Class #2173

Sculpting Mat

50 min - Class
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Get ready for summer with this sculpting Mat workout with Monica Wilson! She concentrates working your whole body, from head to toe, with the full Mat repertoire plus extra arms with the Hand Weights. She also includes innovative cues to engage your powerhouse so you can improve your posture and stand tall wherever you go.
What You'll Need: Mat, Hand Weights

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Hi, today we are going to be doing a get in shape for summer workout with Mandy. We're going to be needing some two pound arm weights, so I have some right here at the end of your class. You might want to grab those for a little arm weight series afterwards. When I think of getting in shape for summer, I think I'm already in shape because when we practice realize, especially at this level, all you are completely in shape, but maybe today really have your mind in tune with every muscle so that you're sculpting from head to toe and not just moving any bones around but more the muscles and that will really make you feel fit and trim for summer. I also really concentrate on posture because the way that you enter a room or your presence or the way you hold yourself when you're in a bathing suit makes you lose or gain 10 pounds instantly. So posture is extremely important.

So we're going to start at the front of our mat in a Palladia stance, heels together and toes two to three inches apart. Great. And our little plotty stance the way is on the ball of your foot and not on your heels. And you want to try not to lock your quads or knees. So soften those up. And I want to talk about something just for a minute so that we're on the same page for the rest of the map class. So in your back, I'm going to want this area not to shorten instead between the bottom of your shoulder blades and your waist band, I'm going to constantly want that area to lengthen.

So we're going to always be thinking about lengthening as if your spine doesn't end at your tail but tailbone but a tail and like it has a big weight and it's pulling down, you have length. And on the other side is your, your stomach, the front part of your powerhouse. Cause it's really all around. And we're going to think always about almost shortening that, not doing a pelvic tilt but using the muscles. And one image that one of my friends, Laura Coleman Brown, uh, gave to me and uses is really helpful in this. So if you can imagine a hand coming up from your pelvis, reaching towards your belly button and another hand coming from your chest bone or sternum, reaching down towards your belly button. And those two hands really need to try to shake hands clasp.

Those are your stomach muscle fibers throughout your entire workout. So we want those to stay engaged and your back to length. And with those we're going to really have a nice, good posture throughout our workout. So I want you to start with one arm over the other. I'll be using that image a lot today. Okay, well nice. Long back.

And we're going to start from a standing position. I'm going to aid Mandy so she can put one foot in front of the other or be one behind the other. Either one. Think about lengthening tailbone to the floor and keeping those two hands pulling in together. Good and lower all the way down. [inaudible] pulling in. Good, good and very nice. Put your hands in the middle of the mat behind you. Lift your bottom back and now lie out.

So you're completely long on the mat. Great. And for right now, go ahead and reach your arms back and your legs forward and really reached. Just go ahead and stretch to all eternity, letting all that energy in. Good. And now bring just the arms up as you inhale, just your arms and exhale down. Good. We're going to start off with a hundred but I want you to think about laying thinning your lower back away from your bra strap or bottom of your shoulder blades, reaching your pelvis all the way to your heels. And I want you to think about those two hands clasping together. Okay?

Go ahead and inhale into the mat and as you exhale, lift your head and your legs and assume the a hundred position gorgeous and pump. Inhale two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five little more energy for our workout today and exhale. Good. It's important to feel good with your workout, so make sure this is forming the basis of your workout. If your back feels like it's tight and straining, then lift your legs up higher. Make sure you're getting that stretch. Make sure you're feeling the stomach good.

Little more blood pumping through that 60 gimme, four more good feeling that Palestinian, very nice engagement in with there. And in two, three, four, five exhale. You're trying to warm up every muscle from head to your toe, feeling the wrap, feeling this squeeze, feeling those legs and hug the knees into your chest. Rest your neck down. Lengthen the legs on the mat and reach your arms back. Good. So we're going to bring your arms up to the ceiling, head up and curl up, pulling the upper hand to the lower one in our reach. All the way forward. Head between those arms and reach. Roll back, making your lower hand. Pull you back. That's on your stomach, your good, good and keep that back long as you reach up.

Good arms up head and the upper hand. Reach it forward and reach all the way. Good. I like what you're doing and rolling back lower back so that lower hands grab and beautiful engagement of that powerhouse. Now I don't want to see a pause. I want arms head roll up. Touch those feet. Pull back, lower middle region, arms up, head up, roll up, stretch, pulling back, reaching. Good. And two more. Arms Up, head obstruction. Forward, pulling back. Good. And one more. Arms Up.

Head Up. Stretch and roll. The lower hand. Lengthen. Lengthen. Little back fan. Tastic. Bring your arms down by your side. Good. Hug the right knee into your chest and straighten that leg up to the ceiling. Good. And put your hands right behind that cap. See if you can keep that good.

