Build toward the holy grail of calisthenics core.
Keep your arms locked and body rigid. This is a full-body straight-line hold, not a kip.
Front lever raises are the dynamic route to the front lever, pulling your rigid, straight body from a dead hang up to horizontal and lowering it back under control. Your core does the heavy lifting here, holding your body in one unbending line while the raise and especially the slow negative build strength through the exact range the static hold demands. If the full hold is the destination, controlled raises are how you pay for the ticket.
No. Toes to bar lets your hips fold and your legs swing up to the bar. A lever raise keeps your whole body in one straight, rigid line from shoulders to toes, which is massively harder and builds the specific strength the front lever needs.
Start with tuck raises, knees pulled in, and progress to straddle before full lay. You can also emphasise slow negatives, lift as high as you can, then fight the lower for 3 to 5 seconds.
Low reps, high quality. Sets of 3 to 6 perfect reps with locked arms and zero kip beat sets of ten sloppy ones, this is strength work, not conditioning.
