How to do the Hanging Leg Raise
Step by step
- Hang from a pull-up bar with straight arms and shoulders pulled down and set.
- Brace your abs and keep your legs nearly straight with a soft knee bend.
- Raise your legs up until they are about parallel to the floor or higher.
- Lower them slowly and kill any swing before starting the next rep.
The thing people get wrong
Straight legs make this much harder - avoid swinging or arching, and drop to knee raises if your legs cannot stay straight without kicking.
Coaching cue
Pause for a second at the top instead of letting the legs drop straight back down.
Stay safe
Come down before your grip gives out; a slip off the bar is a hard landing.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Bend the knees and do hanging knee raises.
- Harder: Bring your feet all the way up toward the bar.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Core
- Secondary: Lats, Hips
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.