Training guide
A dragon flag means lying on a bench, gripping it behind your head, lifting your body onto your upper back and lowering it slowly as one straight line. It's more than an ab exercise: your hip flexors, glutes, lats and shoulders all work, and long-lever moves like it load the lower back heavily, so it suits a strong, healthy trunk and isn't for everyone.
No study has measured the dragon flag itself. This guide uses lab studies of similar long-lever moves, the site's own cautions and coaching practice, and says which is which.
It covers who should skip it, how to do a tucked lowering, the steps from the hollow body hold to the full dragon flag and when to move up, how to protect your lower back and neck, how many to do and how often, safer alternatives, how long it might take and the warning signs.
You lift your body onto your upper back, then lower it as one straight line from your shoulders. It resists your body folding or arching, so your abs, hip flexors and glutes hold the line while your lats and arms hold the bench.
A solid hollow body hold, then bench leg raises to a candlestick, then slow lowerings with your knees tucked, one leg straight, and finally both. No trial has tested this ladder; it is coaching practice.
No study has measured the dragon flag, but a similar long-lever move loaded the lower back heavily in a lab study. End each lowering the moment your lower back starts to arch, and keep your pelvis tucked, which raised abdominal work in leg-lifting studies.
Keep your weight on your upper back and shoulder blades, not your neck, and use a bench or bar that can't tip or slide, as our move page says.
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Our advanced core workout uses 3 sets of 3 to 5 slow lowerings, and 2 or 3 sessions a week is plenty (editorial); one coach practises 2 to 4 times a week.
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Skip it with a hernia, after tummy surgery, in pregnancy or the months after giving birth, with osteoporosis, or with a neck or disc problem. With uncontrolled high blood pressure, glaucoma or diabetic eye disease, choose other core work or ask first.
Lying on a bench or the floor, you grip something fixed behind your head and lift your body until only your upper back and shoulder blades touch. Then you lower slowly as one straight line, hips and knees locked, and raise yourself again without folding at the waist. The move is famously associated with Bruce Lee.
Your abdominals hold your trunk straight against gravity, your hip flexors keep your legs up, your glutes keep your hips straight, and your lats, triceps and shoulders hold the bench. Leg-raising moves drive the hip flexors hard: in a review of 9 muscle activity studies, the main hip flexor worked harder the longer the lever.
No study has measured the dragon flag itself. In lab studies of similar long-lever moves, such as the hanging straight-leg raise, the abdominals worked very hard and the lower back took a heavy load. At the top of a dragon flag your weight rests on your upper back with your neck bent forward, much like a shoulderstand (our comparison).
Longer, heavier legs make a longer lever, so the same step can feel much harder for one person than another. A history of back, neck or disc problems is a reason to choose other core work (our suggestion).
We found no study of muscle activity, spine load or training in the dragon flag. Everything on this page comes from studies of similar moves and from coaching practice.
In a lab study of 14 men, the hanging straight-leg raise, a similar long-lever move, gave the hardest challenge to the abdominal wall of the exercises tested and put a heavy load on the lower spine. It's the nearest measured move, not the dragon flag itself.
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In 9 people doing 12 abdominal exercises, none both worked all the abdominal muscles hardest and kept the load on the lower back low. The authors concluded that a variety of exercises suits most goals.
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In 16 men holding both legs just off the floor, tucking the pelvis drew more activity from the upper and lower rectus abdominis than tipping it forward. In 15 men, lowering both straight legs with the pelvis held tucked worked the abdominals harder than a curl. Both were short lab studies of muscle activity.
Across 9 muscle activity studies, the iliopsoas worked harder with more hip bend and a longer lever. In 8 people with fine-wire electrodes, psoas activity was highest in all-out hip flexion efforts.
The hollow hold, leg raises, and tucked, one-leg and straight-body lowerings come from coaching practice. No trial has tested them.
The dragon flag strains the tummy hard. Leave it out with a hernia or after tummy surgery: UK hospital and stoma leaflets advise against double leg raises at first, as our move pages say. See a GP if you think you have a hernia.
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The NHS advises against starting a new vigorous activity in pregnancy, against activities with a risk of falling, and, later in pregnancy, against lying flat on your back for more than a few minutes. So this isn't one to do in pregnancy. In the first weeks after giving birth, build up from gentler tummy exercises, as our after-birth guide says.
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At the top, your weight rests on a rounded upper back and neck, as in a shoulderstand, so leave it out with osteoporosis or after a spinal fracture, as our move pages advise for the shoulderstand (our reading).
