Class #2317

Joint Mobility and Stability

50 min - Class
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Challenge your brain while you're moving through this Reformer workout with Erika Quest. She teaches a class for Active Agers designed to balance mobility and stability in the joints. She also includes games to trick your brain so you can improve neuroplasticity.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box, Baby Arc, Knee Pad

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Hi everyone. Erica quest. It's a wonderful, wonderful day here at Pilati is anytime as it always is. It's active aging. I'm here with the amazing Candace and the awesome Deb. They're here with me to participate, but guess what? It is still about party tricks and it's party tricks for the brain. So we're going to really enjoy some time together, not only doing some challenging movement, but also applying some neuro-plasticity, some games that challenged the brain while you're moving and that will improve on [inaudible] or the science of aging.

So I want you ladies to set yourself up for foot work and that looks like two reds and a blue spring. So when you are set we will go ahead and start warming up. So go ahead and stay at standing for me please. We're going to do a standing warmup in all of the planes to get kind of the total body warmed up. Before we move down onto the reformer. Now just a little disclaimer for you here. Should you have osteoporosis, just make sure that you're either limiting or omitting some of the flection pieces here. You can stay in a more stable spine. That's fine.

Just do what works best for you. And as a reminder, as I always say, this workout is for you. You have the gas pedal, so you take it to where you want to. I'll be teaching the regression as well as the progression and you do what works best for you. You guys ready? Let's get warmed up. So from here, take the arms up, take an inhale, exhale the elbows come bending wide, and then opening the chest up. Good. And again, inhale, take the arms up, just see kind of how you feel today. And Bend those elbows. Lift the chest a little bit and draw down. Setting the tone of the body. Inhale the arms lift, and then exhale, bend those elbows. Open the chest here. Good.

One more time. Inhale, take the arms up and then exhale. Bend the elbows. I was kidding. Just take those arms up one more time and hold them up there for me. Grab onto one risk. Grab the left with risks with the right hand. And I want you to pull yourself up and over to the right, reaching down through that left heel, feeling that link down the left side body.

Bring yourself back up tall to the ceiling. Let those arms come wide and back down. And do it again. Lift the arms up. And as I like to say, lather, rinse, repeat other sides. So here we go. Grab onto that right wrist with the left hand and pull yourself up and over, back up to the ceiling and let those arms come up and down. Good.

Now take the arms up and out to the tee position the palms of the hands face down to start. But then I want you to externally rotate the shoulder girdle by rotating the palms of the hands up. Lovely. Let's take a little bit of rotation and let's enjoy it. So I want you to start to twist the body. Carry on twisting and go as far as you comfortably can.

Good. And then come back around and try the other side. So we're just starting to swivel around the spine. Yes. And changing what's happening through the visual field. Back to center. Do one more each side and rotate to where you can feel the most comfortable and come back center good. And then do the other side one last time. Perfect. Beautiful Day here. So not bad. Looking at the water.

Good. Relax those arms back down. Now Deb, I want you to turn and face me and we're going to get ready for some safe squatting. So I want you to kind of stand in front of your a reformer carriage and I want you to take a little bit more of an athletic stance. So a wider base of support. Now the first thing you need to do is look back and make sure that your carriage is still there because you're going to sit down on it. Okay? So safely getting down into a squat, I want you to take your hands to your hips and I want you to slide your hands down towards your knees. Keep your chest lifted, look behind you one last time and have a seat. Good. Now you can stay there if you want, but we're going to take this up a notch.

So come back up to standing for me. Lean forward, stand back up if you want to take it up a notch to reach the arms forward. Challenge yourself and give me that nice squat all the way down to the carriage. Good. And then light, light touch and all the way back up. Yes. Lovely. Good. We're only going to do 65 more. And from here if you want that next challenge, you could take the arms to the ears or not and take it more to a chair position as you squat down. Good. Keeping the chest lifted, light touch, and then straight back up. Good. Let's take it four more times.

So inhale down if you'd like to just make sure you're breathing. That's all that matters to me. And exhale up. Really feeling those heels. Good. Inhale, lovely ladies. Chests are nice and lifted. We gotta be able to get up and get and get down in life. And two more times lifting. Good.

And last time down and lifting back up. And you're going to give me one bonus repetition because now we're getting into our footwork portion. So have a seat on your carriage. Lie down onto your back, lift your head rests up if you would like to. We're going to begin hip, or excuse me, footwork, hip distance apart. Parallel on your heels. Now I want the toes pulling up to the knees. Why?

Because we really want to activate the Tibialis anterior, the front of these shins, critical muscles to strengthen for fall prevention and reaction time. Arms are relaxed down by your sides. Chest is nice and open. And let's begin. Exhale, press away. Just creating a movement pattern that feels very familiar to you and inhale pulls you down. So I want your brain to start organizing this because we're going to change momentarily. So just notice how your legs feel.

