Class #1387

High Chair Variations

20 min - Class
45 likes
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Description

Niedra Gabriel brings us our first High Chair workout! She takes us through Footwork, Going up Front and Side, Press Downs, and Press Ups with challenging variations. Her detailed cueing helps you understand the specific proper positioning of the body throughout. Enjoy!
What You'll Need: High Chair

About This Video

Jan 14, 2014
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Good evening everybody. I have a Neisha here who's going to be my lovely student today and we're both going to christen this brand new high chair, which I'm very excited to be doing a workout on now. Meisha has been doing [inaudible] for a while. She's a dancer. She's actually signed up and will be starting a teacher training. So a, she's an ambitious future teacher and um, this will be fun because we'll go through the gamut of everything that can be done on the chair. So Nisha, I'd like you to sit on the chair for the foot work and hold onto the handles, wrapping your elbows around, right? Let's have you right here or you can even have your hands underneath slipping the um, well that'll do for now.

Elbows are out and [inaudible] stance. Now I would like all five toes on and your heels slightly dropped, not so higher lift of the ankles halfway. Yes. So we really get the toes to work and pull your stomach muscles weigh in and up and press down slow and pause at the bottom. Press down and really lift the stomach up and bring the knees back up and in towards your body and press down again and lift again and press down and lift. Now let's have a look at your knees. Keep on going, keep on going.

And don't let these knees go too wide so they stay in the box and up there we go. And press and up. And I want all your back against the chair you've slid away. So move your PE. Help us right in. Pull this stomach in, Philip the back ribs and keep going. Press and am. Press and up. So what are we doing here?

We were looking to not let the back move away from the chair and then work the legs two more times. Like this person, this spring is strong. We have two high springs and last one and up and our burden [inaudible]. So move to the middle of the arches needs together for you because you have slightly dropped artists. I would like arches slightly lifted. So you're going to feel like you're slightly rolling out with the feet, but you still keep the knees together. Yes. Pull the stomach in and back and as you press style, get taller.

So push against, yes, I just felt to go up. So press up through the crown of the head and then lift the thighs in and press and up and press. Ignatius doing really nice work here. She has been a dancer. She had beginning Bunyan's and slightly dropped arches. So I'm having her work a little bit like that to force the arch back in and get the outer part of the foot and leg working two more times. Press and up in one more time and press very good and up on your heels.

Flex strongly. Ah Yes. Lift the inner arch of the foot. Inner arch of the foot, sir. Roll a little bit. Imagine if you were on the flow that you're pressing into the outer foot. That's it. Lift the toes up and down you go. Press. And so she's lifting this arch nicely and you're keeping your ribs back into the chair as you press down.

And four keep the toes lifting up and five and up and six and up and seven and up. Eight and up. Nine and up. One more time. 10 and up. Back into Pilati stance. I would like to see weight into the little toe. Not so much big toe but little toe so that you live your chapel.

Little bit more. Roll into the outer foot. There you go. It will feel unnatural. Pull the stomach in, ribs away back, and take this leg up in front of you. So you're going to do one leg not to turn up just in the box with this good and press out. So I were working the leg in so the knee lines up with her shoulder to now a little faster. Three and up. Four and up, five and up. Six and up. Seven, eight, nine. Very good.

10 change your legs. Weight into the outer foot, slightly. Lift the leg up in front, lifted into your belly, ribs back up through the head. As you go down with that like press not to turn out to, there you go. Three. So it's not parallel position. It's a slight angling outward, but it's not kind of hyper.

Rotate nine and 10 very good. Both feedback on the step press all the way down with the step in. Stand up on it, push down, stand up and turn around to face the chair, right stand in the middle. Polarez stance. Nice lift up or tendon stretch. So lift up as high as you can on your toes and I want you to keep all five toes on that step. Now tail is down but the head is up.

Yes in. Lower the heels down and try to stay touching my finger. As you lower those heels down and then lift up through the crown of your head and again down you go. Lifting, lifting, lifting this par tail is long and then lift up again and press down long, long, long heels and lift up and press down and lift up. And I want to see that you're staying on your feet so that you don't fall backwards. If you let go, I don't want to. Yes. And up two more times. Weight into the outer foot, not the inner foot yesterday that you really work all the leg. Very, very good. Come back up now to step down.

Keep holding this spring is really super strong. This put one foot on the floor. Keep your weight over the step and then lift the step up slow. Otherwise that step would go flying up. And now let's have you do stepping up front. So press down the step again. Press all the way down.

Step up with one foot onto the high chair. And so your big toe is lined up with the center. And I would like the knee right over the center of your foot and your hands are here. So from your heel I'm squaring your hips through the crown of your head. I want you with a nice long spine.

Ribs are full in the back. So law, I'm looking for this long diagonal, even more length through the neck. Yes. Now up. You go to the top of the spring, staying right over this front leg and then reach with that leg down. As you lose the back leg gets long and lift up again. Long body and down. Staying beautifully. Square in your sacrum and lift up and down. That's it. And lift up like this and down.

