Class #2473

First Time Session

60 min - Class
47 likes
Loading...

Description

Learn more about the Reformer and your body in this Mixed Equipment workout with Monica Wilson. She brings back her son's soccer coach to guide him through his first Reformer workout. Because he has great body awareness, she teaches a basic intermediate workout to challenge him while he learns the technique.
What You'll Need: Ladder Barrel, Reformer w/Box, Mixed Equipment, Triadball, Pilates Pole

About This Video

Transcript

Read Full Transcript

Okay. So today I'm going to take Nona through a reformer workout. Last time that we met, Donna is my son's soccer coach and extremely fit and proficient in soccer especially, but it's always important to work on balance, powerhouse or core strength. So we're going to be working, continue working that. And now you get the benefit of working with the reformer. So Matt, that you did last time was actually harder to do, harder to feel all the right muscles. So we're gonna learn about the reformer. So Nona, I know you've never been on a reformer. Your feet to start off are going to be here and you're gonna lie down on the mat here. That's your head piece, and your shoulders will go against their on your back. So good.

Perfect. Nice job. Well, I like the, the, and straddle the machine. So I have go ahead and bend your knees and put your feet right there. Good. So things that you might need for this class. If I use a garage reformer. So I'm going to be referring to Grotte springs. All right. We have four springs on a garage, reformer of all equal tension, uh, things that you might need are a nonslip pad like, so.

Okay. One is enough. A one's enough. Yes. And uh, you'll need your extension straps for the leather straps. If you have a balanced body, you might just be able to adjust them accordingly. You'll want your short box and then your pole, your bar. We have an aluminum bar in grots. Okay. So those are the things that you're gonna want to make sure the extra props that you have with you.

We're just going to be going through a basic intermediate reformer, really something that's gonna work for some, for someone like Nana who has great body awareness but wants to be a little bit challenged here. So arms down by your side. What do you think in an aisle? I'm going to use a ball. This is a triad ball. Um, you're going to can use a last time I used a soccer ball. You really can use any ball that you have at home if you want to add that extra imagery. So I can just put it down for a moment. Not Know. What do you think? What part of your body is the most important part of the body when it comes to soccer? Your legs. The most important, Huh? Okay.

I'll give you that core. But you really need one part of your body to play soccer. If you didn't have it, it'd be really hard. You couldn't play. Oh that's good. Let's start with your feet. Your feet, you need your feet. So in plots we start with footwork. So we start with the toes on the bar and we're going to have a little pizza slice, which you're actually a pretty big one to start off.

So your heels are going to be together. Excellent. And so sometimes on the mat I made you do this with your legs, but you're going to be able to feel it more. Now I'm starting a Nona on three springs. You can also do it on four. So where your heels are right now is perfect.

Go ahead and press down on them. Like lower them. Yeah. So we don't want them there now. Lift them up really high and I don't want him there. I want them right here because then I can, you know how you have to lock your ankle? Okay. So we're going to lock our ankles and we're going to have a strong arch.

Okay. And the foot's here. So I'm going to help you hold your feet right here and you're gonna use your stomach, your powerhouse to pull into the mat and pretend it's so strong that it pulls you out more than your leg. So go ahead and pull the carriage, straighten your legs and make the carriage go that way. Yep. All the way. Yep. Good, good, good. And then bend your knees back in. Good. We're going to do this nine more times. Okay. One more at that tempo going out.

So we feel how the foot is all on the end coming in [inaudible] is it too hard to straighten your legs all the way. Okay, then go all the way. Yes. All the way with your belly in, in, and thank you and come in very good. Lock those ankles and out. I know, don't you? You're like, shoot. That's like me talking. Excellent. You can feel how hard it is to keep your ankles there, right?

And it in your belly. Excellent. So whether you're a dancer or a soccer player and go out for more times, you have to use your stomach. Little narrow with the knees and keep those ankles lock there. Yep. Good. Two more. And pull out. Easier your belly pool out. [inaudible] thank you.

One more time with your stomach and good. Okay. And now we're going to go to the arch of the foot. So we use footwork in the being. Your knees are together, feed it together. And I want, if I could have this foot, I want you to put a pressure on right below the ball of your foot. Not all the way down towards your heel, but right here. So this is going to be right there. [inaudible].

Now the challenge here is you don't want your feet just to be, the more pliable, your feet are, the better maneuverability, right? So you want to pretend you're a bird on a perch right now. So you want your heels to be almost under the bar while your toes are wrapped around. Okay. Yeah. Knees are squeezing together. There you go. So you're going to do 10 more. You're slightly doing it more dominantly with your right side.

So I want you to slide over to the left a little. I know. Good ant. Good. All right. It's not easy, Huh? Yup. Okay. So you're going to stay there. Yeah. And when you come back in, your heels are gonna want to just go up. And so it's the coming home that you're going to feel your hamstrings and your glutes work to keep your heels down. Okay? So we're going to use your belly and go out. Beautiful job at your stomach.

And as you come in, keep those heels under the bar and out. Go right out. And I want you to picture and keep going. The ocean and how a wave goes out onto the sand. He goes really as far as it can go, but then it comes right back in and then it goes right back out. Good. And I know it. Don't lullaby yourself to sleep here, but keep going with that rhythm. There you go.

