Leg Raise Dragon Flag

How to do the Leg Raise Dragon Flag

1. 1Lie flat on a sturdy bench and reach both hands back to grip the bench firmly beside your head, thumbs wrapped around the edge for a secure hold.
2. 2Brace your core, squeeze your glutes, and press your upper back into the bench to create a stable shoulder anchor — this is your only contact point during the movement.
3. 3Raise your legs and hips off the bench in one controlled motion, lifting until your entire body forms a straight line from shoulders to feet, perpendicular to the bench.
4. 4Hold the top position briefly, maintaining a rigid plank — do not allow your hips to pike or your lower back to sag.
5. 5Lower your body slowly and under control toward the bench, keeping the straight-line position throughout the descent.
6. 6Stop just before your body touches the bench — hovering a few centimetres above it — to maintain tension in the core.
7. 7Raise back up to the top position in a controlled manner to complete one rep.
8. 8After your final rep, lower your body all the way to the bench and release the grip.

Form tips

• Your upper back and shoulders are the only things that should contact the bench — think of your body as a single lever pivoting from that point.
• Keep tension in your glutes and legs throughout; squeezing them helps maintain the rigid plank and prevents your hips from dropping.
• Control the lowering phase — the eccentric portion is where most of the core stimulus occurs, so resist the urge to drop quickly.
• Breathe out as you raise and breathe in as you lower, keeping your core braced throughout both phases.
• If the full dragon flag is too demanding, start with a tuck position (knees bent to chest) and gradually extend your legs as strength improves.

Common mistakes

• Allowing the hips to sag on the way down, which compresses the lumbar spine and eliminates the core challenge the exercise is designed to provide.
• Piking at the hips instead of keeping a straight line from shoulders to feet, which reduces the difficulty and places stress on the hip flexors rather than the full core.
• Using momentum to swing the legs up rather than lifting with a controlled, braced core — this bypasses the target muscles and increases injury risk.
• Gripping the bench too loosely, which causes shoulder instability and makes it impossible to maintain the fixed pivot point the movement depends on.
• Rushing the negative phase by dropping the body quickly, which wastes the most valuable part of the rep and increases the risk of a sudden load on the lumbar spine.

Frequently asked questions