A GREAT AB EXERCISE

I bought these AB Straps online for the insanely low price of $3.99. I coudn't believe they were that inexpensive, I've seen AB straps cost close to $100 before (obviously not the same quality but the ones I bought works great and are 100% legit).



I´d like to consider myself somewhat of an expert when it comes to AB exercises and one of my favorite AB exercises by far is the hanging knee raise (a.k.a hanging leg raise, knees to elbows, etc).

This is how the hanging knee raise is done:
The key is to lift your knees/legs up, crunch your abdomen together as much as possible, all the way from the tailbone to chest, and either strive to bring knees-to-chest or knees/toes-to-elbows. The hardest part in this exercise is bringing the knees/legs down in a controlled motion, literally fighting gravity. That is what's called the negative, or eccentric phase of the muscle contraction and that's also when your muscles will experience the greatest amount of stimuli for development.
A simple way to spot good technique on this is if you can do the exercise without starting to swing back and forth. See, that's also what differs an AB strap from a dips/leg raise stand – the lack of back support (no use of counter pressure – with an AB strap it's all You!)

A variation of this exercise to target more of the obliques (sides) of the abdomen is simply to turn the knees and have them face to one side, alternating sides as you curl up.

This exercise can also be performed with straight legs (hanging leg raise) and that is often perceived as harder to perform. But harder doesn't automatically mean more effective and if the purpose is to work ABS I recommend bending of the knees in the “curl-up phase” (positive, concentric phase) of the exercise. If the exercise is done with straight legs your hip flexors will work much harder (because of greater leverage with legs extended) in synergy with the ABS to flex the hip and curl legs up. (The hip flexors are also short, thick and strong muscles in comparison to the ABS and there's a great chance that they will take over most of the work bringing the legs up and strainious hip flexor work in combination with fatigued ABS can cause lower back pain as well).

In other words, to perform this exercise: "Bring knees up towards chest while tucking/rounding the tailbone upwards. Lower the knees back down in a controlled motion without swinging"

With all that praise said – hanging knee raises can also be done without an AB strap. Take a look at the short video below of me demonstrating the exercise "knees to elbows". Form and technique is almost identical to the hanging knee raise described above. What I feel is the bad about this hanging version is the extra stress caused on elbow joints with fully extended elbows and the fact that grip strength/endurance plays a part.



Contact me or leave a comment if you have any questions!=)

/Henrik