Class #280

Quick Foam Roller

30 min - Class
270 likes

Description

Add the dimension of balance and control to your workout. Cecile Bankston teaches a 30-minute Foam Roller class that is sure to challenge you and help you focus on the principles of the Pilates method. This workout is fun creative and just the right amount of time.
What You'll Need: Mat, Foam Roller

About This Video

Oct 07, 2010
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Transcript

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Okay. Hi, we're ready to start. Um, our foam roller class and we're gonna start with the roller long ways. Um, and you want to start sitting close to the edge so that when you roll back, you don't fall off the roller at the end so that your head's not hanging back. Um, feet can be comfortably apart for right now. Um, what you'll find is that the closer together your feet are, the more difficult it is for you to stay balanced. Okay? So if at any time you feel like you need to move your feet further apart, that's fine. Okay. So we're going to start sitting up nice and tall, take a nice deep breath in. And as we exhale, we're gonna roll back and down.

Really trying to imprint that spine one piece at a time. Place your hands when you're ready onto the mat all the way down. Good. And let's just take a moment there to try to feel that that spine imprinting on to the roller. Deep breath in. Exhale. Let the spine drop down so that you really feel the entire spine, the length of the roll or right red cage in everything. Relaxed.

Very nice. Good. Okay, so while we're there, I want you to just take the knees and let them open a little bit to the side. Inhale and exhale. Pull them back together to parallel. Good. And again, inhale, let the knees open a little bit, and you should be feeling when you do that exhale, pull them back together that you'd have to use those abdominal muscles a little bit more. One more time. Inhale. Let the knees open and exhale. Pull them back together. Stay right there. Take a nice deep breath in. And as you exhale, let one leg float up to the ceiling.

Good. Deep breath in. Exhale. Take the other leg up. Now you can keep your hands on the mat. Good. Deep breath in. Exhale, place one leg down, back on the mat. Good. Good. Deep breath in. Exhale, and the other leg. Very nice, very nice. So this time when you do it, really make the movement come from those low abs.

Deep breath in and exhale good, and the other one, deep breath in. Exhale, very nice and bring them down. Deep breath at the end. One leg at a time. Good and exhale. We're going to get a little tiny bit harder. With that, we're going to on one exhale, we're going to break. Start bringing one leg up and then bring the other one up on that same breath. So deep breath in. Exhale, one leg comes up.

Keep exhaling, bring the other one up, stay there, take a deep breath in. Really pull into those abdominals. Exhale, bring one leg down. Keep exhaling, deepen, good, and bring it back down. Last time, deep breath in. Exhale, flattened into those abdominals. Pull one knee up and keep exhaling. Very nice. Good. Now right there with your knees and tabletop. Make sure that you're balanced. I don't want you really pressing into the mat, but just nice light hold. We're going to try to do our single leg stretch with our head down.

We're going to take our right leg out as we exhale and we inhale and bring it back in. Good and left leg. Reach out flat, new those at Donald's. Keep the ribcage closed and bring it in. And again, reaching out. Very nice. Good, and in, and again, exhale and flatten. Very nice. Good. Only two more. And exhale. Really try not to take the tension in the neck and shoulders. Really make it come from the abdominals. Very good. And bring the leg in. Now. Slide your head, neck and shoulders forward. Keeping the hands on the mat.

Reach and round forward. Very good. And now we're gonna repeat single leg stretch. Take that leg out. That makes it a little different, doesn't it? And bring it in. And again, the other leg too. Good. Pull it in and if you need to put your head down, put it down and Exhale, flatten. Good. And exhale, flatten. Very nice.

One more and worry and pull it in. Good and last. Good and back. Relax the head. Neck and shoulders down. You can place the feet down for a second to arrest. How's that? Feel? Good. Working hard. Okay, good. All right, we're going to slowly bring those legs back up just as we did before. And guess what's next? Our double leg stretch.

So take both legs up into that nice tabletop position. This can be done with the head down or the head up. So whichever way feels most comfortable to you. Take a deep breath in. Exhale, began to take the legs out, draw into those abdominals. Good. The lower your legs, the harder the movement is going to be.

