Seated Leg Pull-In
Trains the Abs.
- Equipment
- A flat bench or an adjustable bench
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Sit on the end of a flat bench with your hands gripping the edge beside your hips.
- Lean your torso back to about forty-five degrees and extend your legs out in front, hovering.
- Brace your stomach and keep the lower back from rounding hard.
- Draw your knees toward your chest while bringing your torso slightly forward to meet them.
- Stop where the knees and chest are closest, then hold briefly.
- Extend the legs and lean back again under control, keeping the feet off the floor.
Common mistakes
- Letting the feet touch down between repetitions. The legs hovering is what keeps the tension; putting them down turns a set into a series of separate efforts.
- Pulling with the arms on the bench. Gripping is for stability, and pulling on it makes the trunk a passenger.
- Only moving the legs. The torso comes forward as the knees come in — this is a V-shaped folding movement, which is what distinguishes it from the lying version.
- Rounding hard through the lower back to reach further. The range ends where the trunk stops flexing under control, and forcing past that loads a rounded spine.