Class #1021

Symmetry Reformer

50 min - Class
119 likes

Description

Join Meredith for this Reformer Workout that focuses on symmetry, floor, and unilateral work. Enjoy Control Balance, Mermaid with variation and a great prep to start working towards the star.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

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Apr 18, 2013
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Hi, today we're going to teach, um, reformer class. I'm gonna teach a reformer class. Do you, I can come with me. Um, my focus today is going to be on working symmetrically, side to side in the body, or we're going to do a lot of um, exercises, different exercises that work one side of the body at a time. Uh, in addition, more more than likely use the box and I'm setting up my springs for footwork. I've got three reds in a blue or a heavy setting and I'm going to start with my foot bar down. Alright. And then I'm going to stand up on the outside of my reformer setting the feet just underneath me. Yeah.

And taking the arms overhead, reaching through the spine and bring the arms down, but feel the spine lifting taller and then exhale. Take the head forward. If your back's especially sensitive, it's worthwhile to soften the knees here. Rounding through the spine, just taking stock of the body in healing at the bottom. Exhale, we roll ourselves back, so feel the pelvis shift underneath the spine. Feel the spine stack just over the pelvis. Take the arms up, feel the spine lengthening upwards as the arms actively pull downwards. Inhale and exhale. Curl the spine forward.

Rolling down. Allow the head to just hang and keep the palms of the hands facing one another all the time. Inhale, head down. Exhale, curling up. Using the front of the body to bring the back of the body into alignment. And then take the arms up and open and exhale. Taking the head forward. Last way. Feel connected to yourself connected to the earth, both feet, even both legs. We weighted evenly.

Exhale to lift. [inaudible]. Lift the arms, open the arms and sit down on the edge of the reformer. Swing your legs around so that they reach straight out over the foot bar. And we're going to do some roll ups here. So what you want to do is be very, very close to the front end, or you're going to end up running into your shoulder blocks.

So reaching the arms forward. Let's start straight today. Press the legs down into the foot part. Inhale, exhale. Feel the spine, Ben First. Then roll your spine down. We're not going to take the arms overhead cause there's no room for that. So just they'll in facing the ceiling. Inhale, head, chest ants, upper body. Exhale, curl the spine, curl the spine, and then take the arms to the side. Lift the Baca, press the arms back through center, curling the back without backing up yet.

Then roll down, pressing the legs down into the foot bar. Take the arms just above you in. He'll pick up the head. And so curl through the spine. Shoulders over hips, and then inhale, lift the back, activate the arms and XL curl and go down and inhale to lift the head and chest and XL cruel. Curl and reach up. And last one, just moving the spine, warming up the spine, feel the pelvis move out from underneath you. Feel the lower back. Connect into the reformer as you move through that space. Inhale head and chest comes back up. Exhale, curl ourselves up, curling, curling, curling, curling an open the body and press the arms back, curling the spine down all the way and reach the hands to the shoulder blocks, not the shoulder butts. The pegs behind the shoulder blocks.

Lift one leg at a time for the spine. Twist legs together in Yale. Take the legs to the left, right arm presses down and open. Exhale, pull the body back through center. Inhale, using the left arm is an anchor. We take the knees across to the right. Exhale we feel the ribs press in to bring the body center any other across to the opposite side. Exhale to come back. Inhale across to the opposite side. Arms are heavy. They never change. Xcel. Something that you could think about actually is pulling those two handles apart and exhale back and in last time and exhale back. Stretch the right leg down along the uh, foot bar.

Stretch the left leg down along the foot bar. Take the arms overhead as you inhale and curl your head and chest up. I would like for you to flatten the spine and float the left leg. So that's just now there we are very flat through the back. We're going to curl a little higher, bring the knee towards the chest and reach back just to the shoulders.

Curl a little higher, folding in at the rib cage, bringing the knee in and reach out and pull. Exhale and back and pull. Exhale and back. And two more reaching in words, drawing deeply so I'm not lifting ever very high away from my sacral area. I'm just trying to move my upper body last time. [inaudible] stretch the leg and come to the bottom. Inhale, exhale. As the spine flattens the foot, right leg floats into the air and now we curl. Exhale and recheck and draw inwards deeply and reach ah and crow using the Xcel to get that nice lifted position and two more curling. Oh and last one, curly.

