This is our least favorite variety. Athletes commonly rotate their shoulders and disengage their core as they lower their legs. You can see if you look closely that the rib cage and abs lose their connection and the hip flexors become the work leader. We don’t love this as the core stability and ability to stay engaged is incredibly important in gymnastics.

This is a normal leg lift on ascension, but as the legs are lowered the athlete stops the hips about 30 degrees from vertical. The hips are then opened to flat which works the extension and max range of motion which still engaging the core the whole time. This is the first advancement made when trying to upgrade your strength on this exercise.

This is the best and most advanced version of the full leg lift. The athlete must keep the core engaged to its maximum the entire range of motion of the exercise. Hips are held off the wall on the descent, and then kept off wall for the leg lift action as well. The athletes will feel a major difference immediately when you switch to this style of leg lift. You will never look back at those old leg lifts if you can get your athletes performing these.

This is a simple L hold but with the hips circled under and held off the wall. This version once again keeps the whole core engaged throughout and doesn’t become the hip flexor exercise that is so common when the back is flat. It usually keeps the shoulders rolled in the right direction as well.