Muscles of Iron
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MOI editor Rob Drucker performs the bent leg hold during his workout this morning. Courtesy of MOI staff.
There are many ways to perform the leg raise, and an excellent series of static or hold progressions of this exercise is detailed in Convict Conditioning 2 by Paul Wade. I refer you to this book for a complete explanation of leg-raise hold movements.
At right, I am shown performing what Paul Wade calls the bent leg hold, a beginner’s exercise in his progression scheme. The idea here is to hold the legs bent with the knees kept upwards for several seconds while keeping your body well braced on a support apparatus. I have found this movement to be a total body developer, and it really packs power into the shoulders, triceps, midsection, back, and hips.
In addition to the static variations of the leg raise described in CC2, this exercise can be performed dynamically. In his book, Thomas Inch on Strength, the old-time British strongman gave instruction for one type of dynamic movement as follows:
Thomas Inch demonstrates the leg raise exercise on a chair. Public domain photograph obtained from Thomas Inch on Strength, published in 1907 by Athletic Publications.
“Take up position between two chairs, one hand on each chair back and, if necessary, pad the backs for comfort. Now, bend the legs, supporting the weight of the body on the arms, and draw the knees up to position shown in the photograph [shown at right.]
Then extend the legs until perfectly straight with the feet on a line with the waist. Count two, and then, keeping the knees at waist level, draw the feet back, then return them near to the floor, but avoid contact with the floor so that the legs can be carried backwards by tilting the body forwards and hollowing the back. Return to position 1, and repeat till tired.”
I have been practicing the bent-leg hold for about a month so far, and the results have been very impressive; it’s definitely making my hips, abs, and back much stronger – just like Wade said it would. I am gradually working up the L-hold step ladder presented in Chapter 16 of CC2, and soon I will try the dynamic version of the leg raise suggested by Inch. The leg hold exercises are top notch for building a deep inner strength and total body power. No movement that I have practiced quite mimics it.
As a final note, I’ll take us back to November 30, 1920. On this day, Thomas Inch set a new world’s record on the one-arm press with a lift of 201 pounds, beating his former mark by one pound. He also pressed out, from above his head, a massive expander of 28 strands, increasing the record by nine!
Have a great day,
Rob
PS – I haven’t forgotten about the Home Gym Overhaul Series; it will be coming, but probably a bit behind schedule. As I mentioned previously, first up we’ll build a heavy-duty workbench. Also, there are some new articles in the works. Stay tuned.