Major Muscles Worked:

Legs

Set Up:

1. Start with your feet hip width apart.
   If you’re only using one weight, hold the weight in the opposite hand of the stationary leg.
2. Chest up. Shoulders back.

The Movement:

1. Start by lifting your leg, behind you, off the floor – just an inch or two.
2. Slightly arch your back, engage your glutes and your abs.
3. Slowly lift your leg off the floor.
   As your leg lifts off the floor, it pushes your upper body down.
4. Stop when you can’t lift your leg any higher.
   At the top of the movement, your lifted toe should be pointing towards the floor, and both hips are square with the floor.
5. Reverse the action.
6. Come all the way back to standing before moving into the next repetition.

Specific Cues:

• This exercise challenges your balance. If you need to perform this exercise near a wall, or a chair, try NOT to put any pressure on your hand. Just use the wall/chair to brush against.
• Many folks think that this movement is about lowering the weight. It’s not. It’s about engaging your glutes (butt) and lifting the leg to push your upper body towards the ground.
• Do NOT look at the ground.
• Only allow your upper body to go down as far as your lower body goes up.
• Keep your chest up and your shoulders back throughout the entire movement.
• Your back is almost arched (almost)
• Keep your shoulders drawn towards each other, engaging your latisimus dorsi (aka: bra fat muscle)
• As you move through the movement, you want a neutral spine. That means that as your upper body goes down, your gaze will travel down too, but stop 3-5 feet in front of you. Do NOT look at your feet.