The abs and hip flexors can be strengthened with captain’s chair hanging leg raises. This exercise, which calls for the use of a leg raise machine such as a captain’s chair, is a helpful complement to a strength-training program that targets multiple muscles at once.
Also Known As: Crunches vertically, knees hanging, legs raised on a Roman chair
Targets: Hip flexors and Abs
Equipment Needed: Captain’s chair or Roman chair
Level: Intermediate
How to Perform Hanging Leg Raises in a Captain’s Chair
Hold the padded armrests with your forearms while standing inside the captain’s chair frame. If there are handles, grab them. Verify that your arms are firmly in place. Stable arms allow you to raise your legs with good form. Maintain a straight back.
- To get ready for leg lifts, take a deep breath and contract your abdominal muscles.
- Raise your legs up until your quads are parallel to the floor, bending your knees just a little bit.
- As you carefully lower your legs to return to the starting position, release your breath. Maintain a focused core.
In a lot of gyms, the captain’s chair or roman chair is a training frame. When performing hanging leg lifts while standing in the frame, support your body weight with the two arms of the chair.
The Advantages of Leg Raises
This exercise works the muscles of the abdomen, producing a maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) in the rectus abdominis of over 130% and an MVC in the external obliques of 88%. The iliopsoas, or hip flexors, are targeted as well.
People use isolation strategies in hanging leg lifts. To strengthen particular portions of the body or muscle group that may be weaker or may otherwise benefit from a strength-training program, isolation exercises focus on that one area
People use many muscles to accomplish daily tasks like carrying groceries or climbing stairs. The hanging leg rises from the captain’s chair helps prepare these muscles, which must cooperate and coordinate with one another.
Participants in a 2018 study who had poly-substance dependence (dependency on many drugs) experienced mood benefits and a brief reduction in drug cravings when they completed this exercise as part of a circuit training regimen.
Additional Types of Hanging Leg Raises
There are various ways to practice captain’s chair hanging leg lifts based on your fitness objectives and availability of gym equipment.
Raising Your Legs Without a Captain’s Chair
If a leg raises machine is out of your reach, you can still get a similar workout with lying hip raises. To perform this, raise your legs so that your toes point upward while lying on your back and gently bend your knees. Lift your hips and contract your core.
Hanging Leg Raises on the Knees
By doing the leg lifts in a chair frame with your knees bent rather than your legs straight, you can slightly ease the movement. This version of hanging leg lifts requires less core power from your body. It also relieves some of the strain on your lower back.
Pull-Up Leg Raises Which Hang Up
If you use a pull-up bar instead of a chair frame, hanging leg lifts will become even more challenging. With your hands slightly wider than shoulder width and your palms pointing away from you, grab the bar. Raise your legs and hang your body. Maintain a contracted core and a straight back.
Captain’s Chair Raises (Single-Leg)
Captain’s chair single-leg hanging leg lifts require more core strength and are best suited for advanced athletes. Use the same technique as a regular hanging leg raise, but raise one leg at a time for this variant. The name comes from the fact that this movement ultimately resembles a kick.
The Captain’s Chair Twist
This version works the obliques. As you raise your legs, twist your torso so that your knees are slightly angled away from your body. Perform twists to the left and right to equally train your abs on both sides.
Hanging Leg Raises: Major Mistakes
Stay away from these mistakes to preserve the effectiveness and safety of your hanging leg lifts from a captain’s chair.
Bending Your Back
The spine is compressed by hanging leg lifts, which put additional strain on it. Maintain an arch-free back and push against the pad while you complete leg lifts. Stay stable with your head and neck.
Not Using Your Core
Engaging your core prior to lifting your legs is a crucial component of proper technique when completing hanging leg raises. You run the danger of injury in addition to losing out on the strengthening advantages of the exercise if you raise your legs before your abdominal muscles are completely contracted.
Constantly Using Momentum
Keep your actions deliberate and slow. You won’t be able to reap the full benefits of hanging leg lifts if you rely solely on momentum.
Restraining Your Breath
You might be tensing up so much that you’re forgetting to breathe while you contract your abdominal muscles and get ready to raise your legs. You may prevent holding your breath by timing your lifts with your breathing. Keep in mind: For maximum performance, your muscles require oxygen.
Safety and Warnings
Exercises that put a lot of strain on your upper body and core include captain’s chair hanging leg lifts. They might need to be avoided if you:
- Are a new parent or are you just over a baby
- Did you just undergone abdominal surgery
- Has diastasis recti, a disorder characterized by the separation of the abdominal muscles, often during pregnancy
- Are you recuperating from surgeries or injuries on your arms, legs, back, or neck
Before beginning an exercise regimen or incorporating anything new into your workout, consult your doctor if you have any of these medical issues or any others that may impact your ability to exercise. And if you are in pain, never carry on. (Pain is abnormal; discomfort is natural.)
When you rest, try to perform eight or ten hanging leg lifts. As your strength increases, try doing three sets of ten hanging leg lifts.
Ask a personal trainer or physical therapist for advice if you’re unsure if hanging leg lifts from a captain’s chair are safe.
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