Class #1350

Romana's Reformer Flow

30 min - Class
68 likes

Description

If you've never done Romana's Pilates flow but have prior Reformer experience, this is a great introduction to the Reformer as Romana taught it. Monica Wilson works with an experienced BASI instructor, Rebecca Nies, taking her through her first reformer workout on the Gratz machine. Monica's clean transitions and clear cuing make this a great fundamental workout!
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

About This Video

Dec 12, 2013
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Transcript

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Alright, so we have our brand new grots. Really Fun. This is our first time. It's like the inaugural time that's getting worked out on. Did you know that? Really exciting. So we are going to start in our Poli stance and we're going to try to keep our spring moving throughout our entire workout. Okay.

As if a gold chain has those beautiful links and that we're a check. So I was just going to link to the next, the best that we can possible that image. Get to you. Okay. So we're going to start off with our footwork. Go ahead and pull out and all the way and stretch that spring as far as you can and then pull it in as far as you can, all the way and all the way in could all the way. Let's get those inner thighs squeezed together and give me four more, maybe a little narrower with your knees for me. That's it.

So they're in line with your shoulders. Let me two more. All the way out. All the way in on this last one. Start Thinking about your arches and your slide. The feet right up and go out. Good. And pull it in. Squeeze those legs together. Good. Very nice.

And Tor really pull the legs as long as you can. Yes, you got on another end. She could grow. It'd be excited after this you're going to preach and to give me one more and think about your heels, cause you're gonna slide them right up and go out. Good. And pull your toes back as if they were going to kiss your knees. That's it. So we're on three springs for you. You can be on three or four springs for your foot. Work good.

And lengthen your right hip as you come in. Come in. Yeah, that's it. All the way out. All the way. And give me one more all the way. And now slide right down and out you go. Go ahead. And we're going to go down to three. Lift to stay with my rhythm down, down, down, lift, lift.

Love it again. Damn Damn. Damn. Lift, lift, lift for warming up those outer thighs. We're obviously stretching your calf and your Keeley's tenant, but we're working the outer thighs and the inner thighs. You're lifting the arch, the inner thigh, pelvic floor down, lifting the arch public. That's it. And last one all up. And now draw it in and prepare for your hundred. So you're gonna slide a little bit away from the shoulder pads.

Grab your handles. And although your bar as you stretch out and go for inhaling, one, two, three, four, five, exhale, two, three, four, five. Good. That's it. Love it. And on this one, of course your spring doesn't move on. That is the challenge that you pull your carriage out and you hold it out. There's no movement sliding back and forth. I love it. Good.

Really rooting your self into the mat, feeling your powerhouse, feeling the opposition, pushing into those handles, feeling the belly scoop in and up in the other direction. Good and exhaling. Go ahead. That's 70 give me three more. I'm going to lower your head piece, preparing for a short spine massage. One more big breath. Big Exhale, skip, skip, skip, and bend everything. Good and loop your leather. Do not loop your leather through the handles.

Then put your feet down and I'm going to set it up. So I'm going to slide the hardware down a little bit and then we put it like a thread going through the eye of a needle. Okay, now you're going to hold those with one hand. Then both knees into your chest. [inaudible] use your belly and your powerhouse to bring, or your bottom, I should say, I'm bring your feet into those straps. Good. One hand assists, one hand holds them good. And now roll down your lower back. Good. And hold it there. Nice. Again, I want your knees a little narrower. Good. And instead of a flex foot, have it a little soft point. That's it. Good.

And you're going to pull your belly in and up as your legs reach out and over. So we're going to keep this spring moving. It's going to go all the way home and you're going to draw the knees down. And now we're rolling away or way from your feet. Actually enjoy this stretch. Good. And then bring your feet down, bending the knees. Good.

So you're going to go forward. The spring goes out. Take the spring all the way home and now bend the knees and keep your feet over your eyes as you roll your spinal way. Good. And then bring your heels down. Hold for two counts. Needs a little narrower out one. Up to inhale, bending the knees. Exhale, rolling away this phone, this phone, this one. This one. Yeah, that one. Enjoy that stretch. Bring Down your heels. We're going to do one more knees, a little narrower and feet. Maybe just a little lower. That's it.

