How to Do the Dragon Flag

The dragon flag is an advanced core move where your body stays rigid and straight while you lower it from a bench with only your upper back in contact. It loads the abs through a very long lever. It suits experienced lifters who already have strong leg raises.

AbsBenchAdvanced

Log every set of your Dragon Flag in Superlift

Muscles worked

Primary

Secondary

Obliques

How to do the Dragon Flag

1
Lie on a bench and grip the edge behind your head.
2
Bring your legs up so your body is vertical on your shoulders.
3
Brace your abs and squeeze your glutes.
4
Lower your body slowly as one straight line.
5
Stop just above the bench or where you can keep form.
6
Lift back up by contracting your abs.
7
Reset at the top before the next rep.

Form cues to remember

Keep your body one rigid line
Lower slowly
Squeeze your glutes
Don't bend at the hips

Common mistakes

Bending at the hips

Start with tucked or one-leg variations until you can keep a straight line.

Dropping too fast

Take three to five seconds to lower.

Putting weight on the neck

Keep the load on your upper back and shoulders.

Going too deep too soon

Lower only as far as you can control, then build range.

Sets and reps

Strength	3–5 sets of 3–6 reps, 2 minutes rest
Muscle growth	3 sets of 4–8 slow negatives
Endurance	2–3 sets of 5–8 clean reps

The position loads the neck and shoulders and the lower back. Master tucked and negative versions first and stop if you feel strain in your neck.

Superlift for iPhone

Track your Dragon Flag and watch it go up

Superlift shows what you lifted last time, times your rest, and charts your strength week by week, so you always know what to beat. Every exercise in this library is built in, with the same demos and tutorials.