And control on the way and heels into the bar for more out you go. Nice. Scooping it in. Yes. Yeah. Especially this left heel. Keep it under the bar. Two more. Right there. Last one. Good. Keeping your belly very good. Okay, now we go to the heel of the foot.

Good. And now we also want your toes to be out of the way sometimes. So we're going to pull back your toes completely. Okay. So I'm going to stand here and pretend I'm a wall. Yeah. And every time you come in you can't touch me with your toes. Okay.

So stomach in, go out and as you come in, pull your toes back. Good. And now this also helps you prevent Shin splints. Those aren't fun and pulling out with your belly. Good from all those suicide sprints. I don't want any good. Very good with that. And out and scooping in.

So it stretches and works the front of your shins as well as everything else. Your body's warming up. This is our warmup hat. Yup. And stuffing and pull your toes back. And one more time. That's it. Good. And now we're going to go on our toes. Okay. This one we're here. Good.

And we're going to learn a little bit more about how to use our legs today. So when we usually use more of our quads than anything else, but we want to turn on other parts of our legs because if you are only using your quads and you also kind of throw your balance off on certain things, you want to be able to keep your center and then like stretch in other directions to stay agile. So we're going to, I think last time I might've, did I ever touch you? I don't know. I don't think I taught you about a barbershop pole. Does that sound familiar? No. It's an image I like to use. But you know those red and white stripes that go around like that.

So I want your muscles on your legs to look like that. So here is one hipbone and here's the other, and I want the red and white stripes to go around like this all the way down to your ankle rather than rolling in. So pull your belly in and just strain your legs. But this time will stay out. I'm going to call that out. Okay, so pull in and stay out. Now see it from this bone. Stay there.

You can spiral all these muscles so that you're using more of this than just your quad. Stay there and you're going to stretch your calf. Very important. Go. Nope. Stay. And just drop your heels down to straight knees and then lift your heels back up. We're going to try that again, Nona, come on in. So the exercise is going to end up your, your bet knees right now and you're going to end up straightening so much that your heels are here and all you're gonna do is go down with your heels and pull them back up. So no bending or anything, you're just gonna stay out, hold the carriage out, and your heels are just going to go down a few as low as you can, maybe three inches, and then pull them back up and you'll feel a huge acute. Nope. Yeah.

What's great is it's awful to tear your Achilles tenants, one of the worst injuries, right? Yeah. So we're going to be stretching your Achilles tendon and your calf muscle. Okay? So use your belly and go out and spiral all those muscles. Stay there. And now with those straight legs, heels go under the bar down. Watch those legs from bedding. Yes, there you go.

So stretch and then lift them back up with straight legs and down the muscles that work to lift your heels should be more um, hamstrings and glutes and down all straight legs. There you go. Up Good. And stretch down to three. Now we're talking good. I'm gonna make you now work from here down and use your belly to pull in and up. Very good down. We've got about four more and pulling in and up.

So I want you to imagine your foot. So flexible. You can like roll through it as you go down with your heels. Whooo. And roll up through it. And one more time. Great. And pulling in. Yes. Stay there. Lock your ankles up and bend your knees to come back to me. No, keep your heels up. Keep them up there and come in.

Good. So footwork, super important, right? Really important in soccer. So you learned a little bit more. Maybe you got some different muscles that we're not used to. So relax. Good. Now we're going to do the a hundred on the mat.

The a hundred was the only exercise that gave you to warm up, which is tough. Here. You get a little more help. So slide about that far away from the shoulder pats. That's it. Good. All right. And I want you to hug your knees into your chest.

Great. I'm gonna put this bar down. We're still on three springs and you just gotta rest your feet there. Good. Alright. And I want you to, um, pull your belly in. Good. So is your back flat right now? It's not flat. What do you mean? Like is there a tunnel under your waistband? Good.

All right. You do a really good job. In fact, you're almost, I don't know if I talked about last time, but if this was your pelvis, you're like, and then you pretend it's a bull soup. You're like dumping a bowl soup into your chest. I say that last time. Okay, now dump it towards the parking lot so that there's a little, uh, arch under your lower back. A little tunnel. So you're going to drill, reach the other way. There you go. So you feel that tunnel. Okay, we're not, we're gonna that's we talked about last time that that's throwing your energy away. You're giving it that way and you lose your balance. You're going to use your stomach to pull back into the mat and go ahead and come back. There you go. Right? All right, one more time towards the parking lot. So that's towards your feet and sending your energy out and now pull it back towards you. Very good. And now with your belly like that, hug your right knee into your chest. Good.

Straighten it up to the ceiling. Put your hands behind your hamstring. Stretch it. Good. Now rest your arms by your side and can you keep your belly in while you lower this leg? [inaudible] don't let your energy go to the parking lot. Excellent. Good. How low can that let go while keeping that too. That's so great. Laughing's good for the stomach.

Keep it in and then pull it back up with your stomach, not your quad. Pull your leg up with your stomach stuff. There you go. Good. One more. So you can go pretty low when it's one leg, but when we are lowering both legs can be really hard and pull back up with your belly. So you did awesome. [inaudible] on keeping your stomach in. Bend this knee progressed. Bring this. Use your belly to bring this knee in. Good.

