Advanced

Tuck Front Lever Row

This combines the horizontal body position of the front lever with an active pulling motion, so it hits the lats through a range while adding heavy biceps and mid-back work that the static hold lacks. Holding the tuck keeps the body horizontal so the row is done against your full bodyweight in a horizontal plane, far harder than a standard inverted row. Use it to build the bent-arm strength that supports front lever progress and improves overall pulling power.

Equipment
Pull-Up Bar
Body part
Biceps, Lats
Type
Strength
Browse by movement
Core Brace, Horizontal Pull
Muscles worked
Target
Latissimus Dorsi, Biceps Brachii Long Head, Biceps Brachii Short Head
Secondary
Trapezius Middle, Trapezius Lower, Lower Rectus Abdominals, Abdominal External Oblique
Tertiary
Deltoid Posterior, Infraspinatus, Brachioradialis

How to do it

  1. 1

    Pull up into a tuck front lever with the body horizontal and knees drawn toward the chest.

  2. 2

    Keeping the torso flat and level, bend the elbows to pull the bar toward your lower chest.

  3. 3

    Squeeze the shoulder blades together at the top as the bar meets your ribs.

  4. 4

    Extend the arms under control to return to the straight-arm tuck lever position without dropping the hips.

  5. 5

    Maintain the horizontal body line throughout and repeat for smooth, controlled reps.

Tips

  • Keep the hips from sagging as you row; the core must hold the lever while the arms work.
  • Pull the bar to the sternum, not the neck, and drive the elbows down and back to load the lats.
  • Open the tuck slightly to add difficulty once the compact version becomes easy.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • The hips rise and fall in time with the arms, so the body see-saws under the bar and the row gets done by a flick of the trunk rather than by the lats and biceps.
  • Reps stop an inch or two short of contact, and since there is nothing to touch you cannot tell. Pick a landmark, such as the bar meeting the bottom of the sternum, and make every rep reach it.
  • The head tips back as the chest rises, so the bar passes close to the forehead; keep the chin tucked slightly and the eyes on your knees.
  • Most of the set goes into getting into the lever, and the first row is already the tired one. Enter with one efficient pull, take a breath in the hold, then start rowing.
  • The bar gets gripped narrow and the rowing elbows then collide with the ribs; a grip an inch or two outside the shoulders leaves the elbows room to travel past the body.
  • Rep targets come from regular rows, when three to five honest reps in the lever is a strong set; the sixth is usually where the hips give out.

Frequently asked

How many tuck front lever rows should I do, and what should I be able to do first?
Four or five sets of 3 to 5 reps with two to three minutes of rest, twice a week. Before adding it, hold a tuck front lever for 15 seconds and own 10 strict pull-ups, since the hold is the price of admission and the rowing is what you are paying for. Progress by adding a rep at the same tuck, then by opening the tuck a few degrees. A set ends when the hips start to drop rather than at a number.
What can I do instead of a tuck front lever row if I do not have a bar?
Rings at head height work well and let the hands and elbows find their own path. Without anything to hang from, a feet-elevated inverted row under a sturdy table, hips held high in a tight hollow position, trains the same horizontal pull with the core holding a line, and it scales by raising or lowering the feet. A band row performed lying on your back with the band anchored above you is the lowest-load version and still teaches the bracing.
What is the tuck front lever row good for, and when is it a poor choice?
It adds a bent-arm pull to the lever, so you get heavy lat, biceps and mid-back work while the core holds a horizontal line, which builds more muscle than any lever hold and is far harder than a normal inverted row. It suits calisthenics athletes with the lever already in hand. It is a poor choice without a steady tuck hold, since the row will pull you out of position, and a poor first pick for back size, where weighted pull-ups and heavy rows give more work per minute.

Related exercises

Other movements among FitRay's 2,000+ exercises that load the same target muscle — same equipment and level first.

All Biceps exercises