Legs · Bodyweight
High Knee Star Tap
How to do the high knee star tap, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- time
- Movement
- Flexion
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand tall, then explosively drive one knee up high while the opposite arm reaches across in a star-tap pattern. Alternate sides at a quick, rhythmic pace, staying light on the balls of your feet.
- 1Feel your hip flexors and quads firing as you drive each knee up high
- 2Stay tall through your spine and brace your core on every rep
- 3Land softly on the balls of your feet and keep a steady, bouncy rhythm
Common mistakes
- Do not let your chest collapse forward as you raise the knee
- Avoid flat, heavy landings; stay springy through the ankles
- Do not slow down and lose the rhythm; keep the pace quick
Muscles worked
The high knee star tap mainly works the hip flexors, with the quads, calves, upper abs, lower abs, obliques, glutes, and tibialis anterior assisting.
- Hip FlexorsPrimary
- QuadsSupport
- CalvesSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- Lower AbsSupport
- ObliquesSupport
- GlutesSupport
- Tibialis AnteriorSupport
- HamstringsMinor
- Front DeltsMinor
- Side DeltsMinor
Kovo programs the high knee star tap 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.