Class #1238

Free-Flowing Reformer

55 min - Class
67 likes

Description

Meredith works your full body in her free-flowing Reformer class. She uses the Baby Arc to create mobility in the spine and then moves into more challenging exercises including Control Balance, Jack Knife, Snake, and more. This class will make you feel longer and stronger.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box, Baby Arc

About This Video

Oct 22, 2013
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Transcript

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Hi, today we're going to do a pretty free flowing full body, pretty strong level class. So I'm the hope you're up for that. That's what I'm thinking. So right now I have a baby arc on the reformer. If you don't have one of those available to you, you could use a stent barrel, a ball, a Bosu, any of those things. Um, and I have one spring set on the reformer. So positioning ourselves a bit back from the foot bar so you have enough room to move your spine in between the reformer and your body and your legs rather.

So taking a moment, finding your weight over both feet. Feel that the arms are reaching for the Flores. The top of the head reaches upwards, lengthening through this space in the waist. I'm breathing in. As you breathe out, allow the head to come forward, draw in and up through the center of the body right away and then just begin cascading the spine forward.

So as you're rounding over yourself, the top of the head is leading. The neck is long. Let me just fold inwards. Inhaling Ben, the knees at the bottom, stretch the legs, and as we exhale, we'll roll the spine back up, allowing the pelvis to shift, so that is just over the knees. The lower spine rounds, the upper spine comes above the lower spine, stacking bone by bone in the head. Finally lifts in the eyes. Go forward. Taking the arms up in here.

Press the arms down, lift longer and taller through the spine. Then exhale, take the head forward. Keep folding inwards, narrowing the space between the spine and the thighs. Head is heavy, arms are heavy, but the shoulders are staying well away from the years. Inhale, bend the knees. Exhale, stretch the legs. Inhale for four pause. Find the weight over both feet in exo. Lift the spine, Becca coming to the top, taking the arms once again, out, out and up and down. Stepping a little closer to the reformer.

Reach down and place your hands on the edge of the carriage and from there go into a tilted pelvis. So we're going to tilt the tailbone upwards. We're going to flatten out the spine here. Inhale. Now take that flat fine. Spine forward on the diagonal. Feel the head in line with the shoulders. The spine is lengthening as it reaches forward and the next house draw under with the pelvis, curling fine back in until the carriage finds a stopper. As we come into this stopper, once again, we're gonna straighten out the back.

We're going to keep the spine long with the abdominals drawn back towards the spine for protection. As we slide the spine forward, it's almost like a standing elephant and then curling the spine back in, drawing the shoulders around the front of the body and forward the Scapula is what I mean by that, and flattening out the spinal. Do two more. Taking the back long. I feel that there's a sense of the pelvis and the ribs traveling away from one another. The front ribs stay connected to the back ribs so the back is not overextended and then we round the spine drawing and deeply through the center of the body, shoulders dropping away from the ears and flattening out the back. Last time, stretch out and around just mobilizing the spine at this point. From there they carriage stops.

We roll ourselves up, stacking ride over the lakes and bend over. And just while you're here, set your springs up for a footwork. Okay. So if you have your arch sit down in front of it with your feet, just resting on the foot bar. Lift the spine, reaching the arms forward and keep the eyes just gazing along the horizon. As you exhale, reach backward with your spine. Allow the arms to lift and reach back to the back. Goes into extension.

Bring the arms around here, aside the Lao that had to come forward. The arms reach forward for the knees. We're just going to roll back up until we're sitting upright again. Inhale, exhale to roll backwards. Feeling the back. Just find the shape of the arc as it cascades over the top. Reach the arms around to the sides and forward and roll the spine back up all the way. Just one more time, rolling backwards, letting the back just mold into the arc.

Reach around eyes forward, arms forward, and roll all the way up. Take the hands behind the head here and press the head into the hands and then without pushing ahead forward, roll yourself backwards. Creating like a cradle for the head with the hands. Once again into extension we go inhale and exhale. Keep the head reaching into the hands as we lift in, just hover right at the bottom of the rib cage in here we go back keeping the lower abdominals engaged and keeping the abdominals engaged.

