Technique Tuesday: Attitude (side)

This week we're talking about attitude side, a position you see a whole lot of in our Waist Away, bikiniLOGIC & Core Cardio classes. It's a killer for the abs, but is a bit more specific for target training those obliques in the front & back of the body.  

Attitude is a position that comes out of your passé- it's the midway point between your passé and your full extension in your developpé. 

If you're thinking: wait a sec, say what?! Have no fear! Watch here ⬇️ 


Attitude on the side is lifted with the glutes and the inner thigh and held by the abdominals. Your primary objective is to keep your standing leg and side still, strong and straight while your working side does all the moving. Below you'll find the most common mistakes we make in our attitude.  






Just because you're pulling in on your working side doesn't mean you have to crunch the other side of the body up too! Pro tip: keep your standing Glute squeezing and keep the standing side nice and long by stabilizing the torso with the core. Also, check out that knee on the standing side. Keep it STRAIGHT!







Look at that!

Straight standing sides make for stronger abs. No, it's not right just because it looks prettier. It's right because it's working your body in the most efficient way possible!  

More importantly, if the leg is turned OUT in the hip, it will wind up lifting BEHIND your elbow. Yes, behind. Try it.. if you weren't doing this already, you will IMMEDIATELY feel the hip open.  





OK, are you ready to get a little gross? Here's the lecture that makes it click for my kids - ages 10-18. 

Imagine you're peeing in side attitude (yes, I'm serious.). If your posture is A-OK, it will trickle right down your standing leg. You can see in the photo that I would totally be peeing in the direction of my #barreBFF on the wall behind me. No good!  

Most important of all, if you're tilting in the hips like this, you're 100% turning in! Open those hips, people!  





When corrected, the spine is STRAIGHT, and so is the standing knee! Your working knee is lifting just higher than your hip, which is what targets those front/back obliques.  One last (IMPORTANT) thing... Checkout how on the working leg, the foot is positioned in front of the knee. "knee back, heel forward" is a common cue that is familiar to many of you I am sure. This is where "knee back, heel forward" is of greatest relevance!