Long back. Yeah. Here, I want you to use the back of your thigh and seat. Let's tone that area. Press into the mat with it while you stretch that right one good arms down by your side. Cross that leg and sweep it down and pull it up by those two hands. Cross around, up. Good. Let me see these two hand stay clench. That's what says, clench. Good. The backstage is long.

One more and reversing it around. Good around reach. Good. Reaching long and clenching here. One more. And Hug in that. Neat. Yeah, I liked it. Slide that leg long. Good. Hugin uh Huh.

And stretch again so we're not pressing. That's hard. With the quad. We're using the hamstring and glue to go down the middle, so be careful on that. That's what's you're squeezing a dime under here with that nice hamstring and glute. Yeah. Alright. Arms by your side. Long back and use your lower belly and cross around. Beautiful. Cross around, up three around lift.

Those two hands are working. Pool ended up, yes, and reverse. Good around and up. Nice. You're really doing it from the powerhouse. Swearing that leg over to me one more and hugging that knee. Good. That leg is long on the mat and sit up. We're going to roll up for rolling like a ball. Lift your bottom forward. Great.

Hold onto your ankles for me. Perfect. Separate your knees a little bit and scoop in the lower hand more so that so that your pelvis does. Tilt a little more here and make the upper hand of are coming from your chest bone. Reach more so that your ears go between your knees. Good. We're going to start with that lower hand, pulling your pelvis back. Inhale and exhale, upper hand right on, up in with the air. Excellent. Use that upper hand. You got it. Inhale lower. Exhale upper hand. Good.

That way your back really lengthens. And this is a really nice analogy to use so you don't have any flat spots in your back. One more with a little more energy on the way up. Yeah, I lied. One more. And XL lift and stay there. Try to relax your shoulders. Gorgeous. Try to keep it in your powerhouse and I want you to stay right there while I help demonstrate. We're going to go into stomach, um, stomach massage on the stay up there for me. Good on the um, reformer, right?

So we're here and we're going to just go here and we're going to keep it in our two hands that are on our stomach, not in our upper body or quads. We're going to reach lower down, lift and scoop it in the lower belly scoops in more. Yep. And two more out flex and in. Nice wrap and squeeze those legs instead of holding with your quads. Last one, scooping in. Good. And now switch your hands behind you. The stomach lifts your chest up and same thing out, down. Good. And scoop your belly. That's it.

Pull into your back. Two more scoop. And last one. Beautiful. And now hold and just scoops more and more and more. And reach. Try Mandy. No up, but stay in a c curve. Yes. Now with the c curve, can you reach your shoulders forward, forward, forward, forward. Fantastic. Rest your feet down. Very nice. Put your hands behind you.

We're going to lift back and we're going to prepare for single leg stretch. So line down, bring your right knee into your chest. Good. That's what we're going to do. But right now actually been both knees. Lower your neck and head. Good. So we're gonna first do it without our hands.

So I want you to think about lengthening that back. Pulling in now almost like the a hundred but press your arms down into the mat. Go ahead into the mat. Great. They're going to stay there and I want you to lengthen the left leg. This is long and loose, not clenching, but all this is shaping and use that lower hand to pull this knee all the way in and switch. Yes, lengthening that back on the mat, wrapping and squeezing that seat. Stomachs pulling in.

Pull in that knee. Come on. Use that lower hand to get that knee in all the way to your ear. All the way in. Now add your hands, hold it here. That's it. And in. And one more. Set a right and a left. Hug both knees in, rest your neck and head. Excellent.

Same thing with this one. Hands on your knee. Ankles. Good. Those two hand stay clenched. Inhale, reach your arms and legs away. Yes. Are Those two hands there? Is that here or here? Beautiful. Exhale, Poland. That's it. Inhale, scoop. Beautiful. Exhale two more like that in with the air. Exhale, make sure this upper hand stays connected, that it doesn't come up here.

Inhale to reach. Beautiful. Exhale. One more. Good. Now go out and keep your legs where they are, but start your arms and then pull it all together too. More in with the air. Start your arms and then pull it together last time and start and then scoop. Great job. She's at another one I like. All right, both legs up. Good neck. Okay. All right. Grab behind your right ankle and this light goes down, right. Again, no pressure here cause our quads will get tired by the end.

Present here instead. That's it. Good. You've got the position. But now push your arms into the mat instead. Straight down. And now use your belly to switch and switch and switch. And it's those two hands, the backstage long and switch and even quicker they fly through the air. Fly. Gorgeous flying. Yes. One more set at arms. Right?

Left. You got it? Yes. One enough both legs up, hands behind your head, one over the other, behind your head. Excellent and lower. Just an inch. Both legs together and bring that lower hand to your upper one to bring them together in with the air. And exhale. Let's do a little Pilati stance and lighter legs in with the air. And exhale. I think this bone should be like that. Open the elbows a little, little more.