Full stop XL to lift. So my suggestion for us all is that we don't just relax over the art, but instead it's a working elongated of the abdominals. Inhale to stretch back and XL. It's a float just below the bottom ribs deepening the abdominals into the barrel. Once again, I'm not leading with my head, I'm not thrusting my head forward. I'm just almost even using my head as a weight to make the abdominal work fairly challenging or more challenging than it would be if I were pushing my head forward. Reaching back and lifting up. I like to give myself like, Oh one two three count here at the top to deepen last two.

You mean lift up and take it back? Last one. Exhale, lift up from here. Take the arms forward, one hand on top of the other. We're going to reach across the left knee and then we're going to find center. Reach across the right knee and find center. And across the left and center there is working through the waist here. Notice if the Paolo, this is wanting to shift away from the arc and a cross and center in center. Lift the arms, hands behind your head, rotate towards your left leg.

And now just take the spine over the top on the diagonal and lift on the diagonal. Inhale as we go over the top exhale we keep again, head press into the hands as they just float up off that bottom ribs. Inhale going over the top and excelling to lift. Inhale going over the top and exhaling to lift. We'll do two more here. Inhale, going over the top and excelling to lift the last one in.

Heel over at the top. Excellent to lift, find center. Sure. Rotate the opposite direction and go in here and exhale. So as the spine is mobilized, we also always want to keep in mind that the legs are lined up, that the pelvis is equally pressed into the arc, that the spine is mobile, but also under control. The inner thighs press together, the feet, press down and backwards on the bar. Last two, exhaling to lift who last time.

Exhaling to lift, find center. Reach the arms forward, lift the arms up and take the whole body backwards for the last time. Just take a moment there. I'm resting my arms on the shoulder rest, resting my head against the back of the arch. I didn't bring my arms around. Lift the head up. Reach forward. Hold on. Just roll the spine up from there. Okay, so that's that for the arc for now. We'll put it off to the side.

Put up your foot bar and come again to lie down on your back. Lining the feet up with the heels on the foot. Bar. Feet are parallel to one another. Check that you're even on your carriage. Arms down to your sides. Breathing into prepare. Breathe out. As we now tuck the tailbone under and start wheeling the pelvis up.

We're coming up into a bridge or a pelvic curl or a bottom lift, or however you know this. Exercise, pausing at the top, opening through the front of the hips. And now exhale, starting from the neck. Allow the breastbone to travel away from the face. Roll the spine down the reformer, one bone at a time. Working specifically to mobilize the lower spinal area until we drop all the way back through the pelvis. Inhale, exhale. Rounding the lower spine. Reach the knees forward and out energetically to create more space for yourself.

Inhale and exhale to roll down chest, the individual bones of the ribs, the five bones, but we'll tween the ribs in the pelvis. And finally the pelvis drops itself down and back and exhale, lifting up, pausing here, and then to take the left leg off the foot bar, I'm gonna roll the spine down. Just one leg in the air. One leg in the air is equalizing pressure or finding the middle of the spine and heel as the pelvis drops. Exhale as the pelvis tucks and we lift it back up, rolling the spine back up to the top. Inhale to pause and exhale HSA roll down and he'll at the bottom is the pelvis touches. Exhale to lift up at the top, place the left foot on the bar, find your stability, pick the right leg.

And now we're rounding the spine down deeply. Flexing through the lower spine. Feel that the arms are reaching all the time, reaching long stretching away from the ears. Exhale as we lift up the leg that's in the or, just stays held at that 90 degree angle and rolling down the angle will look like it's changing as the spine is changing. But the angle from the hip never really changes at all. Exhaling to lift up, placing the foot back down on the bar, leveling out the pelvis and finding your way all the way back down. When you arrive at a neutral pelvis, place the heels of the feet on or get ready for foot.

Work on your heels about parallel feet. And we reach out, straightening the knees all the way and pull the reformer in and find the backs of the legs as you stretch and resist as you come in and press out and visualize here the spring sting. Long as we're bending the knees. Now that's impossible, right? But it will create, I hope or feel in your body, a sense of the body staying long, pulling ourselves in. So quite obviously we must work against the tension, but I want us to also work with the release of tension as we come in. Allow the rib bones to be heavy, the shoulder bones to be heavy.

