Press leg raises: options, technique

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Hanging leg raises, tips on technique

Among the many effective ways to pump up your abs, there is one that can be performed in various variations. The main thing is to follow the correct technique. We're talking about hanging leg raises. This exercise is familiar to both women and men who go to the gym, and it can also be performed on any outdoor horizontal bar. We will tell you more about hanging leg raises below.

Correct technique for performing the exercise

Hanging leg raises work the oblique abdominal muscles and lower rectus muscles. This is the most energy-consuming and challenging exercise for your flat stomach.

There are two options for performing lifts:

• with bent legs;
• with straight lines.

The load on the abs is not significantly different from this, but efficiency will increase if you do leg lifts with your knees bent and your toes touching the bar.

1. To start performing the exercise, you need to hang on the bar, holding it with an overhand grip. Legs and arms are straightened. There is a slight deflection in the lumbar back.
2. Next, we lift the legs by contracting the rectus abdominis muscles. Your legs need to be raised at least to the level of the horizon, ideally if you touch the tip of your nose with your knees or touch your toes to the crossbar.
3. At the top, we fix the position a little and strain the abs. Next, the lowering of the legs occurs, but not passively, but just as active and controlled by you. Don't allow yourself to sway your body.

Important: you can start your workout with hanging leg raises, as this is one of the most difficult exercises.

Between approaches you can rest from 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes. Add this set of exercises 2-3 times a week to your usual workouts.

To perform hanging leg raises, you can use a horizontal bar, a crossbar, or a special installation with supports for the elbows and forearms. If you do not have the necessary equipment, for example at home, then the exercise can be replaced with alternative loads.

The following are suitable for pumping up your abdominal muscles:

• twisting while lying down;
• lifting the body on an inclined bench or Roman chair;
• lifting your legs and knees while lying on the floor;
• reverse crunches;
• raising your knees on the edge of a bench (chair) with a weight clamped between your legs.

When choosing an exercise, pay attention to discomfort and other unpleasant sensations in the lumbar region.

Source: https://www.planka.su

Benefits of hanging leg raises. What muscles work?

Undoubtedly, lifting your legs while hanging takes a lot of energy.
After all, this is the most energy-consuming, and perhaps the most difficult exercise for the press that I know. But at the same time, it is also the most powerful exercise. By lifting our legs, we maximally utilize both the rectus abdominis muscle and the oblique abdominal muscles.

You can do the exercise with both straight and bent legs. By doing lifts with straight legs, you will engage the rectus femoris muscle to a greater extent. Well, of course, the load on the abs will be greater. However, you don’t need to worry too much about this. Lifting up with straight legs is awkward and difficult to do, and the abs don’t work much harder. Of course, those who have very well-developed abs should do it for their health. However, by slightly bending your knees and touching the bar with your toes, you can achieve better pumping of the abs than doing lifts with straight legs to the horizon.

Execution technique

First you need to hang on the bar. It is recommended to use a straight grip, although I periodically use a grip where the hands are turned towards each other, and do not suffer from this. It is not recommended to hold onto the bar with a reverse grip; with this approach, the load is removed from the abdominal muscles, and doing the exercise is not so convenient.

In the starting position, you need to hang with fully straightened arms and straightened legs, your back is slightly arched in the lumbar region, your legs do not reach the floor.

The actual lifting of the legs while hanging begins from the bottom point. The legs are raised with a strong concentrated movement, something like throwing the legs forward. When lifting, you can “cheat” a little - moving your legs back a little before the jerk. We raise our legs as much as possible; it would be ideal when you touch the bar with your toes or touch your nose with your knees. The difference is how bent your knees are when performing the exercise.

In an amicable way, we allow a slight bend in the knees; those with weaker abdominal muscles can bend their knees more strongly. The main condition here is that the angle of knee flexion throughout the exercise is approximately the same. I once saw how one young man began an exercise with his legs straightened, and ended with an angle of 30 degrees in the knee joint. This is not the way to do it.

