For Trainers For Athletes
Dragon Flag Progressions – An Incredible Ab Workout

Dragon Flags are one of the most legit ways to crank your abs. The issue? They are super tough to do and are often butchered in ways that lend zero impact on your abs combined with brutal destruction of your lower back.

With that in mind, lets clean things up and reap the fruits of our dragon-inspired labor.

Finding Your Place on the Dragon Flag Progression

Reverse Crunch. Start here. Bring both knees in to your chest and elevate them to the ceiling. Roll up on your shoulders and slowly lower yourself, inch by inch, vertebrae by vertebrae until you return to the start position.

When you can dominate 2-3 sets of 6-8 beautiful reps, move on to step two.

Single Leg Dragon Flags. Begin just like the reverse crunch rolling up on your shoulders with both knees in and up. Before lowering, extend one leg up and out in front of you. That leg should create a straight line from ankle to knee to hip to shoulder. Finish the movement just like above. Lower very slowly. Alternate legs each rep.

Same deal, when you can dominate 2-3 sets of 6-8 reps, move on to step 3.

Dragon Flags. Begin just like the reverse crunch rolling up on your shoulders while bringing both knees in and up. Extend both legs and create a straight line from ankle to knee, hip, and shoulder. Finish the movement just like above. Fight for your life to maintain position and slowly lower.

Liz shows you how it’s done in the video below.

See how Liz does a set of reverse crunches to warm up? If she feels good, we do 2 sets of 8 of the single leg dragon flags. She’s so close to crushing the full movement, so after her second set of single-leggers, we have some fun and go for a couple true dragon flags.

Another option that I love is doing 1 reverse crunch, 1 single leg flag on each leg, and then a full flag, resting 10-15 seconds, and completing the series again. I do this 5-6 times and my abs are smoked. It allows me to get in a bunch of good quality reps during the reverse crunches and single legs but still go for the full dragon flag a few times.

Find your place on the dragon flag progression and choose a challenging yet doable option and get to work. You’ll love the result!