Go out one and squeeze your bottom up. Two lift like a real nice big c curve and then bend the knees down. That's it. And exhale, rolling upper back, middle back, lower and bring down those heels right into coordination. So you'll grab your handles and then with the boat, one hand in each handle. Slip the leather off your feet with your thumbs like Yep.

Both hands at the same time. There you go. Good. And elbows down by your side. Bending for coordination. Nice right angles with your arms. You got it. That's it. And everything goes out. One legs, open, close, knees only. And then follow with the arms. Go out. Oh and close. Good.

See you didn't get your elbows on the mat. Now keep your elbows on the mat. Yes. And Scoop and knees. And give me one more. Get your head a little more into your par. Oh, I love that. Good. I want you to do actually one more cause I want you to really pull in. Yeah, that's it. Good. Alright, hang your handles up and I want you to sit up or step off and drop. One spring. We're going to get your lawn box.

I'm gonna slip your bar underneath here and we're gonna get ready. No, you a lie down for post drops. Okay, that's it. Good little bit back further. Good. And then I want you to hold on like so can you grab on to that strap strap and handle all nice and new smell. So I know. All right, nice and long. Good. All right, scooping in.

And I want you to pull this arms long and straight back. Good. Keep pulling it back. Keep pulling him back, lift up your head a little more, your chest a little more. And then really long to go down. Good all the way down and all the way back up then up and up and all the way down. Love it. That's exactly what I want. And one more. All the way up, up, up, and now reach all the way down. All the way long. So those arms come all the way home in front of you. That's it. Now slide down, holding onto your handle.

You're gonna just go like that and it's straight out to the side for me, a little forward. So it's in line with your shoulder to do a little more, a little more like a perfect letter t and relax the neck. You're thinking of the stomach and lengthening out the crown of your head. And now pull back, opening that chest as you lift the chest up, pull back, pull back and returning home. Good. And pull back with the chest and shoulders, stomach in and back and home, et cetera. In your shoulder. One more stomach in and pulling back and back and back and return. Now, all right, now put both handles in your left hand. Aha.

No leather. Just the hand is great. Step off to your left side. Good. And you're going to add a spring with your free hand. Perfect. And now facing this way, take a handle on each hand behind you. [inaudible]. Yeah, perfect. With your left hand. Put It on the box. Left foot in the middle of that bar. Right hand, no bottom right. Right foot.

And then lift your bottom all the way to the front edge. You got it. And now lie down for backstroke. Good. Head up to those. Not the, Huh. That's it. And everything goes up. Open and scoop in and now die for your knees. Try and lift up a little more. A little more and bed. Just one vertebra and everything. Oh, bed scooping in. So now we're on two springs and reach for your knees.

Reach with your knees and bend. Yes. So when I say reach, reach with your hands and two more. Lift. Open. Good Circle. Even long fingers. Try to touch those knees. Lift one bone and bend. That's it. It's hard to lift. Just one. And here we go. Last time up. Open and scoop. Good. That's it. Nice and bend everything. Okay. All right.

So now we're going to transition a teaser. Both handles in one hand, good, and come up into teaser and pushed your right hip back. Good. Use your belly to drop the spring. That's it. Use your hand and bring the left hip back. Good. And now maybe bring your feet down and just slide your back and bottom back a little bit. Good. And open up into the teaser. Beautiful. Really Nice long legs and the head hangs back to, it's like your sacrificial position. All right, so now using your belly, we're gonna come up into the teaser scooping up all the way up. Go ahead.

Can you bring your legs up a little higher. Good. Arms down by your side. Only arms. Go down and pull in. One. Good in with the air. Exhale two. One more in with the air. Exhale, hold. And now roll down your lower back, your middle. Good. And everything unfolds. Arms by your side. That's it.

