Front Lever: Progression, How to Do It and Muscles Worked

A front lever is a straight-arm hold under a bar or rings, with the body face up and level with the floor. Your lats and core do most of the work. Along with the back lever and the planche, it is one of the three classic lever holds in calisthenics. This page shows you which step of the progression you are on, how to do each step, and what the hold trains.

How to do a front lever

1. Hang from a pull-up bar with an overhand grip, hands about shoulder-width apart.
2. Keep the arms straight and pull the shoulder blades down and back.
3. Brace the core, squeeze the glutes and keep the legs together.
4. Push the bar down toward your hips, as you would in a straight-arm lat pulldown, and lean back as the hips and legs rise.
5. Stop when your body is level with the floor, in one straight line from head to toes, and hold.
6. Lower slowly back to the hang.

Keep your head neutral. Tipping it back or tucking the chin strains the neck. At each step, lower slowly into the position before you try to hold it, then build the hold time while keeping the body line.

Muscles worked in the front lever

• Lats: the main muscles. They pull your arms down toward your hips and keep your body up.
• Teres major: helps the lats hold the arms in place.
• Rear delts and lower traps: keep the shoulders pulled down and back.
• Abs and obliques: stop the midsection from sagging or twisting.
• Lower back and glutes: keep the body in one straight line.
• Forearms: hold your grip on the bar.

Benefits of the front lever

The front lever builds straight-arm pulling strength in the lats and core, which ordinary pull-ups do not train. It also teaches you to tense the whole body at once, and that skill carries over to other bar and ring work. All you need is a bar.

Exercises that build toward the front lever

If the tuck front lever is out of reach, build the base with these. They cover the grip, the pulling strength and the core strength the lever needs.

• Dead hangs: hang from the bar with straight arms and the body still. They build grip and shoulder strength. See our dead hang guide.
• Pull-ups: strong lats and shoulder blades are the base of every lever. See our pull-up guide.
• Inverted rows: a row under a bar at hip height, with the body straight from head to heels. See our inverted row guide.
• Plank: teaches you to hold a straight body line. See our plank guide.
• Hollow body hold: the same body shape as the lever, lying on the floor. See our hollow body hold guide.

Once you can hold the lever, front lever raises (pulling up into the lever and lowering out of it) add a harder, moving version. See our front lever raises guide. For the face-down version of the skill, see the back lever guide.

Front lever FAQ

Is the front lever a beginner or an advanced exercise?

Advanced. It needs strong lats and a strong core before even the tuck version feels steady. Start with the step the check above gives you.

Should I learn the front lever on a bar or on rings?

On a bar. Rings move, so they add a balance problem on top of the strength problem. Move to rings once the hold is solid on the bar.

Is the front lever harder than the back lever?

For most people, yes. In the back lever your arms sit behind you and the shoulders are more locked in place. The front lever needs the shoulders, arms and core to hold the level line together, with less help from the joint position.