Class #1778

Detailed Beginner Breakdown

55 min - Class
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If you're looking for a detailed breakdown of the traditional beginner Reformer exercises, then this class is for you! Adrianne Crawford teaches this Reformer workout for those who are practicing at a fundamental level, including the setup of each exercise and what should be felt during the exercise, all while maintaining the flow of the workout.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box, Pilates Pole

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I'm Adrian, I'm going to be teaching KC a beginner reformer workout. So that being said, let's begin. Um, depending on how experienced you are, we're working on the grots machine, which has four springs, all of the same, um, string. There's different equipment. So depending on what you're working on, um, you might have five springs or four springs, but given by just looking at her, I know that she's healthy and I've talked to her about her own body and we're going to start her on three springs. So depending on what reformer you're on, that's what you'll do. You'll go to three springs. Okay. The heavier ones, the reds. So go ahead and lie down, Casey. Good. Now she has done this before, but I don't think on the grads [inaudible] first time and have you start on your toes and what's called your plotty stance. Heels together, toes apart.

And the first exercise is a very wide turnout. So turn your feet out as wide as you can. But that being said, make sure that you have all 10 toes on the bar so wide enough that you have all toes on the bar and your heels are glued together. Now we're going to work between her frame, so between your shoulders and hips, you want to make sure your knees Lyon with your own shoulders. Her arms are long, her chest is broad, her neck is long, and she's nice and centered on the, on the mat there. Glue your heels together. Don't let them come apart.

Now you also want your heels to lift as high as you can. So way up on your toes. Keep the heels together. You might have to bring your feet in just a little bit to get that positioning. Good. So getting the right foot placement is crucial. Hey, looks like you're ready to go.

So what you're going to do is you're going to start to extend out. So you're literally gonna push the carriage out using your bottom, using your legs. But more importantly, getting your back to pull in and up against the mat underneath you and come back in. Okay. So now heels are going to remain up on your tippy toes. Who gets your feet to flex? Good glue those heels, knees no wider than your shoulders. Now start to extend out, pull your belly button in and lengthen your back and come back in. So really easy to let those heels kind of drop as you're moving.

Try to keep them up the whole time and together. Three, that was one of my big things as I was doing this first learning is my heels would come apart. And that's not using those inner thighs. Stretch all the way out. Keep your heels up, get your legs really long, but don't forget your back. That's going to stay down. So really you're trying to get rid of any space between your spine and that mat. So right here, same thing. Now you're in a good position right now.

Now go out and keep that down. Get your ribs to drop. And so if you're breathing, you're just breathing naturally, but you don't want your chest to be out like this. You want to try to drop it down, right? And she's doing about 10 of these. I think you're about six and keep those heels up, working the feet seven, wrapping the outer sides and zipping up those inner thighs.

So when you get out there, really get those at our thighs to wrap around and hug your inner thighs to left. Good. Getting nice length on the extension and rest. Now, not everything's going to be perfect on the first when you're in the beginning, beginner series, but we're working on that. Let's get your feet to your arches next, and this is what we call bird on a perch. You're going to wrap your heels and wrap your toes. Let's move your feet down just a little bit, not too much.

You are on the arch of the foot. Your heels are pushing down while your toes are pulling over the bar. So let's push those heels down much more. Keep going. That's it. There's your bird on a perch. It's not a very comfortable position at first, but it will get better.

Glue your heel, knees together, and let's get your back to drop your stomach and soon. That's really nice. But your ribs are still way out. Can you start to yes. X hands. See those reps down. So not only is your tummy in, but the upper back is down as well. So your whole spine is down. Yeah, start to extend out and kind of in keeping your elbows relaxed, your shoulders soft. And once again, zipping the legs up here too. That will work in the beginning and throughout any of the exercises is always really important. So make sure those toes are really curling over and those heels continually push down, so they're countering each other.

Wrapping around to try to touch each other. You're going to do 10 of these six and the whole time that you're doing all of this movement, you're continually lengthening your spy, getting it nice and long, trying to stretch it out while it stays anchored. I'd say that's eight. About two more really soft neck, really soft shoulders last time out and come in. Now she's going to change. She's done her toes, her arches.

You're now going to your heels. This one, your feet are flexed. It's a nice stretch for the back of the legs. Knees stay together like long leg. You're gonna Zip them up. Yeah. Get your chest to drops. So those ribs stay down. Yes and come back and so out. Zip Up and wrap the thighs and in to, I'm going to now have her start going a little bit quicker.

