In recent years the plank has surpassed both the crunch and the sit-up as the best core exercise, but there is a new movement in town that matches the planks in terms of efficacy and importance, the L-sit. It is a gymnastics-inspired exercise that strengthens the core that anyone can learn, and here are the steps to do it properly.
Step 1: Familiarize Yourself With L-sit
L-seat works on the core and the triceps and is often used by individuals who practice yoga, acrobatics, and muscle development. It is also used as a training routine by traceurs exploring new and improved training ways.
This exercise held the body in the shape of an “L” supported by the hands with the arms at the sides of the body and the legs parallel to the floor in this core workout. L-seats are more advanced and need a core workout that is intermediate to advanced.
The L-seat is an effective triceps workout that increases abdominal strength fast and simply as a static posture. You can do this on the floor or with the help of a partner or props like push-up stands or parallel bars.
You can advance this exercise by adding exercises or moving into different postures to achieve the L-seat.
Also, it is difficult to beat when it comes to real bodyweight feats of strength because it requires body strength and a fair amount of flexibility and body control to perform it well.
To get to the complete move, you will need to go through a series of progressions to gain the necessary strength for more accurate regressions.
I recommend using parallel bars to help you acquire the strength you will need to keep your legs parallel to the ground when you first start.
You may need to add extra core exercises to your strength training routines, such as the V-sit or leg lifts, because this activity takes a lot of core strength.
Train these strategies three times a week to get to a complete L-sit. Whether you add extra abs to your regimen or not, you will be rocking this calisthenics standard in no time if you follow this basic set of exercises.
L-sits can be performed on the floor with no apparatus or using a set of parallettes, dip bars, hanging rings, or two identically sized boxes or benches. If you think your body is ready, proceed to the next step.
Step 2: Start In The Right Position
A correct L-sit exhibits an appropriate balance of strength and mobility between the front and rear sides of the body, similar to the back bridge. Although it does not require any equipment, the L-sit may provide a substantial challenge.
L-sits strengthen your arms, chest, lats, abs, hip flexors, and quadriceps while stretching your hamstrings and lower back.
You must know the correct position of your body before doing the L-sit. The starting position is, called the staff pose, is familiar to people who do yoga.
Staff pose begins with a sitting position, where your torso and back are vertically positioned to the ground.
In this pose, alignment is very important, and a simple way to check it is to sit with your back lying against a wall. Plant your bottom on the floor and make your shoulder blades touch the wall. Ensure that you do not include your lower back and back of the head on the wall.
If it’s hard to do the staff pose with your lower back slightly away from the wall, it will help to have a rolled-up towel between your lower back and the wall.
The staff pose will work on your back, improve your posture, and be a crucial start doing the L-sit.
Step 3: Place Your Arms Beside You
Place your hands on the floor as comfortably as you can. Place them besides you in between the hips and knee. If practicing in bars, ensure to hold the bars properly to avoid tripping over.
Once you have established the most comfortable grip or hand placement, start to put force on your arms and straighten them to the point that you can lift your hip off the floor.
Put all of your body’s weight on your palms. You can wear gloves here if you want.
It would be best to lock out your arms, elbow pits forward, and pull back and down your shoulders.
This will require arm strength, and you should have this before attempting to do an L-sit to avoid bone strain and injury.
Step 4: Lift your Hips Parallel to the Floor
While your arms are straightened, start lifting your hips and make an angle with your chest slightly tilting forward, drawing your hips backward.
As you draw your hip towards the backs, squeeze your core, and when you have established stability, proceed to the next move.
If utilizing two boxes, benches, or parallettes, make sure they’re about shoulder-width apart. Place your palms on each side of your shoulders while standing between them.
Straighten your arms, lock your elbows at your sides, draw your shoulder blades down and away from your ears.
Then, press down into your hands, engage your core and lift your legs straight and together off the floor until they are parallel to the ground.
Step 5: Extend Your Legs and Execute an “L”
While your bottom is lifted from the floor, slightly push your hips forward and make an “L” form with your body. Keep your back straight and the neck neutral while drawing the shoulder back and down.
If you find it hard extending both legs together, especially if doing L-sit on bars, you can try practicing extending one leg while slightly tucking the other leg. Exchange them, and then extend both legs when you feel how it should be.
You can lift your legs as high as possible if you want or at the level of the bars if doing it on bars. You are now able to execute an L-sit. Hold the position.
Step 6: Look Straight Ahead and Keep The Neck Neutral
Look straight ahead to keep a neutral neck. Hold on to your position by keeping your knees straight while squeezing quads tightly and pointing your toes in front.