Are you waiting each foot equally? I don't know. Maybe you are. Maybe you aren't asked yourself that. Good. Give me five more with control in both directions for better, lovely and three, did you lose your doors? Affliction? Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. Last two. And now stay out there for me on this last one. Let's challenge your brain. Keep the toes pulling to the knees. Lead with the right foot.

We go out to the wide part of the foot, bar out with the left foot in with the right in with the left and bend the knees. Bring it back home. Good. Do it again. Push it out. We lead with the left out. Left out right in the left in right. Bend the knees. Come home. Good. Press away paying attention here. Outright out. Left in, left in right. Bend the knees. Bring it back home.

Good and pressing away out. Right out. Left in, left in right. It's okay. You can laugh and bring it back home. Inhale. That's what it's all about. Exhale, press away. Neuro-Plasticity out right out. Left in right in left.

Bring it home. Good. Last one. Endorse the flection. Push away, outright out. Left in, left in right. Bring it back home. Great job. I'm joking. We're going to stay endorsed. Reflection of the feet. Let me remind you at home. Neuroplasticity movement. Brain Games has to happen at the same time. If you want to improve on your functional age. So from here, press out out right in, right out, left in left.

Bring it home again. Press out. Left in, left outright in right, bring it home. Good. Two more. Press away. Good out, right in, right out, left in the left. Bring it home. Last one, press away out. Left in, left out, right in right and bring it back home. Wonderful. Slide down onto your toes for me please. Stay about hip distance apart. Parallel, give me a slight. Lifted the heels.

We're going into stability of the ankles. Okay, so not so high that we've popped the ankles out. Chest is open, pelvis is neutral. Nice. Deep sip of air in. Exhale, full repetitions and inhale, pull it back down. Great, so now you feel good again. You don't have to listen to my cues as much. You can just focus on your footwork. Now where are you waiting? Your feet. Big Toe. The toe right next to it. Are they being weighted equal? Can you smile? Thank you.

And for more for good ladies. You know what's coming now. Three and two. Wonderful. Stay out there on this last one and hold we go back into it. So here we go. Listen to my queues out. Right out. Left in, left in right.

Bring it home and press out. Out. Left out, right in, left in right. Bring it home and press out. Good out. Left again, outright again in right in left, and bring it home to more. Exhale, press out, out. Left out, right in, right in left. Bring it home. Last one here. Press out. Good and outright out.

Left in right in left and bring it home. Good. Now we switch it. Press all the way back out. Hold it outright in, right out. Left in left. Bring it home. Good little dance step here. Press all the way out. Out. Left in, left out, right in right. Bring it home.

Good and press all the way out. Out. Left out in, left, outright in right. Bring it home. Nicely done. Last one. Exhale. Press away outright and in right out left. Now hold it. Don't bring it home. Stay out there. So both feet come back to parallel. Hip distance apart. Good. Fantastic ankle mobility. Inhale, reach. The heels underneath the foot bar. Exhale, rise up onto your toes.

So really working the anterior tibialis coming down and the doors of flection. Exhale, rise up. Good. Again, finding the big toe and the toe right next to it. So I'm giving your brain a break. We're back into a nice familiar movement pattern here. Notice what's happening with your ankle mobility today.

Make sure that you're not walking out the knees so no hyperextended knees here. You have that good co contraction with the quadricep and the hamstring. The chest is nice and open. Good. The pelvis is neutral. You're accessing your breath and five nice, super and four and three. Somebody got their toes done for this workout. I'm just saying.

And one bend, one knee straight and the other good. Hold it and begin some prancing or some jogging. Press up and switch. You chose a nice color, Candace, you're welcome. Her lips match her toes by the way, and pressed up and switch. Good. Lovely ladies. Nice. Good Pace.

And eight and seven. Nice. Six, five, four, three and two. Hold it up. Press all the way up and bring the carriage. All the way back home. Super Job, so we've been on your back enough. Let's go ahead and add an arc barrel onto your carriages. We'll stay with two and a half springs here. These ladies are strong.

They can handle this. I'm going to help them by dropping their foot bars down for efficiency by one notch, so we're in a low setting on the foot bar, but we're not all the way down and the arcs come right up against the shoulder rest. Now they're going to come and sit or you're going to come and sit right at the front edge of your arch. If you don't have this, you could certainly use a still a small stability ball behind you. You may want to be careful with that though, because that's not going to offer as much stability as these arcs are going to offer the position of the feet. Now you know I like to train the anterior Tibialis, so up on those heels, draw the toes towards the knees.

