How To Do Side-kick Heel Beats Video

Work ab muscles with the Side-Kick Heel Beat in Pilates. Learn how to do the Side-Kick Heel Beat an exercise routine with this Pilates video lesson.

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Stack hips and align head, neck & spine
Lift legs together
Tap heels together
Squeeze inner thighs

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Known as the trainers' trainer, Carol Ann has 19 years of professional fitness training experience, a Master's degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotion, and CEC provider status with AFAA and ACE. She holds current fitness certifications including Group X Instructor, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Yoga, Aqua Fitness, Kickboxing, and Lifestyle Fitness Coaching. Carol Ann has traveled nationally and internationally training fitness professionals, presenting certifications and workshops, and sharing her knowledge for specific training techniques and application. Along with various fitness training DVD's, she is the creator and star of the fitness DVD series called The Steel Physique System. She also is a freelance fitness expert writer for several publications. In 2008 she is launching Studio Group X, a premier state-of-the-art group exercise studio in North Tampa, FL. The focus is to engage her clients into leading healthy lifestyles for a lifetime through an educational and fun process.

CAROLANN: This Pilates exercise is called Side Kick Heel Beats. Now the purpose of this exercise is to really work on the inner thighs as we isolate the obliques at the same time. So you want to come down to a side-lying position, all the way down flush with the floor, and you want to think about your head, neck and spin being in alignment. Make sure your hips are stacked. Draw your abdominal muscles in. Now to kind of make this creative here, we can lift the top leg up, the bottom leg up. Lift both legs up together, lower down. Top leg comes up half way, bottom leg comes up, lift up, and lower down. Then to really isolate that movement, turn your top hip out, bring your bottom leg up and it's also turned out, and just tap your heels together. Now if you really think about squeezing your inner thighs together, you're going to really feel this, and just breathe naturally as you perform this movement. Now if you're thinking about drawing the navel in towards your spine, you're going to feel this in your abdominal muscles because they are supporting this movement. So working the inner thighs, your obliques are engaged because you've got those legs lifted up off the floor. And you can perform about 10 to 15 reps with your Side Kick Heel Beats. Now there are three major points here to remember so that you could perform this exercise with grace and ease. Make sure that your hips are stacked right on top of each other as you're lying down. Number two, you want to make sure that your navel is pulled in towards your spine so that your head, neck, and spine are all in alignment, and then number three, make sure you breathe naturally. Just breathe however you feel comfortable in through your nose, out through your mouth. And that is your Side Kick Heel Beats.

How to Do Side-Kick Heel Beats Video

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