Class #1266

Quick Full-Body Reformer

35 min - Class
142 likes

Description

This is a great class for when you don't have a lot of time but want a quick workout on the Reformer. Meredith teaches a simple class that works your entire body. Her class is a great reminder of how great it feels to move on the equipment.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

About This Video

Oct 29, 2013
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Transcript

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Hi, today we're gonna do a reformer class a quick one. So if you don't have any time in your day and you want a quick reformer class, this is the class for you. So we're just going to start right away. I've got my springs already set up for footwork and make sure you got a box cause we're gonna use that. So lying down on our backs, positioning ourselves into the center of the reformer. Place your heels on the foot bar and allow your arms to rest near your sides. Feel, hear a sense of the arms reaching forward, settling the shoulders down the back and press down into the foot bar with the heels of your feet. With that, breathe in on an exhale.

We flattened through the spine. We're lifting up into a pelvic curl, dragging down into the heels and back through the heels. We had already find a good, strong connection to the hamstrings. Pause and inhale. Exhale, feel the sternum. Move away from the chin. Rounding through the spine. Allow each vertebra to come down into the reformer individually, all the way down through the spine until the pelvis drops down. And back.

Inhale. Exhale. Feel the pelvis shift. Roll the spine up. [inaudible] send the knees forward over the ankles, pressing up through the backs of the legs. Breathing in, breathe out. As we undulate the spine back down into the reformer. Each piece of this spine comes down bone by bone, until we're all the way back, dropping the pelvis down in through three more to go.

Exhale to Corolla, sending the knees forward, drawing the heels back. The arms are reaching down and they're also reaching forward towards the foot bar. So as a spine comes down into the reformer, we feel that the neck lengthens behind us releasing the pelvis all the way down. Last to exhale, curling and lifting the spine. So we just mobilizing the spine here, lift up nice and high. Pause to breathe in and peel back down.

Working specifically to round through the lowest segment of the spine where the majority of us are are fairly less flexible. Last time here we roll the spine. Uh, we lift to the top. The arms are heavy and long. The shoulders are relaxed, the neck is relaxed. Inhale and exhale to feel the spine. Come down. Segmental lea, Bowling Bible [inaudible] dropping the pelvis all the way down.

Reach back and take a hold of the handles and hope and hold onto them. I guess that's I'm fairly self explanatory. Pick up one leg followed by the other. Inhale as you tilt your knees towards me and Xcel is we use the opposite side of the ways to draw the legs back to center. Inhale, allow the pelvis to lift off the mat right away as the knees go into the other direction and exhale drawing back to center so we work through the old leaks here. Inhale, knees don't shift side to side or up and down as we shift to one side of the other of our pelvis excelling center as we go to the side with the knees drop back and in through the abdominals, Xcel to come back to center. Continue this movement for a couple more repetitions in healing across and excelling back. As you move to the side, keep the opposite arm and shoulder anchor down into the mat and Xcel to come center.

Last one to each side. Breathing into move, breathing out to come home, breathing [inaudible] into move. Excuse my voice. It's been a little sick and breathing out to come home. Yeah. So we're going to lift the head and chest. We're going to swivel ourselves around. So relying, um, short ways on the reformer.

Position your body so that your shoulder blades are right over the edge of the reformer and interlace your hands behind your head, keeping the knees a tabletop. We're going to let the body extend over the reformer on the inhale. Exhale curl that had in chest up. Press through towards this size with the sternum. Inhale, we take it back. Okay.

And exhale to lift up as you're traveling backwards over the reformer. Keep working through the front of your body so the back doesn't lift off the reformer. It just extends over the edge of it lifting up and then he'll allow the head as you're moving your spine to stay heavy in your hands and lifting up [inaudible]. So lots of things to think about. The hands cradle that hadn't, I'm actually pulling my neck backwards into extension a little bit more. So I get giving myself a feeling of traction as I'm going over the end.

One more time. Inhale and exhale. Holding ourselves up at the top. We allow both legs to drift towards the floor. Take care of that. The lower back doesn't lift and drag the legs back. Any of the legs. Reach away and XO digging deeply. Pull them back towards our bodies in.