And coming up. We're going to do that again. Head and scoop in your belly. Good, good, good. Now a little less extension in your elbow. Soften them. Yes. And now arms down by your side and scoop in one. Good. Watch those elbows. Using it from your yes. One more good. And now we'll everything down, but keep your arms down by your side this time. That's great. You didn't need me to hold your feet, but once I was, it was gonna throw your balance off. So last one without me. We'll scooping in.

Nice scoop. Good hold. Hold the legs right there. Good. And use that spring one. Good. And Scoop too. That's it. That's not stopping this time. I like it. And now we'll everything down. Great job. I'll take these turning the box around for short box.

So there's a pole right underneath here. So we're going to grab it or we're going to just turn it around and then also add a little pad for you right on top of the box and a spring. Okay. Go ahead and sit on down for short box work. So we're gonna start off with the hug with our seat curve. You're gonna put your ankles under here. Good.

And separate your legs and feet back. Pull them back. They're not going to touch anything. This was just like your little safety strap and the first one, no bar. And you're going to slide back quite a bit. This is the first time you've done this. I love it.

Skew back feedback all the way. Okay. You only want, yeah, yeah. You only want a hands with distance behind you. And so try to get that, you know, I would, I would bring your box a little bit forward. Go ahead and step up. That's, this is where we normally not, and I don't mean normally, but you know we have different measurements. But I would for you how that here, because you only want a hands with distance behind you and you need to have your feet under that safety strap. So scoot back a little. That's it. And now your legs can be apart because that's what should be like that. Good. Yeah. The hands with distance yet or no, that's, that's pretty good.

So wrap your arms or you're like, what is that? So from your pinky to your thumb is the width of your hand, right? And it literally supports your skeleton. So then you flatten it out behind you and you don't want more than that or less than that. Okay. Now we're going to wrap your arms around your belly. Good. And give me a nice seeker curve. So round back. Good, good.

And so your legs are going to be pushing kind of the strap apart. Almost think about that. And now squeeze up off your bottom and you're going to curl your tailbone towards you using your lower belly and get your waistband to touch the box. Stay there and then curl into yourself to come forward. Beautiful. And rest and in.

Squeeze your seat and rural in that back and scooping in. Good. And one more time. Squeezing, scoop and coming forward. Excellent. Grab the bar now and now we're gonna practice a tall spine. So shoulders right over and using those waist muscles. Lift up your arms. Good. And their, now they're going to be just in your peripheral vision.

So a little bit for the arps. Great job. You've got a little sway here. So pull more into your back. Good. And saying that straight. Pretend you're going to paint the ceiling with your, with your bar, you're going to go back six inches. And don't miss any spots on the ceilings. You're always reaching and come forward. Good. That's right. So you're using your belly to pull in and grow taller and taller and come forward. That's it. And scooping in and grow taller, taller, good. A little more umph with your bottom. So pull into here a little more.

Not that. Not here. He get it in this way again. That's it. And now lift off your seat. Ah, there. That's a good girl. And Go, go, go and forward. And we'll do that one more time without getting that. Keep pulling back with here and forward. Good work. Yup. Bring your arms down. And now side reaches. And can you rest your life? There you go. To be there. Alright, so side rates, you're gonna bring your arms up again from your waist. This time, lean your shoulders forward in front of your hips. Good.

Squeeze your bottom and you feel your sit bones where they are. Leave your sit bones and reach over to the right stretch. Overstaying forward, forward, forward, and now stack your spine up. So we're bending our spine to the side. Staying forward though, reaching, reaching, reaching. There you go. And side flection here, right, and the stomach. Good. And then reaching and you're gonna feel your obliques pool you back home. Good. And really get a good stretch cause you're pulling in to here and good.

And I love you to pull into here just a little more. Whooo. That's nice. And Center and give me one more to the left, pulling into here and center and rest your arms. Good. How's that? Okay, we're going to do the twist now. So now totally twisting the spine. So arms up. Good. Try to make it come from a little more from here. Yes.