At the top point, you need to tighten your abs and fixate slightly. It is clear that it is impossible to require you to hold still for at least a second at the upper limit of the amplitude; gravity will not allow you. But it is simply necessary to try to get closer to this. That is, fixate at the top for at least a split second.

And after that the legs begin to lower down. And this moment is the most difficult in the exercise. After all, you just want to throw your legs down arbitrarily, let them fly, driven by the laws of physics. But this should not be allowed, because the negative stage in this exercise is no less important than the positive one. You need to smoothly lower your legs to the lowest point, keeping your abs tense all the time. This way you will do many fewer repetitions, but the overall effect of the exercise will be much greater.

Smoothly lowering your legs will help you avoid body sway, although you won't be able to completely prevent sway. At the bottom point you need to take a short pause, about one second, or even less. Once the core has stabilized, proceed to the next repetition.

When to do hanging leg raises on the bar, how long to rest, how often, how many approaches and repetitions?

When? Since leg raises are considered the hardest exercise for the abs, it would be logical to start training the abs with them.
How long to rest? The exercise is hard, so rest between sets for 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes.

How often? We start our abdominal training with this exercise two to three times a week. If you can do lighter exercises every day, then you don’t need to waste your high energy reserves on hanging lifts. After lifting your legs, you can do 2-3 more abdominal exercises.

How many sets and reps? 3-4 approaches, but you can’t tell the number of repetitions offhand. It all depends on your preparation. I can definitely say that no less than 6 and no more than 20. Optimal would be 8–12 for women and 10–15 for men. If you can’t do 6 clean repetitions in a set, at first allow yourself to bend your legs with a knee angle of less than 45 degrees - it’s easier to do this.

Breathing while doing the exercise

Before the first repetition, after hanging on the bar, take a breath, and do the movement itself as you exhale. A strong exhalation will add energy when performing the positive phase, but the exhalation should not be done from the very beginning of lifting your legs, but approximately when your legs approach the horizontal line.

On the subject: How to remove belly fat after childbirth, exercises at home

Technique for performing hanging leg raises.

First you need to hang on the bar. It is recommended to use a straight grip, although I periodically use a grip where the hands are turned towards each other, and do not suffer from this. It is not recommended to hold onto the bar with a reverse grip; with this approach, the load is removed from the abdominal muscles, and doing the exercise is not so convenient.

In the starting position, you need to hang with fully straightened arms and straightened legs, your back is slightly arched in the lumbar region, your legs do not reach the floor.

The actual lifting of the legs while hanging begins from the bottom point. The legs are raised with a strong concentrated movement, something like throwing the legs forward. When lifting, you can “cheat” a little - moving your legs back a little before the jerk. We raise our legs as much as possible; it would be ideal when you touch the bar with your toes or touch your nose with your knees. The difference is how bent your knees are when performing the exercise.

In an amicable way, we allow a slight bend in the knees; those with weaker abdominal muscles can bend their knees more strongly. The main condition here is that the angle of knee flexion throughout the exercise is approximately the same. I once saw how one young man began an exercise with his legs straightened, and ended with an angle of 30 degrees in the knee joint. This is not the way to do it.

At the top point, you need to tighten your abs and fixate slightly. It is clear that it is impossible to require you to hold still for at least a second at the upper limit of the amplitude; gravity will not allow you. But it is simply necessary to try to get closer to this. That is, fixate at the top for at least a split second.

And after that the legs begin to lower down. And this moment is the most difficult in the exercise. After all, you just want to throw your legs down arbitrarily, let them fly, driven by the laws of physics. But this should not be allowed, because the negative stage in this exercise is no less important than the positive one. You need to smoothly lower your legs to the lowest point, keeping your abs tense all the time. This way you will do many fewer repetitions, but the overall effect of the exercise will be much greater.

