- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Equipment Needed: Wunda Chair (I love using the Balanced Body Wunda Chair.)
- Reps: 3-5 each side
- Warning: May not be suitable for some wrist or shoulder issues
- Questions: Contact us here
Side Pull Up on the Wunda Chair
Some people call this Side Pull Up, others call it Snake prep or Star prep on the Pilates Wunda Chair. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what you call it. What matters more is that you use it to teach your body something it needs. I like to use this exercise to teach my standing leg how to reach down and connect to my seat as I need in Snake and Twist on the Reformer. I also like to do it to help challenge my outer hips for Single Leg Tendon Stretch. I do the Side Pull Up and lift a leg off and feel both outer hips work to make the magic happen.
Reach down through your seat into standing leg as you lift the pedal.
With one top spring and one bottom spring on your Wunda Chair step on to the pedal and press it down. Then pivot on your chair, place your inside foot on the pedal parallel to the pedal and cross your outside leg in front. The outside leg will be bent and not touching the chair. Use your seat to hold that leg up and turned out. Place your hands on the front and back of the chair and square your shoulders to your hands. Find your shoulders on back and reach down from your seat through your standing leg.
Once you feel the reach through your leg and arms and the lift from your center begin to lift and lower the pedal. The goal isn’t to close the spring or even lift the pedal up. The goal is to find strength in your standing leg so that when you are doing other Pilates exercises you can stand on your leg and reach up through your center. If all is going well feel free to take one leg out to the side and try the single leg version. Repeat 3-5 times on each side. If you find yourself leaning over or putting too much weight into your hands focus on just finding the reach and lift. You don’t need to lift the pedal.
Be sure to check out more of my Wunda Chair workout videos. I want to help you continue your Pilates Wunda Chair training!