The knees are tracking in line with the shoulders. What does it look like? Stomach massage, kind of, right? But we're not going there with the hands. So we're gonna reach the arms forward from here. Give me a test. Just push your carriage out one time. Push it out. Good. Nothing fancy. You can stay here. Bend the knees, pull it back in. Stability through the core.

Press out. Gimme Wold one last test. These ladies are strong. They're going to start to mobilize. So you're gonna push out, hold it out, and we mobilize into an overhead reach. Take the arms up, lie back over your arch. Take a big circle of the arms wide and bring it back around and bend your knees in. The carriage comes home. Good. Let's bring these knees open a little good and do it again. Press away. And then you take your mobilization and wide and around.

I don't know what your shoulders look like. So do what feels best for you. You have the gas pedal again. Here we go. Push you away and then lie back and wide and around and bring it back home. Just two more of these. Yes, absolutely. Can just take that modification if that feels better for you and widen around and bring it back home. Good. And one more.

Push away and lie back. Good and wide and around. Bring it back home. Reverse your arm direction. What goes in one direction has to go in the other. So send your carriage out, press and circle y to the t, back to the ears and bring it back. What feels different in this direction? Maybe something does and that's okay. Again, press away. Beautiful ladies and opening those arms, reaching back, and then bring it back home. Good. And again, if this does not feel good to mobilization wise, carry on.

Then just stay instability of the spine and bring it back. Nice. Two more. And press away and open and reach and exhale through. And last one here and press out. Good. Open those arms and reach and bring it back through.

So now we change it for the brain and the body. Bring the fingers back behind the head. Make sure you can see your elbows in your peripheral vision. Connect downwards through your Leticia or your lats. K. Now I want you to flex the spine back over your arc barrel.

First, do that on an inhale. That feels good. And then as you exhale, you lift the body up and straighten the legs at the same time. No. So keep the Tush down, push your carriage out and lift into a chest lift. Yeah, there you go. Bend your knees and lie back over your arch barrel again. Inhale there and exhale you lift and extend those legs. Beautiful. Good. Inhale, nice strong legs here. As you press all the way out, connecting through the mid line, making sure those quads fire up nicely for you. Inhale, bend and lie back.

And exhale you lift and extend. Nice. And 43 more. Last two. Inhale. Exhale, lift. And last one should be getting some nice heat through the abdomen here. And exhale, lift and extend. Wonderful. Bring your carriage is back down. And we're done with the arc barrel, so go ahead and take those arch barrels off. You can move them to the side.

I'll adjust your foot bars. Now you guys can add onto that at any time. Adding a single leg work, challenging yourself, or just stay where we went to today. Now ladies, I'd like to take you to a light lighter weight. So let's take off one spring. I'm recommending a red and a blue on balanced body. So that would be lightish weight on other equipment and you can have a lie down onto your back, onto the carriage, bringing the feet into the loops. So we've given sort of the brain a little bit of break from some of the neuro-plasticity, even though you've had to be listening to me while moving.

But now we're going to start to play some games. Now here's the criteria. Extend the legs all the way up to the ceiling or as close to the ceiling as you can get with keeping your pelvis neutral. When you press the feet down towards the springs, the feet are going to dorse the flex. So let's try one of those flex and press down yes, and then point the toes and lift the legs back up. So you've created the movement pattern. Carry on with those flex and press down.

You can do this externally rotated, meaning small pizza slice, which the ladies have chosen, or you can do this parallel. Choose what works and feels best for you. Okay. Now from here we're going to begin to play some games. The first three digits of my cell phone number are eight 42 what are the first three digits of my cell phone number eight can you add the first three digits of my cell phone number together? 14 the last four digits of my cell phone number are nine four zero zero what are the last four digits of my cell phone number? Good.

What is my cell phone number? 94 yes. Very good. So from here I want you to tell me what nine four zero zero is backwards, correct? Two more times like this. And then we change the movement pattern. And last one. Okay, so we're playing with the numbers side of the brain. Pause there for a moment.

We're going to begin to play with the letters side of the brain from here. Let's take this into a circle. So you're going to open the legs out and you're going to draw the legs down and together. And now as you come up, I want you to Dorsiflex the feet and pull up. Yes. You then point and come around and together. Good. And then Dorsiflex and pull it up nice and open and down. And again, your range of motion is contingent upon what your hips and your pelvis can give you.

Retaining that neutral pelvis here and really getting that mobilization around the hip sockets. It's all about balancing mobility and stability through the joints. My favorite color happens to be green. Can you spell the word green? Correct. Anyone want to try and spell the word green backwards? Oh my gosh. So easy. Okay. That was way too easy. Great.