Straighten your leg up and enjoy a stretch. Good. And now arms by your side. Good. And now keep your belly in and reach that leg down the middle of your body. Good. Good. You're really holding your, your energy here, the powerhouse, and pull it back up. Good. Make it a little lighter and looser leg.

One more. When you kick a ball, you do need to have strength. But if it was like, uh, coming back up with that leg, hug the knee. And I think I remember you saying if you like held it really tight, when you try to kick it doesn't, it doesn't freely swing. Right? So that is part of this. That stays tight, but your leg has to be freer. So we're gonna now bring your right knee into your chest using your belly [inaudible] and now add the left. Good. And keep your head down for second.

Use your stomach to hold those legs and straighten your arms on the map. So for the hundred we're going to lift your arms up a little bit. Yeah, a little higher. And pump them up and down. Strong pumps. Yep. A little smaller. Just a little smaller. Yeah. Take a big breath and as you exhale, make your belly disappear. Good. One more. Hold the legs on your own. Good job with your stomach. It's coming back to you.

Huh? Hug those knees in. Good. Alright. So we're going to add stuff that makes it more, uh, makes you feel it more. So these are handles. You put your hands in them. Excellent. Good. Straight arms up to the ceiling. This time I want you to use your belly as you bring the arms down and lift your head up too. So arms come down, head comes up. Stay right there.

Come up a little higher. Good. Straight fingers. Same exercise. Okay. Pump up and down. These are getting heavy. Make them light. Make your stomach strong. Look at your belly more. Curl up more. Yes. Holds your legs on your own from your belly. Good. Big Breath. Big exhale.

Rest your head for a second and your arms relax and come home. So let the arms go back. Good. We're going to add just two things to this because it is, you can work, you can work better. Right now you're working against yourself and that's not fun. So this carriage moves that way and this way, right? Yeah, I call that out. And this n when you move your arms, I want you to pull the carriage that way, but I don't want it to keep coming back in and out, in and out.

It just stays out that way. You use this muscle, not any shoulders or anything. So hold the carriage out from your upper six pack. Okay? And I'm going to add a ball between your ankles so that you remember that you don't want to grip it. You want to hold your belly in. So bend your knees into your chest. Good. We're gonna put this here. This is your soccer ball.

Little deflated soccer ball. All right, don't hold it with your feet. Hold it with your belly. All right, arm straight up and use your belly to pull the carriage that way as your arms go down by your side. Great. And now pump. Hold steady. None of this moves. There you go. Just the arms move. No, no, not your head. Just your arms. That's it. That's it. Beautiful. Big Breath. Excellent. This is the end of the warmup. So you fill your lungs with air. Exhale all your air. You fill up all your muscles with good oxygen, you exhale it.

Now you're showing me your stomach is really strong because you're going to straighten your legs. Come on, turn out those knees and straighten your legs. Good. Good. Is it hard to keep your back flat? No. Okay. Come on. Keep it flat. Two more big breath. One more big breath. Exhale. Thank you. Bend your knees. Restrooms. Good. Now when you say, when you say that, what, what is the thing that hurts the most or where do you feel it the most?

Very good. Yeah. All right, so stay there. I'm going to drop one spring. So we're on two springs now and I'm going to add some straps so you get to take a little break. Okay, good. Yes. So you'd stay there though. Um, so when, uh, we did that exercise one day, Nona, your legs are going to be really low, really low, but your stomach is still going to be in and your back is still going to be flat on the mat and that's hard. So we do, um, frog and like circles to be able to get closer to that. So now you get to use your belly and bring your knees into your chest. And then we're going to stretch your legs back here. We'll slip the feet into these straps. Excellent job. Good.

You're pretty flexible. So I knew I could do that. Most men aren't. And now you're going to try and get your bottom down and bend your knees as your feet come down. Good feet together. Pur that you did it. That's it. That's it. A little bit of part with the knees. So they're like shoulder width apart and heels are together. Good. All right. How you feel? Okay. All right, good.

So your knees are okay, right? Yeah. So does this feel like a lower back stretch? How about here? Okay, so your um, low is your lower back down on the mat. Good. Remember how you dumped your energy out into the parking lot? Yeah, we don't do that in this exercise. Okay. All right. So I'm going to give you your imaginary soccer ball again.

That's between your ankles. Try not to flex your feet or um, yeah, just have lighter energy in the foot. Good, good. Excellent. And I want you to straighten your legs to my hand, but it has to be from here. So you pull in while you straighten your legs to my hand up here. Good. Great. And now bend the knees back in.

That's it. So precision is really important in Polonius. So I know you didn't like math too much, but I want you to picture a diagonal perfect diagonal. So when you go out, your legs don't go up and then over or down and then over they go straight on this diagonal straight as an Arrow right here. Now we're talking and bend in. So you did what? I wanted a little bit more with your right leg.

So I'm gonna stand up here so you can see what is center. Okay, so don't come over here. Go right to my belly button and stomach pulls in. Good, good. Did you see how you went to that side? Yeah, you can fix the ball. There you go. And just make it more stomach light. Legs does. If you just are gonna, you're going to kick the ball. So if you're going to kick the ball, stomach in and light legs, long light legs.