At any point you feel like this is too easy, you can always pick up the pace a little bit or that you're starting to get it [inaudible] all the way out, all the way in. Stretch the legs, lengthen your back, continue to drop those ribs. So to more out in Nice long, long muscles. And in, now I'm going to have her go back to that beginning position, her plotting stance. So she'll slide to her toes, heels together, toes apart. Now this one is not quite as turned out. It's maybe about two fingers apart between the big toes, right? He'll start up as high as you can.

So you're way up on tippy toes and make sure all 10 toes are on there and then you're going to extend out, hold the stretch. That's where you want to start to keep the length pushing away from the crown of the head. And out of the toes and then you're wrapping the outer thighs, inner thighs, good, zipping up, pulling in and getting rid of any space here. Now she's going to begin by lowering her heels as low as she can and lift your heels as high as you can. You're going to keep going, lowering and lifting the heels. You're going to do about 10 of those, but make sure if you feel one of your toes isn't quite on there to fix that. Now let's add three counts down, three counts out, up, so one, two, three on the down, one, two, three on the app and that actually adds a nice extra wrap and the length of the leg [inaudible] pulling in six and then I always like to come over and just do a check with my hands to see if she really is in here. She has close Herschel. There you go. That's it.

And it's amazing by just touching somebody how quickly things can change. Seven, you can say it all, you want to keep those rips down, but sometimes you need to feel it. Eight two left, nine getting nice and warmed up. And Bend your knees and come in. So I've done really thoughtfully. You can get a nice warm up in those slides. Your feet up for just a moment.

She is now going to go and reach behind her. There are handles. You're going to grab those handles. Hopefully they were already placed on the carriage, so they're kind of close your ears. You want to look for those with your, and not, not those handles, but the straps, right? Taking her arms straight up. She's going to go into her hundreds now the spring stay the same here.

Now because she's healthy, I had her take the straps right away. Depending on your ability, if you don't have any injuries with your neck or shoulders, you can use the straps and you're young enough to do that as well. Bring your knees into your chest. Your hundredth is a breathing exercise. You're not going to do it just yet, but as the arms come down, you're going to extend your legs probably to about 90 degrees at first and the arms are going to be moving the whole time while you're inhaling for a full five counts and exhaling for five counts. Now because she's done it before, I'm having her go right into it. So take your legs straight up and now you're going to turn those feet out so your heels are together, toes are apart, and now she's going to lift her head and start to lower the arms using those upper abdominals to round up into her sternum. There it is.

Beautiful. See that nice reach and this scoop of her belly. Now she's in a great position. She's going to start to pump the arms and burry to three, four, five and out two, four, five. Keep that reach happening so that you can curl into yourself more. There you go. She's done 20 sorry. Oh sorry.

Four five 30 so she's got her legs lengthening. She's got a nice wrap of the legs, so her bottom is working. Her Tummy is working hard. She could curl up a little bit more on that. Easy to lose while you're moving and she's warming up. Getting that oxygen in and out. 62 sorry for kidney roundup still. That's it. 72 sorry.

502-FIVE-8Y-2345 92 four five out. Two three four five hundreds. She's going to bend her knees, lift her arms and lower her head. Great. I'm going to have her place her feet down on this bar that I lowered. Now that it's out of the way, I can take a spring off. She's now down to two springs, so the hundreds on you can restaurants.

I can take the streps from you, the hundreds on the grots. We tend to stay on the same springs on balanced body for the hundreds. You might go down to just two springs. You decide what works for you. Now the next exercise is her leg circles and frog, so I'm just going to get the straps ready for her and because she was new, I'm going to do them for her. The grots are a little clunkier, but they do a wonderful job. So balanced. Buddy. I think you can just go ahead and take the straps and put them on your feet for lakes circles. Okay, so let me have Casey, let me have you bring your knees into your chest and I want to pull your back and then I'm going have you bring one foot into the strap?

You can just rest your head. So your, your foot's going in the black strap. Yeah. And then the other foot's gonna come into this strap. Then what you're going to do is let the, let your knees open so the straps can fall between your knees, your back in that plotty stance. So hails together. Toes apart. Yeah, I'm going to let go. You'll start to feel a little pressure on your feet. Great. I think you're in a good position. She's going to, I'm going to have her start with just extending out. So what you want to make sure is that those heels stay together and that you're not quite so turned up for this one. You're back to that two finger rule.

So no more than two fingers apart. Bend your knees and come back and let the struts fall between your knees though. So the knees will open, but the feet stay slightly turned out. So try that again. Extend a little higher with your legs. Yes. Just kind of getting a feeling of the springs and come back in and I have her do that two more times. Nice and easy.

Now slow it down and keep your hips quiet. Okay, now I'm going to have her hold the out. Because of that, we're going to go into her circles. So now let's lift your legs. Nothing like a live class. I want her to relax her shoulders. Take that tension away from there and get that nice imprint of your back. And remember how you did the foot work, where you are nice and long.

