Begin Pilates Swimming:
Lie on your stomach with the legs straight and together.Keeping your shoulder blades settled in your back and your shoulders away from your ears, stretch your arms straight overhead.
Pull your abs in so that you lift your bellybutton up away from the floor.
Reaching out from your center, extend your arms and legs so far in opposite directions that they naturally come up off the floor.
At the same time, get so much length in your spine that your head moves up off the mat as an extension of the reach of your spine.
Keep your face down toward the mat - don't crease your neck.
Protect your lower back by anchoring your pubic bone to the floor.
Continue to reach your arms and legs out very long from your center as you alternate lifting right arm/left leg, then left arm/right leg, pumping them up and down in small pulses.
bonus challenge: Coordinate your breath with the movement so that you are breathing in for a count of 5 kicks, and out for a count of 5.
Do 2 or 3 cycles of 5 counts - moving and breathing in, and 5 counts moving and breathing out.