Smoothly lowering your legs will help you avoid body sway, although you won't be able to completely prevent sway. At the bottom point you need to take a short pause, about one second, or even less. Once the core has stabilized, proceed to the next repetition.

What are some mistakes when doing hanging leg raises?

The most common mistake made by beginners (and not only beginners) is swaying while doing the exercise. To avoid it, you need to learn to smoothly lower your legs, pause at the bottom point, or slow down your body at the bottom point, touching your feet to the floor (well, this is an extreme option).

Help with your hands - your hands are two ropes on which your body hangs; they should not help you in any way when performing the exercise.

Throwing legs - I have already written about this twice above, but this mistake is so common that I will write it a third time. Your legs should move down smoothly and should not be thrown as soon as you reach the top mark.

Uneven breathing is a key mistake many beginners make. In all bodybuilding exercises, your breathing should be clear and even. Lifting - exhale, lowering - inhale, and nothing else!

Equipment

The exercise is performed on a mat, travel mat, carpet. Hard and cold flooring can injure the vertebrae .

When it becomes irrational to increase the exposure time, and the abs are able to keep your legs at a height of 2-3 cm from the floor, you can buy leg weights or train by holding a small ball, or even better, a balloon, between your feet. To control the ball in the last seconds, not to drop it or crush it, you have to make a truly titanic effort.

Tips for Hanging Leg Raises

Raise your legs as high as possible.
It is not enough to raise your legs to parallel level with the floor. You need to raise your legs higher. The abs are actively engaged in work only after completing ¾ of the movement, so if you raise your legs only to the level of the horizontal line, then you simply will not allow your abs to work normally. At the top point you need to do a slight twist with your pelvis. That is, you lift your legs as much as you can due to the force of the press, and at the highest point you help slightly with your pelvis. Thus, the abdominal muscles receive a control load at the top point. Hanging leg raises are a great way to pump up your abs.

There is no need to be afraid of slightly bending your legs back before starting the exercise. This simple trick will give you a little momentum to go through those ¾ of the movement where the press has not yet engaged.

You don't have to lower your legs all the way down. This way the exercise will be much harder, but the result will be much better!

You can rotate your knees to the right and left as you move up. This option takes the load from the rectus abdominis muscle and gives it to the oblique muscles. In my opinion, this is already extreme, although not everyone thinks so.

Source: https://fitkiss.club

Useful tips

To pump up your lower abs, you need to learn to feel your muscles well and be able to control the work of the quadriceps, middle abs, oblique abdominal muscles and lower back muscles. Typically, in abs training, you do 1 exercise on the lower and 2-3 on the upper/middle segments of the rectus abdominis muscle. When combined with oblique exercises, which also mainly work the upper part of the abs, the result is an initially predetermined undertraining of the already lagging lower segment.

When the “top” has already dried out and pleases with “cubes”, the bottom, at best, remains filled with fat, and in the worst case, it turns out to be stretched. They usually begin to “tighten it up after”, but achieving a good result is already problematic. It’s also bad that sometimes the internal organs are partially “squeezed out” by a strong middle press down into the stretched lower “pocket” of the abdominal cavity, stretching the mesentery.

This disrupts the functioning of the intestines and can cause problems with the bladder, blood supply and functioning of the genital organs (and testosterone levels depend on their health!).

It can be very problematic to pull up the sagging organs and put them in the correct position. Pumping up what grows easier first is a common practice; you need to learn to get rid of this mistake in the sequence of training.

In order for the lower abs to be in good shape, it is necessary to constantly monitor your posture , check the position of the pelvis (more precisely, the pubic symphysis, the pelvis must be turned forward and upward). The buttocks should not be pushed back, and the symphysis pubis should be constantly pulled forward and upward by a shortened, tense abdominal muscle. The lower back should be kept as straight as possible.

In this case, the surface of the lower segment of the rectus abdominis muscle is vertical and is in the same plane with the middle press, and the fat pad, if there is one, does not hang down, but protrudes straight forward. All positions of the body, when the lower press “looks down” at one angle or another, lead to its overextension and reduce the effect of pumping to zero.

