Class #2026

Invigorating & Precise Flow

40 min - Class
88 likes

Description

Get ready for an invigorating Reformer workout taught with precision by Deborah Lessen. This class flows, but at a more deliberate pace, showing that it can be more challenging to do the advanced Reformer exercises at a controlled tempo. Deborah takes you through Bridging, Overhead, Swan, Semi-Circle, Long Spine, Front Splits, and more.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

About This Video

Jan 13, 2015
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Transcript

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Okay, let's get ready for an invigorating reformer workout with the feet hip, with the part on the ball, so the seat, if you want, you can use a ball between your knees to get your ad doctors working and we're going to start exhaling. Peeling the tail off the Mat. Inhale, coming high up, widening the ribs. Exhale, soften and rolled down, and inhale at the bottom. Good, and keep weight down through the heels. Exhale as you peel off. Inhale up. Exhale, roll down. Inhale at the bottom. Now we're going to add, so you're going to peel off first. Inhale up.

Instead of rolling down, you're going to lead down with your tailbone, so like a drawbridge just lower down in one piece and come up the way you came down in one piece. Ribs high up, and exhale, soften and roll down. Good. Inhale at the bottom. Exhale, peel off and roll up all the way to the top. Elongate the spine. Lengthen and move through your hip joints to come down one piece and bridge up in one piece and exhale and roll down. We're going to do one more repetition. Exhale, scoop and roll. Inhale, high up.

Lead with the tail. Good. And move from your rib cage coming back up. Inhale up and exhale, soften and rolled down. And rest. Good. Okay, so Christy, if you would bring your knees to your chest, I'm going to put the foot bar down and we're going to two springs and you can grab on to the handles and we're going to go directly into coordination. Okay. So elbows by your sides.

And I prefer that the elbows are slightly off the mat, so the front of the shoulders stay open. So we're going right into our three exhales in an inhale. Deep breath for nothing. Exhale, stretch accent in knees deep and inhale back. Exhale, stretch x sent knees in. Good. Once more. Exhale stretch x scent, knees deep.

Now right into the hundred. Exhale into position. Start on your inhale. [inaudible] good. Keep deepening your sternum back into the mat. So you're curved, but you're very low and you're very long in the front. [inaudible] when you finish, just lower your legs all the way down onto the foot bar. Roll back, arms up.

So if you're doing this by yourself, you're not going to get his vertical on your Jackknife, but just do what you're able to do. So you're going to inhale and just bring the arms down first. Exhale, scoop under and roll back to your overhead position. Swing the legs high up. Just give me a little resistance and roll down.

[inaudible]. Inhale, arms up, float the legs down. Inhale, arms down. Exhale, scoop overhead position. Inhale up. Now if you do this without an assist, you might have to lower your legs quite a bit to control your roll down and that's fine. Arms up and lengthen the legs down. One more time. Inhale, exhale, inhale, stretch. Exhale, roll.

Inhale arms and exhale. Good. And now we go up onto the box. Now we've picked up the level from our last class and so today let's do this on two springs which were already on, and you're going to come bottom ribs on the front edge of the box. [inaudible] good. Grab the straps and today we're going to add spine articulation to this. Come forward just a little bit and you're going to start with your upper body all the way down, knees bent, and you want your arms engaged in your shoulder socket.

So you're going to lead with the crown of the head, peel off, and by the time you see the wall in front of you, you can pull and stretch the legs behind you and roll forward bending the knees. Excellent. Nose forward. Good. So you want to keep weight on the bottom ribs, that's it. And roll forward and bend. Good. Twice more, nose forward so you stay very long through here. Exhale, roll.

One more time. Nose forward and stretch and exhale, roll forward. Good and small is fine. Okay, now you're going to slide your hands into the loops for t [inaudible]. The palms face the floor, the front of the shoulders are open. You're in just a very slight arch in your upper back and outward rotating from the shoulders. And again, small is fine.

Bring your wrists toward your thighs and open wide. Good for more. Inhale x here and again, propel your body forward through space. Keep the bottom. Ribs waited and open. Inhale. [inaudible]. Exhale last time. Inhale, exhale and rest. Good.

