Class #1193

Lower Body Reformer

50 min - Class
292 likes

Description

Mariska Breland joins Pilates Anytime to teach a fun and challenging Reformer workout focusing on the inner thighs, lower abs, and hips. You will feel the burn with all of the creative exercises she teaches. Work on your Single Leg Knee Stretch, the slow and controlled Teaser, and much more!

NOTE: This class originally had a musical track accompanying it. Upon watching the class however, we decided the work of Mariska Breland was better represented without the music as a distraction. We have modified this class for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

About This Video

Sep 10, 2013
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Transcript

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So hello, I'm Mariska Berlin from Fuse Pilatos. I'm here with Jen and Kristi and we're going to do a reformer workout. Um, I always, always teach my classes on request and what we've determined that the requests for the class are our inner thighs, lower abs and hips, including hip openers. So obviously we're going to do more than that, but I'll work those requests in. We are starting on balanced body equipment. We have a red spring and a blue springs, so it's pretty light. I do that because I want to have minimal spring changes as we move along. So, um, if you would like to lay down, we're going to start with your feet and apply these V's. So slide down all 10 toes on and then make sure that your heels are squeezed together and that these inside ankle bones aren't touching.

Relax your ribs by making your upper back maybe a little bit heavier into the mat. Arms long by your side, palms up or down, does not matter to me. Press your legs out and then Ben to come back in. Making sure that your tailbone is heavy. You have a little bit of space between your low back and the mat. So in this next one we come out and Tuck your hips this way a little bit, pressing all the way out. Feel that squeeze on your inner size.

Let's do four more like this out and then, then to come back in, out and in two more like this. Take it out for two and back in. Take it out and backhand. Let's come in halfway. Only little pulses from there for eight, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight. Go all the way straight with your legs, keeping your heels together and toes apart. Drop your heels down underneath the foot bar, making sure that those inner ankle bones don't touch.

Press your legs all the way back straight. So come up to your tip toes. Drop it down, two and up two. And if those insite ankle bones stop, start touching, you want to make sure that you have a little bit more of a wrap in your hips. You feel a little bit more of your outer hips working to keep those ankle bones from touching. Let's do four more, down and up and down and up. Last two like this and last one like this.

Go ahead and come all the way in towards the stopper. Bring your feet onto the foot bar in a wide second position on that outside lateral edge of your foot. Press your legs all the way out straight and then to come back in again, ticket out and then to come back in. Make sure that your tailbones have you feel that little space between your low back in the mat, Ben to come in, press it out, and then to come in for four more and Ben to come in. I don't really mind if you inhale out and exhale in or exhale out in inhale and I really think it's your preference and how you feel on that day.

It's called us the last one. Come in about halfway without letting the carriage move. Tuck your pelvis, lift your hips up, making sure your low back imprints on the mat. See if you can lift up a little bit higher than that and then melt your spine down one vertebrae at a time. At the very bottom. You have to too little arch in your back to your tailbone down again, Tuck your pelvis, pressing into your feet, lifting your hips up, trying to keep that carriage completely still and it's a pretty lightweight. Lower it back down. Let's do three more like this.

Exhale, Tuck your pelvis, lift your hips up, and then slowly lower down. So as you're tilting your publisher, bring me your hip bones towards your ribs, feeling each one of your vertebra have its moments where it's coming off. Keeping the carriage completely still on this next one, let's come up and stay up. So you still have that postier tilt in your pelvis. You have that Nice Tuck. Extend your legs all the way out straights and then Ben to come back in, take it out, and then to come back in. Nice.

Take it out. And then to come back in, out and in, out and in. Let's do four more like this. Press it out and then to come back in. Press it out. And Ben to come back in. Two more. Take it out. And Ben to come back in. Last one like this. Take it out and Ben to come back in from there.

Let's do the tiniest little hip lift up an inch and down. Press your legs back an inch and in. So it's up and down and back. And in smaller, if you can think tiny little movement, little tiny press back, pull in, lift it up and down and back and in. Lift up and down and back. And in couple more. We take it up and down and back and in and up and down and back.

And in last one like this, go up and down and back and in. Come all the way into the stopper. Then roll down through your spine. One Vertebrae at a time. Slide your legs together so that thereabouts sits bones, distance apart. So I'm looking for about a fifth distance between your knees.

Same distance between your feet. Fly Down so that you're on the balls of your feet. Lifting your heels up really high. So inappropriately high stiletto shoes. Press your legs all the way out straight. I hope if there are guys at home watching, they do not understand that reference. Lift your hips up.

So we're gonna take your hips up from there and then go for prance. Drop one heel and switch and switch and switch. So watching your pelvis, here's you have a good view of your hipbones trying to keep your hipbones level, making sure that one isn't dipping from side to side. Keep that going lower down for two, not all the way down to the table and back up for to take it down and down and up and up and down and down and up and up. Couple more like this. Down and down and up and up.

