Front Lever Raises

Front lever raises are an advanced calisthenics exercise in which you hang from a pull-up bar and pull your straight body up until your torso is parallel to the ground, then lower under control. Unlike a static front lever hold, the raise trains the position through its full range, so every rep asks the lats, the abs and the hip flexors to fight gravity from a different lever length. Who is ready for it? Athletes who can already hold a tuck front lever for 15 seconds and own a strict pull-up usually manage two or three clean reps on their first attempt. Everyone else builds up through tuck and one-leg variations first. The straight-arm demand is what separates this from a pull-up: the elbows stay locked, so the lats and the long head of the triceps hold the whole body in place while the core keeps the hips from sagging.