Legs · Bodyweight
Standing Alternate Leg Lift
How to do the standing alternate leg lift, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- time
- Movement
- Flexion
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand tall with hands on your hips or out for balance. Lift one straight leg out in front of you to a comfortable height, lower it, then alternate to the other leg. Keep your torso upright and move with control for the set duration.
- 1Hip flexors and quads raising the straight leg
- 2Core bracing to keep the torso from leaning back
- 3Balance held on the standing leg
Common mistakes
- Leaning the torso back as the leg rises
- Swinging the leg up with momentum
- Letting the standing knee cave inward
Muscles worked
The standing alternate leg lift mainly works the hip flexors, with the lower abs, quads, glutes, and tibialis anterior assisting.
- Hip FlexorsPrimary
- Lower AbsSupport
- QuadsSupport
- GlutesSupport
- Tibialis AnteriorSupport
- Lower BackMinor
- Upper AbsMinor
- ObliquesMinor
- HamstringsMinor
- CalvesMinor
- AdductorsMinor
Kovo programs the standing alternate leg lift for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More hips & adductors exercises
- How to do the butterfly stretch
- How to do the external rotation
- How to do the cable hip adduction
- How to do the internal rotation
- How to do the cobra pose
- How to do the core scrunch
Last reviewed June 2026.