Legs · Bodyweight
Prisoner High Knee
How to do the prisoner high knee, 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 with your hands laced behind your head and elbows wide. Drive one knee up toward your chest, then quickly switch to the other, building into a fast running-in-place rhythm while keeping your hands locked behind your head.
- 1Hip flexors and quads snapping each knee up high
- 2A quick, light bounce off the balls of your feet
- 3Core tight and torso upright with your hands pinned behind your head
Common mistakes
- Leaning back or hunching forward as you tire
- Dropping your knees low instead of driving them up
- Letting your hands pull your head forward
Muscles worked
The prisoner high knee mainly works the hip flexors and quads, with the lower abs, calves, upper abs, obliques, glutes, and tibialis anterior assisting.
- Hip FlexorsPrimary
- QuadsPrimary
- Lower AbsSupport
- CalvesSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- ObliquesSupport
- GlutesSupport
- Tibialis AnteriorSupport
- Lower BackMinor
- HamstringsMinor
- AdductorsMinor
Kovo programs the prisoner high knee 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.