Number six on the 34 traditional pilates mat exercise workout developed by Joseph Pilates is The One Leg Stretch.
There’s no getting away from the fact that this will challenge your ability to control the movement from deep within your body.
Each exercise you do in sequence in the series, prepares your body for the exercise to follow.
Whilst one leg stretch is a comprehensive exercise on its own, to master the next exercise, double leg stretch it’s important to develop the following components of core strength.
Neck Strength
Many of the original pilates exercises involved what’s called “unsupported neck flexion”.
Joseph Pilates had firm beliefs that a strong neck had a high degree of importance with regards to overall movement capability…and he was right!
The One Leg Stretch develops strength and endurance in the muscles that pull the head forward and down.
A lot of people struggle with this at the start and need some assistance with holding the head in position. But with consistent practice, these muscles do get stronger and the benefits of this cannot be understated.
Neck pain, tension and stiffness is incredibly common with many people having never considered specific neck strengthening exercises.
One of the foundation principles of the pilates method is to develop every muscle in your body to do the job it was designed to do.
And this includes the very important neck muscles that hold your head up!
Hip and Knee mobility
There is a bit of coordination required for the one leg stretch as each leg is doing a different action.
One is lengthening and developing deep hip flexor strength and length, the other is drawn in to knee and hip flexion.
Pulling the lower leg close to the body, pulls the knee in to a deep stretch. The ability to do this will be dependent on knee mobility.
If there are issues with knee mobility, this will improve over time.
Hip mobility happens in two ways. The long leg opens the hip joint and lengthens the muscles in the front of the hip and also lengthens the knee joint after it has been pulled tight to the body.
When the leg is pulled tight to the body, it takes the hip joint in to a deep flexion. So, the ball and socket joint of the hip is going through a full range of movement…dynamically, not just statically.
Abdominal Muscle Strength
Whilst many of the pilates mat exercises have a focus on abdominal muscle strength, each one has a different focus. The one leg stretch requires a deep contraction of all the abdominal muscles to maintain a C Curve of the spine.
The lower back naturally curves forward or in towards the front of the body as part of the natural and normal S shape of the spine.
This C Curve takes the lower back out of its natural position and stretches it on the opposite direction.
This creates length by stretching the lower back muscles and mobility of the lower back vertebra.
Yes, you could get this length and mobility by just stretching, but the original pilates method is a strength training system…that develops length and mobility through strength exercises.
It’s incredibly intelligent and functional and is a system not just a bunch of exercises.
Keeping this in mind when doing the one leg stretch will take your understanding of this exercise to the next level of abdominal strength…and control.
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