The dragon flag's slightly kinder cousin, still brutal.
Bent knees take some load off, but your torso still stays rock solid the whole way down.
Bending the knees to 90 degrees shortens the lever of a dragon flag, but your torso still has to stay welded rigid as you lower from vertical to hovering above the bench. The core takes all of it, controlling the descent and refusing to let the hips break the line. It is the honest middle step for anyone chasing the full flag, hard enough to be a main core lift in its own right.
The knee bend. Bending the knees to 90 degrees shortens the lever and takes a chunk of load off the core, while everything else, the anchor grip, the rigid torso, the slow descent, stays identical. Straighten the legs and you have a dragon flag.
Aim for three to five seconds per descent. If you are dropping faster than that, the move is controlling you, so cut the range or reduce reps until you own the whole lowering phase.
When you can do five or more dragonflies with a genuinely slow descent, no hip break, and no flop at the bottom. Then start mixing in straight-leg negatives and build from there.
