Hanging Leg Raise

Move · Resistance Training · Movement, Typed Supps

The abs only start working once your hips curl upwards — everything below that point is your hip flexors lifting your legs.

Stage by stage

Set-up (Grip and scapular control): Hanging loads the finger flexors and demands active shoulder control; grip usually fails before the abdominals do.
During the set (Hip flexors to ninety degrees): The first half of the raise is iliopsoas and rectus femoris, with the abdominals working isometrically to stop the pelvis tipping forwards.
Top of the rep (Pelvis curls, abdominals shorten): Only when the tailbone tucks and the lumbar spine flexes does the rectus abdominis actually shorten under load.
Days later (Control, not momentum): Soreness concentrates in the hip flexors and lower abdominals when the descent is controlled; swinging replaces that stimulus with pendulum energy.

Muscles trained

Primary: abs, hip flexors
Secondary: forearms, lats, obliques

Intensity

8 METs (Calisthenics (e.g., push ups, sit ups, pull-ups, jumping jacks), vigorous effort).

Time to effect

Weeks: Grip endurance and the ability to control the swing usually improve first, often before ab strength itself becomes the limiting factor.
Months: Full-range control develops — from a dead hang through knees-to-chest and eventually toes-to-bar — as abdominal and hip flexor strength catch up to grip capacity.

Common myth

"Hanging leg raises will give you visible abs if you do enough of them." In reality: This move builds genuine abdominal and hip flexor strength, but visible abs are governed mainly by body fat percentage, not by how hard or how often the muscle underneath is trained — the idea that you can target fat loss to one area, sometimes called spot reduction, is not supported by the research.