Last two down and up and last one down. And staying up slowly melt down from your throat all the way til your tailbone. Laying your spine down. One Vertebrae at a time. Beautiful. Bend your knees to come all the way in. Reach back behind you for the straps. We're gonna extend your legs all the way straight, stepped into the straps, unless you have another way you prefer to get into them.

So basically get into the straps. However you would like to get into the straps. Go ahead and we're going to start with your toes facing straight up towards the ceiling. So not applauding speed parallel. Open your legs, the distance of the carriage, so they're opening out from there. Bend your knees like you're doing a squat on the floor, and then press your legs all the way out. Straight bend. So watch that. Your toes stay facing up towards the ceiling and push straight. So Jen, if you want to go a little wider with your legs, so the straps are probably going to come either right above your knees or to the outside of your knees. It just depends. Bend and press. Nice. Let's do four more like this.

Bend and press. And as you bend your knees and make sure that you're not tucking your pelvis, so you're maintaining that nice, neutral spine. Let's do two more like this last one. We're going to hold it in that bent knee position, making sure that your knees are about that width of the carrot, so a little wider toes up towards the ceiling. Tiniest little press out. So focus on where your gluten a hamstring come together and it's a little push forward towards me.

So little press and press and press and press. So think about not moving it with your feet. Your feet are very nicely attached to the rest of your legs, but we're really trying to move it from where your gluten hamstring come together or as my students like to call it the thigh area. So right where your button thigh has come together. Let's do four more like this. Out Two, three and four.

Let your heels come together coming into regular old school frog. Press your legs all the way out straight and Ben to come in. Watch that your knees don't go wider than your shoulders and a lot of our shoulders are narrower than we think they are. So keeping a pretty tight press out and Ben to come in, press apps and Ben to come in. Let's do four more and bend in and two and in and three and in and four and and stop yourself so that you're in that frog position.

Knees directly over your hips, heels together, toes apart without letting that shape change. We're going to take that into a little bit of a rollover, sort of like we're going to end up in short spine position. Draw your abs in, slight Tuck of your pelvis, let your hips lift first. Then you take that shape up and overhead. You want your thighs over your eyes and then without changing that shape, roll down through your spine slowly one vertebrae at a time so the shape isn't changing. That's really nice. So a little bit less where your knees are coming into your chest because we're trying to maintain that shape the entire time. Again, tucking your pelvis, so try to get a little airborne first and then take that shape up and over and then from there, let's just melt down through your spine.

So coming down one vertebrae at a time. So trying to get each bone to come down and maintaining that distance so the shape of your torso hasn't changed. Their knees portals scrimmage smidge more this way forward has so many different directions depending on where you are. Let's do one more like this. So tuck your pelvis, lifting your hips up to get a little airborne. We're going to take that shape up and over and then slowly lay down through your spine. One Vertebrae at a time.

We're coming up and over the basically the same way for the next one. So once you've laid your spine down, big inhale there. Make sure that your toes stay slightly apart, heels together. And then from there, Tuck your pelvis, lift your hips up. So getting a little airborne, take that shape up and over.

We're going to take it into high frogs. So from there, press your legs up, the carriage should move. So you're pushing it up and forward and then bend your knees to bring it back into a frog. Carriage should move again. Pressing up. Try to keep those heels really squeezing together. Gorgeous. And Ben to come back in. You do not have to come to the stop or no, just where it feels like you've maintained that position where your knees are in the same position that they were when you rolled over.

Let's do a couple more like this. I always feel like I should prepare people for what's coming for this next one. So once we do one more, let's do one more take. Maintain that back extension, maybe even get a little bit more back extension. If you can keep a nicer place to start. Press your feet forward and come into sort of a mid air plank.

So you're flying there and hold and then melt your spine down one vertebra at a time, which is not easy. And they are doing a beautifully at the bottom. I feel like a leg circles are always nice to just throw in. So just do a couple. And I think sometimes we always like to exploit our flexibility and really take this into a really nice hip stretch. But for this one, I want you to keep it a little bit smaller.

So really focus on working your outer hips. So maybe going about the width of your carriage, but not necessarily that much bigger. Let's do two more like this and last one this direction. Switch it. So we're going out, down and lift. And as you lift your legs up, make sure that you're not tucking your pelvis as you lift them up. So really focus on what it feels like at your sacrum with the weight of that.

You don't want that weight to change. Let's call this the last one end with your legs at about 45 degrees or so. Open your legs out a little bit wider. So from that position, so we're coming into um, sort of an open legs, like a straddle position. We're going to lift your right leg, only take it up and down, up small range of motion. So smaller than that tiny little lift.

Take it up and down and up and down and lift and down. And if you can even make it smaller than that. So we're just trying to get to the point where the carriage isn't moving. We're just working the inner thigh of your right leg. Let's go for more. Two, three. I know the left leg is working as well.