You will also have to take into account that poor posture, lordosis and a weak “base” of the torso will lead to injuries to the spine and hip joints during the “base” for general muscle growth.

Execution technique

Leg raises can be performed both while hanging on the horizontal bar and while hanging on the wall bars.
It doesn’t matter that you may not be able to do even one pull-up (by the way, this can be easily learned). Just grab the bar with your hands and lift your legs. You need to lift it to a direct angle to your body. But raising your legs while lying on the floor is perhaps the only exercise where you don’t have to raise your legs to a right angle. Don't try to keep your legs straight. It is necessary that your knees are slightly bent. This is done to avoid injury to the knee joints. If it is difficult for you to raise your legs straight, then raise your legs in a position where they are bent at the knees to an angle of approximately 90 degrees. Over time, when your muscles get stronger, you can gradually straighten your legs and then do the exercise with straight legs.

In the event that you cannot perform the specified number of lifts with straight legs, you can do it in any variant. That is, you perform the first approach with straight legs, even if it is only a few repetitions, and you perform the second approach with your legs bent at the knees.

And if you didn’t have enough time for the third approach, then either do as much as you can, or supplement with the exercise “Lifting legs while lying on the floor,” on a bench, on any machine on which you can perform leg lifts while lying down. Breathing is the same as when lifting your legs while lying down, that is, when lifting your legs up, you need to exhale, and when lowering, inhale.

Leg raises can be performed hanging on a wall bars or on any other machine. This can be either an inclined board or any machine designed to perform this exercise.

Sets and reps

The principle of selecting the number of approaches and repetitions in these approaches remains as follows: in the first approach, you perform such a number of repetitions as to load your muscles to 60 or 70% of their maximum capabilities.

In the second approach, perform as many repetitions as possible. Well, in the third - how it turns out. In the future, you try to gradually increase the number of repetitions in all approaches. At least one repetition in one or even several classes. Then, when your muscles are strong enough, you can use weights.

Source: https://atletizm.com.ua

Exercise technique

After jumping, you need to grab the bar.
If you cannot reach it, you should use a stand or small bench. The main thing is not to touch the floor with your feet while hanging on straight arms. Use special straps if you have a weak grip. Straighten your arms completely, bend your back slightly at the waist. Exhale. You need to hold your breath, tense your abs, and try to raise your legs as high as possible, bending them at the knees. For sufficient stress on the abs, raise your knees above your waist. At the top point, tighten your abdominal muscles as much as possible and hold in this position for 1-2 seconds. Exhale and lower your legs to the starting position, relaxing a little. After a short pause, repeat the exercise.

After fully mastering the technique, you can complicate the exercise: perform straight leg raises. At the same time, the load will increase both on the hip flexor muscles and on the lower part of the abs.

Recommendations

In order to use your abdominal muscles to their full potential, you need to raise your legs as high as possible.
Initially, the main work is performed by the hip flexor muscles, and the abdominal muscles are in isometric contraction (Tense, but the length remains the same). As soon as the hips move more than 30-45° from the vertical, the abdominal muscles contract in length and do most of the work. As this angle increases, the lower part of the rectus abdominis muscle contracts more strongly, experiencing greater load. Especially if you perform the exercise with straight legs. Under no circumstances should you swing. Lifting the legs begins from a completely motionless position. Start learning the exercise by lifting your legs, while bending them at the knees. But as you gain experience, do the exercise at a more advanced level - raise your legs while fixing the angle at your knees. Don't be embarrassed by the fact that this exercise works your hip flexors, as they are involved in all abdominal exercises. It is simply impossible to ensure that the load goes only to the abdominal muscles, without using the hip flexor muscles!

The legs in this exercise play the role of a lever, the length of which sets the level of load. To increase the load, you just need to straighten your legs more. If your quadriceps are strong enough and your hamstrings are elastic (stretch well), then to engage your abdominal muscles you will need to raise your knees much higher than your waist.