Now rotate your spine. Great. And now long spine reaching back. So we're going to reach together for the back corner of your machine and right back up and then come center and pull into your back, support it rotating and then reaching back for the back corner and back up. Good. And pulling into here, supporting all most this rib, coming over this hip that and now reach long and back up. Very good. And pulling in rib over here. Good.

Reach out and back up. And one more set. I think Poland around instead of three and reach and back up. And last time bullying in good, good, good. And long waist. And long as you come up. Good job. You get a treat. You get to put your bar under your toes and head down and you get to stretch.

Good. And then we're going to do tree. So now you're going to be a rocket put. You're going to just slide this here. Sit up super tall like a rocket does. When she kicks in, you're going to bring your right knee out. I'm going to bring my left. One hands under your knee. Good. Now No, don't change your posture. Posture as you straightened in bed. And two and one more.

And then hold it up and now hand over. Hand. Walk up your leg. Good. Now I want you actually to stretch forward over that leg. Yeah. And see these hipbones uh, those pesky hip bones. We've got to straighten them out. There you go. Good. And get a good stretch. So this is prepping you for your teaser, how you hold your legs up.

So you're going to roll back your hip bones until your waistbands almost onto the box and your left foot is going to flex and catch you. Yeah, there you go. And now walk down your leg and you get to roll away from it. And Hank, good. Keep your hands forward, but you can unfold your shoulders, shoulders where your shoulders open them up a head to your chest and curl up. But you love to roll this knee in and the hike that hips. So make sure that that's, there you go. Good. Good. Yes. Walk all the way up. Good, good. And stretch forward over it for me again. And we do two more.

Pulling back a bit. And now walk down keeping your hips even. Yeah. Oh, that was better. Head and scooping in and keeping these hips even. Nice. Stretch forward and give me one more good. Nice. Even hips and head to your chest.

And one bone at a time. You Corolla. Good coming forward. And now we pick the apple off the tree. You're going to flex your toes, grab your toes, and lift your chest up. And again, we're going to even out those hips. [inaudible] big stretch and switch legs. We got another leg. So left. Nice, tall posture. Hands under. Good, tall, tall, tall. A little more forward still. Yeah. And that leg, other leg just along for the ride. And straighten and bend three times two and three. And then hold it up and walk up that leg.

Stretch forward over it again. Even at those hips. And now you're gonna use your belly to roll back your hips evenly. There you go. And now walk down your leg. [inaudible] open your shoulders a little more. That's it. Head to your chest. Close your chest and come up. Good. So this outer thigh has to work more. Yeah, that's it. And come forward over that leg in two more.

So don't let that one roll back up. That's it. Yep. And head to your chest and curling up. That's true. Forward. And give me one more and relax that leg.

It's lengthening away from you rather than gripping and head. Close the chest. So when you unroll, you always want to try to unroll your upper back. Before you let your head go. And now grab your toes and lift your chest up as high as you can. Good. Good. All right. Okay, go ahead and step off and I'm going to bring your box down and we're going to do our long stretch. It's so we're going to bring this down. All right?

And you're going to get on hand-foot hand foot into a plank position. So right hand, left foot. Good. Nice. And let's see if we can keep our spring going here. So we're going to go out and then scooping. Good. And as far as you can go out, keeping really challenges off your seat can work a lot more. That's it.

You combine your stomach and your bottom here. Give me one more and coming in now kneel down gently separate your feet and try to go out for the downstream watch. Knees are open too. That's it. And out. So for this one, you're pushing with your hamstrings and glutes. Where's your glutes? Oh yeah, there we go. And squeeze your glutes to push the heels into the shoulder pads. Okay.

And Go and out. Head Up. Good. And give me one more. I want you to go out, head up, head up, and now try to go lift your, use your belly to back. Bend in front of me. That's better up stretch. You're going to come up onto demi point. That's it. Good. All right. And you're gonna push your legs away from your upper body all the way. Keep going, keep going, keep going. Lower your bottom.

