Videos: Five ways to work your hamstrings in our online Pilates classes
Yes, Pilates works for your core. We pull our abdominals in and UP. Another wonderful advantage of Pilates—whether on the equipment or the mat—is it’s a full-body workout. And even though it’s full-body, we understand that sometimes it’s hard to tell exactly which part of our body is “working.” For example: “I don’t really feel anything when I do this.”
Even though you may not consciously be aware of certain muscles in a specific exercise, they are actually working to contract or relax in opposition of another muscle. Our muscles work together to move bones at the joints of our body. Through our Pilates practice, our body becomes more integrated on a subconscious level.
I decided to highlight five Pilates mat exercises that work the hamstrings (the muscles in the back of the thigh) in ways we may not outwardly realize, and give you tips to engage your hamstrings more during these exercises.
Rolling Like A Ball: This exercise has so much going on. To engage your hamstrings, keep pulling your heels toward your seat. If you let your legs fly away from you the hamstrings will not be incorporated, but if you pull your heels in and keep the shape tight, your hamstrings will become integrated. Pro tip: try squeezing a ball between your heels and glutes to find this hamstring engagement.
Single Leg Kicks: When you kick, try to contract (squeeze) your hamstring. When you extend your leg to the floor, try to lift your knee off of the ground. In addition, elevate the knee of the opposite leg that’s extended on the floor by pushing into the top of your foot. That way both legs are engaged.
Swimming: Swimming is hard, especially when we do it out of the water. 🙂 Kick up with the back of your legs and use your hamstring strength to push up, rather than arching your back. Try to stabilize your pelvis and kick with your legs, even if it decreases your range of motion.
Bridging: Ok so maybe you already knew this one. Bridging is a wonderful way for the backline of the body to strengthen and lengthen. Next time you’re doing Bridge, try to elongate your knees over your toes AND simultaneously pull your heels back towards your sitz bones. If you do this before you start to articulate your back off the floor, you’ll feel the hamstrings working and the quadriceps lengthening.
Leg Pull Back (reverse plank): We see this exercise in Advanced Mat when the body has been practicing Pilates for quite some time. The hamstrings have to be strong in order to kick the leg up from the ground against gravity while on our hands. Remember to keep your pelvis stabilized. Pro tip: be careful of hyperextending the elbow and knees joints.
Try to incorporate these tips into your next online Pilates mat class and let us know how it goes!