Focus on the right leg. Forget about the left leg. Let's leave the right leg where it is. Moving on to the left, left leg. Up and down, left leg, up and down. And as we get a little more tired, sometimes the carriage wants to move, so you have to keep a little bit of energy towards me. I find that telling people if they act as if they're trying to kick me in the face, it's much more helpful than having nothing to go for. So if you want to keep pushing it towards me a little bit, good little lift up and down and up and down and up and down.

Now hold it where you are. I would love to tell you we're done, but I, you know, train with Julian. So little circles, tiny little circles. Try to move the carriage. So teensy, tiny little range of motion. Send your mind somewhere else, Caribbean if that helps. Stop where you are. Switched directions. So we're circling the other way. And two, three and four. Four more. Two, three and four.

Slide your legs along an imaginary shelf, bringing your heels all the way together. Externally, rotate as much as you can. So if you can get your toes facing exactly opposite each other, that would be all awesome. Go ahead and inhale to open your legs out and exhale to draw them back in. Again. Inhale, opening your legs out, long and imaginary horizon line and exhale to bring it back in. Sometimes it's helpful if you find something on the ceiling to look where the ceiling and the wall come together is useful. Let's do two more like this.

So we're opening it out and squeezing to come back in and last time opening it out and squeezing to come back in. Let's let your right leg lift up towards the ceiling. You're going to internally rotate your left leg and bend your knees. You're going to aim your knee down towards the floor. So we're basically coming to vendor than this knee.

You want to keep tension there, but you want to bend this knee and aim it towards the floor. Yep. And so if this isn't quite enough of a stretch for you and you want a little bit more, you can always try pulling on the straps. It's my favorite stretch. It can touch the floor if it can. Yeah. And if you want it to be a little bit more interest side, then you can take the strap out to the side.

If you want it a little more hamstring, you keep your right leg straight up towards the ceiling, whichever one you prefer. Let's go ahead and come back into the center. It's sometimes helpful to pull this strap, especially if you feel like it's pulling on your leg in a weird way. And then we'll switch sides. So your other leg Benz towards the floor and that one leg reaches up or out.

And if you have a reformer at home, I'd suggest just staying in this position for a really extended period of time. [inaudible] so if you want to grab onto the strap that's on your right foot, give it a little pulse so that you can more easily come out of this. We're gonna do one last stretch here because Christie did request hip opening stretches. So let's go ahead and take the strap off of your right foot and just hang that up for a second. We're going to cross your right ankle over your left knee.

And then we're going to take this shape up and over, sort of like you're doing, um, a short spine. So go ahead and roll it up and back. It's hard to stay square in this, which is part of the fun challenge of this exercise. But once you get to the top, bend that left knee and take it into a figure four stretch in the air. So you want to maintain that, um, tension in the strap on your left leg and then go ahead and extend your like straight up first and then roll down through your spine, one vertebrae at a time trying to stay square, which is sometimes harder than you would think. And then let's go ahead. Um, do you want to do one more of those? Let's do one more of those by popular request. So taking that shape up and over again, thighs above your eyes. And then once you get there, try to really keep that right knee open and then let your left knee bend so that you really feel that as a stretch into the outer hip.

Let your leg extend up towards the ceiling first and then roll down through your spine, one vertebrae at a time, trying to keep it as centered as possible. And then let's go ahead and switch to the other leg. So let your right foot find the foot bar, and then let's go ahead and switch legs. So we're gonna Strap your left leg. Go ahead and crush your right ankle over your left knee.

Square yourself off leftover, right? Sorry, I one day get that. Only been teaching for like 12 years. One day I'll figure it out. Go ahead and roll that shape up and over. And then once you get to the top, you're going to take that into kind of a deeper figure four stretch, and then extend that leg straight back up towards the ceiling and then slowly roll down through your spine. Really fighting to keep square. I know that's, I'm a little bit more difficult here. And then we're gonna do that one more time.

So rolling it up through your spine, one vertebrae at a time. Really try to get that knee open to the side. So your knee that's out. And then go ahead and bend your, your higher leg to take that into more of a deep hip stretch. And then extend that like straight back up to the ceiling. Roll down through your spine.

And then once you hit bottom, you can untangle your legs. Let your foot find the foot bar you're going to reach back behind. You want both straps now. So straps are going to go into your hands. So shimmy away from the shoulder rest just a little bit. So you have a little bit of space legs in tabletop.

Start by pressing your arms down just a little bit forward of your shoulders. And then from there, open your arms to a t. So from here you can either be in what's almost like a straight t or you could be sort of in more of a v. I Think v is a little bit more stable. Ready to do a little, um, spine twists. So you want your feet basically at the same height as your knees. So drop down, snitch. From there. Inhale your legs towards the right, hiking your left hip up so your knees should end up staying at the same level and your shoulder blade should stay connected.

