Class #52

Additional Abs

15 min - Class
347 likes

Description

This quick but challenging class is just the additional abdominal work you're looking for to help you increase your core strength. The abdominal exercises in this class will take you through flexion and rotation to sufficiently work the muscles in the abdominal group. The back extensors will also be addressed during the isometric exercises to help you learn to stabilize the spine for functional activities.
What You'll Need: Mat

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Transcript

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Okay, so ab supplement, just take a few minutes, see if we can't give it a little extra. So sitting up tall, we're just going to warm up the spines a little bit more. Lengthening your backs. Shoulders are down. Take an inhale, just doing the seated contraction. So right away, drawing the abdominals right up against the spine. That's what's going to create the curve to your spine. Rolling down about halfway, mid back, using your arms or not. Inhale, check. The collarbones are wide. Exhale, sink the abdominals into the ground. As you roll back up, I'm going to keep you curved and you, you should expect to feel strong contractions here. Inhale, exhale.

As you look down at your hipbones, pull the hip bones, the front of the pelvis away to start it and down the collarbones. Stay wide. So if you glance out the front of your body here, you have not wrapped the shoulders. Inhale and exhale, coming back up. I'm going to keep it kind of slow for just a couple more here. Inhale, keeping the curve and XL back. Okay. Things that'll help kind of keep the back loosening up is um, a little contraction to the gluten XL coming up.

Yeah, I sinned. Strong. Inhale and exhale. The breath is going to be a big factor for us too. Up, up, up and all right, so far so good. Somewhat. Alright. Making it just a little quicker here. We're going to come up and then actually before we fully get into it, it's dropped the knees out to the side and around. Forward not, this is going to actually be part of this next exercise from here.

You still draw the hipbones back? I'll do it slow initially. Roll back. It's fine to let the knees go up a little bit but keep them somewhat turned out and they come up again and forward. Keeping the around and by spine and roll back and back and letting the breath pattern be somewhat natural for you. I'm basically inhaling as I start to pass through middle exhaling as I go to the shoulder blades, I inhale, lift up and I exhale forward. That doesn't work for you.

You pick what does because the speed is too fast to worry about the actual breath pattern, focusing on the precision of the movement and you get to do two more. Remember, this is sorta like the spine stretch, this version of it, so you still want to think to blow all the air out reaching forward. This next one, we go down to the same spot we've been at shoulder blades and hold slide the feet in a little bit more if you want to. Um, if you don't have your low back down, put the sums at the edge of your glutes and then from here, exhale, lift that diamond position up one. Otherwise you can just reach your arms. Maybe you'll touch the floor. Exhale lift too. If when you lower your legs, get rocks your back forward. Do not lower them that much. You're in control of the back of cemented and XL.

If up and down, feel the contraction and the ABS first and down. If it's available, go a little bit higher with the legs and down and your intention in your upper body is and down again and press. There's not a whole lot going on in the legs. I'll tell you, we can squeeze the glutes here and have it affect in a positive, challenging way, holding it up, reaching forward one and just a little deeper contraction. It is a pulse. You can see that, but do it with the breath. Make it a pull more than a push. All right, thank you. Go on. Press and press deepened. Still filling the glutes a little so you have that anchored and from there, lower the legs down.

Supporting your head from here. Lengthen out the back of your head so you have your chin slightly down. Bring yourself right back up where you were in this one. You're little. You tried to come up again that the, that the low back is released. If it isn't, slide the feet in a little closer and allow for a tiny bit of a tuck. Okay? From here, going to one side, keep your height as you come across the center to the other side and then we're going to change it a little. Let the arms go if you, if you can, and just reach and reach. To.

What you're looking for in your position here is that the hips are stable. Okay? Feel free to keep your head supported. That's not a big deal. The reason I add the arms is just so that you see that diagonal pole that you're reaching toward up. It's going to be tempting to fall back. Don't let it happen, okay? Hang on. Press, press, press. Last one coming up, come back to the synergy has reach the arms up and back, and then from there, closing up the knees. Bring the arms down by your side.

I'm just going to speak a little onto my mat. If you need to, please do from here legs or they don't have to be straightened back. Let's not fully straighten them. It's a pelvic tuck without your feet on the ground, so from their shoulders down, exhale, squeeze the glutes to roll the hips up and release them fully back to neutral. Start the exhale. You should feel the abdominals kick in first and then you'll get a little lift.

