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How to Increase Your Lying Leg Raises

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Frequently asked questions

How often should I train lying leg raises?
Most lifters do well with a lying raise pattern about two to three times per week when the low back and hip flexors recover. Prefer consistent quiet raises over racing arched almost-reps.
How do I progress lying leg raises without arching my low back?
Own bent-knee raises to a logged height first, then gradually straighten the legs or add a brief top pause. Tuck or press the low back down when it peels; shorten the lever before chasing range.
What if my low back or hip flexors hurt on lying leg raises?
Stop sharp pain, bend the knees more, shorten the range, switch to a reverse crunch or hollow day, and deload when grinders stall. This page is programming context for healthy adults — not rehab or medical advice.

The Lying Leg Raise (and close cousins like a Lying Straight Leg Raise, Lying Leg Raise and Hold, or Leg Raise Hip Lift) is a clear floor anterior-core / hip-flexion score: lie on your back, keep the low back quiet against the floor (or a slight posterior tuck), raise the legs under control past a logged standard (usually bent knees first, then straighter legs toward ~45–90°), then lower without arching or slamming. It fits full-body, upper/lower, push/pull/legs, and bodyweight templates when you want trackable floor flexion volume without a hang or cable stack. Increasing it is mostly about enough honest quiet raises, progressing lever length before ego range, and keeping the same knee/leg and height standard in the log — not racing arched almost-reps so the score never compares.

This page is general fitness guidance for healthy adults — not medical advice, physical therapy, or personalized coaching. Library pages carry exercise-specific setup cues; open them when you need technique detail. Prefer a dedicated hanging flexion plan once the floor raise is solid? See How to Increase Your Hanging Leg Raises. Prefer a dedicated hang-to-bar contact plan? See How to Increase Your Toes to Bar. Prefer a dedicated short-range floor crunch plan? See How to Increase Your Crunches. Prefer a dedicated reverse-crunch / pelvic-curl plan? See How to Increase Your Reverse Crunches. Prefer a dedicated longer-range sit-up plan? See How to Increase Your Sit-Ups. Prefer loaded cable flexion instead of floor raises? See How to Increase Your Cable Crunch. Prefer a dedicated anti-extension hold instead of floor flexion? See How to Increase Your Plank. Prefer a denser full-body squat-to-plank conditioning score? See How to Increase Your Burpee. Prefer a dedicated high-plank knee-drive / conditioning score? See How to Increase Your Mountain Climber. Prefer a dedicated lateral brace score? See How to Increase Your Side Plank. Prefer a dedicated supine hollow-body brace score? See How to Increase Your Hollow Hold. Prefer a dedicated floor hollow-to-pike / compression score? See How to Increase Your V-Up. Prefer floor brace-with-limb control instead of leg raises? See How to Increase Your Dead Bug. Prefer a hands-and-knees quadruped brace-with-limb score? See How to Increase Your Bird Dog. Prefer a dedicated anti-rotation plan? See How to Increase Your Pallof Press. For broader shortlists, see Best Core Exercises and Best Bodyweight Exercises.

What usually moves the number

Lever What to do Why it helps
Frequency Practice a lying raise about 2–3× per week when recovery allows Core patterns respond well to frequent, moderate practice
Progressive overload Add a clean rep, lengthen the lever (bent→straight), or add a brief top pause / small ankle load when RPE drops The actual driver of long-term capacity (progressive overload)
Pattern-specific practice Keep one knee/leg and height standard as the primary score Strength is specific — hanging raises, captain’s-chair, V-ups, and cable crunches are cousins, not identical logs
Weak-range work Slow lowers, pause near the top, hollow/plank braces Build control without random “ab hacks”
Supporting capacity Quiet hollow/plank braces and posterior-chain balance Many lifters fail from an arched low back before the abs are truly done
Recovery Sleep, rest days, and deloads when grinders stall Missed reps from fatigue or an irritable low back are not a programming puzzle (rest days, deload)