And I don't know about you, but I really feel that a lot. We're going to go into a rotation starting on the left. Lift the body, float the left leg. Inhale. Exhale. Bring the arms across the knee as the knee comes in. End. Inhale, center. Exhale, go across and inhale to center, bringing the arms with the spine. Arms are straight and back to center. Last too and center and last one.

Oh and center and come all the way down. Arms to the ceiling. Inhale. Exhale, picking up the head and chest. Floating up that right leg. We turned to the right, pulling in through the knee and then find center just off the shoulders and soften the knee so we're not pulling ourselves up with our leg, right? We're just allowing that knee to bend from deep within the center of the body. Last two and last one and center and and any, I'll pick up the whole body. Head and chest.

Excellent. Curl up. Oh, if the back and lower the arms but spring, oh, the springs are on for footwork. We already did that. Good for us. Okay. Put your bar up and lie on your back foot work. So heels of the feet on the bar, arms down at our sides, creating your body. This a slight feeling of flection force through their rib cage without allowing the lower spine to be affected. Press out and Bendon and fear equality in the body, both sides of the body working evenly. We go out, we come in, we're going to go kind of quick today with our leg work, but not so fast that we can't find a lot of control with it.

So I like to give myself just a moment of pause as my legs straighten just to make sure I'm doing that with control. Last two, last time, bend the knees and pump to working down on the springs, keeping the feet still. Six, seven, eight, nine. Take the carriage back then the knees and come in. Move to your toes. Inhale, press out. Exhale. Here. The feet are all the way pointed. We keep the heels still on the way in and we reach out. So something that I've been playing with Le of late is try not to feel that the movement is coming from the feet, pushing into the bar, but instead coming from the hips, pulling away from the bar, it's a different feeling and reaching out and then pull from the hips to come in as well. Again, checking with the weaker side.

Everyone has one last three and [inaudible] and reaching out, checking the alignment of the pelvis. Last one, we bring it all the whale halfway in and we pump down, down, down, down. Again, working from the hip rather than working from the feet. Last four, three, two, one. Stretch. Bend in, heels together, toes apart on the bar. X Hilary Chats, pressing the lakes the other hand. Pull yourself in and reach out and drag the carriage back and keep the arms active, so not the shoulders active. Just the arms. Press the back into the back of the arms, into the reformer.

Don't squeeze the shoulders together to do it. Just feel that the arms are working and we do four and bring it back and three and bring it back. Number two, last one, and then we pump to three. Just working into this. Spring. Six, seven, eight, nine, 10 stretch out. Bend in heels on the outside of the reformer. Inhale. Here we go. Reach out, keeping the feet still as though they're a wall that you're standing on.

Keep activity through the insides of the thighs all the time. Keep the shoulders under control. Keep the neck long and relax. There's a million things to concentrate on to get a full body experience reaching out and reaching out. Don't forget to pull yourself in last to pull yourself in last one, and we've pumped down, down, down, setting, keeping the body support. Last four, three, two, one. Stretch out. Bend in, toes on the bar. Exhale, press down. Nice support through the fee recheck.

Continue to remind yourself that we're pulling the legs straight rather than only just pushing all the time. Pull the body longer. Pull the arms up towards the feet as the feet reach out. Last for last three connecting to both sides of the body. Here's two more. Last one. Here's that Pun, Zits, da Da da Da. Five six seven strong links.

Nine [inaudible]. Bring your feet back to the middle of the bar on the toes again. Press out again. Take the heels under the bar and left and under the wire and lift. Pull down as much as you lift up. Maybe pull down more than you lift up.

So the lift up is more of a rebound and the pulled down as the moving action, reaching the arms down with the heels and reaching the head up away from the heels. Staying connected to the backsides of the legs, all the way up to the hip. Staying connected to the backside of the rims. We'll do two more. One more. Prancing, one heel down center switch, switch every time we come up in the middle and then change up to change up to change the knee points straight up. So check with that in your own body. Don't allow it to drift off to the side. Drag that heel underneath the bar every time.

Four, four, three long neck ribs down to two one one. Lift up, bend in, turn to your side and help yourself up. Take the bar down. Okay. Take it down to one red spring or one full spring of some description and turn around. So now we take the straps over the knees, staying here, organize the straps so they're even on your legs.

