Exercise guide · Advanced · Compound

Skin the Cat Advanced: How to Do It & Muscles Worked

Skin the cat is a gymnastic movement performed on a bar, where you hang, lift your legs over your head, rotate your body through your arms, and then return to the starting position. It requires significant upper body and core strength, as well as shoulder mobility and coordination.

Primary muscles
Traps
Secondary muscles
Obliques , Abs , Shoulders
Equipment
Body Weight
Level · type
Advanced · Compound
Demonstration of the skin the cat advanced
Front view: muscles worked by the skin the cat advanced. Primary: traps. Secondary: obliques, abs and shoulders.
Back view: muscles worked by the skin the cat advanced. Primary: traps. Secondary: obliques, abs and shoulders.
Primary Secondary

How to do the skin the cat advanced

  1. Step 1: Start by hanging from a bar with your arms fully extended and your body relaxed.
  2. Step 2: Engage your core and lift your legs up, bringing your knees towards your chest.
  3. Step 3: advanced variation Continue to lift your legs up and over your head, allowing your body to pass through the arms.
  4. Step 4: Once your legs are fully extended over your head, begin to lower them back down towards the starting position.
  5. Step 5: As you lower your legs, allow your body to pass back through the arms until you are hanging with your arms fully extended again.
  6. Step 6: Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Sets, reps and programming

Suggested sets, reps and rest for the skin the cat advanced by training goal
Goal Sets Reps Rest Effort
Strength 3–5 3–6 3–5 min 1–3 reps in reserve
Muscle growth 3–4 6–12 2–3 min 1–2 reps in reserve
Muscular endurance 2–3 12–20 1–2 min 1–3 reps in reserve

Ranges follow the ACSM position stand on progression in resistance training. Muscle grows across a wide range of loads when sets end close to failure (Schoenfeld et al., 2017), longer rests between heavy sets support strength and size (Schoenfeld et al., 2016), and stopping a rep or two short of failure works about as well as training to failure (Grgic et al., 2022). Estimate your working weights with the strength calculators.

Skin the Cat Advanced alternatives

More exercises that train the traps as their main target:

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Sources

  1. American College of Sports Medicine. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41(3):687-708.
  2. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Strength and hypertrophy adaptations between low- vs. high-load resistance training. J Strength Cond Res. 2017;31(12):3508-3523.
  3. Schoenfeld BJ, Pope ZK, Benik FM, et al. Longer interset rest periods enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res. 2016;30(7):1805-1812.
  4. Grgic J, Schoenfeld BJ, Orazem J, Sabol F. Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sport Health Sci. 2022;11(2):202-211.

Step-by-step instructions and demonstration media are from the ExerciseDB exercise dataset.

This guide is general fitness information, not medical advice. Stop if an exercise causes pain and speak to a doctor or physiotherapist about injuries or health conditions before starting a new programme.