How to... do the Single Leg Stretch

Single Leg Stretch

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.

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