If free straight-leg floor raises arch the low back or slam the feet, stay on bent-knee / shorter-range / hands-under-hips standards, keep quieter 6–12-rep sets, or use a light Hollow Hold / Dead Bug day when the long lever irritates the low back. If you have already stalled, keep the same main pattern family (bent vs straight; floor vs flat-bench), add a second lighter day, and stop changing programs every two weeks (how often to change your workout). Treat the lying leg raise as a controlled floor raise with a quiet low back, not a highest-feet contest — many lifters own a bent-knee or mid-range raise first, then progress reps or lever length before chasing full straight-leg to vertical or hanging cousins as the same log.

Setup priorities (high level)

Use the Lying Leg Raise library entry for full cues. As a conservative checklist:

  1. Warm up with easy hip hinges, a short hollow or dead-bug set, or a few bent-knee raises (warm-up, warm-up sets vs working sets).
  2. Lie on your back with legs extended or lightly bent; optionally place hands lightly under the hips or beside the body for feedback — think “low back stays quiet,” not a hard lumbar slam into the floor (how to breathe during lifts).
  3. Raise by tipping the pelvis slightly toward the ribs and lifting the legs to your logged standard — bent knees first, then straighter legs toward ~45–90° — without yanking the neck or kicking with a big swing.
  4. Lower under control so the feet nearly touch (or stop at your logged bottom) without arching or bouncing.
  5. Prefer joint-friendlier tools when needed: Lying Leg Raise and Hold pauses, Alternate Lying Floor Leg Raise, Captains Chair Straight Leg Raise, or Hollow Hold / Dead Bug cousins when long-lever floor raises irritate the low back.

Sharp low-back, hip, or neck pain is a stop signal — bend the knees, shorten the range, switch to hollow / dead-bug / captain’s-chair cousins, reduce volume, or deload. This guide is not injury treatment. Treat hanging raises, toes-to-bar, weighted ankle loads on day one, and counting arched almost-raises as the lying score as optional / advanced / out of scope — not the default beginner plan. Do not chase medical or physical-therapy protocols or “pain means progress” cues.

How to program lying leg-raise progress

  1. Pick a main lying raise — usually Lying Leg Raise with a bent-knee or mid-range standard when you are still building a quiet low back, or Lying Straight Leg Raise only when the lumbar stays quiet. Prefer a clearer hip-curl finish? Use Leg Raise Hip Lift / Lying leg-hip raise and still train that pattern often. Prefer a pause score? Keep Lying Leg Raise and Hold as the main log. Not ready for long-lever floor work? Use Dead Bug or Hollow Hold as the main core slot and keep short bent-knee raises as accessories. Already easy on bodyweight straight legs? Progress reps, top pauses, or a light ankle load — keep hanging / captain’s-chair cousins as separate logs when comparing weeks.
  2. Train it ~2–3× per week when recovery allows: one slightly harder day and one lighter or volume day when you practice twice or thrice (muscle frequency). Stacking hard lying-raise sets after every heavy squat, dense deadlift, max overhead press, long hanging raise, and max plank finisher can leave the trunk fried — put lying-raise work as a short core accessory after compounds or as the primary floor-flexion day, not as six arched circuits before everything else.
  3. Use set–rep bands that match the goal (sets and reps, strength vs hypertrophy, tempo training):
    • control / first-reps bias: ~3–5 sets of 6–10 @ about RPE 7–8 with a quiet low back (bent-knee or mid-range when needed)
    • muscle / volume bias: ~3–4 sets of 8–15 on the main raise, plus a light Hollow Hold or Dead Bug accessory
  4. Progress in this order when stuck: cleaner quiet control → more clean reps → longer lever (bent→straight) → higher standard / pause → small ankle load (weight too heavy). Micro-progress and posture beat ego range.
  5. Rest ~60–90 seconds between hard lying-raise sets so the next rep is still a quality raise (rest between sets). Use the RPE calculator if you program by effort.
  6. Skip formula 1RM estimates for bodyweight lying raises — these are floor flexion reps, not a meet-style barbell max. Do not copy a hanging-raise, toes-to-bar, V-up, cable-crunch, or plank score as the same weekly number. Prefer logged quiet reps over true max-height singles every session.
  7. Log date, variation (bent / straight / hold / alternate / hip-lift / bench / band / ankle-load notes), reps × sets, and RPE (workout log).