It was working to warm up the whole body here. Last three out and Paul and reach and Paul and reach and Paul. Place your toes on the bar in parallel. Press out with your legs, find a lifted foot, and then as you bend in, keep the footstool so we're not locking the ankles and allowing the feet to move up and down the heels. Just stay in precisely one place as the carriage moves in and out as you're exhaling, press or focus on not over or not overextending through the back of the ribs, but instead allowing the rib bones to just rest against the reformer heavily. Last five, reach and Paul [inaudible] and reach concentrating on equalized pressure through both sides of the body. Here's three.

Feel the neck and spinal length and has the knees come in last too, pulling back and last one coming all the way in. Bring the heels of the feet together and we reach out from there and pull back rapping from the backs of the legs and up the in of the legs as well. So using the pressure of the heels to generate strong inner thigh connection. Again, keeping the feet still in space. So I don't think about the press coming from the feet thing from about a pole coming closer to the source up near the pelvis, around the hips.

And we'll do five more and back and four and Paul. Yeah. Stretch and Elongate the spine as the knees bend and two and reaching in and one and reaching it. [inaudible] separate the feet, bringing the heels to the outside edges of the foot bar lineup. Oh, you were in external rotation. We want to keep the second toes lined up just underneath in me. Generate a little bit of inner thigh squeezes. We reach out and pull back.

So I'm envisioning my heel sliding towards one another on the foot bar as I move. Now that doesn't mean the position that I've put my legs in is changing at all. I just creating a contraction, a drawing in Warren's, not just with the lay eggs but also with the center of the body holing in and stretching, lawn pulling in and breathing. Last for here, reaching out and three reaching out. Last one.

So from here we're going to swivel the heels and the toes inwards and bend the knees working towards internal rotation of the hips. So I want you to keep your knees together as long as you can. Only at the last moment. Allow them to separate and then bring them directly back together and reach out. And then the knees come right back together and reach out.

Keep them connected as long as you possibly can. Feel the work in the in seams of the legs. Reach out and back and re Chown and back. Last four here, straightening the knees all the way, but not allowing them to bow beyond straight. So it's important that we think about keeping the knees just in front of the ankle bones and not behind ankle joint last too, and just one more.

And we come all the way in. Place the feet onto the bar, toes onto the bar in parallel. Reach out with the legs, take the heels down and lift from all the way at the top of the hips. We go down and left down and left. So I feel an uplifting contraction through the glutes, both as the heels drop, but also as they lift. So there's opposition on the down and an active pulling from the back of the whole leg on the app. Reaching a and lowering down keeps space between the Chin and the chest so that the natural curves of the neck are present and work beyond where the springs ploy you as your heels. Reach under the bar.

We'll do three more here and two. When holding at the top we'll be into alternates. So Ben the right knee and then find center, the left knee and then find centers that we arise in the center matching the legs together, high on the toes. Then one knee bends and the opposite calf gets a stretch every time. Say connected to the foot of the knee.

That's bending that foot pushes into the foot bar just as much as the opposite heel is dropping and stretching underneath. And we'll do this four more times to reach and left. Reach and lift three and left and left last two to one and one [inaudible] and then bend the knees and bring the carriage. Turn to your side to help yourself adjust your springs so that you now have one spring connected to the reformer. We're going to do abdominals with legs and straps.

So turning around to face the back of the reformer. Bring the knees into the straps, just yourself so that your about, I dunno, four inches away from the shoulder blocks or so he lands on the knees, shift back just a little bit and then lift one leg at a time. And then with control, we're gonna roll our spine down into the mat. I feel that the hands help you to do that with control. Once you're all the way down and it just do the double leg stretch here.

So we reached the legs and the arms and we press the arms around through space, curling the body to the legs. Inhale [inaudible] and drawing and words and reaching and drawing and width and reaching and drawing and rents. So feel as though the legs are being pulled from or right underneath the rib cage. Feel an activity in the arms so that there's an expansion in the body. And then a contraction and expansion and a contraction.

We'll do four more [inaudible] and three and around and two and around last one. NRL. So holding onto the knees, giving ourselves just a moment to reconnect. Reach back, hands behind your head, stretch the legs out in the center and then rotate the body towards the thighs as the knees bend center and rotate and lift and center. So as you're going through that center line, try to keep the body elevated. We're not dropping the body down as we come to center, but instead looking for more height all the time.