Okay, and now you're going to turn on your back for backstroke swimming. Okay, so you want to place your tailbone at the front edge of the box, knees to the ears, hands to the temples. You're in the tiniest ball you can get yourself into and keep your spine in that flection position. Arms and legs high up to the ceiling. Open, wide, wide, wide. Exhale, scoop and deep and back. In. Inhale up open. Exhale, one more time and you're going to hold the forward position. Inhale, open. Stay now the arms and legs open all the way and exhale, close. Inhale, exhale. Fifth position.

Good and alternate. Exhale, exhale, stay. Arms and legs up to the ceiling. Now you're going to leave your legs. They're like the May Pole and circle all the way back. Head forward, arms circle to the sit bones, arms high, up to the ceiling. Inhale, get the most length you can out of your abdominals and then fold in. Good. One more time. Arms high up. Inhale back.

Exhale and bend back into your starting position and rest. And I'll take these for you and I'd like you to just shift back so that your shoulder blades are off the back edge of the box. Here we go, diving. So this is what we did. A Corolla studio. It's a combination of double leg, stretch and teaser. So give yourself a good hug and release those bottom few joints in your spine.

Exhale as you reach forward. Inhale, circle. Exhale, roll down, bend and [inaudible] Stretch X. Inhale. Exhale, roll up, roll down, bend, stretch. One more time. Exhale, roll. Good. Now just stay lower your right leg and come up and left and up and right and up and left and right both legs. Just once. Come up, roll down, bend the knees and hug. Okay, one mountain traversed, come on up.

Okay. So you can add many things to that exercise. So now we're putting a third spring on, and Christie, if you would arrange the box in your perfect situation for Swan. So it's going to be sidebox. Yeah, but yesterday was about here. So let's, let's do it a little closer. Okay. Okay. So everyone who's trying to do this on their own, you have to find your most comfortable position.

What's most important is that the edge of the box is on your mid to upper thigh, nowhere near your pubic bone. Okay? Okay. And if you're not comfortable doing swan here, you can always do it on the high barrel. Okay? So you're gonna take your feet under the strap. Okay. That's it. You might have to come down on the, on the bracket part. Yeah. Okay. Alright. So you're gonna start with your legs stretched completely.

Alright. And thumbs hooked over your head. Now today you're going to start in this elongated position, parallel to the mat, and immediately pivot and come high up had comes up, arms open. Now keep the upper body in that position. Stretch your legs and roll forward and stay. Just let your arms come forward a little bit. Head high up, roll back up, bending the knees, come to a vertical line. That's it.

Keep the knees bending and you're gonna dive your head under right down into the head. Rest and stretch the whole body out. Good pivot and rise up. Head up, arms open, stretch your legs and roll forward. Now reverse it. Roll headfirst, zip from the bottom to the top of the spine. Scoop under, so you're holding yourself with your hamstrings in your abdominals and stretched forward. One more time. Inhale up and exhale, roll forward. Yes, you can even roll lower than that.

Yes. Roll back up center. Get as vertical as you can in your abdominals. Exhale, scoop under the pelvises. Rounding under and reach and rest. Excellent. Okay, may dismount. Okay, now we're just going to move the box back and again, you have to judge this by how the strap works for you.

So let's try it this way if it's okay as far as that today. Okay, well I want you toward the front of the box because we're going to go all the way back today. Great. Okay, so again, you're pressing your legs outward on the strap and you're using your ab ductors to stabilize round back. One arm pressed against the other. Exhale as you roll down and hold, lift the face. Inhale, head forward, exhale and roll back up. And, but you're going to stay in that round position. Exhale. As you rolled in, you want to try to get you low back to be the deepest point of just the face lifts. Exhale, head forward. Good. One more.

Exhale, roll. Inhale, lift. Exhale. Good. Now we add the arms. Exhale down. First the head, then the arms float up, arms come in, head comes in, and inhale, and exhale. Roll head, arms. Inhale, arms had. Exhale. Good. One more time. Inhale, lift. Exhale deep, and shift through your heels. Now you're going to go all the way back, upside down. Exhale, roll. Reach your arms straight back to the wall behind you and wrap your self around the box.

Now everything folds into center and inhale up and exhale. Roll-Down. Inhale, reach. Exhale, fold. Good, and inhale. Last time. Exhale, roll. Inhale, reach, exhale, round and rest. Good. Okay. Now if the box were a little further back, you would get more support under your back to go upside down.

