4 Captain's Chair Moves, Easiest To Hardest — Which Can You Do?
Four ways to train your abs on the captain's chair, ordered easiest to hardest:
1. Bicycle - alternating knees, so it's one leg's weight at a time 2. Knee raise - both knees together, short lever 3. Leg raise - straight legs to horizontal, long lever 4. Vertical leg raise - full range, finishing by tilting the pelvis back
Your hip flexors do most of the lifting on every one of these. The abs' job is holding the pelvis steady and stopping your lower back from arching - so the longer the lever gets, the harder they have to work.
Which level are you on?
Exercises in this video
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Captain's Chair Bicycle Cycle the legs while hanging on the forearm pads. Alternating sides brings the obliques in on top of the abs' constant hold. -
Captain's Chair Knee Raise Supported on the forearms, raise the knees toward the chest. Curl the pelvis up at the top — swinging the legs alone barely touches the abs. -
Captain's Chair Leg Raise Same support, legs kept straight. The long lever makes this markedly harder than the knee raise and adds real hip-flexor and quad work. -
Captain's Chair Horizontal Leg Raise Raise the straight legs only to horizontal and hold the line. Stopping at parallel keeps constant tension on the abs instead of resting at the top.
