What muscles does pull up with leg raise work?

Pull Up with Leg Raise mainly works your lats. It also works your biceps, abs and hip flexors.

What equipment do you need for pull up with leg raise?

To do pull up with leg raise, you need pull-up bar.

How do you do pull up with leg raise?

Here is how to do pull up with leg raise. Reach up and grab a pull-up bar with an overhand grip, hands about shoulder-width apart. Hang with straight arms, then pull your shoulders down and back so you are not just dangling from the joints. Set your core before you pull by drawing your ribs down and bracing your abs. This dead-hang position with tension is your true starting point, not a limp hang. Begin the pull by driving your elbows down toward your hips and pulling your chest up to the bar. Lead with your chest and think about squeezing your shoulder blades together. Pull until your chin clears the bar and your upper chest is close to it. Keep your body from swinging by staying tight through your core and glutes. At the top, hold your position and raise your knees up toward your chest in a controlled curl. Tilt your pelvis under so your abs, not just your hip flexors, drive the knees up. Squeeze your abs hard at the top of the knee raise for a brief pause. This is where the core work happens, so resist the urge to swing your legs up with momentum. Lower your legs back down first with control, keeping tension in your midsection. Do not just let them drop, since the lowering phase is where a lot of the ab work lives. Once your legs are back under you, lower your body slowly to a full dead hang over about two to three seconds. Own the negative rather than dropping like a stone. Reset your shoulders and brace, then flow into the next rep with no swinging or kipping. Because this is an advanced combo, aim for 5 to 10 crisp reps and stop when your form slips.

What are common mistakes to avoid with pull up with leg raise?

When you do pull up with leg raise, avoid these common mistakes: kipping and swinging to get the chin over the bar; raising the legs with hip flexors and momentum instead of the abs; not reaching a full dead hang at the bottom.

Is pull up with leg raise good for beginners?

Pull Up with Leg Raise is an advanced exercise. It is an advanced move for experienced lifters.

Pull Up With Leg Raise Exercise - How To Video & Tips

Pull Up with Leg Raise Overview

The pull up with leg raise is a hard bodyweight move. You hang from a bar and pull yourself up. Then you lift your knees to your chest. It builds your lats, the big wing muscles on the sides of your back. It also works your biceps, your abs, and your hip flexors. Your biceps are the muscles on the front of your arms. You need only a pull-up bar. This move is two moves in one. The pull-up builds a wide, strong back. The leg raise builds a hard belly. Together they train your whole upper body core. It suits advanced lifters who can already do clean pull-ups. Use it early in a workout when you are fresh. Do 5 to 10 slow, strict reps.

What Is The Point of the Pull Up with Leg Raise?

Pull up with leg raise builds massive upper body strength while crushing your core. It combines two movements into one killer exercise that hits multiple muscle groups.

How To Do The Pull Up with Leg Raise

Reach up and grab a pull-up bar with an overhand grip, hands about shoulder-width apart. Hang with straight arms, then pull your shoulders down and back so you are not just dangling from the joints.
Set your core before you pull by drawing your ribs down and bracing your abs. This dead-hang position with tension is your true starting point, not a limp hang.
Begin the pull by driving your elbows down toward your hips and pulling your chest up to the bar. Lead with your chest and think about squeezing your shoulder blades together.
Pull until your chin clears the bar and your upper chest is close to it. Keep your body from swinging by staying tight through your core and glutes.
At the top, hold your position and raise your knees up toward your chest in a controlled curl. Tilt your pelvis under so your abs, not just your hip flexors, drive the knees up.
Squeeze your abs hard at the top of the knee raise for a brief pause. This is where the core work happens, so resist the urge to swing your legs up with momentum.
Lower your legs back down first with control, keeping tension in your midsection. Do not just let them drop, since the lowering phase is where a lot of the ab work lives.
Once your legs are back under you, lower your body slowly to a full dead hang over about two to three seconds. Own the negative rather than dropping like a stone.
Reset your shoulders and brace, then flow into the next rep with no swinging or kipping. Because this is an advanced combo, aim for 5 to 10 crisp reps and stop when your form slips.

Pull Up with Leg Raise Form Tips

Pull with your back, not just your arms. Lead with your elbows.
Keep your shoulders down and back at the start.
Keep your body still. Do not swing or kick.
Lift your knees high toward your chest at the top.
Squeeze your abs hard as your knees rise.
Lower your legs and body slow and controlled.
Breathe out as you pull up. Breathe in as you lower.
Go through a full range. Straighten your arms at the bottom.
Keep your core tight from start to finish.