[inaudible] go down an inch and pull gorgeous. One more and pull. Now I'm going to stretch. You keep pulling that lower hand towards you and they come back up and scoop and they pull back up. One more. So that back linkedin and up. Bend the right knee. Twist to it. Hand stay right where they were. And twist, twist, twist, gorgeous. And switch.

That's the lower hand, not the quad that pulls in that knee. One more set. Now can we twist with us? Bring that elbow back, back, back and switch full back. That elbow. Yes, it's a twist. Now do a quick bicycle right left. But get that elbow up here. Yes. Yes. Make those two hands work. Keep your center line with your spine. Last right last left. Hug both knees. Great job.

Stomach working. All right, let's do spine. Stretch forward. Up we go. And you're going to sit with a heel right in the middle. So scoop forward an inch. Good. Alright, and arms, let's do palms down. Great. So what are we talking about here? A long back. So right here it got short. So pull ha, send your tailbone and sit bones through the floor and use your powerhouse to lift and exhale, head down and stretch forward. Beautiful, beautiful reaching. Start with your tailbone. Reach it down through the earth. Yes, yes, yes.

And Head up beautiful in what? Air? An exhale. Stretch and sending the tailbone. Sit bones lifting everything else up. Got a little short right there. Give me one more. Up and exhaling. Damn. Damn. Damn. And in with the air. Keep pulling.

Keep your pull. Aha. That is it. So because you're doing that so perfectly, stay there, you're going to be able to transition into your open like rocker, cause we're going to use that lower hand to pull back. And we're going to lengthen the lower back to lift up. You're going to get there. So you're going to use this lower hand. And then this is going to lengthen. And those legs float up. Grab onto those ankles. Alia, you see perfect.

And we're going to pull back from your lower stomach in with the air roll back and exhale right on up. Come see me. Good and lower. Hand pulls back. Upper hand goes up, come see me. That's it. And in with the airline you to try to make your legs lighter on the front because you're so athletic and with the air and try to feel them on the back. Reaching away. Beautiful. One more at exhaling. Excellent. And squeeze them together from the back of your inner thighs.

Try to squeeze a dime between your inner thighs because the inner thighs are really important. And we're going to leave the legs there and roll down your lower back and your middle back. Thinking of those two hands. Gorgeous. Yes. Neck and head. Go down. Legs are here. Good. Let's really work that lower stomach and I want you to lift just your pelvis. So we've got three, two, just that, just lifting this makes your lower stomach really work.

Okay. So every time you come home and corkscrew, lift that so scoop in that lower hand, pulls in, love it. And we're going to go down, sweep to the right around left and that lower hand bowls, right? A nice smooth continuous circle to a link and two more sets on your own. Lower hand. Good and left. I don't want any separate one or right here. No pausing. Yep. And maybe be a little lower. Yes.

And when it comes into you more, you use your stomach. Yes. And that's actually enough. Sit Up for saw. Beautiful heels again. Maybe two inches back this time. [inaudible]. Okay, so find your alignment. I'm going to want palms down. Beautiful Spine, Mandy. Love it.

We're going to keep those sit bones down and twist to the right. Twisting. Good. And reached your pinky for that baby toe. Good. So beautiful job staying Dan, and how it's from your tailbone, right? Pull those sit bones up. Pull back through here first. Yes. As you roll up your spine. Yes.

And twist to the left and rolling. Yeah. And the tailbone goes down. The SIP phones go down. Much better. Twist and exhale. Yeah. So you really get something out of your waist and hold. Now while you're here, let's get more distance here. Oh yeah. That's what I want. And up. Let's do one more set. Thinking about that.

So pulling into your back and as much distance, like a big tunnel underneath your ribs. And inhaling up and twist and exhale, reaching in both directions and roll on up and legs together. And you're going to flip over here onto your stomach for swan dive. So you're going to lie nice and long. Good, good. And we're gonna put your hands underneath your shoulders.

Now if you have a stiff back, you can bring them two or three inches forward and a little out to the side. And that's fine. This exercise is the epitome of those two hands being challenged to stay together. Okay? So you're going to put, keep this two hands gripping and we're going to lift up your head and let's start that again. What I would, what you maybe did it on the front, but on the back, this beautiful long back change too immediately into a short arch. And I want you to keep trying your hardest to keep that long so we don't hurt our back. We're gonna use your stomach to come up better and keep using this reach away.

Go to straight arms. Gorgeous. That's it. That's it. That's it. On the count of three, I want you to let your arms shoot forward. Palms up. Okay. One, two, good and up. And we're going now. So I'm going to want you to not do a pause cause I think you could go straight out. Arms up to the ceiling and just rock. I see what you saying and go. All right. So yes, we're going to, I love how you change that.

