Side Kick Kneeling

JP’s OG #27

The Side Kick Kneeling or as I learned it, The Kneeling Side Kick is one of Joseph Pilates’ original 34 Mat exercises as laid out in my edition of his book, Return To Life through Contrology. The exercise is #27 so as you can see it’s close to the end of the flow.

Here’s the page from the book with his instructions, notes, cautions, and remarks:

The Challenges

In his remarks Mr. Pilates stated that this exercise is for balance and coordination.

That’s so true! One of the general ‘rules’ of Pilates is that the less of you on the mat (or equipment) the more work you have to do to stabilise your body in space. Since the only support in Side Kick Kneeling comes from one hand and one shin the balance and coordination challenges are front and centre. There you have challenges 1 & 2.

What else would make this an intermediate to advanced level exercise?

• as mentioned the exercise comes later in the flow when you might be a bit fatigued from doing the previous 26 
  
• your body is not vertical so your proprioceptive skills will be put to the test
• your alignment is challenged due to your new relationship to gravity
• any weaknesses in your shoulders and/or hips will become apparent
• the choreography can be amped up with just as many variations as the regular Side Leg Kick Series

The Benefits

In light of the challenges these would pretty clearly be:

• better balance and coordination
• increased proprioception skills
• building strength in the supporting shoulder girdle
• building stronger awareness of compensatory patterns 
• up-skilling alignment awareness, i.e. being able to take it from lying down supine, to side lying to side kneeling
• increased stamina

That covers the What and the Why of Side Leg Kick Kneeling, now let’s look at

The How

Start Kneeling on the centre of your mat both length and width wise - (your feet will be off the back edge). You want to be in a tripod position with the knees slightly wider than your hips and the toes touching. Turn on your inner thighs & hips by lightly pulling the knees towards each other without them moving (like you’re trying to wrinkle your mat)

Next tip over to one side while you hopefully keep your body pretty rigid, as you land on the hand the lifted leg straightens.

Here’s the sequence but please excuse my deer in the headlight look - don’t know why I look so serious??

Here’s a rear view showing my foot off the back of the mat: 

Once you’re tilted over and you’ve tried really hard to feel two dimensional, kindov’ like Flat Stanley, then you can begin the movement. 

Kick your leg to the front with a flexed ankle and add a pulse just like you do lying down. That’s the inhale.

As you exhale swing your leg behind you, kick with a pointed foot also with the pulse. 

Joe says to repeat for four sets but I say five to eight.

That’s it and while the choreography seems pretty simple the challenge is not.

To transition to the other side it really helps to reach the hand that’s behind your head up and away towards the ceiling. Think of the inner thigh of the leg you’re kneeling on lifting up off the knee and pulling all the way up through the pelvis and torso to that high arm, then the trick is to land SOFTLY on the other leg. Hot tip: The top of my foot touches down first before the rest of my shin. Next you’d simply respect the process on the other side.

Companion Exercises

Sometimes as teachers we make the case that in the Pilates Method there is really only ONE exercise! One of my interpretations of this philosophical stance is that each exercise has elements of others inside them. It doesn’t necessarily need to be just in the choreography but can also be similar skills needed to do them well, or the breathing pattern. This is where you can think of Pilates exercises as part of an ecosystem of healthy, functional movement.

So here is a short list of some companion Mat exercises:

and a bit about how they connect

• the aforementioned Side Leg Kicks - pretty much the same except for the amount of support
• Side Bend - for lat and side body strength
• Crab - for the lift of the inner thighs all the way up to the 100 curl 
• Shoulder Bridge - the hip support with the lower leg below/behind you in space
• Neck Pull - a long spine moving off the vertical
• Mermaid - finding torso strength moving off the vertical in the coronal plane

In Conclusion

Kneeling Side Leg Kicks is a more advanced Pilates Mat exercise which asks you to synthesise skills learned elsewhere on the mat and challenges your balance, your coordination, your stamina, and your strength. Plus it’s fun!!

Do these ideas resonate with you? Sign up for my weekly newsletter down below where each week I send my noodle-y thoughts and a video link with more of the same. Or sign up for a class either live-streamed or available on demand. All the details can be found on my website

Cheers,

xBec

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and Rebecca Forde disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this post

 all photos by moi’