Bring it in and exhale and reach the legs. Go out and bring it back in and again, exhale, reach and po into those abdominals and bring it back in. Very nice and again, reach really pull into those abdominals and pull it back in and one more exhale and flatten into those apps and bring it back in. Very nice. Take those legs up to the ceiling now. Legs straight up. Good, good. Make sure you're keeping your tailbone on the roller.

We're going to do some very small scissors first and then if you get brave and you want to get bigger, you can. So we're going to take one leg down, take a nice deep breath in and exhale, bring it back up. Take the other leg down. Reach, make it come up from the abdominals and reach. Good and bring it up. And if you want to get bigger with it, you can and reach. Good. Pull it back up. Use those abdominals and reach it down. Exhale. Good. And pull it up and one more reach and bring it back up.

Very nice. Bend the knees in. Place the feet on the floor. Very good. How was that? Good. Next. Okay. I'm not taking too much tension in your neck. Good. Okay, let's take just one leg up to the ceiling. Keep the other leg on the mat. Okay. Take it all the way up and we're going to try our legs circle. Okay, so now here is where you really need to be aware of what that foot on the mat is doing. If you feel like you're really unstable, take it out a little wide or okay, or a little bit further away from you.

We're going to circle towards the body first and a small circle up on up at the ceiling. So go towards the body. Inhale and exhale and stay there. Good. No letting go with this stomach circle. Inhale and exhale. Very nice. Keeping the hips straight and again in Hale. And exhale. Great.

And one more in Hail and exhale. Beautiful other ways. So taking the leg away from the body. Good. And exhale. Great. And again, good inhale and exhale. Good. Two more to go and inhale and exhale you. So it was abdominals last one. And Halan. Exhale.

Very good. Let's change legs. Great. So take one the other leg up to the ceiling. Make sure that you're still placed on that roll. Your spine is still on the roller. Pull the rib cage and circle the leg towards the center line of the body.

Inhale and exhale. Good. And again in Hale and exhale, very nice. Use those abdominals. Inhale and exhale. Good. And again, inhale, very good. And exhale. Good. And other way. Reach. Inhale and exhale. Good Watch. Yes, it's hard.

Everybody's got one side that's more difficult than the other three. Good. And two more to go for. Keep breathing. One more and reach. Very nice. Bring that leg down. Good. Now slowly get off of your role or um, for a second.

I always tell people to roll to the side to get off so that you don't accidentally fall onto your wrist or something. We're going to go on to our stomach and put the roller in front of you. So we're going to start with a shoulder shrug. So we're going to put our hands so that our palms are turned to the outside. Yes, and head is going to go down.

We're going to lift the shoulders up towards the ears and push that roller away from us. And then as we exhale all we're going to turn the palms and boring the shoulders down and away from the ears. Rolling the roller towards you. Yes. So inhale, turn your palms over and inward. Good. Shrug the shoulders. Now exhale on shrug and roll. Very nice.

You feel that nice mobility in the shoulders. Shrug. Good. Inhale, get that nice reach with those shoulders. Good. Let them come up. Exhale and unstrung. Beautiful. Inhale and shrug. You feel that upper back working. Exhale right underneath those scapula. Good, good, good, good. Okay, let's stay there. Now the legs can go apart for this. We're going to go into our salon. So wherever you want, you normally do your legs for your Swan.

We're going to put the hands just shoulder distance apart. Take a nice deep breath in. Pull that belly button up towards the spine and as you exhale, roll the roll or towards you lifting the upper body upward, but still keeping the rib cage closed, keeping the stomach pulled in and out and reach back out. Roll that roller away. Good. And again, pull the roller towards you. Pull the navel up to the spine and lift chest up.

Inhale while you're up there, and exhale, reach it away. Beautiful. Good. And again, reach. Pull into those abdominals. Lift up into that nice one position. Good and back down. Very nice.

Now put the knees and feet close together for me. We're going to do our double leg kick, so we're going to lift the feet up towards the ceiling. Lift the knees slightly up off the floor. So ban the knees, lift the feet. Good. Lift the knees. Now we're going to kick the feet towards the seat. Two counts. One, two. Now as we extend the legs, roll the roller towards you and lift the body. Ah, okay.

