I have a new article on Return of Kings—a continuation of my first back lever article, this new article presents the last few steps to completing this difficult exercise series:

Rounding off my series of articles on the fundamental gymnastic static holds, this article will deal with the last few progressive steps of the back lever. Recall that several months ago I introduced you to this exercise, and last week I showed you the first few steps of the front lever progression. I fully intend for you to train in both of these exercises simultaneously, as strengthening one can only aid and assist the other (as I said in last week’s article, many muscle groups are utilized in these exercises, and thus it is an outstanding exercise for both gymnastics and strength training on the whole).

By this point, I will assume that you have mastered the back lever up until the inverted vertical hang. From here, you will, essentially, be rotating on your horizontal axis and opening up your hips and extending your legs out further and further in each progressive step, until your body is straight and horizontal. Having mastered the inverted vertical hang is essential here, as it is from this position that you will be lowering yourself into the horizontal progressions. If you cannot do the vertical hang, work on the exercises in the first article until you are capable of doing so.

And without further ado…

…Bear in mind that I myself cannot yet do the back lever, I am on the one leg front lever, the step just before the back lever. My research tells me there are no steps between the one-leg back lever and the true back lever, and also that it can take many months, if not a year or more, to master this gymnastic position.

As I have recently begun to go back to the gym after a year of recuperating from my car accident, I have already noticed an increase in strength (or rather, less atrophy than would be typical of injury rehabilitation) thanks to these gymnastic positions. Thus, I expect to achieve the true back lever within the next couple of months.

Read it here