Side lying exercises are excellent for working balance, stability and core control, with a special focus on your oblique muscles.

Start by finding the perfect side lying position:

• Align yourself to the mat, one arm extended and the head resting on it
• Stack your shoulder, hips, knees and ankles right on top of each other and check you're not leaning forwards or back
• You may place a soft block between your head and your arm for comfort
  
• Check that your spine is in 'neutral' with a natural lower back curve and your ribcage soft - release any tension on your upper body
• Check that there is a gap under your waist -- your 'guitar' shape
  
• Place your fingertips on the mat in front of you -- minding that you're not leaning forward, or on your hip, or pointing your hand towards the ceiling
• Breathe in as you lengthen yourself from top to toe and breathe out to establish your core engagement

To start the movement

• Float the top leg lengthening it out to hip height as you breathe out
• Hold it there for a breath in and as you breathe out take the leg forward and breathe in to bring it back to the starting position
• On the following out breath, squeeze your bottom and take the leg behind you, and breathe in to bring it back to centre
• Add some footwork by pointing to toes as the leg goes forward, and flexing the foot as it goes back
• Keep the movement stemming from the core and the legs hinging at the hip
  
• Keep the height of the foot and the leg fully extended throughout the movement
• If you find yourself tensing your upper body or leaning into your had on the mat, try to transfer some of the effort to your oblique muscles, the ones on your waistline
• Relax your body and make sure you're isolating the correct muscles: gluteals (bottom) to take the leg behind you and hip flexors (groin muscles) to take the leg forward, with your core abdominals engaged throughout

Increase the level by floating the bottom leg up as well -- use your inner thigh muscles to keep this leg floating. Move only the top leg, or make them movement more dynamic by 'scissoring' both legs moving in opposite directions.

Visualisations

• Body straight like an arrow
• Guitar shape waist
  
• Stream of cold water under waist
• Leg on a pulley, floating
• Leg lengthening away, running away from your hip
  
• Imagine walking on the back wall, walking on air (scissors)
• Draw a straight line with your toe, rub it with your heel (for point & flex feet)
• Scissors
• Legs glued together (double leg lift)

Watch out points

• Body tensing up
• Overarching or rounding the spine
• Pelvis moving, rocking or twisting
• Pushing up with hand, pressure on forearms
• Waist collapsing onto the mat
• Shoulders rounding (especially top shoulder)
• Lifting legs too high
• Too much reliance on the supporting hand

Give the Pilates Side Kick a try and let me know how you go by leaving a comment on this page.

Remember everybody's bodies are different. Consult with your doctor before trying out a new exercise, in particular if you have any conditions or injuries which could be aggravated by certain types of movement.

1. Start from semi-supine position, with neutral spine:

• Check your position before you start and relax your body
• Keep your arms lengthened by your side

2. Breathe in to prepare, breathe out and engage your core muscles

• Lightly tighten the boxer's belt or corset around your waist and squeeze your pelvic floor (muscles that keep you from going to the loo!) to 30% of the maximum
  
• Try this a few times until you're able to keep a 30% contraction as you breathe in as well as when you breathe out
  
• Avoid over contracting
• If you find it hard to do both, focus only on one group of muscles at a time

3. The movement is a lengthening of one leg at a time away from the starting position, the starting position changes for beginners to intermediate/advanced

• Breathe in to prepare
  
• As you breathe out...
  
• draw a line with one foot along the mat, either keeping the heel on the ground or floating it just a couple of inches off the mat, as if rolling a tennis ball underneath
• check that your hips stay in the neutral position, and especially avoid arching your back as the leg extends
• add more challenge by floating the opposite arm to the foot over your head towards the floor
  
• Breathe in – bring everything back to the starting position
  
• Breathe out – repeat same leg a few times, or alternate one leg at a time

For intermediate/advanced, the starting position is double leg "table-top":

• Lift one leg at a time to "table-top" position on an out-breath. Make sure your core is engaged to prevent your back from arching when the second leg comes up
  
• Check the knees are right over the hips
• Check the legs are bent at a 90degree angle
• Ensure you keep your spine in neutral, or "imprint" your back into the mat to protect your lower back further
• Breathe out – extend one leg 45degree angle
• Breathe in – to come back to starting position
• Breathe out – repeat same leg a few times, or alternate one leg at a time

For the advanced movement,

• Breathe out – bring your upper body off the mat
  
• Add a more complex arm movement: bring the outside hand towards the shin and the inside hand towards the knee, fingers pointing down (e.g. with left leg extended and right knee bent, right hand goes to right shin and left hand goes to right knee).
  
