How To Do L-Sits (Beginner To Advanced Workout Progression)

L sits…my favorite exercise of the moment. I’ll admit,during quarantine, I’ve had to get pretty creative with my training. Randomly attempting dips between two kettle bells on the floor one day I “discovered” the intensity of L sits and have never looked back by adding them into my workouts at least three times per week.

 

The isometric triceps strength to the overall core strength, L sits are a fantastic addition to any athletic program provided they are done properly when in,reality, they aren’t that hard to do once you continually train them.

 

How To Do L Sits-Beginner To Advanced Workout Progression

 

Start with your hand flats on the floor, butt touching the floor. Curl your knees up to your chest while you press your hands into the floor and push your body up.

 

As your rise off the floor, extending your legs out and slightly up.

 

Pause for at least one second and you’ve successfully done your first L sit.

 

There are so many L sit progressions from beginners to advanced and it's only limited by your creativity. 

 

L Sits for Beginners

(Want to do a bar muscle up? )

 

Start with your hands on the floor and your legs straight. Push your butt up so that it’s a few inches off the ground. Keep your heels ON the ground.

 

You’ve just done an L sit….

 

From here you can perform a heels only L sit where your butt stays on the ground and your heels lift.

 

Or you can also lift one heel at a time.

 

Get creative, Play with sets, reps and time to increase your beginner level L sit strength.

 

As you are ready to get more advanced you’ll first perform the classic L-sit described at the beginning.

 

I favor using dumbbells or kettle bells to steady you as they also increase the intensity as well.

 

Heavy kettle bells in particular add extra intensity because they increase the range of motion when starting off of the ground.

 

Other L sit intensity methods include performing reps where you adjust how much you extend and shorten your legs as you would in a leg press.

 

Often times athletes will perform scissor movements with their legs which requires extra hip flexor strength.

 

All of these increase the intensity of the exercise but don’t ignore the benefits of holding your own bodyweight for longer time. To me, that's the hardest L sit challenge of them all.