Class #187

Stability Ball Challenge

40 min - Class
183 likes

Description

Layla challenges you to apply your Pilates skills on an unstable surface that makes for a tough but fun class.
What You'll Need: Mat, Fitness Ball

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Transcript

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So with that, let's start our ball class. Inhale tall and exhale. Drop the chin. Contain the [inaudible] abdominals. Keep the legs up right. No shifting back of the hips as we roll one by one all the way down, lightly touching the floor. Lift the spine to the ceiling here. Inhale and exhale. Roll it up. Checking in. What has our day brought us?

What has our night brought us? Inhale and exhale. Drop the chin and roll it down. [inaudible] pulling the abdominal wall up to the spine and lifting the whole complex up to the ceiling at the bottom. Inhale here and exhale, rolling it up, squeezing those inner thighs together and we'll do one more here. Inhale tall and exhale. Drop the chin, stretch the back of that neck. Contain the abdominals, rolling it down, stretching each one of those vertebral. Wow, that feels great. Inhale and exhale. One at a time, squeezing and wrapping the glutes and standing tall. Get your balls so standing near your ball. Bend forward. Enlightly lightly grasp it on either side.

Tuck the head, roll it down until the top of the head meets the top of the ball. Let the harms drop on either side of the ball. Now press and lengthen your neck, pressing the top of the head end of the ball as we lift the spine to the ceiling, creating a huge archway underneath us. Inhale here. Exhale, grabbed the ball and flatten the back. Lift the head and come out into flat. Back. Contain the ribs. Inhale here. Exhale, Tuck the pelvis, drop the head and again, contact [inaudible] the ball. Lengthen the arms.

Now stretch the neck down into the ball and lift the abdominals and lift that spine to the ceiling. Inhale here. Exhale, grasp the ball. Hips go out, arms extend into flat back. And one more time. Tuck the pelvis and drop the head. Contact the ball, lengthen the arms, pressing and lengthening the neck down into the ball and lifting the spine to the ceiling. Inhale here, exhale, grasp to the ball and come out into flat, back turn and sit on your ball. Oh, face forward for the moment coming here and your, your knees are at about 90 degrees and your hands are resting on your knees. Inhale tall and exhale.

Tuck the pelvis under and pull the ball towards your heels rolling all the way back into a low curl. Hold it here, pressing that back down into the ball. Inhale and exhale. Roll it up. Come up to a seated position. Now push your hips back behind you. Lift and extend your upper back. Hold it here. Inhale, Tuck the pelvis under. Exhale, roll it all the way down in the low curl. Inhale to hold. Exhale, rolling it up and push the hips out behind. I'll come to the side.

We'll do it one more time and inhale, Tuck, and exhale. Hold it down at the low position. Inhale, roll it up and exhale. Push it away. Come back to center. Inhale up. Arms are overhead. Exhale, squeeze the glutes. Contain the lower back. Inhale, lift the sternum to the sky and arch that upper back only and sweeping the arms back behind us and come back to vertical. Inhale, arms up. Exhale, squeeze the glutes. Inhale, reach that upper back back behind you. Exhale, sweep in the arms back even further, and inhale to the vertical. One more time and inhale up.

Exhale, squeeze the glutes. Inhale, lifting the sternum. Exhale, open the arms, and now we make a change. Inhale, arms up. Exhale, squeeze the glutes. Inhale, lift the sternum. Exhale, circle the arms back. Inhale, scoop forward, pulling the abs away from the thighs as you come all the way down, touching the mat right in front of your feet. Inhale here. Exhale, roll it back up and we repeat. Inhale up, arms overhead. Exhale, squeeze those glutes. Inhale, reaching that sternum. Exhale, circle the arms. Inhale, scoop it forward. Exhale, roll it down.

Inhale to hold and exhale to roll it up last time. Inhale, arms up, and exhale. Squeeze those glutes. Inhale, reaching back behind. Exhale, circle the arms back. Inhale, scooping forward. Exhale, reaching down. ABS, pulling away from the thighs.

Inhale to hold and exhale to roll it up. Staying here, small movements. We go. Let's move it. Raising the right arm. Push the right hips out and come back to center. Left arm up, left hip, out, back to center.

Up and out and center. Up and out and center. It's a big move up and out. Lots of movement. The hips can move. Feel free. I want a nice stretch and a nice opening here. One more time. This side and center. Last time and center, small movements.

