How To Do The Double Straight Leg Stretch In Body Weight Pilates Video

The double straight leg stretch is a Pilates exercise that focuses on the abdominals. Learn to perform the double leg stretch correctly from a Pilates instructor in this video.

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Hands in diamond position
Pull knees in
Straighten legs
Lower & lift legs
Breathe correctly

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Ashley Orlando has been a Pilates instructor since April 2007. Ashley currently instructs at Core Pilates NYC, Equinox Century City, My Pilates Body and Revolution Pilates.

Welcome back. Our next exercise is the double straight leg stretch. This is for the lower abdominals. So Mark is going to go ahead and lay all the way down. It's very important that you support the spine here. You're going to take your hands and place them in a diamond position. From here, you're going to place them underneath your lower back, so you should see your fingertips at the tips of your booty; well you can't see them but maybe your partner can. So from here, you're going to bend the knees in toward your chest, so we want to make sure that we see those fingertips and that our spine is completely supported. From here, straighten those legs all the way up. If you're having trouble straighten them, again, flex the feet. You want to keep your heels together and your toes slightly apart, about a palm width, think of it that way. So, from here, youre going to start to lower your legs, as you lower your legs, I want you to keep pulling your navel in toward your spine and then exhale lift them right back up. So, you can test the waters here again. The further you lower the legs, the harder it is on your abs, making sure you're fully connected, and your back is not pressing off at all. If you want to challenge this, you can curl your head, neck, and shoulders up and press one more like this, draw your knees in towards your chest, relax head, neck, and shoulders down. That was the double straight leg stretch, and next will be the crisscross.

How to Do the Double Straight Leg Stretch in Body Weight Pilates Video

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