Keep hard core movements in a sensible session budget — usually a main lying raise plus 0–2 hollow, dead-bug, plank, or light hanging/cable accessories, not six flexion gadgets after an already long compound day (exercises per workout, workout length). Prefer a dedicated hanging raise for the hang-flexion slot? See How to Increase Your Hanging Leg Raises. Prefer a dedicated cable crunch for the loaded-flexion slot? See How to Increase Your Cable Crunch. Remember squat and hinge days already tax the trunk (best core exercises, best bodyweight exercises).

Useful variations and accessories

Main lift and close cousins

Sticking-point and skill tools

Hanging, cable, and trunk balance

See also Best Core Exercises, the Core hub, Best Bodyweight Exercises, and Best Resistance Band Exercises.

Starter templates by goal

Not yet able to do a clean mid-range lying raise (2–3 practice days)

Day A — skill + short lever

  1. Bent-knee Lying Leg Raise or Dead Bug — 4 × 6–10 @ ~RPE 7–8
  2. Hollow Hold or Front Plank — 2–3 × 15–30s
  3. Optional: Alternate Lying Floor Leg Raise — 2 × 6–8/side
  4. Optional light back extension — 2 × 10–15

Day B — volume / easier pattern

  1. Lying Leg Raise and Hold or shorter-range raises — 3 × 6–10 @ ~RPE 6–7
  2. Dead Bug — 2–3 × 6–10/side
  3. Optional: Captains Chair Straight Leg Raise — 2 × easy sets
  4. Optional face-pull or band Pallof — 2 × 12–20

Strength-focused once you have quiet mid-range or straight-leg reps (2–3 core days)

Day A — hard

  1. Lying Leg Raise or Lying Straight Leg Raise — 4 × 6–10 @ ~RPE 7–8
  2. Hollow Hold or Front Plank — 3 × 20–40s
  3. Optional: Leg Raise Hip Lift — 2 × 6–10 (lighter than day A main sets)
  4. Optional: light back extension — 2 × 10–15

Day B — lighter / volume

  1. Lying Leg Raise and Hold or bent-knee lying raise — 3 × 8–12 @ ~RPE 6–7
  2. Dead Bug — 3 × 8–12
  3. Optional captain’s-chair or short hanging practice — 2 × 6–10 (hanging raise plan)
  4. Optional face-pull — 2 × 12–20

Hypertrophy / muscle-gain core finisher

  1. Main lying raise — 3–4 × 8–15
  2. Hollow / reverse-crunch / light cable crunch — 2–3 × 10–15
  3. Plank or Pallof work — 2–3 × 20–40s / 10–15
  4. Keep a hard hinge or deadlift elsewhere in the week so the posterior chain stays in the plan

Busy / minimalist add-on

  • Keep one quality Lying Leg Raise session (3–5 hard sets) and one shorter secondary day (2–3 bent-knee or hold sets). Skip isolation if time is tight.

Weight-loss / conditioning add-on (optional)

  • After compounds, 2–3 × 8–12 quiet lying raises as a short core finisher — not a max-height race. Skip when heavy compounds + dense hanging raises + long planks + dense mountain climber / burpee circuits already fried the trunk (cardio before or after weights).

Intensity tools (pauses, tempo, clusters, pyramids) work best on top of this structure — not instead of logging small weekly wins (clusters, pyramid sets, pause reps).

