Class #153

Basic Reformer

35 min - Class
46 likes

Description

In this Basic Reformer class, Adrianne teaches a classical repertoire using the Gratz Reformer. This is meant for the student that is familiar with the routine and the transitions. You will be cued for transitions in a steady yet comfortable flow and reminded of your powerhouse.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

About This Video

Apr 23, 2010
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Transcript

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Well. Hello, I have you do some reformer today. This is the [inaudible] piece of um, reformer made by grads and we're going to start you on for spring. So go ahead and step over here. You've had, she's had Jennifer's had glottis experience before. So she's been on the reformer. She is pretty familiar, you know, place your hands at your side. You gonna start with your foot work. So first you just want to make sure that you are centered in the mat, which she is. I can tell by looking at her shoulders and her feet, bring your heels together, heels up.

You're going to start in your [inaudible] stance. Nice wide turnout. So go ahead and open up your feet a bit more again, knees, right about there. Alright, go ahead and begin. You're going to start to stretch out long, zipping up the legs and come back in about 10 times. So keep going. Wrapping your thighs as you move to, I don't want to keep you from going wider than your own hips here. Three, huh? Four. That's it.

Getting the carriage to move and controlling it in oh long with your legs. And right back in six and pulling in and up seven. So you're flattening as you move eight just kind of getting yourself warmed up here. Nine getting that powerhouse engaged. Nah, sorry. That was 10. Come on in. All right, so now you start with your toes. You're going to go to your arches, knees and feet together.

So right on the arch there and the knees are glued together. Go ahead and start. Good. Zipping up. So as you're moving, keep moving. You just want him try not to let the carriage push you back into your shoulder.

So the more you anchor that spine, the less full on the shoulders. Three and four, that's it. Five, six. Keeping your shoulders relaxed, squeezing your bottom seven little bit quicker. And Eight, nine, 10 you're, you're going to go to your heels this time and flex your feet. Knees and feet are still together, right? Like one long leg.

You've zipped them up and really flex like sex. Like move your heels up just a little bit higher on the bar. Hearsay. You have a little bit more to flex. That's it. And now go out. Three start. You'll start to feel a little burn here for social.

If you're not doing this every day, five, three times a week is good. Six, seven, really pulling in and up. Eight and wrapping the thighs all at the same time. Nine last one and 10 so now you're going to go back to the what you started with your toes, Claudia stance going into your tendon stretch. So go ahead and extend out. Begin to drop your heels as low as you can. Lift, lift, lift and wrap your thighs around. Let me see more. Wrap. Good and lower. Lower, lower three counts down three counts. Up. Lift, lift, lift, lower lift, lift, lift three, lower, lower.

Though the four [inaudible]. Be Conscious of what's happening in that spine that is not flipping around. It's not moving. And Seven, eight game. His legs warmed up. Nine and 10. All right, go ahead and bend your knees. You'll come back. And so now you've done your footwork. Give yourself a little space. This is a great workout cause we're just going to do a beginner workout, which is, even though it's called beginner, it's pretty advanced.

It's hard. Bring your knees in and I'm going to have you begin to lift your head and stretch your arms up by your side. Springs are still on. Four, begin your breathing. Two, four, five. Exhale. Keep your hands pretty close to your hips, so right by your sides. That's it. By the straighter the legs of the harder, this becomes exhale. You've got the Aha. Very good.

30 Lin with the air out with the 50 into three, four five x five 62 or five x 570234580 two x three four five 92. All right, that's enough. Go ahead and bend your knees, rest your head, drop your feet. Jennifer, I'm going to have you, um, step off and take two springs off in the middle and then we'll drop your bar down while I adjust the strap. So go ahead and drop the bar. And just for time sake, I'm going to go ahead and just the straps. This big strap goes between the handle and the leather and then you're going to go ahead and lie back down. We'll put these on your feet for your leg circles.

Little some leg exercises teaches the legs to work and the body works metrically all. Alright, so the hook is on the outside. It's going to bring your knees into your chest. We'll go ahead and put these on your feet. Hmm, it's it. Probably move this down. Just a hair there. Okay, so let the shrubs fall between your knees and your heels are together. Hands at your side. Go ahead and bend your knee so your heels drop a bit. There you go. All right, so keeping those heels glued together, she's going to extend her legs out. Go ahead and extend out.

