Legs · Bodyweight
Hands-up Knee-up
How to do the hands-up knee-up, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Reps
- Movement
- Flexion
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand tall with both arms reaching overhead. Explosively drive one knee up toward your chest while pulling your hands down to meet it, then return to the start and alternate sides at a quick pace.
- 1Hip flexors and lower abs snapping the knee up
- 2A tight crunch as your hands and knee meet
- 3Light, springy contact through the standing foot
Common mistakes
- Hunching forward instead of driving the knee high
- Letting the standing knee cave inward
- Moving so slowly you lose the rhythm and pop
Muscles worked
The hands-up knee-up mainly works the hip flexors and lower abs, with the upper abs, obliques, quads, and calves assisting.
- Hip FlexorsPrimary
- Lower AbsPrimary
- Upper AbsSupport
- ObliquesSupport
- QuadsSupport
- CalvesSupport
- LatsMinor
- GlutesMinor
- Front DeltsMinor
- Tibialis AnteriorMinor
Kovo programs the hands-up knee-up for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More hips & adductors exercises
- How to do the butterfly stretch
- How to do the external rotation
- How to do the cable hip adduction
- How to do the internal rotation
- How to do the cobra pose
- How to do the core scrunch
Last reviewed June 2026.