Hold your knees, round your spine, hover the feet and from there with control, roll the spine down into the carriage control is the name of the game. Keep the pelvis down, lift the arms, then bring them behind your head, supporting your head. Inhale, reach out and exhale deeply. Dragon, and then he'll reach. Ah, so the pelvis stays down as the knees come in and you're not feeling your legs at all. You're feeling the work coming from the center of the body. The upper spine is still as well. I had reaching down into the hands, but the spine is trying to crawl all the time. Here's four, three, two, one. Take the hands around to the thighs. Give yourself just a moment to reconnect with your body. Lift the arms, hands behind the head, straighten the legs, twist towards the left is the knees bent.

Stay lifted as the body comes to center and rotate the other way and in here and exhale and inhale and exhale and feel that length as the legs. Reach out, being generated from the middle and keep the head from rotating. It's the trunk that rotates and around and center and around up and center and all round last time to the left, to the center, to the right, to the center. Then journeys in center, grab the backs of the legs, just rock and rock back and rock and rock back and rock and rock back and [inaudible] go all the way. Take the legs out of the straps when on your side for hip work.

Okay. Taking the head rest down so that the arm can rest where the headrest is. Use your bottom like to push the reformer out so that your top foot can come into the strap. You want to position your body so that your pelvis is very far back on the reformer. Maybe even slightly hanging off. I like to bend my elbow and hold onto the, to the handle behind me. Okay, so we organize the body, we feet find a neutral pelvis and we list the top leg up. Take the knee just slightly underneath the strap and then trace the edge of the reformer as you exhale and bend in here.

Feel that you're not pushing from your foot. Delay the foot, fight in the hip, and then while allow the leg to follow through, delay the foot, find the hip, allow the lake to follow through, and the knee reaches just underneath the strap as it comes in, and the bottom side of the waist is lifting all the time. So we're supporting the body through the middle. Here's five. We're going to do eight. Here's six. Don't force through the knee. Here's number one. Keep the legs straight.

Now they bring it backwards. Bring it all the way back so that the rope pushes up against the thigh and bring it forwards and XL. Connect right underneath that gluten and reach back and center. As the leg goes behind, you take a lot of care to make sure you're not either shifting the body forward or arching the back, reaching out, letting the head just rest in the hands and we'll do four more. Just explore that range of motion. Get that glute turned on, and the strap just traces right over the top of the shoulder.

Block three and forward connecting into the hip. You're not feeling your hit, it may be because you're locking your knee. So you could check that that four already. I need someone to count for me. We'll do one more for good measure. And now we're going to bend the knee right there over the other knee and I lift the whole leg up and uh, and the whole leg lifts up and down and we feel that bottom like working as well and yeah, and reaching up and yeah, and reaching up and down. And the last three, two more. Last one and bring it down.

Take your leg out of the strap, bring yourself in, put the strap away. Sit Up. Change sides. So we lay down on the opposite side of the body. I like working side to side. Most of us are imbalanced in some way and feel like it's a good way to challenge our bodies evenly. Okay, so we're down, we've got the back set up, it's nice and straight. We lift the knee, the knee goes just underneath the strap and then we just slide the leg out and back. Sly, the Lega and Ben and reached the spine away from the leg as the leg moves away from the spine. So create a longation energy in your whole body. This is number five of eight. So we'll do three more. Just creating a rhythm. Here's two.

He was one. And take the leg back now and forward. [inaudible] keep the spine still. So, especially if you have, or if you're tight in your hamstrings strings as the light goes forward, keep the spine from rounding. That's important and forward and back. Just exploring that back range.

Motion last for reaching back. Last three, reaching back twice more, reaching back the last one and reaching back. Bend your knee, lift your leg straight up and uh, and straighter. And uh, as the leg lifts, take care of that. The pelvis doesn't move around and up and down and up. And Yeah, last two, last one.

And take your foot out of the straddle. Come in and sit up. Take the strap away. Set the foot bar. I like high bar. That's a personal preference we're at about to, um, we're moving into the semi-circle is one of my favorite, favorite, favorite exercises. Do it less than I should. I forget about it, but it's a great exercise.