What's the same idea here? You're pulling in and up and trying to get those ribs to drop so you have that whole powerhouse between your shoulders and hips working and now you're going to put that into circles so your back is nice and long. She's going to start by opening her legs about shoulder width apart. Now because the challenge as you lower your legs is where your back wants to shift around. Don't let it pop up so only go to where you can control that.

So that's a little low. I would come up a little bit higher and then bring both feet together at the same time. Exactly. Lift, they're like little squares. You're going to open to about shoulder width apart. Lower together, lift. So start in those kind of positioning like one, two, three, up on four. So four cans open, one lower two together, three up, four OPA, one lower, two together, three up, four.

Now hold. Are Your feet still turned out? You want to make sure that turnout is still there and then you also want to make sure that on three, which I noticed you come together at the same time. So you had one lay coming in a little bit slower. So let's do that again. Open one, lower two together at the same time. Three and up. So you could go a little wider.

There's your shoulders now lower stop. Two together. Three, fix your back. Get it nice and anchor. Lift for and arrest. Let's have you reverse that. Keeping those shoulders relaxed. Can you bend your elbows a little, Casey? Yeah. Now lower the legs a little bit. One.

Same for accounts. Open to lift. Three, hold together for lower one. Come back up. Do one again. As you go down, there should be no wiggle in the hips, no wiggle in the spine. It stays flat and open. That was much better to lift three together. Four, use your powerhouse to lower the legs. Don't think that you're pushing with your legs to go down. It is a leg exercise, but it's always about that powerhouse open up together. Go ahead. Now that you've kind of got the idea of what you're doing, put them into circles so you can go a little wider and then together down, open together, taking care that you're not getting into those shoulder slow and controlled movements.

Getting those ribs to drop your ribs are out. Can drop them down. Yes, that's it. Walmart time. Very nice. Bend your knees back into your chest. Let the strops fall between your knees so your knees have to open for that to happen. And as she, she's going to go into her frog. So now you did this in the beginning, but you're going to make it a little more challenging by going a little lower with the heels. So my hand is maybe, I don't know, 45 degrees.

You're going to stretch out both feet at the same time and hold. Now I want to shift you a little just to keep your center, get that back down and get those ribs to drop. And I thought I let go. You would fall to the left. So make sure that you're not working one sidedly bend those knees and come back. And so you can do a little check. You go out, you push the heels out, you straighten your legs and then try to feel where you're weighted.

Just think about it for a moment. Do you feel more low on the left or the right? And if you feel like your center, go again. Bend your knees, you fixed it though. Stretch out and come in. This is a great exercise to teach you that idea of where what side's working more than the other [inaudible] and now drop down here into those ribs. Now push out. This is working all through that powerhouse to more stretch, get down and stretch and in. Very nice.

I am now going to take these off of your feet and then I'm going to sledge in so you go for a little while, right? And then you can drop your feet and then I'll have you step off to the side and I'm actually gonna have you help me on this part. There is a mat there, a little pad. You'll need that pad for the next exercise. Your stomach massage and I'm just going to back in order. Exactly and you're going to put that mat kind of in the middle there. Doesn't matter which way it faces. Yeah, I'm going to pull it down just a little.

So it's a little closer to the springs because what she's going to end up doing is sitting down on the mat and facing the bar. So let's have you said your toes are going to go on the bar and her hands are gonna end up at the edge of the mat. So you're back in that same position that you started with the heels together, toes apart, plotty stance. You'll hear that a lot. So this one, you're going to round your back over your hips and let's actually try to lean you forward a bed. Your shoulders are relaxed shoes in a c curve from the top of her head down to her hips. She's rounded in a nice seat. Her elbows are going to bend out to the side, so they're open and what she's going to do is use that powerhouse.

So she's going to suck in her stomach and straighten her legs. I have put her back on three springs, by the way. So the same way you started, whether it be four springs or three springs for your foot work you do for your stomach massage and then come back in. So just warming up to the position. She's in a nice Pilati stance. Careful with those toes. Let's fix those toes. Lower your toes, just a little bit. Heels up as high as you can. Alright, now keep those heels together. Don't let them come apart.

Now go out and don't let your heels drop. Now hold the stretch can get out there all the way. So your legs are straight. And now can you fall forward towards me? There's her c. Okay, so I'm just going to do a few little corrections. Let's lift your head a little bit so you're not hanging in your neck.

Pull up through here. Yeah, you could drop your Chin just a little bit more and drop the shoulders. Very nice. Now come back in. So the C is up and over. It's really about that lower back, getting lifted to stretch over the hips and lift up here. There you go. And now we're gonna add on. I'm going to have her stay out. She's an egg. Nice sees who's you've got those ribs pulling back.

