Side Sit Ups or Side Overs on the Pilates Spine Corrector are supportive and challenging all wrapped into one exercise. It's easier in some ways compared to Side Sit Ups on the Reformer and the Ladder Barrel but harder in a lot of ways to keep the length in your waist and not rest on the way down or use momentum on the way up. This exercise truly shows the way Pilates can be deceiving. You think you're working on one thing but really that is the distraction to what you are really working on. In this exercise, you are going to feel your outer hips!

Sit with one hip in the crease of the barrel top leg straight and reaching into a foot strap on your Mat. Your hips should be stacked. Your bottom leg can be bent in front of your Spine Corrector easier or bent with your lower leg on the step which is harder. It's not easy to do this with your leg up on the step. Reach your waist long and up for your start position and place your hands behind your head. Press your head into your hands and your hands into your head to help you create strength and length.

To begin, press your legs up into the strap. Without twisting your chest down or up, reach up and over the barrel and then lengthen out and lift up. Repeat 3-5x. Then, if you are ready, straighten your arms and reach up and over the barrel again 3-5x. When you get long over the arc it's easy to rest. Keep your strength and connection even at the point that you feel like resting. When you come up, only come up as much as you can keep your leg up into the strap.