Yeah, don't worry about the ball and in we're going to leave it down there. Heels together. That was good because you didn't like over clench, right. Heels together though. And back to my stomach. Keeping your feet together up here. There you go. By feet together and bend in. And one more for me.

Right on out. Keep those legs together. Yes. Yes. Stay there. Hey, dye in there. Keep your belly in. We're gonna bring your legs up a little bit and we're going to circle the legs. So circle. Well, first off, I'm actually going to have you keep your bellies doing so well because saying in, can you feel your back's flat? Yeah. And you're keeping your energy into your belly.

I want you to keep your heels together and lower as low with the legs as you can. This way, not letting your energy go to the parking lot. Keep your belly and just lowering the legs like that and then bring them up. That's fantastic. Oh one without me. Okay. Now let go and lower down. Keeping your energy in your belly and then you, you do really well. Very good effort. So now we're going to add a circle.

So you're going to do same thing. Pull your belly in and go down. Uh Huh. But we're going to open about the width of the carriage. Yeah. And then come together. That's the circle down around, up. And now let me move you a little bit. Keep your knees straight. Straight.

Yeah. It should be nice and smooth. Smooth. I'm going to let go. Do you think you can make it as smooth as that? Right? Keep your stomach in and go smooth. Too Low. That's okay. Actually not too low for your back. Yes, you did. Really good. One more.

Now we're going to go the other way so it's smooth. Make sure your legs come all the way. Okay. Before you come up. Okay. Yeah. On your own. Yes. Uh Huh. So your stomach good. So you feel in your stomach work three more. You're doing so good too. That's because you have very good awareness.

One more. So you're working really hard with the muscles. Okay? Now you guess what? You get to stretch. So hold onto these handles. Keep your knees straight like that and stretch. Good. They can come as close to you as feels good to you.

Is that a nice stretch? Yeah. Right now my clients were like, why can't you leave me here longer? That's better, Huh? Good stuff. Okay, we're going to bend your knees and we're going to actually take these straps off cause I got them. Thank you. Now we're going to do another stretch. Hug your knees into your chest and it's going to be on the barrel. So we're going to switch out and, and get the ladder rails. Okay, Nana. So this is called a ladder barrel, and I want you to put your lower back, uh, towards here. So turn your back towards the barrel facing the parking lot. There we go. Good. Center yourself. So you're in the middle of it. Good.

All right, so there's a triangle bone at the bottom of your spine. It's called your sacrum. It's between your two hip bones. Yeah. I want you to feel that flat triangle bone against the barrel. So you're going to have to um, bend your, let's walk your, keep your hips there, but walk your toes out to hear. Good. And give me heels together. Toes apart. Excellent. And now don't lean on it. There you go. Rest your arms. Good.

There you go. But bend your knees and just slide down a little bit. [inaudible] two more inches. A little bit. Excellent. Okay. So what you are now, that triangle bone is there. Okay. Wrap your arms around your stomach and round your back as much as you can. Or I think last time you said arch, so head down and nice and arched. Right.

Okay. So we want to take care of our lower back all the time. And last time we did work on the mat, we did some back bins where you asked me is this supposed to feel it here? And um, what happened was is uh, we weren't in the right alignment. So you're going to be able to feel on the barrel whether your back's on or off. Okay? So I want you to start with this bone.

The one right behind your waistband. Roll it back onto the barrel. That one. And then the next one. Hold it for a second already. You're not getting deep enough in here, so don't move your shoulders so much, but try to pull your belly in and press the onto the barrel. There we go. And Rolling back. Now we're talking so you can add the next bone if you keep the first ones on.

And then the next one and the next one. Good. And then keep your belly pulling into the barrel and start rolling back more. Grab onto here. Straight arms. Good. And keep it rolling back. Pull this with you. Good. Roll the shoulders over the barrel. Reached the ball, the ball up to the ceiling, up to the ceiling. All the way. Good. And now reach the ball to the ocean behind you ice.

So you're stretching from your stomach right now. It's awesome. And now to bring your arms for in your head forward. Use your belly. So head and arms, but you're hugging this in head to your chest. Yes. Try to bring your shoulders, relax them a little there, and now come forward one bone at a time. [inaudible] excellent balls going towards your feet. Good. Good.

Slowly push your leg straight. Good. Keep your hips here. I'm going to keep your feet there and now try to touch the ball to your feet. I'm holding his pelvis right here because he naturally wants to not stretch his lower back. All right. And now we're all back up and we're going to do two more.

So you're gonna bend the knees a little good and roll back. Yes, that's it. And then long neck. There you go. Pull your belly with you. Oh, there we go. Reach your arms long out to the ocean. Excellent. And then I'll come forward as you inhale, bring the arms and head forward. Taking a big breath. Exhale, roll forward.

So we'll pull all of this and relax those shoulders. A little there and Nice Nona. Good and touch your toes. But when you do, don't lift your bottom up to the ceiling. Keep your bottom right where it is as you reach away from it. That's really good. Let's do one more.

So we're going to do a back bend in a second. Head down to your chest. Good. There you go. And roll back. And do you see how on this barrel it's a backbend and roll him back like your back's going into a backbend, right? So yeah, your stomach's in. It's pretty cool. Reaching, reaching, reaching. That's feel good.