And then exhale to draw back to center. Inhale over towards the opposite side, so making sure right that your knees stay on the same plane. And then exhale to draw back into center. Let's do two more rounds. So coming over towards the right and exhale, drawing back in through the middle and then over towards the left and exhale coming back into the middle last time, like this over towards the side. And exhale, really fight to keep those shoulders down.

Last one over towards the other side. And exhale back to center. Let your arms just slice through the air to come right above your shoulders. Inhale there. Exhale, head and chest lift. Arms come down by your side. Extend your legs out over the foot bar. Pull your abs in a lot.

Bend your knees back into tabletop. We're gonna send one leg above the foot bar, one leg below the force, so right above left below. And then Ben to come back in and switch opposite leg and switch and switch. Nice. Great. Time to peek at your abs. Make sure you're pulling them in. See if maybe you can pull them in even more. Good. Here's the left on the right. We're going to stay there so right and stay there.

Now take the shape of your legs rocket and try to tap the foot bar and back. Rocket in and back. Nice long wrists. Rocket in and back. Rocket in and back. Last one, rocket in and back. Switch legs quickly go to the other side and then we'll take a break head and chest up a little bit higher if you can. Nice. Rock your legs in and release in and release in and release three more to really get those risks long. No, breaking your wrist and then bend everything and go ahead and take a little break. You can let your feet find the foot bar.

Let your knees to drop a little to one side and back to the other side. We're going to do one last thing here, so tabletop legs, arms straight up towards the ceiling against similar start position. If you need to scoot away from the shoulder rest just a little bit. Inhale there. Exhale, head and chest lift, arms by your side, legs extend out. They can be parallel or externally rotated. Your preference. From there, you're just going to bend your elbows and press spend and press. Each time you press your arms.

Make sure that you're getting a little bit more height and when you bend your arms, make sure you're not dropping your chest back at all. Let's do two more like this. I think this version is easier than the next version, which is head down. If you want to skip head down and just keep your head up totally fine, but you can also try head down, which is a little bit more challenge on your abs, I think. Good. Let's do two more like this and last one like this.

Go ahead and bend your knees in. Let your feet find the foot bar, hang the straps up behind you. And then let's go ahead and just rock yourself up to a seated position. We're going to make a, um, a slight change to the apparatus here. We're going to take off the blue spring, so we're down to a single red spring. And you might want to, cause these machines are not so long, you might want to lower the foot bar down. Um, it can go all the way down.

You don't need to right now. So yeah, please come in. That's fine. Yeah. And then we're gonna turn around to face towards this beautiful view of the ocean. Christy doesn't have a beautiful view of the ocean anymore. So let's go ahead and start with um, hands in the straps. So rest, sit up really tall.

So make sure you have about a hands distance ish behind you. And actually for this one, you might want even a little teensy bit more than you would normally have. Let's go ahead and plant your feet down on the headrest so that your knees are bent knees together. We're going to bring your arms by your sides. Sit up a little bit taller, press your arms back. So just a little chest expansion, and then let your hands come forward a little bit in front of your hips. Again, drawing back and focus more on the pinkie side of your hand to open your chest and then come forward. So I find that if you focus on the Pinky side, you get a little bit more activation in your back.

Then when you focus on the thumb side of your hand, let's do two more like this. So pull it back and come back forward. Pull it back and come back for let your arms float up about as high as your shoulders. Exhale, Tuck your pelvis under, round down almost till your low back touches, but not quite going to extend your legs straight. So both of these women are very tiny, so their legs can go all the way through. But if you need to stack right over left, cause we're gonna start with your right leg. So you're right, like only lifted up for two and down for two up to staying on the right. So we'll lift it up and up. Try to relax your shoulders.

Keep those abs pulling in and down and down. Lifted up and up and down and down. Two more, up and up. And if at any point it seems like you're feeling like it's a little too much work, you just come up a little bit higher and don't lift your leg as high. Now on this next month, lift your like about half as high as you are lifting your leg. Keep your leg at that height. Make sure it's externally rotated.

We're going to do the tiniest little squeezes into the midline. Release into the midline. Release. Little squeeze, release, squeeze, release. Nice. Squeeze, release, squeeze. Release. Two more in and back and in and back. Lower your leg down. Draw your abs and round your spine. Come all the way up to seated. Inhale at the top. Exhale, mentally prepare going back for the other side. So tuck your tailbone under, round down, low back almost to the mat, but not quite. Lift your left leg, take it up and up and down and down, up and up and down and down.