So you have to judge by what works best for your body. That's pretty good. If anything, I feel like I'm falling forward. Okay, I'm fine. All right, so let's go on your right hip facing the windows first. And remember the top leg foot is parallel to the mat. That's it. And you're going to lie all the way down and Hook your thumbs together. Good. Now I only want you to come up parallel to the floor. That's it.

And lower down. So trace your fingers up the wall and reach, especially with the underneath arm. And exhale down. Now you're going to come up and stay and just spiral to the ceiling. Come back to center and lower down. One more. Inhale up, spiral to the ceiling. Good.

Center, lower down and hang. Good. Good. This is the best stretch of the day. Good. So it's really best to move first and then stretch. You get much more pliancy in your muscles. Okay, other side?

Good. So now you might want to come in a little closer to the foot bar on this side, just to be able to get your hip down on on the box. That's it. And if you're uncomfortable in this position, you can always put a little cushion underneath your hip bone. Okay. So you're going to trace your fingers up the wall and roll down. Remember, stretch the underneath side. That's it.

And exhale down. And inhale, reach. Good. Now too, with the spiral. Inhale up, rotate the chest center and down and inhale up, rotate center and hang. Good. And while you're stretching, you want to make sure that your top hip is directly over your underneath hip. Yep. And most of us on one side, our ribcage will be spiraled on the pelvis. So you want try to line yourself up the best you can to stretch all of your muscles evenly. Good.

Okay. And you can come up and now we're going to do stomach massage. So you're going to sit right in front of the box. Yes. Feet on the bar. We're on three springs. If it's not enough challenge for you, you can add a fourth. And I'd like you to take your hands under the front edge of the platform.

You're gonna use your arms as if you're pulling the seat up underneath you so that you press your low back into the box and you're going to stretch out and point the feet straight. Legs Flex, straight, legs point and deepen back in. Good. Just come back a little. Good up here. That's it. And stretched to point. Flex point. Release your ankles as you come in. Three more flex point in and stretch flex point. Now if you have the mobility in your hip joints, let's try heels wide and you're going to take your hands beside you now and push straight up. That's it. So when you straighten your legs, you're pushing your tailbone back into the box and just straighten and open turnout from the hips as you bend and come in as close to the foot bar as you can and stretch and bend.

Good and stretch and bend to more. Stretch and bend and stretch and come in. And now if you could, Kristi, take the center spring off. So now we're going from three to two springs. You're going to take your right foot in front of your hip, on the ball of the foot, and your left leg is going to go under the bar, straight out, and you're still pushing yourself straight up.

Okay, so now this foot is parallel and if you want, you can turn this leg out. Okay. Drop the through the heel and just straighten and bend. That's it. Good. Okay. So let's just do five on each side.

And while you're doing this footwork, you must feel weight on the fifth metatarsal. Yes. Good. So you literally can press your pelvis back against the, and this is really helpful for people who have very weak hip flexors. Good. Now up on the heel. Just one foot at a time. Yup. Good. And again, you're slightly on that outer edge of the foot and the toes are standing straight up like soldiers.

Good, good. Switch feet. Good. So the straightening is the easy part. The hard part is keeping your verticality when you bend all the way in. Okay. So Christy, take both toes together, bend in, grab onto the bar, drop your head all the way down and stretch out.

Good. Now you can either just stay in your stretch for awhile. You can do some small bend and stretch or you can do some nice slow running in this position. Good. And if you have the stretch in your legs, also try to draw your shoulder blades down in your back and really get deep in your low abdominals. Good. And when you're done, just come all the way in and we've completed the box portion of our workout. So now if you would like to take the box away, I'm going to put you back on. Oh, we're still on two springs now.

Excellent for short spine. Okay, so today we're going to do short spine all Corolla, okay. Okay. Okay. Start with the heels down. Stretch forward on the diagonal.

Now the difference is that this is much more like rollover. You're going to keep your tailbone down as long as you can and literally let your legs pass right by your face. And as you peel off, you're rolling upside down. And stay. So the straps are slack and you have to control this yourself. Drop the knees towards your shoulders. Keep your feet back like a counterweight and control your roll down with your abdominals and your arms can help. You're in a tripod.

Pull your tailbone down and then bend the knees and bring the heels all the way down. Stretch on the diagonal. Peel off. Really take your time. Let your legs come close to your face and roll upside down. Beautiful. Nice. Open to the shoulders. Now leave your feet back and roll, but the knees do. Stay slack.

