Class #2174

Powerhouse Strength

40 min - Class
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It's all about the powerhouse in this advanced Cadillac workout with Monica Wilson. She teaches a few Reformer exercises on the Cadillac to give you a little variety. She also finds ways to challenge your entire body, like the Standing Arm Series at the end of the class. Enjoy!
What You'll Need: Cadillac

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Hi, today I'm going to be doing a Cadillac workout with Juliana. It is going to be more on a hard workout, really working our powerhouse always, but our arms and our legs. And we're going to be using a few different springs. I use Grotte springs even though this is a balanced body. So I have my roll down bar in place from the top rungs and I'm have my legs springs waiting, but not exactly hooked because I'm going to be lowering this bar down to these hooks in a moment. I'm actually going to bring it down just about for my leg.

You'll be ready for my legs spring. So about that height on this balanced body, you can see three little indents and I'm going to build it right above that third. Um, on a regular grots Cadillac though it's the higher hook or on a wall units about almost three feet up off the floor. Um, I also have my arm springs waiting for my rowing that we're gonna be doing. So it's a little bit of a reformer Cadillac, but not a complete reformer. So we're going to be working through it to feel good, but really challenge every part of our body. All right, so we're going to start with the rollback. Go ahead and sit down and feed against the polls. Hold the bar shoulder with apart, and let's lift your bottom forward.

So your knees are bent, cause this is the only nice stretchy, warm up I'm going to give you. So we're gonna keep it shoulder width apart. Keep your legs bent, round your back, head to your chest, and enjoy articulating. Rolling down your lower back first so that there can you get your waistband down anyway. Ooh, that's nice. And then rural. Wow. Good. And then inhale, head up to the chest and can you keep your bra strap down so you really, you warm up those muscles fighting the springs and then go up and see if you can keep your waistband down. So a lot of times the springs are a magic circle. Might make your workout really hard.

Go ahead and lift your bottom back a little bit. Go ahead and we'll go down again. But really you should use all of your apparatuses, all of your springs to strengthen and feel better in your exercises and head to your chest. So you're using the springs to get stronger. So she feels her muscles resist the springs. And now you can go straight legs if you want and we'll do two more.

And so she's warming up her powerhouse head to your chest. She's able to articulate cause she's pulling each bone against this bar. So use those springs inhaling and exhale to your advantage instead of working against you. Try to think about that in every exercise. Are they working against me one more or am I using it to my advantage? And so the mat in the end should be your hardest form of exercise in hell, in its truest form. Exhaling because you have nothing to help you.

All right, good. So we've warmed up our back in our powerhouse. I want you to turn around feet that way. I'm gonna Squeeze in here, I'm shifting. We move pretty quickly throughout this Cadillac. It's hooking down below where the legs springs are.

Lie on down and we're going to do our hundred, your nice and centered. Good. Grab your bar and bend the knees and you're going to put it underneath your thighs. Maybe Hook your thumb on the other side, but just for safety and bring your legs over. That's right. And you're going to take a breath as you into the mat. As you exhale, lift your head, reach long and pump. Very nice, Julia. So that bar is wonderful because it's showing you is one side polling more than the other. Yeah, good. That's right. So it's really giving you an idea of if you're level or not.

So on hearing a squeeze back here. It's this shoulder. There we go. And now we're straight. So the right side, that's probably a little dominant, right? You're right handed. It was working more so it was pulling it. So now we get to challenge. We're going to strengthen that left side just by holding straight. Wow. And it's really to warm up that stomach. So make sure you feel it in there.

One more breath, and now put it underneath your knees and stretch it towards you. Good job. We're going to take this and take it away. So I'm going to switch out. You can just stay there. I'm gonna put my legs springs to where my arm, my roll down bar was. Alright, go ahead and put these on your feet. Okay.

I'm will be teaching this Cadillac at a more advanced level. So if you were doing this on your own, bend your knees, I would expect that you kind of are knowing the name of the exercises and where we're going. Why don't you go ahead and do straight arm. So if she was intermediate, I would have her stay with their arms, their bent, and you can, but I'm teaching this again at a little bit more advanced. So I want your legs, they're beautiful knees, shoulder with apart, little wider. There you go. Palati stance. Good state there.

