Apparent surfaces

## Definition

The apparent contact surface and the effective contact surface are two physics terms that are quite different, but both have their importance in street workout.

In physics, the effective surface of an object is every point of contact of this object with the floor (or any surface against which friction is created). In the case of street workout, when we do a floor planche, it is out palms, fingers, phalanx...Every point of our hand in contact with the floor. According to Coulomb's law, the weight of our body is not uniformly distributed on the surface: for example in a supinated floor planche, the weight will remain mainly in the center of the palm and the hypothenar (the meaty region under the pinky).

The apparent surface on the other hand, is every point on the floor over which the center of gravity of the object can be placed without losing balance. In the previous example, the object is our whole body, and the apparent surface is our hands as well as the region between them.

## Application

Why should we study apparent and effective contact surfaces to progress in street workout? Because they can make skills a lot easier, as well as prevent injuries.

Not that the following advice will mainly apply to floor training, but can also be used on bars and rings.

On the floor, spreading our fingers wide apart increases the apparent surface and allows a better weight distribution on the hands. That is why

A two-finger planche is harder to balance than a fingertip or floor planche, because the apparent surface is drastically reduced, as well as the effective surface (less places where the counterbalancing force can be applied).

It is the same for supinated planche, bar is harder to balance than floor. Finally, for iguana, balance is very hard because the apparent and effective surface are very similar.

We can then look to improve our management of those two surfaces in order to gain the most of it. It is also used in weight lifting, gymnastics and many other sports.

### The wider, the better

Spreading your fingers wide apart gives you:

* A bigger apparent surface, which make the hold easier.
* A more extended effective surface. This will make balance adjustement easier, and ditribute the surface more evenly on the hand.

If your thumb is forward oriented, extending the pinky adds a tremendously big apparent surface. However, letting the little finger alone in charge of such a big surface can be dangerous. Moreover, the hand placement becomes very unoptimized.

### False or no false

In false grip, the effective surface will vary whether or not you grab the bar with your hand after placing your wrist on it. By grabbing the bar, you have more effective surface, which allow a better weight distribution (and thus, a small strength bonus).

In no false, having the thumb over the bar will increase both the effective and apparent surface, giving a tremendous strength bonus.

The same applies on rings. Using Omni Grip tremendously increases both surfaces too.

### Fingertips

When doing a planche on four fingers or less, the apparent surface is drastically reduced. The reduction of the effective surface leads to the weight being completely distributed on the fingers. To fight against the reduction of the apparent surface, it is advised to slightly internally rotate the arm (third finger coming a bit in front of the index finger) to create some kind of apparent surface (and not a straight line).

### Parallel bars/rings

Using a palm grip (the bar or rings comes diagonally in your hand, the hypothenar is behind the bar in supination) increases the effective surface.

Turning the rings slightly inwards gives a better apparent surface, but it is healthier to keep them outwards.