Detailed Reformer Variations

We're going to start with the footwork and we've set up the reformer with two reds and the blue and the foot bar is in the middle section of the, um, of the setup. So you don't always have to have this. Quite often I'll go on a much lighter spring for someone who is, um, not quite as strong and quite often with when I'm working with guys who are very strong, I'll go on to a yellow spring, which makes them work much more into the center. So you decide which springs you want to use. So, but we'll start with these anyway. So if you'd like to lie down with the head rest up. Yeah, we're going to start on our heels and have the, the heels in line with the hip joints all the way through. But I want the heels to be the foot to be quite soft.

Okay. So the, the doss affection is not too tight, so just easy. So just to warm the lower backup. Before we do this, we're going to take a breath in and as we breathe out, just pull the abs together and slowly curl the pelvis off the ground. Do it. It's easy. Pelvic tilt up towards your rib cage. Hold it there, breathing in and then slowly breathe out. As you go down, just feel the back settled into the bed and breathe out and curl up. Read in there and then slowly go back down.

Good. Now this time, do a small pelvic tilt just about four or five centimeters off the ground, off the bed. And now keep that lift. Now slowly straighten your legs just to feel the hamstrings and the glutes working and then come down breathing in and lower your legs or sorry, low your pelvis down and breathe out and curl up and slowly stretch away. And Don and Lo, we've just done that twice. But normally you can do it probably six to eight times. Okay, straighten your legs and we're going to get into the position from this from the straight leg. So I want your toes on the bar. That's it.

Now just check the job back is in place that your ribs are done, the pelvis is done, and I want you to think of the hipbones sit bones and floating rib. Just gently pulling together as if you're putting a wide belt so you can support the lower back. Now as you breathe in, bend your knees to come down and then breathe out as you go up and calm down. Breathing in, keeping your heels absolutely still and stretch out, checking that you're pulling up just above the knees and come down. Breathing in. Just imagine your ankle, knee, and hip joint are working simultaneously and done and breathe out and stretch and breathe in [inaudible] [inaudible] rather than starting with your legs, think of your back doing the work. Feel that your back is pushing away. So almost as if your back is sticking onto the bed.

A stretch. Okay, stay there. Place your heels onto the [inaudible] and breathe in as you come down and allow the feet to soften as you come down. And then as you go up, bring them back into the dorsiflexion and breathe in and breathe out in that. And I'm done. This is a good speed. I don't like it any faster than this.

So you can really organize what's happening to the rest of the body as well as just the legs. And you have time to pull up into the back of the legs. As you straighten, as you go up, just think a gentle pinch of the sit bones, which will increase as you grow up. So when once your legs are straight, your pulled up into the back of the legs and come down. Breathing in and breathe out and stretch onto your toes in a small v. Okay. Separate your heels just a little so we can get your knees completely straight.

Okay. And then Junius become done and breathe out. Now as you can straighten your knees, just feel that elongation going through the whole spine and come down. Breathing in a little lighter with, that's it. Yeah. Depending on the shape of leg, sometimes you have to have the heels apart so you get the full stretch of the leg and stay back on this one. Stretch art. Now, place your heels in second position. Wide position on the bar.

Oh, I want you, as you come down, I want you to aim the inside, the inside of your thigh, the center of the thigh, over the instep. So breathe in and come down and just feel a stretch open. Hold that stretch and slowly straighten your legs. That's it. To get more work into the doctors as you do it. Keeping their pelvis in place, drawing up through the center and [inaudible].

So it's really working into the adductors as you go up. Yup. That's it. Nice to breathe out as you go up and breathe in to go dad. Now this time, stay there now inwardly rotate your legs and bend the knees to come down. Pause out, rotate and straighten. So turn in and Ben turn art and striking and in so you pause as you move the direction of the legs and then continue a little wider as you come down. [inaudible] sorry. As you as you in second position set. So the wider in the wider, that's it. So you get a real stretch into the adductors. One more set and then we'll reverse it.

So come down with them. Legs wide, turn in and stretch out. That's more work. Yeah, that's it. Watch my arm. Good. Two more times.