So we're pushing the heel of the hand into the bar, which allows us to strengthen our upper shoulder girdle muscles and anchor into the mat. And we're scooping in. That is beautiful. Now your legs have something to stretch away from. So reach your legs long. Great hold. And we're going to do five actually stay out and we're going to do circles. You're going to open the legs and circled down, squeeze together and good.

And it's open arounds ad around sweep. I'm going to let go. You're going to do five more using the outer thighs, the back of the legs, the inner thighs, not the knee joint, not the quad. Stretching and choose directions. Making your thighs feel like they're this springs lengthening hole that's reverse inner thigh. Squeeze around it up. Good. Reaching long enough. Good and scoop.

And then are you touching end that Cadillac and 30 almost and two more scoop in it in last time. Good. And bend the knees and rest your arms always between each one. So all the way down like that real quick. And we're going to do, I'm walking. So push, anchoring reached long. Go ahead. That's it.

Now all of these soften the knees a little bit. Can Be done with your bottom up in the air. Have you ever done any of your legs? Springs at the bottom up in the air. Love it. So we're going to do one walking regularly. And then the next three sets, we're gonna lift up your seat.

So we're gonna walk. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and up to three, four, five, six, seven. Hold. So you're gonna push into your poles, your to anchor here, and you're gonna lengthen your back as you lift up your seat. Reach Long, gorgeous. So that you're on a diagonal. Hold that and walk down. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and up. Two, three, four, five, six, two more sentences. Down. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and up. There's no question about it. You're feeling it in the back of your thighs and your glutes. Last one, four, five, six, seven, eight and up to three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Roll your spine down with beauty and control. Bend the knees in. Rest your arms, stack. Good. So this is kind of part of our getting shape for summer exercises.

Go ahead and put your arms down. Good. And it's really important to get the whole back of the body reaching long. We're going to go into beats. So same thing. We're going to do one set with um, your bottom down. So turnout the legs just a bit. Good. Soften the knees, just a hair and squeeze down an inch.

And we're going to go [inaudible] a little higher there cause I want this. A little more ink. Ah, yeah. And one, two, just 10, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine. Hold. Reach into your feet. Push into those straps. Lift your hips up. Alley up, reaching long through here. Give me 10. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Hold one more. Set. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

Hold and roll down the knees as your arms down. Good for you. We're going to do bicycle arms back. Now the first thing I want you to do for bicycle is really feel that incredible length that you just got as you lifted your seat and you had beautiful posture. That's what I want you to do.

So you're going to reach your right leg up to the ceiling. There you go. And circle it, reach it all the way to the end of the Cadillac, and then drag it on the floor to you as this leg goes up. So this one's going up and you're riding a big wheel. So it's an, and we're going to, so sorry. Bets straighten the leg. When you bend this knee, bend it to the outside and the spring will go in the middle. There you go. Bring this knee all the way in. And that goes up there yet. Go. Yes. Spending any out to the side. Voila. Okay, let's not lose the center.

[inaudible] now let's have some, what's the word? A fluidity to this. So we're reaching on there. Neither leg is stopping. How's that? There we go. And this is always hard for people and we're going to reverse it.

So now we're gonna push. Yes. So here's your big wheel picture. Ooh, I like that. That worked. There we go. That's it. Nice. And one more. And Ben both knees in and rest your arms. Good for you. Go ahead. Right. And now we're going to do, um, frog. So I want your hand.

This is also going to be with your bottom down. So pushing. Good scoop right there. Good. And I want you to start actually with your heels right here as close to your bottom as you can. Good. That's going to be your home position. Push anchor. Good. And now I want you to use your lower stomach to bring your knees and thighs into your chest. Good. Rapid squeeze to a 45 degree angle, reaching, reaching. Open the legs, the width of the mat down, using the back of your thighs and glutes. Everything staying long.

Squeeze your inner thighs together. Draw your heels to your seat. Hold again. Curling, lengthening. Oh then back of the legs and C, squeeze those inner thighs together. Draw those heels to your seat. One more in this direction. Scoop and in staying anchor. Use those spring to really tone.

Open outer thighs, back the legs. Really feel every part. Innercise. Squeeze and drawed in with your past. Hold heels around the map. Reverse. Lengthen out all the way from here, from here. Beautiful Open. Staying on the map. Control it up. Squeeze your inner thighs together first and then draw it in and heels back.

Hold two more Lang than everything open. Control it up. Squeeze those inner thighs, dry it in heels to the mat. Hold last one. Pushing. Scooping. Everything's lengthening open. Every part of your body is working.

