Day 110- Thigh Lifts (Bartenieff)

This exercise is intended to teach the body to maintain a stabile pelvis while allowing one leg to lift into the air.  This simulates the leg swing in gait.

To do this exercise you will need a mat.  Start by lying on your back with your knees bent and your feet planted in the ground.  Inhale to prepare and exhale as you lift one leg to a tabletop position.  Inhale as you return that leg to the ground and then exhale as you lift the other leg.  Repeat 8-10 times on alternating sides.

Things to think about:

This exercise is very easy to describe but hard to execute. Often when doing this motion we recruit muscles that aren’t necessary for the movement, which makes it much less efficient. 

The muscle you want to isolate for this thigh lift is the psoas, which attaches to the inner thigh and then runs along the front of the spine to the base of the ribcage.  As you are exhaling imagine lifting your inner thigh.  Also go back to imaging the hip socket movement.  Imagine the femur rolling in the socket simply, and remember that the hip socket is closer to the pubic bone than one might think.  Try to keep muscles to the outside of the hip socket relaxed and easy.