So on your back, on the reformer, put your hands on the shoulder blocks and then push it out with your legs so that you can wiggle down onto your shoulders. Okay. Your arms are actively straight all the time. Kay. Don't bend your heels together, toes apart on the bar, and then bring the carriage in as much as you can. Roll through your spine, rounding the spine, reach the pelvis back until you feel the springs. Then press about three quarters of the way out from there. Keep the carriage still as you articulate the spot and back up and bend the knees to bring the reformer in. Excellent. As we curl the spine down, keep the reformer still in the articulation moments. Reach out.

Don't straighten your legs all the way. Curl the spine, bend the knees, lift up with the hips as you come in. Curl the spine down. Keep the arms active, reach out, lift the hips up, bend the knees and come in last time round using the abdominals. Using that articulation of the spine to open up through the body. We come in, we go the other way. We reach out. Keep the stomach active all the time. Don't straighten your knees around, down, bend in, get as close as you can and then stay as still as you can. As you articulate up, press the pelvis high straight in your arms. Reach out, roll down the m's never bent, so we'll get a good arm. We're here too, and rural that lift high.

Press out, roll down, articulate, articulate, articulate, arch. Bend in last time. Rola. Reach out, articulate the spine down. Bend in, oral up. Stay lifted. Walk your hands down to the frame.

Walk yourself in towards the foot bar with your hands. Hold the foot bar and then press your pelvis up a little higher. Stretching through the friends of the legs. If you have any problems, this probably isn't the best place to be for you, so look after yourself, but it's a beautiful stretch. We're going to use it as a stretch today and now reach your arms back and pull the reformer underneath you sliding back in. It's not really any perfect way to do that. Give yourself enough space or give yourself just a few inches between the shoulder blocks in your body and reach back for the handles.

Lifting the legs on. We're going to stretch the legs up. We're going to inhale to bring the legs to vertical x up and pull the handles apart. As you roll your spine over, stay there, flex your feet. Separate your feet about as wide as the shoulder blocks, and then reach the knees towards the shoulder blocks. As you roll down, roll down, keep pulling apart on the handles. Point the FI, circle the legs. Inhale up. Exhale to rollover. Inhale, flex the feet. Separate. Xcel to roll down.

Point Circle tachypnea. Exhale, roll over. Control Balance, so hold yourself here. Lift your back. Get the back centers involved. Take the right leg into the frame as the left leg reaches into the sky. Pulse, pulse, and change. Keep the spine long. Keep the front of the body active. Oh, I'm losing my shirt now. Exciting and reach, pulling, pulling. Don't allow the Elvis to start to join the party. Keep them open and down.

Reaching up through the body and up through the body. Last one, reaching and reaching and both legs up and both legs down and roll down. All the way. Bend your knees, place your feet down. Roll to your side, and come up. Put my clothes back on and we'll keep going. Okay, so I'm going to use a blue spring for the next segment. Let me come to the knees.

Sign the riff. Um, find the frame of the reformer with your hands. My hands are a little slippery. Okay, so want us to start in a neutral position in our spine from that place. Inhale. Exhale. Cool. Create a rounded spine. Allow the carriage to move a little. Inhale again. Now keep the spine very round.

As you continue to pull the knees all the way through, all the way through, reaching the carriage through the arms, through the arms, through the arms. Come back halfway through. You're still rounded and release the back straight. Inhale. Exhale. Curl the spine first. [inaudible] continue that forward action with the spine round all the time. We're ringing the carriage all the way underneath. You going, going, going, released through your still rounded and straight in the back. We'll do two more. Let's exhale and he was one breath this time.

Find the round but continue the round spine through. Try to get the reformer all the way to the end. I don't know if that's possible, but it's a good goal and straighten out the back and again, feel the spine change. Now keep the spine consistent as we reach under reach undergoing further every time. Come back, stay rounded and reach out through the back. Walk the hands up to the risers and other one of my favorite exercises. I feel like I teach this in every one of my classes, but it's a good exercise.

Here we go. So the knees are underneath us, the spine is straight. I'm going to draw down through the shoulder blades and bring the carriage towards the edge and inhale, resist on the way back and exhale. Draw down through the shoulder blades, bringing the carriage forward and release and again, drawing down to pull forward and release and drawing down to pull forward and release. And we'll do four more. Keeping the abdominal strong. Think about working evenly through both sides of the body.

