Weight Training

[PunchDrunk]

its like doing a body weight bench press with your feet off the ground while laying on one of those giant yoga balls.

it stresses the entire body forcing your stabalizers and synergysts to become many times stronger.

I cant imagine any way some one can justify a box squat or power clean over a plance push up for functional strength.

A planche pushup is such a specialized, demanding skill, that training yourself up to be able to do one, is in itself a training goal (for 99% of people). It is more a proof of your level of training than it is a regular, normal, down to earth exercise.

Ironically, the most common objection against power cleans, is that it is to complex, too "difficult" to learn for an athlete who has a specific sport to worry about. In comparison to a planche pushup, cleans are easily learned, and can be practiced by anyone, at any level of fitness and strength.

So, because cleans and squats are possible to incorporate into a regular training program by everyone, from your 80lb younger sister, to Pacman, to the Baltimore Ravens, they are in fact "better for functional strength" than planche pushups, which are limited to the more elite training nerds because of its' difficulty.

It is, in my opinion, idiotic to limit yourself, by excluding certain types of training from your arsenal. Bodyweight exercises, calisthenics, weights, running, swimming, stationary bike, jump rope, kettlebells etc. etc. all have their use in the right context. Use what is effective for what you want to accomplish. This requires an open mind, and enough humility to admit that there is always something new you can learn.