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Back to All Exercise Techniques

HOW TO PERFORM THE LEG CLIMB

About the Abdominal Leg Climb Exercise

This is a unique, fun, and engaging exercise for beginners and experts alike. It is versatile in that it can be made easy or hard with a simple adjustment. It involves the user laying on their back and (as the name implies) ‘climbing’ their leg while engaging their abdominal muscles.

Muscles Used in the Leg Climber Exericise:

All core muscles are involved including: rectus abdominus, transverse abdominus, lower back, and obliques. Also secondary muscles activated during the climbing motion are: biceps, lats, pectorals, and deltoids.

Starting Position:

• Begin by lying on your back over a mat or other comfortable surface.
• Bend hps to 90 degrees with straight legs towards the ceiling.
• Get legs as straight as possible (it’s ok if you can’t).

Upward Phase:

• Contract your abdominals prior to initiating movement.
• Reach up to your legs and grasp in a sequence to mimic “climbing” your legs.
• Continue this until you can touch your foot.
• Try to keep your leg as still as possible during this exercise.
• The tendency will be to bend at the knee. Imagine raising your heel to the ceiling to 
   prevent this.
• This phase is complete once you can touch your foot with one or both of your hands.

Downward Phase:

• “Climb” back down your leg in the same way you went up.
• Keep your abdominals contracted throughout the motion.
• Don’t let your trunk simply fall back down.
• Repeat upward motion on same leg until desired reps are completed.
• Switch legs and perform the same number of repetitions.

Tips:

• This exercise can be made harder by limiting the number of grabs you perform on the   
   climbing part of the exercise.
• The less grabs you make on your leg, the harder the exercise.

Here is a video to assist you in learning the proper form for the Abs Leg Climbers Exercise:

This is how to perform the abs leg climb exercise. If you would like to learn more about abdominal exercises check them out in the instructional exercise section.

ABS LEG CLIMBS