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Fundamentals

Hanging Leg Raise

Hang from a bar, lift your straight legs by bending at the hips until they are about level with the floor, then lower them slowly, without swinging. A knee raise is its easier form.

Side view: the hands stay on the bar while the legs rise. The bar is seen end-on; grip width, the shoulder blades and the curl of the pelvis cannot be shown in this picture and are explained in the text.
Difficulty
Intermediate
editorial estimate
Steps to it
3 steps
Beginner → Intermediate
Usually done on
Pull-up bar
Start with the first stepHow it is done

Prepared by Calisthenics Balkan. Not yet reviewed by a qualified coach. 7 sources

The road at a glance

A short overview with links. Every step is explained in full under Progressions.

Helps to have first

A starting point: no other movement in the Atlas is needed first.

This skill

Hanging Leg Raise

Leads towards

No movement in the Atlas builds directly on this one yet.

01

What it is

A hanging leg raise is done from a hang on a bar: the legs are lifted in front of the body and then lowered under control. On this page the full movement means straight legs raised until they are about level with the floor, roughly a right angle at the hips, without swinging. A knee raise, with the knees bent, is the easier form of the same pattern, and toes to bar, where the toes reach the bar, is the same movement taken further. Sources do not agree on the names: one coaching library treats the hanging leg raise and toes to bar as one exercise that ends at the bar, while other progressions list the level raise and toes to bar as two steps. Here the level position is the reference and toes to bar stays a variation, not a page of its own.12456

The hip flexors do most of the lifting, according to one coach-written page, so the movement is not only a lower-abdominal exercise. In a laboratory study of 14 men, a hanging straight-leg raise produced the greatest abdominal challenge of the exercises tested and about 3,000 newtons of spine compression, against under 2,500 newtons for the body saw (abstract read only; it gives no compression figure for the third exercise, the walkout from a push-up). That study measured muscle activity and spine load; it shows no training results, benefits or injury risk, and studies of leg raises lying on the floor do not describe this hanging movement.57

In this Atlas it is a movement of its own. Nothing else is required first, and learning it does not certify readiness for an L-sit or a dragon flag. The relationships on the map describe useful connections, not a compulsory sequence.

Start from a still hang, lift the legs with the hips and the abdomen instead of the swing, and lower them slowly: a swung repetition borrows momentum.

02

How it is done

  1. Take a firm, active hang

    Hang from a bar with an overhand grip about shoulder width or a little wider, and keep the grip firm for the whole set. Arms straight, legs together, feet off the floor, shoulders pulled down away from the ears. Sources differ here: one lets the shoulders relax once the arms straighten without pain, another keeps them down for the whole set. If the grip fails first, practise hanging on its own.25

    CueStart every repetition from a still hang.5

  2. Decide how you treat the pelvis

    Coaches teach this differently. One tilts the pelvis back before the lift and keeps it tilted at the bottom; another starts with a neutral trunk and says the curl of the pelvis at the top belongs to the toes-to-bar range; a third has the pelvis curl up during the lift, like a crunch, so the movement is not only hip flexion. None is shown here to be better. Pick one, keep it the same every repetition, and bend the knees or stop if the lower back complains.125

  3. Lift the straight legs

    Keep the legs together and straight and lift them by bending at the hips, smoothly and slowly. If straight legs are too much, use the knee-raise steps below instead of letting the body swing.125

    CueLift without swinging.1

  4. Reach level and pause briefly

    Raise the legs until they are about level with the floor and pause for a moment. Going higher is optional and is the further range called toes to bar; one source adds that it should happen only while the body stays still.125

  5. Lower under control

    Bring the legs down slowly along the same path instead of dropping them. Stop any swing at the bottom and brace again before the next repetition.125

03

Progressions

The steps below shorten or lengthen the lever; they are not a validated ladder. Sources order them differently: Hybrid Calisthenics lists knee raises, advanced knee raises, straight-leg raises and toes to bar, while the Overcoming Gravity chart, whose core ladder is marked as proposed, has bent-leg toes to bar before straight-leg toes to bar and starts from raises on the floor. Move on when the whole movement stays controlled and still.

What to have first

  • A grip you can hold

    Nothing else is required first. If your grip gives out before the legs do, practise hanging on its own; one coaching page asks for this before straight-leg work.2

  • Related, not required

    A pull-up, an L-sit or a dragon flag is not an entry condition. The L-sit and dragon flag pages show nearby trunk work.

