How to Do Leg Lifts

Leg lifts are among the best exercises for the abs and leg muscles. There are different types of leg lifts for you to choose from, depending on your health status and the difficulty you want to do. If you want to learn how to do leg lifts for a toned and stronger body, check out Step 1 below to get started.

Table of Contents

Vertical leg lift

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Lie on your back with your legs straight, feet should be spaced about the width of your toes. Straighten your arms at your sides, palms facing down.

You can use a yoga or exercise mattress to make it more comfortable.
If you have occasional back pain, you can roll up a towel and place it under the curve of your back, just above the hip bone.
In addition, if you lie on the couch instead of the floor, the range of motion will be wider and the legs can be raised/lowered further. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Bend knees and raise legs. The right calves are parallel to the ground, while the thighs are perpendicular to the ground. ^{[2] X Source of Study} You should keep the tops of your feet up during the exercise, and pull in your abs. The thighs should be perpendicular to the body, while the shins are parallel to the body.

Remember to contract your abs to push your lower back to the floor; There should be no gap between the floor and the lower back. This pose will focus on the abdominal muscles, while protecting the spine.
Try to look up at the ceiling and avoid the tendency to bend your neck to look down at your feet, so your neck doesn’t hurt. If you feel your head and neck move forward too much, tilt your chin up a bit.

Straighten your legs until your feet point straight up to the ceiling. Point your feet upwards and raise your legs as slowly as possible. Remember not to let your lower back arch off the ground, or you could get injured and not get much benefit from the exercise.

If you can do Step 2 easily without letting your lower back leave the floor, you should increase the difficulty by skipping Step 2 and lifting your leg toward the ceiling without letting it bend.

Slowly lower your legs. Bring your legs as deep as you can, while keeping your lower back in contact with the floor. Your ultimate goal is to lower your legs until they are about 2cm off the floor. Not only do you have to drop your legs under gravity, but you have to control the movement. Keep your arms stationary, but use them as fulcrums to lower your legs.

Resist the tendency to let your feet hit the ground if you want to get the most out of it.
Keep your lower back pressed to the floor to force your abs to work and protect your spine. The exercise gets harder as your feet get closer to the floor, so you only need to lower your legs as much as you can so your back doesn’t leave the floor. If you feel your lower back arch off the floor, don’t lower your legs so low. As your abs get stronger, you can lower your legs with the correct posture.
Most importantly, don’t forget to breathe! A lot of people hold their breath when they do this exercise.

Reduce the tempo if this exercise is too easy for you. To make the exercise more difficult, straighten your legs and raise them for a count of ten, then lower your legs for the same ten counts. This exercise is definitely great for the abs, but it’s a bit more difficult to do.

To challenge yourself further , you can raise your foot to about 20%, hold for a second, then raise it to 20%, hold for a second, and continue to raise your leg up to the final position. You can lower your legs in segments in the same way.

Repeat 3 times with 10-20 beats/time. Start with 3 reps, 10 reps each, and gradually increase to 20 reps.

Leg lift with ball

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Lie on your back on the floor. Lie down with your legs straight out with your arms at your sides. Use a yoga or exercise mattress for comfort.

Place a ball between your feet and raise your leg. Using an exercise ball or a medical ball can add resistance to the exercise, making the exercise more difficult to perform. Simply place the object to be lifted between your feet, squeeze, and then begin to raise your leg until it is perpendicular to the rest of your body. Here’s how to do a vertical leg lift with additional weight.

Lower your legs as slowly as possible. The slower the speed, the longer you have to resist gravity, forcing your muscles to maintain control. This is a great exercise for the abs, although it takes a little more effort than a regular leg lift.

Practice lifting legs with the ball 3 times, 5-10 beats / time. Since these exercises are a bit difficult to do, you should start with fewer beats until you feel strong enough to practice more. Then you can practice 3 times with 10-20 beats/time.

Increase the difficulty of the exercise. If you like, you can lift the ball with your feet and touch the ball with your hands.

Raise your arms and legs at the same time so you can use the ball to reach behind your head. Then you will again raise your arms and legs in the same way, moving the ball between your arms and legs.
Use your feet to bring the ball to the ground and lift it up again to pass the ball to your hand again. This difficult leg lift will definitely make your abs and arms tired.

Practice swinging and lifting legs

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Use your hands to hang from the bar. Extend your hands/arms slightly more than shoulder width apart. Grip the bar and look straight ahead to avoid straining your neck muscles. Keep your body balanced and still, feet pressed together. Fingers should point forward.

If you go to the gym, the bar may have handles to help you grip it.

Raise your leg until it is perpendicular to your body. Point the top of the foot forward while performing the exercise. At first, you may not be able to raise your legs as high as you would like. Keep your back straight and avoid the tendency to bend over your legs.

Slowly lower your legs. When the leg has reached the maximum height and you feel fatigue in the core muscles, gently lower the leg. Try lowering your leg at the slowest possible speed so that the muscles have to work harder.

You must lower your foot slowly so that you are the one doing it instead of taking advantage of the inertia to drop your foot down. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Repeat 3 times with 10 lifts/time. Once you get used to the movement, you can increase it to 20 lifts/time.

Hanging leg lifts are a better variation for people with back problems because it doesn’t put as much pressure on the back as when you do leg raises in a lying position.

Reduce the difficulty of the exercise if necessary. If these leg raises are too difficult, you can do the knee flexed leg lift. For this variation, bend your knees and bring your legs together while raising your knees as high as you can, almost to your chest. Then lower your leg and start again. This exercise requires less work of the abs.

Lying on side with legs raised

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Lie on your side with your head resting on your hands, elbows on the ground. Lie on your side and support your head and neck with your elbows. Look straight ahead. Using your elbows to support your head will help keep your neck muscles from straining.

Extend your other arm forward, palm facing down. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Slowly raise the upper leg to the maximum height. You must raise your legs at least 30-60 cm. You can rest your hands free on your hips or on the floor in front of you for balance. Always look ahead instead of looking down at your feet.

Make sure your hips are perpendicular to the floor and keep your upper body stationary. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Gently lower your legs. Keep your body stationary except for the leg to be lifted, and slowly lower your leg until it touches the other foot. Remember to keep your spine straight and avoid leaning forward as you lift your legs.

To increase the difficulty, lower the top leg but keep it about 2cm away from the bottom leg to feel more fatigue.

Do 15 reps on each side. After completing the exercise with one leg, switch to the other side and repeat the same with that leg.

This is a great leg exercise for the sides of the body, also a great exercise to improve the butt! ^{[6] X Research Sources} Most leg lifts focus on the front of the body, so it’s a great way to work out the back!

Advice

Exercise moderately. Trying to lift your leg too many times or starting out with a difficult lift (and a ball that’s too heavy) can damage your muscles, disrupting your training in the future.
If you want to use a medical ball in your training session, you should start with a small ball, like 3 kg. Then you can gradually increase the weight of the ball, for example 5 kg ball.

Warning

If you want to use an extra exercise ball, make sure you can hold it firmly between your legs. Letting the ball fall on you will be very painful.
If you start to feel dizzy or faint, stop exercising and see your doctor. If your dizziness still does not go away, seek treatment.

Steps