Last too. Okay, last one. [inaudible] reach back. Set your hands down, walk yourself back, step off, change. Um, I personally for the next exercise, like a red spring, that might feel a little bit, um, unsupported for some. So a red and a blue works really nicely. A red is great. I'm a green is fine. Somewhere between one and one and a half springs is good. I'm going to put my head rest up and then step up onto the reformer.

This is a little long stretch pushup combination that I love and you're going to step back into the reformers head rest with your feet, keeping the carriage off the stop or bring the body forward. Keep the body long and straight. Bend the elbows to the sides. Stay low with your body as you push out and bend the elbows back in. Stay low as you push out and bend the elbows back in. Using the front of the body for support. Reach out and bend and push up and reach out with straight arms.

Then draw elbows wide, pulling yourself with Ben to arms back to the stopper and straighten. Reach out. Bend the Elvis. Push back through the heels as the carriage comes over the or back to the foot bar one. More like that. Reach out with straight arms bend, pull in and stretch. Now we're going to reverse that. You're gonna bend. Reach out to straight arms with straight arms. Come up over the bar, bend the Arndt, reach out, come up over the bar. Then the arms reach, ah, come up over the bar and rest when need down. Had a time.

Put your feet up against the shoulder blocks who are getting a little warm in here. Um, combination. The hands are on the foot bar and it's starting the flat back knee stretch position. And then we're going to curl forward. Keep the inner thighs strong, reach forward lifting the body. Let me do three down stretches and then into co combination. So press out and then lift the back up, keeping the body nice and long all the time, and reach out and lift up.

Okay. And I'm reaching out and lifetime. And to hold the carriage still. As you round your spy, straighten your spine, press out with your arms into shoulder flection. Press out with your legs into hip extension. Lift through the spine, come in through the down stretch. Round your spine. Keep the carriage still straight in your spine.

Press out with the arm, shoulder flection. Press out with the lay eggs and then reach through the sine, lifting up, up, up, up and around the spine. Exhale. Inhale, straighten the back. Exhale, press with the arms. Inhale, press with the legs and exhale as you come. All the way in, all the way in and sit back and step off. Okay, so we're going to do a couple side exercises. Just start with the prep for the star. Fun. Put your hand, the reformer on the foot bar one to one and a half springs for this one as well.

You, I like a light spring. I use one, um, talk. So I'll go there. Now I was using a green. Okay, so we're going to take the, um, I have my right hand on the bar. So my right foot's going to go up against the front shoulder block. Keep the carriage style, step up with the left foot, bringing the left arm along the side of you. Reach the left arm out as you push out and pull back in.

Arm comes down and reach oh my. All the way. And coming back and reach out. Yeah, coming back and reaching out. Okay. Coming back. Hold. Lift that back leg lifted up. Just hold yourself here. Use your bottom. Hit to help your keep your spine up, holding, holding, holding. Step down and switch sides.

Kind of a prep. Prep. Prep for the star. Star comes later. We'll do that on another day. So left-hand on the bar. So this means if you're going to keep the carriage, it's still, you've got to hit that shoulder. Really supportive. So think about it. And on the bar we step onto the arm. Opposite arm is down. Reach the arm out as the pressing arm presses and pull in all the way to the stop or every time reach out and pull in using the bottom. Have used the likes to help you, but it's a very, very trunk oriented exercise. And pull in, going to do one more reach and pull in holding. Take the top like that.

Holding, getting ready, getting ready and step down and come around to the other side. So you're back on your first arm for the mermaid. We're gonna sit down. Okay. Still on one spring. Huh? That's a good spring from us to this stuff. Okay. So here's where we start to work our sides independently.

So in here, take the carriage out, keep the body long on both sides. Take the on parallel to the ground. Exhale, keep the shoulder still keep the carriage. So as you rotate around that arm, breathe in as you unwind bodys long for you that as you come all the way and keep the arms straight, the one on the bar all the time. Keep the other arm straight. Both arms are straight. A, um, free arm just floats above the shoulder joint. And then we rotate around that shoulder.

Give yourself a little moment there just to give yourself a bigger stretch, a nicer stretch, different stretch. Unwind in here and back when my Rachel reach around out. Stay here, put that hand down, slide the other arm to the outside of the bar and we're going to bend the elbows. Stretch the bar apart as you bend your arms and then pull the shoulders down to stretch the arms. And Ben bringing the elbows wide and straight and shoulder. Push with rotation. Last one. Inhale and exhale. Now from here we lift the head, look up the wall, pull the spine in. Doing a little swan here, a little rotational swan and then down and both hands on the bar.

