Alternating Barbell Seated Leg Raise
In SetGrip: Barbell Seated Leg Raise (Alternating)
- Secondary muscles
- Hip Flexors
- Body part
- Core
- Position
- Lying
- Laterality
- Alternating sides
- Category
- Strength
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A barbell laid across your thighs gives the seated leg raise external load: each leg presses up into the bar as it rises, turning a bodyweight ab movement into one you can progress with plates. Alternating legs keeps the bar steady and the set continuous; stick with small plates, since this is not built for heavy loading.
How to do the Alternating Barbell Seated Leg Raise
- Sit on a bench with your back straight and hold a barbell across your thighs.
- Keeping your legs straight, lift one leg up as high as possible while keeping the other leg on the ground.
- Lower the raised leg back down and repeat with the other leg.
- Continue alternating legs for the desired number of repetitions.
Tip: Exhale and tuck the pelvis at the top of every rep before lowering slowly.
Muscles worked
Primary
Abs · Core
The lower abs work to tilt the pelvis backward and lift the hips, and you should feel the contraction low in the stomach only once the pelvis starts to curl.
Secondary
- Hip Flexors — The hip flexors lift the legs during the first half of the movement and will do all the work if the pelvis never tilts.
Common mistakes
- Swinging the legs — if the body rocks on a hanging leg raise, you are using momentum; slow the tempo and let the legs come to a dead stop at the bottom.
- Only lifting the legs — the abs do not work until the pelvis tilts up; think of curling the hips toward the ribs, not just raising the feet.
- Lower back arching — if the lower back lifts off the floor, the range is too long; bend the knees or shorten it until the back stays flat.
- Neck straining forward — keep the head neutral on lying raises and hang relaxed from the shoulders on the bar.
Where it fits in a workout
Leg raises go at the end of a session with the rest of the core work, or between sets of an upper body lift. Superset them with ab rollouts or crunches for a full ab circuit.
How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.
Variations and alternatives
Similar exercises
Without barbell
When to talk to someone
- Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
- Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
- Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.
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More exercises
Sources
- ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
- ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
- ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
- CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)
Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.
Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.