Long-Lever Copenhagen Raise
The Copenhagen family is the gold standard for groin resilience, and the long-lever raise is the demanding end of it. With the top foot supported at the ankle and the body long, each rep drives the adductors through a full lengthened contraction as the hips rise and fall. Reserve it for trained athletes, it is potent for preventing groin strains in cutting sports.
- Equipment
- Bench
- Body part
- Thighs
- Type
- Functional, Strength
- Browse by muscle
- Adductor Longus, Adductor Magnus
- Browse by movement
- Hip Adduction
- Target
- Adductor Longus, Adductor Magnus
- Secondary
- Abdominal External Oblique
- Tertiary
- Gluteus Medius
How to do it
- 1
Set up a side plank on your forearm with the top leg extended and the ankle resting on a bench.
- 2
Let the bottom leg hang below the bench with the hips dropped toward the floor.
- 3
Brace the trunk and keep the body in one long line from head to heel.
- 4
Drive the top ankle down into the bench and lift the hips until the body is straight.
- 5
Raise the bottom leg to meet the top so both are level at the top.
- 6
Lower the hips under control to the start and repeat before switching sides.
Tips
- Regress to a bent-knee or short-lever version if the hips sag or the groin strains.
- Keep the top of the body stacked, do not let the chest roll forward or back.
- Own the eccentric, most groin gains come from the controlled lowering.
- Build reps gradually, this move gets very sore if you overshoot early volume.
Variations
Common mistakes
- The hips sag toward the floor before the lift even starts, meaning the set begins from a collapsed position instead of a braced one.
- The top foot slides forward on the bench as the ankle drives down, robbing the adductor of a fixed point to push against.
- Cranking the neck to look down or forward twists the trunk out of the long line the rest of the body is holding.
- The bottom leg swings up using hip momentum instead of lifting under its own control, which shortcuts the very rep meant to load the adductor through length.
- Chasing full sets at the long lever from day one skips the bent-knee regressions, and the groin usually announces the mistake a day later, not during the set.
Frequently asked
- What is a sensible starting dose for the long-lever Copenhagen raise?
- Start with 2 sets of 3 to 5 reps per side, well short of failure, since this end of the Copenhagen family is unusually demanding on the adductors. Before attempting it, you should be able to hold a strict bent-knee Copenhagen raise for 20 to 30 seconds per side without the hips sagging; that is the prerequisite this move assumes you already own.
- How do you make the long-lever Copenhagen raise easier or harder?
- Make it easier by moving the bench support from the top ankle to the top knee, the short-lever version, or by resting the bottom foot on a second, lower support instead of letting it hang free. Make it harder by holding the top position for a two- or three-second pause or by adding a light ankle weight to the bottom leg once bodyweight reps are smooth.
- What is the long-lever Copenhagen raise good for, and who should not do it yet?
- It builds adductor strength through a full lengthened range, which is one of the better-supported ways to reduce groin strain risk in cutting and change-of-direction sports. It is a poor choice for anyone without a solid base of hip and groin strength already, or for a groin that is currently sore, since the long lever loads the tissue hard at its most vulnerable length.
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