INTERMEDIATE
Use your abdominals in conjunction with your legs to build strength in your hamstrings. while performing the single-leg Kick, your spine should remain straight, light, and as lengthened as possible.
Lie prone on the mat with your arms flexed and elbows directly under your shoulders. Lengthen your legs and keep them adducted together.
Inhale, drawing your navel in toward your spine. Exhale, bending one knee. Point your foot and pulse your bent leg eight times.
Exhale, then flex your foot and pulse an additional eight times.
Inhale, straightening your bent leg on the mat next to the other leg. Exhale, bending your opposite leg, and repeat.
Repeat the entire sequence six to eight times.
ANNOTATION KEY
Bold text indicates active muscles
Gray text indicates stabilizing muscles
* indicates deep muscles
DO IT RIGHT
LOOK FOR
• Drawing in your abdominals throughout the exercise.
• Keeping the chest broad.
• Sending the tailbone toward the floor.
• Keeping your shoulders and scapula down.
AVOID
• Allowing your lower back to sag.
BEST FOR
• biceps femoris
• adductor magnus
• gluteus maximus
• semimembranosus
• semitendinosus
• rectus abdominis
• obliquus externus
• transversus abdominis
QUICK GUIDE
TARGET
• Hamstrings
BENEFITS
• Increases pelvic stability with hip extension
NOT ADVISABLE IF YOU HAVE
• Lower-back pain
• Problems with bending your knees