Hanging Toes to Bar
Description
Hanging toes to bar is an advanced core exercise where you hang from a pull-up bar and lift your feet all the way up to touch the bar at hand level. It demands elite core and hip-flexor strength, lat engagement, and body control. It is a standard movement in CrossFit competition and an excellent measure of relative core strength.
Equipment Required
Hanging Toes to Bar Instructions
- Hang from a sturdy pull-up bar with an overhand grip, hands just outside shoulder-width.
- Pull your shoulders down and back. Engage your lats by pulling slightly down on the bar.
- Start with a slight hollow-body position. Brace your core hard.
- Initiate the movement with a slight lat pulldown, then lift your legs up by contracting your abs and hip flexors.
- Keep your legs straight (or slightly bent) and continue lifting until your toes touch the bar between your hands.
- At the top, your feet should contact the bar. Your body will be in a compressed pike position.
- Lower your legs slowly under control back to the hanging start position.
- If strict reps are too difficult, build up through hanging knee raises, hanging leg raises, and toes-near-bar progressions.
Hanging Toes to Bar Form & Visual
Hanging Toes to Bar Benefits
- Builds elite core and hip-flexor strength
- Trains the lats and shoulders through the hanging position
- Develops body control and coordination
- Standard CrossFit benchmark movement
- Improves grip strength heavily
- One of the best tests of relative core strength
Hanging Toes to Bar Muscles Worked
- Rectus abdominis
- Hip flexors (iliopsoas)
- Obliques
- Latissimus dorsi (engagement)
- Forearms and grip
- Shoulders (stabilizer)
Hanging Toes to Bar Variations & Alternatives
- Hanging Leg Hip Raise
- Hanging Knees to Elbows
- Hanging Straight-Leg Hip Raise
- Hanging Pike
- Hanging Hollow Hold
- Kipping Toes to Bar (CrossFit)
- Strict Toes to Bar
- Weighted Toes to Bar (ankle weights)