So let hold here at the top and I want you to reverse your direction of your circle and see if anything feels different. Spelling when we reverse. So press down and remember, I want you to doors the flex on the way down. Yes. And then circle around and come back to the top. Well, my other favorite cup color happens to be chartreuse. I'm kidding. [inaudible] my other favorite color is actually purple. Can you spell the word purple? Good.

And can you spell the word blue backwards? You sure did. And that's okay. That's what neuro-plasticity is all about. Blue backwards please. It'll be very nice. Good. Couple more of these. And the last one here. I like it.

Do me a favor ladies. Take your feet out of those loops. Bend your knees, put them back on the pegs behind you. Now while you do that, I am going to add a spring and I would like for you to drop your head rests down. Okay, Kay. So you're going to touch your toes onto your foot bar.

The arms stay relaxed down by the sides. We're going to do a touch reaction game first before we move into some bridging. And I want you to envision that your foot bar has been out in the heat of the day sun for six hours and it actually is sizzling like asphalt at times. So when I say cold, it's fine to have those toes on your foot bar. But when I say hot, those toes have to lift up.

And what I want you to think about when you're lifting those toes up is that you're activating your core. And we're doing this from the front and back body so you have your set sandwich on. So the front and the back body are working in harmony with one another, so the foot bars cold, so just relax. And from here it's now hot. So lift those toes up. Good. And it's cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold. Can you smile while you do it? Hot, cold. You can laugh.

Good, hot, cold, hot, good and give that a rest and nicely done. Stay on your toes. Foot bars, cold hip distance apart. Parallel arms are relaxed down by your sides. Familiar movement pattern. You can take a mobility or a stability bridge. Whatever feels good for you. Take an inhale, exhale, make it up onto your shoulder girdle. If you can, hips are opening towards the ceiling. State up there. Stability of the ankle here.

Press the carriage away to where you can do. Don't lock out the knees. Inhale, pull the carriage back down. That carriage is set a top two feet thick of mud, push away or garlic, mashed potatoes, whatever you prefer. Or oatmeal. And exhale, press away, weighting each foot equally good and gliding and pulling down. You're doing great. And exhale, press and inhale, pull 83 more. Last two. Good. And last one, bring it back home. Choose to get back down onto your sacrum or your spine as you would like to mobility or stability. Okay, great job.

So from here I would like for you to reach your right heel down like towards this direction, towards the doors to flex position and I'd you to elevate your left heel up. So we're like, so yes. Very nice. So now we play with some of this bridging and changing of the feet. Choose how you'd like to get up again, do it on an exhale. Mobility or stability, either rolling or just lifting unhinging at the hips, but keeping that foot position. Now we get tricky for the brain.

From here you send the carriage out one time at the top you switch the feet. Yes. Then you bring the carriage back down. You keep the feed there, you send the carriage out again at the top, you switch the feet, boom, and you bring the carriage back down. You keep the feet there, you send the carriage away, you switch the feet at the top and you bring the carriage back down. You send the carriage your way, you switch the feet at the top, you bring the carriage back down to Maren pressing. Switch the feet at the top. Bring the carriage back down. And last one, send the carriage away. Switch the feet.

Then the knees, bring the carriage back down. Lower the body. Give it a rest for just a moment. That's fine. Not Easy. Okay, so now pay attention because we're going to do something similar, so right, right. He'll elevate slightly. Drop in the left. Heel down. Yes. So again, anterior tibialis firing up on that left side.

So choose how you'd like to get back up onto the shoulder girdle. Get up there ladies. Good. Now from here, switched the feet at the bottom. So switch the feet, send the carriage out. Switch the feet at the top. Bring the carriage down. Switch the fee. At the bottom. Send the carriage away. Switch the feet at the top, bring it back down. Switch the feet at the bottom. Send the carriage away.

Switch the feet at the top. Bring it back down. Send the carriage away and hold. Now switch your feet at the top. Good. Switch your feet at the top. Switch your feet at the top. Switch your feet at the top. Now press up on to both sets of toes and bring the carriage all the way down to the stopper or low or the body all the way down to the carriage and take a break. Very well done. So those hamstrings in those gluteals should be fired up.

We need those for strong activities of daily life. Please come up to standing. Drop yourself to a red spring. Only. Come over onto this side of the reformers. So Deb, I'll have you start there. Put your knee down onto the carriage and your sole sold the foot up against it.

One that front foot stays on the floor. We're just going to take a nice standing lunge. Bend the front knee, let the carriage go back and open up the the hip on the carriage leg. So relax the shoulders. The chest is nice lifted. So we want that full kinetic chain stretch here through the front of the hip and all the way through. If you want this to be more challenging, you can take the left arm and lift it up towards the ceiling. And breathe. Don't hold your breath. Just breathe.