We are not going so high that you need to Yank yourself up, right? You may be getting to the top of that pelvis and up and at the moment try to keep the feet pretty still. Okay. And I did go to a bent knee, so it's probably easier for me to say. So even here it's pretty small, pretty small. If you want to work it a little more, which I'm going to ask you to try is, doesn't matter if the knees are bent or straight, allow the legs to drift away a little without letting your low back come up. Bring them forward. You have to be under control here up and then let them come away and far to go. It's totally okay to be using the triceps, the back of the arm.

Try to avoid the fingertips, although that's not available for everyone, but minimize it for sure. And it's no big deal. You take the legs a little further. I'm going to do five like that and lift one, keep the glutes to help you stabilize. And too though you have a big arrange to the ladies. You don't use it as an excuse to throw the feed over your head. Three, yeah, stir wrong. Uh, that must've been net. Let's bend the knees, hug them to your chest.

[inaudible] alright, stretch your legs out onto the mat. Straight legs. And from here just we're going to do three roll ups just to kind of get back into that groove to have sequential precision. Ugh. I would expect you have to be somewhat tired now and if you find yourself going into a flat position, what you do slightly bend the knees so that you can get back into that articulation and back. And again, lifting up slightly bend if you feel like you're having to jerk through the one section that's so tough and back. [inaudible] does 10 laced f a one more, one more. Sorry. Here it is. Here it is. Enjoy still working strong.

Now we'll go down to the shoulder blades, the fingers behind your head. You're looking forward. At this point your low back probably is not touching. Okay. And it wouldn't take one leg up, stretch it up and lower down, reaching it long other side, pick the leg up. Act like you're going to get up from here. Like you really going to roll up and get up, but don't obviously other side, pick it up. Pull a riding close, stir rich.

And so each time we do it we're drawing the knee a little closer to the forehead. Stretch and reach one more like that. Worth it. If your back or neck takes over, it's more to your advantage to give it a rest, even if it's just for a few seconds. Last one, pull it up up and from here, take the right leg, hover it just barely. And on an exhale you're going to contract up a little higher and float the legs slightly higher. One and two, so both end slightly working three toward each other. That's it. You can turn the leg out. [inaudible].

Set that leg down. Stretch your head or your upper back down. Come right back up as you curl up. Float the left leg off slightly externally rotated and reach on pretty small too. So as we do this contraction, we're trying to get that low back down and, and let it come all the way down. Drawing one knee into your chest. Oh, getting close. Cross it over, bring it back. And let's just switch sides. So hug the knee and first straighten yourself out. Then hug the knee in.

And Crossover. The thing about doing additional abs or any abs I should say is as soon as the low back starts tightening, you're now at a disadvantage. So when that happens, take a stretch or arrest. Sometimes that's all you need is a couple seconds. All right, bringing the knees to table, Tom Curlier, head, neck and shoulders up. And we're going to just slowly roll up your size. We'll drift away from you. Uh, just try not to kick the legs up or down and slowly pressing the legs into the hands to roll you up. Finding your flat back. Great. All right, so coming onto your hands and knees, I'm going to do a couple things.

You can face the center. Face the center. Thank you. I'm simulating sort of like the knee stretch for those of you who do reformer work. So your hands relatively close to your knees and I'm sorry that's the best I can tell you because everyone's a little different. What I'll tell you is that the muscle focus is of course the abs and that you want to once again encourage the lumbar curve. Not so much the upper back curve. There will be one, but it's more low back.

All right? So if you, um, curl the toes under though, it can be done without the toes pulled under. By the way, you can just set the feet down if that feels better. Scoop the belly. So when you look down towards the front of the hips, you almost have the front of the hip joint completely open. But yes, the only thing I'd say Deborah is slightly drew release different. Yep. Like that. All right, from here, shoulders are pressing down. You exhale and hover the knees off the ground, but you do not flex at the hip joint to do it and then set it back down. So the way that happens is as if you're reaching your tail through your legs or pressing your hips towards your face and your face toward your hips.

