How to Do a Front Lever
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A (much) younger me 10 to 30 minutes of floor exercises every day. I would hold the planks for five to ten minutes at a time. I would do hollow bodies, leg raises, crunches, or boat exercises for a minute each and then repeat. Not to blow my own horn, but my core was strong. And you know what? I still couldn’t do a front lever.
The front levers are just hard. And mysterious because they involve complex moves that involve so much more than your core. As you can imagine, the abdominal muscles provide tension and prevent your hips from tipping forward. But the lats, along with some supporting back and shoulder muscles, are perhaps more important than the abs because they provide shoulder extension. Your trapezius helps keep your shoulder blades pulled together. Your glutes and hip flexors also play a role. A multi-faceted approach is therefore crucial, and since individual strengths, weaknesses, and physique also play a role (more on that later), there is no one-size-fits-all path to success.
It’s worth noting that front levers, like one-armed, have limited use for hard climbing. I know many climbers who climb 5.14-plus (even 5.15) or V14 and still can’t do a front lever. In my own experience, I’ve been able to do two or three second front levers only at peak condition – after a heavy training cycle and after a period of tapering before important red point attempts. Front levers are hard exercises that are great for training and can be a worthy goal to strive for, but for some climbers (again: body type) they’re not necessary to climb hard.
Before work
Before I dive into the front lever progression, there are a few complementary exercises that I have found helpful. Bonus: They’re also helpful when climbing.
L seats: These are great for strengthening your lower core, but they also hit your pecs, shoulders, quads, and triceps. To perform an L-Sit, grab a pair of parallets. Push yourself onto the parallettes and raise your legs into an L or V position. Stop. L-sits are simple but challenging and can also be performed on the floor for an added challenge.
dragonflies: These are floor versions of the front lever. Lie down next to something solid that you can grab overhead, such as a B. a support beam or a heavy exercise machine. Raise your feet directly overhead so that your upper back and shoulders support you. Then deeper. The slower the better, keep your body flat and careful not to poke at the end of the movement (keep your butt tight!).
Skin the Cats: Skin-the-Cats can be thought of primarily as a shoulder mobility exercise. I find them important when I’m on a training cycle that involves a lot of other hanging exercises that can cause inflammation and tension in my shoulders. You just can’t expect to strengthen tight shoulders without hurting yourself. Skin-the-Cats help keep everything loose and are also great for increasing core strength and stability. Start by hanging from a pole. Keeping your legs straight, thread them through your arms and all the way around so you do a 360 flip without letting go. Then reverse. Make sure to stay in control throughout the exercise.
Weighted pull-ups: Pull-ups with weights strengthen your lats, shoulders, and the other back muscles important for performing a front lift. Interestingly, calisthenics coach “Frinks” (check out his YouTube channel Frinksmovement TV) conducted a survey to see if there was a link between weighted pull-ups and front levers. He received 322 replies. Of the group that could do a maximum weighted pull-up that was 30 to 50 percent of their bodyweight, most could only do an advanced tuck (see below for what that is). The same goes for those who pull 50 to 65 percent of their weight. But once respondents could perform weighted pull-ups at 60 to 85 percent of their bodyweight, most could perform full front leverage.
bench press: This may seem strange, but believe it or not, I’ve seen the most gains in my front levers after adding bench presses (and other pressing maneuvers, like overhead presses) to my routine. Weak antagonists limit agonistic movement, so it makes sense that as I started to improve my bench press, my weighted pull-ups also increased, as did my front leverage ability. (Likewise, adding dips to your routine would be helpful!)
progression
Tuck lever: Start off a pole in a dead hang. Roll your legs toward your chest and rotate them so your back is parallel to the floor. Once you can hold this position for 20 to 30 seconds, try moving.
Advanced Tuck: Same as the tuck lever, except straighten both legs slightly so your knees are over your hips. (Think of this as a hanging version of the tabletop position.) Try to hold for 20 to 30 seconds.
Supported Levers: This can be done at any time during the course. Attach resistance bands to the bar or rings and thread your legs through them. Then hold the position of the front lever. I recommend interval training here, e.g. B. 10 seconds on and 5 seconds off for 1 minute, repeats until you reach 1 minute. Repeat for 3 to 5 sets. You can increase the difficulty by reducing the resistance of the band or adding ankle weights.
Negative leverage: Sfrom an inverted slope (with legs and torso straight up) and lower as slowly as possible. Aim for three to five (or more!) reps.
Single Leg Levers: Start in a squat lever position, then extend one leg. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds. Increase the difficulty by slightly straightening the bent leg.
spreader lever: Spreader bars are performed when your legs are spread in a V position. It may be easier to do them as negative levers first and then move on to holding the slide tackle.
Ice Machines: Pull to a forward lever position and lower as slowly as possible. Complete five or more sets.
Final Thoughts
Like it or not, weight distribution is important when it comes to being able to perform front leverage. The lower your center of gravity, the longer the moment arm. Therefore, those of us equipped with heavier legs will have to exert more force to hold the lever.
It’s also important to remember that as climbers, it’s not about points on the gymnastic rings, it’s about the ability to hang our bodies in front of us. The difference there is huge in terms of the power required, but negligible in my humble opinion when it comes to climbing crossovers. In other words, I think the greatest applicability to our sport comes from doing an OK front lever with a sagging butt. I think anything beyond that gets you more style points but less climbing gains.