Good. And then placing that hand back down onto the foot bar. And we go out into, so lift up out of these, this hip flexor. Straighten out your right leg. So take a stretch through your straighten out the right leg. You're good. Draw the toes towards the knees. Good.

And feel that hamstring lengthen. Good. So you have the gas pedal. Don't overstretch here. Both of you need to apply a little more pressure to the inside of your heel. Woo. Good. Take a nice sip of air in here. Exhale, bring the carriage all the way back into the stopper and then you can walk around and we'll do the other side. Lovely.

Good. So take your time, setting yourself up on the other side. This time the other side gets to see how it feels. You doing great. And from here, bending that front knee, making sure the knees tracking over the ankle. Okay, so we want good relationships here. Sending the carriage away, shoulders are down, chest is lifted. Good Deb, nice both of you. And then if you want that challenge, you lift that right arm up. Mm and breathe. Really breathe and take that full, full stretch to the front, front line of the body on that right side. Good. The right hand goes back down and go ahead and straighten out the left knee.

As best as you can, tip the toes towards the knees and I'm suspecting you might want to put a little more pressure on the inside of your heel as well and breathe into that. Great. And the carriage comes all the way back in super. So we're moving into a full body category. Not that any of his hasn't been full. Body will stay on a red spring.

Please drop your foot bars down and we're going to do some knee stretches. So as I've been doing, we're going to set up a familiar movement patterns. The knees come up against the shoulder, rests the heels of the hands. Go onto the wider parts of the rails. Please make sure that the thumbs are not grabbing rather there on the outside, or at least kind of on this top part of your rails. Yes, just for a safety purpose. Now I want to stay in spinal stability.

So if I had a string on the top of the crown of your head, I'd be pulling you forward. And if I had a string on your tailbones, I'd be pulling you backwards so you feel this nice marrying of the front and the back of the body. So take an inhale here, and on an exhale you're going to begin to pull that carriage in towards the heels of the hands with the abdominal. Okay, good. Inhale at the carriage, come back and exhale. Go ahead and do that again. Good. Pull it in. Try not to round the spine here. Good. And exhale. So your range of motion here is going to be contingent upon what you can get out of your body. And that's fine. Good little.

Just a tiny bit heavier with your tail, Candace. Good. Perfect. And pull it in. So now that you guys are feeling this movement pattern, couple more times, we're going to add onto this another area of focus of the body that's super important for all of us, but most certainly in the active aging category is the quadratus lumborum. So from here I want you to take your right heel and lift it towards your bottom. Yes. Beautiful. Both of you. Similarly to what we were doing before, you're going to pull the carriage towards the heels of the hands. Look towards your leg. That begins a tail wag. Yes.

So pull the carriage towards the heels a yes. And look at this direction. Good inhale. You go back and then you do that again. So essentially you're pivoting around that and me and what you're starting to feel here is the lateral line of the body kick on. There's some cervical rotation. Take that at your own pace. You want to do that as slow as you need. Inhale. Exhale, pull.

Good ladies. Give that a rest and try the other side with the tail so you can notice how you might feel a little different. Okay, so the other heel comes up and you go, just explore for me. Inhale back to the stopper and exhale. Go. Nice. We did about maybe four or five of these. So let's do three more on this side and go. Good, great shoulder stability. And last two and last one. Super. So now we're going to up the ante. The right leg extends back behind you.

We are still in stability of the spine. And when I mean back behind you, I want it to be like elevated. Like you're trying to power wash the windows behind you with your big. So you have this link coming out of that leg. Now pulling the Le The carriage again towards you, you're going to take this leg slightly away from the body into a windshield wiper, a little different.

And your range of motion is contingent upon what you can get out of your body, right? There's no judgment on it. You have the gas pedal. This is your workout. This is not easy. Last three. These ladies are making it look easy and two and one good. Let's go for five to six to the other side. Give that side arrest and then reached the left like out long.

Set the tone of the body. Exhale, pull forward in. The leg goes wide. Each side is different and that's fine. We're not made by Mattel, right? Even though our body parts would be easier to repair. Good. Last two. Inhale. Exhale, pole.

And last one. Pull it in. Great. Give it a rest. Nice. So now shake out your wrist for a moment. Sit back on your heels if you can let go of that. Now we're going to add in just a little bit of mobilization of the spine. If that's available to you, bring the heels of the hands back down.

We will only take three on each side. Extend the right leg long. Lift it up so that it's parallel ish to the floor. Now you round the spine. Exhale, round the spine, bend the knee, draw the knee towards you. Yes. Inhale, extend through. Bend your knees, smile forwards with your chest. Whoops. Soaps up. Stay with me Deb. So extend your leg back and come into Scorpion.

