REP THEORY 90: the 90-day plan with the push-up base and the planche lean built in → https://thereptheory.gumroad.com/l/rt90

If you can hold a plank for 30 seconds, you can do a planche. I'll prove it. A planche isn't a strength trick, it's a lever: your hands are the pivot, your body is the bar, and the further your weight sits from your hands, the heavier you get. Shorten the bar, and your body can hold it. We follow Day 1 from his first face-plant to his first planche, through seven links. Every link has a number to hit before you earn the next one.

What's in the video:

• The fingertip test: lean in a push-up position until your shoulders are over your fingertips and count the seconds. Your result at the end tells you which link you start on.

• Why skinny guys have the edge: the load in a planche is your weight times its distance from your hands, and strength only rises with about the two-thirds power of body weight. Bigger people are stronger, but not as much stronger as they are heavier. That's why elite ring gymnasts average about 167 cm and 65 kg (and no, gymnastics doesn't make you short).

• Link 1, the push-away plank: push the floor away and spread your shoulder blades. That's the serratus, the planche's secret muscle. Goal: 30 seconds.

• Link 2, the planche lean: a knee push-up puts about half your weight on your hands, a push-up about two-thirds, a planche all of it. Lean one finger-width further each week. Goal: shoulders over your fingertips, 3 holds of 15 seconds.

• Link 3, the frog stand: your feet leave the floor for the first time (put a pillow in front of your face). Goal: 30 seconds.

• Link 4, the tendons: straight arms load the tendon at the front of your elbow and your wrists. Muscles adapt in weeks, tendons in months: in one study, strength was up about 30% after two months of holds, but the tendons only caught up in month three. About half of young gymnasts report wrist pain. Three rules: wrists first, one change a week, pain means stop.

• Link 5, the lift-off: straight arms, round your back, lift your feet for a moment. Push-up handles, parallettes or two stacks of books work. Goal: 6 lift-offs of 2 seconds. Why the best planche drill is the planche itself.

• Link 6, the tuck planche: knees tucked, arms locked, nothing touching but your hands. Goal: 10 seconds. That's your first planche.

• The 3 ways people fake the tuck: bent elbows, not leaning far enough, and pinching the shoulder blades.

• Link 7, the road to the full planche: advanced tuck, one leg out, straddle, full. The honest timeline: a tuck takes most people a few months, a full planche a year or two.

• Train it like a skill: why four short sessions beat one brutal one, and why your tendons need the day in between.

• The plan: 4 days a week, about 15 minutes. 2 minutes of wrists, 5 holds of your current link, 2 easy sets of the link before it, 3 sets of push-ups. Move up after two clean sessions in a row.

• Your fingertip test result: under 5 s → link 1 · 5–14 s → link 2 · 15 s+ → link 3 · 30 s and easy → respect link 4.

Comment your fingertip-test number and your link, and reply the day you hold your first tuck planche.

Safety first: warm up your wrists every session, lean only as far as you can hold with straight arms, and stop on any sharp wrist or elbow pain. Under 18? Your tendons are still catching up with your muscles, so keep the holds short and stay on each link longer. This video is general information, not medical advice. The link numbers and the test tiers are our own rough guide, not a lab test.

Free Telegram (we train together every day): https://t.me/thereptheory

Chapters

0:00 Why you can do a planche

0:42 The fingertip test

1:13 Skinny is the edge

2:28 Link 1: the plank

3:26 Link 2: the lean

4:31 Link 3: the frog stand

5:17 Link 4: the tendons

7:09 Link 5: the lift-off

8:18 Link 6: the tuck planche

8:54 3 ways people fake the tuck

9:51 Link 7: the road to the full planche

10:42 Train it like a skill

11:35 The plan

12:18 Your fingertip test result

Sources (PubMed IDs)

• Strength vs body mass: Jaric 2002 (12141882)

• Ring gymnasts' size + planche muscle activity: Schärer 2021 (34071632), Rosaci 2025 (40014850)

• Gymnastics and height: Malina 2013 (23743792)

• Serratus in the push-up plus: Ludewig 2004 (14977678)

• Body weight on the hands: Gouvali 2005 (15705025)

• Strength before tendon stiffness: Kubo 2010 (19996769)

• Wrist pain in young gymnasts: DiLeo 2026 (41552624)

• Teen tendons: Mersmann 2014 (24372566)

• Holds work at the trained angle: Kubo 2006 (16643193)

• Training frequency: Grgic 2018 (29470825)

• Tendon rebuilding after a session: Miller 2005 (16002437)

Music and sound effects: Epidemic Sound. All drawings our own.