This Leg Raise Variation is OP for Building Six Pack Abs

A while ago, I named the ab rollout my number one core exercise for athleticism and all-round performance. But while I stand by this, it’s not necessarily the most efficient exercise for those wanting to develop the rectus abdominis – aka six pack – specifically.

If you want a movement that has a low barrier to entry, that anyone can perform easily, and that will develop a powerful six pack… well for me the top choice has to be leg raises.

But to get the most out of them, you need to use the best version of the movement.

Introducing Leg Raises

Either support yourself on a dip bar or two chairs with straight arms or hang from a pull up bar – then just raise your legs up in front of you at the hips, keeping your legs as straight as possible (don’t stress if the knees bend ever-so-slightly, though).

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking because I know what you’re like. You’re a contrarian and a know it all.

You’re probably thinking: Adam, you pillock, that is a hip exercise!

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Well, yes it is. Performed correctly you should be lifting your legs while keeping the torso still. You win. But tell me: why is it then that after doing leg raises or l-sits the core burns like crazy? And why is it that so many people have effectively spammed leg raises to get abs?

I actually think that this blatant propaganda is part of the reason people shy away from doing leg raises – and this might genuinely be preventing more people from getting the abs they want! As we’ll see, the leg raise when used properly can function as simply a better sit up!

Why Leg Raises Are Amazing for Your Abs

There are several things going on here.

First: When you perform any kind of leg raise you will naturally find that there is at least some flexing of the spine at least at the very bottom. This is normal and useful for our purposes and we can of course exaggerate it by curving the spine more if we want to (and if you have no existing back issues).

The ultimate conclusion of this is toes-to-bar, which is a movement where you bring your toes all the way up to touch a pull up bar that you’re hanging from.

Second: Even when you try to keep your spine neutral you will still need to use the core to posteriorly tilt the pelvis and to stabilise it during the movement. Proximal stiffness creates distal athleticism and all that – you need to create rigidity in your core to elevate the legs.

And in that L-sit or L-hang position, the legs are now long levers that apply a significant amount of tension to the rectus abdominis. And as an added bonus, you do this while applying a slight stretch to the entire mid-section.

Third: What people often don’t mention, is that at the top of the movement you also hit a little extra resistance. This is due to mobility limitations in the hamstrings that must be overcome by the hip flexors and abs. This is what gymnastic strength training describes as “compressive strength.” And the extra range of motion you can develop from consciously trying to keep your legs straight is highly beneficial for injury prevention and a host of high-level skills.

What Leg Raises Are Perfect For

Now the legs raise is still not as intense as the aforementioned ab rollout, a dragon flag, or even a hollow body hold. That’s why those exercises may be superior for building the kind of extremely stable core that’s necessary for top tier athletic performance. However, this slightly lighter load works in our favour here as it makes it more accessible for a wider audience. Moreover, it means that you can train with higher rep ranges building strength endurance and creating things like metabolic build up that contribute to hypertrophy.

Rather than failing due to a lack of coordination or global tension, you can isolate the area more and get a pump going.

This is double true if you use my favourite variation: the frog kick. Here, you adjust the movement by bending the legs and raising your knees up in-front of you. This will shorten the lever arm of the leg and it will remove mobility as a limiting factor.

Again, this is good news if we’re looking for an exercise we can spam that will target the core without placing undue stress on the spine or requiring high-level coordination. This is now more accessible than even a sit up and actually more effective for most.

There’s now nothing to stop you throwing high repetition frog kicks into your routine with high frequency and many people will see rapid results from this – this is the equivalent of the goblet curls and high rep dips we’ve explored before and that so many of you have reported great results from. The simple movement pattern and stable position mean you can do this regularly and not incur a huge recovery cost – the stimulus to fatigue ratio is strong with this one!

My Favourite Leg Raise Variation

But that’s not exactly how I do it. Rather, I like to take things one step further by adding a weight between my knees such as a heavy med ball. This increases the tension on the core while maintaining the very simple and recoverable movement pattern.

As with any other muscle group, we can add resistance and mechanical tension to build more strength in the ab which will inevitably result in more visible muscle.

Better yet, you can do a drop set by going from weighted frog kicks to frog kicks mid-set. Try two sets of these to failure with a one minute rest, 3-4 times a week and tell me you don’t feel that stimulus!

And for those that want to combine the more functional and far-reaching benefits of conventional leg raises with the targeted stimulus of frog kicks, you can also do a mechanical drop set by switching from leg raises to frog kicks mid-set, too!

Or heck, why not do weighted toe-to-bar, to toe-to-bar, to weighted leg raises, to leg raises, to weighted frog kicks, to frog kicks, to an L-sit hold.

That’s going to be inane overkill for most people but the point is that the sky is the limit with this combo!

Then you just need the right diet and/or cardio routine to lower your body fat if you want those abs to be visible. But keep in mind that truly strong abs will show even through a modest layer of fat. If you want to see what you could look like at your bodyfat, right now, try contracting your abs hard in the mirror. That’s how they look “big.”

More importantly, though, those big strong abs will support you in nearly every movement you perform.