Today, at my second unoffical straps class, I held my first side planche! I wasn’t really expecting it but it happened. Basically during class, we start off by doing 5 set of holds. 10 seconds of front planche (Chinese style, palms facing inwards and arms bent), back planche, meat hook, and 30 seconds of side planche.
Needless to say, the teacher was impressed, holding a side planch in just 2 lessons.
What the teacher has been doing with me is periodically release me for a split second when spotting me in a side planche. But during the second set, he just let go altogether and only spotted me at the end of 30 seconds to help me dismount.
Having said that, this is the Chinese style of holding a side planche where the performer looks down at the ground or even back as opposed to up. It still looks cool regardless.
The ripped skin on my wrists and the bruises on my arms are testament to the training that I’ve been doing.