Hanging Leg Raise: How to Do It, Muscles Worked and Progressions

The hanging leg raise is one of the hardest ab exercises you can do with a pull-up bar. You hang, then lift your legs. Your hip flexors raise the legs while your abs brace your trunk, and when you curl your pelvis up at the top, your abs work through a full range too. In a 2015 study it was the toughest abdominal challenge tested, at over 130 percent of maximum rectus abdominis activation. Here is how to do it right, what it trains, how to progress, and what to do when your grip gives out before your abs.

How to do a hanging leg raise

1. Hang. Grab a pull-up bar a little wider than shoulder width, or slip your upper arms into ab straps. Pull your shoulders down so you are not sagging into a passive hang.
2. Brace. Tighten your abs before your legs move. Your body should be still.
3. Lift. Raise your legs in front of you without swinging. Beginners bend the knees; straight legs are harder.
4. Curl. At the top, tilt your pelvis up, like a crunch from the bottom. This is the part that makes your abs, not just your hip flexors, do the work.
5. Lower slowly. Take about two seconds down. If you start swinging, stop, reset, and go again.

What muscles hanging leg raises work

The main movers are your hip flexors, especially the iliopsoas, which lifts your legs. ExRx lists the iliopsoas as the target muscle. Your rectus abdominis and obliques hold your pelvis and lower back steady, and they only work through a range of motion when your spine actually flexes, which is why the pelvic curl matters. Your lats and grip keep you on the bar.

What about the lower abs? Studies of curl-ups and leg raises found the upper and lower portions of the rectus abdominis working together as one muscle, with no meaningful difference between them. A hanging leg raise is a great ab exercise, but it does not isolate a "lower" section.

What the research says

• ACE study, 2001. ACE commissioned San Diego State researchers to compare 13 ab exercises against a basic crunch. The captain's chair knee raise ranked second for rectus abdominis activity (212 percent of the crunch) and first for the obliques (310 percent).
• Escamilla and colleagues, 2006. In a peer-reviewed study of 21 adults, the hanging knee-up with ab straps was among the highest of the exercises tested for upper and lower rectus abdominis, internal and external oblique, and lat activity.
• McGill and colleagues, 2015. The hanging straight-leg raise was the biggest abdominal challenge of the exercises they tested, with rectus abdominis activity over 130 percent of maximum and external oblique activity at 88 percent. It also produced about 3,000 newtons of spine compression, more than the other exercise they compared it with.

The takeaway: hanging raises are among the most demanding ab exercises measured, and the straight-leg version is hard on the lower back too. Earn it with the bent-knee version first.

Hanging leg raise vs hanging knee raise vs toes to bar

A hanging knee raise keeps the knees bent, which shortens the lever and makes it easier. A hanging leg raise keeps the legs straight, usually to parallel with the floor. Toes to bar takes your feet all the way up to the bar. In CrossFit it is usually done with a kip, a controlled swing, and counts when both feet touch the bar between your hands. Done strict, it is the hardest of the three.

Hanging leg raise progressions

1. Lying leg raise. Learn to keep your lower back controlled while your legs move.
2. Hanging knee raise. Knees bent to about 90 degrees. Build to 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 slow reps with no swing.
3. Hanging straight-leg raise. Legs as straight as you can keep them, raised to parallel with the floor, back vertical.
4. Leg-hip raise. Keep going past parallel and curl your pelvis up so your knees or feet travel toward your chest.
5. Strict toes to bar. Feet all the way to the bar with no kip.
6. Loaded and rotational. Ankle weights or a dumbbell held between your feet, or windshield wipers for the obliques.

Move up a step when you can do every rep slowly with no swing.

When your grip quits before your abs

Hanging leg raises ask a lot of your hands, and for many people grip ends the set before the abs are tired. You have two good fixes, and the best plan uses both.

• Take grip out of your ab work. Hanging ab straps loop over the bar and hold your upper arms, so your hands are free and your abs decide when the set ends. That is the setup the 2006 Escamilla study used for its strap knee-ups.
• Train grip on its own. Dead hangs and farmers carries build the hold you need. Our grip strength exercises guide shows how to program them, start with dead hangs, and the grip strength calculator shows where your grip stands for your age.

Upper body strength matters too. In a 2025 study of 60 soldiers, the old Army leg tuck, a hanging knee-to-elbow movement, tracked pull-up ability much more closely than handgrip strength. If you are building toward toes to bar, keep training pull-ups.

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Common mistakes

• Swinging. Momentum does the work your abs should be doing. Slow down and stop between reps if you need to.
• Skipping the pelvic curl. Without it, your hip flexors lift your legs while your abs mostly hold still.
• Arching your lower back. Hip-flexor-heavy leg raises pull on the lumbar spine. Keep your abs braced so your back does not arch, and stay with bent-knee raises until you can.
• Dropping your legs. The lowering half is half the exercise. Control it.
• Going straight-legged too early. Straight legs multiply the load on your abs and your back. Own the knee raise first.

If you have a history of low back pain, start with knee raises, keep the range comfortable, and check with a physical therapist. Our guide to avoiding lower back pain with ab straps has more.

Sets and reps

For muscular endurance, ACSM guidelines call for lighter work for more than 15 reps with short rest; for strength, novices typically use a load they can move 8 to 12 times. In practice, 3 sets of 8 to 15 slow, strict reps, 2 or 3 times a week, works for most people. When that is easy, move up a progression or add load instead of just adding reps.

Want more? Compare ab straps vs an ab wheel vs a captain's chair, or try 5 beginner ab strap exercises.

Sources: ExRx, Hanging Leg Raise; ACE, best and worst ab exercises (2001); Escamilla et al., Physical Therapy, 2006; McGill et al., Journal of Sports Sciences, 2015; Lehman and McGill, Physical Therapy, 2001; Sergi et al., JSCR, 2025; ACSM position stand, 2009; Catalyst Athletics, Hanging Leg Raise.

Frequently Asked Questions

What muscles do hanging leg raises work?

The hip flexors, mainly the iliopsoas, lift your legs. Your rectus abdominis and obliques brace your trunk, and they work through a range of motion when you curl your pelvis up at the top. Your lats and grip hold you on the bar.

Are hanging leg raises better than crunches?

They are a bigger challenge. In ACE's 2001 study the captain's chair knee raise produced about twice the rectus abdominis activity of a crunch and about three times the oblique activity. They also load the lower back more, so they are not the right choice for everyone.

Why can't I do a hanging leg raise?

Usually one of three things: your grip gives out before your abs do, you are swinging instead of lifting, or straight legs are too hard yet. Start with bent-knee raises under control, and use ab straps if your hands are the problem.

Do hanging leg raises work the lower abs?

Not on their own. Studies of curl-ups and leg raises found the upper and lower rectus abdominis working together as one muscle. What a leg raise adds is hip flexor work, and it only works your abs through a range of motion if you curl your pelvis.

Do ab straps make hanging leg raises easier?

They take your grip out of it. The straps hold your upper arms, so your hands are not what ends the set. A 2006 study found hanging knee-ups in straps among the highest of the exercises tested for rectus abdominis and oblique activity.