How To Do Leg Drops
Leg Drops are an exercise that teaches the body to stay stable and keep from moving while your legs are lifting and lowering. In the meantime, your upper body has a chance to relax and your neck stays out of the picture. Often in abdominal work the upper body has to flex up and down causing the neck to get heavy and sometimes sore. This move eliminates that problem and keeps your focus on the lower abs that are responsible for flattening your belly and strengthening your back. If you learn how to do leg drops, you are adding a new core move that digs into the muscles you most want to strengthen.
The lower ab muscles – the transverse abdominals – wrap around like a belt in front of your hip bones and around the small of your back. Think of these muscles like your own internal corset that holds in your internal organs and helps you sit, stand and walk every day. Maybe your favorite part is how this muscle flattens your belly and strengthens your low back! Try leg drops a few times a week and you will notice results quickly.
Use the links below to quickly navigate this guide:
- How To Do Leg Drops
- What Muscles Do Leg Drops Work?
- Benefits of Leg Drops
- How Many Calories Do Leg Drops Burn?
- Other Exercises Similar To Leg Drops
- Incorporating Leg Drops Into Your Workouts
How to Do Leg Drops
Here are the steps to performing leg drops:
1) Start lying on your back with both legs long towards the ceiling.
2) Keep the abs tight as you lower one leg a few inches off the floor, then switch legs.
3) The movement is slow as you work the abdominals. Never go so low with your legs that your back pops off the mat.
This video shows the proper form on how to do a double leg drop. You can do a single leg drop instead or try it with both legs!
What Muscles Do Leg Drops Work?
Leg Drops are an abdominal exercise that strengthens your lower abs, helps train your core stability, and strengthens and protects your low back.
Benefits of Leg Drops
There are many reasons you should incorporate leg drops into your workouts. Here are just a few:
Stronger Core Muscles
Your core, particularly your transverse abdominus, is the powerhouse of your entire body. Without a strong core you are opening yourself up to poor athletic form, back pain and general injury. Leg drops is an excellent way to train your transverse abdominus to pull in correctly and keep you strong in the middle.
Improved Stability
Leg drops are an exercise that promotes stability during mobility. This means it teaches your core to stabilize you while you are moving in other places. Stability is crucial for overall body strength and learning how to utilize the strength of the middle of your body when the rest of you is in motion.
Low Back Health
With over 80% of the population in the United States reporting some type of lower back pain in their life, finding a move to help prevent such problems is key. Leg drops is a move that teaches your transverse abdominus to contract, which ultimately protects your lower back and helps prevent pain and injury.
How Many Calories Do Leg Drops Burn?
People often ask how many calories they are burning in their workouts. Most exercises will generally burn about 100 calories for every 10 minutes you are working at higher intensity. Bottom line – the harder you work, the more calories you burn. Leg drops benefits show less in a calorie burn and more in a core strength benefit.
Other Exercises Similar to Leg Drops
If you like leg drops and the results you get from it, here are a few more exercises you might want to try.
Incorporating Leg Drops Into Your Workouts
Leg drops are a great exercise to practice any time on their own. However, you could also incorporate them into other workouts to mix them up. Here are some ideas to make that happen.
Use Leg Drops in a Core Strength Workout
Leg drops are one of many amazing exercises you will find in the following workout. This is designed to tackle that “spare tire”, “muffin top” or “love handle” area you might not be fond of. Let’s go get to work on that core!
Oblique Burner – 20 total, alternating side to side
Leg Drops – 20 total, alternating side to side
Cross Body Planks – 20 total, alternating side to side
Ab Reverse Curl – 15 total
Hip Dips – 20 total, alternating side to side
Bicycle – 20 total, alternating side to side
Use Leg Drops in a Full Body Strength Challenge
Leg drops can be part of an overall body strength workout. Check out this full body strength workout designed to work you out from head to toe!
Full Body Strength Challenge: This workout uses leg drops in addition to covering every muscle group! Grab a medium pair of dumbbells and go from one move directly to the next. Make sure you repeat 2 times!
Push-Ups – 12 reps
Plank Jacks – 12 reps
Bicep Curl Lunge – 12 Reps
Tricep Overhead Extensions – 12 Reps
Squat Thruster – 12 Reps
Shoulder Front Raise – 12 Reps
Cross Behind Lunge Lateral Raise – 12 Reps
Straight Arm Press Back – 12 Reps
Reverse Grip Double Arm Row – 12 Reps
Leg Drops – 20 Reps alternating right to left
Use Leg Drops in Circuit Workout
Circuit training is an excellent way to use the most of your time for exercise. You can go from circuit to circuit getting your strength, cardio and core all in one swoosh!
Fat Blast Circuit Crush: Move directly from one exercise to the next with little to no break in between. Rest for 1 minute at the end then repeat the sequence.
30 seconds side lunges
30 seconds high knee run
30 seconds push ups
30 seconds jumping jacks
30 seconds plié squats
30 seconds bear crawl
30 seconds leg drops
30 seconds crab walk
Rest 1 minute. Repeat. Stretch.
Here are 3 more workouts that work the same muscles as leg drops:
28-Day Belly Fat Blast Challenge
5 Pilates Moves to Sculpt Your Core
How To Get Rid of Love Handles in 5 Easy Moves
Targets: core, back