Turn her feet in just a little bit more. That's it about two fingers apart is your turnout and I'm going to have you begin to circle the leg. So about shoulder width apart, maybe a little bit wider than the shoulders, but not too big. What you want to be conscious of here is that you're not pulling from the knees, but you're using that powerhouse using your bottom inner and outer thighs and that both feet made at the same time. Okay. A little bit of knees there. Six. One more time. [inaudible] all right, now I'm going to have you reversed that.

So try to keep those knees soft as you're moving. Yes, the lakes stay long, but those knees aren't holding all the energy. [inaudible] you'll kind of brushed the shoulder pads. You could go up a little bit higher. So you come down Oakland lift about right there. That's it. Control it when it comes together that the legs don't just fly in.

Okay? Relax your fingers. A little things happen as you're moving. Last one. Okay, hold it. Bend your knees back in so your heels stay together and I'm just going to have her do some frogs just to extend out. [inaudible] now be conscious of your spine. You're always wanting to be conscious of that powerhouse and what's happening underneath you. That a little bit more here. Now extend out just a little bit lower and see your turnout. Turn in a bit more.

That's it. Now come in, squeeze your bottom and then reach the legs out. Reach out and hold. So the legs are long, but your back, it's not quite down. Can you get it down even more? So try to pull your ribs to get. Yep, go ahead and exhale one more time. She was just holding her breath a little bit. Last one. Okay. I'm going to have her come in. We'll take these off of your feet.

They're kind of clunky so you want to take one off at a time. I'll have you do that and then go ahead and take the other one off. Yeah, I took the bar away and then take them out to the side to pull yourself in and let the carriage come in. Then you can just go ahead and drop this behind your head into the well and then I'll have you step off and I'm going to grab you a pad but add two springs going into your stomach massage and you'll add the bar as well. So now give our comes up, but that's okay and everything else is ready. You're going to sit down facing me just like you kind of did for the footwork, so you'll sit on your bottom. Put your feet here to start.

Just to kind of get yourself centered on the mat. Look at your spacing. Make sure right in the middle. Yep. All right, so now your hands are going to go on the edge of the mat and feet come up on the bar. You're back in that plotty stance on your toes. So slide your feet down to your toes. So you've got all 10 toes on there and you want to around your back. Yeah, it looks like you could actually move backwards a little bit. It's just falling back too much. So I'm going to have her stretch ever.

So drop your head, bend your elbows, stay. Try to stay just like that. You're in a nice seeker or from the side. You're going to go ahead and begin to go out. So squeeze your bottom and stretch the legs out long. Try to round over your hips. That's it. And Go ahead and come back in.

So elbows bend to the side. Go back out so your head stays down as you're moving and come right back in. Okay. Scoop the navel in as you go out. Really deep. Go ahead and come back in. She's doing pretty good. Staying over those hips out and in. We're going to add on just a little bit. You're going to go out, drop your heels this time.

Lift your heels and come on in about four Marshall, go out, stay over those hips. That's it. Drop the heels. Lift the heels in, coming out lower. Lift your heels and, and one more time out. Lower lift. And that's enough. Have you take one step ring off in the middle. This time instead of rounding, you're going to sit as tall as you can so you can take your hands behind you. Two different ways to do this. See how they feel on top of the shoulder pads. So put your hands on top of the shoulder pads, the very top. Yep. And then you kind of turn your poems out a little bit so you don't hurt yourself.

And then if you can try to straighten your arms so your back is really tall. All right. How does that feel on your shoulders? Yeah, it does really open you all right. It looks pretty good. You're going to straighten your legs. We might try it a little bit differently in just a moment. Go ahead and straighten your legs.

So push out lower and lift your heels and come back in one more like that. Really tall back. That's it. Dropped the heels. Lift your heels. Come back in. Now I'd like you to try your hands a little bit differently. I think it'll feel better. Make a fist with both hands and put your knuckles in the mat.

So lower your hands. Exactly. Now keep your chest open. Good. That looks better. You have more support now. All right, so same thing. Legs push you out. You drop your heels, lift your heels and come back in about six more out lower. Lift your heels and come back in. That's it. Squeeze your bottom and you move out.