Instead of staring down at the ground, fix your gaze in front of you. This will keep your shoulders from sagging and your neck in a neutral position.
Aim for 30 seconds of L-sit holds every set, with 10 to 20 seconds of rest between sets. Increase the time to 45 seconds, then 1 minute or more as your strength improves.
Remember always to look forward while doing an L-sit. Once done, prepare to let it go.
Step 7: Let Go of The L-Sit
For beginners, after three to five seconds, you can let go of the L-sit. Put back your hips to the floor and relax your arms. If in a bar, land on your legs.
As you practice L-sit, you can hold the position as long as your body can do. For now, polish the L-sit and develop your strength. Ensure that you land flat on your feet and regain strength and balance.
Step 8: Choose The L-Sit Variation For Your Level
The previous steps will enable you to the L-sit easier, but like other moves, there are also variations in the L-sit, and you should choose the variation suited for your current level.
For Beginners, a tuck L-sit is ideal and a lot easier for novices because the legs are bent, the core holds up a short level, and the shorter the level, the less work is required to move it. It takes time and effort to perfect the L-sit, so start with five to ten seconds at a time.
You don’t need as much core power to maintain your legs curled up. You can do it by grabbing both parallel bars with both hands, squeezing your core to push up through your shoulders, and bringing your body up into a support hold to do this regression.
Tuck your knees into your chest and hold for a few seconds after you’re in place. Work your way up to 30 seconds in three rounds in this posture.
Work to maintain your torso upright with your chest up and shoulder blades retracted in this and all previous L-sit progressions.
Another L-sit for novices is the single-leg L-Sit. This move, which is a logical evolution from the tuck version, allows you to complete half the work of a full L-sit by merely extending one leg at a time.
This will help you improve core strength and strengthen your hip flexors on both sides to support both legs simultaneously.
You can begin by gripping both parallel bars with both hands and pulling up into position with your core engaged and knees tucked into your chest, much like the tuck.
Bring one leg out in front of you for a few seconds before bringing it back in and extending the other leg. On each leg, work up to a firm 30-second hold. To gain strength equally, be sure to train both sides.
Step 9: Explore Advanced L-Sit Variations After You Mastered the Basic L-Sit
Once you can hold the complete L-sit for 10 seconds or longer, you may begin to include some variations into your L-sits to gain strength and growth. Here are some of the L-sit variations to add to your bucket list.
The L-Sit Tuck, Parallel Bar Scissors, and L-Sit Pull-Up are considered advanced, and you need to learn the basic L-seat before doing them. You can use these advanced tricks to improve your parkour efficiency.
For now, let us reserve these advanced moves for another tutorial article.
Frequently Asked Questions
Knowing a new move is exciting, but there will be questions that may come up during training. In this section, I answer some of these that will hopefully be useful.
Q: What are the benefits I can get from L-sit?
Ans: An L-sit will help you develop a strong core with many benefits beyond sculpting abs. It builds abdominal muscles, increases shoulder strength, and increases overall strength. Any variant of the L-sit is a fantastic strategy to prevent bending the spine while building abdominal muscles, especially as a novice. Stronger abdominal muscles will provide more spine stability in the long run.
Q: Is L-Sit difficult to do?
Ans: L-sit is a challenging move to do but not as difficult as others may say. It needs practice, and it does require not only whole-body strength but also flexibility and good body control to execute it properly. It is not difficult to do but needs to be learned.
Q: How Long Should I do An L-Sit?
Ans: If doing an L-sit, you should aim to reach 30 seconds with breaks. If a beginner, you should start with five seconds then progress to a longer time. As you do it regularly, you can increase your L-sit hold longer. An ideal L-sit is when you can hold it long enough to perform a trick in parkour or gymnastics.
Q: How Long Will I Take to Do An L-sit?
Ans: The answer depends on your level of skills as of the moment. If you have developed good body control and core strength, you might be able to do it easier than others who lack these skills.
Q: How Can I Execute a Better L-Sit?
Ans: The only key to doing a better L-sit is to increase exercises focusing on core strength and flexibility. If you develop these and start with progression drills, you can improve your L-sit.
You can consider getting a coach or a personal trainer to guide you to progress faster with the correct training practices. Aim to increase your stamina, and I have the perfect article you can read here on how you can achieve this.
Aim For A Rock-Solid L-Sit!
Through this step-by-step guide, I know you can now end up mastering a rock-solid L-sit that you can improve as you train harder. You can use this move to conquer parkour obstacles easily and fashionably. Learning new things is a good addition to your skills that you can also teach other parkour athletes and enthusiasts out there.
