Pilates Exercise Dive: Leg Pull

A simple but critical component in the progressive layering of the Pilates Method.

Bec Forde

Nov 08, 2023

Exercise Deep Dive: Leg Pull Front

Are you familiar with the Pilates Mat exercise Leg Pull Front?

It’s a slip of a thing.

Basically it’s a plank variation.

Are you wondering why this seemingly light weight exercise deserves its own blog post? Me too, I thought exactly the same thing but as usually happens with me and the Pilates Method, once I started to explore Leg Pull Front, things started to unfurl and connect in all manners of ways.

Let’s look at the exercise through the What, How, and Why Framework that I like to use in these exercise dive posts. Then we’ll make the Connections to show that Pilates is a method of movement, not just a bunch of random exercises.

Ready?

WHAT:

Leg Pull Front is one of Joseph Pilates’ original 34 exercises in his Matwork flow. Since it’s number 25, by the time it comes up you’ve already done 2/3 of the full sequence. (that is if a full Classical class is the construct of your workout and true confession, I don’t often teach the whole thing from go to whoa).

As stated it’s a plank but as you can see from the photo this plank has the addition of a leg lifted into hip extension.

Your goal is to hold the position of your body while, as JP stated, you “move the legs only”. Yes, the choreography is extremely simple but turns out it’s a challenging exercise none the less.

HOW:

Let’s follow Mr. Pilates’ instructions:

start in a plank, shoulders over wrists, legs together, head straight in line with body
slowly inhale and lift the leg up and back as high as you can
slowly exhale lowering the leg back down, returning to the starting position
repeat, lifting and lowering the second leg
do that three more times for a total of 4 sets - Don’t forget Pilates is all about quality over quantity!

Now before I get too carried away, this is not the way I was taught how to perform it during my teacher training waaay back in 2001.

The version I learned is just a bit different; once the leg’s lifted there’s a little ankle dorsi/plantar flexion thrown in.

Check out my ankle in these two photos, the second one is where I’ve rocked back towards the heel increasing my dorsiflexion.

While you’re at it look at the angle of my arm in relation to my torso in both.

In the second photo my rotator cuff has to do more work stabilising my shoulder girdle because my shoulder is behind my hand - instead of my skeleton being stacked (shoulder over hand) I have to rely more on my muscles for support.

**by all means, please enjoy ~~the jungle~~ I mean the uncut grass scenario from a many years ago photo shoot - hmm, there’s a black mat in there somewhere**

You can see these two versions, Joe’s and mine, are almost the same and we could even say the one I learned is merely a variation but ultimately it really doesn’t matter, one is not better than the other. They do ask the body for slightly different things so you should probably have both at your disposal depending what you skills you want to accentuate. Hey, that’s a nice segue into the WHY of Leg Pull Front.

Let’s talk about what skills you can garner, shall we?

WHY:

Here are a few reasons why Leg Pull Front is a little exercise that packs a big punch: (make sure to watch the video for some more details)

in both versions you have to organise your whole body
core control is key, decompression is key, oppositional energy (your two-way stretch) is key
can you maintain your vertical alignment in a horizontal position? i.e. no droopy head, collapsed shoulder blades, or low back sway
can you lift your leg with hip extension only - not your bum
in the version I learned you’ll feel that shoulder girdle and your lats having to kick in when you rock back, plus you’ll feel the dynamic work of your whole abdominal wall, top to bottom, as you shift
you’ll find pliability and strength in your achilles, ankles, and calves

why would you not want all the benefits this smol exercise can offer?

CONNECTIONS:

Swimming is the exercise that precedes Leg Pull Front and in Swimming you work on hip extension with a dynamic, zippy, tempo. In Leg Pull Front you have to find the skill in a much more sustained timing
other exercises that need hip extension are Shoulder Bridge, Swan Dive, Rocking
you’re weight bearing on your wrists which sets you up for the exercises to come such as Side Bend, Twists 1 & 2, the Push-ups…
you can connect the rock forward to The Hundred!

IN CONCLUSION:

Leg Pull Front is the “little exercise that could.

It looks like a very simple, small exercise but you can find many benefits from practicing it whether or not you perform it the JP way, my way, or any other way that you want. Just remember to identify the WHYs so you know what your to keep the Pilates Principles front of mind:

Breath, Control, Precision, Centring, Flow, & Concentration.

And always remember to have fun and to just keep moving.

Want more? Here’s a link to another post on this exercise and it’s twin The Leg Pull

Thanks for reading,

xBec

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and Rebecca Forde disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this post