How To Do Toes To Bar For CrossFit: The Complete Guide

There a several movements in CrossFit that recreational gym goers and CrossFit Athletes alike simply just need to be able to do if they hope to have success. The Toes-To-Bar exercise is no exception. This gymnastic exercise tests your core strength, shoulder mobility, grip strength, and ability to maintain the hollow position.

A position that is crucial to many of the gymnastics skills. Regardless of whether you are new to CrossFit or you have been throwing down as a seasoned athlete for some time now, conquering both this gymnastics movement is essential if you wish to elevate your functional fitness and crush your next CrossFit WOD (workout of the day).

In this week’s article, we will break down the key components of the movement so that you can get your first rep or set a new unbroken repetition personal record. 

What are Toes-To-Bar?

If you are a brand new CrossFit Athlete then you may not be quite sure what a Toes-To-Bar is. Well, as the name implies it is a gymnastics movement that is a great way to develop total core and upper body strength. The movement is performed, typically on a pull-up bar, and is executed by using the hip flexors to bring the toes to the bar. 

The movement can be performed in different ways. You can develop motor control and muscle endurance by performing strict toes-to-bar or you can use the kipping variation to perform a “kipping toes-to-bar” where you are utilizing a kip swing to assist in bringing the toes to the bar. 

Being able to execute the movement with great technique and maintain it throughout your CrossFit WOD requires great amounts of grip strength, and muscle endurance in your abdominal muscles which we will cover shortly on how to develop.

Why Should CrossFit Athletes Train The Toes-To-Bar?

​Aside from the movement simply being a common CrossFit movement found inside gyms across the world, the Toes-To-Bar movement is a great way to develop various muscles in the upper body if you are after an improved physique. But, it also is a mainstay in the sport of fitness. 

According to the Morning Chalk Up, a popular news outlet covering various topics in the CrossFit Games and various CrossFit Athletes, the Toes-To-Bar movement is the third most commonly programmed movement. In fact, it has appeared in the CrossFit Open twelve out of thirteen years. So, if you hope to put your best foot forward in competition then building your capacity in this movement is arguably the first thing you’ll want to do. 

Components of The Toes-To-Bar

Core Strength

When I am programming Toes-To-Bar, I primarily view it as a way to develop my athlete’s ability to maintain their Hollow Body Position. The hollow position is vital to almost every gymnastic movement because it allows you to fully engage the abdominal muscles of the core and translate the power you generate from the kip swing into the muscles of above and below to propel your straight legs to a flexed trunk position and complete the rep. 

However, in order to maintain the Hollow Body Position, a great deal of strength is needed in the abdominal muscles, hip flexors, and other muscles involved in posteriorly tilting the pelvis. Thus, great progressions need to be in place to build you from motor control to muscle endurance in the core pattern so that this posterior tilt can be maintained by the core muscles through metcons whether you are strict or kipping toes-to-bar. 

Shoulder Strength & Mobility 

Most upper body injuries occur because the mechanics of the movement are not correct. Attempting to perform toes-to-bar in Crossfit workouts without full range of motion of the shoulders and upper back is a recipe for disaster. 

Ever hit a workout with larger sets of toes-to-bar and a little bit after the workout your elbows start to ache? Well, chances are you lack either range of motion in your shoulder joints or have poor lat activation or rotator cuff strength to stabilize the shoulder as you perform the movement. 

Prior to getting on the pull-up bar to train toes-to-bar, make sure you can comfortably maintain the dead hang position with no compensation through the upper back or lower back. As well as check your ability to pass the “Scratch Test” which is the primary shoulder assessment test I use inside of my 1:1 Pain-Free Performance Program to ensure the shoulder joints have full range of motion. 

If you would like to learn more about developing shoulder mobility for CrossFit head on over to read my article: How You Can Quickly Improve Shoulder Mobility For CrossFit

Grip Strength

I think it goes without saying that grip strength is a critical component of the Toes-To-Bar exercise. In order to complete the movement the grip must be maintained on the pull-up bar. This is often an overlooked aspect of the movement but will be the limiting factor in most CrossFit Athletes who have developed proper core strength. 

If you struggle with grip strength you can opt for a good set of hand grips, but no accessory device will replace good old-fashioned strength in the forearm muscles. So, you can train your grip using carry variations or simple bar progressions such as moving from a timed dead hang to knee tucks, to strict toes-to-bar etc. 

Pre-Requisites For Toes-To-Bar

The first step in mastering the Toes-To-Bar is developing the pre-requisite characteristics needed to perform the movement. For the “Core” pattern, one of the 6 foundational compound movement patterns, this will entail building motor control and then strength endurance. 