Reaching the like one hand behind your head and lift. Keep the ribs long in the spinal long and six and long with that leg both hands behind your head. Ha ha ha ha ha. Did I see a big body adjustment? Oh my God. Lift. Keep this right hip back. So we're striving to get, keep the trunk really nicely balanced cause a tendency of one hip is to hike up and this is actually super good because she is five foot two in this.

A little higher than most people would want to work. But you're doing a great job. Neisha, hold the wood in front of you. Step up again to the top of the spine. Keep that knee on the step. Step up with both feet onto the top of the chair and play. See other foot behind you then this knee so it touches the front of the block.

And then s keeping your hips nice and square. Both hips square, both ribs square, both shoulders square in a long spine. I love ponytail and Linkedin all the way down, all the way down, all the way down, all the way down. Very good. So the square, this side is much better up. You go lengthening up and reach that like down. See the crown of the head can go higher and again, now keep going Neisha. And as you do what I want you to start lightening the touch with your hands.

So even though you're still hands are still holding, you are starting to practice the placement without the hands being the control. But the powerhouse is your control. Yes. Now one hand behind your head, that's it. Shoulders are down, the neck is long. And again like this and lift and lengths the neck out of your waist, both hands behind your head lift and see if you can get longer and keep the hips narrow two more times and long as you go down. And one more time like this and long as you go down.

Very good. Put your hands back on the wood. Step down with the right foot to both feet are on the ledge and turn the face, the front attorney while your back would be to me, left foot will be up for the inner thigh work. Very good. Now let's you have a nice turnout, but let's still have you hopped this foot just a little bit backwards, just a little bit so it's more, that's right. Uh, now get the toes of the big toe right in. I want the knee going into the corner. Left arm is out to the side and I would like this foot slightly wrapped around and I want this hips square to the front with a nice lift up.

Now start stepping up to the top of the spring, lifting up without this knee going in and then lower down, keeping the leg turned out to the feeling is right underneath, but the weight into the outer foot. Ah, so we get the external rotator muscle working for you. So he, this hip is out. Turn your head and look to the right so you keep the right ribs out. See if you can go up from underneath your left hip up. You go up, up, up, up and lengthen that left leg away from you. Nice. And again, lifting up. Keep that stomach lifting and out. Keep the right ribs rotating out so you don't close in.

And she's doing such a nice job because mutually that leg that's going into the side, we'll turn in and lift and long as you go out. Two more times like this annual lift and long. And one more time and lift, lift, lift, lift and down. What happened to this heel? It's supposed to be down. Now just for the fun of it. Let's get both hands behind your head. Ah, so three more times. Drop this hip, get it externally rotated.

Pull your inner thigh of the right leg towards the inner side. The left, like keep that hip turned out gear. There you go. So really hard to do to keep this the rotators, doing the work. See if you can lift up and keep yourself open. Lift, lift, lift and lengthen up out of the pelvis. One more time, lift and down. I've put your hand back on the step.

Take the other head out to the side one more time. So a little bit less pressure here. You saw that you lost the turnout when you let go of the hands, which means they were helping you along. So I want you to go up two more times, just lighter tension, but really focus on which muscles are working in the legs to make it happen cause you've got it in you and see what can happen there. Lift and go down. Turn out, turn out, turn out, turn out. Rotate the ribs towards me. Yes.

Think of the left side going straight away from Ula. It's a very lateral feeling like a frog. It's a funny feeling. See if you can get that sideways work better and down. Okay, now take this foot to the floor behind you to the floor. We're doing the crossover. Put this hand on your waist square, both hips to the front. And if you can, this going to be odd, but this knee should be going straight forward, not turned out. Really stand on this hip and pull up the back ribs and then lift this knee up and press it down and lift.

Can you go higher? Higher, higher, higher and down. Too high cause you lost it. Bring this knee in. Don't, don't. That's it. We want that it bent. Starting to be challenged and press down and lift and up and press down and lift and up and press down and lift. Now pump it and press down and press down and press down and press down and five and six and seven and eight. Okay.

Stand up on the step with both feet to interface the chair and let's have you do the other leg. So knee will go into the corner. Left-Hand is out to the side. Square the hips. No, let's have them really open and feel this right hip dropping down and I want the arch lifted so little toe is pressing into the floor and outer foot. Nice, Nice, Nice. Now see if you can lift up up. You Go. Press lift. Lift, lift, lift and rock this hip on the way down.

Drop it even more. There we go. And again, lift up through the crown of the head and then from the inner and outer thigh, send that leg to the side and again, lift and out saying that like to the side and again, and lift and rote. Externally rotate and again, lift and down. One more time like this and lift and down. Now both hands behind your head for the fun far you want to square. Make sure you really waited.

