Supports are categorized in the ToD among “miscellaneous elements”. We are suggesting to describe them as supports and consider them as a subcategory of handstands, since they are also performed on hands and have been termed as Supports in artistic gymnastics. A support is thereby defined as a balance element that is held on hands, but in which the upper body is not in an inverted position, as in regular handstands, and not held above the shoulders, but either in a more or less neutral upright position or in a horizontal position or anything between; in difference to which an actual “handstand” is defined as a balance on hands with the torso in an inverted position.
Front Support in the context of H2H is a position where the top is supported in H2H with the base, both facing the same direction, with the legs hanging down, slightly held in front, as in a Hollow Hang, with the body held in a hollow shape. The front support is not an element in itself, but a possible starting position for a mount (e.g. for a Podsechka from Front Support instead of from the floor, see mounts) as well as a transitional position that the partners move through during a Podsechka as well as during Diamidov or Dislocates. Usually performed on bent arms, but also done on straight arms (e.g. when preparing for Podsechka or for Tempos performed to learn Hand to Hand throws), making it a fundamental position to master for pairs. The name is derived from the Front Support as performed on rings. In German I have termed it “Vorstütz” (meaning being supported in the front of the base). In a different context, in a horizontal orientation, a front support can also refer to a plank held on the hands of the partner in a lying position, or, in context of individual general preparation, it can simply refer to a regular “Plank”, the upper position of the Push-Up.
Back Support, like the Front Support, but held in the back of the base on straight arms, the feet hanging down behind the head of the base, touching the bases upper back, likewise with the top holding a hollow shape. It is not considered an element in itself, but is used as a starting position e.g. to lift the legs into a Straddle Support or to lift into a handstand with momentum of the base. Just as the front support it is a fundamental position to master for pairs, by which the base can develop the necessary stability on straight arms due to the lower centre of mass, resulting in easier balance. It is therefore commonly used as a preparatory step before attempting support holds with a higher centre of mass, such as Straddle Supports. In German I have termed it “Rückstütz”, as it is supported behind or “in the back” (Rücken) of the base. Others may describe the same as what we called “Front Support” above, as it depends on from which perspective it is seen (while the top holds the hands in front of their body, it is held in the back of the base; and when the top holds the hands behind their body, it is held in the front of the base; therefore the names can as well be used in the opposite way). In the context of general individual conditioning, as “Back Support” simply refers to what we describe as a “Reverse Plank”, as the arms “support” the body backwards, in an extended position.
Tuck-Support is a preparatory element held on the hands with the body in a vertically tucked up position (not in a horizontally tucked up position, which would be a tuck planche). Less precisely it is described as a “Tuck Sit”, which we prefer to name a similar position, when actually sitting on the floor. The tuck support is not given value in the ToD (only in preperatory programmes), but obviously should be mastered before attempting L- or Straddle-Supports. In German I call it “Hockstütz”, as it simply means a “Stütz” (Support) with the legs “(an)gehockt”, tucked in.
L-Support is a balance element held on the hands with the body in an L-Shape, where the upper body is in a vertical position and the legs are held straight and at least horizontally to the floor. Commonly also called L-Sit, which we prefer to name the position in which one is actually sitting on the floor. In German I am calling it “L-Stütz”. Another name for this element is “Pike Lever”, as the body is held in a piked position. We do not prefer this description, because the body can be held in a piked position in at least three different ways, only one of which is the L-Support. A V-Support would also be a piked lever, but with a different orientation (legs vertically, feet up), just as the Visulka as the other extreme (head-down, legs vertically, feet down). Therefore we would rather choose “Pike Levers” as the categorisation of different Support Holds in a piked position. There are two variations and progression forms of the L-Support which are both useful and important for higher level skills, both count as regular L-Sits and will not receive any kind of deduction or bonus, but each in their own way show an increased mastery of the skill:
Advanced L-Support with higher hips, where the legs are horizontally to the floor, but both the hips and legs are in more distance to the floor, e.g. at the elbow level. This progression develops the necessary compression strength for L-Press to Handstand on the floor.
Advanced L-Support with higher angled legs, where the legs are not held horizontally, and the hips are not raised significantly compared to a basic L-Support, but the feet are raised significantly higher, away from the floor in an upward angle. This progression leads towards the V-Support.
