Pull · Tier 4
Front Lever
A full-body straight-line hold under the bar, body horizontal and face-up, where your lats fight gravity as a giant lever and expose every weak link in your trunk.
Also known as: Full Front Lever · FL- Difficulty
- 9/10 · Elite
- Tier
- 04
- Equipment
- bar · rings
- Static hold
- ▥
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The front lever is a tier-4 pulling skill and one of the great milestones of the bodyweight world — a horizontal straight-arm hold that turns your whole body into a lever the lats have to fight. It sits directly above the tuck front lever, and the spec is honest about the entry price: a 15s tuck hold, 8+ strict pull-ups, and a 60s hollow body. Those gates aren't bureaucracy — they're the exact trunk and pulling base the full position demands.
Think of it as a hold built from a straight line, not from pulling power. The skill is owning a flat body that refuses to sag, and you earn it one inch of leg extension at a time. Respect your elbows — straight-arm tendon work rewards patience and punishes the rush.
Readiness gates
Clear these measurable conditions before forcing the skill.
15s hold
8+ reps
60s
Technique, step by step
Four checkpoints for one honest repetition or hold.
- 01Entry
Set the shoulders before you leave the ground
Take a shoulder-width overhand grip and hang dead. Pull the shoulder blades down and back — this scapular depression is the position, not an afterthought. From a tuck or a hanging dish, pull the bar down toward your hips while the body rotates up toward horizontal. Brace the abs hard before any part of you tips back, and keep the arms dead straight — bent elbows turn the hardest hold into an easy one.
- 02Position
One straight line, ribs down, glutes on
Stack the body into a single rigid line from heels to the crown of your head, parallel to the floor. Squeeze the glutes and quads to lock the legs out and point the toes. The most common leak is the hips: tuck the pelvis under, drive the ribs down, and feel the lower abs switch on so you don't sag into an arch. Push the bar away slightly with straight arms to keep the lats engaged.
- 03Hold
Stay rigid and breathe shallow
Hold the line still — no sag, no piking back up to cheat the load. Keep tension head to toe and take small, shallow breaths through a braced trunk rather than holding your breath. Pick a fixed point on the ceiling and keep the neck neutral. The instant the hips drop or the elbows soften, that's the honest end of the hold; come down clean rather than grinding a broken shape.
- 04Exit
Lower with control, don't dump it
Finish by pulling the legs down and back through a hanging dish to a controlled dead-hang — resist the urge to drop out of the position and crash into the bottom. Keep the abs braced and the shoulders set the whole way down so you don't yank the long head of the biceps. Reset the scapula at the bottom, shake out, and only re-enter once you can rebuild a clean straight line.
Skill practice guide
Public skill guidance — not your protected personalized eight-week plan.
Hold a full front lever in a dead-straight horizontal line — heels to head level, arms locked, hips up — for a controlled count.
5 holds of 5–10s at your hardest clean progression (advanced tuck, straddle, or full); rest 2–3 min between holds.
2–3×/week with 48h between pulling sessions to protect the elbow tendons.
Progress by leg length, not by grinding broken reps: own a clean 10s at one stage before opening the legs further. When 3×10s feels solid at a level, take one small step toward full — advanced tuck → single-leg → straddle → full.
Common faults
My hips sag in my front lever+
The lower abs and glutes give out before the lats, so the pelvis drops and you bow into an arch. Cue posterior pelvic tilt — tuck the hips and drive the ribs down — and reinforce it with 60s+ hollow-body holds on the floor. Regress to a tuck or advanced tuck where you can hold a truly flat line, then open the legs as the trunk catches up.
My arms bend when I try to hold the lever+
You're trying to muscle the position with the biceps because the lats and straight-arm scapular strength aren't there yet. Keep the elbows locked and think of pushing the bar toward your feet, not pulling it. Build straight-arm strength with tuck-lever holds and banded straight-arm pulldowns before chasing more open positions.
My shoulders shrug up toward my ears+
You've lost scapular depression, so the shoulders ride up and the lats disengage — the body folds at the hips almost immediately. Before lifting, pull the shoulder blades down and back and treat that as the start of the rep. Practice scapular pulls and active straight-arm hangs so depression becomes automatic under load.
I can hold a tuck but the lever collapses when I extend my legs+
Opening the legs lengthens the lever arm and multiplies the load your core and lats must resist — a tuck hold doesn't transfer one-to-one to full. Add length gradually: advanced tuck, then one-leg extended, then straddle, then full, holding 10s+ at each stage before progressing. Rushing to full is the fastest way to a sagging, useless hold.
My elbows ache the day after front lever training+
Straight-arm holds load the elbow tendons and biceps tendon hard, and tendons adapt slower than the muscles pulling on them. Cut total straight-arm volume, never train through sharp joint pain, and warm up the elbows with light banded straight-arm work first. Progress hold time in small weekly steps and give the connective tissue 48–72h to recover between sessions.
Useful setup
You need enough height that your body can sit horizontal without your back or heels touching the floor.
Rings let the wrists and shoulders rotate to a comfortable line, easing strain on loaded elbow tendons.
A long horizontal hold pulls hard on the grip; chalk keeps the bar from slipping before the lats are done.
Primary muscles
Lats · Core · Scapular retractors · Glutes