• Breathe in – to come back to starting position, keep your upper body lifted
  
• Breathe out – repeat same leg a few times, or alternate one leg at a time
• You can also increase the challenge by doing the movement in double time: breathe out to swap both legs, breath in to swap again.

Visualisations:

• Push the foot through sand (lower level)
  
• Roll a tennis ball under your foot as it slides forward (lower level, foot raised)
  
• Imagine you’re sliding foot through toffee (quality of motion)
  
• ‘Track your legs’ your legs are on a rail track (on the floor or off the floor) so the have to move in alignment
  
• Imagine something balancing on top the stable knee and make sure it doesn’t fall off as the other leg moves
  
• Keep your hips still as in concrete
  
• Switch off the muscles not involved in the move

Watch points:

• Tense shoulder and necks (especially during head, neck and shoulder raise or lifting arms)
  
• Abs doming
  
• Overarching lumbar spine, losing neutral
  
• Pelvis moving, rocking or twisting
  
• Ribcage tight or flaring
  
• Buttocks tightening
  
• Keeping the legs in alignment
  
• Holding breath

Give the Pilates Single Leg Stretch a try and let me know how you go by leaving a comment on this page.

Remember everybody's bodies are different. Consult with your doctor before trying out a new exercise, in particular if you have any conditions or injuries which could be aggravated by certain types of movement.

All Pilates movements initiate from an engaged core or powerhouse. This refers to a gentle contraction of three sets of muscles in your torso which help stabilise your spine and keep you upright:

• Transversus Abdominis (TA band)
• Pelvic Floor muscles
• Multifidus

These deeper core muscles are designed for endurance - a gentle contraction for a long time - since they are meant to keep you upright all day long without getting tired. When the core is not strong, other muscles have to help keep us upright, leading to imbalances such as tight hamstrings (back of the thigh) or hip flexors (groin) and lower back pain.

During a Pilates session we work with these muscles contracted to about 30% of their maximum possible contraction. Why? Because a gentle contraction permits us to isolate the correct muscles, whereas a stronger contraction calls on the more superficial muscles (e.g. the obliques and six-pack) to come help and take over.

Let's take a look at each set of muscles individually and learn to isolate each one at a time.

The TA band is a deep internal muscle all the way around your waist. It attaches at the back to your spine and pelvis and goes round your waist to the front of your belly. Try the following exercise and visualisations to isolate the TA band, you can try this in a standing or semi-supine position.

• Think of a corset or boxer's belt round your waist, imagine it has 10 notches. As you breathe out tighten the corset or belt all the way to the 10th notch, breathe in to release. Exhale again to contract to the 5th notch, breathe in to release. Last time, breathe out to find the 3rd notch: this is where you want to keep the TA band engagement.
• Visualise pulling your navel to your spine
• Imagine someone comes with very cold hands to grab your waist, draw your navel in
• Remember how you need to pull your belly in to put on a pair of freshly washed jeans

The Pelvic Floor muscles are like a sling attaching from your public bone to your tail bone. They are the muscles you contract to control the flow of body fluids when you're in that too-long meeting at the office! To isolate this group of muscles try the following standing exercise and visualisations:

• Visualise a handkerchief on the floor between your legs, to pick it up you need to pinch it and lift. As you breathe out, squeeze with your pelvic floor to pinch the handkerchief and lift it all the way as high as it will go. Release on the in-breath. Try it again going to 50% and then to 30%, one breath in and out at a time.
• Suck your thumb (this produces an instinctive, reflexive tightening of pelvic floor, but, alas, it doesn’t work for everybody)
• Visualise zipping up a pair of tight jeans
• Imagine you’re entering cold water and you want to keep your bikini or trunks from getting wet

Multifidus is the hardest one to isolate. It has multiple attachments, linking each vertebra in your spine to the one above it. The exercise below may help you feel this muscle, but don't worry if you don't, it's a tricky one to work all by itself.

• Lie down in semi-supine position. Breathe out to engage the Pelvic Floor first and keep the contraction as you breathe in. On the next out-breath pull your tail bone towards your spine, but prevent your back from arching. You may feel the sensation of contraction in your lower back, this is Multifidus working.

Practise these isolation exercises in your daily life, or as part of your Pilates workout, to help improve your core awareness and control and send you on your way towards a healthy back and a strong, flat tummy.