Smile if that chest good, they're beautiful. And then do it again. You got two more of those on this side. Now that you know what you're doing. So you're going to bend this knee, pull it in as you round the spine, pull the carriage towards you. Good. And then come out, extend the leg, bend your knee and smile forward. Say Hello. Good last one. And exhale. Calling that cat. And I'm calling this Scorpion. Yes, super. Lovely. Go ahead and switch legs, ladies. No judgment.

You might feel different on this side. And you also may have just transferred some learning from the other side. So here we go. Exhale, pull it in and around. Good. And inhale into Scorpion. Nice. And do it again. Exhale. So we're in a different body position, training, balance with a moving piece of carriage. Good. One more.

We just did three on each side and pull it in and reach away and smile forward. Good. Excellent. Take a break. Well done. Ladies, we move into a bit of arm work. You're doing fantastic. We're going to switch you to a blue spring, so I'll allow you to switch it so that you can get a little bit of what I'm going to call active recovery time. Okay, so change yourself to a blue spring. We're going into a side sitting position. The toes are going to be facing the springs, the left hand. Let's see, dead.

Let's have you start facing those windows. So you're gonna have your left hand on the shoulder rest and yes, the legs are going to be stacked and you might feel we have different body heights here. You might feel dead that you can. You need to be a little bit further away. Yes, exactly. Blue Spring and these feet can be out a little bit further and the feet need to be stepped for me. Great. Now you're going to pick up your front loop with your front arm.

Slide this hand a little further forward for me, Candace. Now here's the deal. Before we move, push into the hand. Push the shoulder rest away to get this interior lateral line fired up. Don't move the arm quite yet. So just fire this up. Good. Now from here, we're just going to start to bend that elbow. So pull the elbow up beginning of draw sorts.

So just pull the elbow up and then lower it back forward. Good. Bring it up. Yes, don't go too high to where you start to pull into the upper traps and reach it down. Good. And pull it up. Now you know me, we're not going to stay here. We're going to add in some hip mobility with a game that I'm going to call butterfly. So as you lift the elbow on your next repetition, you're going to also lift the top knee. Yes. Good. So we're mobilizing the hips and we're working on that deltoid. But we're also working this lateral line here.

So really keeping that side body involved. Stable. Inhale here. Exhale, lift the knee. If you want a challenge, I don't know if they'll take it or if you want to challenge, come all the way out to draw a sword. So the arm goes along, it's all contingent upon what's happening in your shoulders. Okay. And come back down and bring it all the way out. If that's what you choose. If you don't choose it, that's fine. There's no judgment.

I'm giving you the regression to the progression because this is a heterogeneous category. No one person or body is the same. Good. Now we change this. That's about 10 maybe five, five to 10 of each of those into a tricep. So now the palm of the hands going to go up to the ceiling. [inaudible] you are correct. You're looking down at your hand that's on the headrest and you're going to press through that palm of the hand. Good. Yes.

So now we've set you up here if you can, and once we start that on the press, see if you can give me some hip mobility by lifting that knee up on the press. Yes. Press and lift the knee. Yes. Good. And Ben, are you smiling? You shouldn't be. Come on Candace. I'm here we go. Last 43 last to press. Good. Gentle sweat happening in the body. It's a good thing. Last one, super lather. Rinse, repeat. Put Your strap down on the peg.

Switch over to the other side. Ooh, you're doing fantastic. You only have an hour and a half more to go. So sets yourself up for success on this side. Remember the setups really important here. You want to push into that rest so that you're really firing up that lateral line, getting the [inaudible] drawing down the back. And we start with the first exercise. Don't lift the knee yet, so start the movement pattern and just pull that elbow up. Yes, do two more like that. We'll do four to five.

So draw this hand down a little bit. That will be it. Feel better on your shoulder. Yes. And last one. Good. Now on the next one, Candace's leader. You're going to lift the knee and lift the elbow. Yes. Gorgeous. And come back down hip mobility along with that deltoid.

And now if you choose to, you can take it into the full draws or so remember, this is the progression. I've let them choose. I'm letting you choose what feels good to you. Good. Nice. And let's do three more total and then we'll take it to the tricep and so focused. Now that you can see the waters. Beautiful Day and two good.

And last one here. Very nicely done. So taking it into that tricep. So the palm of the hand goes up to the ceiling. Look down at that hand, put some pressure into it so you feel that lat draw down and carry on. Don't lift the knee quite yet. I remember we did like three of these without lifting the knee and press good. And last one here.

Then you will press and lift the knee up. So you bend, you press and lifted me. Yes. Lovely. Good. And do it again. Good. Try and keep this risk step a little bit stronger if you can for me. Yes. And don't flex at that risk. So a little stronger. There you go. And press good. Two more. Press it up.