We reach away and actually dig deep in. Drag back in. He'll reach you as the legs go down and keep the spine lifting up so we maintain that strong flection through the upper trunk. Inhale Du and exhale left. One more time. Inhale down and exhale left. Say here with me, your hands behind your size. Curl yourself up or just um, reinforce that flexed position.

We're gonna reach the hands back behind the head. We're going to take one leg down at a time, pretty quick switches and uh, and as my leg goes towards the floor, I'm pressing up through my hamstring to help myself stabilize my pelvis. Reaching down, maintaining flection. Last two and two. Last one and one both legs in the air, a hands behind the size one last time.

Take the left leg to the floor and rotate your trunk so you're pressing into your right side, twisting and using your arms to help you keep this selection of the spine and we rotate and twist and twist and three more like this. Three, two, not taking the leg all the way to the floor. If you can't stabilize your spine, this is number one and then we're going to go hands behind the head for five more repetitions on lifting up as you cross over. If this is hard or if you're fatigued, go back to the variation where you're holding the backs of your thigh or the sides of your thought too. Last one, last one. Both legs in the air. Allow the knees to reach in towards the chest and then just let your back stretch over the back of the reformer. Let go of your head. Reach around for the backsides of your thighs and rock yourself up.

Repositioning your body down onto your back, heals on the foot bar. So first and footwork. Head rest can be up or down. Assessing neutral pelvis here, reaching the arms down long to our sides. We stretch out and pull back and stretch and pull back.

Working pretty quickly. Today I like to, I don't know, I'm a com proponent of slow moving, but if I've got a limited amount of time, I like to try to maximize it. So we're just moving the carriage out and back in. And as always we work the springs in both directions. Last two times out and back, paying attention to the evenness of the lights and we come down and pump. So the focus is the downs. Three four, five keeping the feet flexed, seven arms heavy, nine 10 stretch all the way out, making sure to support the knee as a leg.

Straighten and bend the knees to come in. Readjust the feet onto the toes, press out. Once you're there, the heels are lifted and the heels will stay in place as we bend the knees to come in and reach up. So feel as though the spine is velcroed to the reformer and it stretches out as we come in. We try to keep this springs along right, which is just an idea. It's not an actual reality, but it works along straight arms. Tension three through the neck and shoulders. Last four. When you come back and Suri and come back, reaching and back, holding out here, take the heels under the bar and left as you lift your heels.

Lift all the way through your backside, all the way up to the glutes. Seven as you take your heels under the bar, work to go beyond the pole of the springs. Last four, pulling down. Three pulling down. Make the down just as important as the other. Here's one. Lift your heels, bend your knees and [inaudible]. Pump down to three. Four keeping the spine neutral. Seven a nine 10 we take it all the way back again.

We're going to do 10 more calve, raises, overreaching under [inaudible] and reaching under and lift and feeling the length of this spine. Stay long as the heels reach [inaudible] and Bree and work with a rhythm in your body. And the last four here and three, two and one. Lift the heels. Bend the knees, bring the reformer back, heels together, toes apart on the bar, neutral pelvis. Reach out, pressing the inner thighs together, wrapping through the hips, dropping the pubic bone and down between the legs as you're bending your knees in. And also as you're stretching your legs out, reaching out. Feel that the spine stays long as we bend done last four and three work. This springs down to an one. Here's our palms, we go da Da da for.

So the focus on in the pumping is on the down when the foe, when the legs are straightening completely, the focus is on the up to one straight in your knees. Bend your knees, I'm bringing your heel, city outside, edges of the bar, lining up the knees and the second toe in external rotation of the hips we stretch and pull fill there. There's a constant energetic inward slide or pull who the end seams of the lay outs. Again, reminding ourselves to keep the pelvis down. Reach long through the arms in the spine. Last for pulling back, there's a warming up the body here.

