Fit Chic: Fashion Your Body With Pilates

Niedra Gabriel
Year Released: 2002

Categories: Pilates/Core Strength


I recently revisited this DVD after not using it for a while and would like to add a few more thoughts about this one.

This one is often recommend for its side leg kick series (here called “leg swings”), which is one of the longer ones on DVD. Exercises include forward & back, little beats (sometimes called hot potato), side kicks (aka up & down), little circles, big circles (aka ronde du jambe), and bicycle. A quick few leg stretches end this segment.

If done as shown, the reps are actually pretty high, in the 8-10 range per side (where applicable) per exercise.

Another thing worth noting is that this routine is heavy on the flexion, or forward-bending. There’s really only the swan dive sequence plus the single and double leg kicks for some balancing extension work. When I did this last week, I followed it with a yoga practice heavy on the backbends, and if I were to do this regularly I’d make sure to include some extra back extension work that week.

Niedra’s form bothered me much more this time around; her moves are jerkier and wilder than I remember. She too often sacrifices torso stability for an increased range of motion in her lower body, especially in the side leg kick series, and I agree with others who have remarked on things like how she pulls herself forward with her upper body in the neck pull (her elbows should be back, not forward next to her eyes, and hands barely touching her head, not pulling on it with all her might). I could almost see Romana clucking and physically yanking Niedra back into the proper shape. Obviously Niedra’s intention was to demonstrate the full exercise, but my understanding of Pilates is that it’s better to do a modified version with great form than the full version with sloppy form. That said, as I go back through the relevant parts of the instructional segment her form is noticeably better, and she even makes a point of saying to avoid doing what she ends up doing in the instructional segment!

I now consider myself at the intermediate / advanced level of Pilates, and this one was definitely doable for me. Nothing here is particularly advanced, but as any Pilates regular knows proper concentration can make even the most basic exercise tough for an experienced student.

KathAL79

06/28/2010