EXECUTION
- Jump or step up to a high bar so that when you are holding the bar, your body hangs freely without your feet touching the floor. If you use wrist straps, stand on a low stool or bench when you adjust the straps.
- When hanging from the bar, your arms and lower body should be fully extended. You should have a slightly arched position of the lumbar spine.
- Inhale and hold your breath as you first bring the legs slightly behind the body and then rigorously raise them forward and upward as high as possible.
- Keep the legs straight but not locked as you raise the legs.
- If you have tight hamstring muscles hold a slight bend in the knees.
- For the exercise to be most effective, the legs should come up above the level position at which point you should try to hold for 1-2 seconds and then exhale and relax slightly as you return to the starting position.
- Pause momentarily and then repeat bringing the legs first to the rear and then swinging them up and forward to the front.
- If this exercise is too difficult with straight legs, you should bend the knees to decrease the resistance.
WORK OUT TIPS
- In order to get maximum abdominal development, it is important that you raise the legs as high as possible since the abdominals shorten only when the legs reach approximately 30-45 degrees to the vertical and above. Prior to this time, they are under isometric contraction so that the hip flexors can raise the legs from the vertical to when the abdominals begin to shorten.
- The key to successful execution of this exercise is to allow the pelvis to rotate maximally as the legs are raised. Thus, it is important to concentrate on curling the pelvis after you get the legs moving upward.
- A slight swing of the legs back and then forward is effective for helping to overcome resting inertia and to enable you to raise the legs higher for greater abdominal development.
- Bringing the legs backward before your bring them forward places the abdominals on stretch and creates a greater range of motion over which the pelvis can rotate and the abdominal muscles contract. In addition, it places the hip flexors on stretch to enable them to contract more strongly to raise the legs upward. However, you must be stationary when first starting.
- Involvement of the hip flexors is very important in this exercise and is not dangerous to the spine. The abdominals and hip flexors work together in a very safe and effective manner. In fact, without the abdominal and hip flexor muscles in action at the same time, this exercise and many others would be impossible to do. This includes common activities, such as walking, leaping, jumping, running and kicking.
- For most individuals, additional weights on the feet are not necessary. Your relatively long legs and the weight of your shoes usually provide ample resistance.
- The most difficult part of this exercise is hanging onto the bar. Because of this, the use of wrist straps is recommended. They allow you to hang sufficiently long to do as many repetitions as possible.
- Holding your breath when raising the legs is extremely important for getting additional strength and being able to raise the legs maximally. If you exhale during the raising of the legs, you would not be able to come close to the maximum possible and, as a result, give you less abdominal development.
- If you have tight hamstrings and if you keep the legs locked in a straight position, the exercise will be more difficult and you will find it almost impossible to get beyond the leg-level position. In this case, you should bend the knees slightly so that you can increase the range of motion for greater abdominal development.
MAJOR MUSCLES INVOLVED
The hip flexor and abdominal muscles are the major ones involved in hanging straight leg raises. The main hip flexors are the iliacus, psoas, (iliopsoas), rectus femoris, and pectineus. The iliacus and psoas lie deep in the abdomen and cannot be seen or easily palpated. The pectineus is a short thick muscle that lies close to the groin and is covered somewhat by the sartorius and rectus femoris muscles. The rectus femoris is a long muscle that runs straight down the front of the thigh and crosses both the hip and the knee joints. It is one of the major muscles of the quadriceps femoris muscle group. The main abdominal muscles include the rectus abdominis, a long slender muscle that extends vertically from the pubic bone to the sternum and the internal and external obliques which cover the front sides of the abdomen from the rectus abdominis to the latissimus dorsi. The fibers of the external oblique run at an angle and form the letter V when viewed from the front. In the upper portion of the abdomen the internal oblique fibers run perpendicular to those of the external oblique.
MUSCLE AND JOINT ACTIONS
In the hip joint, there is flexion in which the legs are raised forward and upward beginning from a position directly under or slightly behind the trunk. In the spine, there is flexion in which the pelvic girdle rotates posteriorly, i.e., the upper pelvis rotates backward as the lower pelvis rotates forward carrying the legs via isometric contraction of the hip flexors. The hip joint muscles come into play initially to raise the legs while the pelvis is held in place by isometric contraction of the abdominals. When the hip flexion reaches approximately 30-45 degrees from the vertical, the hip-leg angle in the hip joint is maintained by an isometric contraction of the hip flexors. At the same time, the abdominal muscles, especially the lower portion, come into play to rotate the pelvis and for the legs to continue moving upward. The higher the legs are raised, not only does the lower portion of the abdominals contract more strongly, but it also brings in shortening of the upper abdominals to produce maximal shortening of the entire abdominal wall.
SPORTS USES
In bodybuilding, this exercise is used mainly to develop the abdominal muscles. It is an extremely effective exercise especially for strengthening the lower portion of the abdominals and the upper when the legs are raised sufficiently high. In many sports, hip and spinal flexion together or in sequence are extremely important for bringing the leg forward and raising it as high as possible in front of the body. These actions are seen in soccer kicking, when driving the thigh forward in running, and when stepping or raising the leg in front to reach a ball or some other object. Gymnasts would be unable to perform in free exercise, on the rings, high bar, parallel and uneven bars and the beam. Thus, hanging straight leg raises play a very important role in sports such as soccer, track and field, karate, pole vaulting, hurdling, rhythmic gymnastics, and other sports. Development of the muscles involved is also important for prevention of injuries to the lower back since these muscles help to stabilize the pelvis which in turn plays an important role in maintaining proper alignment of the spine.