She's going to lower her heels, lift her heels, bend your knees, and come in. Now her challenge is keeping those heels together. Now go out, stay over those hips, lower the heels, lift the heels, bend and come in. And now out right here, Casey tried to lift your back and stretch over more. Very nice. Now lower. Lift the heels. That's it. Now let's add a little accent. Let's go a little quicker. She can go out lower, lift and in will be the accident. So out, lower lift, lifting accent in so quick on the hand. I like that for my own workout to me at a little pace to it for more out lower lip. And I walked away on her out lower. Lift in, three in, two out, no shoulders. Try to relax those arms and one more and then go ahead and drop your feet down for a moment and just relax.

Good. And then I'm going to have you actually take one spring off in the middle. So I'm going to teach you at least that part today. Good. So, oh, I'm sorry. What am I doing? No, you're going to actually keep that on. You stay on three springs. She's going to take your arms back. She needs to do this one first. So her arms are back. Two ways to do this, your hands can go on top of the shoulder pads or you can make a fist.

Let's show that. So you make a fist and you put your knuckles in the mat and you kind of prop yourself up on those knuckles. So depending on your range in that upper back, how that feels, that's what you would do. But she's got enough range. That chicken hold on top of the shoulder pads right now. The same thing is going to happen with your legs. You're gonna put your toes back up on the bar, still on those three springs, heels together, toes apart. Sit as tall as you can, right?

Let's pull your right side back a little bit. Okay, so she's trying to lift her hips and now straighten your legs. Hold the lift. Your heels are up as high as you can. Very nice. Now lower your heels, lift your heels, bend your knees, grow taller, you're gonna do 10 of those out, lower lift and grow tall. Always be conscious that you're not falling one way or the other, that you're staying right in the middle of your body as you're moving. That's it. The right I have scoliosis, so I have a tendency to favor one side stronger than the other and I will use it if I can. You really cheat seven that hopefully you are aware of your body enough to know what side you're stronger on and to use both sides.

That centering, that's what it's all about. Getting those muscles to work evenly. One more out, lower lift and rest. Go ahead and drop your feet. So at this point you drop one spring, so she'll go down to two springs, her drop, one spring in the middle. Great. Now she's going to go into a reaching exercise so your toes come back up on the bar, heels together, toes apart to back in that plotty stance a little lower. Good. So she got all 10 toes and take your arms forward. Yeah, a little higher. We'll go about right here. Yeah.

Sit as tall as you can and I want you to soften your elbows a little bit. Good. Yeah, she's going to straighten her legs. But as she straightens her legs, she's kind. Try to stretch in that back. Now the tough part. Come back in. Keep your heels up and try to touch my hands away up here. So you're lifting your back, not your shoulders. Drop the shoulders and push out. Lean back a little bit.

Can you grow taller in your back? Very nice. Now come back in and count to three. One, two, touch on three. Yes. Two more. Oh No. Shoulders come in. One, two, three. Almost. Get both hands up there. One, two, three. That's it. Drop your head. I'm going to give you a stretch since you work so nicely.

Bend your knees and I'm gonna do the stretch for you. So you're going to let your knees open. You're gonna bend those elbows. Just relax. Drop their shoulders and I'm going to give you a little pool. Now she's going to step off to the side. Now this is the part where you're going to need your box in your pole.

So first I'm gonna lower the head cause I want to get that out of the way. Take the pad and I'm going to drop the bar and I'm going to go ahead and grab that box and pull, which eventually she'll be doing this house. And I'm going to put it over the shoulder pads. And she's tall enough. If you're a little shorter, you put it in front of the box or in front of the shoulder pads. So can I say I'm gonna have you sit on top of the box facing me and her feet are coming underneath the safety strap and her feet are going to be hip width apart, but you're going to need to move pretty far backwards.

And we measure it by having you be about a hands with that. So you could actually move forward just a little bit. Okay? So you have a good hands with back because you're going to do some stuff going backwards and you want to be safe. So give yourself a hot by wrapping your arms around your waist. Make sure that once you're down, get into your seeker, so she's back in that seeker. If she did a little while ago, shoulders are laxed, even softer. Good. Hold your waste.

Make sure that your knees are hip width apart, that they're not rolling in those knees on this exercise are really important because as you're moving, they have a tendency to tell you a lot, so if they're rolling in, it means you're not using your, your lower powerhouse. Start to round backwards as if you were going to lie down. Stop about midway. Take a deep breath in and start to exhale as you bring yourself forward and shoulders relaxed. Now I'm going to have a work a little harder. As she starts to go back, she's going to inhale and she's going to wrap those sides by squeezing her seat more squeezed. Now she's going to exit him, bring herself float.