Building Motor Control: Core Muscles

Motor control in a movement pattern is defined as the ability to perform the movement with great technique and consistency. In this stage you are learning the movement and your nervous system is getting better at coordinating muscle actions to complete the task. As the movement becomes more complex the nervous system and thus, motor control will be further challenged. 

Motor control for the core pattern will first be assessed using the Side Plank and the Front Plank. The goal for each of these movements is to maintain great positioning for 90-seconds per side on the Side Plank and 60-seconds on the Front Plank. 

Once these are achieved it can be assumed that you’re abdominal muscles and nervous system are ready for increased challenge. 

Building Strength Endurance: Core Muscles

Now that you have the ability to maintain great positions on the plank variations the next step is testing and building your strength endurance in the core pattern. This is done by using the Strict Knees To Elbow movement which is essentially moving from a dead hang hollow position to a fully flexed position where the knees make contact with the arms or elbows. 

This is done without a kip swing and utilizes the Latissimus Dorsi, abdominal muscles, and hip flexors to lift the legs up for as many repetitions as possible before failure is reached. The goal for this test is to achieve five repetitions with a controlled range of motion.  

Once you can perform 5 Strict Knees To Elbows then you have reached the point where you have the total upper body strength to move into more dynamic movements like kipping toes-to-bar. 

If you would like to learn more about this strength progression for CrossFit head on over to read my article: The Best Program For Building Strength In CrossFit

Mastering the Toes-To-Bar Technique

Okay, so you have just cleared the prerequisites for the movement and are ready to dial in the toes-to-bar technique. So, let’s dive into the entire process below.

1. Dead Hang From The Pull-Up Bar

The first step to performing the Toes-To-Bar exercises is to assume a hanging position on the pull-up bar with the hands shoulder width apart. Given that you have spent time developing grip strength as you approached passing the strict knees-elbows movement, this should be no problem.

2. Move To A Hollow Body Position

Once you are up on the pull-up bar, you’ll want to engage the core muscles and Latissimus Dorsi (the “Lats”) to posteriorly tilt the pelvis to maintain a hollow position with the belly button pulled in and a slight arch position so that you can take full advantage of the kip swing in the next step. 

3. Initiate The Kip Swing

To initiate the Kip Swing, allow the chest to come through the “window” created by the arms overhead and while keeping straight legs, extend the hips backward. 

4. Elevate The Toes To The Bar

From the fully extended position, reverse directions and use the momentum created by the hips to elevate the toes to the bar. 

Ensure Full Range of Motion

Achieving a full repetition by CrossFit standards largely depends on two factors. 

– Making sure that the feet pass through the plane of the rack by fully extending the hips 

– Making full contact with the feet on the pull-up bar. 

A Simple Toes-To-Bar Progression

Here is a super simple progression that you can use to move all the way from developing core strength, into performing full kipping Toes-To-Bar. 

Floor Work:

1) Front Plank – Work towards building to a full 60-seconds

2) Side Plank – Work towards building to a full 90-seconds per side

3) Hollow Body Position Holds – work towards holding for 30-:60 

Bar Progression:

1) Active Hangs In Hollow Position – Work towards holding for :30-:60 

2) Knee Raises – Work towards large sets of 10-15 repetitions 

3) Knees To Elbows – Work towards large sets of 10-15 repititions 

4) Strict Knees To Elbows – Work toward large sets of 10-15 repititions 

5) Strict Toes-To-Bar – Work towards large sets of 6-8 repititions 

6) Kipping Toes-To-Bar – work towards making these as sustainable as possible

​If you would like to learn more about building gymnastics skills for CrossFit you should definitely read my article: The Best Training to Improve Gymnastic Skills In CrossFit

The Wrap-Up!

You now have everything you need to start crushing the Toes-To-Bar exercise in your next metcon! Developing gymnastics skills is really no different than pursuing any other skill in CrossFit. You first need to determine what is needed from a characteristic standpoint and then create progressions around translating those characteristics into functional movement. 

CrossFit has a tremendous amount of skills that need to be learned. So my advice to you from someone who has been coaching and doing CrossFit for over 10 years is to try your best not to get frustrated. Understand that skill development is a long-term process. But, what happens is if you can put your head down and make practicing the skills you want a habit and fall in love with the process of training, one-day things just click.

This has been the case for almost any gymnastics skill I have encountered and I am sure it will be the same for you. So, give the progression above a shot in your training and see how it goes. 

Plus, if you think you need a little bit of help you can book a completely free consultation HERE to see how I can help you elevate your fitness, train sustainably, and avoid injury.