Lift up and up and down and down and up and downs through a couple more like this. We'll take it up. Try to make sure that your wrist stay nice and long, that your arm stays high as your shoulders and down. Now lift your left leg up about halfway as high as they could go. Make sure it's externally rotated. We're going to do little squeezes, N, N, N, n, N, n, n. Go for four, two, three and four. Lower your leg down, round your spine. ABS. Come in, coming all the way up to seated, rebound your knees, plant your feet down and I think we'll stay on the red because it will be, this will be easier to feel more stable on a red. I think it will be a little bit harder for your upper back muscles, but I think you guys can handle it, but if it feels a little bit heavy, you can always take it down to a blue.

But I like the stability of the red for where I know we're going with this. So you're gonna start with your arms, thumbs facing up, hands facing each other. Inhale there. Exhale. You're going to draw your arms out. Really focusing in on that Pinky side of your hand and then let your arms come back forward again, opening your arms out. Nice. And then arms come back forward.

Some spacing straight up towards the ceiling. Let's do a couple more like this and then back and last one like this and back. Christy, scoot forward just a teensy bit because of where we're going with this. So now we're going to do the same thing. We're going to tuck under and round down till your low back touches. Make sure you feel like that's a nice, comfortable position.

So genuinely want to scoot towards me as Mitch and then roll it right back up to where you started. So I want you to take your arms into that tee as you roll back. So you're rolling back, taking your arms out to a t and roll it back up and you'll sank me for the red. If you're on a red, maybe not now, but for the next part of this exercise, open and out and come back in. So now we're going to do the same thing where we're opening out and coming back in with your legs and tabletop. And then when you go out and you lower down, I want you to extend your legs out. So if you're a yoga person, it's big boat.

Little boat is what the exercises, tabletop legs. If you can, let's just get the arms a little bit. So extend your arms back, sort of feel where your balance is, and then let your arms come back forward again. Arms opening out and back forward. So now on this next one, let's see if we can tuck your pelvis under you a little bit more. Lean back and let your legs extend out. Gorgeous. And then bend to come back in. Beautiful again. Tuck and extend your legs out. So that's big boat. And then we'd come up to little boat again, extending out and back. And we're doing all of two more, just two more extending out and back in. And of course, no, no more is also always an option extending out.

Nice. And then come all the way back in. Go ahead and hang the straps up. We're going to come onto your side. I think you will like me better tomorrow if I put you on a blue spring. So right now you have one red spring, I would come to a single blue spring. You're going to start on your left side just so we can be facing towards the camera. So on a blue spring. So, um, your head is going to be, let's start a little bit more challenging.

That gets a little bit more into your back if we do it on your forum. So I'm going to say elbow right on the headdress and holding on to the shoulder rest. And then you can just have your knees bent. Sort of almost like a clam position cause we're going to do the top leg into the strap. That's closer to you. [inaudible] so go ahead and start, make sure that you have nice length through your waist and that length is going to stay there. Extend your leg out all the way straight and it starts to sort of parallel.

And then we're going to swing your leg to the front so your knee is over your bottom knee and then pull it back and you know that you've reached sort of the end of your range of motion if your pelvis has to start talking to bring your leg further forward. So if it's tucking to bring your leg further forward, you just leave it out so you just stop before your pelvis starts to Tuck. Let's take it forward one more time and back and then forward, and then stop where your knee is in line with the edge of your carriage. So it's sort of at a 45 degree angle. Make sure you have a nice lift through your waist without moving to carriage. Lift your leg up and down. So it's again, a small range of motion.

The challenge here is that the carriage is not moving little lift up and down, up and down, up and down for eight too. [inaudible] three they're very stoic. I can tell you I've done these. They burn five, six, seven [inaudible]. And eight, hold it there. We're going to go higher than your end position. So go to your end position. And then we'd go higher and down and higher and down and higher and down and up and down and up and down for four more.

Two, three. And for take that shapes. So go to the higher point. We're going to do what I call smiles. You're going to take it down and then back and lifted slightly up. So it's not a, it's like I'm sort of a rainbow, like a half circle.

So you're going to dip it down, lift it up, and then dip it down and come back forward. Good. So instead of a circle, we're going to go down and up and down and forward, down and up. We have a chalkboard at the studio and we asked people to, to put the exercises they love to hate and this made it on there. Let's do just two more and last round and then we'll go ahead and come in. And then you might want to take that strap off. I don't know, maybe just a little bit. Christy's like, you're never coming back here. Let's go ahead and roll over onto your opposite side. If you want to take a moment in the middle for a little hip stretch.

So a little figure for just a little figure for opening and then make your way onto your opposite side. The bad news one is that you know when you do something that's the single side is you know you have to do it on the other side. This is when you hope that the teacher has one of those moments where she forgets what she did and then you do less reps. So again, lift your waist up. So we're trying to get those ribs away from the Mat. Shoulders away from your ears. We're gonna start with just a couple of simple front and backs.

This is where one teacher who works for always says, you know, we're going to the second side. Aren't you glad there's not three? So sometimes you're glad there's not three. Let's go ahead and stop with your knee in line so that you're at that angle, that sort of forward angle, and then lift your waist up. So take that moment. Lift your leg up an inch and down. So it's a small range of motion. Little lift up and down, lift up and down, up and down, little lift and down, little lift and down.

