Imagine a wooden plank, 50 cm (20 inches) deep, suspended 240 cm (7'10") above the floor. Now imagine having to to lift yourself onto this plank, then to descend and dismount.

This exercise is required of Paris firefighters. It's hard (and captured on video here, certainly with a group of firefighter-gymnasts). Trainee firefighters can earn extra credit points depending on how they execute the exercise. But all firefighters on active duty have to be able to execute the maneuver. The thinking seems to be that all firefighters should be able to climb onto (and down from) a roof or ledge.

Of course, more than competence is on display here. The Paris firefighters are an elite outfit, and the planche is one way firefighters signal excellence. Apart from its simplicity, the planche exercise is beautiful because:
  • it's a badge of membership in a tough, elite group, required of both new recruits and active firefighters; and
  • the exercise is done before a group, and in view of the group, which is bound to favor group cohesion. 

In a perfect world, continuing legal education (to take just one example) would be more like the planche exercise.