Videos
Instructions
- Hang from a pull-up bar with an overhand grip, arms fully extended.
- Engage your core and initiate a slight kip by swinging your legs backward.
- Drive your legs upward toward the bar, aiming to touch your toes to it.
- Keep your body controlled throughout the movement.
- Lower your legs smoothly back to the starting position to complete the rep.
Technical Tips
- Use an active shoulder position by engaging your lats.
- Coordinate your kip with your core for efficient upward motion.
- Maintain straight legs for optimal range and core tension.
Breathing Tips
- Exhale as you lift your toes toward the bar.
- Inhale as you return your legs to the starting position.
Medical restrictions
- Lower back injury
- Shoulder impingement
- Abdominal hernia
Toes-to-bar is a high-intensity core exercise commonly performed in CrossFit and advanced calisthenics routines. Executed from a hanging position on a pull-up bar, this movement involves lifting the legs upward to touch the toes to the bar, engaging the entire abdominal chain with added demand on grip, shoulders, and hip flexors. The dynamic nature of the toes-to-bar makes it effective for building explosive core strength, enhancing coordination, and improving full-body control. It is often used in functional fitness settings as both a strength and conditioning tool due to its metabolic demand and technical challenge. Toes-to-bar also reinforces mobility through the posterior chain and encourages active shoulder engagement, which contributes to injury prevention and improved overhead performance. As an advanced movement, it requires foundational strength and coordination, making it a progression from simpler hanging core exercises like knee raises or knees-to-elbows. Incorporating toes-to-bar into training programs helps athletes develop power, stability, and endurance in the midline, making it a valuable addition to any performance-focused routine.
What muscles do toes-to-bar work?
Toes-to-bar primarily target the abdominal muscles while also engaging the obliques, lats, hip flexors, and stabilizing muscles in the shoulders and back.
Is toes-to-bar good for core strength?
Yes, toes-to-bar is highly effective for developing core strength, control, and endurance, making it a staple in advanced core training routines.
How can I progress to doing toes-to-bar?
Start with hanging knee raises, then advance to knees-to-elbows and strict leg raises to build the strength and control needed for toes-to-bar.
Do I need to kip in toes-to-bar?
Kipping is commonly used in CrossFit to perform toes-to-bar efficiently during high-rep workouts, but strict variations build more raw core strength.