Toes to Bar vs Hanging Leg Raises (Differences & Benefits)

Toes to Bar and Hanging Leg Raises are two advanced movements that target the core abdominal muscles. Both exercises involve hanging from a bar and lifting your legs towards your chest, but the complete movements as well as the difficulty of each one is quite different.

Toes to Bar require you to lift your toes up to the bar (clever name, right?) while keeping your legs straight, engaging the entire abdominal region along with the hip flexors and quads. On the other hand, Hanging Leg Raises only require you to raise your legs until they are roughly hip height, or parallel to the ground.

In this article, I’ll start by going into detail about how to properly do each exercise along with its benefits and coaching tips. Then, I’ll compare Toes to Bar and Hanging Leg Raises side-by-side to help you determine which (or both) exercise might be a better fit for your training.

Toes to Bar

Equipment Needed

Pull-Up Bar – Ideally a stand-alone pull-up bar or one connected to a squat rack although any sturdy object you can hang from will technically work.

Muscles Worked

Abdominal Core Muscles (Rectus Femoris, Obliques Externus Abdominus)
Quadriceps, Rectus Femoris
Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL)
Secondarily: Back, Biceps and Forearms

Step-by-Step Instructions

Find yourself a pull-up bar and grip the bar with an overhand grip
Engage your lats so your body doesn’t go limp once you begin to hang
Now hang from the bar with a slight flex at the elbow
Keeping the legs straight, flex the core and lift the legs up until your toes touch the pull-up bar.
Lower the legs under control to help keep them from swinging uncontrollably.
Repeat for the designated number of reps

Coaching Points

The biggest issue that most of my athletes run into when doing Toes to Bar is how to keep from swinging, or better yet, how to properly utilize that swing as a positive and not a negative.

To keep from swinging, you have to actively lower your legs back down. If you ‘let your legs go’ and just allow gravity to take over you’ll completely lose control of the movement.

Timing and rhythm are both important for Toes to Bar and you can’t achieve either if you’re not in control of your legs throughout the movement.

Toes to Bar Benefits

The most obvious benefit of Toes to Bar is that they are a great core exercise.

Specifically, they target the lower abs (and hip flexors). The majority of core exercises – situps, crunches, etc – involve flexing the shoulders toward the core. Far fewer involve driving the legs toward the core and Toes to Bar are a great example of one of those movements.

The benefits extend well beyond just the abs though. They are a great way to sneak grip training into your routine. A set of 15 to 20 Toes to Bar will take most lifters 20 to 30 seconds (or potentially multiple sets). Three full sets can account for about 90 seconds of Bar Hang time.

And don’t forget about the back, biceps and shoulders as well. Having to stabilize the position of the upper body and maintain the flexed arm position can be a workout in itself.

All of these benefits are why Toes to Bar can be such a powerful addition to your strength training routine. You really do get a whole lot of ‘bang for your buck’ with them.

Hanging Leg Raises

Equipment Needed

Pull-Up Bar – Ideally a stand-alone pull-up bar or one connected to a squat rack although any sturdy object you can hang from will technically work.

Muscles Worked

Abdominal Core Muscles (Rectus Femoris, Obliques Externus Abdominus)
Quadriceps, Rectus Femoris
Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL)
Back and Forearms

Step-by-Step Instructions

Find yourself a pull-up bar and grip the bar with an overhand grip.
Engage your lats so your body doesn’t go limp once you begin to hang.
Now hang from the bar and keeping your legs straight, drive them up to hip height (or slightly above hip height).
Finally, actively lower your legs back to the starting position – don’t allow the legs to just swing down.
Repeat until all reps are completed.

Coaching Points

The biggest issue that most of my athletes run into when doing Hanging Straight Leg Raises (or any hanging ab exercise for that matter) is how to keep from swinging out of control.

To keep from swinging, you have to actively lower your legs back down. If you ‘let your legs go’ and just allow gravity to take over you’ll completely lose control of the movement. Timing and rhythm are also both important for Leg Raises and you can’t achieve either if you’re not in control of your legs throughout the movement.

Hanging Straight Leg Raise Benefits

Hanging Leg Raises are going to provide many of the same benefits as Toes to Bar.

They target the lower abs (and hip flexors). The majority of core exercises – situps, crunches, etc – involve flexing the shoulders toward the core. Far fewer involve driving the legs toward the core and Hanging Knee Raises are a great example of one of those movements.

The benefits of Hanging Straight Leg Raises extend beyond just the abs though.

They are a great way to sneak grip training into your routine. A set of 15 to 20 Leg Raises will take most lifters 20 to 30 seconds. 3 sets can account for about 90 seconds of Bar Hang time. And don’t forget about the back and shoulders as well. Having to stabilize the position of the upper body can be a workout in itself.

Toes to Bar vs Hanging Leg Raises: Which is Better?

Now, let’s take a side-by-side look at the two exercises and discuss if one is better than the other for some common lifting goals.

Better For Developing Core Strength: Toes to Bar

There is actually a pretty simple way to determine which of any two exercises is better at improving strength. Try them both – see which one is harder to do. 9 times out of 10, the one that is harder to do will be more effective at developing strength.

Having said that, it won’t take many reps (shouldn’t take more than one really) to figure out if Toes to Bar or Hanging Leg Raises is more difficult. (It’s Toes to Bar by the way)

Hanging Leg Raises is actually a good exercise to do as part of a progression to work towards being able to do Toes to Bar. I have Hanging Leg Raises listed as one of my Toes to Bar alternatives that progresses from a pure beginner all the way to movements that are even more advanced than Toes to Bar.

Better For Beginners: Hanging Leg Raises

Of the two, Hanging Leg Raises are the better option for beginners. Toes to Bar takes a ton of core strength, grip strength, coordination and technique to execute properly. On top of that, they can turn dangerous if grip is lost halfway through.

I will say though that Hanging Leg Raises aren’t exactly the most beginner-friendly exercise either. They’re definitely safer because you’re never in a position where you’re practically hanging upside down, but they’re definitely not the easiest core exercise either.

If you find yourself struggling to do Hanging Leg Raises, then I would suggest giving Lying Leg Raises a shot.

Final Thoughts

I just spent the last section of this article comparing which is better – Toes to Bar or Hanging Leg Raises. The truth is, once you’re able to do both, there is no reason to not have them both in your strength training plan.

Both are incredible core exercises and by utilizing both in your workouts you can add variety and help keep your workouts from getting stale.

So, instead of trying to do decide which one is better or which one you are better off doing, find a way to incorporate both Toes to Bar and Hanging Leg Raises into your training (once you can do both exercises safely of course!).