Dry In and end with the heels right here. And that's enough. Good job. Bend the knees in. Rest your arms down for a second. Good. So now we're going to go into airplane, which kind of combines all of that. Have you ever done an airplane before? You may have an and Romana supplies might call it something different, but it's a little bit of a combination of short spine massage and long spine massage from the reformer. So we're going to put your hands here, good and nice and we're gonna keep you tight as a ball and start with your tailbone and your lower stomach and curl your tailbone towards you.

Imagining your knees can touch your ears on the mat, hips over the shoulders. Excellent. Now like Jack Knife, reach all the way up to the ceiling, working everything, and you're going to reach long to go down, which is just like good. Keep reaching, reaching, reaching all the way down. And they'll curl down here, here, here. Bend the knees, scraping the heels on the floor, drawing him into you. Excellent curl that tail bone. Use at lower pit knees almost to the mat. Reach him up. Reach out long, long from head to toe, reaching, reaching, bend those knees, drawed, Dah, Dah, Dah, Dah. Hold on. Anchor. Yes. And there we go. Curling into a ball.

This is your last one in this direction. So as soon as you feel your tailbone touch your straight as a board, you're going to fly up and up. Now bend the knees back down, scooping that tailbone, curling towards yes and get this delicious stretch. Put your arms into the mat, into those poles. Roll down one bone thighs into your chest. Heels down, close to your seat on the Mat. Lengthen out long and lean. Lift from the hips all the way up over all the way.

Then those knees down. Good. And now push into the Poles. Drop one bone at a time. Heels down to the mat. Last one, scooping in long and lifting long. Keep lifting. Yes and knees down to the Mat and rolling down. Relax those feet. Thighs, pushing down. Stretch, stretch, stretch.

Very nice job. We're going to take these straps off and we're going to go into rowing. So I want you to sit up here. I'm going to change the leg springs to the arms springs and I'm going to keep it right here. Probably trying to think, I might, I'm gonna lower it. Just a hair. So if you were on a garage Cadillac, you would lower it to the arm spring. So wherever the arm lower arm hook is, then you would be facing that direction.

So I'm learning it so it's just above the second little indent on the balanced body. Go ahead and push your heels right against there. You're going to grab those handles. Good. You're nice and centered. Nice. And I want you to start with your arms straight like that. Excellent. And you're gonna see it's all about the powerhouse. Where do you use those springs to get a lower back stretch?

So you're going to scoop in good start bending the elbows and Yep. And pull until your waistband is on the mat. Try to get your waistband. Ooh, Nice. Nice hold. Open the arms out to the side. Palm space back. Yes. Oh hold that. And I'll try to use the back of the arms to push back an inch and then keep pushing back as your head dives between your knees, arms come as close together as they can. Lifting them up and circle back to your ankle. Staying there.

Good job. Two more. And scoop into that. Lower back. You curl the tailbone towards you, you draw that Parris hold. Open the arms, palms back and from your push back, your arms. And then keep going. Good job. Not Easy. And lift and reaching around. Stay forward on that until your hands are, they are good.

One more catch on. Quick and scoop in it. Good. So she's using that to really feel our powerhouse. Arms Open. Good. And now push back as much as you can. Always from your stomach. And now lift and around. Good.

Now sit up tall. Elbows that are writing. Go. Good scoop in. Lift up. I'm sorry. Just pull your powerhouse in. Lift up, tall off your seat and go back. Careful not to arch right here, tall, tall, tall. Go back elbow, staying with you. Pool on those. Ah, and come forward. That's what I want to see. Reach down. So your hands are like mine on the outside. Yes, head down. Good. And now use the back of the arms as you pulled to your tailbone, scooping in back of the arms.

Watch those shoulders from lifting and elbows soften a little there you go. Up with the arm and circle back to your equals good. And you're going to sit up to a right angle. So the last part of the second two thirds of that exercise are all staying forward pretty much. And you're going to lift up those elbows with you as you go back and now come forward. Reach to the outside of your ankles. Staying forward.

You're going to circle your arms back. They got caught. Circle back. Watch the elbows. Use the back of the arms to lift. Use your shoulder blade, squeezing together, circle all the way back home. There you go. One more. And he just helped me cue better scoop and Beck. I always wondered why my clients wouldn't just stay forward and that's easy enough to say stay forward for the second two thirds. Pull back and soften the Elvis and up and lifting forward.