Excellent. And not on your toes in the center. Stretch heart. Do the walking, but it's a very slowly, so it's rather than a run, it's a walk. So what I want you to feel is that you get to a point where both legs are completely straight and then you go down to working both legs simultaneously and think of the back of the leg, the work. That's nice. Yeah. So there's slight pause when both are straight and then change over.

Yeah, take, bring your feet up just a little wider. That's it. Yeah, that's good. And two more. And Bend your knees and come down. But I'm going to take a red spring off. So you have one and a half a place your heels onto the bar. Now take your right leg off and stretch it out just above the bar, keeping the legs parallel as you breathe in.

Straighten your left knee and at the same time bend the right one and stretch it up to there. So I want the legs to straighten, simultaneously. Bend and breathe out to come down. So you're going to breathe in and lift, breathe out to come down. [inaudible] do, do six and then we'll change over. So change over when you're, when your legs are stretched out and try and get the elevated leg a little higher each time. That makes sure the tailbone stays down on the bed, well in the ads, just a little more. When you do that and changeover, stretch and bring the right leg down onto the heel and stretch.

Bend the knee and come down and uh, bend and stretch and bend and stretch and rest when you've done six. Okay, now place your heel, uh, your toes on the Bart. Very base like turnout, uh, stretch or right leg out. Just let me show you what you're going to do first. You're going to do dabbler pair up. You're going to bring the leg down and up, flex and stretch, point and stretch, and then come back down.

So you're going to go and think of the moving on the [inaudible] count and one. So you're getting there each time. So and one Dan up. Flex both feet and length in this leg up. Lengthen point both and reach up a little more and then come down [inaudible] bending your knees to come down and breathe in and stretch out in, out and stretch in.

And then come down and stretch up and rich don and I get the lake higher, higher, higher, higher flex and push higher point and then come down one more. Breathe in and stretch. Breathe out in flex lift and then done. Good other leg. Think of this one is an a slower, fast, slow, fast. So there's a different rhythm to do again.

So and one now down and up. Flex slowly rich and then done. So breathe in and rich, done up. Flex point and down. That's nice. And stretch and reach done up flex point, that last one and up, down, up reach point. And then done.

Good addressed. Lift your knees up. I, we're gonna have a blue spring. Take hold of the straps. Now I want your legs to be in tabletop on this, but I really don't like that tabletop. I like your heels to be slightly lower. So it releases the hip flex as a little. Okay. Stretch your arms up, reach up. We're going to do the arm series.

So there are three movements and two breaths that your breath is going to change each time. Okay, so let's start from here. We breathe in and pull down. Turn the palms in, breathe out to go out to the side. Breathe in to come up. So the now breathe out as you come down, turn in and then out. And in turn, push your hands away as you go out to the side and lift down rich and turn the palms in and stretch and lift. One more time and pull and reach. Okay? Before we do the reverse, if you pull it, when you pull down, come in. Now when you turn rich and stretch a little more before you come up.

So there's a slight long, a longer time in the transition of the position. Okay, so from here, slowly pull it out to the side. Now pull your palms in, but lengthen your arms. Turn and lift. Breathe out in turn and lift and open. Close turn. And they've just feel the scapula gently pulling into the correct position and up. Good and rest red and a blue.

I'm going to take the foot bar down to the lowest level now. Okay. Move down to [inaudible] from the show to stops. Just to lift off, we're not going to do the hundred oh okay. But we're going to do a hundred prep. Okay, so stretch our arms up to the ceiling. Hold onto them lightly. Take a deep breath in. Now as you breathe out, start calling your head forward first. Arms down and legs out to 60 degrees and then breathe in to go back down.

Okay. And breathe that headfirst and follow through and up and head. Breathe out and re sure. And turn the legs out as you come up as you come forward and stretch out and turn out and back. So getting a little more work in the inner thighs. Now this time you're going to hold the position, so breathe out and pull. As you breathe in. Open the legs, flex readout, close the legs and come forward. A little more. Lift, lift, lift, lift, lift, and then go down.