We're going to keep our powerhouse come up head. Good. Keep coming up yet. Keep coming up. This bottom hand has to keep reaching. That's it. And ready and arms up, legs up, arms up, legs. There's a ceiling. I blast one. And enough. Very good. Round your back. Sit onto your heels. Good.

I bet you you can move even more towards the ceiling. Um, on that. I bet you you might think you're a little less flexible in that range. Then you are, go ahead for the next time. Go ahead and come forward.

We're going to get onto your elbows and we're going to do single leg kick. So I want you like this and again, watch my lower back. You're not gonna want it to shorten. You're gonna want to reach that tail bone away and keep your lower hand active. The one coming from your pelvis reaching up, even though you're on your stomach. Gorgeous. Even though you're doing that, you can't round your upper back, so you have to, yes, open up those collarbones. Push your knuckles.

One is the other excellent elbows, a little wider, good legs together and now let's work the back of those legs. We're going to go right kicking one to left to right, to left to right, to left to right. Really feel that hamstring and glute. You're thinking about every muscle from head to toe. You're reaching the crown of your head away from your toes and reaching in the other last time and enough.

Let's place the right facial cheek on the mat. Hands go behind your back right there and pull them up a little higher. Excellent. Still keeping this long. Those two hand squeeze a dime between your inner thighs. Lift the knees up high. I love how much light you have underneath your thighs. Knees.

Keep that light as you kicked three times one, two, three. The legs go down. You lift up your chest, up your chest and switch and light under my hands. Come on up. Yeah, two, three. You're feeling those muscles now and started dude, their long lower back, belly in and up last time. Oh three and straight edge and round your back and sit on your heels. Nice work. Good.

We're going to flip over onto the neck pool. I'm going to have you use the strap on this one. Go ahead and turn around so we have a strap here. If you don't have one at home, you can stick your legs underneath the couch and that helps a lot. Or you can do it without it. Let's start right there. Good and I want no hands. Good.

I'm having you use the strap because I really want you to feel the beautiful back you have right now. It's a long back and I want you to lift off your seat and keep that long back. Don't round quite yet. Hinge back, making that lower hand. Pull you back lower. Don't lose that upper hand, don't arm. Yes, yes, yes. Now curl down. Beautiful to come up.

That upper hand reaches forward. Exhaling up scoop to your knees. Roll up your long spine. Don't shorten. Yes, yes, yes. And Go back from here. Yes, and right on up. And exhale and inhale. Ruling up.

Beautiful and reach. Reach, reach. Great. Curling it up. Roll it up and lower hand pulls more. Yes. One more in with the ear. Exhale, lifting up off your seat. And the seat is pushing your heels away against those two hands.

Push those heels. Yes. Bend your knees into your chest, arms by your side, legs up to the ceiling. Arms, right. Pressing down, working at you jack knife. So that's a long back. And we're going to bring me your feet right here. And now squeeze your legs all the way up to the ceiling. Feel the length up to the ceiling. And now roll down upper back, middle, lower.

And there you go. And we're gonna scoop right on over to here. Pinch a dime between your back of your inner thighs to lift up and [inaudible] long arms. Reaching the back one more on your own. Over and lift. Squeeze this up, up, up, and long. Backfill that upper hand. Good for you. Okay, we're gonna now go into bicycle and scissors and then bicycle.

So legs are up, right? And we're going to lift our bottoms up over hands. Go underneath your shoulders and try to reach to the ceiling. Then start with the right leg, back of the thigh and seat, reaching forward and switch those two hands in your stomach are staying and switch. Scooping in and switch. Good. One more. Reaching as low, not overhead, but to the ground. Last left, both legs reaching legs together and they roll down.

As you shake out your hands for a second back goes down. There you go. Now the bicycle. So scooping, handing over, using those two hands on your stomach to stay scooped, reaching the legs. And the right one goes down and tries to touch the floor. And it's a circular, continuous motion. Reaching those hips. Good. Lasts left.

And let's reverse start with the left. Reaching down in a way. Good. Yes. Reaching. Keep those two hands to, damn. That's it. Last right last left and roll down. Taking those hands out. Nice. Nice job. Let's do sidekick. So you're gonna lie on your left side. Facing this way.

I want you lined up all the way on the back edge of the mat. Excellent. Okay. Reach your legs forward. Okay, so there has been legwork all along here and I'll let you rest that and if it's okay on your neck and head, I want you to rest your head on your left hand like a beauty queen. That'd go to my idea. All right? And now plant that hand their feet a little more forward. One, two, three. Okay, so I want you to think long back and those two hands clenching in the front, they don't let go. We're going to lift this leg up just to hip level and I want you to show your inner thigh and the inside your knee throughout the exercise.