Big exhale to float it off even for a moment and down. Okay. Just, I was just going to say I've got one more rule now. No, Deborah, you do not get to do that. That was quite clever though. I've never seen that before. So you don't get to push your knees forward to make it. Rather keep the toes exactly like they are and instead it becomes inhale. So small. Don't worry about it. And right there and down and exhale.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. A couple more. Yes. Nice about it and subtle but deep. We're here for last one. Okay, so remember that deep feeling. Move your hands forward until a little bit more of a natural position or knees back or both heading into a plane. So get yourself there body long. I'm checking positions. Good. Then from that position, take your right knee, pick it up, cross it over. So there'll be a little bit of curve, not much.

And try to touch the opposite elbow. Really good input. Reach it straight out. Do it again. Same side. [inaudible] shoulders. Don't move again. [inaudible] and trying to minimize even the movement of the hips. Okay.

Keep that strongly coming across, but not so much that it actually torques. You okay? Huh? Set the foot down. Challenge Yourself. Get longer. Pick up the other and here we go.

So that you does cross the midline. Good check in shoulders. This is another place where you think, okay, it's not happening at the hip joint happened. Let it happen at the waist. That's how you get it forward. One more time and set it down and release the knees. Let's give our arms a break for the moment. Almost done here.

Come up, turn yourself back around and we'll finish with a modified teaser, sort of. It's kind of a combo of a couple things. Starting with what you know from me anyway, is the shins parallel to the floor and we're going to keep the shins there for just one pass. So you roll yourself down, you're welcome to hold on. You Roll yourself down and then you roll yourself up. Sync to squeeze the glutes just a little bit. Now to make it a little more friendly as you roll down, extend your legs on the high diagonal, just about the shoulder blades.

At the most. And as you come in, you come right back to the shins parallel. You can always hold on and reach out and, and it's going to get a little faster. Now, make sure you rolled out and, and raw good and up breasts, out and up. Nice work. Let's go eight more one. And uh, and do blow out all the air. Somewhere in there, the re reach and four. You could do it with one leg. And to take weight out of the front of the hip joint. Keep those feet up out. And I think one more. Here it is, and up.

Hold on to the back of your legs to free up the front of the hips. Extend the legs, bend them, extend them a pathway. Pull the hipbones backwards a little for a little Tuck, but go roll down, stretch. Take the arms up, bring the arms back down and Rola. Get far. Press out, squeeze the so you can free up the front of the hip or let's go back. They come forward and now you come up. That's okay.

I want to to last to reach. Protect your back. Forward. And then at school we used to reach to reach the arms to come forward and set your feet down, turn them out and stretch forward. [inaudible] and just to stretch the abs a little bit, sit back up. We'll finish off your little additional abs here with the arms behind you. Resist the temptation of thrusting the low back or hip bones forward. In fact, while you're kind of on your hands, see if they can be behind you a little as no problem slightly tucked your pelvis.

Then lift your chest and try to arch your back without losing those minimal tuck of the low back, reaching up. Okay. And release. And you can, if it feels okay to bring the hands closer, do and you won't have to Tuck so much if you did. Move your hands forward is more of a vertical rise. Lifting the chest and release, finding your vertical spine and just a big stretch up [inaudible] and exhale. One more time filling up [inaudible] and letting cool. Thanks guys.

Comments

Awesome challenge! Quick and effective! Thanks
You bet Amy!
Any suggestions on how to get better at neck pulls? I feel like I can never do them even though I am getting strong in all other movements.

Hi Emily ~ Neck Pull is a tough one! You'll find a link to a short video of me teaching Neck Pull to Meredith Rogers below. In the video, I try to offer helpful hints and suggestions. There is also an ongoing discussion on this very question in the "Instructors corner" section of the forums. The fact is it is one of those exercises that takes time and the willingness to not worry about it being perfect as you practice.
Good Luck!

Neck Pull
Lauren P
2 people like this.
Emily - go to the beginner center and look for "a towel for low back tightness" exercise. Try implementing it with the neck pull and see if it helps you - it was an incredible breakthrough for me after loads of experimenting.
too easy
Short but sweet.
wow that was tough- thanks!!!
Great one to fit in anytime Kristy, thanks for a fun challenge
1 person likes this.
Fun, love to work my abs and this was the perfect class for it.
Thanks so much.
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