Pilates Single Leg Stretch on the Roller - part of the women's fitness video series by GeoBeats.
Hi, I am Charlotte and this is Alice, and we are here at Streamline Pilates studio in Brooklyn Heights, New York. We are going to show you some ways to use the foam roller for your some pilates mat work. This helps strengthen your unconscious muscles that are required for balance. Since most of our daily activities require that we adapt to unstable circumstances, strengthening these muscles is a really good idea and it adds another layer of challenge to your work out.
So lets start with single leg stretch. Your arms are at your side, your forearms are down on the mat. You can feel your shoulder blades wrapping around the roll almost as if they were hands helping you stabilize through the back of your body. And you are using your forearms, your palms are flat, your elbows are down, and you are using those arms to help you stabilize your body.
Bringing your knees into your chest, one foot at a time, taking an inhale through your nose and exhale. Scooping that belly button back towards your spine, pressing your lower back into the roller. Stretch one leg out and then the other.
Drawing one knee in and reaching the other leg out as far as you can. Use that dynamic attention of the push and the pull trough your legs to stay connected into your core and working on staying balanced on the roller. You want to try not to move the roller around any more than you can help.
If you want to make it harder you could try and lower your legs out a little bit further away from you. If you want to make it easier because you start to feel in your lower back or you just think you are losing your core connection, bring your legs a little higher up.
Remember to stay true to how you feel today and what feels good for your back. Not over-working, just trying to get your legs low to the floor. You want to stay connected through your core and working as deeply through your abdominals as you can. Repeating 8 times, bending your knees into your chest and lowering your feet back down to the floor to get ready for your next work out.
