Pilates Abdominal Stretch Form

Video Transcript

"Stretching out the abdominal is really important after you've worked them, and it helps to relieve any kind of buildup of lactic acids so that you won't be as sore the next day. A really good abdominal stretch is to bring your arms over your head; go ahead and point your feet, stretch your arms as much as you can and stretch your feet. And then you can flex your feet, pushing the heels out and again stretching your arms. There's also what's called an X stretch, where you bring your arms out just a little bit over shoulder position, and your feet is going to be out a little bit wider to, then you're going to stretch with the right hand and the left leg, bringing that in; exhale, stretch with the right leg, left hand, bring that in; one more time, stretch with the opposites, and bring it in, and stretch with the opposites, and bring it in; legs come together, arms come together, one more abdominal stretch, reach as far as you can, and bring the arms in and down. When you're doing stretches you're not worried about whether the shoulders reach up, or any kind of postural, where your head is, other than to make sure it's still supported so that it's not in an extended position."