V-Support is an advanced form of the piked support, in which the legs are lifted to at least a vertical position (or even further towards the head), while the hips are pushed up to in front of the arms as a counterbalance, with mostly the triceps resisting falling backwards.
Manna, “Over-Support” or “Russian Lever”, is the most advanced form of a piked support, in which the legs and the hips are lifted so high, through and beyond the V-Support as a progression to it, that they again form a horizontal line, as in the L-Support, but above the head, with the arms in a highly extended position. In Acro the Manna only counts with legs closed.
Crocodile, short Croc, also described as an Elbow Lever, is a support hold on bent arms with the body held horizontally but resting on one or both elbows.
Bent Arm Planche is a Planche/Horizont on bent arms; it looks similar to a Croc on both elbows, but in difference to the Croc the body is not supported on the elbows but held freely between the arms, at most supported by the arms by squeezing the elbows together against the body inbetween them; it requires significantly more strength than a Croc. It is not considered an Element in Acro but it is an important position to master in the development of the Planche and the lowest position both in the Planche-Push-up as well as in the 90° Push-up.
Planche is a balance on two hands on completely straight arms and the body held horizontally to the floor; to keep the Centre of Mass at about the hips above the wrists, the shoulders are leaning significantly forward beyond the wrists, which requires high level shoulder and wrist strength. To the advantage of top partners, the wrist flexibility requirements and pressure are much lower when performed in H2H (and thus involving less injury risk), than when performed on the floor, because of the different wrist angles; it can be held much more neutral in H2H. Due to excessive strength requirements the element is also called “Krafthandstand” in German, meaning “Strength Handstand”. Another German name for the element is “Stützwaage” (Scale Support) or just “Waage” (Scale) due to the body being held evenly like a balanced scale. Yet another German name for it is “Schwebestütz”, which translates to “hovering support” as it can appear almost a bit surreal with the body hovering, levitating horizontally above the floor. In Russian the element is described as an horizontal Handstand, short Horizont, which we consider the most neutral, purely descriptive term, therefore we suggest using it. In English the element is most commonly known as a “Planche”, which is confusing insofar as that the word has basically the same meaning as “Plank” too, which doesn’t require any balance; it just describes the rigid body common to both positions. A Horizont with the hands being apart by at least ~45° degrees away from the body is called a Wide Planche. While a Planche where the Arms are ideally completely in a horizontal line alongside the body is called a “Maltese” or “Deep Planche”. In Acro though there is no differentiation between these; every planche held with the arms wide enough is considered a wide planche, without a need to actually hold the arms in one line to the body, resulting in the actual Maltese being very rarely seen, because it is much harder then a less wide planche, while not receiving more points.
One Arm Planche is a Planche or Horizont on one arm. According to the ToD of the FIG the one arm planche cannot be performed. One arm planches as done in Calisthenics are not considered planches by gymnastic standards due to bent arms and other technical shortcomings. The element is said to be impossible because it is assumed that it can either only be performed with a bent arm and/or with the body heavily twisted or not completely horizontal; in the past and for many years the only person known who came close to a clean one arm planche was a handbalancer called Professor Paulinetti, who performed it like this; as can be seen the arm is very visibly bent. In recent years some handbalancers such as ??? and calisthenics athletes such as Valentin Blanc have shown cleaner one arm planches with an almost straight arm, but still a microbend remains. We think that it might be possible that in the future the possibility of one arm planches may have to be reconsidered, but the difficulty is so extreme that it is unlikely to be performed and reserved for athletes with specific body proportions favourable to the element. A different element that sometimes is confused with a One Arm Planche is the “One Arm Airbaby”.
One Arm Airbaby, like the one arm planche, is also a balance element on one arm with the body in a horizontal position, but the body is turned sideways and it is considered a base position; it was performed in the past by a chinese pair with the top in a one arm handstand on the free arm of the base.
Lever is simply an alternative term that is sometimes used in English speaking circles instead of “Support”. Tuck Support is also called Tuck Lever, L-Support is sometimes referred to as Pike-Lever, the Crocodile as Elbow-Lever and so on. See all of the above for more detail.