Candle Raise

What is Candle Raise:

The Candle Raise is a core exercise that targets the rectus abdominis. It involves lying on your back with your legs straight up and lifting your lower body through spinal flexion, working primarily the rectus abdominis.

Key Benefits:

  • Size and Strength: Works the core muscles, particularly the rectus abdominis, promoting muscle growth and strength improvement.
  • Functional Strength: Improves spinal flexion strength, core stability, and overall fitness, improving performance in daily activities and sports.
  • Convenience: This exercise can be performed virtually anywhere without equipment, making it accessible and convenient for most individuals.

Variations:

  • Regular Crunch: A traditional spinal flexion or crunch exercise that targets the rectus abdominis muscle by lifting the upper body off the floor to create spinal flexion.
  • Reverse Crunch: A crunch variation that lifts the lower body towards the chest to flex the spine and contract the rectus abdominis muscle.
  • Lying Leg Raise: An abdominal exercise performed lying on your back where the legs are lifted off the floor towards your center through spinal and hip flexion until creating a 90-degree angle with your body.

How to perform Candle Raises:

  • Starting Position: Lie on your back with your hands on your side for support and get your legs straight on top of you, creating a 90-degree angle with your body.
  • Execution: Engage your abs and raise your lower body off the ground. Hold the top position briefly, then go down back to the starting position in a controlled manner.
  • Repetition: Repeat for your desired number of repetitions.

Breathing Technique:

Proper breathing is crucial for maximizing performance and maintaining stamina throughout the exercise. Experiment with what you're comfortable with and let you perform your best. For starters, you can try the following:

  • Inhale: Inhale at the starting position.
  • Exhale: Exhale at the end position.
  • Hamstring Tightness: Don't force yourself to do the movement with straight legs if it's too much for you. Bend your knees as needed to perform the movement and target the rectus abdominis more efficiently.
  • Pelvic Positioning: Maintain a posterior pelvic tilt to efficiently engage the rectus abdominis muscle for optimal performance.
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    Additional Information:

    Ways to make it easier:

    • Doing it with bent knees
    • Decreasing the Range of Motion - partial reps, only go as far as you can handle
    • Regressing to an easier variation/exercise

    Ways to make it harder:

    • Playing with the Tempo & adding an Isometric phase (pause/hold)
    • Lifting your lower body as high as possible
    • Progressing to a harder variation/exercise