There you go. Alright. Round up. Nice and tall. You're going to turn your back to the spring. So I'll take those and I want you to sit basically right here. So it's still a Huh? Yes, yes, yes. Good. Alright, so now you're going to start with the handle right there. That's it. I think it's easier if you put your hand underneath.

So this one's from the chest, so you're going to have your elbows right at your ribs and the hands coming right from your chest. Excellent. And we're going to go up. I always like to imagine as if I'm lying on my back and I'm going to chest press now granted that would be straight up to the ceiling or straight forward. This is going to be at a 45 degree angle, but I like to imagine I have that much weight. And now pull down as you lift taller through your powerhouse and up to the ceiling and you're going to open to the side. You're gonna use those springs to lift up through your powerhouse. Good job.

Bend back and up. Use those springs to push down as you grow taller through your hips, through your waist. Inhaling up, open to the side. Inhale. Inhale, inhale, and exhale. Heel. One more from your chest and in with the air. Exhale, scoop the belly in and up. Out The crown of your head. Inhaling up and turning the palms out and press down. Down. Down.

Now we'll do from your hips, so hands flat on the Mat right there. Head to your knees and toes flexed. Back Kissing your knees. Good. Slide the handles as far to your heels as you can hold. Push into those to roll up your spine from your waist. Yes, arm stop at shoulder height. Then they lift up and as you push down, you grow taller, off your seat through your powerhouse. Good. Two more hands by your hips in with the air forward slide all the way. Exhale, roll up one vertebrae time. Last one is your head. Very nice.

Inhale up. And as you push down, pull in and taller. Taller, tall. Yes. One more. I love that. Height in your spine. Inhale to your heels. Exhale. Roll up from here. Here, here. Good. Pushing into those springs. Make them longer. Reach them out to the sides longer. Can you make them longer, longer, longer. Good. All right and rest. Next we're going to do, um, shaving. So sit cross legged.

Grab your handles and start at the base of your neck. Yeah. Elbows wide. Scoop in and straighten those arms and bend the elbows. You got it. Keep your hands together. There you go. Straight fingers. That's it. And start.

We're not going to start yet then right here. Good. Elbows back. Good. Pull this in. That's it. And now go for it. Stretch and release. Are you pulling your hair out? Yeah. All right. And stretch. You got it. And pull it in. Reach. Yes. And two more. Scooping in reach. Yes.

One more. Hold the arms straight and forward. Open them in front of you all the way to a hug position, switch legs, and pool your powerhouse and give it all you got and pushing back. Good in with the air together. Exhale in with the air together. Exhale, hold. We're going to reverse the breathing. You'll be first. Tilt the elbows up.

Thank you. And exhale, squeeze. Inhale, elbows are leading up, up, up. Exhale, squeeze in with the air. Don't let the shoulders to lift the elbow. Last one. Exhale. Good job. All right, that's enough way to work on that. Okay, so we're now gonna switch back to our, I want you to stay where you are, but lie on your back while I switch out to our legs. Springs. Again, we're not gonna use the arm springs again. You can put them away and trying to move a little slowly if you need to accommodate your find in accommodate your springs, we're going to attempt to do backstroke and teaser with our legs springs. It's a little variation. So I want you to slide a little bit away from here.

There you go. Good. All right, so backstroke to review on the reformers, knees into your chest, so always helps if you know where you're going and knuckles together, but we're going to curl up into a c curve, so yes. Good. We're going to keep your shoulders and your hips right here, and you're just going to straighten up to the ceiling for one, and we always, this drops down. That's it. Something goes up, something goes down. All right, open the arms and legs about the width of the Mat. Good. And lengthen away from your powerhouse reaching towards here, and then you're going to attempt to curl up another Virta, right? Just one and one more. Good and bend back home. Love it. Now we have terribly hard springs.

Now we add challenge in. Yes. In the beginning, you're not going to have any tension on your hands. It's kind of confusing because they're the legs. Spring straps, you can hold there. If that doesn't really challenge you, you can always grab up higher. But let's start here. So in the beginning you're going to go up. There's no resistance. You open, there is no resistance. But now from your powerhouse, reach forward and dive to your knees. Girl, do three excellent in bed. Nice job. Lift one. Open to stomach balls. Yeah. And then reached to three and Ben. Nice job.

