Back Lever

You’ll develop full body strength as you’ll need to tighten every muscle you have in order to
hold a solid back lever, while it provides especially awesome benefits to the lats, abdominals and
lower back, it helps develop a great deal of shoulder extension mobility too. Not to mention, it
makes you look like you’re flying as you are suspended in mid-air, which is an awesome feeling
in and of itself.
Your first attempt at the back lever might go horrendously if you’re shoulder mobility is not up
to par, bicep injuries are very common from back lever training. So, it is strongly recommended
that you spend a great deal of time working on the German hang (Skin the Cat) for quite some
time before beginning direct back lever progressions, this stretch will greatly improve your
active shoulder extension flexibility and strength.

Requirements of Back Lever (At Least)

You’ll need to keep your arms in quite close to your lats in order to maintain a tight upper body,
your upper arms should be in contact with your lat as you strongly contract your upper back,
abdominals and glutes. If you’re having trouble maintaining position, actively squeeze your arms
inwards in order to generate muscular tension.
Tuck Back Lever
Aim for 5 sets of 30 seconds before moving onto the next progression

Open Tuck Back Lever

As you begin building strength with the tuck back lever, you can begin making the exercise more
challenging by flattening the back, opening the legs up and bringing the knees back until they
are just behind the elbows. This is a steppingstone that brings us closer towards the straddle and
half back levers, with a mild jump in difficulty from the tuck back lever.

Be sure to maintain a posterior pelvic tilt as you pull the ribcage down and the belly button in
towards the spine, maintaining a protracted and depressed scapula.

The head should be in a neutral position, don’t allow your head to drop down or move too far
forwards. This is a fairly uncommon progression in back lever training, you’ll rarely see tutorials
for this exercise online, but it can be very useful for gradually progressing to the more difficult
back lever progressions.

Aim for 5 sets of 30 seconds before moving onto the next progression.
Half Straddle Back Lever

Once you’ve built a considerable amount of strength with the open tuck back lever, begin to push
the hips forwards and open up your legs into a straddle with bent legs so that your toes are
pointing down towards the ground.

The knees are spread wide apart much like in a straddle but note that the feet are much closer
together. Aim to maintain a proper posterior pelvic tilt, pull the ribcage down and the belly
button in towards the spine, maintaining a protracted and depressed scapula.

Aim to perform 5 sets of 10 seconds before moving onto the next progression.

One Leg Back Lever

This provides a nice intermediary progression for those looking for a little more challenge but
lack the strength for a full back lever, as you’ll increase the mechanical disadvantage on the core
by stretching out one leg, but the fact that one leg is still bent and tucked to the chest keeps it an
obtainable hold that is easy enough to get training volume in. Tuck one leg in to the chest and
stretch one leg out behind you, point your toes to help align your body and generate muscular
tension.

Don’t allow your midsection to sag down to the floor, namely the stomach, be sure to maintain a
straight hollow body line from your shoulders down to your foot if possible. To do this, you must
keep your glutes and hamstrings extremely tight as well as your upper back and core.

Aim for 5 sets of 20 seconds before moving onto the next progression.

Straddle Back Lever

From a tuck back lever, extend your legs out straight behind you and spread wide apart, as you
keep your back flat and entire torso straight, when your legs reach this out stretched position you
should have a relatively straight line from your shoulders, through your body, to your toes.
Lightly contract your quads to help keep the knees locked and point your toes to help create full
body tension.

With both legs straight, pay extra attention to contracting your hamstrings and glutes so that
tension from the core is not lost, it should irradiate out from the abdominals and glutes to the rest
of the body, while making sure to keep your arms locked straight and elbows in close to your
lats.

Aim for 5 sets of 10 seconds

From the tuck back lever extend your legs out until you create a straight line with your body
from head to toe, point your toes straight back to emphasize maintaining straight legs and torso,
this helps keeping the legs, glutes and abdominals tight, tension that is important to hold the
position. The arms should be locked and in tight to the body, the shoulder blades should be
depressed and protracted and there should be no piking at the hips or sagging or the midsection.

Holding your entire body parallel with the ground, a full back lever is an impressive feat of
strength, whether you choose to utilize an underhand or overhand grip, go with whatever works
best for you.
Pain or Limitations in the Shoulder Joint

It’s probably obvious that both front and back levers can place quite a bit of strain on the
shoulder joint, especially if you’re not properly prepared.

If you have shoulder flexibility issues, it’s essential that you spend some time stretching and
mobilizing those shoulders before you begin lever training. Our shoulder mobility routine can be
practiced daily, or as a warm-up to your lever training.

As you work on your levers, if you experience any pain, please stop and re-evaluate. Maybe you
need to drop down a level, or spend some more time focusing on your technique. And if you
have persisting pain, please stop your lever training for now and go see a doctor. It is not worth
risking a long-term injury just to get a cool skill on the rings.