Flat Bench Lying Leg Raise
Trains the Abs.
- Equipment
- A flat bench or an adjustable bench
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Lie on your back on a flat bench with your hips near one end.
- Hold the edge of the bench above your head, or grip the sides beside your hips.
- Press your lower back into the bench and keep it there.
- Raise your legs, straight or slightly bent, until they are vertical.
- Continue by curling the hips slightly off the bench toward your ribs.
- Lower under control, stopping before the lower back comes away from the bench.
Common mistakes
- Letting the lower back arch off the bench on the way down. That is the abdominal wall letting go, and the range below that point is being held by the hip flexors and the spine.
- Stopping at vertical. Up to that point the movement is hip flexion driven by the iliopsoas; the abdominals come in when the hips curl off the bench, which is the last few inches.
- Lowering the legs all the way to the bench when the back cannot stay flat. The range belongs to whoever can hold the back down, and bending the knees a little shortens the lever until it can be.
- Treating the hip flexion half as wasted. Raising the legs against gravity is real work for the iliopsoas — it is simply not abdominal work, and knowing which half is which is what stops the exercise being done wrong.