How to Do Front Lever Pullups

The front lever pullup is a member of a group of elite bar and ring exercises that are used by advanced bodyweight trainers. Derived from the lever position in gymnastics, the front lever pullup gives you a good starting point to do a full lever by using the pullup to transition power to the lever.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Pull up to arms-bent. The first step of the front lever pullup is to get up to the bar (or rings) until your arms are bent. Pull up in one smooth motion and stop when your eyes are level with the bar. Keep your arms bent and steady yourself in this position so that you can move into the lever phase of the exercise.
2. Leverage out. From the up stage of the pullup, you need to bring your body to a horizontal position. Raise your legs from a vertical alignment to a horizontal one until your entire body is parallel to the floor. As you do so, push yourself away from the bar or rings so that your hands are in a vertical line with your abdomen, instead of your chest or shoulders.
3. Pull up from the lever. To complete the up phase of the lever pullup raise yourself up to the bar while keeping yourself in the horizontal position. The upward movement should look a feel like an upright row or a reverse bench press. Try touch your torso to the bar, or go as high as you can, and then lower back down to the lowered lever position.
4. Drop down or continue lever reps. After the first full rep you can either continue to do the pullups from the lever position or you can lower yourself down to a dead hang to repeat the lever pullup from its beginning position. Experiment with both options to see how they affect your workout differently.