Return to Life: Double Straight Leg Stretch
– Roll Call!! Roll Call!! The fourth exercise of the “five of fire”.
Tight lower back, glutes and hamstrings? This is definitely for you!
What’s it good for?
- Prevents backache by strengthening your abdominals and stretching out your lower limbs.
- Prevents backache through creating stability in your lower back and pelvis whilst limbs are moving.
- Strengthens abdominals and hip flexors.
- Helps us access other exercises such as the Upstretch, Elephant and Headstands on the Reformer.
Difficulty: intermediate – it depends on your body type 🙂
Reps: five each way
This exercise isn’t a part of the original series in “Return to Life” – but so many traditional teachers include it because it’s so good. It’ll help you to improve your Headstands and Upstretch on the Reformer as well as strengthen abdominals., hips flexors and and pelvic control.
The “how to”
To begin, lie on your back with your hands behind your head and press your head into your hands and your hands into your head. Bring your heart upward and forwards towards your lifted straight legs. Engage your abdominals and roll up your tailbone off the mat.
Exhale – lower your legs towards the floor as far as you can without losing the connection of your lower back on the mat.
Inhale – pull in your abdominals more and return your legs to the starting position.
Hints and Tips
💡 Keep your abdominals fully engaged all the time – don’t allow them to balloon out.
💡 Keep your lower back and pelvis totally still as your legs lower – keep your lower ribs connected to theta and tailbone off the mat.
💡 Keep your elbows open and back wide all the time.
💡 Get your shoulder active by pressing your head into your hands and your hands into your head.
💡 Imagine you’re wearing a belt tighten it one more notch with each repetition!
💡 Can you detect any imbalance between how your legs move? try to keep them moving in a balanced way.