Source: https://fitmus.com

Execution Features

There are several ways to perform hanging leg raises. They all differ in complexity and technique. Only trained athletes can perform the classic variation of hanging leg raises to the bar. For beginners, hanging knee raises or standing leg raises are more suitable.

To perform the “Hanging Leg Raise” exercise for the press, you only need to have at hand only a horizontal bar or crossbar of a suitable height. By the way, there is probably a horizontal bar in any gym or yard sports ground. Thanks to this, this exercise is accessible to almost everyone and is very popular among athletes. For convenience, you can buy a horizontal bar for the doorway and perform hanging leg raises even at home at any suitable time.

On the subject: How to remove excess belly fat in men exercises

Muscles involved

Many beginners are interested in which muscles work when they do hanging leg raises on the horizontal bar. First of all, like all exercises for training the abdominal muscles, hanging leg raises directly engage the abdominal muscles. Namely, the rectus abdominis and external oblique muscles. In addition, at the beginning of the movement, until the moment when you raise your legs 30-45 degrees, the leg muscles also work hard. First of all, these are the long adductor and rectus femoris muscles.

Then the entire load goes directly to the abdominal muscles. At that time, the forearms receive an indirect static load. Therefore, if you want to not only pump up your abs, but also strengthen your forearms and hands, then instead of the usual abdominal crunches, do hanging leg raises on the horizontal bar.

Execution technique

Now it's time to learn the proper technique for performing traditional hanging leg raises on a horizontal bar.
The classic version of the exercise is performed primarily through the efforts of the abdominal muscles and raising the legs, slightly bent at the knees, to the level of the crossbar. It should be noted that this hanging leg raise technique is only suitable for trained athletes. Beginners should resort to more basic variations of this abdominal exercise. For example, knee raises while hanging on a bar or leg raises while standing. The technique of performing leg raises while hanging on a bar is very simple. First of all, you need to take the starting position - hanging on the bar with a straight grip slightly wider than shoulder width. Now you can start doing this exercise for the abdominal muscles. To do this, you need to use the force of the target muscles to raise your legs, slightly bent at the knees, to the level of the crossbar or at least above parallel with the floor. After going through the most difficult part of the range of motion, exhale.

Then, keeping tension in your abdominal muscles, lower your legs down while inhaling. The main task is to prevent the body from swaying while hanging on the horizontal bar and to raise not only your legs, but also lift your pelvis up, while rounding your back, as when doing abdominal crunches. This is the only way to pump up your abdominal muscles as effectively as possible.

Recommendations and common mistakes

1. When performing the Hanging Leg Raise abdominal exercise, do not swing your legs back and forth to avoid inertia and dissipate the load throughout your body. Remember, if you want to pump up your abdominal muscles, you need to concentrate on working the target muscles, that is, the abdominal muscles.
2. The height of the crossbar or horizontal bar should be such that your feet lightly touch or do not touch the floor at all.
3. To increase the load on your abdominal muscles, try to keep your legs together during the exercise.
4. At the top phase of the movement, try to lift your pelvis up, as when doing a crunch. Only in this position does contraction and development of the abdominal muscles occur most effectively.
5. When performing hanging leg raises to the bar, do not try to do pull-ups or bend your elbows. Your arms should remain straight throughout the entire approach. You can move your pelvis forward slightly so that your abdominal muscles maintain constant tension.
6. To get six-pack abs, perform hanging leg raises twice a week at the end of your workout. Do 3-4 sets until failure occurs due to a hellish burning sensation in the abdominal muscles.
7. Leg raises while hanging on the bar are complex abdominal exercises that can be performed by trained athletes with strong core muscles. Therefore, as a rule, leg lifts are performed without additional weights. However, if you were able to easily complete 3-4 sets of 20 repetitions, then you can use special leg weights as additional weight. This will allow you to further increase the workload on your abdominal muscles.
8. If you have a weak grip, use special wrist straps or perform leg raises on a machine.

