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Exercise library · Abs

Hanging leg raise

Hip flexion for the abs with your bodyweight.

How to do it

1 of 3

Hang with straight arms and legs

  1. Starting position

    Hang from a bar with an overhand grip, straight arms, legs together and knees extended.

  2. The movement

    Raise your straight legs in front of you toward hip height, then lower them with control.

Most common mistake

Don't swing your body, keep your core braced and lift your legs with control.

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Muscle group
Abs
Equipment
Bodyweight
Where
Home or gym
Logged as
Reps

Muscles worked

Much of the lift is done by your hip flexors, mainly the deep iliopsoas and the rectus femoris at the front of the thigh. Your abs work throughout to keep your pelvis steady, and hardest when you curl your pelvis slightly up towards your chest at the end of the lift. The obliques help keep your body still. Your hands, forearms, back and shoulders carry your whole bodyweight while you hang, so the exercise trains your grip too.

Common mistakes

  • Your pelvis does not come along. If you only lift your legs with your hip flexors, your abs get less to do. At the top, think about curling your pelvis slightly towards your chest.
  • Your grip gives out before your abs. Use lifting straps or hanging ab straps that hold you by the upper arms, and train your grip separately.
  • Your knees bend more and more. As you tire it is easy to bend your knees to make the lift easier, and then your reps are no longer comparable. Finish with bent knees as a separate exercise, or stop once your knees start to bend.

Variations and alternatives

  • The hanging knee raise is the easier version and the right place to start if you can only manage a few straight-leg reps.
  • The lying leg raise trains the same movement on the floor, without a bar and without your grip setting the limit.
  • The reverse crunch is also done lying down and puts more of the work on your abs.
  • Toes to bar is the next step up, lifting your feet all the way to the bar.

Sets and reps

Three sets of 8 to 15 controlled reps suit most people. Quality matters more than quantity: a swung rep does not count. Lower your legs over two to three seconds to get more out of every rep. Put the exercise at the end of the session so it does not tire your grip before lifts such as deadlifts or pull-ups. The guide to sets and reps has more on choosing a range.

Follow the same principle as in other exercises, progressive overload: add reps first, then a slower lowering and a short pause at the top. Once you can do 15 clean reps, lift your legs higher or wear ankle weights. If your lower back or hip hurts, stop the exercise and have it looked at by a doctor or physiotherapist.

Swap for

Taken, or missing the equipment? The same movement with something else.

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