We'll do five more year out and bend in and reach and five Oh, I don't know if I can make it to five, but I'll try. I was running from the lower waist. Feel the bones of the pelvis reaching together and out and, and, and to, Oh, I'm going to make it for sure. And two, just one more time. Center and across and center and across and center and bend.

Take the hands to the knees and start just finding your way back up with just as much integrity as you did on the way down. Let's see here for just a moment, drawing the knees into the chest and did a little rock back and our OCHA and our rock back, which is harder than it seems. And a rock. Oh yeah, it is. And our [inaudible]. One more time. Rock back and Rocca and then place. Take the knees out of the straps, turn to your side so that you're lying down on your side.

We're going to lie down on the bottom arm. And so I've just threaded my arm through the two shoulder blocks. I'm going to take my bottom foot and push out on the reformer so that I can put my top like inside of the strap at the knee. I like to bend my elbow and reach back and hold onto that back hook. From here we're just going to do a little clam action. So the spine is long.

It's going to open the knee and and open the knee and and open. And so just working here with control opening in do three more, two more and last one. So now we're going to take the knee up, then lift the foot higher than the knee. Bring the knee down and the ankle down. Lift the knee, the foot comes up. We take it into internal rotation and norm and neutral, external rotation, internal rotation and neutral. So if the bar is in your way, you could also move that. I just didn't bother for myself down down last three down, down, two more down.

Yeah, last one. And then from the bottom, just lift the whole leg. Draw a big circle with that knee. One, two, three. We'll do five and then we'll reverse that circle. So we're not changing angle of the knee, we're just circling the leg inside of the hip. Here's three of five, four and five.

Lower the leg down. Slide the bottom leg out from underneath you. Place it on the frame. Take your leg out of the strap. Ben didn't come in places dropped down and help yourself. That turning to the other side, lying all the way down on our side, using the bottom foot too to give herself enough space so that we can take that top strap with a little bit of um, with no tension on the strap. And then slide the leg through. And then organize your body so that your body is straight, your knees are in a 90 degree angle from your hip joint. And we start with the frog opening the knee and down and to, so just check in with your neck.

So your neck in alignment with the rest of your spine. That's a good idea to be mindful of impressing the feet into one another as we separate the knees. Last three, two more. And last one [inaudible] so now we lift the knee, followed by the foot. The knee comes down, the foot comes down, knee foot goes higher than the knee. So we're working the full range of motion in that hip joint. The carers will move around a little bit on you or I'm not suggesting is what I'm saying that you're trying to keep, the carriage still lasts three. Yeah, we're working within the hip too.

And last time, no, we just lift that top leg and we a circle with the knee for five of fairly large circle four keeping the spine long and extended to one and reverse large circle. Just rotating that by bone. Yes, three years. Four and five please select down. Slide the bottom leg out. Give yourself some slack on the row. Take the foot out, place the strap down. Okay, and come all the way in. Turning back over onto our back for some spinal articulation.

This is where it's going to get a little fun in my opinion, so we're going to take the hands and place them on the hooks where the straps live. I'm going to lift the fee on linked in the legs up towards the ceiling for a small corkscrew. Inhale as you take your hips over to the left, exhale as you make a small circle across to the other hip and center. Inhale as we go to the right, reach down around and slice through center. We'll just do one more on each side. Reach down all round and slice through center.

Reach down all round and slice through center, keeping the legs extended. Reach for your straps, holding the straps in your hands just over your shoulders. Start to lower your legs to the point that you can maintain control through your spine. Your head rest should be down. Inhale, lift the legs and press the arms to the mat. Excellent rollover. Inhale, drop your legs down and then lift them up into the Jackknife. Excellent. From there, roll down through the spine, bone by bone, keeping the arms extended in reaching spine. Come slowly down into the mat as the legs reach away from you. The arms come up just over the shoulders. Again. Inhale the legs, lift the arms, press exhale. We take it over.

We reached down and then up on the inhale using the back extensors, the shoulder extensors, the hip extensors, the knee extensors, lots of extensors in the body working to perform that action. Mine releases down, legs, travel away, and arms lift. We'll do one more. Lifting up. Exhale, [inaudible] fine parallel. Then go down and find the high position and then slowly down. Bend your knees, lift your arms, place your feet down for one moment while you put your straps away.

