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Summer is here, no doubt! Was hoping to increase my core strength this summer. Would love some input from gymnasts, fitness enthusiasts or, God-forbid, climbers who train. How do you progress a regular front lever to the one John Gill does here?

thanks,

lee

you let go with one arm. simple.

Training specificity. If you want to do a 1 arm lever then train it. We used to do a lot eccentric training with a partner for levers, crosses, etc. Have someone throw your legs up and try to lower as slow as possible. Repeat to failure. If you don't have someone to throw your legs you can rig up a bungee system to bounce from. The way his body is turned also makes me think doing iron cross work in a similar fashion on the rings. Also do lever circles with both hands on.

I would go easy at first though, looks like a great way to tear/strain your lat.

Oh and I think this lever is more about lat vs core. Weak abs/obliques won't be why you can't hold it if you can already do a regular lever.

ok... this sounds like solid advice, way better than my advice. go with what climb2core says.

Come out to hesters. We'll see ya on those levers.

I'm not sure there's a practical upside to training a one-arm front level--Gill told me himself that it's a "party trick"...and a risky one, because of the strain placed on the elbow and shoulders.

I've been lucky to spend a few days with JG in the past decade, and he has remarked about how he wishes he would have been a little less of a gluttony for punishment when it came to some aspects of his training. Since his mid 40s he had elbow and shoulder problems--and a completely torn biceps--which basically ended his hard-climbing career.

But he still boulders easy stuff (<V5) in his early 70s. Here's a photo of me pointing him the way to the next climb the circuit!

Sounds like I might need to rethink summer plans.

Thx for the awesome pic, Eric.

Lee,
Working a regular two-arm front lever is still worthwhile for climbing fitness (core, etc.)...and relatively safe.

E.

Well, I agree with Horst that it is more of a party trick. My initial thoughts were that the time spent training this would not yield nearly as much benefits and climbing practice... again training specificity. I just went and tried one. I can do a lever pretty easily still. When I let go of 1 hand I dropped like a jelly roll, lol.

Spend your time driving to Hesters.