Hanging Leg Raise
Trains the Abs.
- Equipment
- A pull-up bar
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Advanced
How to do it
- Hang from a pull-up bar with an overhand grip, arms straight, body still.
- Pull your shoulder blades down and back so you are not hanging passively from the shoulders.
- Brace your stomach and squeeze your glutes to stop your body swinging.
- Raise your legs in front of you with the knees straight, or bent if that is not yet available.
- Continue past horizontal by curling your pelvis upward toward your ribs — this last part is where the abdominals do their work, rather than the hip flexors.
- Lower under control back to a full hang without swinging, and pause before the next repetition.
Common mistakes
- Stopping when the legs reach horizontal. Up to that point the movement is mostly hip flexion, driven by the iliopsoas. The abdominals come in when the pelvis curls upward, so stopping at parallel trains the hip flexors and calls it an ab exercise.
- Swinging between repetitions and using the rebound. If the body is moving at the start of each rep, momentum is contributing. Pause at the bottom.
- Progressing to straight legs too early. Bent-knee raises through a full range, including the pelvic curl, are worth more than straight-leg raises that stop at horizontal.
- Gripping until the hands fail before the abdominals do. Straps are reasonable here — grip is not what the exercise is training.