Your arms are there to work. You're actually going to pull them in to remind those ribs to stay together, so keep them close to you. Now inhale, squeeze your seat. Maher. Squeeze. There you go. Now come up and exhale. Yes, you feel the difference. Go ahead to more than inhale. Use your seat now use your arms, but more importantly, who's that?

Those time I muscled. Exhale. Now that time you went too far back. You have the ability, but I don't want you to do it just yet because I want you to come up properly. So let's get you into your seat again. Shoulders down. Begin to inhale, start to move. That's it. And now, right about there, exhale, keep coming up. I'm pushing on you to give you that resistance. Yes. Do One more.

Inhale, go back and now use that. Use your arms. Exhale, pull in. There it is. That's it. You should feel this. And that powerhouse in your abdominal sets enough to have you sit up tall. There's now the bar.

She's going to go into the next exercise called your flat pack. Take your bar and you're going to sit as tall as you can, and you're literally going to be like the steel plank you're in. Take your arms up and you want them in your peripheral. So a little more forward so you can see this window. Good. Her sides are long. Her back is tall. That's good.

She's got great posture. Of course. Lift her back more. There you go. So you should get the good lift here nice and long. Now drop your shoulders a bit. Keep your head up though. Your head's gonna stay up the whole time. Okay. Theater flagship is going to grow really tall now by squeezing her seat, keeping that squeeze in the lift.

She's going to take that into a hinge backwards. So hinge back. When you start to feel shaky, I want you to stop right now. Come back up and grow taller. Drop your shoulders, relax. You're ready to go again. Re Squeeze your seat. Start your hinge. Now come back up and grow taller. Now I'm going to correct her because she's hinges from her upper back.

Drop those shoulders. I want you to stay tall. You did that, but you started arch down here because your ribs were coming out. So squeeze your seat. Start your hitch back right here. Can you drop those ribs back? Close them. Stop. More reps, more reps, more ribs. Come back up. Go ahead now stretch. Relax. I'm going to have her do two more. One more. Correction. Your gaze needs to stay forward.

Don't let your gaze go up cause your head starts to go back and that weights too much on us. So keep your gaze forward. Start to hinge, look towards me. Drop your Chin a little bit. Now come back up. That's it. Keep your head a little forward of yourself. Otherwise it takes you back. Okay. Walmart time, hinge, shoulders. Drop those shoulders. Stop right there. Pull those ribs in. Very nice. Now come up and stretch and rest.

Go ahead and drop your arms and reach for your toes and get a nice stretch. You can hold the bar to stretch. Yeah. And just relax. Okay. You're just stretching out. Shoulders. Relax. Good. Alright, I'm gonna have her lift her arms, getting ready for the next exercise with [inaudible], which is a side strengthening exercise. So she was tall. Same idea, that tall steel plank. Only this time she's going to keep her shoulders in front of her hip.

So a little bit more. Good lift in here. Their hood is nice. All right. Knees hip with the park. She's ready to go. She's going to take that lift over to the side as far as she can without her hip lifting. And then she's going to come back up and now she's going to talk to the other side. But you got to keep your shoulders in front of you. It's really easy to fall back. So remember, those shoulders should always stay in front of the hips. Come back up.

And now I want her to do the same thing going right, but drop those shoulders, your arms are ups is really easy to take the shoulders with you. Try to drop them down. Good and lift your back. Lean over those hips and go to the left. Drop the shoulders. Long arms though, and come back up. Now I'm going to help her on this one. She's going to do one more set to the right.

I'm going to hold her hip and now let's get those ribs together. Can you close your ribs, Mar? That's it. So ribs together, getting that up, abdominal work and left and last one to the left. And I'm going to shift here for mark. Relax your knees. Now can you grow tolerant or back here? There you go. That's the stretch and come back up. Good.

She going to put the bar back underneath her legs. So that's the side to side. Now she's ready for her trees. So tick one like out of the strap. This one. Just make sure you still have that hands with behind you. So you could always check. Take your own hand and you'll turn her hand. So your fingers point away from you, right? Yeah. Okay.

So she's got her right leg out. She's going to grab her thought and she's going to sit as tall as she can't bring her knees close to your chest as you can. And before she does anything, she wants to make sure she's right on top of her hips, that she's not falling backwards. But then she also wants to make sure that her hips are square. So your right hip might have to hop forward a little bit to kind of square your hips. So right hip and left hip are lined. It's close on top of the hips. Now she's gonna Stretch.