Open and scooping your belly so that you can reach two, three, one more bend. Good job. Lift. Oh and scoop from your belly. Reaching long scoop. Good. See how long your arms are. Yeah, Ben, I'm just pointed that out because now rests down. We're going to do teaser. Now, if you were doing teaser on the lawn box on the reformer, I would about now have you slide back just like three inches. So go ahead. So I'll give you that here because these are hard and I'm gonna want you to come up into a teaser, which is going to be difficult and then do three pumps. Okay?

So as those arms are going forward, the tension increases, which means you get to strengthen. You get to use that to pull into your c curve more. Lengthen your arms to the side. Legs out, legs down. Excellent. Good. Alright. Feeling good. Okay. So because the tension is strong, we're going to do think of the teaser more like a roll up. Okay.

So you're going to inhale into the mat. Exhale, head into the chest up, been to your teaser, find your balance, move the arms back a little bit, and then try to scoop as they go forward. Find your balance and exhale. One more. Hold the arms forward. And now use that tension to enjoy stretching your lower back more. Come up, pull into your lower back, go all the way down and you're doing exactly what I want, but scoops. Use it. Ah, that's what I want. Yes. Beautiful. Let's do two more. Inhaling into the mat. Exhale, head and room.

Oh Wow. Finding your balance arms come down where you can and then they scooped forward and two scooping can. Nice back. Last one. Hold and pull your belly button against those springs as you lengthen down. Nice job, Juliana. Last one. Inhale into the mat. Make sure there's no tunnel onto your back. Inhale. And then exhale, head roll up.

Roll up and in with the exhale and in and scoop last time. Arms are forward and use those springs to strengthen you to pull your powerhouse in. Beautiful job, Julianna. Excellent. Nice job. All right, we're going to take those off and we're going to kneel up tall. We're gonna change to our roll down bar. I'm going to actually hand it to you if you don't mind, so I don't get in your way and you're going to hook it up back to where the roll back bar was.

Um, yes. Perfect. All right, so now I'm going to look really short for the rest of the class. Yeah. Okay. So you're going to be, um, an arms distance away. Perfect. And what I want you to let go of that bar now and just start because it's really important that you set yourself up for success here. So she is, you can do this either with your knees together and use a part. I like her doing it with her knees apart today. And your ankles are in alignment with your knees.

I am going to hold onto your ankles and I want your trust to allow you to hinge forward and really engage your hamstrings and glutes. So I'm going to hold and her weight. Perfect hold. So it's almost like all your weight is in the front part of your knees instead of in the middle or the back, and you really feel those hamstrings and glutes. Now go ahead and grab that bar. Beautiful. I'm going to slowly let go. You got it? Good. All right, so if I'm not there with you, go ahead and imagine that. Good. And we're going to chest expansion.

So we're going to keep puling this in. Yes. As your arms come down, look over your right shoulder, look over your left shoulder, look forward and exhale. You're a little bit arching your upper back. There you go. And in with the air, look over your left shoulder. Look over your right shoulder. Look forward and exhale. Now Juliana, you do everything really nicely, but when you're looking, the your nose line is not staying straight up and down.

There's a little tilting going on. So when you look, you want that nose line to stay straight and to go directly over. You don't want any ears dropping or anything. So you got challenges somewhere. Let's do our chest expansion here. So we're going to scoop in. We're going to look to the right first. Watch that. Yes, look over to the left because it's a neck stretch. Look forward and exhale. Nice. One more set, pulling in as you inhale, scoop in and, and look left.

Better look right, look forward and exhale. Nice job. Come back just like a couple inches. We add, we do that to get a little more resistance out of here. Far Thigh stretch. So again, imagine my hands here. That's it. Very good. And just your head is going to look down.

Don't change the alignment of your body. Good. And so that you can kind of engage these shoulder girdle muscles a little more. Pushing down just a hair. Yeah. Good thigh stretch. So from your knee to your head, you're gonna hinge back. Go ahead, hold onto that bar. Yes. And hinge back from the knees. Go and go and go and go on. Once you can't stretch anymore, the arms lift a little bit and you go back home. Beautiful.

Press down. Just a hair. And just to tie it a little less than that. Not so dramatic. There we go and go back. You feel your stomach coming this way. You feel the hamstrings and glutes. Keep scooping in. Good arms, lift and go forward using these muscles. Nice job. Now we'll add a backbend. You're going to scoop in eyes down on my hand. Yes. And pull it in.