Big Stretch and coming forward. That's it. Now drop your shoulders from your ears. Relax them. That's it. And use this muscle instead instead of up here. They're aw, that was good. Yeah. And pulling your belly in and stretched down. Reaching for your toes.

And so we're keeping this now go ahead and just go down. Touch your toes. There you go. Good. And roll on up. Thank you. Roll on up. Straightening your legs. Yup. And round up. Good. And I'll take the ball now. Stand up nice and tall and walk your feet back. Good.

And now we're ready to do a backbend correctly. So we're going to go back to the reformer now. Okay. So now we're going to add our long box and we're going to do a Lombok series. So this is your box, and when you put it down the length of the carriage or the reformer, it's called the long box. In a moment, we'll turn it around and it'll be called a short box. So again, gonna change now to one spring. Good. And we're going to lie down on here on your stomach.

Your shoulders are gonna be right here. Your feet that way. Good. All right, good. And you get slide back a little more. So your shoulders really are on the box. Excellent. Good. And we're going to have your legs here and just a little bit straight from your body. All right? Can you hold them up without, you don't have to work too hard. Just don't let them drop. Okay.

So I want you to try to lift your stomach from me. Good. And now drop it down. Just press it the opposite. Yes. So do you remember how we kept, we pulled our belly in and then we dumped our energy away. So go ahead and dump your energy away. Yes. So that's dumping your energy away. That hurts your lower back. All right, stomach in. That's a great support. Now stay there and we're going to do one these without have your hand like that and your hand like that without the machine.

So I want you to reach your arms down. Start lifting up your head. [inaudible] lift up your chest. Good. Keep lifting up your chest. Keep lifting up your chest. Very keep going. Keep going. You're gonna. This is going to go down, but as long as it doesn't shorten your back, you're okay. So this is really nice. Now stay here. Can you do that Nana, can you pull your belly in? Good. Stay there. And can you lengthen this just a bit? Like release the lower back a little bit.

There you go. And now go down. Did that hurt your lower back at all? Good. Stay here. I'm going to hand you some straps. So this is great. Arm work, great shoulder work, but it's great back work. Okay. Crawl up actually higher all the way to here. Yes. And your hands start right on the outside. Yup. Good.

Hold there. Nice legs together. Try not to push your belly into the mat and now strong. Let's pull your, don't pull the hands anywhere, but make your shoulders pull back you. That's so good. That's so good. All right. Reached your hands down as your stomach zen and back bend. So you're gonna bring your arms down.

[inaudible] pull on those straps down and up to the ceiling. Uh, bring your, hmm. Here's what I don't want to happen. Can you see me from here? Yeah. So watch my shoulder. When you pull down, these don't go forward. They only go back now from your angle, it's gonna look, you're allying down on the box and you're gonna pull down and you're gonna do a little back then like this. Okay. There you go. And stomach in, man. Pull your arms down and lift your chest out to the ocean and come down.

Very good. Try to stay a little closer to the carriage stomach in. Pull down and try to keep your belly and while you lift your chest up to the ocean, closer to the carriage, closer to your bar. Nope. Nope, nope. Don't change that. That's, that's too much. Lift and down. You can contact your hip bones. You just, this is good.

Let's see. Reacher. There we go. Let me hold them like this. And now one more stomach in and that's enough. And then round. Go ahead and pull back. Yes, you got it. You got it. And Go back. Good. Now Nona, slide your hand and put it inside here. Good. Yes. Great. And we're have to be an airplane.

It's called the t and you're going to have your arm up and straight. How's your shoulder? It's only, okay, it's this one, right? Yeah. Is it okay? Yeah. Okay. Relax that. And now I'm going to hold your legs again and now pull your arms back as you lift your chest to the ocean. Cool back. Lift your chest to three and go back. Not Bad, but there's my airplane. Good stomach in and pull back.

Lift. Stay up. Stay up and go back. Just one more arm. Staying up, stomach in and pull back. Pull back up with the chest up with the chest up. Ooh. Yeah, that's good. And Return. And you're done with that Nona. Relaxed down the legs and put those in there.

Good. And step one leg up to the side. You're not going to step back to the side tip, but to the side it's all right. Round up. That was actually pretty coordinated there. I'm going to add one spring for our next exercise. It's called backstroke. Okay, so do you like to swim?

Right? I thought so. We're going to use a different image for you, so I want you to sit here facing that way. Yeah, that's it. Good. Put your feet on the bar and slide quite a bit forward. Good. Alright.

I mean like almost take your bottom off the front edge and then lie down. So slide quite a bit forward. More and more and more and more and more. More in lie down on your back. Good. Hug your knees into your chest. Excellent. Hold these handles. Good. Bring them together. Try to touch your head to your handles. That's it. [inaudible] go for it.

Lift your head up. There you go. Yes sir. And knees into your chest. Good. All right. Relax those legs. Core strength stomach. Okay. Follow me with your arms. Your arms go up. Yup. Your arms open. Good. Look at your belly, pull it in as much as you can. Follow me with your arms.

Follow me now try to come up and touch your knees. Come up to three and bend back again. That was excellent. Nonna. Here we go. Bend your elbows. Yeah, everything goes straight up. Everything goes open. And now look at your belly and touch your knees up. Touch your knees. Touch your knees. Excellent. And Bend.