So really focusing on obviously that outer part of your hip, outer part of your seat. Let's stop it there. Remember where that high point is? Higher from that ticket up and down and up and down. Not doing as many as we did in the first round. Let's just do four more like this. Four and down, two and down, three and down and four and down. Oh into our smiles to take it up.

Semicircle down and up and semicircle down. And I see Janice smiling over here. I don't know if it's like, you know, just to get through it. What'd you say? She's said hurt her more. Christie's just so you know. In case you don't like the rest of the class, it's the deal. Let's go ahead and do two more rounds of this and last one and then say goodbye to that.

If you want to go ahead and take that strap off. Nice. Hang it up, I think. Let's go ahead and um, take, um, first take a little stretch. We're going to change it to a red blue. So right now we're on um, just a single blue, but we're going to take it to red, blue and we'll take the bar up for a long stretch. So we're going to go up a little bit higher to here. Um, you do the second one on this, on this normally. Okay. Second one works. Okay. So we're gonna do, um, first actually a little knee stretch.

So bring your hands onto the foot bars. We want to focus a little bit on your lower abs, who want to work into your hips as well at the same time. So I like to start seated on my heels and then have your arms reaching forward. Do you want to be back here? Yup. Seat back against the shoulder f and then Tuck your pelvis and just lift your hips off your legs. Good. Nice. Straight arms. Shoulders are down.

You can drop your head and then go ahead and press your knees back so that your knees are right under your hips. It's going to be your start position. Make sure that your shoulders are down. I like, again, pressing into more of the Pinky side of my hand. And then from there, press your legs back and exhale, draw then in, press it back and exhale, draw it and really focus on the end. So it's out. Exhale n out. Exhale n out and in gorgeous three more like this too. And three come back to your, your start position.

So knees are underneath your hips. And then from there, once you take your right leg straight back behind you off the carriage. Yep. And then try to get a little bit more height just so you clear the shoulder us. And then we're going to do single leg. So you're going to bend your left knee in and press back, left knee in, and press back. And this is very challenging to keep your hips level and not um, archer back.

So tuck your pelvis a little more. There you go. So let's do two more and less. Small range of motion is good. And then let's come back in and switch sides. You can thank Julian Littleford for this. I didn't come up with it. Tuck your pelvis under you. Again. Extend your opposite leg out and you're trying to keep your hips square.

Surround your back into me. Drop your shoulders and then press back and pull back in. Press back and in. Press back and in, back and in. Nice. Last one.

Try Not to dip too much and then come all the way back in. Go ahead and have a seat down on your heels. Just take a little moment to stretch back. And then let's just do, um, take on the red spring off. So I feel like we need some upper body. So just to have just the blue, so just to half spring. So light spring, we're gonna actually stand with your feet really close to the front and your hands on the foot bar. I don't want your toes over.

I want them on still. And I'm just so, you know, when we come in to this, your heels are going to lift up. So we're going to start in a nice rounded position. You can start actually with your heels down. Um, feet together is fine, or heels together, toes apart. That's not really that important. You want to shift forward a little bit. Good. So from this position, I want you to press your legs back and simultaneously bend your arms out to the sides. We're going to do a wide pushup as your legs drop down. So come back in. So when you press out, you're going to send your legs back.

So it's like you're coming into a plank and then you're going to do a push up at the same time. So bend your Elvis and then as you come up, draw your legs back in. Nice. And you're trying to keep your shoulders stacked over your wrist. So go ahead again, press out and you time it. So you're going to push up and then you press up and lift your hips back up. So again, you're pressing back, dropping down into push up and then lifting back up. And I always say, I rather see people hips lifted slightly then that they're dropping into their low back. It's called this the last one.

See if you can lean forward towards me a little bit and stay lean forward and then bend your elbows and lifted back up. Nice. And come all the way back in. You can slowly make your way on step off to the side. Let's go ahead and get, um, the long box on. We can put, we can leave this actually leave this up for a second because I actually liked this exercise more with it up. I'm adding for them. Um, a red spring taking off the blue spring, cause red springs, wherever we want to end up. We're gonna actually have a seat on the long box and you want, um, I like to have the foot bar up because I like to hook my foot under it when I'm laying down yet facing towards me because I like to put my phone under it when I'm laying down just to kind of get my position. So scoot forward.

So we're going to lay back what you're doing teaser, because that's ultimately where we're going with this, which is that it's fine. I want your feet to be able to be on it so you can sort of get your position. Shoulders off the edge. Good. Let's go ahead and start with your legs and tabletop. Squeeze your heels together, make sure that your head and Chester lifted really high and bring your hands behind your head. Really wide elbows.