Pointed feet and breathe out and come forward. Turn out open flex and close. Lift, lift, lift, lift, lift. And I'd like you to lift higher and arms, uh, open, flex and rich. And then dad, slight change. Arms down, legs out.

Open your arms and your legs and reach forward and lift. Yes. And then [inaudible] and forward. Nope. Reach out. Make everything long as you reach out. And Flex and lift. Lift, lift, lift, lift. And one more time and breathe out. Open. [inaudible] for a good ad. Excellent.

Okay, cool. So better than the a hundred. Put your feet in the straps. Stretch heart, not turn the legs out. We've got a one and a half of blue and a red. If you feel you would like more, we'll add it on. So now this is the center of two circles. Okay.

So we're going to go in was first. So there's a half circle here and a half circle there. So you meet only once with the heels. So we're going to do four inwards and four outwards. So breathe out on the bottom half of the circle and breathe in on the top half.

And around, down and around. Feel the hip joint in connected with the leg. So don't push into the foot too much. Keep the rotation. Okay.

Now in the other direction, you breathe in on the top half of the circle. Dorsiflex now scoop around with your heels. So you come up and work into the inner thighs. A little more point half circle. Breathing in. Breathe out and half circle and scoop up and that.

So open flex and scoop up, up, up, up. That's it. And on. So it's very easy to just hook the legs together and come up into a dereg, which means that while you could be carrying one leg, if one leg is slightly stronger than the other, one more time. Do you feel your inner thighs on that? Good, right? Good. Now stay in this position with, with a flex. Uh, I want you to do the frog that you don't move it any more than 90 degrees with your thighs. So bend your knees, breathing in just to there. Don't think of your heels as you breathe that.

Draw the ABS in and just gently pull the abductors, the inner thighs together. And Ben, breathing in and push and bend. Breathing in. Push and bend. Stretch. Now this time bend. Brilliant. Pause there. Now with your right leg, point your foot and extend out to the side.

Flex and return it. Point your left foot and stretch out to the side. Flex and return point both stretch out to the side. Breathing in, flex and return and straighten your legs and Ben Reading in [inaudible] left foot this time. Point and stretch out. Flex and come back. Try and keep your thigh in one place.

Other leg flex and back both together. Point, flex, return and straighten your legs. We do two more frogs. So Ben, breathing in now this time as you breathe out and straightened curve forward and reach your arms mid thigh. So breathe out and reach forward. Reach, reach, reach, reach and breathe in. To go down and breathe out and stretch. And Dan twice more and stretch. I did say two, but I decided on four and [inaudible] and [inaudible] a squad and I draw the scapular down a little more.

As you go up and reach excellent and uh, and dressed right, we're going to have um, two reds. Take your head rest down. Okay. And we'll do short spinal, okay. Moved on the bed set and you can just likely hook your fingers onto the end of the bed.

Okay. You obviously do the short spinal tube. Okay, I just want to do a slightly different one. So stretch your legs out, turn the legs parallel, take a breath in. Now as you breathe out, slowly bring your legs towards you so you get as much stretch in the hamstring as you can. Keeping the tailbone down. Now as you breathe in, slowly roll up onto your shoulders, turning out, turning out. As you reach up, hold the straps tight. Bend your knees and open them, holding your breath. Now as you breathe out, roll the spine down away from the pelvis, goes away from the heels. Get as far as you can, keeping the heels in one place. Flex the toes in parallel.

Draw your heels down. Pause there, breathing in, breathe out, go into the frog position and stretch and then turn the legs in. Breathing in, so breathe out as you come over. Sit into it as much as you can. Now slowly turn out and breathe in and go up onto your shoulders. Lifting the straps up as you go up. Hold your breath as you bend.

Keep the feet where they are and are slowly rolling your back down. Keep the knees slightly apart, flex the toes, draw your heels down, pause their breathing in. Go into the frog position and then push out and point. Turn in. Bring the legs over slowly. Keep the back flat for as long as you can and slowly go off onto the shoulders.

Turning out on the inward breath. Bend your knees, holding your breath. Now slowly roll your back down. Keeping the heels in place. Feel the tee, the tailbone dropping away from your heels. Flex the toes and draw your heels down.

