: How Can I avoid cramps in the thighs during leg raises? When doing hanging leg raises, I get cramps in my thighs after very few repetitions, usually after about 5 or so. This stops me progressing in the training. What causes

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I would make sure you're doing these:

Warmup. I don't do anything until I've broken a sweat and have exercised the particular parts of my body I'm about to use. Running doesn't warm you up for bench pressing, and pushups don't warm you up for squats. It's rare for me to warmup for more than 5 minutes, alternating between Turkish getups, jump rope, and overhead squatting an empty bar. Rowing machines work good too, but I like using weights to warmup if I'm lifting.

Electrolytes. The biggest problem I ever had in this department was in the tropics where the heat and humidity caused incredible sweating. I had to drink a cup mixed with ~1/4 tsp salt before I worked out to get through it.

Flexibility

The only reason I bring this up is because the muscle at work in the hanging leg raise is the iliopsoas, which most people have really bad flexibility in.

Personally I'd avoid targeted movements like that unless you're trying to solve a problem. The more typical-human-movement compound stuff tends to keep you in balance without having to think about it much.

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What causes them?

Could be improper form and/or you did not loosen up your thigh through stretching.

What can I do to progress past this point?

Do some stretching and do more set as opposed to increasing the reps.