And rolling down and double kick. Inhale. Inhale. Big Long. Exhale. Very nice. And again, inhale, inhale and big long. Exhale, lift. Good polenta. Those abdominals. Keep the rib cage close. Good. And two more. Inhale and inhale. And Big Long.

Exhale. Good. One more. And inhale and inhale. And big long exhale, lift. Pull into those abdominals. Good. And back down. Very nice. Good. Let's sit back onto our heels to stretch the back out for just a second.

So sitting back, stretch your back out. Reach out. Long. Good, good. Okay. Now let's go onto hands and knees, but we're going to kneel on the roller. I want you to put the balls of the feet on the floor. Okay. So the feet are not off the mat. You're on all fours. Okay. And we're going to start with our regular cat where we pull in and up through the abdominals. Pull the belly button up towards the spine. Raul, Miss Fun.

Really, I think of the lower spine rounding more than the upper spine because we all naturally round the upper spine. Good. And Go. Inhale to a flat back. Good, nice. And again, action. They'll pull in and up through those of Donald's really round that spine and come to a nice flat back. Good and reaching round. Nice. Well positioned.

Good and get flat and last one and round and nice and flat. Good. Now here's why you had your toes on the floor. We're going to take the right leg and the left arm out. Pull into those abdominals. Okay, good. Now we'd bring it back in. We're just going to alternate for a minute.

Reaching right, reaching the opposite arm and leg reach, Belinda those abdominals and come back in. Good. And again, reach very nice. It's hard, very difficult. Good. And come back in one more. Very, very difficult. What I used to do with people is put a broomstick on their back too. And then if they drop the broomstick, but I know they're moving their hips and back. Good.

Go back to your first side and take arm and opposite leg out. Now we're going to go side with arm and leg out to the side and bring it back in. Go out to the side, bring it back in. Now it might not be very big. Two more out to this side. Bring it back in. One more out to the side. Use those abs. Good and back in. It's not very far and come in, relax.

Good other side and take arm and leg out. Stretch it out. Pull into those abdominals and you really, this is great. You want to make sure that hip is pointing to the floor and out to the side. Inhale. Exhale. Pull it right back. Good. So the hip is not changing. Inhale, so you can't, you can't go too far without your hip moving. Good.

And reach out to the side key using those abs. Good. And at last one good and back. Relax. Sit back onto your heels and stretch. Yeah, you just round. Reach that roller out. Stretch it out long and sit up nice and tall. Did we feel that? Okay, very good. Very good. Okay, let's sit for a minute.

I'm going to sit this way, that you guys fit feet just slightly. Yeah, apart. Good. And you're going to put your roller in front of you. Yes. Good. Sit Up nice and tall and we're going to take a nice deep breath in. As we exhale.

We're going to really work and get that nice long stretch on the spine and inhale and come all the way up. Good. And again, deep breath in. Exhale, region round. Pull into those abdominals, reach, reach, reach, reach, reach and roll it back up. Good. And again, reach and round. Really, really round and come back up. Very good. One more and region round and coming back up. Doesn't that feel good? Yes. Good.

Okay. We're gonna put that roller slightly behind us for our song. Okay, so just slightly behind you and you're gonna Cross and reach and you're rolling that roller away from you and opposition. Yes. And sit up. Good again. Nice and round. Reach that roller away from you.

Do you feel that opposition going on that you should be having anyway when you're doing the Saul and come back a good watch. The opposite. Hip stays down, reach and cross and push this slightly away at the same time. Beautiful and up. Good. One more. So that opposition going on, but keeping that opposite side anchored and come back up. Very nice. Now we have to go to the other side. How'd that feel? You really, really get that, that poll. Okay.

So hand on the roller. Just reach up and cross the body. Good across a little toe round. Keep that seatbelt on, those abs and reach across and stretch that roller away. Good. And inhale to come back up. Very nice. Sit Up nice and tall and again round. Really pull into those abdominals. Press that, that roller away. Good.