Source: https://fit4gym.ru

General description of the exercise

The exercise is performed from a position lying on your back, with your arms lying on the sides of your body (you can spread them slightly to the sides). A more difficult option is to have your arms parallel and lying on the floor behind your head. The exercise must be combined with breathing exercises and self-extension; you must breathe evenly and calmly, and do not hold your breath while exerting effort.

The lower back should be pressed tightly to the floor . The legs rise and fall strictly straight. All this together makes it possible to isolate precisely the lower segment of the rectus muscle and the deep layers of the abdominal muscles, completely depriving all synergistic muscles of the opportunity to help. During the exercise, the press first lifts the straight legs up, then holds them in weight and, when under its control, the legs slowly lower, resists gravity and stretching.

That is, throughout the entire working movement (lasting at least 3-4 minutes), it is under a constantly varying load. The angle of fixation (delay) depends on the strength of the muscle and should exclude the involvement of the lower back muscles. The legs are held suspended for as long as possible, until unbearable pain in the abdominal muscles (but not in the lower back), then slowly lowered to the floor to rest.

Before your legs begin to fall to the floor, you can perform one or two movements of narrow contraction and extension of the legs in the horizontal plane (“horizontal scissors”). They switch the load to other muscles, relieve pain and allow you to keep your legs suspended a little longer.

Synergists: hip flexors. Antagonists: spinal extensors. Stabilizers: deep abdominal muscles (transverse), oblique abdominal muscles, partially back muscles, shoulder girdle.

Scheme

Jump up and grab the bar. If you are used to using gymnastic straps, then you need to move the support to the crossbar in advance. However, to avoid unnecessary expenditure of energy, it is always better to climb onto the crossbar from a support.

Hang loosely from the bar with your arms fully extended.

Inhale, hold your breath, move your legs back a little, and then with a quick, dynamic movement, lift them up as far as possible.

For the exercise to give maximum impact, you need to raise your legs above the horizontal. At the top of the movement, try pausing for 1-2 seconds and only then begin a slow reverse movement.

Repeat everything from the very beginning - take your legs back and quickly raise them in front of you as high as possible.

If you find it difficult to do this exercise with straight or almost straight legs, bend your knees more - this will make it easier. At the same time, the efficiency of movement will decrease slightly.

Notes

The initial phase of the movement, when you raise your legs to an angle of 30-45 from the starting vertical, is practically useless for the abdominal muscles.
The abs experience isometric tension, helping the hip flexor muscles: from the starting position, you lift your legs only with the strength of these muscles. Then the press comes into play and takes on the main load of lifting the legs. This means that the abdominal load phase must be lengthened by raising the legs as much as possible above the horizontal. To do this, in the upper position, push your pelvis upward with powerful force. Thanks to this technique, the amplitude of leg movement will increase. There is no need to be afraid of inertia in the exercise. Consciously create the so-called. “ballistic” moment at the start, slightly tilting your legs back. Then sharply throw your legs forward. First, the legs will move under the influence of the inertial moment, and then you must “catch” the movement with the strength of the abdominal muscles. The hip flexors take an active part in this exercise. However, these muscles do not receive a serious isolated impact that would lead to overuse and then lower back pain.

There is no need to attach additional weight to your legs. The weight of your feet plus the weight of your shoes alone provides sufficient load. Since it is difficult to hang on the bar for a long time, it is worth using gymnastic belts, hooks or so-called. "elbow support".

Holding your breath while lifting your legs increases the power of your effort. If you exhale in the initial phase of the repetition, the load on the abs will decrease.

Strongly pumped hamstrings usually shorten their length, and therefore it becomes extremely difficult to fully straighten your legs while hanging. If you do try to straighten your legs as much as possible, you will find that you cannot raise them above the horizontal. How can we be here? Keep your knees bent at a slight comfortable angle. The exercise will suffer little from this.