One pushes one poles you'll know and lift. And one way finding the upper back. Don't just work through the lower back. You want reverse articulate through the upper back. Yeah, reach back down, take the backhand and put it so it's parallel to the shoulder again on wind and lift all the way back up like that. Arm off the bar, reach up and stretch over and come up all the way. Switch sides.

So it's a good idea if you can to keep both sides of the pelvis anchored. Now for me, that's not quite as possible on this side as I want it to be. So don't judge me, but I'm trying. Okay, here we go. So we take the body long, both sides. The body is equally along and now we rotate around that on keeping the reformer still inhale to unwind. Exhale, bring the whole position up, right.

Dropping the hip into place so the spine doesn't really bend a lot in this version of the mermaid spine stays long as we reach across into rotation. It stays long as we reach back and it stays long as we sit up. The pelvis has to move a little bit. Last one, we're going to stay out there this time, reaching out, reach around, slide the hand away. Sonya. Now we're on the outside of the foot bar. Bend the arms wide, shoulders, abdominals in. Pull the bar, stretch it apart as you pull yourself in, and then ease the carriage. One more.

He is the carriage out and now we lift the Bakken. One side of the body might feel different than the other. So honor your body and open or Pusha and lift up, reaching on, reaching the top of the head to the ceiling. One, reaching out. Keep the abdominals set active. I don't have to be grippy or overused, but they should be actively supporting. Go out again, take that outside hand, bring it into the middle. Unwind and come all the way back in. As the carriage comes in, we lift the arm off the bar, reach up to stretch over reading into that rib.

Okay. Come on and step off. Okay. We're gonna do a quick arm set and then finish with back extension. So I'm going to leave my red spring on. Yup, I am. And I'm going to take the bar down and I'm going to grab the box and I'm going to put it on the reformer long ways and we're gonna sit on it like this, facing the foot bar. Take your straps in your hands.

Red Spring will be the challenging throughout for a challenge. Go for it. And if not, feel free to adjust. I take the arms down just to down to the sides. We're going to lift the arms up. Feel the shoulders drop down, open the arms at, bring the arms back and lower down. So we scoop up the air. We keep the trunk still.

We keep the shoulders open, no sliding back and forth with the shoulder blades. We bring the arms back and we come down and again, lift the spine, lift the arms open, close down, lift the spine, lift the arms open. Close down. Last one, let's his spine. Lift the arms open. No down this time, close. Open again. Bend the arms, palms to the ground.

Have a quick look at your elbows are straight out from your shoulders. Press forward, open. Bend the elbows. Keep the carriage still at that moment. Reach forward. Keep the spine lifted all the time and straight bend. Reach forward long, straight bodies, bend, abdominals, back, arms forward, open bent, reaching out, open and reaching out to more.

Last one, lower the arms down, palms forward lifting. I don't know if I can do this on this spring, but I'm going to give it a go. So here we all go together. I lift the arms all the way out. So there's a moment here to me that feels like I'm off balance. I'm going to hold the reformer with my feet and bring my arms into flection.

Shoulder flection. Take the stretch, it's gorgeous. And then let the reformer be free as you bring your arms down. And again, let's see, arms up all the way. Fine this stretch. Try not to thrust forward into this stretch, however. So try to stay as upright as you can with your body the whole time. It's tempting to want to lean into the stretch, but I want you to not do that if you wouldn't mind.

And open just one more reaching up. Yeah. Finding the stretch, lifting into the straps and all the way down. Great. Set the straps down behind you and turn around. [inaudible] take a little of this straps. Um, I kind of like, I like holding right where the fabric and the black girls meet.

Okay, so we're going to do just six regular chest expansions, just six. So the arms are straight and then we just move the arms back and forward. Just the arms and forward. So check it out. How are you? Straight through your body. Press your legs into one another. Lift through the spine all the time.

Keep the elbow straight, keep checking out the elbows. They'll want to bend on you. Mind you, we'll do two more. Last one. So from here, now we're going to bend the spine forward. Now I want you to position yourself so that your back is straight elbows very close to the sides of the body.

