Description
A seated leg raise exercise where you hold a weight on your legs to increase the difficulty of the exercise. This exercise primarily targets the muscles in your lower body.
How to Do Weighted Seated Leg Raise on Floor
- 1Setup
Sit on the floor with your legs extended straight out in front of you and your torso upright. Place a dumbbell or weight plate across your mid-thighs or lower shins.
- 2Setup
Place your hands on the floor beside your hips, fingers pointing forward or slightly out, to provide stability. Engage your core, keep your back straight, and maintain a proud chest.
- 3
Exhale as you slowly and simultaneously raise both legs off the floor, keeping them straight and together. Focus on lifting with your hip flexors and lower abdominal muscles.
- 4
Continue raising your legs until your heels are a few inches off the floor or as high as your flexibility allows without rounding your lower back or leaning back excessively.
- 5
Inhale as you slowly and with control lower your legs back down towards the starting position. Stop just before your heels touch the floor to maintain continuous tension.
- 6
Immediately initiate the next repetition, ensuring constant engagement of your core and hip flexors throughout the entire set.
Tips
- Maintain a neutral spine throughout the exercise; actively engage your core and keep your chest lifted to prevent your lower back from rounding.
- Control the eccentric phase by slowly lowering your legs; resisting gravity on the way down increases time under tension and enhances muscle engagement.
- Adjust the weight's position on your legs to modify the lever arm and challenge your hip flexors and core differently, with weight closer to the hips being easier.
- Coordinate your breathing by exhaling forcefully as you lift your legs and inhaling slowly as you lower them to help stabilize your core.
Common Mistakes
- ×Rounding the lower back during the lift reduces core engagement and puts strain on the spine; fix this by keeping your torso upright, chest proud, and actively engaging your core to maintain a neutral spine.
- ×Using momentum to swing the legs up rather than controlled muscle activation diminishes the exercise's effectiveness; fix this by performing the movement slowly and deliberately, focusing on the contraction of your hip flexors and abs.
- ×Letting the legs drop quickly on the eccentric phase reduces time under tension and potential muscle growth; fix this by consciously controlling the lowering phase, making it as slow or slower than the lifting phase.
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