Front Lever

This is the natural partner to the planche, and uses primarily the upper body 'pull' muscles as opposed to the upper body 'push' muscles used by the planche. You need a horizontal bar (or gym rings!) at least at waist height and at least as wide as your shoulders for this. The front lever has a number of progressions - too many to show in the videos - so I show the easiest and the hardest. The easiest form, the tuck front lever is not too hard. Also included are some links to good tutorials where all the intermediate progressions can be seen.

Tuck Front Lever

This is not the greatest form, but it gets to the point and shows how my tuck planche looked when I got started. I suggest looking at some of the tutorial links to get an idea of the perfect form.

Full Front Lever

...and here's where we're aiming to get to. I picked this video because once again, it gets to the point - but it also illustrates that you can really improvise! It's pretty clear that this dude has spent so much time practising his front lever that he had no time to tidy his bedroom.



Dragon Door: tutorial on progressing through the front lever and planche.

PowerAthleteMag.com: tutorial on progressing through the front lever.