Common Mistakes to Avoid for the Pull Up with Leg Raise

Kipping and swinging to get the chin over the bar. Using body swing to fling yourself up takes the work away from your lats and turns the movement into momentum. Stay tight through your core and glutes, and pull with strict, controlled effort so your back does the job.
Raising the legs with hip flexors and momentum instead of the abs. Swinging the knees up with a kick only trains your hip flexors and lets your abs off the hook. Tilt your pelvis under and curl your knees up slowly so your abs actually contract.
Not reaching a full dead hang at the bottom. Cutting the descent short robs your lats of their full stretch and shorts the range that builds strength. Lower all the way to straight arms with your shoulders still packed down, then pull again.
Shrugging the shoulders up toward the ears. If you hang and pull with your shoulders jammed up, you stress the joint and lose lat engagement. Pull your shoulder blades down and back first, and keep them set through the whole rep.
Dropping the body fast at the end of each rep. Letting go of tension and plummeting to the hang wastes the eccentric and jolts your shoulders. Control a two to three second lower every rep to build strength and protect the joint.
Letting the legs crash down after the knee raise. Dropping the legs with no control skips half the ab work and can tug your lower back. Lower them slowly and keep your midsection braced the whole way.
Trying the full combo before you own strict pull-ups. Stacking a leg raise onto a pull-up you cannot yet do strictly leads to flailing and frustration. Build clean strict pull-ups and hanging knee raises separately first, then combine them.
Losing core brace between the pull and the leg raise. If your trunk goes soft in the transition, you start swinging and your lower back takes the load. Keep your abs braced from the bottom of the hang through the top of the knee raise.
Craning the neck to force the chin over. Throwing your head back to clear the bar strains your neck and hides a pull that is not really finishing. Keep a neutral neck and pull your chest to the bar instead of your chin.
Going for too many reps and grinding ugly ones. Because this is advanced, fatigue turns your reps into swinging messes quickly. Stop the set while your reps are still strict and controlled rather than chasing a big number.
Gripping loosely and letting the bar roll in the hand. A weak grip makes you unstable and drains the forearms early. Squeeze the bar hard and keep your wrists stacked so your grip lasts the whole set.

Pull Up with Leg Raise Workout Tips

Earn this movement by mastering its parts first. Get strong at strict pull-ups and hanging knee raises on their own, then combine them so the full rep stays clean.
Pull your shoulder blades down and back before every rep. Setting the scapula turns on your lats and protects the shoulder, and it is the difference between a strong pull and a joint-stressing one.
Drive your elbows toward your hips as you pull. Thinking about the elbows rather than the hands helps you lead with your back and squeeze your lats at the top.
Curl your knees up with your abs, not a leg kick. Tucking your pelvis under first makes your abs do the raising, which is the whole point of adding the leg raise.
Control the lower on both the legs and the body. The eccentric is where a huge amount of strength and muscle is built, so resist the drop every single rep.
Keep your core braced through the transitions. A tight trunk stops the swing and links the pulling and the ab work into one strong, connected movement.
Program this early in a back or core session when you are fresh. It is demanding and technical, so you want full energy to keep every rep strict.
Aim for low reps done perfectly, around 5 to 10 per set for 3 to 4 sets. Quality strict reps beat a long set of kipping, swinging ones.
Add a weight belt or slow the tempo once bodyweight feels easy. Progressive overload here can mean more control, more pause, or a little added load.
Squeeze the bar hard the whole set. A strong grip stabilizes the shoulder and keeps your forearms from failing before your lats and abs do.
Use a brief pause at the top of the knee raise. Holding the crunched position for a beat kills momentum and forces your abs to prove they did the work.
If your grip is the weak link, train hangs and heavy carries separately. A stronger grip lets you focus on the pull and the abs instead of hanging on for dear life.
Film yourself from the side to catch swinging. Video shows kipping and rushed negatives far better than the set feels while you are grinding through it.
Do not train to failure on every set. Leaving a rep in the tank keeps your form strict and saves your shoulders and elbows for the long haul.
Pair it with strict hollow holds or dead bugs on other days. Building raw core control off the bar makes your leg raise on the bar far cleaner.
Be patient with the negatives and the strictness. This is an advanced skill, and the lifters who own it are the ones who refused to swing their way through it.