We're not going to lift it higher or lower. Now, here's the real thing I want you to get out so that we get in shape for summer is even though those two hands are clenching, I want you to think about how much you're lengthening that back and use the top side of your hip to make this leg even longer than the bottom one, as if you're just lightly pushing something away with the ball of your foot. And we're going to keep that length and all of those muscles engaged as you sweep forward and sweep it back beautiful and forward. Have that energy in that leg and forward and back. One more forward and back. Now hold that leg right here, right on line with the other one a little lower. And now put this hand behind the other head. See if you can have both hands, one on top of the other so that it's like, um, neck pull. Yeah.

And now I will. I'm challenging you on these and we're gonna keep that leg working and I'd rather not flex your point, but it just imagine pushing something away. This is so fantastic here. I love it. Now kid getting in the way. Do your nose. Come on. Yeah, and one more and legs together. Keep the arm there and up to the ceiling.

We're going to kick this like up to your ear and now reach away. But as you kick it up, keep working this out. Push the like long. Oh, that was beautiful. You push it long as you lift. One more. You push it long as you lift in. Let me see those inner thighs. Are they squeezing? Goes, pushed me down all the way down, all the way down, all the way down. Hold that leg working in long. Five quick little circles. One, two, three. Reaching longer than the bottom leg. Reverse it. Let's skim those inner thighs to touch together to one and hold.

Good. We're going to lie down onto your stomach, but sorry. Before you do that, can you scoop in those two hands? Lengthen and reach both legs long as you lift them a little off the map to lie on your belly and your thighs are going to be up off the mat. Knees make a spall pillow for your forehead. Great job, Mandy. And I love that light underneath those knees and 20 clip claps of your heels.

Here we go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 more. Keep thinking length. Keep thinking stomach. Yeah. Now we're going to roll to your other side. So you're just gonna roll right over. Beautiful. And you start with your right elbow all the way on the back edge. There you go.

And the left hand in front of your stomach legs are still working and they're coming forward. Forward, forward. Now they get to go down hips a little more forward. So from your tailbone to the base of your head is a straight line. Good. And the two hands on your stomach are clenching. We're going to lift this leg up at hip level, turn it out a little, and now we're going to reach it so that these muscles and everything in between is working. And five like this forward.

And make sure you don't lift higher than here. Control that. And I need to see your inner thigh and all times. Yes. And one more. Good. Now hold the legs together for me. This hand goes behind. This one. So we work more on your posture. Yeah, that's it. Maybe a little longer on here for me. Ah Huh. This hand fantastic.

Kicked me all the way up here and then work the back. Those legs. The back of the thigh and bottom. Yeah, that's what makes it go back. These two hands are working. One more for me. Reaching that leg longer than the bottom leg and now legs together. Now you're going to push something away and kick it up to your ear and then squeeze those inner thighs together. Push in Linkedin. Those two hands.

Keep that long. Spine. Thank you. As you go down, it goes longer. Getting a little short right here. Oh good. Hold it there. And five little circles. Sweet. Those inner thighs squeezing. Three, four, five, reverse. One, two, three, four and rest. Nice job. Lie on your back. Your other back. Oh, okay. Hug your knees into your, just hug your knees into your chest. Head shake out your legs. We're going to do teaser one, two, and three into a hip circles. Okay.

So the key to that of not cramping up those quads is to make sure that it's that lower hand that's lifting up the legs and that you're lengthening. As soon as this gets short, those hip flexors and quads go on fire. Okay, so we're good. We're going to extend the legs up to the ceiling, arms reach back. Good. And we're gonna use that lower hand to keep pulling and clenching. Did that apprehend when they leave your upper body there, we're going to lower it legs to a 45 degree. Excellent.

And now roll up. So we lost our role and we, and we're gonna hurt. So let's get through every vertebra, arms head, upper hand Ri. Oh, that's gorgeous. And now roll the way. Lower hand, middle. Good. Roll Up. And you know this is for you, right? Arms up and roll away.

I'm gonna let go for your last one. So you hold the legs where you think is a good level. That's all right. I'm telling Ya. And now lower hand and now roll away from it. So Beautiful Mandy.

Now come right back up for teaser to hold it there. Arms stay reaching for me. And now lower the legs and pull them back up. Your lower back. Starting to shorten. So get the legs down and now pull that lower. Yes. And that's how you pull them up.

One more hold and roll away everything. And now this you really feel that back lengthen and to lift up. Fantastic. And rolling away. Two more. Pulling it up. You're gonna have to join you at some point. Arm's up. She knew it. And last one coming up. Length in that back to lift.

You got it. You got it. Now stay their arms. Reach behind you. Okay. And we're going to circle the legs. Sure. So careful on shortening that back, right? So we're gonna almost think about rounding and tilting that pelvis to I am as stiff as a board and a soccer player, you know, so this, but picture those dancers pulling them up to their knees. Up to their nose. Okay, good aunt too though. Right Circle. And it's the lower hand.

