How to do the Lying Leg Raise
Step by step
- Lie flat with legs straight and hands tucked under your hips or by your sides.
- Press your low back into the floor and keep a slight bend in your knees.
- Raise both legs toward the ceiling until they are about vertical.
- Lower them slowly, stopping before your low back arches off the floor.
The thing people get wrong
Keep your low back flat the whole time - if it lifts or your back aches, raise the legs a shorter distance or bend the knees more.
Coaching cue
Lower your legs slowly and stop just before your heels reach the floor.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Bend your knees and lower only halfway down.
- Harder: Pause an inch off the floor at the bottom of each rep.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Core
- Secondary: Hips
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.