Knee/Hip Raise On Parallel Bars
Supported on your forearms in a captain's chair with your back against the pad, you raise your legs from hanging to parallel with the floor. The pad removes the swing you fight on a bar, so nothing hides sloppy reps — what is left is a straight test of whether your abs or your hip flexors are doing the lifting.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Set your forearms flat on the pads with your elbows at 90 degrees and grip the handles lightly.
- Press your shoulders down away from your ears — do not let the shoulder blades ride up.
- Flatten your entire lower back against the back pad and keep it there.
- Hang your legs straight down and let them settle completely still before rep one.
- Brace your trunk and squeeze your legs together so they move as one unit.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale through the lift, particularly through the pelvic tilt at the top. Inhale on the way down. One second up, one held, two to three down.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Bodyweight with bent knees first, then straight legs. Fifteen strict straight-leg reps to parallel with a pelvic tilt is the standard worth chasing. Progress by straightening the legs, then by pausing a full second at the top, then by squeezing a 2-5 kg dumbbell or medicine ball between your feet — in that order.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Impose a tempo: one second up, one second held at parallel, three seconds down. If you cannot hold that, bend the knees and rebuild the rep with a shorter lever.
Add the tuck. Once the legs hit horizontal, pull the tailbone up toward your ribcage and feel the lower abs shorten. Fewer reps done this way beat twice as many without it.
Stop the legs higher — at 45 degrees rather than hanging — and only lengthen the descent once the lumbar spine stays glued to the pad throughout.
Push down through your forearms and pull your shoulder blades toward your back pockets before you start, then hold that all set. Elbows carry your bodyweight; the shoulders do not sag into the pads.
Why bother
Being supported at the elbows and backed against a pad takes grip and shoulder endurance out of the equation entirely. On a pull-up bar most people's hands quit before their abs do; here the set ends when your trunk ends, which makes it a far better tool for actually progressing the movement.
Raising the legs to parallel is mostly hip flexion, and the abs' real job is holding the pelvis so the lower back does not arch off the pad. The rep only becomes a serious ab exercise if you curl the pelvis up at the top — tuck the tailbone toward your ribs after the legs reach horizontal. Without that tilt you are doing a psoas exercise with an ab reputation.
Where it fits
End of a session, two or three times a week, 3-4 sets of 8-15. It pairs well with a rollout or plank variation, which trains the same anti-extension job from the other direction. Once you can do 15 strict straight-leg reps with a pelvic tilt, move to the hanging version and let grip become the next problem to solve.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
Is this better than a hanging leg raise?
It is better for training the abs and worse for training everything else. The pad and the elbow supports strip out grip, lat and shoulder involvement and eliminate the swing, so you can genuinely progress the trunk work. The hanging version adds grip endurance and shoulder stability, which are worth having — use this to build the strength, then move to the bar.
Why do I feel this in the front of my hips rather than my abs?
Because raising a straight leg to parallel is primarily hip flexion, and the psoas attaches right there. The fix is the top of the rep: once your legs reach horizontal, tilt the pelvis and curl your tailbone toward your ribcage. That last few centimetres is the part the abs own.
Do knee raises count, or do I need straight legs?
They count. A bent knee shortens the lever and makes the rep considerably easier, which is the right regression when a straight leg makes your back arch. Do them bent, add the pelvic tilt at the top, and straighten the legs as a progression once you can hold the lumbar spine flat.
How do I make this harder once bodyweight is easy?
In order: hold the top for a full second, slow the descent to three seconds, raise the legs past parallel toward the bars, then hold a light dumbbell or medicine ball between your feet. Adding weight before you own the tempo just reintroduces the swing you removed.