How to Do an L-Sit: The Best First Skill for Beginners
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The L-sit is the best skill for a complete beginner to start with, and you can get it in one to three months by following the right progressions. Start with the bent-knee hold, move to one leg extended, then both legs out, training three times a week. It's not a hard skill if you follow the steps in order. The only reason people fail it is because they skip steps.
When you're brand new to calisthenics, it's tempting to jump straight into the fun, fancy skills like the planche, the handstand, or the front lever. I'd strongly recommend you don't. Pick a skill that's not just beginner friendly, but one that actually builds the strength you'll need for every skill that comes after it. That's the L-sit. Here's exactly how to get it.
Why the L-sit should be your first calisthenics skill
The L-sit builds your grip strength and your core strength, and it's going to be the first time you put all the different parts of your body together to form a skill. You'll be static and rigid, holding one solid position. For most beginners, that's a brand new feeling, and learning to do it is going to help you with every part of your journey, from other beginner skills all the way up to advanced ones.
This includes both the hanging variation and the floor variation. Both build the same thing, with just small differences between them.
How the L-sit makes your other skills better
Take the pull-up. A lot of people do it with their knees bent behind them, their back arched, just kind of flailing up there. If you train the L-sit and learn to hold a tight hollow body position instead, your pull-up form gets way cleaner. That rigid, hollow position is exactly what you need for the muscle-up, because you'll already be able to hold yourself tight and swing better with better form.
It also carries straight over to your beginner handstand transition, which a lot of people want to learn early. Strengthening your core, your stability, and your rigidness with the L-sit makes all of that easier. That's why it's the smart first pick. You're not just learning one skill, you're building the foundation for the next ten.
L-sit form: the hanging variation
We'll start with the hanging variation because it's the easier of the two. It's simple. Grab onto the bar with both hands and enter an active hang. If you don't know what an active hang is, it's just you shrugging your shoulders down while in the pull-up position. This gives you more stability and control instead of a loose dead hang that swings around.
Once you're in your active hang, it's as simple as lifting your legs up. You'll need a little bit of compression, a little bit of quad strength, and a little bit of flexibility, but for the most part this should come to you pretty easily.
L-sit form: the floor variation
This is the one that gets a lot of people hung up. The problem is that when people put their hands on the floor, they try to push off from behind their back into nothing, and they can't get their body off the ground. You have to push from your center of gravity. Slide your hands up, find your center, and push off from there. That one fix is usually the difference between lifting off and being stuck on the floor.
The L-sit progression, step by step
The progressions for the hanging and floor variations are pretty much the same. Start with the hanging version, work through the progressions there, then move to the floor. If you don't have access to a pull-up bar, the floor works too, using a chair, parallettes, or even books to raise your hands. It feels a little weirder, but it's very possible.
Grab the bar, enter an active hang, and work through these three stages in order.
| Stage | What to do | Hold | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Bent knee | Bring your knees up like you're sitting on a chair in the air, at a 90 degree angle | 30 seconds | 1 to 3, then build to 3 to 5 |
| 2. One leg out | Extend one leg at a time. When that leg gets tired, switch to the other | Start at 30 seconds total, build to 30 seconds per side | 1 to 3, then build to 3 to 5 |
| 3. Both legs out | Extend both legs at the same time. That's the L-sit | Hold for time | 1 to 3, then build to 3 to 5 |
When I say three to five sets, I know five is basically impossible when you're first starting out. So start with one to three sets, master that, then build up to three to five. Don't skip ahead. Master each stage before moving to the next one, and the skill takes care of itself.
How often to train the L-sit, and how long it takes
Train this at least three times a week for the best results. Something like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, with Saturday and Sunday as rest days. Or you can keep the cycle rolling straight through, your call. Every three to four weeks, take a deload week to let your body recover from everything you're training, then get back to it.
This shouldn't take you more than one to three months. It took me under a month, but that depends on your starting strength. For most people, one to three months and you've got it.
Accessory exercises to speed it up
The progressions alone will get you strong enough, and honestly you'll be fine with just those. But I always like to add accessory exercises to build extra strength for the skill. The way I do it is one or two exercises for the progressions, then two to three accessories.
Good L-sit accessories are:
- Leg raises
- V-ups
- Hollow body holds
- Planks
- Any other core work that strengthens the same muscles
So a solid session might be a bent-knee hold, then leg raises and hollow body holds, and you're done for the day. Fine-tune it to how you feel. Some days I'd go hard, two progressions plus three accessories. Other days I'd do one progression and one or two accessories and call it. As long as you're doing the progression itself, you're fine when you're short on time. Throw the accessories in when you've got more in the tank.
Common problems and how to fix them
The biggest issue I see is bad mobility. If you're bad at compressing, or you've got tight hamstrings, quads, or hip flexors, the L-sit gets a lot harder than it needs to be. Work on those.
Do some toe touches, sitting down or standing, to improve your compression and flexibility. Start doing leg lifts to build quad strength. Fix the mobility in your quads, hamstrings, and hip flexors, and the skill opens right up.
Need more help?
That's everything you need for the L-sit. If you're stuck on something or want it dialled in for your body specifically, I offer one-on-one coaching where we figure it out together.
And if you want to know exactly what to train next, how to keep progressing, and everything else that goes into calisthenics with a community to ask questions and stay accountable, that's what P.R.O.J.E.C.T Calisthenics is built for. That's the fastest way to stop guessing and just follow the plan.
Keep learning
- How to start calisthenics as a beginner and build your foundation first.
- The simple beginner routine to get strong enough for skills like the L-sit.
- How to stop your calluses ripping on the bar during hangs and holds.
Frequently asked questions
Is the L-sit a good beginner skill?
Yes, it's the best first skill to learn. It builds grip strength, core strength, and full-body tension, and all of that carries over to skills like the pull-up, muscle-up, and handstand. It teaches you to hold a tight, static position, which is a foundation for almost everything else in calisthenics.
How long does it take to learn an L-sit?
For most people, one to three months of training three times a week while following the progressions in order. Some get it faster depending on their starting strength. The key is not skipping stages.
Why can't I get my legs up in an L-sit?
Usually it's mobility or you're pushing from the wrong place. On the floor, push from your center of gravity, not from behind your back. If your legs won't extend, work on compression and hamstring, quad, and hip flexor mobility with toe touches and leg lifts.
Can I train the L-sit without a pull-up bar?
Yes. Use the floor variation with a chair, parallettes, or books to raise your hands. It feels a little different from the bar version, but the progressions are the same and it works.