  1. Step 1Beginner

    Knee raise

    From a still hang, bend the knees and lift them until the thighs are about level with the floor, then lower under control. The bent legs shorten the lever, so the movement is lighter.

    Technical note: A shorter lever, not a looser one: the hang stays still and there is no swing.1345

  2. Step 2Intermediate

    Straighter-leg raise

    Keep the knees bent only slightly through the lift, or bend the legs on the way up and straighten them before lowering. The lever gets longer as the legs get straighter.

    Technical note: Both are ways to scale the straight-leg raise; use whichever you can do without swinging.234

  3. Step 3IntermediateGoal

    Straight-leg raise

    Legs together and straight, lifted from a still hang until about level with the floor, paused briefly and lowered slowly.

    Technical note: Full here means straight legs raised to level under control, not toes to bar and not a number of repetitions.25

04

Community

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05

Common mistakes

  • Swinging or kipping

    Momentum does part of the lifting and shifts work away from the hips and abdomen. Start from a still hang, slow down, or choose a knee raise if the straight legs cannot rise without a swing.15

  • Bending the knees but calling it straight

    A small knee bend makes the lift easier. Either keep the legs straight or name the version honestly as a knee raise or a straighter-leg raise.5

  • Shoulders creeping up

    A shrug towards the ears turns the hang passive. One source lets the shoulders relax later, once the arms straighten comfortably; another asks to keep them down throughout.25

  • Bending the elbows into a partial pull-up

    Keep the arms straight; bent elbows pull the body up instead of lifting the legs.5

  • Dropping the legs

    The lowering is part of the movement. Bring the legs down slowly instead of letting them fall.25

06

Variations and related skills

  • Toes to bar

    Range

    The legs continue past level until the toes touch the bar. One source calls this the same exercise taken to the bar, others list it as the next step; it is not a page of its own here.1456

  • Pause at the top

    Range

    A brief pause at the top, often with the legs about level, is a variation one library lists; Hybrid Calisthenics also pauses briefly at the top and at the bottom.12

  • Ankle weights

    Load

    Adds load to a movement that is already controlled. One library mentions it for strong athletes, and the Overcoming Gravity chart lists weighted toes to bar at the end of its ladder.16

  • Rings

    Equipment

    The hang can be on a bar or on rings; rings need a secure attachment.2

  • Stall bars

    Equipment

    Hanging against stall bars keeps the upper body still, which one library says makes swinging impossible.1

Related skillsL-SitDragon FlagHollow Body Hold

On Calisthenics Balkan

07

Sources

What this page relies on. Titles and publishers are written as published.

The small numbers in the text point to the entries below.

  1. Hanging Leg Raise (Exercise Library)Catalyst Athletics · weightlifting coaching site, exercise entry with no named author; full entry text read, not a study
  2. Hanging Leg RaisesHybrid Calisthenics · coaching page, no named author, © 2025; full text read, repetition standards not used
  3. Advanced Hanging Knee RaisesHybrid Calisthenics · coaching page, no named author, © 2025; full text read, repetition standards not used
  4. Leg RaisesHybrid Calisthenics · coaching page with a ten-step ladder, no named author, © 2025; only step names and described end positions used
  5. Hanging Leg RaisesDomenic Angelino (MS Kinesiology, CSCS, ACE CPT, as stated on the page) · FitCraft, a fitness-app company's site, 2026 · coaching page; its own numbers from other studies not used
  6. Overcoming Gravity, 2nd edition: progression charts (public spreadsheet)Steven Low · chart cells only; the core ladder 'Hanging Leg Raises' is marked by the author as proposed, not from the book; no technique text, one author's system
  7. Muscle activity and spine load during anterior chain whole body linkage exercises: the body saw, hanging leg raise and walkout from a push-upMcGill, Andersen, Cannon · J Sports Sci 33(4):419–426, 2015 · laboratory study, 14 men; abstract only

A note on safety. Check that the bar is fixed and can carry you, and that the ground beneath is clear. Keep a firm grip; if it fails you will drop. The laboratory study read here, an abstract about 14 men, reports about 3,000 newtons of spine compression for a straight-leg hanging raise, so choose a step you can control. One coaching page says to skip the exercise if it hurts the lower back, or bend the knees. Stop if there is pain and ask a qualified professional before continuing. This is an editorial technique guide, not rehabilitation advice. The technique rests on coaching pages and a library entry, not on trials; the figure is a simplified model, and the page has not been reviewed by a qualified coach.

Prepared by Calisthenics Balkan. Not yet reviewed by a qualified coach.

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