Now with just the pelvis, we took the pelvis forward to 12 o'clock we push it back to six o'clock forward and back. Forward and back and forward and back. Bring it back to center. Now we go left to nine and right to three left to nine right to three and nine and three and nine and three. Now let's see how coordinated we can be.

We bring it forward to 12 we push it out to nine we bring it back to six and bring it straight through the clock to 12 we push it out to three we bring it back to six and pull it all the way through to 12 out to nine back to six pull it forward, 12 and three. Six now bring it center. We reverse it, push it back to six out to three forward to 12 push it back through center to six and nine. 12 and center. There's six and three. 12 and center last time, six, nine 12 and center. Wow.

Okay. All worked out. All loosened up. We know what time it is. Take your balls and come down onto the mat. Well, I all the way down on your mat and bring your feet up so that your heels are just on top and your knees are bent at about 90 degrees. Head, neck and shoulders are down on the mat. Scapula planted, flat on the mat, palms well-placed and open on the mat. We're going to inhale here or we're going to exhale, tucking the pelvis and rolling up and we have a nice straight line between knees and shoulders. Inhale and exhale. Now drop down the upper back first, mid back, low back and tail last inhale to prepare and exhale to Tuck the pelvis first. Now the middle of the back.

Now the upper back comes up off the mat into a nice straight line ball doesn't move. Inhale here. Exhale, drop that upper back, keeping the pelvis tucked, one vertebrae at a time, shoulders flat on the Mat. Inhale to prepare and exhale, rolling it up and two and three and for hold it and four and three and two and one. I'll offer an aisle and I'll alternate version if you want a little more advanced version. So stay with what we've been doing. If you want, inhale and exhale, roll it up. Two, three, four if you'd like. Roll it out, keeping the hips up, pull it back, keeping the hips up and roll it down. Two, three, four. Inhale, prepare.

Go back up to three and hold. Roll it out. Hold, pull it back. Hips or lay raised. Inhale. Exhale. Drop it down to three last time. Inhale and exhale. Roll it up.

Two, three. There we are. Roll it out. Show me that length. Pull it back. Hips don't change and roll it down. Two, three, and four. Beautiful. Now be really coordinated. Pick your ball up with your [inaudible] feet and put it in your hands.

I'm into the tabletop position. Head, neck, and shoulders come up off of the mat. Ball is resting on top of the shins. We'll do double leg stretch. Inhale here. Exhale, legs and arms come out. Modification would be that the legs go up towards the ceiling more and the arms don't come as far behind. Switch out those modifications. Try modifying your legs but not your arms.

Then try modifying your arms but not your legs and you will be gaining that strength each time and out and back. So you want the upper body to not move as the arms go back. You want the back to stay pinned to the mat. One more version. Take the ball in your feet, arms go back, bring it back and switch. It feels kind of like the circus and that and back. One more time. Out and back. Head, neck and shoulders. Come down, stretch that neck. Drop that Chin to the chest and now lift the chin to the back of the room, arching the back of the neck, drop the chin down and argue back.

One more time. Drop it down and are did. Back head, neck and shoulders. Come back up for single leg stretch. Stretch the left leg out and press the right knee close into your chest. Pressing the ball on top of the Shin. Inhale here, and exhale, exchange. There's one, and I want to real dynamic here. You're really pulling this ball into the top of that Shin and four and five and six.

Again, modification. The legs can go higher in the air. Make sure you keep that back down onto the mat. There's eight. Press that ball down. Keep that upper back lifted and 10 head, neck and shoulders come down. Knee on either side of the center of the ball.

Bring the hip to 90 degrees. The knee to 90 degrees. Head, neck and shoulders are now flat on the Mat. Squeeze this ball as hard as you can with your knees. Hold it there and then from there, squeeze in more. Release a half an inch. Squeeze. That's to squeeze. That's three. And you're squeezing from your hips and from your inner thighs.

It's not about the knee. Five and six and seven. Here's eight. There's nine and 10. Hold it here. Squeeze it as hard as you can.

And now little presses from year 10 and nine and eight. Seven, six and five. Four, three, two and one. Beautiful. Ticketing your hands come back to the table. Top position, head, neck and shoulders come up for Chris. Cross. Extend the left leg. Now the right the radium comes down and the right elbow comes into your waist. Now each, each hand presses towards each other. Inhale here, switch and exhale and switch and switch and switch.

