Are your hip flexors taking over you ab exercises? It's very possible. Lots of people are working hard at ab exercises but working their hip flexors instead. In fact, you can do 500 situps and not really target your abs the way you want to. A little insight as to how the hip flexors work will help you keep them from taking over your ab exercises. Read: Hip Flexors vs Abs.

_{photo wikimedia commons}

Double leg kick is a powerful exercise. It develops a lot of flexibility and strength in the back, and it is a great stretch for the chest and shoulders. Double leg kick also trains us to activate and strengthen the hamstrings.

As both an intermediate level exercise and an intense stretch, double leg kick may not be for you. Beginners will want to work their way into double leg kick by practicing swan, swimming and single leg kick, as will those who if you have back or shoulder problems.

Get the Full Instructions for Double Leg Kick

Have the Exercise of the Week, along with other great Pilates info., sent directly to you each week in the Free Pilates Newsletter.

_{photo (c) 2007, Marguerite Ogle}

How fun is this??! I love it. I know the picture isn't very big here (there is a size limit on these blogs) but I was able to post the big version in the Pilates Forum here at About.com. I figured the cues and images discussion was the best place for it ;).

Thanks to the good folks at Haroldsplanet.com for giving me permission to share this one. And thanks to Lynda Lippin, a fellow Pilates blogger (and more), for pointing it out to me in the first place. If you have some fun Pilates to share, don't be shy, send it in. I can be reached at pilates.guide@about.com.

_{photo (c)2006, haroldsplanet.com}

My January issue of Pilates Style Magazine finally arrived. I look forward to this issue every year. I haven't had a chance to read through the whole thing yet but as I flipped through the pages, their DVD awards for the year caught my eye. Several of the DVDs I've reviewed here over the past year won awards.

So congratulations to Bernadette Giorgi from Just B Method for winning "best motivator" for Attitude Ballet Pilates Fusion. I agree. Read my review here. And congrats to Peak Pilates for winning "coolest use of apparatus" for their Latin Dance Fusion Chair Workout. Again, I felt the same. Sometimes I want to play this one just for fun. Read that review here. Both of those would be on my award for the year list too. By the way, there is a spot at the bottom of the reviews for reader comments. So if you've seen these videos and want to comment, please do.

There were quite a few other awards, too many to list here, but you can check them out in the magazine. I'll just say that there were two others of general interest that I know I want to follow up on. Pilates for Men from Stott Pilates won "most athletic", and Pilates Wunda Chair Double Feature from BASI Pilates won "keepsake of the year". I'm definitely going to check these out.

We have a discussion going in the Pilates Forum about which DVDs people like. I hope that if you have one you like, you will tell us about it. Even if you have one you don't like, it's good information.

_{photo courtesy of Just B Method}