STOP Doing Hanging Ab Raises Like This!

The hanging leg raise is an incredible lower ab exercise that provides the necessary overload that most ab exercises don’t provide. However, to get the most out of this exercise you need to pay attention to two simple details of the hanging leg raise. If you get these two cues correct, you will be on your way to developing the lower abs like you’ve always wanted.

The first tip that I give on the hanging leg raise has to do with posterior pelvic tilt when performing the exercise. It’s not enough to just lift your legs. Why? Well, if you simply lift your legs without a posterior pelvic tilt, you are making this a hip flexor dominant exercise. This will minimize the contribution of the rectus abdominis.

What you will want to do instead is imagine that there is someone in front of you watching the exercise. As opposed to showing your feet to the person in front of you, you will want to think of showing your butt to them. That means curling the pelvis underneath into a posterior pelvic tilt and focusing on lifting the pelvis instead of the legs to activate the lower abs more than the hip flexors.

Remember, you are trying to strengthen your abs! You want to minimize the hip flexor contribution as much as possible.

The second tip that I give for the hanging leg raise is to activate the lats prior to lifting your pelvis and legs. You can do this by packing the shoulders down and setting the lats in order to contribute to the stability of the exercise. Not only will it increase stability, it will plug any energy leaks that are present in the hanging leg raise.

Energy leaks, if not addressed properly, will lead to instability throughout the exercise. This can lead to quicker fatigue and limit the number of effective reps that you can perform. You will want to prevent this in order to get the most out of the hanging leg raise so you can better target the lower abs.

Don’t forget, while the abs (rectus abdominis) is activated in it’s entirety on every ab exercise that you do, you can preferentially activate the lower abs by making them perform most of the work. While the lower abs are the hardest part of the rectus abdominis to develop, choosing the right exercise and performing them correctly (especially with the overload provided by the weight of the legs) will lead to better overall development and can get them to finally show if that is something that you’ve struggled with.

Remember, it’s not just what exercise you do that matters, but HOW you do the exercise that matters most. The hanging leg raise is now different. Instead of making the exercise hip flexor dominant, you want the lower abs to do as much of the work as possible. You can do that by following the tips I provide here.

For more ways to to make sure that you are getting every exercise right with proper form to build the most muscle possible, be sure to stay tuned to this channel and remember to subscribe so that you never miss another video from a physical therapist with a pro sports background as a PT and strength coach.

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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).