Lying Leg Raise
The Lying Leg Raise is a classic core-strengthening exercise that targets the lower ab muscles while reinforcing proper control and core stability.
Lying Leg Raise
Muscles Worked: Lying Leg Raise
The lying leg raise mainly trains your abs because they brace hard to keep your lower back from arching as your legs move. Your hip flexors help lift the legs, and this exercise can challenge them a lot because they work through the whole raising phase. Research comparing leg raises with sit-ups found strong demand on the abs during leg raises, while newer data also shows high hip flexor involvement in similar straight-leg raise patterns (Kim and Lee, 2016; Juan et al., 2024).
Technique and form
How to perform the Lying Leg Raise
1. Lie flat on your back on a mat with your legs fully extended and your arms placed palm-down alongside your body for stability. 2. Press your lower back firmly into the mat by engaging your core muscles and slightly tilting your pelvis. 3. Inhale and prepare by drawing your navel toward your spine to maintain a neutral spine position throughout the movement. 4. Keeping your legs straight and together, exhale as you slowly raise them upward until they form approximately a 90-degree angle with your torso. 5. Maintain tension in your abdominals at the top position while ensuring your lower back remains in contact with the floor. 6. Inhale as you slowly lower your legs back down toward the floor with control, maintaining core engagement throughout the descent. 7. Stop just before your heels touch the ground to maintain tension in your abdominal muscles. 8. Complete your repetitions with a consistent tempo, avoiding momentum or swinging motions.
Important information
- If you feel strain in your lower back, bend your knees slightly during the movement or place your hands under your glutes for additional support.
- Focus on using your abdominal muscles rather than your hip flexors by keeping your lower back pressed into the mat throughout the exercise.
- Adjust the difficulty by modifying the leg position: bend your knees for an easier version or add ankle weights for more resistance.
- Keep your head and shoulders relaxed on the mat to avoid neck strain; never pull on your head to assist the movement.
Is the Lying Leg Raise good for muscle growth?
Yes — the lying leg raise can help build your abs, especially if you do it with clean reps and make it harder over time. It works best as a focused core move because your abs have to hold your torso steady while your legs create a long lever, and studies on leg raises show clear abdominal involvement along with strong hip flexor contribution (Kim and Lee, 2016; Juan et al., 2024).
- Long lever tension — Keeping your legs straight makes the rep harder than bent-knee core moves because the weight of your legs sits farther from your hips. That gives your abs more work to do to stop your lower back from lifting off the floor.
- Strong lower-ab challenge — Most people feel this hardest in the lower part of the abs because the toughest part is controlling the bottom half of the rep. If you lose that position, the tension shifts away from your midsection and into your hips.
- Easy to progress without equipment — You can start with shorter sets, slower lowering, pauses near the bottom, or move to tougher family variations before needing weighted ab work. If standard reps are too hard, reverse crunch is usually easier to learn first.
- Useful with other core patterns — Leg raises train the abs differently from curling-based moves because your torso stays on the floor while your legs move. Pairing them with flutter kicks or reverse crunches can cover both steady bracing and repeated trunk curling.
Programming for muscle growth
Do 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps with 45-75 seconds rest, 2-3 times per week. Use a rep range where you can keep your lower back down on every rep. When you can hit 15 clean reps for all sets, make it harder by lowering your legs more slowly or adding a 1-2 second pause near the bottom, since that is where the abs usually work hardest.
Lying Leg Raise Variations
Alternative Exercises
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FAQ - Lying Leg Raise
Lying Leg Raises primarily target the lower portion of the rectus abdominis (lower abs), while also engaging the hip flexors, obliques, and lower back muscles as stabilizers. This comprehensive activation makes it particularly effective for developing the stubborn lower abdominal region that many find difficult to define.
Beginners can bend their knees slightly to reduce the lever length and workout intensity. You can also perform fewer repetitions, limit the range of motion by not lowering your legs completely to the floor, or place your hands under your lower back for additional support during the movement.
The most common mistakes include allowing your lower back to arch off the floor (which can cause strain), using momentum instead of controlled movements, and lowering the legs too quickly. Keep your lower back pressed firmly against the floor throughout the exercise and focus on using your abdominal muscles, not your hip flexors, to lift your legs.
You can safely perform Lying Leg Raises 2-3 times per week with 48 hours between sessions to allow for muscle recovery. Incorporate them into your core or full-body workouts with 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions, adjusting the volume based on your fitness level and recovery capacity.
To increase difficulty, try adding ankle weights, holding a dumbbell between your feet, slowing down the tempo (especially during the lowering phase), or progressing to more advanced variations like weighted leg raises or hanging leg raises once you've mastered the basic movement pattern.
Workouts with Lying Leg Raise
Scientific References
Hip Flexor Muscle Activation During Common Rehabilitation and Strength Exercises.
Juan J, Leff G, Kevorken K et al. · Journal of clinical medicine (2024)
Kim K, Lee T · Journal of physical therapy science (2016)
Sources are peer-reviewed academic publications from PubMed.
Lying Leg Raise
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