Today’s 21st exercise is another one that looks fairly easy – after all you’re just swinging your leg back and forth – and yet is surprisingly challenging. Romana added a few variations to make it a series. The original contained just the movement back and forth. Also, the original was divided into two poses: First, you’d swing the leg mostly to the front (Pose 3) and only once you’ve completed that a couple of times, you would swing mostly to the back (Pose 4). Today, we’re usually instructed to swing front and back in one motion. (I just learned this in Anita Park’s class via the Pilates Transparency Project!)
Andrea Maida tells us that this exercise brings us some “Time for some multitasking! You must control one side as an anchor while you control the other side as it moves in various patterns. So much to keep track of. Ready? Switch!” (via pilatesandrea.com/on-the-or... )
As always, if you need to warm-up, do at least The Hundred, maybe all of the previous 20 exercises. Then repeat this exercise 3 times on each side.
Follow Joe’s instructions from the excerpt from Return to Life. And as always make sure to modify to ensure your body gets what you need today. (Note that the Pilates Method Alliance edition has the wrong instructions here! The photo in the post has the correct one, though!)
Instructions from Online Pilates Classes – with suggestions on how to make the exercise easier starting at about 03:25:
You can read more about the exercise and written instructions at the OPC page for it: onlinepilatesclasses.com/pi...
Instructions for The Side Kick, especially for us runners, cued to this exercise (note that Joe didn’t create any series… they were created by Romana…):
Another set of instructions from the Pilates Lesson Plan, including a video and modification suggestions, are here: georgewatts.org/lesson-plan... (and pilateslessonplans.co.uk/fr... )
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Standing variations for exercises 16-20 by RAD Pilates: instagram.com/reel/CZ-Y5k1A...
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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... ★