So you're going to keep going until I say go. Go, go. Great hold. Keep this distance and open your chest. Head goes back to the floor. Open your chest. Nice head to your chest. Love how you didn't drop your seat and now come forward leading with the hips. Arms Up. Sorry. Arms a little higher. Oh yeah, that woke you up. Okay, now we're going to do rolling in and out. Okay, so we're going to keep my imaginary hands here so that you work these muscles and this is a great exercise to strengthen you for the crab where you're holding on and you have to put the crown of your head down, stretch your neck so that you don't plop there. You have to really have good, strong hamstrings. And glutes and the scoop.

So you're going to try to keep the bars close to these poles as you can. Scoop it in Wolof, an imaginary wall as you push that bar down to the mat. Yes. Love this alignment. Yes. Now keep it and pull it to your thighs. Good. And now start bending your elbows as you go back into your back bend sitting back on your heels. Good. And now go into your back bend.

Extend your arms, head back to the mat and come up like that with your arms. Straight and head. Yes. Good. Hips over and slide that bar down. Scooping in and up. Beautiful there. Pull to your size. Now bend the elbows as you pull back in. Keep your hips there yet.

Go. Yes. Straighten your arms as your head goes back and up. Good. And now it's caught. Sorry. There you go. Good. And now it's close to your one more time in this direction down. Watch the shoulders there and pool into using all those lats. Bend those elbows as you're throwing back into your back. Bend, scraping your body head and goes back. Arms straighten and scoop.

And go forward. And now you're going to go into your reverse. So lead with your head, but all these muscles head back, head back, touches the mat, bend the elbows into your chest. Good head, and then push your arms down. I wonder why that guy's catching on the way down to the mat and releasing it. Good. And they're going to keep an eye on it. Round up. Back Bend. Here we go. Two more. Where's your head? So head up.

Scoop it in. Now do an upper back bend. Not a lower, that's tough. Huh? Upper back bend. Yeah. So this is working and lead with the ponytail to the mat. Good. M Bend the elbows. Yes. And now slide down to your thighs. Head is to your chest. Beautiful. Controls their rolls away and roll on up.

I want to say that one was three. Was that three or we have one more. One more. One more then tight. Upper Back Ben. Not Lower. Yes. Lead with the head back to your mat. Nice. Nice, Nice. Bend the elbows. Slide it down all the way. And now that spring is behaving, rolling up. Excellent job.

If you had bad knees and you should probably not do these at all actually, but if you there just a little ginger, you'll want to step off to turn around. Otherwise just turn your back to here and we're going to do long backstretch so you're going to hold this almost and bring this hand a little narrow or so. It's just like that one. Same thing here. You wanna imagine my hands here so that you're working. You need to push these hip bones way in front of those knees. Yes.

A don't let that make that go a little more forward in here. Yeah. Beautiful. Okay. Careful with the hyperextending elbows. Tara. This one just a little more. There we go. Now we're going to pull down to your seat, which is squeezing forward, right? And now you're going to scrape your body up to your bottom of your shoulder blades or bra strap. Keep your elbows up high as you straighten your arms.

Two more pool to your seat. Bend those elbows, scraping your upper back. Extend your arms. One more pull to here. Good. Bend your elbows. Yes. And extend. You're going to reverse it. Pull right to here, hope as your arms go down, scrape your body and tall through [inaudible] release with control. Try to get this. Ah, there we go. Pool to your bra strap or the bottom of your shoulder blades.

Go Down with that bar as you lengthen up with your belly and release one more time. Use those triceps to lift that bar up high all the way to here. Pool it in as you slide down and really sink. Excellent. Good job. All right, now I want you to unhook that roll back bar and bring it down with you because we're going to come and do some standing arms spring series. Okay, so now we're going to be doing our standing arms spring series. We've moved the Cadillac so that you can get a much closer up view of our standing arm series and I'm going to raise the bar so that it's about two to three inches, maybe almost ear height of Juliana. Okay, there we go.

And now I'm gonna first start off with a bicep curl with our roll down bar. You could have used the leg springs to do some of the standing work, but we're going to do bicep curls, which you always use the, you could use the legs springs too. But this is a good challenging bridge point here. So I'm gonna want you to kneel down, grab the bar and stand up. There you go. Good. All right. Maybe come a foot claw. Yep. And get in your Pilati stance for me. That's it. Yeah.