But think about throwing the ball in. And I'm in soccer. Going to go up. Head up open. Now touch your knees out. You gotta throw a little further. Further. Yeah. And Bend. And last time up we go. Head Up. Don't let it hang because it'll hurt. Open. Open the arms and now circle them forward to your knees and you feel that upper stomach. Feel it, feel it, and bend. Very, very good.

I was really good on it. Now put your feet down on the bar, feel it, and you're slide back two inches or three inches. Really. One more at, okay. Now sit up. Any way you can. Really good. Stay right there. Nope, don't slide back. So go forward. Thank you sir. Good. I'm going to drop one spring. So now for Teaser, we're on one spring. Okay, good. And I want you to put your hands under your thighs and you said arch last time for the, and I want you to roll this part back.

Dump that bowl of soup towards you, away from the parking lot more. Keep your energy right here. Hey. So this is going to be the epitome of stomach strength and keeping your energy in here. Not In the parking lot. Okay. All Right Nana. So there's two handles here, but reach back and just put your hand in them. Just yes. Move your arms back. Good. Got It. All right.

So hold them right there. Relax your shoulders a bit. That's it. Now hold your hands there, but use your belly to roll back your lower back. So roll back. Don't move the carriage. Just do them. Exactly. So we're going to go this way. Yup. Yup, Yup, Yup. Dumping that bull suit more, more, more good.

And now see if you can lift one leg up balancing a little higher and then the other one. Good. Holding all your energy here. Now you're going to bring your arms forward. You hold your balance, bring them up as high to the ceiling as you can. Keep your balance and then bring back down just by your hips and forward stomach in. That's it. And down. And one more stomach in and down. And just three reps. You get to take a break. Sit Up.

Very good. Two more of those. But you got to take a break. So as this strengthens, as this carriage goes out, your stomach gets stronger. Yeah, it's the opposition. It feels it. Okay. All right, so you're going to use your belly to roll back. Bring the carriage, and it's a little out right now. So bring your bottom under you towards me. There you go.

Use your belly to pull back away from me. More and more and more and more and more and more and more. There you go. Balance with one leg up and the other one very good. Relax the feet a little so they're just hanging out there and now use your belly and down and two more at forward. You got it. And one more.

Scoop it in and forward. Good. And coming down and rest. What do you think that's good for stomach balance? Your bones. Stomach. I feel bleeds. Alright, good. Can we do one more? Yeah. All right. When you hold your handles, see if you can hold it more in the middle of your palm rather than closer to your fingers. Good. All right, so bringing the carriage in first. [inaudible] roll back here. Good, good. Little more. That's it. And now bring one leg up.

Hold that in and keep your bowl soup towards these. Bring the other one up. And now pool. Take your arms forward. That's it. That's what I want you to feel. And then arms come down a little bit and then they go forward again. And this pulls back as your arms go forward, right? The opposition. Yes.

And down. You only have one more and forward. Good. And come down with those arms. Good. And rest on your feet and sit up. Great job. All right. Now on a gimme, those handles step off. Awesome. I'm going to grab our aluminum bar and we're going to turn this now to short box. All right, now you work really hard, which I very much appreciate, but part of it is really keeping some fluid motion too. So even though I'm wanting you to still work hard, I want you to move.

We're going to be moving a little quicker now. What do you think of that? Alright, I'm going to put a pad right here over the short box and sit down to springs. Now hold you in place. Safety Strap. Good. You're going to put your feet under here. Excellent. Right there. Excellent. So it's almost over your ankle. That's what I want. Oh, slide back.

Actually though. A little bit. Little. Ah Huh. Little more good. I know the straps right there. Perfect. That's good. All right, so remember that barrel and we rolled back and stretched. Okay. We're going to wrap your arms around your belly and we're going to do a sit up.

Okay, so you're going to roll back onto the box. Come on, go for it. And then come up. Yeah, four more. Roll back and use your belly to come up. Excellent. And Roll back and make sure you're using your stomach, not your legs to come up. There we go. One more and use your stomach to come up. Great job. Now sit up tall. Grab this bar. Good.

Have your stomach in and nope, you're good. Sit Tall. That's it. And lift your arms up. Good. Straight fingers. Good. And use your belly to lift up. Good. Now can you drop your shoulders away from your ears? Yeah. Okay. Stay like that. Straight. Oh, it's such a great spine Nona. So see my arm, you, we're going to go straight back a few inches. Okay, go, goes back and forward.

Good. Keep reaching up to the ceiling as you go back. Yeah. And forward. This is taught an and lift up. Paint my ceiling with this as a pink brush and roll back. Don't skip any spots. Appear and pull forward.

Use that waste to stay tall, up and forward, and rest your arms down. Great job. Okay, so we're going to keep our spine nice and young and flexible. So use your belly and lift up your arms again. But now we have to just bend it to the side. So you're going to lean forward a little. Nope. There we go. And now reach over to the right. Just like a palm tree in a hurricane.

So this is going to stay here and we're going to just side bend. Stay forward though towards me. Two, two, two, two, two, two and then side. And now use your stomach and come center. Good. And over here. Very good. And then come center. The only thing that you're doing is what everyone does is let's lean back.

