Thigh Stretch

Let's look at thigh stretch on the reformer. The funny thing about Pilates is when you hear the word stretch, you think stretch. And there is a stretch in the thighs, but it's very intense. And this exercise is a advanced exercise. This is actually a lot of work.

Spring setting is I have a red. Havenier than that for me feels like I can't move my body. So you don't need a heavy spring. You just need to find the spring that feels supportive for you and that you can also move into the choreography of the movement. I have taken the flip bar down not for the purposes of this video today, but just to prepare us for additional movements that will come later in this exercise. But for now, today, We're just looking at the simple thigh stretch. To get into the exercise, we come up onto our knees.

The knees go right up against the shoulder blocks and you want a little tension on the the rope. So what I do is just fold the straps. That gives me some nice resistance. The initial setup with the body can be challenging in and of itself because very easy just to kind of hang out here. Less easy is to be very honest about bringing the pelvis directly over the knees, creating a little tension on the springs, and feeling that you're in a neutral spinal position. The exercise starts with an inhale.

As the exhale happens and we go into position, we go into a posterior tilt and we take upper spinal flexion. So for me, this feels like I'm in a chest lift or in the 100 position. It's just the feeling in the body. From there, that shape goes straight back straight back straight back straight back straight back. Straight back. We inhale, bring the whole shape back up and return the body back into position.

Two very common things that make this exercise very easy to perform and our mistakes are just leaning. And the second one is as the body starts to lean, letting the pelvis start to drop. So I just wanted you to see that those two things clearly, and then we'll do a couple more a better way. So posteriorly tilt eyes down abdominals hinge from the knees. I'm going as far as my flexibility will allow without allowing either of the things I just showed to you happen, but many people are able to go further if they have the flexibility and are able to maintain the spinal shape.

And the integrity of the movement, exhaling hinging from the knee, hinging from the knee, and returning. So as mentioned in the beginning, The thigh stretch feels a little bit more like a thigh burn. So the exercise is thigh stretch, and I hope you enjoy.