How to do lying leg raises? A lying leg lift will strengthen your abdominal muscles and help you develop six-pack abs. Whether you want to improve your aesthetic appearance and balance, or enhance your overall physical activities, your core plays a key role in executing these tasks. This exercise will require you to lie on your back and lift your legs towards the sky whilst keeping them straight to target the abdominal muscles.
What Muscles Do Lying Leg Raises Work?
During the lifts, multiple muscle groups are simultaneously working to achieve a single movement. Rectus abdominis, obliques, and hip flexors are the main muscles involved. The quadriceps, hamstrings, and erector spinae (lower back muscle) are secondary muscles worked.
As a variation of the abdominal crunch, the lying floor leg lift isolates the abdominal muscles. Leg lifts on the floor are flexion-based exercises that keep the lower abdominal muscles under constant tension throughout the exercise.
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How To Do Lying Leg Raises Correctly
- Lie on your back with your legs straight.
- Straighten your legs and lift them to the ceiling until your butt is off the ground.
- Slowly lower your legs until they’re just above the floor. Hold for a moment.
- Raise your legs again. Repeat.
The Leg Lift Modifications
Leg lifts are one of the most common exercises for the core. Even though the basic version is effective, adding it to almost every strength session can become monotonous. To diversify the workout, one can use different variations of the exercise such as single-leg lifts, hip raises, and side-lying leg lifts. These variations help target different muscles in the core and help make the workouts more interesting.
Below I list some of the modifications for your inspiration:
- Leg Lift With Bent Knees
- Alternating Leg Lift
- Two-Level Leg Lift
- Leg Lift With Hip Lift
- Leg Lift With Cork Screw
- Scissor Leg Lift
