Lying Leg Raise from Floor

Lying Leg Raise from Floor Basics

Primary muscles worked: Lower Rectus Abdominus

Synergist Muscles: Rectus Abdominus

Mechanics: Isolation

Equipment: Open Floor Space

How To Perform The Lying Leg Raise from Floor

• Start with place your back flat on the floor with your legs fully extended.
• Next, place your hands together and underneath your butt to support your the lower back.
• After that, lift your heels off the ground about six inches. This is the starting position for the lying leg raise.
• Now, lift your legs up toward the ceiling creating a 90 degree angle with your upper leg and hip. During this motion, you should feel the contraction in the lower abs.
• Once this position is reached, slowly lower your legs back to six inches above the floor.

Lying Leg Raise from Floor Tips

• You should not perform or stop performing this exercise if you feel pain in your lower back. This is likely due to excess curvature of your spine from incorrect hand positioning, a larger natural curve in your back, or large glutes which may create a larger than normal curve from a supine, on your back, position. You can try and adjust your hands; however, if this does not help, select another lower abdominal exercise.
• You can make this exercise more difficult by adding wearing ankle weights to increase the resistance of the movement.

Lying Leg Raise from Floor and Sports Application

Core strength is very important in all sports. The lying leg raise will assist directly in leg/core power transference as the core works to move the legs throughout the lift. This motion can be seen in a very abbreviated manner in swimming, where the swimmer is kicking the legs to increase forward propulsion.