And come back up. Good. And again, reach and round. Very nice. Good. And back up. Last one. To go and reach, reach, reach, reach, reach. Really pull into those ads. Good. Stretch that front arm across. Good. And come back up. Beautiful. Good, good. Okay, one more sitting. We're going to put our feet now into a little diamond position.

I might sit this way. So you can see, and this actually comes from um, uh, our magic circle program. Um, you're gonna put the roller slightly on a diagonal. I need it slightly on a diagonal. If you want this to be harder, you put the roller further behind you. If you want it to be easier, you can put it further in front of you. Okay. What is she going to do now? Okay, so we're going to take our arm and lift up to the ceiling and round over and try to reach to that roller and push it slightly away from us and then come up. Inhale and exhale. So lift up, inhale and exhale, reach and round. Good reach and roll that roller slightly away. Good.

And to come up in hail, roll the roller back towards you and open. Good. How does that feel in Hale? That comes from master teacher Cathy Corey. Exhale and reach and pull it back. Inhale and exhale. Last one, reach up.

Inhale, exhale and round. Really pulled back. Rue The abdominals and come, uh, inhale and exhale. Very good. Other side, very good for the waist. All right, so inhale, lift. Up and exhale and we'll really pull into those abdominals. Push that roller away and come up. Inhale and exhale. Good. And again, lift.

Inhale, exhale. Really get nice and round. Impress it away from you if you can, and come up. Inhale. Beautiful. And exhale. Two more. Inhale, lift. Exhale, really round and slightly pressed it away and bring it back up. Inhale and exhale. Last one, reach it up and, and round and come up. Inhale and exhale. Beautiful.

Good. How was that? Now we've good. Good. Okay, we're going to go on to our side. So we're going to put our hips on to the roller now. Now find a place where it's, it's, it's comfortable for you. Um, so for me it's not quite, it's a, I'm a little lower than my hip. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, cause if you get right on that bone, it's going to hurt. So, um, you want to be on your elbow. Okay. The other hand can be on your roller or it can be on the floor.

Or if you really, really, really want to make this difficult, then you put it behind the head. Okay. So we're going to start by pulling in to those abdominals. And we're just going to lift the top leg first. Lift and lower. Now try to lift up this underneath side. Good and lower.

Good. And lift and lower. One more. And lift. Beautiful. Okay. That seemed easy enough. So now we're going to really pull into our abdominals and lift both legs up. Good and lower. Pull into those abdominals. Lift. Beautiful.

So hip over hip and three lift. Good. Hip over hip. Good. One more. And lift and lower. Beautiful. And I always have to remind myself to watch this shoulder cause we sort of get like this lengthening through there. So lift up both legs and we're going to scissor.

So we're gonna reach [inaudible] and change. Good. Good. So no movement going on in the hips except just scissoring the legs. No rolling back and forth in the body. And exhale. One more. Inhale and exhale. Wonderful.

Bring the legs together and down. You're going to get yourself down and over the roller now. And we're going to bring the front leg bent in front of us. Okay. Um, if you want to make it more difficult, you can go to, um, straight. Either one. Um, we're going to do just a few, um, oblique exercises. So we're going to put the underneath arm, yes, behind the head.

This one can go here or here. Okay. Maybe get a little bit more over the roller because now we're going to lift up and down and lift and dam. And again, lift. Pull into those abdominals and, and lift and down. Good. Good. Keep breathing. Yes. And Leah and damn. Last one.

Lifted up. Beautiful. Good work. Good and down. Good. Give yourself a nice long stretch. Oh, over the roller. Really reaching opposition. Good. Really, really stretch. Beautiful. Good. And come up. Good. Now before we go to the other side, one more thing.

We're going to go into our Nice um, position like we do on the reformer when we do our side stretch and we're going to lift the outside arm up, reach up and over and Straw. Recce out to the side for your mermaid. Good. And come back up. And again, deep breath in. Exhale, slide it out and bring it back. Good, but really try to work underneath the ribcage. Really pull in and up. Good. And up last one and reach up and over.

Beautiful. And uh, now go out as if you were going to go over again just to right there. Good. And we're just going to bend the arm in, keeping the shoulder down and porous it out. Good. And Ben, now you feel that are more going on there. Good Ben. Very nice. And straighten and bend and stretch and Ben and stretch one more and bend to straighten. Reach over and come up. Good.