Some I'm going to keep going, but you give away. Give up the shoulders because they're less important right now. Because if you open them, you're going to pop and shorten that back. So first, make sure you have between, yeah, between here and here is you need pooled and supported. If that arches, once you get that, then you can start working on, yeah. So we're going to be up and we're going to go to the right. Use that lower hand.

Pull them up and left lower hand on stomach, up and right and scoop it in and up and left. Using that lower hand and up. One more set. Good job. Woo and left. Sorry. And then we're gonna go ahead and cross forward. Reach forward and stretch. Nice job. Go ahead and grab your ankles.

Enjoy yourself. It's not all horrible torture. We're going to flip over onto your belly for swimming. Nice transition, long arms, long legs. This challenges again that long. And can you feel those two hands gripping. [inaudible] lift all your limbs.

One inch off the mat. Good. Right arm and left leg higher. Head out of the water and swim. Inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale. Why do we do these exercise? To tone our buns, to tone our hamstrings, to really strengthen the back. Exhale and rest the muscles. Bound your back and sit on your heels. Really great job. Good stretch, stretch, stretch. Okay.

So I want you to stay here and press your hands into the mat like a suction cups, but Tuck your toes under. That's right. And then pulling those two hands on your stomach together, lift up into a plank position. I love how long your back is. Keep that. Use Your, let's get the bottom engaged more though. Squeeze it and you're going to use it to lift your right leg. Rock back on your Achilles ankle. [inaudible] and come forward and lower.

Beautiful. Switch left. Good. Now just because one leg lifts, don't let the other one go. So tighten that too. Oh yeah. And good. And squeeze them together. Yes. One more. You can lift the leg up higher, but I love how much work you're doing. Good. All right, last one. Another left. Good. And Go ahead and kneel down and we're gonna now flip over onto the other side.

So turn onto your bottom face the other way this way. And then it's kind of like hip circles, but your hands are going to be pointing away from you. Really caution you on here. I still want this long line. Okay? So when you lift up your bottom, make sure your quads and knees don't push down and your lower back up that does nothing for your figure or good muscle support. Okay? So we're going to reach this ma the the long line and you're gonna use these two hands. So you're gonna pull up like so.

And then it's almost like those hips circles where you lengthen that line to kick up, right? And then flex down, flex down, switch legs left and flex and right and flex and left and flex. One more. Bottom hand reaches left-hand, beautiful initiation. Now hold, Tuck your left knee so it points forward and excellent. And we're going to turn for kneeling. Sidekicks. Great. I'm going to help you get, Ooh, that's pretty nice. [inaudible] that's it. Keeping this long, this hands here. Kick that leg forward and reach it long.

I don't want to see any flex your point. Sorry. That's all right. There is a uh, there is a use for that. I just in this class didn't want to do one more. Now hold it here straight out and I need these two hands but I want this lengthening so much that you're pushing effortlessly away here and you're going to circle above a fire. One, two, three, four, five. Reverse it. Reaching through the foot, even off the fire. Don't get burned. Last one, knees together. Excellent job. Knee up, tall stone, a nice stretch in between and left leg out, right hand down.

I like the alignment of your hip and knee, thigh and left hand behind your head. These two hand stake gripping. This is lengthening all the way up. This may be your tighter leg and could get fallen. And how's it going forward? It goes forward from here and three nice height to reach it a little longer. One more. Reach it as longer and leg straight out.

And here's the fire and circle one. Yes, two, three. Don't lose your posture for reach it out. Reverse it. This is getting too short. Reach at long. Yes. Good effort. Excellent Neil. Nice job. Good. Go ahead and face the front again. Good. And we're going to go into seal. Yay.

Excitement. I love it. I see the tunnel. I see the light. Alright, scooping in. Alright, so we're going to see the lower hand grabbing on. So careful on how forward and short your back gets. Let's see that lower hand really. Now instead of having the feet up here, Mandy, can you have him just an inch off the floor so your, your seal flippers are really loose. Good. Are you going to clap two, three and roll back two, three. Exhale. That's okay. I was more concentrating when you come up, make sure you don't lead with the feet and hit a flat spot, but you lead with that upper hand reaching into the belly. Okay.

There we go. And in with ear and exhale. Beautiful. Cla Two, three and it's back two, three. And that upper hand, that's because you use your powerhouse so much. That's great.

And you had more range of motion but not lack of control. So that was fine. Two, three and in with there. Good and back. I want you to do one more. You're going to cross your legs and you're going to stand up. You're going to reach me on, take, let go of your ankles. Cross them, reach for me. Oh, you don't need any help. Very nice job. I want you to come up.