Take a hold of the handles. I'm going to go straight into control, balance and advanced corkscrew. So we take the legs out again on that low diagonal line. Lift them to vertical. Roll this fine over here. Just watch if you don't have, if you don't like to be on your cervical spine, this is not an exercise for you. So we're going to keep one leg reaching. We're gonna keep both legs reaching down for the moment.

We're gonna build the spine so we flatten out the back. Then one leg continues to reach down into the well as the opposite leg lifts and reaches up into the ceiling. The elbows are still wide and we sweat reaching up and also down and switch. So just as much as the one leg is lifting and reaching away, the leg that's pulling down towards your body is pulling away, down into your reaching. Think knees are strong and straight reaching.

I'm gonna do one more on each side. Take both legs down to parallel. Take the legs to the left, roll down the left side of the spine. Take the legs down towards the foot bar. Reach across, roll up the right side of the spine and unwind and center. Inhale as we go the other way. Watch the line of the pelvis.

Keep it level roll down that side of the spine. Swing round. Roll up the opposite side and unwind again. Inhale, reach down, roll down, all of us still wide. [inaudible] lots of integrity through the shoulder girdle. Last time. Rolling down right side goes down, we roll up the left side, we come to center. And then from there keep the legs low to the face. She just start making your way down. All the way, all the way, all the way.

Bend the knees and place the feet down. Roll to your side and help yourself up. Take a minute to put my shirt back on and what will lift the head breast? So stepping up onto the reformer, place the left leg, the left foot into the head. Rest. What will the toes that joint, the metatarsal joint and that little crevice and both hands are on the um, shoulder blocks. And we're gonna step the right foot back. We're going to bend the front knee and press out through the back leg and come into a low lunge. From that place.

We're gonna stretch the left leg forward, pressing equally back through the right leg, the one on the bar, and then and again, stretch that leg out. Feel the spine lengthen out in space as well. Keep the back of the leg. That's all on the bar. Very strong and active. One more time. You reach out, find the stretch you bent. Find your arms, find your shoulders stability.

Step your left foot onto the foot bar, both feet point and we guy they were former away and come back and God the reformer way and come back and feel the abdominal supporting the spinal all the time and back. One more reaching out and back. Step the right foot forward. Come down into the Lens. Nice strong back leg. The knee is just over the ankle. Let me just stretch that like forward and Ben. Okay, the back leg strong. Keep those spine long. Stretch that front leg forward and one more stretch. Going deeper into the splits each time and the band [inaudible] well reveal. Visit that balance control. So strong, stable arms. Take the foot off, step back point both feet, and just slide the arms forward and back.

Slide four, reaching onto the very tips of the toes. Two more. I'm back. And the last one. Yeah, back. Lift the hips up. Step in.

I'm bringing the reformer home with control. Turn around. Reach down, placing the hands on the foot bar, stepping the heels of the feet back up against the shoulder blocks and lowering ourselves down into our elephant position. So the tailbone is reaching up towards the ceiling. The rest of the spine comes into alignment with it. When we inhale and reach the legs back, lift the toes, press the heels into the reformance. Slide the carriage back in. Inhale, reach out. Looking for a long extended spine here, anorexia and pulling back.

Spine gets longer and longer as that carriage comes in. Last time, feel the shoulder blades reaching backwards towards the hips. Step the right hand closer to the left hand, both arm straight spine still along. Lift the right leg up and back behind you. So now your head in your, your right foot are on a long diagonal. We're going to take the left leg back and in. As Lesley comes in, we lift the right leg higher and back. Lift the right leg and back and lifting up, and then take the leg back around. Readjust the right hand, find your position in center.

Step the left foot arm over. The left leg reaches up in back. We draw that long extended line from the foot through the top of the head. So you reached the right here and draw the right heel back underneath us. Inhale as it goes back and exhale as we draw in underneath us.

And just one more here, drawing in underneath us. Let's take the arm across. Set the foot down, step into the center. Let's be careful. This is all done in a very light spring. Take again, the right leg out to the side, lifted up and then bend it so you're dragging it behind you. Leaning slightly away from the foot bar, but it be careful that you're not pulling it too much, that it will come under those opening up through the front of the hair. Stretch that leg out. Slice it back in place. Lift the left leg out to the side.