And last one here. Wonderful. Good, excellent job. So some interesting exercises we're going to move onto facing your risers. Stay on a blue spring. If you wanted a challenge, you could take yourself up to a red spring. You're going to be seated at the very base of your carriage with the legs extended through the shoulder rest. If your hamstrings or hip flexors cannot handle this, please put yourself up on a box. Okay.

Picking up your loops again with your hands. So Deb, do me a favor and scoot all the way against the very base. Still focusing on the posterior chain of the body, the back body to get the front body open. The arms come onto the outsides of your rails. The elbows are straight but not locked. The spine is lifted, so you want to feel like you're narrowing your waist in and you're perching up on your sitting bones, right? It's that element of float. You're going to reach down and press back into the palms of the hands.

Chest expansion. Yes. And inhale, draw the arms forward. Try and keep your head thumbs a little closer to the grails of the carriage. Press back. Yes. Try not to let the shoulders fold forward, rather keeping that clavicle nice and open. Now I'm going to tell you a story. So I live in southern California and one of the favorite places that I get to have lunch. I don't get paid for this.

This is free advertisement is active culture. My favorite salad there is the lemon hummus salad. It's actually relatively inexpensive. It's like $8 and 95 cents like $9 and 36 cents after tax. My favorite salad has what in it?

Oh my gosh. What color is a lemon? Can you spell yellow? Oh Nice. Very good job. Last two like this. Reaching down, pressing back. And last one. So I told you that my favorite restaurant was active culture.

Reach your arms forward, rotate the palms of the hands up to the ceiling. Keep the elbows away from the rib cage and Exhale, give me a bicep curl. Good. And inhale, reach the arms forward. Does anyone remember the name of my favorite restaurant? I love it. And what's the name of my favorite salad? I like it. Can you spell hummus?

What do you exactly is anyone getting hungry? Last three. Super Job Ladies and two. We're going to finish your arms after one more with some rhomboids. So take your loops and thread them all the way up to your elbows. Arms come up to the 90 degree angle and from here, right in front of you, you're going to open them out to the post.

So finding those middle back muscles. Now did you lose the float through your body? Can you find it grow tall through the top of the crown of the head. Draw the arms forward. Inhale here and exhale wide. So we had a really hot hot winter in southern California, but there was one weekend that I was actually able to make an apple crisps.

So I went to the market and I bought eight two Green Granny Smith apples. They cost me $8 and 32 cents. What kind of apples did I buy? How much did they cost me and what was I making? Nailed it. Perfect. Two more and wide and forward.

And last one. Why wide and forward? Give it a rest. Go ahead and take those loops off. Put them back on your pigs. You have two last games to play with me. Kneeling Games and prone games. You need your knee pads now. You can stay on a blue spring. You will put one knee pad right here on the edge of your carriage and one knee pad on your platform. There is a little bit of space there. Friend knee.

Okay. Not much but a little so let's move these out of the way so we have much space as possible. Exactly. Now come into what I'm going to call a 50 50 position. One knee on the platform pad and one knee on the carriage pad. If you wanted more control on the carriage up your weight to a red spring.

Now we're going to challenge visual aspect along with movement so we go thumbs up. Before we move, I want you to go a little heavier through the tail. Find those low abs drawn in and up. Don't grip the glutes. We start with the right arm. As the carriage floats away, you go up into the right with that right thumb. Look towards it, yes, and then bring it all the way back down and then go up into the left. You are moving the carriage and bring it back. Carriage moves out as you go up into the right. Yes.

And notice what's happening on your cog center of gravity. Things are changing and that's okay. So the whole point, this is invisible learning right now. Last to up into the right and bring it back home. Well done. Last one up into the left and bring it back home. Great.

So now hold it here and we go down into the right. The carriage still moves. You go down into the right, looking down and bring it back home. You might feel more confident here. I'm not sure. Down into the left and bring it back home and watch what's happening with the eye. Gaze down into the right and bring it back. Good and down into the left and bring it back home.

Good. Relax those arms and shake it out. All right, final exercise. Let's transition you off of the knee pads. So take your knee pads safely, come to the floor with your feet, take your knee pads off of your reformers, move them away, and we're transitioning a long box onto your reformer and we need to lift your foot bars back up to where you set yourself up for foot work originally at the top of the session. Good. Great. So once you're there, we are going to do a prone game that I'm calling super person in Palladia land. This will feel much like a unilateral breaststroke. So you're going to put your belly on the box, your heels of the hands on to the wide parts of the foot bar.