Pause breathing in and breathe out and stretch one more time and turn it in and legs over. Not really a strong outward rotation and lift up onto the shoulders as you breathe in, keeping the neck very long. Don't go up too high onto the neck. Bend your knees and open. Hold your feet here. Now just feel your being gently push down using the abdominals to help you to go into the position. Heels down cause and then stretch out.

Excellent and rest. Bend your knees, take your head, rest back up and we'll take the bar up into the top level. Actually three, you know it's, we'll use the middle level. Use the top level. If you're working someone with very tight hamstrings, so you adjust the to suit. Take one foot out of the strap, whichever you like. That's it. And place the heel on the bar and straighten this leg. Stretch this leg up to the ceiling and place the strap just on the end of the healer. So that's it.

I'll keep this leg very straight. Now slowly bend your left, your right knee slowly, slowly, slowly. So you feel a stretch into the hamstring. Feel the energy going up through the heel soon. Stretch the knee. Are you feeling a stretch on that? Add. Hold it.

Flex the foot hard and then straighten your leg and Ben slowly keep the tailbone down, whatever. That's it. [inaudible] and if you let the tailbone come off, you're cheating. Okay? Feel the energy going right through from the top of the leg, right through the knee, through the heel and back. And one more in this. Good. Stretch your knees. Let your knees stretch your knee. Yes, I had stretch. Okay. Normally I change over that.

We'll do it all on this side just to, okay, bend your knee. Sorry. This one. Okay. Now from there, take your right leg off and stretch it at through the bar and feel the legs separated without resting your foot on the bar. Turn this leg out. Now. Breathe in and lifted up towards the other foot. Breathe out and stretch it down and length and through. Don't move the bed, lift and dad and lift. Just the turn that just the moving one and lift and then don and place it back on and change legs.

You can do Rhonda, you can do circles on that if you want to. You know, with the leg going up and down, and then you can circle, place the heel on the bar. So we'll do four normal ones and then we'll add on this one for the last one. Stretch. Stretch your leg out first. Now slowly bend, slowly bend and straighten. And then, and stretch. And Ben always keep it quite a strong flex so you can feel that energy going through the front of the heel.

Imagine standing on the floor to get that pressure through the whole leg. Have you done for one more? And now one more time. The last one that we'll take. Once you've got the stretch, now take your left leg off. Reach on, retreats, reach, reach, reach. And now lift the leg up and lower it four times.

Breathe into lift, reach out and lift. Keep smiling on this and think of legs stretching away. Lyft and Lyft and [inaudible]. Very nice, good and dressed. That's good. The legs arrests. Are we, um, kneeling up facing the facing the, um, uprights [inaudible] I facing that way. Let's have one blue for this right. Place the straps onto your wrists and have your arms by your sides.

Now check that your shoulders, hips, and knees are in a completely straight line. So you need to have a slight pull in here to help to hold and elongate the spine upwards. Now as you breathe in, gently stretch your fingers towards the floor and pull your arms back behind you. And then rotate your palms inwards. Sorry, your arms in Rhodes. Palms outwards to get a little more work into the back and then breathe out. And then forward. So you read in to come back and rotate the palms.

Go out and then breathe out to go forward and are this time as you rotate your arms, just lift the sternum to do a thoracic extension and then back and pull. Rotate and left, and then back. Good place one. Take your your left strap onto the back. Onto the hooks. Have your left hand onto your right shoulder. Okay, just in front of the shoulder here. Now you're going to turn to the right, keeping the hip space square.

Turn to the right and pull your arm back and push with your left hand to take you around a little more. Keeping the hips square, push, push, push, push, push. Now rotate your palm again and then come back and turn. Push with the hand. Push, push, push, push. That's it. And back and turn. Breathe in. As you go round. Now hold it. The lift your arm above your head and turn a little more. Turn, turn, turn center.

Turn the palm down and bring it down to your side and take it back onto the shoulder. So add, turn, not push with the hand push. Keep the hips square, not lift your arm up. Turn a little more. Turn a little more center, 10 hand, and the push down and done. Good change arms. So turn and pull. Now you're breathing in on this point. Push, push, push. Gon Push and breathe out.