Roll the hip open. Bend the knee and it opening. Hang. Stretch that leg, Huh? And step back in. All right, so I still have my red spring on. Some of us might want to go to a red and a blue. That's a personal choice. I like the red, so I'm going to stick with it.

We're going to step our feet back into the head rest, lower the body forward over the bar in a bend the arms wide. Keep the body low as you straight in your arms and then bend in over the foot bar straight in the arms and bending over the foot bar. We're going to do one more. Stabilizing the shoulder and bending from there. Straighten the arms, press back with straight arms. Bend the elbows wide.

Pull in with Ben terms over the foot bar and straighten. Reach out. Keep the legs strong, bent, pulling over the foot bar and straight in reach bed. Pull in over the foot, bar and straight and we're taking it the other way. We bet we reach. Keep the abdominals as your focus all the time.

Come all the way in bend. Press out. Feel the heels reaching back as the spine comes over the top bend. Reach out and come all the way in. Gently come onto your knees and sit back on your features. Allow the arms to rest out over the foot bar for a moment, and then when you ready, come up and position the food so that they're up against the shoulder blocks going to come forward over the knees.

Can I bring our bodies forward into an arc? Into the down stretch. And from there we just reach back. Feel the heels of the feet. Press back. Where does the spine arc step over the bar? I can reach out and pretty actively press back through the heels as the hips press forward using the hamstrings in the abdominals to stabilize that pelvic position. One more like that. Reach out and pull in from here.

We round this fine. Hold that nice knee stretch position. Flatten out the back. Press back through the legs a little bit more. Room to move. Now, reach all the way through the down stretch. Hold that. Keep the heels back. As we round the spine, the carriage stays still flatten out the back. Reach out with the legs and lift up and to make it one, take it one more step around the spine.

Straighten out the back, press down with the body and the arms. Careful with your shoulders here. Reach out with the lengths and lift all the way back through. Well miss fine again and take the feet away from the shoulder blocks. And once again, just allow the arms to rest on the foot bar as you sit down and find a little shoulder stretch.

So coming up from there, turning your body around. Oops, still on one spring. It's kind of cool. I've been on one spring for quite awhile now. Might even stick with it for the rest of the class. We'll just have to see. I'm stretching the legs out. Ooh, I don't think I can actually promise that after all, straighten the arms out in front of you for rowing. Lifting the back long.

Inhale to bend the elbows. Xcel to curl the spine downwards. Feel the pelvis roll out from underneath you. Inhale, reach the arms out. Exhale, take the arms behind you. Do you take your body forward over your legs, then reach down, then up with the arms, the shoulders cycle through the shoulder, joints, the arms. Do they come all the way back in front and we roll the spine up. Inhale to bend the arms. Exhale, curl the spine. Starting from the pelvis.

Keep your eyes straight ahead on the horizon. Inhale the arms reach out. Exhale, we fold in half pressing the arms behind us. I like to try to keep my carriage still at that juncture. Then reach down first then. Huh? Spiraling in the shoulder joints. Keep the spine reaching long over the legs. Arms come together in front of you.

And we roll out three more in here. XL. As we reach excellence, we take it all the way back. Arms come down then then around to the front and um, working with our breasts. Okay. All right Ms. Now exhale. Inhale, reach and cycle around through sitting tall here, keeping the arms out straight. I was just going to go into a wide arm chest expansion.

So we the arms lifting the spine and back and again, exhale, open the arms, keep the back straight and back. Then open the eyes. And so you could always sit up on a pillow or bend the knees a little bit if it was hard to keep the spine in this long, straight line. And as you open your arms, both of the shoulder blades are reaching out and I asked towards the eye of the elbows turning slightly awkward. We'll just do two more and last one so the arms will come forward. I'll go into the rowing too. So with the arms parallel to each other, we bet in the elbows, keeping that 90 degree angle at the elbow. Roll the spine down and allow the arms to come just next to the body.

Then do five bicep cross and two using this, not only to work our arms, but also to work our abs in that low position to one, find the 90 degree and go at the elbow. Start elevating the spine, lifting the arms, sliding the arms up through the straps and coming back up right in heel. The elbows bend. Exhale, we curl drawing in deeply. Shoulderblades five bicep curls. One working deeply through the center of the body. Sorry for five we hit 90. We began lifting, reaching up in back, taking the arms out and forward. And two more repetitions. Bent animal and now the arms. Five low and strong in your car.

