Saturday, May 30, 2009

Hanging straight-leg raises medley


Here's an exercise I tried yesterday after watching a fellow gym member perform it a few days earlier. I matched her total rep count but she tells me that she's good for 10 reps on a good day. Well so will I after some more practice. Lately, I rarely do any direct ab/core work other than an occasional ab plank hold because my ab/core musculature gets worked really well with my Olympic lift workouts.

Here's a demonstration from yesterday at my gym. I tried to perform each rep from a dead hang and touch the ceiling with the front tip of my shoes to add an extra challenge.


Give this bad boy exercise a try. I call it the hanging straight-leg raises medley.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

6 comments:

Charles Long said...

Looks intense. I think I will give that one a try.

Pierini Fitness said...

Hi Charles,

Obviously practice makes perfect so hopefully I'll devote some practice to this one. The raises to the left and right are tough.

Franklin said...

I have tried these before and know that although simple in appearance how difficult they really are .. great work!!

Pierini Fitness said...

Hi Franklin and thanks for the visit.

Nice to see an update on your blog. Hope that rest did you well. I know what a tentative shoulder feels like. Obey your body!

Charles Long said...

I tried it this afternoon. It was hard. I think I will add this to my regular arsenal.

I recently read an article in some magazine (don't remember which one) and some 40 something dude credited hanging leg raises for his 6 pack and strong core.

Pierini Fitness said...

Charles,

My ab/core muscles get a good workout doing overhead squats and the ab plank hold, but there is definitely a specificity factor that comes into play with this one.

I too am going to play around with these and I think my strategy to upping my rep count will be to do 3 reps (front, right and left), rest 30 seconds and then repeat. When it get's tough I'll up the rest to 60 seconds. I had success doing this cadence with the ab plank and was able to do an ab plank hold for 5:01.

Let's keep each other posted with how it goes.