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Pilates Exercise for the Month of April – by Louise Nightingale
April 19th, 2018
My exercise of choice this month is the hip release. Hip issues are sadly becoming more prevalent. This is partly due to an ageing population, sedentary lifestyles and hip fractures which can occur with age as the bones become weak and brittle. A good diet and the right exercise is crucial. However this exercise is a vital warm up in our Pilates regime.
It is imperative that, as with everything, that we warm up correctly in order to facilitate good practice and mobilisation.
Start laying on your back on a comfortable mat/floor. This supine position, as it is called, enables our bodies to relax whilst totally supported. Bend your legs and enable your spine to be in its natural or neutral position. Your feet are hip width apart with your neck long, or chin towards the chest with the head flat on the mat. The arms are by the side with the palms facing down, shoulders relaxed. Before you start take a couple of deep breaths, inhale through the nose and exhale through pursed lips.
Take a breath in through your nose then gently drop one knee out to the side towards the floor, away from your torso. Ensure your other hip and leg does not move. It is easy for the other hip to become unstable. Then extend the leg you have just released to the floor along the ground. Point the toes and really reach that leg. All the weight of the leg is in the foot. The foot does not leave the ground, it slides along the floor. Medially rotate that extended leg toward your body and draw it back in towards you, bending back into the bent knee position. With the same leg after 3 repetitions change direction. Inhale reach the same bent leg away from you then exhale and laterally rotate the leg to the side then draw it back in to a bent leg position. Repeat 3 repetitions in both directions on each leg.