She can take that right leg and stretch out three times. Now she's stretching. She's supposed to stay tall. That's tricky part to Walmart. Stretch three, kind of warning the leg. What's about to happen? You're now ready to walk up this one leg. So you're going to straighten the leg. You're going to walk up and get back into that. See again.

So her head is forward and she's rounded from the top of her head to her hips, right? Yeah, exactly. And as soon as we do that, the tendency is our hips kind of go out of place again. So hop that right hip forward a bit so your hips are square little bit more and turn your leg out so your right leg should stay turned up. Shoulders down. Now this is, this is hard. Can you get any closer to your knee? The closer you are, the more stretch. So do what you can't. Drop their shoulders.

Now her left foot is flex shoes ready to rock backwards. And that's it. I'm just going to have her go back. Check that you're squared with your hips. Straighten that right leg. Keep that right leg straight and bring yourself forward by pulling in. Now here comes the hardest part.

She's going to sit as tall as you can lifting right here. Can you stretch in here? Keep your turnout and she's going to do two more. Drop your head, but I'm going to add a step. She's going to keep that right hip forward so that her hip, stay square. Drop the shoulders. Good Nash.

She's going to start to walk down her leg as though she was going to lie down just about tabletop. I want to shift a little. Say Your Square. Okay. Shoulders to the hips. Now she's going to climb her tree. Try and get her nose on her knee. Now keep your head there. If you're on her knee, stay there. Now try to lift her back as tall as your kid. Keep your turnout so your tosha point, that direction, right. Grow Taller, taller, and then she's got Walmart. Drop your head.

These are not eating easy exercises. They're very tedious but fantastic for us. Walk down. Can You keep your turnout? Square your shoulders and now walk back up. Climb that tree. Bring herself up to sitting. So the nose to the knee, your leg is still up.

You're finishing with more, more stretch. You're gonna sit up as tall as you can. Lift your back and notice those toes starting to go the other way. Fix that. Now can you flex and point? And as you're doing that flex and point, keep lifting her back. Don't lose this. Two, three times three. You can take your right hand, grow tall, tap your toes, grab them, and lift your back and rest. Alright, let's go ahead and stretch that out. So you'll take your right leg, cross it over your left, and there are these handles on the side of your box.

You can grab the handles or you can take the hands behind you. Yeah, you check that you're square before you stretch. Sure. Your shoulders and hips are lined again and then you're going to round over your hips. I just kind of enjoy that stretch in case you're leaning rights. Puts a weight on that left hip. Yes. That changed the stretch for you. Okay? Okay.

Then you're going to switch legs. One leg will always be harder than the other. Take your thigh first. She's going to sit up tall, so hold your side to do that. So your hold under the leg, right, getting nice and tall through here, sitting on top of the hips with just a moss. Forward to the hips. Now she's going to lift her knee as close to her chest as she can before you stretch. So bend Judy, sit up tall again.

So your knees way up here right now. Start to straighten that leg. Three kicks, one grow tall in your back too. She won't do one more three and you might already feel that you're not quite centered. So fixed that [inaudible] and it's usually that one leg that's up is going to always pull back on you. So you might have to hop it forward. Now walk up your leg, drop your chin.

So you're going to get back into that. See again, your shoulders are down and now that leg is up. Your hips have probably changed. Hop your left hip forward once again. Get them lined hip to hip. Exactly. Now can you get any closer to your knee? Well, think of your leg coming to you. Not your nose going to your knee. Good shoulders. All right? She is now going to take herself backwards and you're just going to hold onto the leg the whole time. She's really trying to tuck her hips here, pulling in. Now she's going to continue to pull in, not with your arms or your shoulders. Drop their shoulders, but with her tummy muscles. Come on up, fall forward.

And now she's gonna do her first stretch. Lift her back as hard as you can, right? So now you're going to do two more, but you're adding the walk. So let's turn her leg out. Yes. And that changes your hips and gets them back in place. And that's what you want. Okay? Drop your nose to your knee. Drop the shoulders. She's ready to go. I'm going to shift you a little bit.

Okay? No, you're actually going to hold the leg and rock back. So you want to plant your tree. This is your tree. The leg you're planted at 90 degrees. Now you go to lower your back. So we'll walk down, square your shoulders, open your chest. There you go. Keep that broad chest. Now climb your tree.

[inaudible] bring yourself back up. And now the tough part. Stretching. Get that leg to straight to him. Watch those toes. They want to go this way. Two more. Or excuse me, only one more. I'm not going to make you do an extra run. Get as close to your knee as you can. Check your hip alignment. Makes sure centered.

Do you feel like you need to fix anything? There you go. And now start to walk down. Shoulders align with your hips. Broad chest. Now climb your tree back up. And now for the final stretch, she's going gonna lift her back and to bring me forward.

