High Knees: How to Do It, Muscles Worked and Easier Options
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High Knees, also called high knee running in place, is a high-impact beginner exercise requiring no equipment. It focuses heavily on your hip flexors, quadriceps, and calves while recruiting your core and gluteus maximus for stability.
The movement involves running in place while lifting your knees to hip height. This builds lower body power and pushes your cardiovascular system, making it a reliable staple for high-intensity interval training.
Exercise data
- Impact
- High
- Level
- Beginner
- Equipment
- None
- Main muscles
- hip flexors, quadriceps, calves
- Also working
- core, gluteus maximus
- Movement
- Running in place while lifting the knees to hip height
- Low-impact swap
- marching high knees
How to do a high knees
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart and your arms resting at your sides. Keep your chest up and look straight ahead.
- Lift your right knee up toward your chest until it reaches hip height.
- Pump your left arm forward simultaneously to counterbalance your lower body.
- Drive your right foot back down to the floor, landing softly on the ball of your foot.
- Push off the ground immediately to lift your left knee to hip height while pumping your right arm forward.
- Continue alternating legs at a rapid running pace.
Form cues
- Land softly on the balls of your feet.
- Pump your arms to drive the pace.
- Keep your chest up and back straight.
- Drive your knees up to hip level.
Common mistakes
- Leaning backward. Keep your torso upright rather than leaning back to compensate for tight hip flexors. Engage your core to maintain a straight spine.
- Landing heavily. Avoid slamming your heels into the floor. Stay on the balls of your feet to absorb the high impact.
- Barely lifting knees. The exercise requires lifting your knees to hip height. If you cannot reach that height, slow your pace until your range of motion improves.
- Dead arms. Do not let your arms hang loosely at your sides. Pump them actively in rhythm with your legs to maintain balance and speed.
Easier and harder versions
Easier
- marching high knees
- Marching in place at a slower pace
Harder
- Increasing your running pace
- Extending the duration of your intervals
Using it in intervals
High Knees work well in short, intense intervals because they demand significant cardiovascular effort and lower body coordination. Aim for intervals of twenty to forty seconds, pushing your pace while maintaining strict form. As you get tired, your knees will naturally drop and your footfalls will get heavier. Focus on driving your arms to keep your leg turnover fast. If your form deteriorates completely, switch to the low-impact marching alternative to finish the interval safely.
Formats that suit this move: Tabata Workout, 30/30 Intervals.
Impact note. This move involves jumping. If impact bothers your knees, ankles, back or pelvic floor, use the low-impact swap: marching high knees.
Similar moves
- Box Jump High impact
- Double Under High impact
- Jump Rope Intervals High impact
- Jump Squat High impact
- Sprawl High impact
When to stop and see a doctor
- Sharp pain in your knees or ankles upon landing.
- Pinching sensations in your lower back or hips.
- Dizziness, chest pain, or extreme shortness of breath.
This page is general information, not medical advice. If you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, joint problems, are pregnant or have been inactive for a long time, talk to your doctor before starting vigorous exercise.
How this page was made. Exercise data (impact, level, equipment, muscles) was compiled by our editors as a general anatomy and coaching guide. Text drafted with AI assistance and checked by the Training Desk; see how we write. Last checked October 2026.