Hanging Knee Raises
A knee raise hanging from a pull-up bar that trains the abs and hip flexors — the entry point to hanging core work.
How to do it
- Hang from the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart and your arms fully straight overhead.
- Engage your shoulders by pulling them slightly down and back to stabilize your body.
- Bend your knees and pull them toward your chest, curling your pelvis rather than just lifting your legs.
- Squeeze your abs hard at the top with your knees high and your pelvis tilted up.
- Lower your legs slowly back down over 2–3 seconds until you are back in a full hang.
- Repeat without swinging, fully settling your body between reps if needed.
Key technique cue
Curl the pelvis, don't just lift the knees; no swinging.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Swinging the body for momentum, which takes the abs out of the work and turns the rep into a leg swing.
- ✕ Lifting the knees with the hip flexors only, without tilting the pelvis to load the abs.
- ✕ Dropping the legs fast at the bottom, which barely trains the lowering phase and adds strain on the shoulders.
- ✕ Relaxing completely in the shoulders, which overloads the joints and reduces core stability.
Benefits
- ✓ Builds lower-ab strength through a full hanging range of motion.
- ✓ Strengthens the grip and shoulders as a stability bonus.
- ✓ Lays the groundwork for harder hanging core progressions.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 3 You are here - Hanging Knee Raises
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About the exercise
The Hanging Knee Raise is the cleanest way to load the abs from a hanging position. Hanging from a bar, you pull your knees toward your chest, curling the pelvis and engaging the abs through their full range. It is harder than a floor crunch because gravity adds load and your grip has to hold the body steady while the core works. It fits intermediate core blocks, calisthenics and ab-focused programs. It is also the foundation for harder hanging variations like leg raises and toes-to-bar. Pair it with the hand plank and Russian twist for complete beginner-to-intermediate core training.
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