[inaudible] and then come in like that. Good. All right. And legs. Now eyes on my finger, right? That's it. You gotta use your hips to push out and now you're going to scoop in here. Good. It's almost like the reverse of backstroke. Last one, push with the hips. Good. And then coming up and we're going to slide your heels down for elephant a little forward with the heat feet. A little more, a little more, a little more.

And I'm going to bring you, I know this is, we're more Romanos plies. There you go. And you're going to push out in the back of the legs and curl your tailbone it good back in the legs and curl your tailing. Good. And three, that's it. Nice. Back of the legs. Lift the toes up if you can. Not the heels. Yup. Give me one more and lifting at good job. That's it.

Hold it in and step off. Nice. Alright, we're gonna go into stomach massage. I'm going to do three springs for you. The other ones were on two. Okay. Go ahead and sit down for stomach massage. That's it. Yes, you could probably come forward a lot more. Good. And now keeping your stomach scooped in and up. Bring your shoulders forward.

More elbows out to the side. Good. That's it. And now really work on this part of your back. Go Out, pulling into here you and straighten your legs and then go down with the heels. Lift the heels and bend it. Good. Do One more at that tempo. And now I want you to double time that. Go out. Damn lip and then keep trying to use your upper stomach to scoop your shoulders forward over your hip bones. Yes, keep trying to pull it over.

Really make that cause their sink and back. And I know you can hold it here for a second. All the way in. You can come forward that see how much 40 can come. Okay, go out again. Now staying more like that. Yeah, that's the curve I want. Yes. One more good.

Drop a middle spring and then reach your hands back at the same time to those shoulder pads and use your belly to lift your chest up and same exercise out, down. Lift in. Good. Using your belly to lift your sternum. That's it. Really Nice. I like your shoulders. You're using the back of your thighs. And two more out. Dan and I have to watch the hyperextending a little bit. Last one.

And now use your belly and you're going to reach forward towards my shoulders. Now see if you can use just your stomach to stretch your spine forward from here. That's really good. That's nice. And now just straight out. Inhale and straight in. Exhale and scoop in. Hold it in all the way in and I'm going to stretch you. Don't let me pull your shoulders because you did so good earlier. All right, two more. Inhale out. Exhale. Sorry. No droplets. All right, and forward.

And one more exhale. Hold it here. Exhale. Exhale. This is a breathing exercise. Good job. All right, go ahead and step off. Good. And we're going to do knee stretches, so I want you to kneel down. Well please. [inaudible] good. And I want you to put your feet flex like this and put them back against the shoulder pads. Hey, you go separate your knees a little bit.

Now we're going to round your back and sit towards your heels. Good. That's it. Nice. Nice opposition here. This is another one where I want you to, for the next three exercises, I want to see you make it as connected as possible. Okay. I'm actually gonna have you step off for a second and show it to you. Do you mind? Alright, so it's round. Arshan the knees off and the tempo should be slow out.

Quick. Quicken. Okay. So you're scooped in and you're going to go slow out. Quicken. Okay. So I'm not only gonna do a few more, five of each and I'll show you the, as the spring comes in, you transition. So as it comes in, you switch. And then after five I'll show you the transition for knees off. Okay? So as it comes in, you use the tension to help pool your powerhouse in and switch to the next exercise. No, flex your toes forward a little bit more. There you go. And you're going to scoop in and you gotta use that opposition that you pushed there.

So you can pull in here and you're going to go out and scoop it all the way out. Cause this ones was one that he used for posture. Use your belly to lengthen your body up. Smooth out. Quicken. Smooth out. Quicken for good in three. Give me two more. And now switch to an arch quick and go. Yeah.

And now you're holding my favorite cocktail right here. Don't spill in it. Not Announce, not announce. Keep your chest up higher. Yes. And three. Two. That's all right. Last one and switch up and curl the tailbone under under. That's a hard transition and you did it really nice.

I don't like your knees coming in. So narrow. Keep them in line with your feet and three and two and hold and damn. Nice. Very good. You're going to step off and we're going to finish with our cool down of running and pelvic tilt. So I'm going to put, actually gonna keep it on too for you today. Go ahead and lie down. Usually you do what you started on and you start on on three.

