Legs · Bodyweight
High Knee Tap
How to do the high knee 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 and drive one knee up toward hip height, tapping it with the opposite hand, then quickly switch to the other side. Keep a brisk, marching-to-jogging cadence with light feet.
- 1Hip flexors and lower core lifting each knee high
- 2Quick, light contact through the balls of your feet
- 3Core staying tight to keep your torso upright
Common mistakes
- Letting your knees stay low instead of reaching hip height
- Hunching forward to meet hand to knee
- Landing heavy and flat-footed between reps
Muscles worked
The high knee tap mainly works the hip flexors, with the lower abs, calves, upper abs, obliques, quads, and glutes assisting.
- Hip FlexorsPrimary
- Lower AbsSupport
- CalvesSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- ObliquesSupport
- QuadsSupport
- GlutesSupport
- HamstringsMinor
- Tibialis AnteriorMinor
Kovo programs the high knee 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.