Remember how I held your ankles and you engaged all of these muscles and leaned your weight forward over your knees. Now we're talking good and you don't want this upper back to be anchoring into your lower back. Instead, you want these muscles to be lifting up forward and your sternum or your chest to be lifting up forward. And that is a much nicer alignment. Very nice. Good. And so keep your elbows where it is at, where they are, and you're going to pull up good and down. You're going to do four more scooping in. Give me all you got. That's it. She's nice and centered within the Cadillac. And two more.

Keeping your weight forward. Don't rock back as that bar comes up. Last one forward with the hips. Give me one more with your hip. Staying Long. There we go. There's a lot of ways we can change that to make it a little easier, huh? Yes. Okay, so now I'm gonna re hook it to the bar. The Hook.

You're going to be tall. Roll off an imaginary wall. Use your powerhouse to go down into that flat back. Stay still as you pull it towards you. Release. Yeah. Roll up from your bottom into a tall back position. Switched to your palms up. You Watch my alignment of my back.

Okay. I'm going to pull into not an arch back then I'm going to lengthen my tailbone away. I'm going to come back up and then I'm going to go put as quietly as possible and then same thing. Okay, so it's down flat backs, days release, roll up. All of the movement is the spine. Yeah. Then you're going to, after you do two regular ones, you're going to extend the right leg up and you're going to pull into a square, lower back. Go down as far as you can come back up and then switch. Okay. One each leg to finish up. Okay. All right.

Okay. So Stan, an arms distance away. Good Polanyi stance. That's right. And now let you can maybe slide back just a tiny bit. The further you go back, more help you'll get when you do your squat. But the harder it is when you're pulling the bar to you in the beginning. So imagine that you have grabbed the bar.

Imagine that you have my hands at your ankles. You're using these muscles to lean forward, scooping in, and we'll an imaginary wall keeping the bar close to the Cadillac. Pulled down to a till your shoulders are at the same level as your hips. Pull that bar to you, keeping your powerhouse. Yeah, release it and roll up. Starting from your lower back. It's all the spine.

So reach the tailbone long you haven't gone into, yes, they're right angle with your arms. Switching your grip underneath. Good. Good. That's it. See that writing? I want you to keep that pull into your lower back and go down. Nope, keep the right angle. So you pull on those springs to get into here. You got it. And up and back down. There we go. Head down. Rolling off. Yes.

Slight down. Feel these muscles as you pull that bar to you, release it. Head to your chest. Round up one vertebra at a time. Turn your arms to a right angle. We're going to do one more like this. Scoop it in. Feel it from here. You're leaned forward, your chest, and you stuck your bottom out. Pull it in length in your tailbone down. There we go. Use that bar and up. I like it. Much better.

And going to the other side. You switch your grip, reaching away. I love how much you work here. Use your powerhouse. Great. Roll Up. Good. And now we're going to try it one lick. So none of this. You gotta get this to length in this to work and extend the right leg up, trying to keep your balance.

Can you get that leg up higher above the Cadillac Walla and sit as far back as you can and then come back up almost and sweat. You're gonna switch your grip. Sorry. Don't lean back into here. There you go. Scraping down. Good. Pull it towards you. Release. Switch your grip as you roll up, right angle. Good. Don't sit in this hip so much square. Okay, so your body has to be nice and square and come on down and come back up.

You go girl and leg down and just give me stay there. Hips forward, a tiny press, lifting up your body and release, and that's what you want to take with you for the rest of the day. Nice job. Very good work.

Comments

Loving all your cues and your direction!
Great class Monica. Definitely challenging but also good learning tips along the way.
Z A
Thank you Monica!!
Super workout. Merci beaucoup. Many ideas, good explanations.
2 people like this.
Wonderful instruction and energy. thank you. Monica, why the Gratz springs? Is there a difference between these and Balanced Body? Thanks for sharing. I'm thinking perhaps I need these springs??
1 person likes this.
Thank you, Monica! I like the fact that your client has Pilates experience but some of the material was new to her and she needed corrections and additional cuing. Although I love to watch those that are skilled perform the routines, it's nice to see those that are novices so viewers can learn more for their own clients that may stutter through a workout. And, I have several tall clients so watching placement and alignment was informative as well. Thank you so much to you both!

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