So lean forward and over and back. Center and over and that center. One more over and back. Center and stretched over to the other side. Finish it and center and rest your arms down. Nice job.

Now we're going to twist arms up and head up. Good twist to the right. Good. Yeah. Use your belly to reach out over there. Good. You're going to come with me. [inaudible] come back up and twist and use your belly and go and back up. Good. Head Up. Don't work so hard in your shoulders. Work hard on your stomach and oh, that was nice. Yeah, and pulling. Don't work so hard in your shoulders and work hard in here. Out.

Yup. And up one more set like that. Twist. Good from your work. Hard. Yep. And up. I like it. One more time. Twist and out and back up and now touch your toes. All right. We're going to do something called the tree. Good man. Very good. Okay.

We're going to put the bar underneath your legs. We're going to just introduce tree here. You upside back about five inches more. Good. And then bend. Stay nice and square and bring out your right leg and hold under it.

Not your left. Woo. Oh, just right. Yep. Just your right. There we go. [inaudible] hold underneath your knee. Yeah. And sit up tall. Show me how tall you are. There we go. And now straighten your leg up and bend it. Can you straighten it up more to the ceiling and bended, but yeah, and bend. Straighten it up and hold.

And now walk your hands up your leg, grab your ankle. Good. Sit on that cheek. Yup. Now Flex your foot. Point and flex. Pull it back the other way. Pam pointed that way and flex and point and flex and point. And now head down and just stretch and we'll switch legs.

Here's this left. Good. Hold under. So we're stretching. Yeah. Okay. Hold on. Under the left leg. Try not to fall on one cheek. Just stay tall and straight it up to the ceiling and bend it and straight. I'm bend. You don't have to have a foot like that right now. Just relax it. Hold it. Now walk up to your ankle.

It should be down the middle of your body and sit up tall. Actually, I'm sorry. There you go. And we're going to pull the toes back and point and pull the toes back and point Chiesa up taller. Thank you. Good. It should be a big stretch. So sit up tall and now relax. And now stretch forward over it. Dropping that hip a little bit. All right, then the knee. Okay, we're done with our box. Go ahead and step off.

Completely good. And we're gonna do, I'm gonna leave this pad here and bring down the box. No. All Right Nana, we're going to do a pushup position. Yeah. On this we are. Okay.

So you're going to put your hands on here. Good. And now see that black pad, I want you to put your feet right in between the shoulder pads on that pad. A little forward more. Move it right there. Toes towards the ass. Alright. Okay. Your shoulders are going to be over here. That's use your stomach and lift up your legs because you're in a pushup position. There we go. Shoulders forward. More straight arms. There you go.

Excellent. Head up a little. Good. Now push out the carriage staying like this. And now use your stomach to pull back in. Very good on it out and pulling in. Good. I don't want this rounded though. Keep it straight and come in. Stay Nice and straight. Excellent. Two more.

Scooping in. So and one more. Good and pulling in. Nice. Now kneel down good. And give me a foot against this shoulder pad and a foot against the other shoulder bed, but toes on the mat all the way down. In fact, I want your toes to look like this. Oh, very good. Okay. And now I want you to lift your head up, lift your chest up and take your bottom forward. Move forward. No, no, no.

Keep your knees down. Just go forward. Thank you. Head up, chest up. Very good. All right. You're going to try. Use your hamstrings and glutes to go out. Slide out. That's great. Now lift your chest up as you come home. Really good. And use those muscles to go out and chest up. Good. Two more.

Push out and as you come in and try to back bend, use your belly though. Very good. One more shoulders talking to you and up to the ceiling stomach and bring the carriage all the way home. Don't move your bottom. Keep it working. All right, stand up on the machine. So stand up and we're gonna do elephant stoop. Very important to have hands on. Non at all times. Walk your feet back a little more right there. Good. Wider.

Okay, good. Alright. Head looks at your belly here. I want your stomach to hold your whole upper body still and just push your legs out. A few. Nope. Move the carriage. [inaudible] push that. Nope. Bring the foot right where it was, but now move the springs. Aha. There you go. Hold. And now make your stomach be what pulls it in.

Great job and out a few inches and stomach pulls it in. Good an out, really good on out. He's holding this still and using the stomach to pull it in and two more out. And use your stomach DePaul in good. One more time and pull it in. Good. Now Neil completely on the machine and walk your feet back against the um, yes. Nope. Just like they were. Great.

Now I want you to make your backs super round and sit back almost onto your heels. Great. Now stay there. I would love to see a little more shoulder stability. So press here and open here. Nice. And hold your belly eyes on my fingers here. None of your upper body is going to move. Okay.

You're do you see underneath my standing leg? Yeah. Okay. I want you to take your knee all the way back to my leg. Yep. And now keep this here and bring them back under you. Those knees all the way home. Just like they were. This is home. Yeah. Now can you do that quickly out and quicken.

Yep. Out and stomach and Yep. Out. None of your upper body moves, right? Strong shoulders out and stomach and out and stomach and eyes on your belly out and stomach in it. And one more stomach. Good. Stay here. Lift your head and arch your back. Stick out your chest, push it forward. Yes, yes, you're going to do the same thing, but with your back like this. And I want you to push back with the legs and come in, push back and bring it in with control. Yeah. Out and bring in with control. Yes. Out Quicken, but controlled. Yes.