Maybe actually a little narrower because I'm going to have you transition into a single arm in just a moment. Now let's talk, the legs are a part of this equation. They are nice and strong back behind you. They are not limp fish. Okay, but don't overdo it with the gluteals heaviness through the tail so that you can engage the low abdominals into the spine. This is not a lower back exercise. Now give me a push out through the heels of the hands one time. Great. Now if you need to move your left hand towards the center, that's fine because I want you to lift your right arm up. Now you're going to go sums up with the right arm as you lift the body in the back extension and draw your Cape, which is your right arm down to your thigh.

Yes. And you can even look towards it. That's nice, Deb. Good. Then you're going to come back out forward. Push Away with that heel of the hand and switch over to the other side. So we're going the racich mobility unilaterally. Also shoulder stability through the heel of the hand that stays on the bar.

Good. Each side's gonna feel totally different. Now once you've done one to each side, go to a flat back position and bend your elbows and bring the carriage back into the stopper. Now Deb, I would like for you to slide a little bit further forward for me on your box. Your head might be forward of your bar and we're going to do that again. Okay, so remember, strong legs behind you. They do not need to be glued together. That's too challenging on your lower back. Widen your legs a little bit, but don't lose the connection with the hamstrings and the gluteals. This is a full body exercise. Give me one push out.

Good. The right arm floats, you go thoracic mobility, thumbs up. Pull your Supergirl Cape Down as you bring the carriage into the stopper. But don't bend your elbow. Lift up through the chest. That's it. There's the back extension. Good back away. And then try the other side. Thumbs up with that left arm. Bring it down. Yes, good, beautiful.

And then all the way back and then go to a flat back and bring the carriage back in. I'm going to have you do one more. You got one more in you and then we'll finish. I promise. Push all the way out. Stay flat back. Float the right arm. Good sum up and pull your Cape Down. Go into that thoracic mobility right there. Good.

And then come back to the bar and then the left arm goes, pull it down. Nicely done. And back to the bar. And then from here, lower to the flat back and bend the elbows and bring the carriage to the stopper. Once you get to the stopper, please safely and slowly come off of your box. And I'm going to ask you to come out into the floor here with me. We're just gonna do a few arm raises and lowers just to finish from here. Just make sure that you have room to move the arms. As you inhale, let the arms be an extension of the spine.

As you exhale, bend the elbows, open the chest. Take a bit of extension here. Notice how you feel. Think about the opposition now from the feet all the way up through the tops of the fingertips. Want you to feel that axial elongation through the spine as you lift and then open the chest, bend the elbows and stretch that chest up. Good. And one more. Inhale the arms lift.

Now hold the arms up here. Keep the our fingertips reaching to the ceiling. Reach the heels down towards the floor. Flex your wrists, the palms of the hand space up to the ceiling. And from here, I want you to open your heart center towards the ceiling, draw your arms wide and down. Good. And you are all done. Well done.

Comments

2 people like this.
Erika Q
Erika Quest
1 person likes this.
Thank you, Heikki! Love to you as well!
2 people like this.
Thank you Erika! Loved all of the segments with the regressions and progressions. I have several clients who will benefit from this wonderful workout! Have you taught an active aging men's class? I just started a men's reformer class last week - all in their 60's. Would love feedback! Thanks
Erika Quest
Hey, Mary! That's SO great about your "guys". Yes, I teach 60s, 70s, and 80s men right now. My best suggestion would be to use these games and strategies, but make sure you're also trying to vary the side of the brain. For instance sometime's have them remember numbers, but also have them spell colors, etc. One of my guys is a CPA, so a numbers brain. When I ask him to spell colors or remember my stories it's a different experience and challenge. Just have fun and beware of when they start to get frustrated. Time to back off and just teach the repertoire! Much love!
2 people like this.
Another fabulous class for Active Agers! including Me. Thank you so much for addressing a huge group of people that will benefit greatly from this routine. My clients are going to love this workout.
Erika Quest
Thank you, Deborah for watching and taking class. Glad you'll be able to use and share.
1 person likes this.
Great class, can't wait to try this with my clients.
Sandra R
5 people like this.
Absolutely, Bloody Brilliant! I'm 32, have always kept myself active and healthy and never have suffered from an serious illness nor injury. Been practicing Pilates almost daily now for 9 years. My point is, I was really challenged more in this class, than any other before! Yes this is of huge benefit and importance for the aging community, but I also believe this is super important for us younger folk too. I would LOVE so many more classes like this!
Erika Quest
1 person likes this.
Thank you Kathleen and Sandra for taking and watching! This work is so near and dear to my heart and I hope to bring much more to you as well. So much more to share and so many research based proven strategies that are changing lives! Much love, Erika
1 person likes this.
Loved. Thank you!
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