Three and reach and back. Number one reach. And in end pump. Yup. Yeah, yeah. Seeing the light on the feet working through the hips. Six, I don't know. Seven something like that. Last two, one stretcher. Bending. Position your toes on the bar. Same alignment with the size reach and Paul reached Yah and long spine on the way and reach Ah, a long spine feeling that the ribs are just lightly settling down behind the back of the body. Last for us, stretch and pull and reach and bet twice more.

Bending in last one and from here we punch damn dash four five six seven eight, nine, 10 let's take it all the way back. Bend and come back in. Bring the toes back to the center of the Bar Presser and we alternate the fear. Reach under and up so the legs match in a straight position in the middle. That's an up, down, up, down, [inaudible] a prancing type of inaction. As we do this, we keep the pelvis very steady and for more.

Taking a stretch each time. Three two lifting up, bending and rolling to the side. Help yourself. Prop yourself up onto the shoulder block. Sit Up and change your springs to a red and a blue or whatever's appropriate for you for your hip work. Come all the way back down onto your back. I neglected to check my straps before I got on the reformer, which is kind of unlike me, but that's what I'm going to do now. I seem pretty good, but your feet in your straps.

So we'll just start with some circles here. I'm holding my legs in an externally rotated position, lifting them up and then we're going to press straight down. Take the legs around to the side and up. Holding the pelvis. Study in place, reached down and around and as your legs move away from you, lift and pull your spine in the direction that you feel. The reformer moving. So we lift in and up through the abdominals. They slide up or does the reformer moves to the back?

Let me do one more. Lubricating in the hip joints. Pause at the top. Separating. Reach down, slice together in the legs. Come ribs and pelvis. Have you reached down and together? Inhale, legs up, open and reach down and together. [inaudible] keep strong through the glutes, strong through the hips. We're gonna do two more here.

Up, down, together, up, down together. No, I needed bend your knees, not all the way into a frog in a just a, a long diamond shaped position. Lift that said diamond shaped position up, keeping the pelvis down. We're gonna wrap the knees backwards or away from our face to move the carriage. So, and then we left.

So what I'm suggesting is that we focus on the externally rotators of the hips, working to move the legs down and three more reaching and keeping the pelvis neutral as the legs come up last to reaching. Yeah. And um, last one, reaching down as the legs come to the top. We hold, stretch the legs on keeping the reformers still. So we're wrapping and rotating in the hips. We rebound the knees, wrapping the knees outwards and slide the legs away. Stretch the legs out there, bend back into that long diamond position.

Lifts from the crease of the hips, stretch the legs up, hold the reformer stuff. Then the knees hold the reformers still and then wrapping the knees backwards. We then stretch the legs forward and lift from the crease in the hips. Stretch the legs up. Then the knees wrap backwards through the knees.

As we move the legs down, stretch out. They're trying. They're not to move the reformer either. It's possible. It's possible. Bend and lift. Let's go through that one more time. Reach up and Ben's wrapping. Press [inaudible]. Pull so much through your trunk is your knees.

Extend that that carriage doesn't move at all. And then from there we open the legs and bring them back together. Inhale, breathing into the wildness of the legs, supporting our pelvis, supporting our trunk and squeezing, not just from the tops of the legs, but also through the sides of the body, through the waistline. And we'll do three more here. Open and Paul and open and Paul last time.

Open and pull and beautiful. Bend the knees. Take the feet one at a time out of the straps, placing them on the flip bar. Place the straps back on the hooks behind you. Roll to your side. Okay. Help yourself up and put a change of spring til one spring. One red lying back down for the semi-circle. I like one red spring. It's not the only choice, but it's my preference. Wiggle yourself out on the reformer so that your arms are straight on the mat behind you.

Position your toes on the bar so that you're in the small v-shape with your feet and then start to roll yourself down as your spine is traveling backwards into the well of the reformer. Keep your arms reaching upward and straight. Reach back with the legs. About three quarters of the way. Peel from there, the spine Baca, lifting the pelvis up and now bend the knees and bring the reformer back. Roll the spine down, keeping the carriage still. [inaudible] [inaudible] roll the spine, keeping the carriage still recheck your arms. Are they still straight? Yeah, I hope so. And we're old. I just checked mine.