When to use extras (and when to skip)

Good uses:

  • You can hit all prescribed reps for 1–2 sessions and need a planned jump (rep, straighter legs, higher standard, pause, or small ankle load)
  • You fail from arching / slamming → shorter lever, hands-under-hips feedback, or stronger hollow/dead-bug practice
  • You fail near the top → pause at the top, hip-lift cousins, or fewer reps with a clearer pelvic tuck
  • Low back feels better with Captains Chair Straight Leg Raise as the volume day versus free long-lever floor raises
  • Beginners adding one clean rep every week or two on bent-knee sets

Usually skip or keep simple:

  • Program-hopping every stall instead of deloading leverage/range and rebuilding (plateau guide)
  • Daily max singles and failure sets on lying raises (train to failure)
  • Stacking drop sets, rest-pause, and giant sets on lying raises in the same week (drop sets, rest-pause)
  • Ignoring hollow/plank braces while only adding more crunch gadgets and hanging attempts
  • Sharp joint or low-back pain “pushed through” with tighter form cues alone
  • Turning every set into an arched kick when the goal is quiet control
  • Treating lying, captain’s-chair, hanging, V-up, and cable-crunch raises as interchangeable logs when comparing week-to-week progress

Worked example: quiet lying-raise progression

Exercise: Lying Leg Raise (or Lying Straight Leg Raise once the lumbar stays quiet). Plan: hard day 4 × 8 @ ~RPE 7–8, then a lighter day later in the week.

  1. Skip formula 1RM estimates — bodyweight lying raises are not a meet-style barbell max. Use logged quiet reps and RPE instead (RPE calculator).
  2. Warm up: hollow or dead-bug + 1–2 easy bent-knee sets (warm-up sets).
  3. Working sets: raise to your logged height with a quiet low back, lower under control. Rest ~60–90 seconds.
  4. If all 4×8 were clean at RPE ≤ 7.5, add +1–2 reps per set next hard day, or move one step on the lever ladder (bent → straighter) when quality stays high. If you missed reps or the low back arched, repeat the same standard or shorten the lever (weight too heavy).
  5. Later in the week: 3 × 8–12 bent-knee or hold raises at a lower RPE, or keep a lighter Dead Bug day as the secondary core slot.

Log Lying leg raise (mid-range) 4 × 8 @ RPE 7.5 (or Lying straight leg raise 4 × 8 @ RPE 7). Progress from quiet submaximal sets, not from a max-height single every session.

If you are still building the first quiet concentratics: swap the hard day for bent-knee 4 × 6–10 plus 2–3 hollow or dead-bug sets, and treat “straighter legs / more clean reps / quieter lumbar” as the progression.

Common mistakes

  • Changing knee angle, height standard, and cousin tools every week so the log never compares like-to-like
  • Taking every set to shaking failure, then wondering why the next lying-raise day is flat
  • Adding five crunch variations while main lying sets stay arched and inconsistent
  • Skipping hollow/plank braces until the low back becomes the limiter
  • Jumping straight to full vertical straight-leg raises or hanging cousins before you own several quiet mid-range reps
  • Testing a true max-height single every session instead of training submaximal quiet raises
  • Counting arched half-raises or kicked “cheats” as full progress
  • Logging hanging, captain’s-chair, V-up, cable-crunch, and free lying raises as the same score when comparing weeks

Limitations

  • Lying leg-raise capacity depends on leverages, hip flexor length, low-back tolerance, and bracing skill — templates are heuristics, not guarantees
  • Bent-knee, straight-leg, hold, alternate, hip-lift, bench, band, hanging, and cable cousins are related but not the same score
  • Formula 1RMs (Epley / Brzycki) do not apply to bodyweight lying raises
  • A lying-raise training number is not interchangeable with a hanging-raise, toes-to-bar, V-up, cable-crunch, plank, or Pallof max
  • This is not treatment for low-back pain, hip pain, neck pain, or rehab protocols

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