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. 2 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. 3 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 4 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). 5 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. 6 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. 7 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. 8 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). 9 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 10 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. 11 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 13 All sports practice includes risks, DavaiCalisthenics, as well as its entire team, cannot be held responsible, and hereby disclaims all liability in the event of injury. Legal Notice This content is the property of the brand ДАВАЙ© (n° 18 4 455 registered class of products or services 24, 25, 38) Any modification, appropriation or retranscription is forbidden, and will lead to legal proceedings against the user. 14
