Leg Lifts Pilates Exercise: Work Away That Muffin Top

Last Updated: Monday, February 22, 2016

Leg Lifts Pilates Exercise

The Leg Lifts Pilates Exercise is used to work your love handles. This is a great exercise whether you simply want to tone your love handles, or want to get rid of your ‘muffin top’ altogether. The Pilates Leg Lifts exercise works the:

Hamstrings
Quads
Abs
Glutes
Obliques

Standing Leg Lift Pilates

To perform the Standing Leg Lift Pilates Exercise:

Place legs together, then shift weight to your front leg.
Move your other leg backwards.
Move your arms out front, to balance.
Soften your front knee, and lift your back leg off the ground.
Hold your leg up, and flex your foot in short bursts.
Perform the exercise for a minute, then switch legs.

Leg Lift Pilates on a Mat

You can also perform this exercise on a mat. Here you are imagining that your leg is a bullet firing out from your hips. To perform this exercise on a mat:

Keep your torso and hips still, so that you isolate your top leg.
Rotate your top leg so that your knee is facing upward.
Breathe in, and flex your top foot and lift your leg as high as you can.
Breathe out, and slowly return your leg to starting position.
Use a resistance band to increase your toning. Make sure it remains taut to increase the resistance.

The Miley Cyrus workout uses the Leg Lift Pilates Exercise. She uses the Mat version, as part of the Mari Winsor Pilates Routine.

Interested in the Pilates workout that Miley Cyrus uses? Get the Mari Winsor Pilates DVD Workouts (on Amazon). Now, you can do the Miley Cyrus Pilates workout, any time you want, in the comfort of your home!