Pilates Exercise: Kick Back With Exercise Band
with
Kimberly Corp
The pilates kickback is a great exercise, but can be a little complicated to position correctly. Learn how to do the kickback with an exercise band, and see what common mistakes you can avoid.
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Transcript: Pilates Exercise: Kick Back With Exercise Band
Hello, I am Kimberly Corp for Pilates on Fifth in New York City, for About.com.Footwork with the exercise band is a great way to introduce leg-toning exercises into the pilates mat workout. Sometimes the mat workout is so ab-focused that you might not feel that your legs are getting great toning exercises. But, adding the band in allows you to do this great footwork exercise and you can tone the muscles of your legs.
My model today is my sister, Catherine.
Getting Into the Kickback
The next exercise is called kickback. The challenging part of this exercise is getting into it! So you want to wrap the band around your foot, so it is easiest first to put the band around the arch of your foot, hold the ends, and then carefully move into an all-fours position. You want this band around the arch -- if it is too much on your heel it could snap off. It is not going to injure you, it is just going to smart.Proper Kickback Position
So, your hands are under your shoulders, but the heel of the hand is on the band, so you are able to hold the band by your own torso weight without having to struggle with a grip or taking tension into the shoulders. Make sure the back is not arched in the starting position. So do it wrong real quick, Catherine – so we do not want this. Close the ribs, engage the abdominals, and your spine stays neutral throughout .We are not extending the spine.Perform the Pilates Kickback Exercise
Inhale to prepare, and exhale, press the leg straight in back of you, and inhale, bend in. So you will see that she is pressing against the tension, keeping the foot flexed -- that is important to keep the band on the foot. So you are pressing out, and inhale. So you do not have to worry about the height of the leg and back, it is important to reach back with energy as if you are trying to touch something way away from you.Make sure you are not rotating, not lifting the hip of the leg that is rotating. And we will just do two more, exhale, reach, again, checking the ribs, and inhale bend. And exhale, reach, and place the knee down when you are finished and that is the kickback.
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