Step over here, turn around and you're gonna come right here. Stand right where I am. Good. I like pushups on the floor more than on the mat. So you're going to reach up to the ceiling. Art Is, look, don't forget, we have arm weights still too, so we're gonna keep nice and long. Scoop it in and reach your arms up to the ceiling. Good. And without shortening your back. Roll off an imaginary wall. Hey, this hand comes. That's it. That's it. Beautiful.

And walk out into a pushup position and try to keep your together. There you go. Squeeze here and go down up for five and you can go four and up and three beautiful n two last time. And now round up your back and walk back to your feet and start with the lower back, the middle back arms reaching up from your waist. And one more set of five. Lift and forward. Good. And walking out and keep those hips engaged down.

Up One long spine out the crown of your head. Shooting your tail back here. Two hands. So all that poshy I have one more and walk back as you round your back. Good. Try not to push back your bottom too far because your lower belly is going to blow you up.

Scoop BBU arms up to the ceiling guru at. We're going to grab your arm weights. So go ahead and grab these actually right where you are cause you're in really nice position. And you know it's kind of funny, I just thought is, I thought it was your brilliant. So suggestion about doing the arm weights afterwards. Yeah. So keep two hands together and feel your tailbone lengthen and then palms to me and keep your weight very stay right where you are, but just try to not shift your way as your arms come up.

Don't make your upper body go back. Alright, so we're gonna scoop in and arms lift to shoulder height and we're going to pull in for five. Excellent. Good. And for weight is on the ball of your foot, not on the heels. Good. And two. One more. That's it. And now lower your arms. Good. Watch how much you round here.

Even though I do want you to focus more on this now. Arms are going to lift. Good. I feel like your shoulders need to be a little more forward in front of your hips. Good. And now pull limit. I like how you keep your elbows at shoulder height. That's it. But I want you to show me all the muscles in your arms.

Tighten them all up and refuse to let them go as you lengthen ant to good stomach one more and lengthen and let them hang down. Now right here are two little pockets, but your elbows good. Scooping in and we're going to pull up and tighten the back of your arms to release. And even a little wrist flicked down here. And then biceps are funnily arms. Tighten the back of your arms and extend front.

Good and extend to more front of the arms. Let me see those muscles back of the yards. Last one. That's it. And back of the arms. Good. All right. Now you're going to separate your feet. So they're parallel and hip width apart. Bend the knees, so your knee, Huh? Good. And roll down to a tabletop position.

So your roll off and imagine your Walden straight and your back. Bend the elbows straight back and palms face down. Good. Nice, long back. Yeah, powerhouse. And we're going to box. So extend your right arm. It's going to be opposite of mine, right arm, forward, left long arm and switch. While you're doing this. Most important is that back and the powerhouse. But then as you bend the elbows, keep them up high to the ceiling.

Don't let them droop. And then keep your square box that we always keep in place. We're going to do one more set. Reach those arms away as long as you can without changing your frame and box. Arms Droop to the floor, head down to the floor, roll up your spine.

Good. Bring your heels together. That's it. Toes a little closer together. That's it. And we're going to do side to side. So you're going to extend, I'm going to be your mirror, your right arm up to the ceiling. Good. And we're going to reach up and over, stretching, stretching, stretching, and then lift to the ceiling to come up. Good. So the bottom hand is lifting up to that top, hand up to the ceiling, up to your right hand, left hand, hand and center and switch. So it's coming all the way from your lower power house up and over.

Beautiful. And you're using those obliques as well to come up center and again, up and left with the lower powerhouse. Lift that lower yes and up. And we're going to switch one more time. Yes. Up and over. Hold it here. Enjoy stretching.

Straighten that arm and lift to the ceiling. One last time here. Up from the lower pit of your stomach and over and wrap it around your head. Distract straight in that arm and then lift up. Good. We're going to go back to a tabletop. Separate the feet. Bend the knees, roll down. Tabletop. This time we're gonna do the bug. Are you going to hit your, I'm going to push this just slightly.

You just stay there. Okay. All right. So we're parallel flat back, long spine. And you're going to have just a slight bend in the elbows. Yeah, go ahead. And we're going to try to crack a walnut between our shoulder blades and then resist those weights coming together. And lead would feel the back of the arm. Lifting the elbows up to the ceiling and then resist pulling them in together.

And it's three pulling, cracking a walnut between your shoulder blades. Resist. So you feel the biceps engaged as you come forward. And to back the arms, lifting the elbows and resist squeezing together. One more and up. Show me all the back of the arms and upper back work and squeeze. Head goes down.

Roll up your spine and Pilati stance again. So heels come to the center. Go ahead. And we're going do Shay as zip up and then shaving. So weights are here. Good. And then we're gonna lead with the elbows. Keep the shoulders going down. Beautiful form and then push down. Good.