Lower lift and lots of coordination going on here. Three and told that to lower lift and last one out and come on in. Stay in. We're going to drop another spring. One in the middle. Take your arms straight up. It's called, you're reaching. You're gonna keep those knees. This is tough to keep your knees lined up with your hips, straighten your legs or your shoulders to keep those knees lined up.

Come back in. So this is where you're trying to lift your back without your knees opening. No wider than your shoulders. About four times to try to touch my palms. Yes. To now don't reach with your shoulders. Lift with your back. Okay, last one out. Come in and around reach and that's enough. Drop your head, Bend your knees and to come in and just, I'll give you a little stretch and I'm going to have you step off again and we'll set it up for your short box series. So you're going to need your box, which is over there and the pole.

You don't need your pad just yet. Headrest goes down, bar goes down, you're still on two springs, your box. We're going to put it the short way, so over the shoulder pads to right on over and between the pegs for you. Okay. You'll need your sticky pads so you don't move around and you're going to sit on top of that facing the springs. Yeah. Important to use your safety strap.

You put those feet underneath your safety shot cause you're going to do stuff going backwards. And then again, just kinda check the box, make sure you're right in the center of it. You can move a little to the left and right there and then you're okay. You just want to make sure that there's a hands with from the back. And actually it looks like you can move backwards a bit. Yeah. All right. So your feet, you're not really worried about them just yet.

You're going to just start in a hug, wrap your arms around your waist, your head is down. When you begin to move, you're going to start to flex those feet. So it's kind of like you're going to lie down, squeeze your bottom and begin to round backwards. Now you flex your feet, so push your heels out and pull your toes back. Keep Your Chin tucked, [inaudible] curl your bottom underneath you, and then ran back over. So just like the roll up on the mat, you're trying to articulate your spine. So this is where you're rolling into. Okay. So feet apart, feet flexed, tuck your bottom. Good. And now come back up. Pull in, use those arms, pull them into your waist. Inhale, go back, tuck yours, your seat. That's it. And exhale, come back over like I sit up. One more time. It's hard not to tense.

You want to try to relax your shoulders and exhale round. Really Curl into your body and that's it. And instead of tall, missed the bar there where we need the bar this time. So you need your bar, you're going to sit as tall as you can, so you'll hold onto your bar and your feet are again, are flexed. All right, hip with the part, with the feet. So you're really tall. You stay tall, squeeze your bottom and you're going to hinge backwards to where you can control it. When you feel a little shaky is when you come up. Now come back up.

Keep your tummy pulling in and up. Right on top of the hips. Good. So pinch your bottom. Start to go back so you stay tall. That's it. Keep your gaze forward so your head doesn't go with you. That's it. Good. Keep pulling your navel in scope. Scope, scope. Yes. Come back up.

Kind of lift, lift. Lift your back. So we're right about there. Relax for just a second. Open your feet again. They kind of moved together. Last one. So first, squeeze your bottom. Now you're ready to hinge. So she's tall. [inaudible] and then as you come up, you want to come back up, pulling in and length it off the hips up.

And that's enough. Give your arms a break. Rest them, lift your arms back up, and you'll go into your side stretch. So this time you lean forward, but you're still tall. You're going to bend as far over to the side as you can with that, letting your left hip lift open up that side. Pull in and come back up. Now you'll go left. And the only thing is this window, you want to be able to see your arm. You want them behind you. You want them forward in front of you. Yeah.

Okay. And come back up and over. I'm going to hold your hip so you get a better stretch. The angle his shoulders over your hips. So you're not behind yourself and come back up. So it's good to have mirrors. One more tour time over. That's it. Good.

Come back up. And that's enough. Brushed your arms. Put your bar underneath your legs. Good place to store it. Just go ahead and drop it. And to take one, take your right leg out of the strap and hold onto your thigh. Have you go into a tree exercise? It's a stretch. Okay, so you're sitting as tall as you can. You always want to check your box, check your frame, make sure you're lined up with your hips and shoulders, and then try to give that leg three stretches. [inaudible] sitting tall the whole time. Two, three.