Our dragon flag move page says to skip it entirely with a neck or disc history. Leave it out while back pain is flaring, too (our suggestion).
With uncontrolled high blood pressure, heart disease, glaucoma or diabetic eye disease, the hard straining and the head-down top position are reasons to choose other core work, or to ask your GP or eye team first, as our breathing guide says.
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From our dragon flag page and coaching practice (12 Minute Athlete, DIE RINGE). The 3 to 5-second lowering is editorial.
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The movement on the figure: Dragon flag
The tucked and one-leg dragon flags have no demo of their own: they are the dragon flag with both knees bent, or one leg bent.
The move-up points are our editorial choice; coaching sources differ, and no study has compared them.
2 or 3 sets of 8 slow reps each side, your lower back staying down (editorial).
3 or 4 holds of 15 to 30 seconds. One coach treats a solid hollow body hold as a must before any dragon flag attempt. Move on at a steady 30 seconds with your back down (editorial).
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3 sets of 10 to 12 slow reps, curling your pelvis (editorial).
At the top, lift your hips so your legs point at the ceiling, then lower slowly: 3 sets of 6 to 10 (editorial dose; a coaching step). Move on at 10 controlled reps.
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Knees bent, lowering slowly from the top over 3 to 5 seconds: 3 or 4 sets of 3 to 5, as our advanced core workout does. Move on at 5 lowerings of 5 seconds with your back flat (editorial).
The same dose with one leg straight and one tucked, swapping legs; then both legs straight, lowering only as far as your body stays straight.
Lower and raise again without folding at the hips, with pauses part-way: 3 sets of 2 to 5 (editorial).
Similar long-lever moves load the lower back heavily, so end each lowering the moment your lower back starts to arch or your hips sag, then bend further and bring your feet down. This isn't a beginner's ab exercise, and it isn't one for a current back flare-up.
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Squeeze your glutes and tuck your pelvis so your lower back stays flat. In leg-lifting studies, a tucked pelvis drew more abdominal activity than one tipped forward.
Keep your weight on your shoulder blades, not your neck, and keep your neck long. Use a bench or anchor that can't tip or slide, and lower your feet with control rather than dropping them (our move page).
No single abdominal exercise both worked the abdominals hardest and kept spine load low in a comparison of 12. The dragon flag is one hard option, not a must.
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2 or 3 times a week, with a day between: it's a hard trunk session in itself (editorial). One coach practises 2 to 4 times a week, and strength rose more with at least 2 sessions a week in a large overview of reviews.
3 or 4 sets of 3 to 5 slow lowerings, as our advanced core workout and move page use. Stop each set at the first arch.
Training to failure isn't needed. A few good lowerings beat a high count, and a lowering that sags teaches the wrong shape.
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Breathe out as you lower, and don't hold your breath, as our breathing guide explains.
Two or three of these, 2 or 3 sets each, on dragon flag days or between them (editorial).
These train the trunk with less strain on the lower back and neck; our plank guide gives the doses.
No study has timed these skills. With a solid 30-second hollow body hold, controlled tucked lowerings often come within a few weeks, and a full, straight-body dragon flag often takes several months to a year or more of practice 2 or 3 times a week.
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The dragon flag progression follows the ladder above; the beginner and no-equipment core workouts build the base, and the advanced core workout uses the full dragon flag.
Build to a dragon flag: dead bugs, hollow holds, reverse crunches and bench leg raises, then tucked, one-leg and full dragon flag lowerings.
25 minAdvanced6 movesA bench or boxHard core training: ab wheel rollouts, hanging leg raises, L-sits, Copenhagen planks, plank walk-ups and dragon flags.
30 minAdvanced6 movesAn ab wheel, Pull-up barAn intermediate ab workout with no equipment: planks, side planks, reverse crunches, hollow holds and mountain climbers.
20 minIntermediate7 movesNo equipmentA 15-minute beginner core workout on the floor: dead bugs, bird dogs, knee planks, side planks and curl-ups.
15 minBeginner6 movesNo equipmentA 25-minute gym ab workout you can add weight to: cable crunches, hanging knee raises, ab wheel rollouts, Pallof presses and suitcase carries.
25 minIntermediate7 movesA cable machine, Pull-up barStop exercising straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell. Call 999 (911 in the US) for chest pain that doesn't go away or spreads to your arm, neck, jaw, stomach or back, chest pain with sweating, feeling sick, light-headed or short of breath, fainting while exercising, or a pounding, fluttering or irregular heartbeat with chest pain, breathlessness or feeling faint.
A headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while straining, can be a bleed on the brain. A headache brought on or made worse by exercise, coughing or bending down needs an urgent GP appointment or NHS 111 (in the US, your doctor or urgent care).
Loss of feeling around your genitals or bottom, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, changed sensation during sex, or pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs. These can be signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital urgently. Don't drive yourself.
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Get a same-day GP appointment or contact NHS 111 for severe neck pain that starts suddenly or gets worse quickly, heaviness or weakness in your arms or legs, or pins and needles in an arm with neck or arm pain, as our neck pain guide says. The NHS advises seeing a GP if neck pain doesn't go away after a few weeks, or comes with pins and needles or a cold arm.
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See a GP if you think you have a hernia, such as a new bulge in your tummy or groin when you strain. Contact NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, sickness, constipation, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
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Possible signs of sudden glaucoma: intense eye pain, a red eye, rainbow-coloured circles around bright lights, or blurred vision.
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No study has measured it, but the abs are only part of it: your hip flexors hold your legs up, your glutes keep your hips straight, and your lats, triceps and shoulders hold the bench. Similar long-lever moves also load the lower back heavily, which is why it isn't a beginner's ab exercise.
No single abdominal exercise both worked the abdominals hardest and kept spine load low in a comparison of 12. The best choice depends on your goals and your back.
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How visible your abs are depends mostly on body fat, not on which ab exercise you do; our abs guide explains why.
There's no injury data either way. The load on the lower back is high, so they don't suit a back flare-up, a disc or neck problem, osteoporosis or a hernia. For trained people who stop each lowering at the first arch and keep the pelvis tucked, the risk hasn't been measured, and a high load isn't the same as harm.
Training to failure isn't needed, and coaches favour a few controlled lowerings, stopped at the first arch, over high counts.
No study has measured its risk, but similar long-lever moves load the lower back heavily. Stop each lowering the moment your lower back starts to arch, keep your pelvis tucked, and skip it during a back flare-up or with a disc problem.
Your abdominals hold your body straight against gravity, your hip flexors and glutes keep the line at your hips, and your lats, triceps and shoulders hold the bench. It's a whole-body hold, not just an ab exercise.
Quality counts more than numbers: 3 or 4 sets of 3 to 5 slow lowerings, 2 or 3 times a week, each taking 3 to 5 seconds and stopped at the first arch. That's our advanced core workout's dose, and big daily challenges add fatigue without any evidence of faster progress.
Build a solid 30-second hollow body hold first, then bench leg raises that finish with your hips lifted (a candlestick), then slow lowerings with your knees tucked, then one leg straight, then both. Our dragon flag progression workout puts the steps in one session.
Lowerings only: you get to the top however you can, then lower slowly as one straight line, stopping at the first arch. Coaches use them, tucked first, to build towards the full dragon flag.
Your weight may be resting on your neck rather than your shoulder blades, or you may be pulling hard into the bench with your arms. Keep your neck long and your weight on your upper back, and stop if neck pain starts. Severe neck pain that starts suddenly, or pins and needles in an arm, needs a same-day GP appointment or NHS 111.
Yes: lie on the floor and grip something fixed behind your head, such as wall bars or a sturdy post. Check first that it can't tip or slide.
It's best to skip them, because they strain the tummy hard. See a GP if you think you have a hernia, such as a new bulge in your tummy or groin when you strain.
No single abdominal exercise both worked the abs hardest and kept spine load low in a comparison of 12. How visible your abs are depends mostly on body fat, which our abs guide covers.
Both are long-lever trunk exercises with a heavy load on the lower back. The hanging leg raise also trains your grip and shoulders on the bar, and the dragon flag adds the slow straight-body lowering, so pick the one your back and neck tolerate.
Our rough estimate, not a promise: with a solid 30-second hollow body hold, controlled tucked lowerings often come within a few weeks. A full, straight-body dragon flag often takes several months to a year or more of practice 2 or 3 times a week.
Anyone with a hernia, after tummy surgery, in pregnancy or the months after giving birth, with osteoporosis, or with a neck or disc problem. With uncontrolled high blood pressure, glaucoma or diabetic eye disease, choose other core work or ask first; dead bugs, bird dogs, side planks and McGill curl-ups train the trunk with less strain.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
