Front Lever
oec:front-lever
An advanced calisthenics isometric hold where the body is suspended horizontally face-up from an overhead bar or rings with straight arms.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
How to do it
Setup
- Grip an overhead bar with a shoulder-width pronated grip, or take a neutral grip on gymnastic rings.
- Hang with fully extended arms, depressed and slightly retracted scapulae, and engaged core.
Movement
- Pull down forcefully through the arms to rotate your entire body backwards until it is completely horizontal and parallel to the floor.
- Lock your elbows completely straight and actively depress your shoulders away from your ears.
- Squeeze your abdominals, glutes, and quadriceps together to maintain a rigid, straight line from head to heels.
- Hold the horizontal position for the prescribed duration without letting your hips sag or pike.
- Lower your body under control back to a vertical dead hang.
Breathing
Take a deep breath before lifting into position and maintain shallow, controlled breaths while sustaining maximal abdominal bracing throughout the hold.
Cues
- Drive your hands down into the bar.
- Keep elbows locked out straight.
- Squeeze your glutes and point your toes.
Common faults
- Piking at the hips to reduce the lever arm.
- Squeeze the glutes and press the hips upward so your pelvis forms a continuous straight line with your torso and legs.
- Bending the elbows to compensate for insufficient lat and shoulder strength.
- Keep elbows locked straight; regress to tuck, advanced tuck, or straddle variations if unable to maintain locked arms.
- Elevation and rounding of the shoulders forward into passive protraction.
- Actively depress the scapulae down towards your back pockets and maintain neutral to slightly retracted shoulder blades.
Safety
- Ensure the bar or ring suspension system is rated for bodyweight swinging and static holds.
- Warm up the shoulders, elbows, and wrists thoroughly before attempting full-lever holds.
Muscles
Joints
- Shoulder: Isometric stabilization
- Shoulder blade: Isometric stabilization, Depression, Retraction
- Elbow: Isometric stabilization
- Lumbar spine: Isometric stabilization
- Hip: Isometric stabilization
Details
- Movement
- Anti-extension, Horizontal pull
- Modality
- Calisthenics, Strength
- Mechanics
- compound
- Force
- static
- Laterality
- bilateral
- Kinetic chain
- closed
- Level
- advanced
- Equipment
- Pull-up bar or Gymnastic rings
- Record
- Duration
- Load
- bodyweight
Related
- progression of Tuck Front Lever
- regression of Front Lever Pull-Up
- progression of Dragon Flag
Sources
- wger: Front Lever, by clafal (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.