Common mistakes

• Too fast, “sloppy” lifting of the legs, especially if they are slightly bent - in this case, it is not the abs that work, but the thigh muscles, gluteal muscles, and lower back.
• poor self-extension or refusal to do so leads to spinal injuries
• an attempt to bend over, make a half-bridge, standing “on your shoulder blades,” and tighten your stomach with your upper abs.
• holding your breath during effort. If breathing is even, then the diaphragm and middle abs will not be able to help the lower segment - they have their own job.
• with the upper torso pressed tightly to the floor - arching upward, lifting the lower back off the floor.
  This completely removes the load from the press, overloads the vertebrae and can lead to disc injuries and compression fractures of the vertebral bodies.
• bending during the exercise of raised legs. This changes the leverage and load at a time when the muscle is overextended and lacks stabilizers. May cause injury.
• movements of the head and arms while performing the movement.
• lowering tired legs too quickly, “falling” them to the floor.
• vertical or too wide horizontal scissors at the end of the movement.
• too obtuse angle (high heels above the floor) at which the raised legs are held.
• “fixing” the legs with the force of the thigh muscles in one position or another. They already take too much load away from the abs in everyday life; you shouldn’t let them do the same here, in an isolation exercise.

Anatomy

As you already know, lifting your legs begins with the strength of your hip flexors. These include the adductor longus, pectineus, psoas major and minor muscles. All these muscles lie deep in the pelvis and are almost impossible to palpate. The flexor group is complemented by the large rectus femoris muscle, located on the front surface of the thighs. Next, the legs are lifted by the rectus abdominis muscle, which covers the torso in front from the pectoral muscles to the groin area. At the same time, the external oblique abdominal muscles, which run along the sides of the body, actively participate in the movement. Together with the rectus muscle, the oblique muscles form a strong muscular “corset” of the body.

Related: Scissor Squats

Work of muscles and joints

Hanging leg raises are classified as single-joint movements, like all abdominal exercises. The exercise involves flexion of the hip joints. Flexion occurs due to contraction of the hip flexor muscles and abdominal muscles, and in specific terms most of the load falls on the abdominal muscles. With the strength of the hip flexor muscles, you raise your legs to an angle of 30-45 degrees from the vertical, and then the rectus abdominis and external oblique muscles are “involved” in the movement. Since one of the anatomical functions of the lower abdominal region is to lift the pelvis, the working amplitude of the exercise can be lengthened by powerfully “throwing” the pelvis upward at the top point of the movement. Thus, the lower region of the rectus muscle will contract more than usual.

Sport

In bodybuilding, hanging leg raises are one of the main exercises for pumping up the abs. It equally loads the lower and upper areas of the rectus abdominis muscle, and also makes the external oblique muscles actively work. As for other sports, here too the exercise is considered one of the main ones. The reason is that the movement forces the entire muscle “ensemble” involved in raising the straight leg to work. The most “interested” in the exercise are karatekas, gymnasts and football players, as well as sprinters. Meanwhile, the exercise is important for athletes of all specializations, since a strong press balances the usually overdeveloped hip flexor muscles and thereby protects against lumbar pain.

Source: https://bodybuilding.k21vek.com

Technique for performing hanging knee raises

Correct technique for performing the exercise:

• Jump and grab the bar or special handles on it with your hands; it is important that, while hanging on the bar with straight arms, your feet do not touch the floor. Straighten your arms and bend slightly at the waist. This is the starting position.
• Inhale and, holding your breath, tensing your abdominal muscles and bending your knees, raise your legs as high as possible. Ideally, almost until your knees touch your chest. At the top of the movement, pause, hold your breath and tighten your abs even more. Then, as you exhale, smoothly lower your legs to the starting position.
• After a short pause, without swinging your legs or body, perform the next repetition.