And now we just straighten the arms here for a tricep exercise and bend and reach and bend and keeping the spine law and keeping the upper arm still and keep reaching forward energetically through your body. Try to keep the arms touching yourself. I'm going to do four more. Don't let the elbows get behind you. That'll allow your to round forward and no one wants rounded shoulders last too. Last one. Straighten the arms and come up. Take the hands back to the ends of the straps.

So now we're going to do chest expansion, but we're going to add a little bit of back extension to it. Okay, so set up as you would to do the chest expansion. Breathe in, start reaching down through the arm, start reaching back through the arms and then just lifting through the upper back. Well, right above the bra line and then coming back and straight now. And inhale, reaching down and start. Exhaling. Don't just arch the lower back. Keep the pelvis super. Still keep the pelvis super silver. Just moving the upper spine, just the upper spine and it's tiny. It's really little or it doesn't feel like it's a little amount of work. Excuse me, but the head movement should be little.

Let's do three more or reaching. Yeah. Lifting just like you're getting taller and just looking up a little and then back and two, starting with the back, lifting the spine, lifting almost like you're going to do a back bend. That will make them a little bigger. Last one. Here we go. Reaching back, reaching that and forward. Take the arms out in front of you. Ah, position yourself on your box. This is our last exercise. Position yourself on your box so that you're just right at the edge of your scapula and sit tall. Start with the arms out front. I don't have tension yet. I'll find it. So I'm going to round down, holding onto my straps, curling the spine, curling the spine.

Now get that nice strong abdominal curl there. Bend the arms and straighten. Bend and straighten. Bend the arm. Here comes the best part. You're ready. Then the arms. Reach the arms overhead. Take the body over the back of the bus, but keep the rib cage down. Reach the arms down and over.

Go slow. JQ time reaching all the way in. Lift the head and roll up. Lifting the spine up in here. Exhale. We curl the spine rolling down. Say just there off the shoulders. Been three times one.

Here's your chance to get one last abdominal focus and now we take the arms overhead and we they start to reach out. The arms will go low and wide. If you have long hair, watch your hair. It doesn't get stuck in the springs reaching, reaching, reaching. Just explore the stretch. Reach forward. Roll up with straight arms. One more time in here. XLE. Curl down, curl down. Pin the back to the box. Here's three. Here's two. Here's one last back extension. Enjoy Richa reach open.

Diving off the box. Opening me. I'm sit aside. Take the head forward, her role sitting all the way on. Set that straps down. Step off to the side. What's finished where? Where are we started? Let me take the arms forward. Let me reach out. Open the arms and roll down. Exhale.

Second Check-in, reaching for the ground, allowing the head to hang heavy in here. Connect into the ground, but lightly lift off it. Reaching up and take the arms up and open and down. Exhale, palms of the hands facing inwards, shoulders down, away from the years, but relaxed eco away and bend the knees. Inhale and stretch the legs. Press the body forward. Exhale, inhale, and exhale, lifting up. And last time, let's see. I was that and take them around. That's it.

Comments

1 person likes this.
Great! I always love all your classes!! Thank you! I do have a question, when i put the straps over my knees, I always seem to come into the bumper too soon before my legs are fully extended?? I try and readjust myself, but I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Thanks! ----- Beth
Pele
1 person likes this.
Loved this one. Wished there was more one sided work like one sided arms, one sided leg work, but still liked the rhythm and energy of this class.
1 person likes this.
Good one Meredith!! Loved it, thank you.
1 person likes this.
Dear Meredith i love your class !!!! See you in june!!!!
B
1 person likes this.
I would love to have written transcripts of these workouts. I find it hard at times to lose my position when looking at screen. If transcribed I could study it. I have tried writing them done step by step but wish there a better technological way to do do. Any ideas?
2 people like this.
Fab! The back extension at the end with straps seated on the box, so little movement but so much feeling. Does that make sense?
Wow! Thank you for all the positive feedback. I really appreciate it.
Beth,
I would sit very close to the shoulder rests. If you are still having this problem then maybe shorter straps would work better.

Pele,
Thanks! Nice to hear from you again. I'm filming again next week and will try to incorporate more one sided work.

B,
Written transcripts would be nice...I'll mention it!

Heidi,

I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes the little movements contain so much more energy or connection than the big ones!
1 person likes this.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this class
Thank you Jodie!!
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