Think of this upper body here as just rotating back and forth. There's no drop in the middle as we switch, switch and really pressed this ball. This gives a nice little dynamic for the arm and seven and eight and nine and 10. Head, neck, and shoulder. There's come down, feet, ankles. Come on either side of the ball. Hips are at 90 degrees.

Toes are softly pointed. Squeeze with the inner thigh and the hip. Don't think ankle. Squeeze as hard as you can and now from here, squeeze hard, small, release and squeeze. There's two schoolies. That's three. Squeeze and four and five and six.

Seven and eight. Nine there's 10. Squeeze it as hard as you can. Add a little squeezes from there. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and one. Bend the knees. Take the hands back onto the ball. Head, neck and shoulders. Come back up. Single leg, straight leg stretch. Press this ball into the shin.

So lift that upper body and switch. We hover the extended leg and we're pressing the raised leg into the ball and the ball into the shin. There's four and keep lifting that upper body six and seven. Reach that leg long away from you. Nine and 10 and 10 hold it here. Come back down. Rest the ball on top of the shins, pulling the heels close in, shoulder blades flat on the mat.

Open in little circles with the nose. Draw little circles on the ceiling with your nose. Drop your chin, relax it for one moment and reverse it. Last variation, pick up that ball. Come up to tabletop. Head, neck and shoulders are up, single leg straight.

Now come to the outside of the Shin, pressing the ball into the outside of the Shin. We inhale here and exhale press. There is one press and to press and three press and four in the beginning you may not be able to do all 10 repetitions. That's okay. Work up to it. This is a great all around workout and the ball makes it a lot of fun.

[inaudible] loving the ball. Loving the ball. Eight I guess nine, 10 and 10 oh yeah, I matched the fives with the ball. Loving that again. Roll the ball out. Hook it with on either side of your feet. Arms are overhead. Inhale, head, neck and shoulders come up and exhale. We roll it all the way up, up to a seated position.

Hands are on top of the ball a little bit, either side for spine stretch, sitting tall. Sit right up on your glutes. So really squeeze the glutes. Inhale here. Exhale, bending forward in reaching the ball away from you containing the abs in the opposite direction. Inhale here and exhale. Rolling back up as the spine comes up to vertical. Inhale here. Exhale, dropping and rolling the ball away from you.

Contain the abdominals, pulling them in the opposite direction of the ball. Inhale here and exhale. Roll it up. Inhale tall and exhale. Push it away and roll it out. Inhale to hold and exhale to roll it up and last time and he'll talk and actually he'll roll it away. Inhale here and exhale. Roll it up. Come to a kneeling position in front of your ball and let's come right down on our heels.

The elbows are on the ball. Hands are in a prayer position, the pelvis is tucked in, the back is curved. We come up on our knees, keeping the curve in the back and keeping that pelvis tucked under in at all times. Inhale here and exhale. We roll forward. We can extend the upper back, but keep that lower back tucked and pull it back. Nice curved spine here. Inhale and exhale. Roll it up and pull it back and roll it out and pull it back and roll it out. Drive those hips underneath you that will protect that back in that position, that rollout position. One more time out and back. If that's too easy for you and it will be soon, come to a straight arm position. Again, the curve in the back.

You're not gonna see it as much here. Inhale and exhale. Roll it out and pull it back. You can stay on your elbows if that's good for you for now and pull it back. Inhale, exhale. Let's roll it out and pull it back. And last time, inhale, exhale, roll it out. Pelvis is tucked here and bring it back. Oh, all right, let's go to the wall for some side work. So let's get a box. Maybe you two go to the wall, and I'm going to grab a box here.

So if you have at home, if you have, if you don't have a wall, make sure that if you do set something up for yourself that it's stable, and if you're using a door, just make sure nobody opens it while you're using it. So assuming this is a wall here and the ladies are against a wall to set up properly, you want your outside leg away from the wall with the foot forward on a flat foot on the wall. You want your elbow straight out from your shoulder touching the wall next to you. Now bring your ball in and center it right on your hip and I'll move this, hold it in close. Now take your forward foot and place it flat on the bottom of the wall or whatever it is that you're using. Straighten that leg, pushing it away, lying out on top of your ball. Back leg comes, and now both feet are flat against the wall. The hand is touching the floor, the arms are in a t position. Now we inhale.

I want you to Tuck the pelvis underneath you to protect that lower back. I want you to inhale and exhale. We're lifting in a straight line, up and back down, and we reach as far out as we can here. Inhale up and exhale down and reach. Inhale up. So we're a straight line from the navel to the top of the head. There's no kink or curve in our top side here.

