Knee Raise on Parallel Bars

How to do it

1. Step into a parallel-bar station and support yourself on your forearms with your back against the pad.
2. Let your legs hang straight down, and press your shoulders down away from your ears.
3. Raise your knees toward your chest by bending at the hips.
4. Continue past level thighs by curling your pelvis upward so the lower back presses into the pad.
5. Lower under control until the legs hang straight again.
6. Let the swing settle before the next repetition rather than using it.

Common mistakes

• Finishing at level thighs. That half of the movement belongs to the hip flexors; the abdominal work starts when the pelvis tips and the lower back presses back into the pad.
• Letting the shoulders ride up toward the ears. Holding them down keeps the weight on the trunk rather than hanging off the shoulder joint.
• Building a swing and riding it. The bottom of each repetition should be still; a swing does most of the lifting and it does it at the hips.
• Treating the hip flexion half as wasted effort. Raising the thigh against a load is real work for the iliopsoas, which is what lifts the leg in a stair, a stride and a sprint. It is simply not abdominal work, and calling the whole movement an ab exercise is what makes people stop halfway.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Abs

Secondary

• Hip Flexors