And lift your arm up. Drop the shoulder down. Keep the shoulder down. Turn a little more. Think of looking behind you. Center. Turn the palm over and pull down and pushing. Pushing, pushing. Lift. Drawing the shoulder blade down as you lift. Come on, turn more. Turn more. Turn more hips, squares, hips square and center.

And our feel you're pushing something down with your hand. Excellent, right? Is that too? I can't remember. It'll do. Turnaround counting is not my best quarter. I must admit. Take hold of the straps. Have your knees as close to the front as possible. That's straps by your side.

Okay. Up Straight again, get this connection between the abdominals and the glutes that helps to hold your position. So from there, as you breathe out, you're going to carve your arms forward and straighten them. Stretch your fingertips. Breathe in, draw the shoulder blades down as you bring your arms up, lengthen through your armpits, and then breathe in and come all the way down. So when you're lengthening, you're not lifting your shoulders. So breathe out and curve forward. Turn, breathe in and reach. Lengthen. Open your armpits, open, open, open, and then down. Try not to use your eyebrows quite so much as your arms go up.

Breathe out at curve. Really now, breathe that and no eyebrows, just soft face, soft, soft, soft and that, that's better. Uh, breathe out. Rich. Forward, left, rich and down. Very nice. Thank you. Let's take the straps back on the loops. Okay.

Put a box on short box in front of the show that stops. Take this sitting on the box with both feet in the strap. Um, actually let's take the box over cause I don't want, I don't want your heel. I would like if possible to have your legs straight on this [inaudible] so sit back so the feet are away from the bye. So take hold of the strap, the the bar stretch up. Take a breath in. As you breathe out, contract the lower abdominals and bringing the bar down to your thighs.

Keep the curve and our breathe in and reach up. Read out and curve working into the back of the legs as you do it and there. Breathe in and reach. Breathe out and curve. Now hold the curve. As you breathe in. Just bring the bar up, increasing the curve, breathe out and bring the bar down and then in and lift and breathe out and cut.

Really feel the work through the abdominals, through the heels, and increase that curve as the bar goes up. Breathe out and bring it down. And then lift. When you lift, it's pretty much presentation. Okay. I'm going to change it again. So breathe out and curl down. Breathe in and lift up.

Breathe out and turn to your left. Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn. Keeping the hips square center breathing in. Turn to the right center. Breathing in out and our presentation in [inaudible]. That's it. One Wall and curve.

Um, turn center, turn center. Um, stand and reach up. Good. Thank you. Turn the box around over the show to stops. If they fit, sometimes they don't fit, but okay. Lying on the box with your shoulder blades over the edge. Hmm. It's just one to watch for a second. Move down south.

Just we'll just do a demonstration here a little bit further back in a second. Now Bend your knees and take hold of your ankles. Okay. Not as you breathe out. You're going to straighten your arms and legs flex and turn out.

Turn the palms as you breathe in. Take your arms to your head arch, all the way back. Breathe out and bring your arms in a wide circle and lift up towards your toes. Lift, lift, lift, lift. Bend your knees and take hold of your ankles. Okay, so it's the inward breath as you go back. Okay? Maybe open your arms a little earlier so you don't get caught in the straps. Okay, so hold onto the ankles as much of elbows up, shoulders, dad, na breathe in. And rich flex in.

T whoops. It's on four cards, not on two. So one flex and turnout. Now get the inner thighs working arms to the head and stretch all the way back. Pulling right from the hips. Head up first. Breathe out and curl. Lift, lift, lift.

Bend your knees and take hold and breathe in. And stretch. Flex and turnout Armstrong's head. Now lengthen everything by. Don't let your head hang. Keep the head moving and around, around and up and point and re-estimate. It's just sit up for a second. When you take your arms back, what's happening? The head's going, so you take your arms back, the head continues moving. So the head's coming up before your arms come around so you're not getting this heaviness of the head, okay? If you fall off, it means you haven't been using your stomach muscles. Okay? So, and I need to get more pull out of the hips before you go back.