Reach, lift it and reach it out. Lifted and chill out. And really use your inner thighs here. Squeeze those inner thighs and reach. Lift and reuse each last time. Lift and reach. Yeah, the hands come behind the head. They interlace the head. We come down and let the elbow touch the ball. Come back up, lift it, and then twist and look at the floor. Come back to neutral, dropped down, lift up, twist and look and back.

Dropped down. Lift up, twist to the floor and back, dropping down, lifting up, twist and look and down. Last time, drop, lift, twist and back. He ran straight overhead. And we hold [inaudible] for five, four, three, two, and one. Come down gently off your ball. We're here to do some pushups and I suggest that if you have not been doing a lot of work like this, you are against the wall with your ball. It's more stable. These girls are fine to do it without the wall.

Pardon? No, we'll do the other side after. So come here and we will, you can choose to do the pushups from your knees or you may choose to do them from the plank position. Come into a nice plank position and make sure your head doesn't hit the wall as you come down. Inhale, just drop your elbows right down by your sides and exhale up. Inhale down and exhale up. Inhale down.

Exhale up and down. Push it up, down. Push it up last time and push it up. Come down to your knees, bring your ball out. And we line up for the other side. So again, [inaudible] the foot that's closest to the ball is forward. The elbow lines up and touches the wall here.

The hip is centered on the ball. Cross that foot, put it right against the flat part of the wall. Push it away, bring the the back leg back behind it and now you're standing on the wall reaching handout arms or at the tee. Glutes are squeezed, pelvis is slightly tucked underneath. You. Inhale and exhale. Lift a straight line from navel to top of head and touch down and read. Sh lift up and reach. Way Out as far out as you can with that fingertip. Yeah, and reach. Lift and reach. Lift. Reach it. Lift and reach. Lift and reach. Lift and reach.

Last time, lift and reach. Hold it here. Hands come behind the head. We dropped down, the elbow touches the ball. We lift up and we twist. Come back to center, drop it down, lifted up, twist and look and center. Drop it down. Lifted up, twist and center. Drop, lift, twist and center.

Last time, drop, lift, twist and center. Both arms overhead and hold for five, four, three, two. And one. Slowly come off the ball. Come back for a last set of plank. Work against the wall. If you don't need the wall, certainly bring it out away. As these girls are doing, come back out into the pushup position. Nice. Straight line. Single leg. Pull. Ready. We pull it up and drop it down halfway.

We don't come back to the ground here and to and three lift four lift five and six. Here's seven and eight. We hold it up here. Now we bring it out to the side and center, side and center. Side and center. No toe touching the ground here. Side and center and side and center. We switch legs, other leg up halfway down and two and make sure we're not dropping the head that the head is in line with the spine and four abs are contained.

Five and six. Here's seven and eight. Nine and 10. Hold it here. Oh, out to the side. I did 10 instead of eight didn't I? Oh well we're done even now and three and four and five and six. Seven. One more. Eight. Oh.

Walk it back and drop it down. Touching the ground, leaving the ball behind you. Just let the ball go. Inhale here and exhale. We roll it up. Coming back out to the mat, the ball a little bit more side work. We'll get rid of the box. You get rid of your wall, so coming down here, tuck the ball right into the side of your thigh and extend the opposite leg sitting tall, standing tall.

We're going to drape slowly over the center of the ball and the hand touches on the other side. Now the dynamic here is not necessarily to try to lift your leg with these muscles on the outside, but instead to squeeze the front and the back of the body together and the leg lifts all on its own, lifted to hip height. Hover it off the ground, squeeze from here and down. Squeeze and lift and schoolies and it just floats up. It doesn't adjust and five and six, no touching of the ground and seven here's eight, two more, nine and 10 hold it up here. Circles forward two, three and four. Five lifting as high as you can. Seven, here's eight, nine and 10. Hold and reverse it.

10 and nine eight, seven and six. Five and four. Three, two and one. Hold it here, sweep it forward and reach it back forward. The ball shouldn't move. If you put your finger on your hip, it should be a pin and a pivot point and that doesn't move forward and back. Forward and back. Keep that leg raised high forward and back. Last time, forward and back. Put the leg down. Oh, let's stretch it out for a moment. Take that ball. Push it away from you.

Push your hips out opposite and get that nice side stretch. Nice deep breath. Hop on your knees. Bring the ball to the other side, right up against the thigh. Opposite leg extended. Making sure that the ball is center on your hip and reach long over the ball. Now squeezing here, lifting up and hover.