Then you walk up that leg so both hands can walk up. So you're like you're straight and you drop your head. All right, so you are going to take this leg with you as you roll. Rock backwards. Really important. Flex your foot. Go ahead and begin. Keep your gaze on your tummy. Now stop only to about 90 degrees with the like walked down to your thighs.

If you are going to lie down, stop right there and now to come up. You're using that power house again. So you want to round into it scooping in as deep as you can. As you walk back up. Rock forward, still holding onto leg and sit up tall. There's the stretch right there. Tumor. Fine. That seeker.

Take your leg and walk down. Check your box. Yeah, that's, that's why the straps there. It'll kind of catch you off guard and start to around. Back Up. Walk Up. Rock forward. Sit as tall as you can. So not the leg lifts your backup. Okay? Yes. So have you do that one more time.

So drop your nose towards your knee. Yes. Alright, you're ready. You're going to take your leg and start to round backwards. Stop. There's the catch. Walk down. Walk Up. Rock forward. Hold your leg and sit as tall as him. Both hands are on the lake. Now you want to sit right on top of your hips.

Really lift and flex and point that foot three times. Excuse me. That's it. Three, take your right hand. Pick an apple off the tree. You're going to have to throw it away. Throw it in a bucket behind you for later. All right? Drop your foot and you'll switch sides. So same thing, other side.

So now that you kind of are familiar with what you're doing of go a little bit quicker. So hold onto your thigh. You look nice and square. Sit up tall. Okay. And then you're going to stretch that like three times. One, two, three. Walk up your leg. Find your c curve. All right, stop. Walk down. Okay. So when you're walk down, it's like you're going to lie down. Okay? When you walk up, you're rounding up. So here's that same roll up exercise.

Walk up, holding onto the leg, lift your back. Good. C curve. Rock back. Walk down, round, back up. Walking up as well. Lift your backup tall. Right up in here. One more time. Seeker.

Walk down. Good. You're doing great. Stop. Good. Walk up to that ankle. You've got pretty good flexibility here. So now work on lifting your backup both hands. Even on the leg here. That's it. Lift here. Hold Flex and 0.3 times. Keep lifting them right where my hand is. Two, three, pick an apple off your tree, the left hand.

And that's it. Okay. You can drop your leg, you'll step off. We're going to get rid of your box. I'll go ahead and take that. And I would like you to set up four elephants, which means putting up your bar and your headdress. Yeah. So your headrest goes on that little groove and that way it's nice and stable.

And then you're going to step up on top of the carriage. So you place one hand on the bar and then one foot hand-foot. So it's hand, foot, hand, foot. Go ahead and walk your feet backwards. So your heels are against the shoulder pad, your thumbs with your fingers and right underneath your shoulder. So in just a little bit with those hands, fine. Find your seeker.

Okay, so she's looking at her, enable her head is dropped. She needs to relax your shoulders though. Okay. All right, so you're ready to go. You're going to push out with your legs and pull up with your stomach. Push out. Now drag it in. Three counts. One, two, three, and I shifted just a little bit cause she started to push herself back with her arms and push out and bring it in. One. Keep Your Chin down to do it again. Out. Okay, one, bring it in. Two, bring it in. Three out.

One, two, three. So very important to keep your gaze and on your navel. Now do the same thing. Lifting your toes up. So dig your heels in. Start to lift your toes. One, two, three. About two more times out. Toes up.

One to three. Last one out. Toes up. One, two, three. Okay, these are very hard to connect with. Lower tier knees just takes repetition and times to start to get out of the shoulders. All right, so you're going to hold onto the Barstow and he slide your feet backwards. Your heels against the shoulder pads, and you're going to round your back. So you're back in that seeker. Sit back on your heels. Alright, so the real work comes from your powerhouse. So your upper body right now, the shoulders and your head are down.

So look at your belly button the whole time. So she's going to push from here. I want to shift you off the there. That's a good starting position. Using your legs start to push backwards. That's it. Keep Your Chin down. Look at your tummy. Now bring it back in. That's far enough, not too far out. All the way in though. And out.

What's your signal to soften their shoulders and in and on the and it's her bottom that comes under and out. Now we're going to go a little bit quicker and in and out and in about four more out and in three out, soft in two and in last one out and in. That's enough. Stay in there. Adjust your position. So instead of rounded, you're gonna open up your chest, more arched in the upper back. So sit towards your heels again. Your head is up, your chest is pretty much pushing forward, open, but keep your tummies up. All right, go ahead and push out with your legs and sit on your heels to bring it back in. So stay there with your upper body out with the legs in with the legs out in.

