How to Exercise Hips With Pilates

How to Exercise Hips With Pilates Welcome to the hips and knees workout. If you’ve not yet done the warm up, please go there first. If you have, let’s get started. Bring yourself to the edge of your chair, place your feet flat on the floor, hip distance apart. I’m going to use a theraband for this workout, however, it’s not necessary to use a theraband in order for this workout to be effective. If you have a theraband, please double it up and then tie it around your ankles. Let there be just a little bit of space between your ankles when you go to tie your band. Now, readjust yourself so you’re sitting securely on the edge of your chair, let your feet be slightly forward of your knees and take your arms out to the side. Draw your abs into your spine and send the crown of your head to the ceiling, take a breath in. As you exhale, lengthen one leg away from the floor and keep extending until you feel that toe come off the ground. Inhale, set it back down and slide it home. And again, exhale reach, so feel that toe reach, reach, reach, and start action of reaching that brings the leg off the ground. Inhale, set it down and slide it back, two more times, exhale and reach. Now, make sure that you’re not collapsing in the middle here, that you’re sitting tall, tall, tall. Inhale, touch the toe down and bring it home. One last time on this side, exhale and lengthen. Feel that work in the front of your thigh, inhale, set the toe down and draw it back. Other side, exhale and reach the foot forward, good. Inhale, set the toe down and draw it at home. Bring your arms up overhead, this adds just a little bit of a challenge here, exhale and slide it forward, reaching through the toe, reach, reach, inhale to set the foot down and slide it back. Two more times, just like this. Exhale and reach, reach, reaching through the toes, feel the top of the leg work, excellent. Set the toe down and draw it home, one more time, just like this, exhale and reach it forward, reaching, reaching, reaching, set it down and draw it home. Go ahead and bring the arms down by your sides, readjust your feet. So now, they’re pretty much in front of your knees. Take your arms back out to the side, take a breath in. As you exhale, take your foot and slide it back towards your chair, excellent, inhale to return it. And again, exhale, slide that foot back, you’re going to flex that until you feel that heel come off the ground, keep, reaching, reaching to feel the resistance here and slowly step the foot down and return it. And again, exhale and slide it back, slide, slide, slide, inhale to bring it home. One more time, just like this exhale and slide, you can feel this working in the hamstring or the back of your thigh, inhale to return it, other side, exhale and slide the foot back, inhale to return it. I’m going to turn to the side just you can see exactly what I’m doing. Exhale and slide that foot back, see how it comes off the ground as it reaches toward my seat? Inhale, slide it back forward, two more times just like this exhale flex out foot. Feel the sole of the foot slide on the floor, inhale to return it. One more time, just like that, exhale and slide, excellent. Inhale, set the toe down and bring it home. Go ahead and drop your arms and pause. I’m going to bring myself back to the center. Once again, please readjust yourself on your chair, send the crown of your head to the ceiling, let your arms hang along by your side, take a breath in. As you exhale, slide your foot out to the side. It’s a very small movement, inhale to return it, and again, exhale slide it away. So you’re working the outer thigh here. And as you return it, resist, resist the band. Let the inner thigh work just a little bit more, exhale and slide it out, inhale to come home. One more time, just like this, exhale and reach, reach, reach, inhale to come home. Other side, exhale and slide, return the foot. Now as you exhale and slide the foot out, be sure that you’re leading with the heel but you’re keeping the foot very, very long and bring it home, two more times, exhale and reach it long out to the side. Remember, to maintain contact of your abs with the spine one more time and slide it out, and one more time and bring it home, excellent. We’re going to do a little more work for the inner thigh. So take your band, and just slide it up over your knees. Bring your feet together, take your arms out to the side. Take a breath in. As you exhale, pull the knees apart. You can feel that work on the outside of the thighs. Now as you inhale, slowly, the keyword is slowly, bring those knees together. Three more times, exhale and bring them out. Notice that the soles of the feet for the most part stay on the floor. There will be a little bit of separation but not much, exhale and reach. Really feel this on the outside of the thighs and again, exhale and reach, inhale, come on back. We’re going to change the timing and to pulse. Inhale here, exhale and pulse up for three, two and one, inhale, bring it home. And again, exhale for three, two, one, inhale bring it home, bring the arms overhead just to add a little more of a challenge here, exhale and pulse for three, two, one, inhale, return. One last time, draw the abs in as you press out for three, two, one, inhale to return, excellent. Go ahead and drop the arms, take your band and just slide it off your legs and bring it out to the side. Please take your arms out to a big V position. Readjust your feet, so they are little wider than hip distance apart. As you inhale, send one arm up and one arm down to the floor. As you exhale, curl over to the side, reaching to the ceiling and reaching to the floor, take a breath and hold. As you exhale, contract the belly muscles and send the arms out into a T position, thinking long for the fingertips. One more time inhale, big reach up and big reach down, exhale and curl over the side. Hold it here as you inhale, and as you exhale one more time, pop it up, use those abs to support the low back and inhale drop the arms from here. Take an ankle and cross it over your knee. Let your hand rest on one eye and the opposite hand on your foot. Take a breath in here. Now, as you exhale, you’re just going to lean forward, keeping that back very long and what you’ll fee is a stretch right down the side of your glut. Inhale and come up to center. I’m going to turn to the side so you can see exactly what I’m doing. Take a breath in here, exhale and just lean forward. Notice that my back stays long and where I feel that stretches is where I have the based of glut. Good, inhale and come on up. Exhale, let’s change sides. Take the opposite ankle over the knee. Take one hand to the knee, one hand to the foot. Take a breath in here. As you exhale once again, just tilt forward, keeping that back very, very long. You’re bending from the hip joint, great. Now as you inhale, just come right back to center, two more times just like that. Exhale and reach forward, draw those abs into your spine. I’m sure you can feel this down your glut because I sure can. Inhale to come on up, one last time, exhale and just tilt forward. You don’t have to go very far to feel this and inhale all the way up. Great, bring your foot to the floor and let your arms hang comfortably by your sides. Thank you so much for joining me for the knees and hips workout today. Coming back to this workout regularly will help to strengthen the muscles of the legs and the hips, which will in turn encourage proper posture and equal weight distribution as you sit.