They're still straight. Rounding down, reaching back. Keep your hips on the springs, roll your hips up and Benji needs to come in [inaudible] and then reach out. So they, we only press out about three quarters of the way. Then we peel the body down. The arms are actively reaching backwards and upwards. Then the knees in, slide your hips on the springs and articulate up through the spine, keeping the carriage where it is. Stretch out three quarters of the way. Peel the body down, reaching all the way down and back into the springs.

Ben, the needs to come in and articulate the spine. Last one here, reacher po dem all the way. Ben didn't roll and my favorite thing to do her as I finished is to take my hands off the shoulder blocks and walk up towards the foot bar with my hand. So I'm now holding onto the foot bar and pressing my pelvis up and using my arms to help me reach and find a nice deep stretch to the front of my body. Breathing in and out. Let's hang out here for a second. Reach back with your arm slide or wiggle yourself back onto the reformer.

My case, I'm a wiggle cause I'm a little sticky and come all the way in. Turn to your side and help cell phone. Great. Grab a box and take the bar down. We're going to stick with that one. Red Spring for now are one heavy spring or one full spring or however you see that information. So sitting on the box, lifting the spine tall.

Okay, reach down for your straps and take a hold of the ropes. Lifting the back tall. I straight ahead. I'm going to check my ribs, bringing my front ribs to my back rims, and then we just slide the arms back for chest expansion. As the arms are reaching back, let's feel that the spine is elevating, is lifting up. The arms are reaching for the floor, and it's not a squeezing of the shoulders, but just a depression of the scapula here that we're looking for. We'll do five more and four, so fairly simple workout today, which I like in my body personally, last to hitting all the ranges of motion by the time we're finished. Last one from here, bend forward with a flat spine holding the shoulders back, the ribs, the front ribs to the back ribs. Let's go into a tri civic ascension, so the shoulders depress every time.

Work as you straighten your arms with a straight wrist. [inaudible] breathing and elongating through the crown of the head. Last four and three and two and one come off the way I take the straps, the handles in your hands, holding your arms out in front of you, just hinge backwards. So we keep the body long, we hand you back. The arms are going to stay lined up with the shoulders, dominoes in, and then we go into our bicep work here and by set so you could choose to do this in a loop in around spine. I personally like to not always be in around spy, so we just supporting through the front as the arms move back and forth.

Could also choose to give yourself a little heavier spring. It might be nice. I'm just choosing not to for time restraint purposes. Last three, last two. Don't forget to support yourself from the front. Last time. Arm straighten body comes up.

Hold the straps in one hand and turn yourself around. I'm going to keep that spring for me. That's not an inappropriate spring for all of us. If you need to lighten up your springs, feel free to do that now. [inaudible].

So sitting on the box, the straight spine, bringing the arms out to our asides and we're going to sly the arms across the front of the body and open them and pulling back with the abdominals to initiate the carriage moving and then allowing the arms to follow through. Wrapping the Scapula wide and reaching rib cage back for the scapula bones. So the two bony landmarks, the Scapula and the rib cage slide closely together and that's what helps us keep the Scapula wide on our [inaudible] back. So we'll do that four more times. Reaching across and open hurry, Ching across and open last two across and open the last one here. Turn the palms to face down. Open your arms when they get to a t shape, bend them and reach forward. So this to me feels like a breast stroke action.

Wide Scapula all the time. Try to keep the elbows lined up with the shoulders and when the arms come from the t position to the bent position, try to keep your reformer still the elbows. Reach out the hands, reach into alignment with the elbows. We'll do four, three, lifting the back all the time too, and one lower your arms down next to you places, straps back. Come up off the box and turn it so it's sitting short ways retrieving the strap.

That's a large amount of noise on my part. Sorry, I'm just placing the feet underneath the strap. You really don't want to heavy up the springs a bit to keep the carriage still and sliding the feet underneath that strap. I'm going to work to get my seat up onto the foot bar and sit just to the front edge of the box. Hold this thumbs in the cricket, the elbows, and then allow the arms to come next to the body. Breathing here. As you breathe out, allow your spine to around you. Roll away from the arms. It appears as though the arms are lifting, but really the spine is just changing. Collarbones are still open. Now.

