Most people train their abs lying on the floor. However, if you think about it how many times do you actually need ab strength, when in a lying position?

The primary function of the abdominal muscles is to “stiffen” the mid-section of your body while transferring force from the lower body to the upper body, or vice-versa. Realistic, everyday functional movements might include, lifting objects, pushing or pulling objects and twisting movements, as during sweeping or especially in many sports like boxing, martial arts and racket sports.

In a scientific study carried out by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) scientists measured the muscle recruitment of the abdominal muscles in a number of abdominal exercises to determine which exercises have worked the abs the hardest. The study determined that the Number One exercise for recruitment of the rectus abdominus and the obliques was the Hanging Leg Raises (HLR).

In his book The Naked Warrior, Pavel Tsatsouline writes: “I have never known a single person who regularly practiced hanging leg raises and failed to develop a hard and useful set of abs. Ever. The HLR belongs in the training schedule of any hard comrade.”

• Men in uniform get the strength and active flexibility to ace extreme obstacle courses.

• Fighters put more power into their kicks.

• Lifters up their squat and deadlift poundages.

• Everybody gets a healthier, more resilient back.

Preparation work to perform hanging leg raises

Chances are that you may be lacking in both strength and flexibility in the beginning to do a legitimate HLR as described below. If that is the case, start by practicing hanging knee raises according to the same instructions. Once you get comfortable with these, you can progress to hanging knees to elbows. This however requires more flexibility in your lower back and hips. The ultimate step would then be to straighten your legs and attempt a full hanging leg raise.

Execution

Start by finding an appropriate bar. Ideally it would be high enough to have your feet clear off the ground when you are hanging from the bar. Jump up and hang, your elbows locked. You may have to consciously tense your triceps if you have a hard time keeping your arms straight. It is important –HLRs with flexed elbows are likely to stress out your shoulders.

Another shoulder friendly tip: start with a narrow grip. You should almost be able to touch your thumbs if you straightened them out. The narrow grip pre-stretches the lats and thus unloads the shoulders. Eventually you should be able to move your hands out to shoulder width but staying with a narrow grip is fine too.

Take a breath and pull your straight arms down ‘into their sockets’. An observer would say that your arms have stayed straight but ‘got shorter’, retracted like a turtle’s head. ‘Tightening your armpits’ is another way to describe this action.

Simultaneously push down on the bar with straight arms as if you are doing a straight-arm pull-down –press hard! –and bring your legs up to the bar. Keep your toes pointed and your thighs tight.

Raise your legs in a slow, controlled motion. Avoid jerking or swinging movements, except for the last few repetitions. Do not tilt your head back. While making the exercise easier, looking up converts the hanging leg raise from a strength exercise to more of a technique and leverage drill. So keep your chin slightly tucked at all times.

Once you have touched the bar with your feet, lower your straight legs totally controlling the movement all the way down; don’t fall through the bottom! Keep your lats firing on the negative. By the way, expect to get better at pullups, both weighted and bodyweight, from HLRs done by the book.

When you have bottomed out release the tension in your waist, rib cage, and armpits; let your abs get a full stretch before another rep.

As your strength and flexibility improves gradually straighten out your legs more and more, especially on the negative.

Do up to twenty-five total repetitions in sets of one to five. Once you have worked up to 5x5 of strict straight leg raises all the way to the bar make the exercise more challenging. Hold a ball or some other object between your knees or ankles. A pair of heavy boots will work too.

A simple way to make the HLR tougher and to challenge your obliques more is to touch the bar with your shins not in the centre but slightly outside one of the hands.

Richard Geres is an ACE-certified

Personal Trainer

www.richardgeres.com