So you're on top of your hips and this leg really wants to turn and try to turn it out. Keep growing tall and start to flex and point relaxed here and that will help you bend it a little bit and flex, grow tall in your back, flexing your foot three times one and two more tall. Back to one more. Three. You're going to take your left hand, grab your toes and still lift in that spot right here and rest. All right, cross that leg over the other and then take a hold of the back of the box and check to see if you feel centered. Exactly. If that means moving, do that and stretch. [inaudible]. Great.

And now she's going to step off and let's get rid of your box. And Paul, I'll go ahead and take that and then we're going to end up lifting your bar. So go ahead and lift that bar up. So you've got to learn what are the springs today and the bar and the bar you want to make sure is secure to make sure you pull it all the way back so it doesn't slip around. You're now going to end up stepping onto the carriage, but I may lift the head rest. You're going to stand under the carriage. And the way we do that, because the bar move is we take one hand, one foot, one hand, one foot to step on. So come on back over here. I come to this side, nice white machine here. So stop hand one hand first, and then one foot and then the other hand and then the other foot.

Exactly. So that way you don't get tempted to pull that far back and fall. Move your feet all the way back so that your heels are against the shoulder pads. Her head is down. She's going to round yet again into that sea top of the head. Hips. She's rounded. That's a beautiful CKC. Just bring her thumbs with your fingers and we do that to keep the wrist line.

Take the psalms out. You start to twist the rest. We want to keep your lines long. So risk to elbow, to shoulder, to hip, to ankle, to toes. Good. Let's get a good lift through here. And I also want her to shift her weight a little forward. So the top of your head should be on top of those springs. [inaudible] that's where she's gonna stay so that she can use her lower powerhouse to do the work.

So the upper body is holding you while the lower body is moving. So using your hips, your legs, she's going to start to push back slowly. Not too far. Now she's wants to drop. I want you to drop those heels and try to drag it in by lifting your toes. So you're gonna try to get all 10 toes to lift, push out, and now heels down, toes up.

Now remember how you had that three counts in with the tendon starch was the same three counts here. You're going to push out and here and drag it in, counting to three. So ready out now come in one, two, three, counts. Ready out and heels down. Lifting one, two there closer. So let's shift you back so their heads more on top of the springs. Come back in. Drop your head, look at your tummy. I'm going to lift her because she lost her. See a little bit, drop your shoulders so it's really easy to get into the shoulders here. So if you keep the the top of your head on top of the springs, that will help you from using the shoulders a little bit.

Now go out and I'm going to help her bring it in in three counts. One, two, three, much better water. Feel that lift, hear out and you want to feel the stretch on the back of the legs. One, two, three. Now do three more and try to relax those shoulders. One, two, three, two more soft, soft shoulders and round up into here. Lift into my hand. Two, three, last one out. Heels down. Toes up. One, two, three. Alright, I'm going to have her kneel to her knees next. She'd been working pretty hard. Okay, slide backwards.

This time she's getting ready for her knee series. So what I want you to do is round your back into your seat, right? But your heels need to be against the shoulder pet. So are you able to pull your toes forward? Yes. So the toes are really flexed and then she's in her si, but she's going to sit pretty close to her heels and because she has no knee issues, she can do that. So she's going to push back. There you go. This can be tough on the knees. If you have any knee issues, you want to maybe come up higher or maybe skip this. Drop your shoulders.

Her arms are long. So here she's anchoring herself by keeping those palms firmly planted, but not gripping. Just light. Okay, she's gonna use her hips, her legs, and yet again that powerhouse to push out. So using your hips and legs start to push back. Her hips are going to stay tuck just like they are, and then she's going to sit back on those heels and she's going to do that eight times. Push out and then curl those hips. Very nice. Now relax up here and continue on out.

And in three she's doing eight. Her arms are staying nice and long. That's good for you. Don't want them bending five you'd want to be pushing with your arms. You want to isolate those hips, getting the doom work. Six [inaudible] using those, tell my muscles seven last one out and round it and see how she's in a nice suit. So she did good on that. Lift your head and open your chest.

This is a counter that to that. She's just been rounded. Well now she's going to stretch that up or back, open it up and try to pull those shoulders back. So her chest is really broad right now because of her flexibility. She's able to sit pretty close to those heels, kind of like a squat. Her palms are on there. You can drop your fingers or to lift them.

It's up to you. I tend to lift mine and now let's lower your chin. Just a little, not too much, but your head is up. Yeah, I just don't want you crunching your neck now. Can you roll their shoulders back more? Beautiful. Now she's in a nice position. She's gonna push with her hips out her legs and hips and she's going to sit back on those heels every time she comes in and she's going to do eight of those arms. Stay Nice and straight, so really long arms. Good. So you have some resistance keeping you stable up here. She's done two, three. Now this one. Keep going. Don't let those ribs pop out.