Push that chest forward. Forward out. That's it. Better out and all the way in there. Don't go quite so far out right there. And to work out in one more and that's enough. Alright. Hopefully you feel those right in your hips. Okay, I'll do that.

My shoulders holding yourself. Yeah, that will again, just takes time to go away. You're going to stand up on the carriage learning how to relax up there. Alright. Walk your feet backwards. This time you're going to come up onto your toes. This is the toughest one of all. So you're going to be up on your toes.

So your heels are up, your heels or against the shoulder pads and your head is down. You want to look at your belly button. Can you bring your hands more underneath your shoulders? Yeah. Now shift your weight forward so that your head is right on top of the springs are that black bar. That's where you want to keep your head and shoulders is right where you are right now. All right, stay there.

Begin to bend your knees. Keep going. Lower stuff. So really round your back. That's what you ought to make sure you're doing. Now, push out with your legs. Stay rounded and brewery back in. So don't worry about going too far out. Do you bring it all the way in? Keep Your Chin down and all the way in out. And [inaudible] can you drop those knees out and in three more he can out in two more in last one. And rest, go ahead and drop to your knees. So you do about five to 10 of those and then you're gonna step up.

Those are very difficult step all the way off. And then you'll hold lie back down like you did in the beginning. But first go back to the same springs you started with, which was four to add two springs. And then you're going to lie back down on your back. Your feet will go back on the bar and you're going to kind of walk that back out. Getting back into your center, you should be nice and warmed up.

Okay. And that your side feel like you've got a little bit of a workout there. All right, so heels up. Good way to start your day. All right, you're going to squeeze your bottom go out. You'll stay out there and you're just going to begin to walk. So drop one heel, lift the other for 20 counts. Be sure though that your hips aren't moving. I want to keep your hips very still. Five, six, better, but do make the carriage go in and up. Eight that's it.

Nine. So the carriage is moving 10 now put that into a run so quickly. One, two, three. Make the carriage move by using your bottom to push it up and that's it. Better. Seven, eight, nine, 10 and come on in. So bend your knees, bring the kerogen. All right, I'm going to change you to your artist and right on the corners of the bar, a little bit. Turned out going into a pelvic lift.

So you want to start to curl your hips up, but your rib stay on the Mat. So it's just really about the first four vertebra. Good shoulders relaxed. You're going to go ahead and straight your legs, so I'm just going to check your hip alignment. Okay? Drop your right hip a little bit. There you go. And then slowly control it to come back in that six to eight times.

We'll say really stretch out as far as you can and then control that movement to come in, have you do about four more and just be conscious. They start moving around and you, you control it. Come in tomorrow. Take advantage of the stretch. Really get out there a long, long, long and then control it. Come back and stay in, but very slowly articulate to roll down. I'll have you step off and I'm going to have you finish with a little mat, so we'll go ahead and go get your mat. Okay, set it right in front here. Good way to finish is you always want to do a little mat and if you've done the equipment, so I'm going to have you lie down on your back for some roll-ups, so you'll just go ahead and lie down and do move backwards a little bit on your back and then go ahead and straighten your legs, keeping your heels together.

You'll take your arms straight up before you go anywhere. Get that imprint in your spine and the wrap with the thighs. Get in here a lot more. Hey, you go. All right, so you're ready. You're going to start to round up. Nice deep breath in. Start to curl your chin to your chest.

Keep pulling in and you'll round over to the knees. Dropping your head, relaxing your shoulders and start to lie back down. Soft feet. Get Out of those feet. That's it. About four more. Nice. Deep breath in. And come on up. Exhale all the way over and come back down.

You're pretty familiar with these so you can keep my wing. Three more. I've been over. Good. It's a little softer in your knees. Two more. Oh, all the way. Overdosed to knees around, down. Curling your hips back under the last one over.

Okay. Yeah. Lie Back Down. Shifted to further back and stay down. Put your hands down. Take your right knee in and lift your leg up. Going into circle your leg so your hands are now down at your side.