You have to work this out or muscle a whole lot like someone's grabbing and lifting you from underneath your side, not a usual sensation. So see if you can press from that like lifting up and come down. We lost it and bring that hip under. That's it. See if you can press straight up, straight up, straight up. That's the idea. I don't care if you don't get up, but let's have you really go for the right muscle groups. Drop the hip down, get the ribs over, and then just even if you think Lyft, just do the best you can. Okay. Let's get your hand back.

Drop the hip and now that you know what we're really going for, go up again. Drop it, drop it and come down again. That's it. Two more times. Drop it and down every time. Making that [inaudible] go to this side. One more time. Lift, lift, lift, lift and come down. Very good.

Nasia let's have you take the foot to the floor, hand on your hip, see if you can get a sense so you're not sitting. You don't want the foot here. You want to be high on that right here. Good. Now see if you can pump and make sure that the knee that's lifting and low. Exactly so you don't let the leg go out. You bring it across.

You get this real work to iron out all the thickness. It accumulates. We can get very thick in there and press and our faster and pump and pump and pump and pump and pump and pump. Two more times. Press very nice and precipice. Step back onto the chair under the step turn to face the center and now we'll do pressing up prompted Palabra stance.

Shift your weight between your hands cause you're going to be pressing up from your hands. But I want this tail long so you want to feel this down, shoulders down. I want you to look up towards that part of the room, like the corner of the ceiling. So very long and see if you can press all the way up. Push, push, push, push, push, lift the chest up and then lower down, lengthening your tail and lengthening through the waist. Good girl. And again before you start, if you can, I want the pressure last here, more here. So you have to ground. Think of lifting your chest up to get up. So you press them. You want to get this death. That's it. That's it. That's it.

That's, that's it. That's it. That's it. Nice and lower down. Now we're going to add on. You're going to push up like that and then lift your legs off and do little beats there. Want to think of the sternum going up to the ceiling. Legs off behind you. An P P p. P. P. P. P. P to B. Bring the legs back.

Keep that beautiful long body and bend the elbows to come down. Come down, come down, flex your feet down. And just for a moment, hinge your body backwards and just give yourself a nice long stretch. Let your head go down. Just do whatever feels good. Just don't fall. Okay. Roll back up to an upright position. Turn around to face the other way back to the chair. These are not beginner exercises. She's strong. So we're having fun.

So you're going to be pressing up back. So hands behind you. You will shift your weight back between your arms, cause you can push up here. You have to get yourself to this position. Lift the belly and up. You can push up, up, up, up, up, shoulders, down. Lift up even more, even more, even more. And lower down. Yes. Now next one, you're gonna lift up like that and bend the knees into the chest.

Bend the knees into the chest. Lift the legs out in front. Bend them back, put them down on the chair, on the step and with control. Lower down. Now I'm not. Now before we go to the third one, just stretch forward and open up the chest. Lift your head, lift your head, and give you some fun. Ortner Tuck your tail and get that chest to stretch. Tail goes under. So we get, yes, I want, oh, this being traction and open. You feel where my hands are? Those bones you want to make. Go. Yes, there you go.

Just felt the scoped spine going. So we're looking to get that open. So go back again. Just stand normal. So you're gonna push up again. Now this is the problem. When you go up, there's a tendency to do this. So you work a lot in the triceps. I'm not sure if you're strong enough to do this today, but eventually the goal is to work a lot in the lat so the shoulders are way down and it's the rib cage. It's doing the work.

So see if you can get to this point. Push down. Push. That's it. That's it. That's it. Yes. Now when the knees in lift the legs up in front of you, open them, close them, then the man put them down. Lower down, lower down. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Very nice. Okay. Turn around to face the front of the chair again with control. Step off with one foot.

Keep weight over this step as you lift this step back up. Very good. Put your feet on the floor in. One more time. Just stretch back with your hips. Give yourself a nice stretch. Bend the knees and lengthen the tail away. No, don't Tuck your tail. Think of getting links from the top of the occipital bone to the table and just create length of fill up the back ribs a little tiny bit.

There's your beautiful length. Yes. And then come back up. Roll up, roll up prolapse. And that was the end of the chair workout. Have one with it. We did. Thank you.

Comments

1 person likes this.
Loved it!
1 person likes this.
Awesome Niedra :) Thank You for the Wunda Chair workout !!
I use my tall board, foot plate and handles a lot but have never seen PA use before (understanding most people don't have) ~ so again Thanx
1 person likes this.
It's so nice to see the teaching style, correcting and hands on with a student. love it, thank you
Niedra Gabriel
Thank you Yogunda and Laurie, I am so happy you are benefitting from this filming segment.
1 person likes this.
I liked :)
1 person likes this.
So you say these are not beginner exercises on the chair - what would be your favorite beginner exercises to do here?  Thanks 
Niedra Gabriel
Pumping and "maybe" stepping up front - maybe.
Cheryl Z
1 person likes this.
excellent class love the twenty minute class for those busy days. really felt the whole body working. Thanks
Cheryl Z
I did again the side turn out going up just realized my bottom leg starts turning in really had to work at keeping it turned out awesome cues my non hurried mind must be more receptive today. Such a challenging class

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