So interlace your fingers all the way to the webbing and then press your head back into your hands a little bit so that you can release any tension in your neck. We're going to inhale into back extensions. So inhale it back and exhale as you come up your in, slide that lowest rib forward, lets your low back imprint into the box and then inhale back. Elbows stay super wide and exhale to come back up. Good. So inhale back and exhale up. Okay, let's do a couple more like this. Inhale it back and exhale it up. And then last one like this, inhale it back and exhale it up.

Lower your feet down to the foot bar. Hopefully this'll be about the right height. Actually lower them underneath the foot bar and hook with your feet. Release your hands and we're going to roll it up to seated. Trying not to move the carriage. So is that an okay height?

We're just doing a couple of roll downs with our feet hooked. So if that's an okay height of the foot bar. Okay. If you want to push it, it's on a red, right? So you'll move it. So if you keep your feet hooked, you're going to get a little bit work into your ankles so you can tuck under and round back. Let your low back touch. You don't have to go further than that. And then roll yourself right back up. So that foot bar height, okay, tuck under, round back and then lift it right back up.

Stu Two more like this. So we tuck under and round back. Let your low back make contact. Nice, gorgeous. Pull your abs in as you're lifting up. Last one like this, we'll round it back and then lifted all the way back up. You can let your feet just sort of hang down. We can drop the foot bar down. So we're coming and we're going to actually stay on the box.

So you can just drop the foot bar down. So we're going to come into, and I want to do it sort of slow and methodical. So, um, if you know where you like to be for Teaser, you're going to come into that position on the box, hands into the straps. And we're going to start with straight legs. And I want to focus a lot more on how you're gonna move the carriage with your abs and less with your arms.

Cause I think a lot of times we get a little momentum going and we're like, Ooh, I'm up in a teaser, but I want you to focus more on moving your sits bones back away from me so that your abs are moving the carriage. So start laying down on your back. We're going to have your hands in actually pretty close to the carriage. So you want your hands and pretty close to the carriage legs are extended out. You can just drop your head back. So the best part of class, just laying here, so you're gonna start by bringing your hands so that they're right along your hips and paws. So your head and chest are lifted. So from this position, I want your sitz bones to dig into that box and begin to push the box back. As you're lifting up gorgeous, your hands are gonna stay a little bit below your legs and then keep your hands where they are in space and Tuck your hips under and round down to your low back, sir. Coming back out of it and you're just always reaching nice.

And then once your low back touches, you can lower it all the way back down again. Bring your hands by your side wrist. Start there. So this is our start position. Drop everything and take those sits bones. Move the carriage back. Arms are coming forward. Tuck your pelvis, but keep your hands reaching towards me. So try not to let your hands move back at all in space. Beautiful.

And then lay it back down. These are hearts willing to do one more. So you bringing your hands by your sides. Good. Pulling your abs in. Hope we'll pull and lift up. Lift up, lift up, trying to get your legs up there. Have a moment. See if you get your hands a little bit more forward, but use your abs to bring it back. Nice. And then slowly your hands don't move hands. Don't move in space.

You're moving the carriage with your abs and then slowly lay it all the way down. Let's go ahead and you can let the straps just either hang them up or let them drop to the, does not really matter to me. We're going to make your way off and then we're going to come down so that we can lay on the box facing, um, towards the risers. So your preference, either girls over the edge or sometimes people like to be a little bit higher. So it's really whichever you prefer, where it choke up on the straps would come right at the tape.

I think a red will be challenging. So we'll stand a red if you want to make it easier. We could always come to a blue. Would you say you're on a red? Go ahead and bring your arms out to a tee. So think, um, by plane, not jet plane. So you want your hands in line with your shoulders. And then from that position, we're just going to lift up the tiniest little bit, but I want you to think about lifting your ribs off with you so you're keeping your abs pulling in and then lower your chest back down a tiny little bit again, pulling it back and up slightly, and then lowering it back down.

Last one, like this there. We're taking the shape. Take your ribs with you as you come up, and then lower it back down. Now aim your pinkie side of your hand towards your hips all the way. Pull it back so you want your pinkies to touch your hips. Nice. And then open it back out into a t gorgeous.

Pull back and come back forward. Let's do two more like this. We'll pull back and come back forward. Let's pull it back and hold it back on this one. Try to get your pinkies all the way towards your hips and then we'll squeeze it back a little bit more. Release back, a little bit more release.

Do you need a blue or a break? Let's do just do two more. So a little pull back, release. Little pullback release. Nice. Let your arms come all the way forward. Go ahead and just, um, throw the straps down into the well, go ahead and make your way. I'm off to the side of your machine. So let's go ahead and turn the box and make it short box.

So I like to have the other part that doesn't have the little strap thing on it. Um, facing in, I think a red is still gonna be good. We're just going to lift this up. It's not actually entirely necessary to have a footballer for this exercise, but I feel like it gives you a little bit more feedback. I actually put it on really high for this one. Um, so we're going to do a little bit of a hip extension exercise.