You do on that upper back support for so you're not totally collapsing. Your lower back. Five looks good. Out Six little door open here out, keeping that chest broad. Seven one more out, and eight rest. Okay. Now she's going to finish with one more exercise. As far as the niece church series goes, she's gonna stand back up like you did for the elephants.

So you're to stand up on the carriage. She's gonna put her feet back against the shoulder pads. Only this time she's going to be up on her toes. So lift your heels and put your heels up against the toes, or excuse me, the shoulder pads. All right, she's going to round back into that seeker and remember earlier how she had her head over the springs. We'll hear to shift your weight forward. Keep going because you don't want to put any pressure on their shoulders.

So she's in a nice, see again, her tailbone is down, her head is down. She's looking at her stomach. Keep your gaze on your belly button. Now here comes the challenge. She's going to start to bend tourneys about two inches off the carrot. The lower you go, the harder it go. It becomes, so make sure you go to where you can control this. Your heels, stay back, Tuck your bottom and now use your legs, not your arms.

You're going to push out and then she's going to bend her knees and bring the carriage back in and keeping those knees off the whole time out and come back in. Now I had her go pretty low. Let's come up a little higher. That's it. Keep the heels back and come all the way in. Work on the carriage coming in, not so much out, just yet out. Bring it in. The challenge is the end right now. Drop your head. That's it. Four and five. She can do what she can do. Eight to 10. Six doing great. She's staying in a nice sea. That's not easy.

Seven h others down. Tuck the hips. Nine. One more. Get those heels back and all the way in. Unrest. I lower down to your knees. Good job, Casey. All right. He'd given up on me. Now let's step off. So she was on two springs for all of those. She has been ever since.

I can't remember for a while now, so add an extra spring. Go back to your footwork springs. If you were a three, go to three. If you're a four, go to four. She's going to lie back down. She was ready to cool down. Got You. Excited. All right, so to your toes, you get yourself centered so your head is back on the headrest and you make sure you have even space between the shoulders and your ears. Okay, so she can do this in a slight plie stance or parallel.

I like to do it a little bit. Turned out. Yeah, her knees are going to stay in line with her shoulders or hips. Her arms are down and now she's been working that powerhouse so she has a good sense of how to get that back to really drop down and pull up so you just get a nice long spine. Now she's ready to straighten her legs and she's going to go into a walking exercise. Now that she's out, she's going to even get deeper. Go ahead. Shoulders, relaxed. Spend those elbows a little bit. Go ahead. Now deepen in here. Very nice. Now she's ready to walk.

So one hail will drop as the other heel lists. Now this is a great exercise also for stability in those hips and lower back. Make sure your knees go straight up. You don't want the hips to rock roll. You want to keep them very quiet. And that comes from from keeping that anchor through here so I can you fill this up with your tummy? Yes. Stay right in here.

That's it. You could pull up a little bit more. There you go. And now keep walking. Heel up, heel down, heel up, heel down. Now run [inaudible] same thing quickly for 10 counts. One, two, much quicker. Three, four, five, six, tummy, seven, eight, nine, 10 and then journeys bring herself in. Good. Make sure not too squished here. If you need to move towards me, you can just a little bit. You're gonna place your feet on the corners of the Bar, on your arches. She's going into a pelvic lift. Good. Your feet can be relaxed, your knees can be relaxed. You're going to curl your hips off the bat.

Maybe two to three vertebra, not too high. Really the ribs will stay down and shoulders relaxed and you're going to straighten your legs. So keeping the hips just like they are off the mat, she's going to stretch out and she's going to bring the carriage back and she's cooling down nice and easy. Stretch out. Get the legs nice and straight. Keep the wrap happening. So the outer thighs are wrapped around and out. And what will happen is we'll get kind of scrunched into the shoulder tear.

Try to relax those and drop back into those upper abdominal so those ribs stay down. So this part of your back should actual be lower and down through here. There you go. That's what you want. Now stay there. Now push out. Stay down in those rats. Very good. Three more out. So no more than about six to eight of these. That's it. Keeping the hips nice and level, not letting them wobble and one more. And then she's going to come in. Stay in the, take her time to roll down. And that concludes the real basic reformer. Nice job.

Comments

Cueing is hard to follow....pretty client specific
Now I am just a student, but I find instructions really confusing
and I think that Casey's body shows that too.
I selected reformer with no props and this uses a box and pole.
I felt like an outsider looking in on a private class. :(
I thought it was great! I loved it! Will be going in to my Favorites playlist! Thanks Adrianne :)

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