Leg circles in the straps: the reformer's sweetest exercise
Ask a room of reformer regulars for their favourite exercise and someone always sighs the same answer: feet in straps. Here is why leg circles feel like a massage and work like training.
What it is
You lie on the carriage and place each foot in a loop at the end of the reformer's ropes. The springs now connect your legs to the machine. From there your legs draw slow, controlled circles in the air: down, around, together, up, then the reverse direction. The spring tension supports the weight of your legs while resisting the movement, which is why it feels simultaneously luxurious and like work.
What it works
- Hips, in every direction. Circles take the joint through a range daily life never visits, strengthening as they mobilise.
- Inner and outer thighs, the muscles that keep knees and pelvis steady when you walk, run or climb.
- Deep core: the real exercise is keeping your pelvis still while the legs travel. The circles are the distraction; the stability is the point.
- Hamstring length, gently, with the straps doing the holding your hands normally would.
Why it earns the love
Most strength work compresses; straps work decompresses. People with desk-job hips and post-run tightness describe leg circles as the moment their lower body finally lets go. It is also many people's first experience of moving a limb through space with real precision, which is the skill the whole method is built on.
Scaling it
Beginners keep circles small on medium springs, legs higher where hamstrings allow. Advanced students go lighter, which sounds easier and is much harder: less spring means less support and far more core. Bigger circles, lower legs, slower tempo, single-leg variations. Same exercise, different dial settings.
Common mistakes
- Rushing. Slow circles are strong circles; momentum steals the benefit.
- Letting the pelvis rock. If the hips wobble, shrink the circle until they do not.
- Holding your breath. The rhythm is breath-led. Exhale on the effort.
Feel it yourself
Straps work features in nearly every class at Casa Reformer, opening at Calle Angustias 28 in Nerja after the summer of 2026. Join the founding list and be first on the schedule.
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