Exercise #5597

Scissors

1 min - Exercise

17 likes

Description

Muscle Focus: Abdominals, Hamstrings

Objective: Connect to the abdominals, create extension through the hamstrings, and challenge your rhythm.

Apparatus: Mat

Start Position: Lay down on the Mat, with hands pulling the knees in towards the chest. Lift your head, neck, and shoulders off of the Mat towards the knees. One leg extends towards the ceiling with your hands wrapping behind the thigh, the calf, or the ankle. The opposite leg extends away from your chest, aiming to be parallel to the floor.

Movement: Curl the spine toward the leg extended toward the ceiling, pulsing twice, then switch legs, pulling the leg towards the body and pulsing twice. Complete 10 set, 5 times on each leg.

What You'll Need: Mat

About This Video

Intermediate

Deliberate Pace

May 30, 2024

Equinox Pilates

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Abdominals, Legs

Transcript

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This exercise is called the scissors or the single straight leg stretch. Wonderful exercise for challenging the hamstrings, the abs, coordination and your rhythm. It's really fun. For this exercise, we normally do about 10 reps, one leg and one leg equals one rep. So we'll challenge that and we'll get into the exercise right now. Turning to my side, go ahead and lay down on the mat, bring your knees into your chest, and give yourself a little hug.

Head neck and shoulders roll up off of the mat and curl up into the knees. The leg one leg, this is my right leg, it'll go straight up to the ceiling. The other leg has couple options. They can go straight up 90 degrees. It can go 45 degrees, or it can go lower depending on the challenge that you're looking for today.

The arms will either grab behind the thigh, the cap, or the ankle elbow stay wide. Curl your spine towards that leg, and when you pull the leg two times, pulse, pulse, and switch, pulse, pulse, and switch, and keep going through that. If you need a variation of this exercise, You can keep the legs at tabletop and do the same switching, or put the head down to control and protect your neck and head. Again, exercise is called scissors or a single straight leg stretch.