So it's a stretch this way. Okay, let's do two more. So breathe out and stretch arms to the head. Breathe in, go all the way back. Keep the low back head pub head up now. Arms Paulo, reach. Come on up, up, up, up. Bend your knees and take hold and stretch.

Flex and turnout and reach back around and up and dressed. It's okay, but I don't think you're using your legs enough. You know you're taking your leg. The legs are going. So you need to think of your legs being a much stronger base. You'd all the work we've been doing with the frog and all this, you need to think of the legs being much more, more strong.

Just to just show you for a second. So from the, as you go in this position, as you straighten your legs, you're going to press your heels together and work the inner thighs. So stretched out, stretching, stretching, stretching, stretching. That's it. And that gives you a much heavier base into okay at rest. Okay. Take the box off. That's new thing. Yeah.

Uh, put the nonslip pad here and we have at blue spring [inaudible] now I place one foot on to this solid bar and place your foot roughly the width of a foot away from the edge of the, of the edge of the carriage. Okay, no, that's fine. Yeah, that's okay. Now up straight again. I want this connection between the abdominals and the glutes, the hamstrings. So elongate up, take a breath in. As you breathe out, push away keeping the legs in parallel and breathe in as you come back and breathe out and breathe in. Now this time as you go away, as you preside, bring your arms up to here and then breathe in and take them down.

So it's arms and legs. So breathe in, open and reach out of your hips, and then breathe out to come back and let your arms go too far. They have to come in roughly in front of it, slightly in front of your ears and push. Come on, lift out of the hips and back. Oh, this time you're going to turn to your left as you stretch out and lift your arms. So push out and turn to your left and center as you come back and stretch away and turn to your right. Keeping the hips square. Keep the hips square. Don't let the hip go forward and back and turn to the right. You go down, turn the torso. That's it. But keep this square. Now Open your arms, close them, and then come back into the center and then down. So try and keep the hips as much square that open and rich up.

Turn Open your arms. Lift and dad. Other side. Careful. If you step off, it's when you do the turns of tendency feet to move the hips. Push that. Yeah, that's so the, yeah. So you've got it in the opposite direction. Yeah.

So we'll do four and two and two. Okay. So just the simple ones first and stretch away and left you and just put up through here. Little more and stretch away. Uh, but yeah, and stress and back and stretch. And by now with it, just a simple arms up and stretch and use your arms to lift out of the hips and then back. Okay. And Lyft and back. And now with a turn, let's turn whichever way you want.

Turn whichever direction. Turn and lift and then back, uh, turn and lift. Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn. That's better. And back and out with the opening and turn, lift and open your arms, closed them as you come up and down with your arms. Last one and turn and lift and, and up and turn. And then come down. Good. Stand off the bed.

Lift the bar up to the highest level. Nice. Uh, let's have two reds on this highest level on this place. One foot here and the other foot in line with roughly with the bar holding both hands in the center and then just bend the knee, the right knee and push back, keeping the hips square and then slowly come back. Okay? Okay. So make sure the knee stays over the foot on the front. [inaudible] leg. Keep the lift and a push back into the heel and then push away.

Push away, push away, and slowly come back up and push away. Take a slight push for slight posterior pelvic tilt and up. Oops. That's it. And push away and up. One more time. Uh, for sure way. And I'll keep the knee over the foot and change to the other side. Huh? Always. Just make sure when you bend the knee that you off, that knee stays over the center of the foot on that and the hip stays square as possible.

I feel the lift to go back and push. Oh, what's this? Yes, that's it. That's bad. We have a saying in my studio in London, if it hangs out, we grab it or slap it. So be careful.

Keep the lift through the torsos. You do it, and then come up, open the chest and lift, lift, lift, lift, lift, drew up the center from the pubic burn and up. One more time and push, push, push, push and lift and stand up. Stand next to them, she and the one side, and just have your legs. Actually, let's face down this way. Yeah, just from that. Just this fits slightly part. I just drop the head up over and just slowly roll the spine down, pause there, breathing in, and then breathe out and slowly pick yourself up from the abdominals, stacking the spine, Vertebra [inaudible] Bruh, and up straight and just relax the shoulders. Thank you very much, much. Both of you.