Tuesday 7 January 2014

L-sit

The L-sit (a.k.a. floor L-sit) is a core exercise which places quite a lot of stress not only on your core muscles, but also -isometrically- on your hip flexors and on your triceps.  It is a good idea to follow a progression in order to build up to the full exercise.

Prerequisites: 
Hanging straight leg raises, dips



Note: for a slightly easier version of the exercise, follow the progression using parallettes or push up bars. This will give you more floor clearance, and make the progression much more manageable.
1. Sit on the floor with your hands directly under your shoulders, fingers facing forward. From this position, push into the floor with your hands, straighten your arms, and bring your shoulders down in order to lift your butt off the floor. Hold this position.
Start with a few seconds; rest for what remains of a minute; then repeat 5 times. Build up to 5 holds of 15s, with rests of 45s.

 2. From the position above, lift one leg off the floor, and straighten it in front of you.
Again, start with a few seconds; rest for what remains of a minute; then repeat 5 times.
Keep alternating between legs.
3. Tuck L-sit. From a sitting position, bend your legs and bring your knees to your chest. Straighten your arms, and lift your butt off the floor.
Hold the position for 5 sets of between 5 and 15s, resting for what remains of a minute.
4. With each new session, gradually work your way around straightening your legs, still holding the position for 5 sets of 15s with 45s rest.
5. Once you can hold the position with staight legs, you can start working towards holds of one minute.
Aim for one minute work in total, so for instance, do 3 sets of 20s with 40s rest; or 2 sets of 30s with 30s rest.
Keep building this up until you can hold the position for a full minute.

11 comments:

  1. el diablo, not sure if this is the right place to comment. but do you knwo the move called the iron cross? in gymnastics the part where the dude has his arms straight out to his sides on the rings? do you think you could post a progression as well? looks like a nice move. anyways, superb site you have!

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    1. This is very much an advanced skill (and one that I am not strong enough to demonstrate). I might eventually put up a progression for it, but it doesn't really fit in the context of this website.

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  2. Sir, can i do the L sits with my fists instead? for some weird reason my right wrist hurt when i use my palms at the angle required for this exercise. Even though my wrists dont hurt for dips or pushup, sometimes hurts when doing decline pike pushups....

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    Replies
    1. Yes, by all means. Until your wrists get better, do them on your fists.

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    2. I do these with pushup handles to eliminate the stress on my wrists

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  3. Hi there, I was wondering where we are supposed to add the ancillary progressions to the routine as they are "unlocked" with progress one after another. At the end after the planks? Move all the skill work to the beginning of the workouts right after the warm up exercises? Thanks in advance for your answer and keep up the excellent work!

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  4. Skill work is better done at the beginning of a workout (after the warm up) or on your off days.

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  5. el diablo, i'm on the the single leg L sits. i also tried planks, already on the decline plank. i like L sits better, much more fun XD. can i do them instead of the plank? or should i bo both?

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    Replies
    1. Do both. L-sits are not a replacement for planks, which are considered a bodyline drill.

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    2. cool! thanks!

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  6. Great tutorial. As a cyclist I am looking to strenghten my core and although I am only on step 1, hope to be able to do the l sit soon.

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