March MATness Day 13: The One Leg Kick

[ChannelRunner2]

We’re continuing today, March 13, with the set of exercises Andrea Maida describes as such: “Now we have arrived at the extension exercises – a lot of tough work for the back – but now it’s all ready to go, thanks to the previous 11-14 exercises. The Swan Dive is a big full move to get the juices flowing, followed by the Single Leg Kicks and Double Leg Kicks which aid in the stretching of the front of the lower body – and furthermore strengthen the buttocks and hamstrings for the tasks ahead.” (via pilatesandrea.com/on-the-or... ).

As always, if you need to warm-up, do at least The Hundred, maybe all of the previous 12 exercises. Then repeat this exercise 6 times with each leg.

Follow Joe’s instructions from the excerpt from Return to Life. Remember, according to John Steele, Joe encouraged his students to modify. Find out what works for your body today. (Note that in some editions of RTL, the first photo (Pose 1) of the One Leg and Double Leg Kicks were swapped. The written instructions are correct, though. Thanks to Anita Park of Explore Pilates for catching this!)

Instructions from Online Pilates Classes – no specific modifications: youtu.be/C_RAf6Gh8Ws(Not working as expected?)

You can read more about the exercise and written instructions at the OPC page for it: onlinepilatesclasses.com/pi...

Another set of instructions from the Pilates Lesson Plan, including a video, are here: georgewatts.org/lesson-plan... (via pilateslessonplans.co.uk/fr... which has more illustrations)

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Standing variations for exercises 11-15: instagram.com/reel/CYri3yEB...

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Photo from Return to Life as published by Presentation Dynamics. Photos are far better reproduced in the paperback published by the Pilates Method Alliance in 2010, which isn’t available electronically. (See this post for the title page: healthunlocked.com/strength... )

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★ Our March MATness summary page: healthunlocked.com/strength... ★

[TheTabbyCat Graduate]

Thanks again CR2, I really appreciate you sharing all this info, who knows if one day I'll be able to have a proper go. In the meantime it's a little bit like watching ballet or ice skating. We watch and admire the experts' skill, secretly dreaming...............................

[ChannelRunner2 in reply to TheTabbyCat]

That's a great analogy, TheTabbyCat !

[Oldfloss Administrator]

I am keeping up in my own weird way...now keeping up in Wales!! Thanks you x

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold]

it’s amazing how complicated these seemingly simple moves are. A backwards leg kick will never be the same for me again! 😊

I’m way behind, but committed to going through these no matter how long it takes me.

And thank you ChannelRunner2 ! These posts are great! I love diving deep into one exercise and feeling my body through different versions!

[ChannelRunner2 in reply to CBDB]

Yes! There are so many simple yet not easy exercises in Pilates! And they're also amazingly deep: It seems the longer I practice, the more I understand the depth of an exercise. It's a pretty useful system.

I am glad you're finding these posts useful! I've tried to make them into reference documents that we can pull up again and again...

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to ChannelRunner2]

oh yeah, I definitely will use these again and again. I love their simplicity, which seems contradictory to the complexity. But it’s just the permission to focus on just one pose/movement to get deeper into all aspects of it.

As you can tell, im a new fan of the 33 (?) exercises.

[ChannelRunner2 in reply to CBDB]

It's 34 exercises 😊

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to ChannelRunner2]

👍🏽😊😃🧘🏾‍♀️