Pull the tail down and then bring the heels down. Good. So this should really open up your low back. Good roll down. Elongate through the spine, tail down and heels down. Good. And just come back and I'm going to add the extended hours for long spine [inaudible].

So long spine is totally vertical. Uh, we did not add leg circle to it. That was an add on that you did separately if you wanted to after you completed long spine. Okay, so hamstrings are vertical, straight legs, scoop under and roll. High Up. Stand tall in the straps, open hip width, and exhale roll. You're reaching your feet up into the straps as you're rolling down through the spine.

So you're still giving yourself opposition legs together. Scoop under and [inaudible] role. [inaudible]. Inhale as you open and exhale, roll down, feet together. One more time. Scoop and roll. Okay. Inhale, open. Exhale, roll down.

And right from here we reversed the legs. Scoop under and Rola. Elongate to come together. Exhale, roll down. Beautiful and open and scoop and roll. [inaudible] inhale together. Exhale, roll and open. Last time, scoop and [inaudible]. Okay. Inhale together. Exhale, roll down.

Good. Bend the knees. Good. And we can remove the straps. Excellent. Okay. And now it's time for our standing segment, starting with kneeling, knee stretches. So notice we have not changed the springs at, we're still on two springs. We're going to do five round back and five flat back.

So your spine is as round as can be. Inhale out, exhale in and in and in and in and stay. Change the back. Good. Okay. In and in this small and stay good. Now we're going to do standing knee stretches. So please stand up on your feet.

Your heels are high. All right. Now you're going to round your spine, bend your knees and I want you to think of pressing your waist up against the ceiling. So you're so high up here. Um, I th okay, this is all right if she could have a roller here, which would allow her to bend her knees more, but I want her to feel like she's draping her body over my arm. And you're just going to straighten and bend. Very small in and in and in and in and stay and bring your left knee up to your left ear. Keep the hips square. Same thing. Stretching under and under and bend and Ben and switch feet.

Good. In and in and in. Good, good and rest. Okay. And you may dismount. Okay, so you're using your upper body much more to stabilize and hold your body weight and your leg is just swinging in and out. Okay? Okay, let's do control front. All right, so hands here, toes together on the foot bar. We're still on two springs. Good. So start with your hips, high up, straight legs, and press out to get into position. All right? And this is small. Inhale out. Exhale in. Inhale, exhale. Beautiful.

Exhale and exhale. Good. Lift your hips, high up. Good. And you can step forward. Um, are you able to do tendon stretch or would you rather not? Okay. Okay, so let's do tendon stretch. Now, if you're unable to do this on two springs, by all means take a spring off, scoop under and progress. Good. Good. And you do the range of motion that you can control safely and exhale. Good. And you may dismount. Excellent. Okay, and now let's go on to elephant. Okay. And again, take your feet where you're going to get the most out of the movement. So we're just going to do two or three plane.

Drop your chest toward your thighs and press and scoop under scoop under and stay. Now you're going to take your left leg straight back behind you, but you're going to keep your hips square. And that's the hard part. There you go. Press and hoop. So keep that left hip towards your right hand. Yeah. Good one more. And change legs.

So this is not arabesque. You're not opening your hip. You're staying square. It's much more of a challenge. Yeah. Excellent. Okay. And let's go right into up strips. So heels high up. Okay.

You can even go higher in irrelevant for this. So you're gonna drop your chest towards your thighs. Press out from your mid-back note. So you're going to drop your back to push out. That's it. Yes. Roll under. Keep the head under. Stay up into your hamstrings.

That's it. And lift high up. Drop through the chest. Roll under and come forward right through the shoulders. One more time. Lift, drop, roll under. Stay in the shape, push back, stay back and transition to down. Stretch that set. Chest forward. Head high up. Inhale. Exhale, press. Inhale, high up. Exhale, press one more. Inhale. Exhale, press round under, and let your knees come in under you and just sit back and stretch your low back. Very good. Okay, rest. Alright, now we're actually going to do something on one spring, our first thing on one spring, which is Carola's rolling back. So I want you to take this as a challenge.

It's usually something you have to build up to over a period of time. So you're going to sit facing backwards. This is very much like boomerang, so you're going to start with your arms straight forward. [inaudible]. Exhale, round, way back.

Stay open the arms up, palms down. Now you're going to arch back off center, pressing your behind. You. Reach your chest, forward and up. Arms go behind you. Head goes down, arms go up and around and rise up facing your arms and in your, in your starting position. Okay, got it. Exhale, scoop back.