It is important:

The load on the abs directly depends on the height to which you raise your legs. Up to an angle of 40 degrees (between the legs and the vertical), the load on the abs is minimal, and the main load falls on the hip flexor muscles. For the same reason, the stronger the leg muscles, the more important it is to raise your legs as high as possible so that the load on the abs is significant.

Each repetition must be started from a stationary position. When rocking, you throw your legs up due to the movement, thereby reducing the load on your abdominal muscles.

When lifting your legs to waist level, lean your pelvis forward. This technique will allow you to raise your legs even higher and increase the load on your abs.

If your hands unclench before your abdominal muscles fail, change your grip type or use wrist straps.

When the load in this exercise is insufficient, move on to performing a more complicated version of the exercise - hanging straight leg raises.

Exercise options

• Press knee raises. This variation of lifts is well suited for developing the lower abs at the initial stage of training.
• Hanging straight leg raises. The most difficult, but also the most effective option for lifting. Suitable for experienced athletes.

Working muscles during knee presses

Abdominal muscles:

• rectus abdominis muscle
• obliques

Hip flexor muscles:

• rectus femoris muscle
• pectineus muscle
• iliopsoas muscle

Alternative Exercises

• All twist options
• Side bends

Source: https://hnb.com.ua

Breathing while doing the exercise.

Before the first repetition, after hanging on the bar, take a breath, and do the movement itself as you exhale. A strong exhalation will add energy when performing the positive phase, but the exhalation should not be done from the very beginning of lifting your legs, but approximately when your legs approach the horizontal line.

What are some mistakes when doing hanging leg raises?

The most common mistake made by beginners (and not only beginners) is swaying when performing an exercise . To avoid it, you need to learn to smoothly lower your legs, pause at the bottom point, or slow down your body at the bottom point, touching your feet to the floor (well, this is an extreme option).

Help with your hands - your hands are two ropes on which your body hangs; they should not help you in any way when performing the exercise.

Throwing legs - I have already written about this twice above, but this mistake is so common that I will write it a third time. Your legs should move down smoothly and should not be thrown as soon as you reach the top mark.

Uneven breathing is a key mistake many beginners make. In all bodybuilding exercises, your breathing should be clear and even. Lifting - exhale, lowering - inhale, and nothing else!

Hanging Knee Raise

Grab the bar and hang on it:

1. inhale and pull your knees as high as possible, trying to bring them closer to your chest by twisting your body, then return to the starting position;
2. At the end of the movement, exhale.

This exercise uses:

• iliopsoas, sincere muscles of the thighs, tensor fasciae extensivea when climbing the legs;
• sincere abdominal muscles and at least the oblique muscles, sometimes you pull your knees to your chest. For the most isolated exercise of the abdominal muscles, do not lower your knees more than horizontal.

Abdominal-lumbar ratio

It is extremely important to measure the muscles of both the abdominals and the back, which straighten the spine. Lack of the necessary tension or excessive tension in one of these muscle groups can lead to an erroneous body position, which in the future can lead to a variety of pathologies.

Example:

On the contrary, excessive tension of the abdominal muscles, coupled with weakness of the spinal muscles that straighten the spine, especially in their higher parts (spinalis dorsi, longus dorsi, iliocostal dorsi), causes kyphosis of the thoracic spine and loss of lumbar curve. This deficiency can be corrected with special exercises that strengthen the muscles that straighten the spine.

Source: https://gymbaza.pro

Performance

1. Grab the bar with a straight, medium grip and hang from it. Legs are down. This is the starting position.
2. As you exhale, bending your knees, raise your hips as high as possible, trying to touch your chest.
3. Slowly return to the starting position along the same path.

To put more stress on the lower abdominal muscles, keep your legs slightly bent at the knees in the lower position, and while raising your hips, try to lift your pelvis.

This exercise can be performed with straight legs. This way you will put maximum stress on the lower abdominal muscles. The exercise is performed on a special machine with a back support.

If you have difficulty supporting your own weight on the bar, then use special elbow support sleeves.

Source: https://gymlex.com