But I know you've worked on your, you've um, done this a lot. So let's see, you control the machine on just two springs. It's actually a lot harder so you don't fly out. Use your all your muscles to go out, pull the carriage out. Good. Get them all working, especially the right. Yes.

And now run bending one knee. Good. That's it. Careful to not let your right knee or hip roll in. So I love that you're working parallel, but you can't let your knee roll in. Your foot's parallel. Right? The knee has to follow the same line. So you gotta work the outer hip quite a bit. Love it. That's it.

One more good. Come in and now pelvic tilt arches on the corners. Good. And so your foot is a little wider than your knee, so turn it out knee, a little wider. Awesome. Same with that side. And now keeping your knees just like that. Try to lengthen your spine as you tilt up instead of just like crunching in.

Good. Come down a little bit more almost as if the waistband is on the mat. Good. And now you're going to use the back of the thighs and glutes to go out as far as you can. Pull it all the way and let's end with that. That you're getting a feel for it. Let's end with that. We're not going to stop this spring, but at the same time it's like the wave on the coming onto the sand.

You don't even see, but it like really reaches and then it really reaches back in. That's what you want to do. Let's get a little bit more. I'm sinking in here. I don't want to use the word sinking. Pull an in length and give me one more and now hold it here and now melt down one bone at a time. Great. Slide your feet together and hug your knees in.

Good job and we are all done. I really enjoyed teaching you. I loved, I loved working with you. It's good cause you do Bazi and you know this was a chance to show you a little bit about it and it's really fun. Thank you.

Comments

This was a great quick workout thx!
Loved the workout but had a challenge with changing the springs as the instructor failed to mention the colors being added or removed. My reformer has a red, two green and two yellow. So had to guess and keep going ahead.
I would love some kind of conversion guide for all makes. I had to guess as I have 1 red 2 yellow and 2 blue? (Mve reformer)
Natalie ~ We have a blog post that explains the differences between the springs on different brands of Reformers. You can find it here. I hope it helps you.
1 person likes this.
Another frustrating workout with no springs mentioned till later. Definitely getting frustrated with PA reformer wprkouts. Can't imagine going to a studio and the instructor just letting me guess. Isn't that why I'm paying for the membership.
Elizabeth ~ Since there are so many different types of reformers with varying spring strengths, our solution thus far has been to encourage the instructors to state whether the resistance is meant to be light, medium or heavy for any given exercise in hopes the viewer will make the necessary adjustments to keep good form.

For the exercises that Monica teaches, in their order, I'd suggest:

3-4 springs for Footwork and Hundred
2 springs (two reds, or one red and one green) for Short Spine and Coordination
1 spring for Pulling Straps/T-Pull
2 springs for Backstroke
1 spring for Teaser
2 springs for Shortbox Series and Longstretch, Downstretch, Upstretch, and Elephant
4 springs for Stomach Massage Round, 3 for Flat, and 2 for Hands Off
2 springs for Knee Stretch Series
4 springs for Running and Pelvic Lift
Monica Wilson
Hi everyone! A thousand apologies for your frustration. I've been reading all your comments and am definitely listening. I went through the whole workout again to see how I could be misleading so many people:( The springs in this workout are actually very simple and easy to follow. I start off with 3 springs and then from there I add or drop a spring as I go along. In attempt to keep a good flow going I do mention these transitions very quickly but they are there. I believe what might be extremely frustrating is that is the only thing I have to negotiate. Because I am working on a Gratz Reformer with 4 springs of equal tension I do not mention colors or tensions of springs.
Monica Wilson
(Cont'd) If you have a reformer that has varying spring tensions, my friends Maria and Gia have done a beautiful job of explaining the differences. I am sure it would have been much nicer to understand this and get the spring breakdown ahead of time if you are not working on a Gratz Reformer. I hope this helps and please keep voicing your opinion(s) so I can keep them in mind:) Monica
Thanks Monica!
Loved this workout! Keep them coming Monica! :)
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