Arms Open, arch. High Up. Good. Lead with the chest. Delay that as long as you can. Arms up and around. Excellent. And rise up. One more time. Exhale, arms open. Good. Reach up and around and rise up and rest. Bravo. Okay, so let's turn around and do rowing front.

Okay. Hands are on top. Thumbs down, feet flexed, enhance to the temples. So you're going to go forward at eye level, rotate, thumbs down, arms forward, reach open and in forward at eye level. Rotate chest high up, reach out, open, and once more eye level, rotate down. Forward. Reach Open. Now around head to the knees. Your slums are right along your side seams and you're going to deepen your scoop as you stretch your arms along your legs.

Now sit tall and your arms to square off in front. You just like that. Arms reaped open and round over to your starting position. Stretch. Sit Tall and square off. Reach open and round over. Once more, stretch. Sit Tall. Reach and open and flip the handles over for salute.

Okay, now I want you to take your hands along your hairline, okay? When your pectoral muscles and imagine that your elbows are going in a direct line back along your pictorials so you stretch the arms right along the hairline and bend back in. Excellent stretch and in and stretch and in once more. Stretch and in. And now open wide palms down, arms to slightly rounded and close to the center of the chest and open and close and open and close and open and close and rest.

Excellent. Okay, now we're going to do the full semicircle. So we're going back to two springs. Okay. And today you'll be arms length away. Oh, the stick factor. Okay. Again, wrap the front of your foot around the bar. Let your tailbone hang, and you're going to use your rib cage to press out.

Keeping your knees bent out there. Scoop under and roll. High Up. Good hips, high, high, high, high, high. And exhale as you roll down. Good. Press out, scoop and roll. High Up. Hips up in, over and roll back down.

One more time. Hang in your pelvis. Scoop high up. Come up and over. I'm going to give you a little stretch here. And we're as used to say a little candy. Now heels down and hips up and out. Roll down. Drop the tail.

Good. So if your tails hanging in the springs, enjoying the massage and hips up and out and rolled down. Come in, scoop and stretch. So your pelvis is drawing the shape of a semicircle and that's where the name comes from and stretch. Good and roll down. Excellent. And for our finale, we're going to come up and do a standing parallel split.

Okay. So you're going to have your back heel up and the ball of the front foot on the bar. And you can use me for balance if you want. Yet. Now at Corollas, we always had a cane and a crutch. So if you're by yourself, you had something to help you balance. Yep. Yep. So you're going to start with two straight legs.

There you go. Now you can either have both arms wide or you can have the opposite arm forward. Whatever works best for you. All right, now I want you to push evenly with both pressing out just as much as you feel you can control and pull together and up. So your torso is always between the legs. Good, good. And keep that left hip facing forward.

That set good. One more time. Good. Okay. Other side, I really, I should be on your other side, but for the sake of prosperity, good. So if your hamstring is bothering you, it's best to keep it small and straighten your leg all the way. Because if your knee is slightly bent, you're going to be gripping that hamstring. I won't say whom.

Okay. One, one more. Good. And come up [inaudible] and rest and thank you. Thank you. Good work. Thought Great. I made it. Yes, thank you.

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Comments

Excellent repertoire, loved the easy style of cueing. thank you.x
1 person likes this.
So glad to have Deborah on pa. Long time waiting for this to happen. Thanks so much for your attention to detail and information about the way carola did some of the exercises.
1 person likes this.
Awesome and such lovely person. Thank you, enjoyed every challenging minute!
1 person likes this.
Amazing work.....congrats!
1 person likes this.
Fantastic! Beautiful work!
Lynne, we are thrilled to have Deborah on PA and will always want more too! I want to make sure you've seen Deborah's previous shared on Pilates Anytime. If not, check out the link below! Thank you!

Deborah's videos
1 person likes this.
well done great job ladies. Deborah is fabulous, great instruction and lovely voice with the very challenging movements make them seam so effortless. we all know different, lol!
????great class! Just watched for,the first time. Will challenge myself tomorrow and take the class, then will share a lot of the movements with my mat class on Monday! It was excellent! Wish I had her sweet voice! ??
The question marks were supposed to be smiley faces! :)
1 person likes this.
Kristi you are a joy to watch. Thank you for all your hard work!
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