ITT Pilates Exercise: Mermaid
The Mermaid exercise stretches and strengthens our abdominals and lateral trunk muscles, from the shoulder to the pelvis. It’s a great exercise for working the obliques, gluteus medius, and scapula stabilizers. Let's go over the steps on how to master the Mermaid:
Sit on one side with knees bent and together, with the top foot slightly in front of the other on the mat. Place your hand on the mat in line with the shoulder, arm straight. Rest your other arm on the top leg.
Inhale: lift your entire body off the mat to create a diagonal line from head to toes, flex your ankles.
Exhale: Turn your head towards the feet and slide the top arm along the outer thigh as you lower the hips towards the mat. Keep the legs straight.
Inhale: lift your pelvis and trunk again, this time reaching the top arm over your head.
Exhale: lower the hips to the mat, and pull feet closer to the buttocks. Put your top arm on your shins.
Inhale: reach your other arm overhead and stretch in the side bend position towards the shins.
Exhale: Return to starting position and switch to the other side .
3 Reps on each side.