Single Leg Kick!

Time for a Pilates exercise dive - come on in, the water’s fine :)

Single Leg Kick is #13 on the list of Joseph Pilates’ original 34 Matwork exercises and looks like a-whole-lot-of-not-really-anything-much-at-all. 

It’s another one of those ‘simple’ exercises that has such minimal choreography you might easily skip it or even think, shock! horror! it’s a pretty worthless exercise.

I’m speculating here but I don’t think Mr. Pilates would’ve included it if he didn’t think it was important. In actual fact it’s a little gem and we should positively and most definitely include Single Leg Kick in our practice.

Photo by Girl with red hat

HOW to perform Single Leg Kick

In Joe’s OG flow Single Leg Kick comes right after Swan Dive and like Swan is an exercise of spinal extension. From a prone position you will be in a sphinx pose up on your forearms, elbows under shoulders, hands in fists with the palms facing in. The legs are straight and long behind you, tops of feet on the mat. (it’s really nice to come into the exercise from and Childs Pose as I demo in the short exercise video tutorial)

The upper back and torso are very active in Single Leg Kick as you’re trying to lift your chest and pull it forward against the length of the legs reaching back behind you. Oppositional energy is key to keeping length through the front and back of the body, stretching, stretching, and stretching into tensile strength - repeat after me: ‘length & strength, length & strength, length & strength’.

Two Modifications that might be helpful in the setup:

Tight upper and mid back? bring your elbow a bit wider and more forward - press the knuckles of your fists together making a diamond shape with your arms.

Tight ankles? put a towel or rolled up mat under the tops of your feet or ankles - adjust it so it feels right for your body.

Now you’re in your Single Leg Kick starting position it’s time to actually move. Kick one foot towards the glute on the same side twice and then repeat with the other foot. The legs briskly switch places with each other so the timing would look something like kick kick R / kick kick L / kick kick R / kick kick L.

 Photo by Hongbin

 photos by moi

A Few Goals:

•  Keep the hips still, they’ll want to rock side to side - tips: keep your abdominal tone (even though the abs will be stretched), traction the elbows back, think narrow pelvis
•  Try to kick your butt with your foot - tip: think of an extremely tight hamstring curl and you’ll be close
•  Keep the knees feeling loose, free, and lifted - tip: I use floating kneecaps as a cue here which, yay, emphasises your hamstring contraction
• The ankle of the kicking leg should be floppy - no tip, just practice this skill because it def feels weird

WHY do Single Leg Kick?

What are the benefits?

•  finding length in the front of the body from kneecaps to crown of head
• strengthening the spine extensor muscles
•  that hamstring work - yowzee!!
•  an easy-ish way to really feel oppositional energy and the two way stretch

WHAT other exercises does Single Leg Kick specifically relate to?

This is where the Pilates Method magic comes in - really there is ONE exercise that shows up in EACH exercise, here are a few examples of where Single Leg Kick shows up elsewhere in the Mat:

• Single Leg Kick is a Rocking prep!
• Swan
• Shoulder Bridge flipped upside down
• Scissors / Bicycle
• Hip Circles
• Double Leg Kick

And just a few examples from the equipment:

• Pull & T Straps or Grasshopper on the Reformer
• Shoulder Bridge variation with single leg knee flexion with the Push Thru Bar
• Hanging Pull Ups on the Cadillac

In Conclusion 

Single Leg Kick is a kick arse ;-) Pilates exercise and while choreographically extremely simple offers many benefits that you can weave throughout your Pilates practice no matter where you are in the studio.

Have fun practicing it and if you want to be guided irl, I teach virtual online classes - check the schedule here: Dragonfly Pilates & Movement class schedule or rent an on demand class here: Video Library

Catch you next time,

xBec

what he said👇

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