAKE HEIGHT
OF THE STERNUM AS IF YOU WERE LEANING ON IT, TO GROW WELL AND TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR EXTENSION EQUITABLY BETWEEN THE TIP OF YOUR FOOT WHICH
PULLS HORIZONTALLY, AND YOUR HEEL, PULLING THE LEG VERTICALLY.
ДАВАЙ
ДАВАЙ
PROGRAMME
CALISTHENICS
CALISTHENICS
LEVEL 6
STEP 6: clean full + hollow body
DIFFICULTY
level 6
TIME
1h30. - 1h45.
Finish with 3 series of pulls focusing on the movement of your shoulder blades!
Estimated training duration -1h30 to 2 hours
Workload - 3 to 5 days per week, adjust according to form, feeling, and pace of life.
Rest day: light stretching / handstand throwing attempts at leisure
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