Keep the back of your neck long and your shoulders soft. Go ahead and circle your like five times one. That's it. Still hips. Two, three, four, five, reversing five times and around Wa. Work on that inner thigh, pushing in and stretching. Three, four. That's much better. Bit Five.

Bend your knee and you'll switch legs. So exactly. You're like goes up one, keep the shoulders soft. Two, three, four, five, reverse it. Loosen you up there. Hello. One, two, three. Careful with your shoulders. Four and five. All right. Bend your knee. I'm going to have you sit up. Put your hands at your hips. You want to lift your bottom and sit at your heels. So move forward towards your feet. Yeah.

And then you'll hold onto your ankles and drop your head. Find your balance. Keep your feet, your heels together there if you can, and try to keep your head between your knees so you get a hold of right on top of the ankles here. Alright, you're going to roll. Go ahead and begin and come right back up. Keep your head inside those knees. Don't let it come out for Var and Rebecca.

Three right back up. Rounding not hopping. Yes. Okay. Getting that feeling. Inhale, go back. Exhale, round to round. That's it. One more time. All the way up. Much better balance. Place your feet too. All right, lie back down. You'll bring your right leg into your chest. Go ahead and go into your single leg stretch. So right hand on your ankle. [inaudible] left hand on your knee. Take your leg out and up. Lift your head, get that, get a belt on, and really pull in to the mat with your navel.

All right, fine. Now switch legs. Good and switch. Really scoop each time you transition. And two, two, eight times three, three, four, four. Don't forget about your bottom when you're moving. Five, six, six, seven, seven, eight, eight. Take your arms straight up. Nice, deep breath in. Take your arms up, circle them around and grab onto your ankles. You're next. Get tired. Just putting her down. Inhale, arms and legs out. Exhale.

Bring it all together to inhale out. Exhale, three Annie XL. That's it. So anchor that back door. Let it come up. Two more. One more, and in half. Go ahead and set up. Open up your legs so your legs are going to be straight, your feet are flexed. Sit as tall as you can. Nice deep breath in. And you're going to round down.

Go as low as you can, keeping your feet flex and come right back up. So still use your bottom, squeeze your bottom, and then round down and keeps squeezing. So think of that rough going around from the outer thigh to the inner thigh as you go down. And then come on up, sitting tall, squeeze your bottom, keep flexing and go down. Okay. As low as you can and come on up one more time.

Nice deep breath in and exhale and it gets you there. Okay, so hold that. Just relax those shoulders. Put your hands down on the mat. Yeah, and just get out of those shoulders. Okay. So you're in a good position. Just squeeze a little bit more here. There you go. Now you've got a better stretch happening back here and that's what your, what we're ideally looking for. [inaudible] okay. Sit up tall.

Go ahead and bring your feet together. You'll stand up, open your feet, take your arms straight up, take a nice deep breath in and just fall down and exhale and just kind of bounce a couple of times when you come up, bend your knees. Last thing up is your head. Lift your tummy. Nice. Deep breath in. One more time. Go down and bounce, bounce. Shimmy your feet together. Heels together, toes apart as you come up. Articulate that spine to pull in and up. Good. Nice. Deep breath in and exhale.

Shake yourself out. You are all done. Good job. Thank you guys. A good workout. It's a great workout.

Comments

Good for Beg.. I feel that it has a lot of flexion and could have a little more extension to balance it out.. Other then that it's good.. Tina Follett
1 person likes this.
moves way too fast and another camera angel or further instruction from the instructor would make it easier to follow. Not enough time given to readjust and set up before the next series (there's only one of me and two of them)
Very valuable feedback Heather. Thank you.
2 people like this.
I was happy to use this gratz class! Thank you Adrianne! I had no trouble moving the equipment as I moved through the exercises!
Thanks Adrianne! I saw your name and had to join! You were my 1st instructor in La Mesa many years ago. Glad to see you are keeping it Classical ??
^^ there should be no question marks! Oops
Is this really a level 1 class?
1 person likes this.
Frederico ~ Thank you for your forum post. After reviewing this video, we have decided to keep it at level 1 because everything done in this class would be safe for beginners. We have many other beginner classes that offer more pre-Pilates, so if you are looking for something more basic, I would check out our program, The Starter Series.

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