Other side. Very nice. Good. Okay, so we're back on top of the roller is where we started. Yes. Finding your position. Now you know what we're going to do. So he might, you can, you can position yourself accordingly. So we're gonna lift and lower the top leg and we're member this underneath side. Really pull into those abdominals, top leg lift and lower. Good lift and exhale lower and the Rory and lower and four and lower and five.

Very nice. Good. Now we're going to try to lift both legs, so by hand, wherever you need it to be. Lived both legs, up and down. Pull into those abdominals lifts, shoulder away from the ear. Beautiful. And two more. Lift and lower and lift. Very good. Hip over hip. Good. Now lifted in hold and we're going to scissor.

And to inhale. There we go again. One side is much more difficult than the other, Laurie. And we're each one more and for beautiful reach. Good. Bring the legs together and down. Now we're going onto our roller for our oblique lifts. Okay.

And half. Well lost that [inaudible] right. So now we're going to go over good. And you know where we're going for our little oblique lifts. This hand can go wherever you want it. Here or here. Okay, so we press into the roller and we lift and low are good. And again, lift beautiful and lower.

And you can go as high or as low as you're comfortable doing or as you have the strength to do and down. Good. And one more lift. Actually you have two more and lower and lift and lower. Good. Last one. Lift. Beautiful and lower long stretch arm over arm. Really reach, reach, reach, reach, reach. Inhale and exhale. Good, good. Sitting all the way up in your nice open position for our um, mermaid or a side stretch. Good.

So hand goes to this side. Nice. Deep breath in where each arm up and slide it out. Good. And come back up. Inhale and exhale. Good. Reach up and over. Slide it down. Very good.

Inhale and exhale and reach. Beautiful. And come up last one. Okay. And reach it out. Very nice.

Keeping that opposite hip down as much as possible and come back up. Good. Okay. Sliding out without the arm going overhead. Just slide out for our arm presses. So we bring the elbow in, close to the body, keep the shoulder down. Good and out. Beautiful. And, and, and exhale out and re reach it out one more and for stretching out. Good. And bring it in. Good and out. Good. And I'll set all the way up and very, very nice.

Good. Our very last one is our teaser. So what are we going to do now? We're going to start on our bag and we're going to do a single leg teaser. Very last one. We're going to put the leg, knee to knee. One leg is extended. We're going to use our roller to roll up and then roll it back. I'm only gonna make you do four and again, exhale, roll into those abdominals and roll it back down.

[inaudible] and reach it forward and come back down. Good. Last one. And roll it up and roll it back down. Great. Other leg and knee to knee polenta. Those abdominals. Sly that roll forward.

Really feel the spine peeling off the mat. Good. And Roll it back down. Good. Yes. And again, peel off the mat row. Yes. And back down. Good. Good, good, good. Only two more deep breath in. Exhale, rib cage reaches towards the hipbones. Good. And roll it up. Nice.

And roll down last one and roll it up. Good. Get as far as you can. Good. And Roll it back down. Wonderful. And Ben the knee. Good. And place the roller to the side and sit up. Nice and tall. Very nice. Good. Good work. Good work. That's great. Thank you. Oh, it's fantastic. Thanks. Good, good. Yes, it was. Yes, it was.

Comments

1 person likes this.
Thanks Cecile for the foam roller class. I just purchased a roller and wanted to know how to use it. Hopefully you will instruct more ways to use the foam roller.
great class! it was definitely challenging! Love it!
Ted Johnson
Carolyn,

There are a few more foam roller classes on the site, and you can search by prop to find them easily. This will list all the foam roller classes:

Foam Roller Class Search
Ted Johnson
Sorry, my note should have probably been addressed to Elaine... but it's really for anyone.
A great challenge. Thanks!!
Great class! Thanks!
Awesome class Cecile! Very challenging, great flow, and wonderful cues.
a fun and challenging class with great flow. thanks
I've tried twice today to view this class but for some reason it did not load..just fyi..I'll keep trying. thanks
reap benefits of foam roller classes at least 2X/week! great supplement..tku:)
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