Learning the Front Lever

When Jeff Tucker speaks, he’s passing on two decades of gymnastics instruction—delivered in a friendly southern drawl, of course.

At CrossFit Gymnastics Certifications, Tucker demystifies movements that seem impossible at first, and he emphasizes how the focused strength development in gymnastics movements will carry over and help athletes meet the core stability demands of CrossFit training. Training aside, the ability to move one’s body weight effortlessly and with confidence will transfer over to daily life as well, making gymnastics an important part of any general physical preparedness program.

At a gymnastics certification at CrossFit Butcher’s Lab in Denmark, Tucker teaches the front lever to a group of students. Using a progression of skill-development drills, he makes the highly demanding movement accessible to an athlete of any skill level.

Tucker encourages athletes to train this movement as a skill set, a warm-up or even as a stand-alone workout.

4min 10sec

Additional reading: The Russian’s Gymnastics Warm-Up by Leo Soubbotine, published Nov. 21, 2009.