Three two, one. Find the 90. Find the spine reaching up, up, up through the back. Stretch the arms out and Ben, last time rolling down five biceps, keeping their wrists straight and strong here. Three, four, five. And lifting up, breaching and taking the arms forward and setting this drops away and do a little mermaid preparing our bodies for the twist which is coming. So setting yourself up for your mermaid, sitting on your reformer.

When I'm on the bar straight when I'm down to the head rest from here, reach this both side bodies long as you, your um, supporting arm parallel to the floor. Now round the spine, reaching that top arm around to the bar, twisting the body. Inhale as we open and lift the spine back and reach out in here. Shoulder blade on the bottom, slides under and forward. Exhale, feel the whole bottom side ribs reaching around and connecting to that Scapula that supporting you in him as we open and exhale as we left. And one more are we going to change it at the bottom? Exhale as we wrap around to the bar, place that hand down.

Adjust the other arm so that your arms are now parallel to your shoulders and bend your arms, pulling the foot bar apart and reach out. Keep the rotation in the spine. That's just a cue that works really well for me. The sense of sliding my hands outwards on this foot barn or stretching the foot bar to feel more sensation in my upper back. Reaching out to straight arms. We'll do three extensions. So looking up, leading through the top of that, feeling the spine, lift up, using the arms to hold the chest square and coming back and reaching out with the eyes lift first and with that follow with the spine and back. Last one.

I hope I don't need to tell you to keep your self supported. Working from the front and the back of the body. Reach back down. Return the supporting arm to the center. Unwind the spine and lift all the way out with that arm off the bar. Reach up and then reach over.

Nice long side stretch there. Take the spine, bend forward over your legs and roll through center and lift up turn sides or changed direction. Setting yourself up for the mermaid on the opposite side. So opposite arm on the bar. Straight Elba. We're going to reach out. Oh I'm, that's on the bar. Comes parallel to the floor. That arm stays under. Control.

The scapula on the supporting arm reaches around the bottom side of the ribs, lifts up and connects. We opened back out and we left letting that that uh, opposite hip dropped down. So I actually am letting my hip drift up so I can look to keep both sides. Bodies Long. That's my intention in this exercise today. Reaching all the way across. Unwind, inhale and lift. All this comes down. Side bodies are both long.

Last time here. This is where we stay. Come around to the bar. We adjust that supporting. I'm around to the side and then squaring the shoulders towards the bar and your bending the arms. Feel the upper back working powerfully and stretch and vending the arms, both arms working as we reach back out and bending me arms. Reach back out. Holding here. We then lift the eyes.

Start to slide the spine up, working the spine up into the foot bar and reach, ah, drawing the abdominals up and away from the thighbone and lifting up. And one more. Yeah, lifting up, reaching back down, taking the left arm back to the center or the supporting on the initial supporting or we open the body back. We lift the body. Yeah, I'm all the way in. Take the supporting arm off the football. Reach up through the side of the body and then stretch over to the side and lift up. Okay, so come all the way up. I'm gonna stick with that red spring. We're going to take the foot bar down the twist. Okay. So okay.

The leg that's closest to the foot bar. Steps up onto the foot bar first and then we place the opposite arm on the shoulder block and the closest arm on that edge of the reformer. From there, keeping the carriage stu, we lift up and slide the other foot underneath, finding a long back. Then take the carriage out, wheel the pelvis underneath. You. Look back over that back shoulder. Lift back up and draw the reformer back in. Inhale, as you press out just a little and exhale as you wrap around. Looking over the back shoulder. Keep the legs strong, Dee.

Rotate and slide. Last one, reach out. I'm going to cross and under lift Baca. Slide in. Stabilize. Step to the left floor and set down. I'm walking around to the other side so he said the closest foot on the foot bar. Hands come to shoulder. Block in the reformer.

I like to take a minute and make sure I'm nice and ready so that when I'm up I'm already under control and here we go. The carriage moves, the pelvis comes under and around. We look back, lift back up and pike the hips in and reach out and twist. Reach back and left. Reach and twist. Reach back and left. Stepping down and coming in. Okay.

