The lying leg slide is a gentle core control exercise done on your back. With both knees bent, you lightly tighten your stomach, slide one heel along the floor until that leg is straight, then slide it back. The moving leg tries to tip your pelvis and arch your lower back, and your deep stomach muscle (transversus abdominis) works to keep everything still. It is often one of the first steps in a core program, before exercises with the legs lifted.

How to do the lying leg slide for core

Lie on your back on a mat with both knees bent and your feet flat, about hip width apart. Let your arms lie on the mat beside you.
Tighten your stomach muscles gently, just enough to hold your pelvis steady, and keep breathing.
Slowly slide one heel along the mat, away from you, until that leg is straight. Keep the knee pointing up at the ceiling as it goes.
Pause for a moment with the leg straight, then slide the same heel back to the start at the same slow pace, holding the light stomach tension.
Keep your hips level and your lower back still, without arching, the whole time. Repeat, then work the other leg.

What you should feel

Light, steady work low in your stomach as it holds your pelvis still, and a little effort at the front of the hip as the leg slides back in.

Common mistakes

Letting the lower back arch off the mat as the leg straightens.
Letting the pelvis tip or roll toward the moving leg.
Letting the knee fall out to the side.
Rushing the slide out or back.
Holding your breath while the leg moves.

How often

Many programs start with 1 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 slow slides on each leg, on most days. Your physio will adjust this.

Stop and check with your physio if

Your lower back aches more with each slide, even when you make the slide shorter.
Pain, pins and needles or numbness that spreads down a leg.
A bulge or ridge along the middle of your stomach, leaking urine, or pressure or heaviness in your pelvis. Stop and tell your physio.

From the clinic

The video and the voice guide match: one leg slides out and back while the other foot stays planted. That planted foot helps steady your pelvis, so this is an easier start than the double heel slide, where both legs move at once. If your back starts to arch before the leg is straight, stop the slide at that point and build the range over time. Wearing socks on a smooth mat, or putting a small towel under the heel, lets the foot glide.

Once this feels steady, the dead bug and the tabletop leg lift ask for the same control with the feet off the floor. Heel slides are a different exercise: they start with the legs straight and are used to get a stiff knee or hip bending again.

If you have a hernia or have had stomach or back surgery recently, ask your physio before you start. If you have recently given birth, including by cesarean section, or you have a gap down the middle of your stomach muscles (diastasis recti), ask your physio, midwife or doctor first. If you are pregnant and past the first three months, check with your physio before exercising flat on your back.

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-09-28.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. If you have pain, an injury or a health condition, see a physiotherapist or doctor before starting new exercises.

Lying leg slide for core