Ab-bersize 2

The hanging leg raise is to your abs as the pull up is to your back, the chest press is to your pecs and the squat is to your legs.

In other words, if you want to bruise the foreheads of unsuspecting summer dates, you must do them. 

It's explanation is simple -  unlike it's execution: hanging from a bar, you curl your hips and knees up and toward your chest. Just be sure that you don't fall victim to three common mistakes - using momentum instead of your abs, lifting your knees instead of curling/scooping your hips and leaning back instead of looking straight ahead.

Of course, this is one of the hardest ab exercises for a reason - it requires not only abdominal strength, but also a mighty grip and flexibility of the lower back and hip flexors (the muscles on front of your upper thighs). Check your grip by seeing if you can hang from a bar for at least 30 seconds: if yes, then you're good to go, if not, then wrap a towel around the bar and practice holding on as long as possible, aiming to lengthen your hanging time by 5 seconds each workout. To assess your flexibility, stand with your upper back, shoulders and hips against a wall and slide you hand between the arch in your lower back and the wall: if you can only manage a couple of fingers, then you're good to go, in your whole hands fits, you're tight. While tight isn't always a bad adjective, you do not want a tight lower back and hip flexors. To cure this, perform 2 sets of 12 - 16 overhead reverse lunges. The overhead bar need not be heavy - a broomstick will do! - just make sure to bend both knees to 90 degree angles.

Once your assessment is complete, move onto the exercise at hand...if you need a primer exercise before you jump into the hanging leg raise, try the flat-back leg-lowering drill. As one might suspect, you lay on the floor, flat on your back, with your legs raised above your hips and knees slightly bent. Pressing the small of your back into the floor to eliminate the arch, take 3 - 5 seconds to lower your legs to the lowest point it can reach without compromising the flatness of your lower back, then bring your legs toward your chest. Once these become boring and easy, then you're ready for the hanging leg raise. Do as many reps as you can, resting for 30 seconds between each set, thereby building your endurance...and, indeed, variations do persist. After you had the bent knee hanging leg raise mastered, straighten out your legs and feel the burn all over again.

Giddy-up!

(The longer you can hold your legs up in the air, the better.)