The CrossFit Open reveals everything: strengths, weaknesses, nerves, and grit. Every year, we’re challenged with some familiar — and some not-so-familiar — movements, testing not just fitness, but confidence under pressure. If you want to thrive in the Open, it comes down to preparation and understanding the fundamentals.

In this article series, we’re breaking down the movements most commonly seen in the CrossFit Open with clear tips, smart training progressions, and insights from CrossFit’s expert trainers. Whether you’re chasing Quarterfinals, a higher leaderboard spot than last year, or simply showing up to put in honest work, these articles are designed to help you move better, train smarter, and step into the competition with confidence.

If this series inspires you to dive deeper and learn more about training and movement, check out our course library, including the foundational Level 1 Course (available online or in person), or other online options on nutrition, anatomy, scaling, and more. See all available courses here.

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The Toes-to-Bar

The toes-to-bar is a challenging core movement often seen in the CrossFit Open and in regular CrossFit programming. Toes-to-bars can be performed strict or using a kip — kipping is the most common use in the Open. To properly execute kipping toes-to-bars, an athlete must master the kip swing and efficiently lift their toes to the bar. This movement requires not only strength in the grip, lats, hip flexors, and abdominal muscles, but also the coordination to move seamlessly from extension to flexion in the hanging position, firing the hip flexors, lats, and abdominals to bring the toes to the bar. The return to the arch position between reps is equally as important as the lifting phase when performing multiple reps consecutively. Focusing on actively pulling the feet back and down as the chest moves forward into the arch position helps avoid unnecessary swinging when resetting for the next rep. Dedicated strength development and practice that maximizes efficiency and increases muscular endurance are critical for performing more reps in a conditioning workout. 

Common Faults

• Excessive lower-body movement on the kip swing: It is natural for athletes to swing their legs forward and backward excessively to gain the momentum needed to lift their legs to the bar. However, this causes an uncontrolled, pendulum-like swing that takes the athlete out of rhythm. Instead, proper execution of the kip swing involves initiating at the shoulders by pulling and pressing into the pull-up bar with the upper body, moving the athlete through the arch and hollow positions. To correct this fault, athletes can practice arches and hollows on the floor, or a coach can use targets for the athlete to touch with their torso while kipping. 
   
• Lack of Lat Engagement: Many athletes fail to "push down" on the bar with straight arms, or they bend their arms too early in the kip swing. In either scenario, the athlete fails to engage the lats properly, so the torso remains too upright, making it very hard to elevate the hips enough for the toes to reach the bar. Athletes should isolate the kip swing and practice pulling down on the bar in the hollow position to elevate their hips.
   
• Poor Timing and Rhythm: To link reps, the athlete must aggressively pull their feet down and back behind them, and the vertical plane of the bar, as soon as their feet touch at the top, while simultaneously pushing their chest forward into a strong arch. Then, naturally, the body will swing back into the hollow position, and the athlete moves into the next rep. Athletes can practice this skill by doing hanging knee raises and driving their feet back behind them, or by kicking up from a box into the finish position of a toes-to-bar, then bringing their feet down and back aggressively, finding their arch position, and flowing into the next rep before resetting.

Progression

There are a variety of methods to progress toward kipping toes-to-bars that involve breaking the movement down into smaller, more manageable skills and progressively increasing the difficulty. 

Here is a movement progression for developing the swing:

1. Hollow and arch holds: While hanging from a pull-up bar, hold the hollow position (body slightly rounded, ribs down, head neutral) and arch position (body extended, head through the arms, feet behind the body).
    
2. Kip Swings: Practice rhythmically transitioning between the hollow and arch positions, pushing down on the bar to maintain tension and get height.
    
3. Hanging Knee Raises: From the hollow position, the knees are brought toward the chest, then the feet are driven down to return to the arch position, resetting for the next rep.

Here is a mini-progression to get to a complete toes-to-bar rep:

1. Kipping Knees to Chest: As the kip swing moves into the hollow position, push down on the bar with straight arms to elevate the hips and then pull the knees to the chest, preparing for the flick.
    
2. Tuck and Flick: At the highest point of hip elevation in the kip (hollow position), the athlete quickly tucks the knees and flicks their feet toward the bar. It may take a few reps to flick the feet high enough that they make contact with the bar. 

Here is a mini-progression for linking reps together: 

1. 2 Kip Swings + 2 Kipping Knees-to-Chest: Each set, the athlete performs two kip swings followed by two kipping knees-to-chest, practicing driving the feet behind them into the arch position to develop the rhythm of linked toes-to-bars.
    
2. 2 Kip Swing + 2 Toes-to-Bars: The athlete performs two kip swings then two toes-to-bars. On the toes-to-bar, focus on driving the heels down immediately after the toes touch the bar and on actively pushing the head and chest through to form a solid arch position, initiating the next swing. 

Overcoming Frustration

The strength and coordination demands of the kipping toes-to-bar can be challenging to master.  Consider the following to make the process more enjoyable:

• Set Process-Oriented Goals: Determine the first drill to practice and set aside time each week to practice this skill until it is mastered, before moving on to the next drill in the progression.
   
• Refocus on Strict Strength Development: Hanging from a bar, strict hanging knee raises, and straight-leg raises on the ground can be used to build the strength necessary for toes-to-bars. 
   
• Record Yourself: Watching a video of your attempts is often the fastest way to identify the faults that are preventing you from advancing. This can be especially helpful if you do not have a coach. 
   
• Celebrate Small Wins: Mastering the hollow and the arch, feeling elevation from the kip swing, and finding rhythm with knee raises are all solid wins along the path to kipping toes-to-bars.

Practice

Consistent practice is critical for success. Create a plan that allows for consistent practice over weeks. Use your warm-ups and cool-downs as practice time a few times per week. The plan should be structured but still allow some freedom for change and some fun along the way. Several 10-minute practice sessions throughout the week will effectively develop the needed skills.

• Continue strict strength development: Although not necessarily considered a skill to practice, it is worth reiterating that strict strength capacity will carry over strongly to your performance in kipping movements. Add challenging low-rep pull-up sets, negatives, isometric holds, and even an accessory movement or two to assist with your development. 
   
• Kipping practice: Practice the kip swing with the intent to elevate your body as high as possible while maintaining straight arms.
   
• Volume Work: Consider adding short sessions to develop your toes-to-bar capacity and efficiency. This could involve performing low-rep EMOMs or ladders to build volume.