Flat Bench Lying Leg Raise

The flat bench lying leg raise is a bodyweight hip flexion exercise performed on your back on a flat bench that trains the lower abdominals and hip flexors through a full range. Because your hips sit at the end of the bench, your legs can drop below the level of your torso, which adds a stretched bottom position that the floor version cuts off. The bench also gives you a frame to grip, so your upper body stays fixed while the pelvis does the work. Lifters program it as a lateabsaccessory after the main lifts.

What Muscles Does the Flat Bench Lying Leg Raise Work?

• Primary: Rectus abdominis (lower abs), iliopsoas (hip flexors)
• Secondary: Rectus femoris, tensor fasciae latae, external obliques
• Tertiary: Latissimus dorsi, forearm flexors gripping the bench, erector spinae

How Do You Set Up for the Flat Bench Lying Leg Raise?

Lie face up on a flat bench with your glutes resting on the last few inches of the pad so your hips sit at the edge. Reach both hands overhead and grip the sides of the bench or the frame behind your head. Press your lower back into the pad, tuck your ribs down, and extend your legs straight out with your feet together, hovering just below hip height.

How Do You Perform the Flat Bench Lying Leg Raise?

1. Lock your knees straight and point your toes so both legs move as one lever.
2. Raise your legs by folding at the hips, driving the heels up in an arc toward the ceiling.
3. Stop when your legs are vertical and your tailbone starts to lift off the pad.
4. Curl your pelvis a few inches toward your ribs and hold the squeeze for one second.
5. Lower your legs slowly through vertical and past the level of the bench, keeping your lower back pressed down.
6. Stop just short of the floor, hold the stretch for a beat, and start the next rep from that hover.

What Are the Key Form Cues?

• Pin your lower back to the pad: feel the bench under your lumbar spine at the bottom of every rep before the legs rise.
• Pull with your abs, not your thighs: think of dragging your hip bones toward your ribcage as the legs rise.
• Keep a hard grip on the bench so your torso stays still and the pelvis alone rotates.
• Exhale through the top and breathe in as the legs pass vertical on the way down.
• Make the descent take twice as long as the lift.

What Are the Most Common Mistakes?

• Swinging the legs from the bottom: momentum carries them through the middle and the abs never load; pause at the bottom hover before each rep.
• Letting the lower back arch as the legs drop: the lumbar spine extends under the weight of the legs and the hip flexors take over, which is the position that irritates the low back on this movement; shorten the descent to where you can keep the pad contact.
• Stopping at 45 degrees: the range where the pelvis curls is skipped, so raise until the tailbone lifts.
• Bending the knees midway: a shorter lever removes the stretch, so either keep them straight or switch to a bent-knee version on purpose.
• Lifting the head and shoulders off the bench: the neck strains and the torso rocks; keep your head resting on the pad.

What Are the Best Flat Bench Lying Leg Raise Variations?

• Lying leg raise: performed on the floor, which blocks the below-parallel stretch, an easier regression.
• Weighted flat bench leg raise: a dumbbell squeezed between the feet adds load to the same arc.
• Bent knee bench leg raise: knees stay at 90 degrees, shortening the lever and shifting work toward the lower abs.
• Single leg bench raise: one leg raises while the other holds the hover, a unilateral anti-rotation demand.
• Hanging leg raise: the same hip flexion from a pull-up bar with a full-body hang.

How Do You Progress the Flat Bench Lying Leg Raise?

• Add load only after 15 clean reps per set: a 5 to 10 pound dumbbell between the feet, or ankle weights.
• Build reps from 8 to 15 per set, adding one or two per session while the lower back stays on the pad.
• Add a set at a time from 3 sets to 5 before adding weight.
• Slow the descent to a 4 second count and add a 2 second hold at the bottom hover.

How Should You Program the Flat Bench Lying Leg Raise?

Program the flat bench lying leg raise as a late accessory on lower body or core days, after squats, deadlifts or any heavy bracing work. Train it two to three times per week for 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 reps, resting 45 to 60 seconds between sets. Pair it with a spinal flexion movement such as a cable crunch so the pelvis and the ribcage both get trained.