One more. And then I want you to add a relevant. Okay. So as we come up, we're going to work from head to toe just like we did when we started. And as you push down, you go down, watch your neck, pull it up out of your shoulders, crown of the head to the ceiling. Don't let those Vertebra get too small. Add one more time. Shoulders going down. L. Beautiful.

Good. This time keeps straightening your arms and as you bend, wait through together. As you bend the elbows, you go down nice and straight and uh, everything's up. Head to toe and down. Your spine is long. No, short back. Your stomach is keeping those two hands. Two more elbows point back more if you can. Good for you and point them back last time. Everything zipping up and now bring your arms forward. Good.

We're going to go back into table top for some tricep presses. Separate those feet, bend those knees enrolled down. Good job. Elbows go straight back by our ribs. Good. Tighten the back of your arms and straighten those arms. Good. Long back, right? Long neck. We got three more. Stomach is engaged. Two more back. Those arms working last time.

And now hang those arms. Head goes down. Roll up your spine. Tailbones reaching for the floor. Good. And we're going to bring those heels together again and we're going to do chest expansion. Start with your arms here. Good. Long tail. Yeah, come forward a little with your weight. Go ahead. And this time we're going to pull back. As we inhale, look over your right shoulder, your left shoulder. Look forward and exhale. We're gonna do that again.

Lower hand reaching up to the top band. Beautiful posture. Yeah, look the other way. Look right. Look forward. Exhale. Can you do this on Relevate coming up and look right, look left. Look forward and release and it's hard to talk to and pull up. You're going to look left first. Andrei and forward. When in doubt, call the powerhouse in Mar. Okay. And now we're going to do, um, circles ready. Hold the weights. Just at the end.

It's your last exercise and you really want to keep long. Keep that scoop and we're gonna work the upper arms. We're going to circle one, two, three almost touching five, six, seven and eight. Reverse a circled down. I love to picture little Bengals around my upper arms as I shape them. Three more sets, one more flat foot. And then I'm going to make you relevant for the last two and reverse three, careful that your weight isn't going back on your heel. Two more. What?

Starting to rally. Two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight in reverse too, as if the heels are reaching away from your tailbone. Last set, one upper arms circling those bangles, keeping your lower hand re yes and reverse it. One to reaching the tailbone lawn, pushing your heels down and we're all finish.

Comments

SHOW ME SOMETHING NEW
2 people like this.
Very helpful analogies and instruction as always..great precision. Your client was awesome...she seemed very "real" in her efforts which I can certainly appreciate.
1 person likes this.
Thanks for your positive spirit!
Monica Wilson
Thank you so much for all of your feedback! Yvonne, wow! All caps. The workout must have been very frustrating for you to have that reaction and I am sorry it made you feel that way. When I was 23 years old my great aunt, Romana Kryzanowska, asked me to move out to New York to do an independent study with her. I was fit and very capable of executing any exercise she threw my way. Though it seemed easy to me, something inside of me said oh just wait! There is a reason why Romana dedicated over 50 years to teaching Joseph Pilates Discipline, The Art of Contrology. That was in 1997 and everyday a different cue, image or analogy opens my eyes to the genius work Joseph Pilates created and enables me to reach new heights with my body.
Monica Wilson
I hope to give you these cues and images. I wish to carry on my aunt's legacy, offering new pearls of wisdom to take on a work that is perfect in itself. It is about the quality, precision and art of movement challenging us everyday to reach new heights of control, sculpting our beautiful bodies from the inside out.
Great cues about the spine! I found myself correcting my posture the rest of the day in that subtle way that makes all the difference! Thank you for the great workout.
1 person likes this.
I enjoyed this class very much. You give excellent cues. And your student's enthusiasm and personality added an element missing in online classes. I believe she is a teacher-in-training. I think she was in another video. Keep up the great work!
Monica, first of all, I LOVE YOU and I felt like I was back at home at Drago's. :) Thank you for the great homecoming workout! And secondly, I wasn't feeling well before I started, and with your wonderful cues, I was reminded of how important the backs of the legs are ... and with each exercise, I felt how much energy and power was coming from my back body and know for a fact that it contributed to what felt like a very old, but new way of integrating my movement in the moment more fully. With each exercise, I really and truly felt myself returning to life. And now I feel GREAT! I am hugging you virtually right now. You are beautiful inside and out and I appreciate you! XOXO
Wonderful class.. Thank you. This is the first Level 2/3 class I've done, and it is a perfect class to transition from your Level 2 classes, most of which I've done several times. Your classes are always amazing and work well for someone who can't visit a Pilates Studio. I wish I could take your classes in person, but can't since I live overseas..
Kinney F
Thanks, Monica! Whipped this one out before teaching this morning. Just what I needed. Feel terrific.
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