Front Lever Raise

Jump to: Form > Related Exercises > Standards

If you thought holding a front lever was hard, front lever raises are even harder. Rather than holding your body straight and parallel to the ground, you have to go from a hang to an inverted hang, all while keeping your arms and body straight. This is a great exercise by itself as well as a great training tool for the front lever since it works the full range of motion. It also serves double duty as both a horizontal upper pull and a vertical upper pull movement.

The Basics

The front lever raise is primarily used as a strength exercise. It is classified as a combination, vertical upper pull, and horizontal upper pull movement. It is more generally classified as a upper pull movement. Since it involves significant activation of multiple muscle groups, it is considered a compound exercise.

Form

Set Up

• Grasp the bar with an overhand grip about shoulder width apart
• Keeping your arms straight, engage your back muscles by bringing your shoulder blades down and slightly back
• Your chest should be pulled up
• Create a straight line with your body by engaging your core and legs

Execution

• Think about leaning back
• Raise your body, keeping it and your arms straight
• As you near the top, stop the rep just before losing tension
• Lower yourself back down under control

Common Mistakes

Dead Hang

Going all the way down to a dead hang at the bottom causes you to lose tension and have to reset between each rep. Be sure to stop short of a dead hang where you still have all your back muscles engaged.

Piking at the Hips

As with the front lever, any piking of the hips makes the exercise much easier and is not good form. It's also a sign that you should likely be using an easier progression.

Related Exercises

Reviews

Performance Standard Ranks

The ranks assume that you are generally healthy, with no underlying health conditions or injuries and have the mobility to perform the exercise correctly. You can determine your rank by comparing your numbers to the tables below. Your rank is also tracked automatically when using our Workout Log feature.

Strength Standards

The tables show the one rep max* in pounds needed to reach each rank at different body weights (also in lbs). The 1RMs on the table are based on world records, balanced ratios, and the average time needed to attain each rank. To see personalized strength standards for every exercise, check out the Strength Standards page. You can also find your Strength Score to see how you rank as part of our Fitness Score System.

*Added weight if positive, assistance if negative. The planche and levers are also notable exceptions as they show the moment at the shoulder, not weight. For more info, check out the Moment Calculator page.