Two and three. There's four squeezing deep, five and six. Here's seven. Reaching that leg away from you. As long as it will go. Here's nine and 10. Hold it up. Circle forward, no movement in the ball and five and six. Seven.

Don't let the leg come forward. Nine and 10 hold it and reverse it. 10 and nine. Eight and seven. Six and five. Four, three, two and one. Sweep it forward. Remember that pivot point and back, forward and back. Sweep it forward and push it back.

Forward and back. Forward and back. One more time. Forward and back. Bring it down. That's a harder side for me. Push that ball away. Stretch that side. Nice deep breath here.

Come up on your knees. Oh for our last exercise, some back extension. So to begin, drape yourself over the ball comfortably. Spread your knees so you're in a little frog position. Feet are turned out and heels are touching. Hands are here. Tuck the pelvis under. Inhale here, and exhale. Upper back comes up and down.

Lifting up and exhaling down. Inhaling and exhaling down. Inhale up and exhale down. Hold it here. Extend the legs straight there. Turned out about as wide as the mat theater turned out as well. We repeat. Inhale and exhale. Lift and inhale down. Exhale, lift and inhale down. Exhale, lift and hold. Arms go out to the tee.

Arms come above the head and scissor in and down. We lift arms to the t, arms overhead, scissor in and down. One more time. Lift up and out overhead. Scissor in and out. Come back to the back of your mat and now we'll do extension from the other end.

So walk it forward and come down on your elbow. So your hips are well supported. Theater in soft turnout, heels strongly pressing together and elbows are just underneath your shoulders. Inhale and exhale. Lift the legs and hold and a slight drop down. Inhale and hold, lifted and down.

Press through those inner thighs. Hold at the top and down. Lift and hold and down Lyft. Show me that extension and down. Lift in hold and down. Last time, lift and hold. Contain those abs. Show me, show me, show me, and drop it down. Push yourself slowly back off your ball. We'll turn around for a nice stretch. Take the stretch as far as you can take it.

Yeah, so squatting in front of your ball and we'll just slowly push back. Arms are to your sides. Head comes back on the ball. Get to a position that's good for you. Pull it forward a bit. Push it back. Keep it moving for the moment. We won't get into a static stretch right now.

Keep it moving and back, moving and back, and then extend as far as that stretch will allow you to go. Take it for a moment. Nice deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Slowly roll it back down. Come off of the ball. Turn Pike Up, and inhale as we roll up one vertebrae at a time.

Let's do one more. Inhale tall and exhale. Roll it down. [inaudible] inhale at the bottom and exhale. Roll it up and thank you for the fall class tonight.

Comments

1 person likes this.
Another great class from Layla.....all are great instructors but if u can post more workouts w Layla, would be superb! Thank you!
I just love to work out with Layla. Hope you can post more workouts with her! Every morning look forward to my pilates workout. Love your web site so glad I joined!
Hi Darina-
Love your profile picture! I'm delighted you like the classes. I hope to be able to tape a few new classes this fall... I'm working on some fun and challenging ones
Hello Elaine! I love working out with you, too! Isn't Pilates Anytime the BEST? Dedicated members like you make this really work well. Keep up the comments and input. We all benefit.
1 person likes this.
I'm sore... thanks :)
Good sore usually means good, deep work on your part, so cheers to you for giving a great effort, Lisa! Let's do it all over again soon
THANK YOU LAYLA, LOVE THIS CLASS W BALLS, FUN & CHALLENGE. JUST ONE THING, WHEN WE DO THE side work in T position, all it goes to my QL so obviously I do something wrong. Any suggestions? more posterior tilt?
Hello ShapeUp!
Sorry not to have responded sooner... yes, more posterior tilt, but watch that the upper body does not hinge forward as a result. Also check for appropriate engagement of the glutes (especially focus on the glute contacting the ball... it will tend to be lazier as it has more support). This will keep the load more evenly distributed and avoid dumping into the lumbar and QL region. Also please check that ASIS (hip bones) are both in the the same plane, perpendicular to the ball, and ribs are contained. Phew! ... and don't forget to breathe!
Great question... and so glad you enjoy the class
Hi Layla,
That was an awesome ball class. My core was really challenged. I am excited to incorporate the use of the big ball into my class this wknd! Thanks for the inspiration.
Jamie
Hi Jamie,
So glad you found something that you found challenging (in a good way) and that you want to share. Let me know how it goes
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