Out and in. Strong and stable and push out and in. And one more and in. Good. Now we're going to do a really hard one. Okay. And then we're going to cool down. So round your back, which is yes. Okay. And I want you to bring your weight a little forward like this again. I need strong shoulders. This is all right now hollow.

I need you to puff it up and fill it up round. There we go. Straight arms though. So to fill it up, you're going to pull that chest like that. Does that make sense? Okay, now use your belly. We're going to lift your legs up this high off the mat. Here we go. Up. Good. Now straighten your legs and bend them back in quick and out. Stretch them straight and bend back in and out and pull them back in. Yep.

Out. And pull him back in. Two more. Out and back in one more and back in and lower down those knees and let the carriage come home. Very, very good. That was one of the hardest ones. You get to step off and we're going to cool down. So what I have learned, no, we're done with this pad. I'm going to add one more spring. Okay. And then I want you to remember how you lied down where your head was on that head piece and the shoulders. Here's your feet. Go ahead and lie down.

No Sir, on your back. Okay. I've made you so, so exhausted and tired. I know. All right. So what I have learned about you is that when you're working against the weights or the springs, cause each springs about 35 pounds, all of a sudden your muscles start getting more like this rather than your, your stomach. So let's rest your arms down by your side. Good. So in PyLadies the goal is actually to start taking off most exercises is taking springs off and making the lighter and then you're controlling it from your body instead of finding it from, so I'm going to have you do running, running is that same exercise in the beginning that I said, oh no, you're going to keep it out and we're going to stretch your calves and your Achilles tendons and then we're going to come up. But we don't go back out and in, right? So go out using your belly.

Excellent. All the way straight legs. And lower both of those heels under the bar stretching. Fantastic. And then lift them back up from here. That was really good. Do it one more time and back up. Now it's called running cause it's one leg at a time to bend this knee. Yep.

And then lower that one and then both like straight. And now bend this one and both legs straight and bend this one. And both legs pull straight and bend this one. Yes. Uh Huh. And that straight. So you have right now we've got to target those hamstrings. [inaudible] you use your hamstrings and ah, there we go. Those muscles have to get stronger for you. Yes. And the other good.

Good. Now Naan, it's called running, so it needs to be freer. So stay with me right here and let's go. It's running. [inaudible] yes. Yeah. Now we're running and run through the park. That's it. That's it. You're on the soccer field. Finally you get to go back home. You're just, you're just going to pull your belly in, but move.

This is more of the feeling you want when you're doing polite. That was excellent. Come on back in. Didn't that feel better? Yeah, some. So you want to learn how to take a little of that hard effort and make it more of what you just did. Okay. Last one. You're going to put your arch here and your arch here. And we do need to develop those hamstrings and glutes.

So we're gonna open those knees a little bit and we're going to keep your belly in, but we're going to lift your bottom up by using the back of your legs and your bottom. So don't move. Just lift your bottom up Dominique, all the way up, all the way up. Good. Now put your hands underneath your bottom as if you're praying. So it's right here. Good. Nope. Palms together and straighten those elbows a little bit more like that.

And now lower your bottom so it touches your hands. Good. Stay there. Can you get this to drop down more? Thank you. All right, now go out without squishing your hands. Go out that way. Yup, Yup. And then come back in. And same thing as the um, running. Don't overdo it. It's just the back of your legs. And your seat. Great job with your stomach. Now you're making this carriage move. I love it.

It's got life to it now instead of like errr. That's really good. And to try not to let your knees go in little wider. That makes you work more from here to more last time. Come and stay here. Keep your bottom up, but take your hands away and now relax your back down. Slide your feet together and hug your knees into your chest and you get a little stretch and your all done.

Ah, thank you.

Related Content

Comments

2 people like this.
I loved this! To see the amount of strength, energy and concentration it required for someone who is already in great physical condition - is a testament to the benefits of Pilates - and also to you Monica for your excellent instruction!!
1 person likes this.
Loved this! He is obviously an athlete and very strong. Monica, you were so good with him. Infinite patience. He is so lucky to have you to introduce him to pilates. Thank you for your excellent instruction.
1 person likes this.
I agree with Mary's and Teresa's comments. Loved the way you introduced the Teaser as well as used the Barrel as a tool to move onto the short box. Thank you for a great class.
Tessa
1 person likes this.
This is a great example of how the movement comes first. Love Monica's cues here! No bother with "inhale" at this moment or "exhale" at that moment to mess her student up! It was also fun to see this highly athletic person challenged! :)
1 person likes this.
Monica gives good cues as to what should be felt. Love her positive tone.
1 person likes this.
While I was watching this video I thought all of the above comments. Excellent cueing, amazing patience Monica! Well done :)
Candace
1 person likes this.
Monica, so nice to workout to your voice! Loved this session and your instruction and patience.... and mostly , his great giggle! 

You need to be a subscriber to post a comment.

Please Log In or Create an Account to start your free trial.

Footer Pilates Anytime Logo

Move With Us

Experience Pilates. Experience life.

Let's Begin