We take that round position backwards. Inhale there and XO Curl your body forwards and only as your shoulders come over your pelvis. Do you begin to sit straight again in here? Xcel, curl the spine. Take that body back. Breathe into hole, curl the spine Bacca and lift the back again. Inhale, exhale, curl.

We'll keep the eyes on the wall in front of you or whatever's in front of you so that you're not forcing your head down to look down into your waist. Trust yourself. Feel that your waist is working. Oh, need to look down. Reaching back. You can take the eyes slightly downwards. Just don't force the chin into the chest. Curling up and lifting the back. Last time here, rounding the spine, reaching back, pausing tea in here and exhaling to lift. Once you arrive at the top, sit tall. Reach back, hands behind the head, pressing the head into the hands, the ribs back against the scapula.

We now hinge the body back with a flat bag and draw and lifting taller than we were before. As we come to the top. Inhale, reach back and draw in and lift. Yeah, and reach back and drawn and left last to reach back. [inaudible] left last time. Yeah, drawing until left from the top. Turn your body towards me. Reach that way on the diagonal. Inhale. Exhale.

Lift your body up and return to the middle. Anyhow, as we rotate the opposite direction, reach back there. Exhale. As we lift and find center, we rotate reaching out and back, keeping the body long. Lift and find center. Rotate, lift, reach back. Well, lift up and find center. Take your hands away from your head. Bring your left knee right up into your body. We're going to straighten that label one as you work for a straight, like also work to keep your spine straight. One more time, lifting up, walk up towards the ankle and then around the spine.

Use the leg that's on the reformer to anchor in. Reach down. Once a leg is vertical, we're going to climb down. I'm going to place my hands just next to me on the box and go over the top of it with my spy. Chin comes up. Walk the hands up the leg, lift the back and bend the knee. Holding the backside of the leg. Keep this spine operate right. Reach one and two and three walking up to the ankle for a lot of stretch opportunities. Here we get into nice hamstring stretch.

Keeping that left knee straight. I personally get a nice hip flexor stretch on my bottom leg. We walk one, two, three hands to our sides are over the top. If you wish, taking the back over the tall had comes a walk up the leg to three lifting the back and fold the knee. Placed that foot under the strap. Lift the spine, picking up the right lane, so [inaudible] perhaps you won't be able to straighten your knee all the way, which is just fine. Let's all just work through a long flat back, reaching up, finding the ankle, rolling the spine down here that the light comes up, it stays stray.

Opposite leg is anchored. Walking Donnelly. Take the back over the top, bringing the head up, walking up the leg, lifting the back at the top and folding the knee back in. Here we go again. Reach out holding the leg in. Close two and three, walking up to the ankle, rolling the spine back, keeping the leg extending, walking down, taking the back over the top, lifting up, walking up the leg, lifting the back and then just bend that knee. Place the foot down. Keep the foot the [inaudible]. Alrighty.

Under the strap under the strap is you turn to your side, place your lower arm down on the headrest. Find a long flat back. Lift the leg into the strap. Find the top hand behind the head. Find your waist bottom hand behind the head. We take the spine over the top in hand and lift to a long flat spine.

Just going to do five. Reach over, so make them count and left reaching the head long to the opposite side of the room. Here's three and left and two and left and one and left. Place your hand down. [inaudible] lower your hand either to the ground or put your elbow on the headrest as you reach over and find a stretch through your waist. Yeah, I personally like to turn my top.

Hit backwards a little so I'd get a nice big stretch. Do the hip flexor on that side you can play with. That's probably not a good idea if it doesn't feel good on your back. And then helping ourselves up to rotate the torso towards the floor, using the arms to pull ourselves out nice and long there. Bring your body back, help yourself, Huh?

