Front lever progression
6 front lever holds of 10 s at your level, 2.5 min rest.
- Slot
- Strength
- Focus
- Stability
- Time
- 14 min
- Intensity
- High
- Injury risk
- High
- Intervals
- 6 × 10s on, 2:30 off
- Equipment
- Pull up bar, Rings
How to do it
A front lever is hanging from a bar with your body held horizontal, face up. Pick the version you can hold with good form: tuck (knees pulled to your chest), advanced tuck (back flat, knees bent), one leg straight, or full with a band under your hips. Hang with straight arms, pull your shoulders down, and lift into position. Hold 10 seconds, rest 2.5 minutes, and do 6 holds.
High injury risk. Only do this fully warmed up, rested and injury-free, and stop at the first sign of pain in your fingers or elbows. Training is at your own risk.
Who it’s for
Steep climbing and roofs, where holding your body away from the wall is the whole game. It also builds the straight-arm pulling strength that most climbers never train.
Common mistakes
- Bent arms. Straight arms, shoulders pulled down. A bent-arm lever is a different exercise and a much easier one.
- Hips sagging. Pick the version you can hold with a flat body. A wobbly full lever builds less than a solid tuck.
- Holding your breath. Ten seconds is long enough that you need to breathe through it.
- Skipping progressions. Tuck, advanced tuck, one leg, then full. Each one has months in it.
How to progress
Move to the next shape when you can hold the current one for ten clean seconds on all six reps. A band under the hips is a good intermediate step between one leg and full.
When it fits
The training periods this exercise fits into in Blok Sessions.
- Strength Stronger fingers and pulling, with weight you control.
- Power Explosive moves, momentum and coordination.
- Performance Peak for a trip or a comp: focus, reading problems, trying hard.
Related blocks
Start with a ready-made block
A six-week strength plan with a deload, as a file for the app, and seven short emails on how to run it.