I just got a wild hair to do the, what's the name of the exercise? So twist snake, the snake, maybe the snake. Here we go. Same leg position, same arm position. I've just switched sides again, stepping up onto the foot bar. Press the carriage out. Caution to the feet. Allow the pelvis to draw the chest to lift the eyes to live.

Come back and hike the carriage back in. Take the carriage down. Undulate through the spine, lifting the eyes and dropping the hips through. Reach back and all the way. I think two's enough for me today. I feel free to go on if you want to be around to the other side. Fun Our moment of control and step in and we take the carriage out with the whole of us. Reaches out the heels, reach into the bar, we lift the chest up, lift back and draw in with the abdominals. Reach out, allow the Poas to reach through. Look up, come back and draw and stepping in and stepping down.

That felt especially good to me. Today our, we're gonna do one more exercise and then so I have to go against my idea. I lower my spring, I'm on a non preloaded blue spring on them. Go with a light spring [inaudible] so we're going to come up onto our knees. I'm just going to end up sitting on my feet today. For this straps in our hands, take your arms up and then bend the elbows so that they create a 90 degree angle from the shoulders supporting through the waist. Going to rotate the hands so they're just over the Elba.

I hope my straps in my thumbs are going to reach the arms up extending through the upper spine, reaching back ribbon, the Elvis and the elbows forward towards the straps as the hands reach backwards and then bring the arms in the body upright and finally bring the hands back to parallel. Inhale, let's rotate in the shoulders, keeping the spine stow. Exhale. Feel the whole body link. Then in rate, press up into your straps. Inhale, elbows bend coming underneath the straps and exhale, return to the start position. Two more in here, just arms XL, spy, Nan arms. Inhale, just arms bent. Exhale, spine returned and arms return. Inhale, we reach x, we lengthen out. Rebound, return, place his straps back. Well finished the way we started just at the end of the reformer. You're welcome to change the spring back to a red. I'm happy with the blue.

I'm going to do a little bit of rotation here. So you're gonna reach forward. Rounding the spine down. Place both hands on the, say one side of the carriage. Look down at your pelvis and see that it's squared. And then extend through the hips and then press the carriage out. So you're reaching out into that elongated line we started with, but also creating a bit of a side bend as well.

And then draw in on the abdominals and bring the carriage home and then re extend the spine. So moving like a wave, allow the head to lift. Last. Reach out and around to this side and drawing him. Yeah. And one more reach. Ya just caught myself lifting my shoulders as I was rounding my spine to come in. That's not such a great idea. So I'll remind us all not to do that.

Yeah, no find center please both hands. Why do one in the center each? Ah, take the spine long. Reaching, exploring that forward range and rounding and then keeping the pelvis squared. We adjust the hand towards the opposite side of the reformer. Find a long back. Reach out in over as you Lincoln your spine and then around back in [inaudible] and again, so we want staying equalized on our legs. Just the spine that's traveling off to the side. Nice long stretch to the back. Feels like kind of like a cat.

And around last one here, reaching out and rounding him and then unwind. Hand the other side. One last long. Stretch through the center. Exploring that. Curling the spine back. Lifting the arms off. Three former, ruling the spine, up, lifting their arms into the air. Reach the arms down to the side. I don't know, just do that one more time.

Just lifting arms. Inhale, gathering energy and press the arms down to your sides.

Comments

1 person likes this.
Beautiful work Meredith! Thank you for a great, deep workout )
1 person likes this.
Beautiful work Meredith! Thank you for a great workout :)
2 people like this.
Great class Meredith! love the control balance and snake! I had not done that one in awhile. You look absolutely perfect in your movement. Thank you!
Thank you Connie and Hiekki!
Thank you my dear friend!
2 people like this.
L.O.V.E. this amazing over-all workout! The beginning and ending stretches are great bookends to a perfect pace of not too hard but not too easy. Your tone of voice and cues are excellent! Beautiful flow. Loved it and felt like a million bucks afterward.
Thanks so much Gia!!
Jeannean M
1 person likes this.
Loved it :)
1 person likes this.
Wonderful class! This was the first time I've been able to do the twist! I could only do it on one side though. The other one was not cooperating. practice practice! Thank you:)
Thank you Anne-Marie. Keep practicing :)
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