Hanging Knee Raises?

[MomInVT]

Hi all,
In my workout yesterday, I was supposed to do five 10-rep sets of hanging knee raises (where you basically bring your feet close to all the way up to the bar). I can't raise my chin-up bar high enough to hang fully extended (I do pull-ups/chin-ups with bent knees), so I held myself at the top of a chin-up position. They were so hard! I couldn't do 10 reps, so I'd do 5 then quickly add 10 long-lever reverse crunches on the floor for each 'set'.
So my questions... Are they just really hard? Am I doing them wrong (or just have a much weaker core than I thought)? Are there any modifications that are more challenging than the reverse crunches described above that will help me work up to this move?
TIA,
Roz

 

[Justinef]

I think holding yourself at the top of the chin up is hard enough!!! That's how I taught myself to do chin ups - I held at the top and then slowly lowered.

Anyway, in Body Beast there's a bent-leg hanging crunch where you bring your knees up to your chest and then circle them. Would that work?
(I'll try to look for a video clip to explain what I mean)

 

[desertambrosia]

I think holding yourself at the top of the chin up is hard enough!!! That's how I taught myself to do chin ups - I held at the top and then slowly lowered.

Anyway, in Body Beast there's a bent-leg hanging crunch where you bring your knees up to your chest and then circle them. Would that work?
(I'll try to look for a video clip to explain what I mean)

They are hard. Like Justine suggested. Keep your knees bent. Eventually you will be able to straighten your legs. I have leg raises in my routine as well. They are a beast. Gotta love it!!

 

[MomInVT]

Anyway, in Body Beast there's a bent-leg hanging crunch where you bring your knees up to your chest and then circle them. Would that work?
(I'll try to look for a video clip to explain what I mean)

That's a great idea -- thanks, Justine! Those are a better sub once I run out of steam after ~5 raises. The reverse crunches, even with a long lever, just feel way too easy compared to the knee raises.

They are hard. Like Justine suggested. Keep your knees bent. Eventually you will be able to straighten your legs. I have leg raises in my routine as well. They are a beast. Gotta love it!!

Thanks, Karen! I'm so glad to hear you find them tough, too. Makes me feel like I might not be doing them totally wrong.
The issue with keeping my knees bent (with arms fully extended) is that my feet scrape the floor when I pull my knees up -- my squat stands don't go high enough. Sigh.
I was just thinking of Cathe doing pull-ups and/or chin-ups on her Turbo Barre (which is much lower than my squat stands) in STS -- she puts her legs as if she were sitting cross-legged, right? I wonder if I could do this to shorten my body length and keep my arms extended? Or even go into full lotus, which would actually require less support from the core/hip flexors as the leg bones would be providing some of the required support. Do you think that might work?

 

[desertambrosia]

I think that would work. As long as you are working your core, it's all good.!!