Negative Body Levers to Develop Core Strength

 Body levers are one of the most recognizable exercises from all of
Gymnastics Strength Training. Anyone regardless of their training
experience can immediately understand how difficult it must be to
hold your entire body suspended out in a straight line. This
movement has also been adopted by the martial arts over the years,
and it is widely known that Bruce Lee often regularly performed
“dragon flags” to strengthen and condition his core. The body lever
has its basis in GST, however, so read on to learn how to progress
towards doing this exercise properly.

 As you might have guessed, one cannot even begin speaking about
body levers without first mentioning the absolute necessity
of mastering the hollow body position. Without being comfortable
holding a full hollow body for a long time, there is very little chance of
success when progressing up the ladder to a more difficult core
exercise such as body levers. Remember: this ranking is not merely
the whim of an angry old gymnastics coach. Rather,
GST operates according to certain laws regarding forces like torque,
leverage, and gravity. As Coach Sommer has been known to say,
“You cannot bench press 300 pounds without first bench pressing
100.” That is just not how the body works.

 Speaking of progressions, the body lever is one of the best ways to

develop the strength required to perform a rock solid front lever.
Put simply, if you do not have the strength to hold your body
extended horizontally with your shoulders on the ground, then how
do you expect to do it without them touching? Body levers build upon
the core strength and midline stability from hollow body work by
further stressing the abdominals and hip flexors, and furthermore
they add the upper body pulling component that is necessary for front
levers. If you want a front lever, then you need to master body levers.
 To set up for body lever work, lay down face-up on the floor with
your head next to a vertical bar or pole. Grab the bar behind you with
both hands, and keeping your body in a tight tuck position, “pull” your
legs and torso up off the ground to a straight, vertical line. From this
top position, slowly lower your entire body at once, staying hollow so
that you maintain one straight line from your shoulders through your
hips all the way to your feet. Move slowly here so that you fight
against gravity here while focusing on just the negative range of
motion.

 A few notes worthy of mention here. First, many people will not even
have enough strength for the negative range of motion with their
body fully extended straight out in front of them. To scale this back a
bit, bend one or both knees as much as needed to reduce the overall
workload done by the core. Second, really focus on keeping an even
tempo throughout the lowering phase of the movement. Many
trainees mistakenly “drop” to the floor at the bottom, which
completely misses the horizontal body position that will specifically
carryover to the front lever.

Here are the key points:

1. Focus on first things first, and master your hollow body progressions before
seriously attempting body lever work.
2. Body levers have tremendous carryover to front levers when performed
properly.
3. To train body levers, focus on the negative range of motion and keeping the
body hollow.

Source: https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/body-levers-for-a-stronger-core/