Exchange feet. Turn your body around, hand down on the headrest, long top hand behind the head. So right now we're ready to go. As soon as I bought them hand lifts were in position. Inhale as we take it over the top and exhale as we reach into that long whole diagonal line. Inhale as we reach over the top and exhale until the long diagonal line. Just three more. Inhaling over and exhaling to lift and inhaling over and exhaling to lift one more.

Oh, reaching out. Long hand comes down, either the elbow on the dress, that's a good choice or the hand on the ground depending on where you feel comfortable in your flexibility. I just take the top arm in your reach, finding a stretch by reaching as well through the leg and then you can play again around with taking that top pelvis a little bit backwards. I take my hand sometimes to the front edge of the reformer for counterbalance. Reach up. Turn your body around using the arms to lengthen the spine forward, walking yourself back and coming down off the box.

We're gonna do two more exercises today, so we're going to go down to a blue spring is my preference for the next thing that we're going to do. And then I readjust the box. So it's a long ways. Again, please. Once you get that situated, you can lie down on the box on your stomach. So does this mean nobody said that the ribs are just at the edge of the box. The chest is just over the top arms all way out along the frame. Legs hovering, abdominals working to support.

When we slide the scapula down the back, lifting the body up into back extension and just allowing the eyes to travel slightly forward and then reaching back and create a resistance pattern on your way down. Don't just let your legs hang. Keep them just as high as the box. They're just hovering off the box. We slide the shoulders down, aren't talking about lifting them a lot. My thighs are actually touching the box, just talking about almost lifting. And let me slide the shoulders down, chest reaches through the irons, we come up and then we create a resistance pattern to come down and we'll just do a couple more like that, letting the eyes comments the body comes reaching through the chest and really you seem down and last to lifting up. Just exploring that range of motion and then none one way. I'm coming up as high as you want. Arne is not high as you want.

I do a lot of playing around with staying fairly low and releasing all the way and help yourself to get down off the box, standing on your feet, walk around to the front of the reformer and just reach over and place your hands on the edge of the box. So starting with around spine here, the shoulders are pressed down the back. We're going to eat, elongate the spine, so press the tailbone up and allow the rest of the body to just cascade forward towards the floor. The head rest in between the arms at the bottom in here and cruel the spine. Press the hamstrings forward as the abdominals lift into the spine. Bringing the reformer back into the start position. And then from the pelvis, we undulate outwards, lifting up through the tailbone, opening and spreading through the backs of the hips, finding that long diagonal line and curl, pressing the heels down into the floor as we pull the box back to the starting position. And we'll just do that one more time. Reaching out tailbone leads, reaching all the way out, long in here, and curl the spine and all the way, once you arrive at the end, allow your hands to come away from the box and just start lifting your body all the way up into you land straight up and down over your feet.

Take the arms out to the side or reaching up, allowing the back of the spine to lift, and then just allow the arms to press first away from you and then finally come to rest at your side. That's all for today. Thanks.

Comments

3 people like this.
Dear Meredith,
thank you very much for this beautiful workout which I did for myself,before a long and probably hard day. It gave me strenghth and self-conidence and some useful inspiration for the work wih my clients!! love your style,
Big hug from germany
Stefanie
Anna L
1 person likes this.
I loved this one Meredith. Works the entire body with lots of stretching too. Perfect!! I've learned so much from your classes! Hope to meet you at a BASI event someday! Anna
Pele
1 person likes this.
Great class. Liked the warmup. Liked how there wasn't extreme flexion at the start. Very balanced.
Thank you so much everyone!!! It is always great to hear from you and hear your feedback.
1 person likes this.
All ways amazing*
Eddie
1 person likes this.
Meredith u are amazing.
1 person likes this.
So much in so little time. You're a genius!! Loved the class and your calming voice.
Thank you for this balanced "feel good" workout. It was perfect to fit in between clients. Thanks again Meredith!
Wow! Thanks for the kind and uplifting words. I appreciate you guys!
1 person likes this.
Meredith, I really like your cueing, soft voice and the flow of this class. I love news ways of thinking about the more basic exercises. You always help me to reach a deeper place within my body. Thank you!!
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