So you're going to start standing pretty close to the foot bar and you're going to put your foot on the box so that it's in sort of a turnout position. And then you're gonna press it back so that your knee is behind. You're standing me, it doesn't really matter because it's red. It's not heavy. It's not super heavy. So I don't care what side of the machine you start on, you're gonna have your foot completely parallel that's on the floor and your foot, that's on the boxes in a turnout position, press back so that your knee on the box, on the box leg is behind your knee. That's your standing leg. So from there we're gonna take your leg, press it back, but you're in external rotation and then bend to come back in.

Press it back and Ben to come back in. So if you can get more length through your waist, Tuck your pelvis under you a little bit. Good. Dropping your shoulders down and you don't let your knee come in past your opposite knee, cause then it's going to go into your quad. And then you're gonna be like, Oh, this is a quad exercise. And I want it to be a little bit more of a hip exercise.

And try not to let your pelvis rotate. Good as you're pressing back. Let's go ahead and push it back like about halfway to what your Max was. Tiny little presses back for eight, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight. Come all the way in. Let's go ahead and walk around to the other side. I promised from, from done. I'm happy they're walking around to the other side.

So you have a little bend in your knee and then you'll press your standing leg back. So it's behind your, where you're working, like back behind your standing leg. Tuck your pelvis a little bit, drop your shoulders down. Let's go ahead and press your leg back and pull it back in. So it's your abs that are gonna pull your leg back in, not just relaxing your leg. And if you can, you're going to bring this foot to parallel. So line your foot up with my foot. Okay, good. Now let's go out just a little bit. Tiny pulses for eight two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight. Come all the way in.

Go ahead and step off. You can just leave the box where it is for now. We're going to come around, use the foot bar for a little hip stretch. So you're going to come into essentially a pigeon. Um, with your foot and external rotation. So you're bringing your leg up to Nope, you're just going to stand and then bring your leg into an external rotation stretch. Right. You can also use the box. So if you want to, the box works well and if you want to make that a little bit deeper, you can lean forward. So dropping your shoulders away from your ears. Really focusing on getting that stretch in your outer hip.

This is a stretch I feel like should be done every single day. All Day long. Let's go ahead and slowly come out. We'll move onto the other side. Yeah, just making sure your shoulders are down. Lean forward. Don't forget to breathe. Breathing is important. And then slowly make your way all the way up to standing can take any last stretches that you feel like your body would like to take.

So hanging back on the foot bar is always a nice one. Stretch into your upper back side bands. Yeah. And then other than that, you ladies are done. Thank you. Very nice job.

Comments

2 people like this.
Wow Mariska, I'm sure Julian is smiling down on you! Very enjoyable class in a "brutal" kind of way. Jenn and Kristi you look amazing as always...not a "jiggly bit" to be seen. :)
The music kept pulling my focus away from your instruction that I did not enjoy what you were doing! Pilates with Charleston music playing does not fit!
Elizabeth D
I don't like to post negative comments, but I have to agree with Paula, I found the music very distracting, it was at a level that was neither background, nor rhythmically complimentary to the movements of the class.
No jiggly bits here! And, thank you Kerry - I certainly hope he is. For those who are wondering about the music - I mostly teach privates sans music and group classes with music. I debated whether to use it here because it was a more private vibe than group class. In group classes, it's usually more "choreographed."
Is Julian no longer with us:( Please tell me that's not true.
Jennifer W
1 person likes this.
Even better the 2nd time! Great class Mariska! Thank you!
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news Pamela. Julian passed away on Saturday Aug 31. I'm personally still feeling Julian's presence profoundly, but in fact, his long battle with Cancer has come to an end and his presence in all of our lives will not be in the flesh anymore. There will be a celebration of Julian's life on Sunday 9/22/13 at his Studio in Del Mar at 3pm. He was our friend, he will always be our teacher.
1 person likes this.
Loved the class! I found the music a little distracting.
3 people like this.
love this class and in light of Julian passing away,I think this is such a great way to honour him and all that he brought to the world of pilates. Thanks Kristi for having this shown at this time.I am sure Julian is soaring like an eagle now.
Pele
1 person likes this.
Didn't care for the music either. I think music can be used successfully in a class if it is an up tempo class where the instructor stays on the beats of the music . Think Tracy Mallet or Michael King.It worked for some parts of this class but for others where the pace got altered it ended up more of a distraction.

Some of the instructions weren't very clear and it would also be helpful to keep us even on both sides. I get that instructors forget and count arbitrarily but one of the reasons why we do pilates is for body balance and not to be more uneven.

I love the Littleford style. Very dynamic and seamless in many ways. Love Julian's classes and Melissa's classes on the site. Those are ones I return to over and over again.

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