Reformer for Runners

Hi there, my name is Juan Nieto. I am here with beautiful Julianna who is going to help me to introduce this reformer class for you. The exercises that you're about to see are exercises that are very interesting for runners. That they will cover all the functional demands that they need to run properly. So we're gonna find a class with thoracic extension, a lot of hip mobility, and hip conditioning, absolutely about the feet, and the footwork.

We're gonna do many, many things in functional positions and functional activities. So I hope you enjoy it. Okay, Julianna, so we're gonna start laying supine on the reformer. And we're gonna leave the head raised just a tiny bit for you, and then maybe we can adjust it. Alright, is this distance good for you?

Alright, we're gonna let just a couple of red springs. Two medium springs. Is that headrest comfortable for you? Yeah. Okay.

So I want you to feel the elevation of the sacrum well supported on the reformer. I want you to just extend your legs, okay? And once you're there the weight from your metatarsal head and the ball of the foot instead of the heel. Okay, let's go and change it to this part, okay? So, let's just start with a easy full work, and I wanna see how it works.

So one of the things that we can look at here is how is the alignment of the foot? So in this case there's no problem at all with Julianna. So then I'm going to check what is going on in the lumbar spine. So one of the things you can get is so in fact I'm cueing about if it's too much movement into the lumbar, or if it's stable. In your case it's stable.

Just want you to focus in the hip joint, and really feel the hip deep into the socket. Like you were pressing the hips in the sacrum. Awesome, perfect. So, once we are there and we are warming up a little let's do some walking movement, alright? And I want you to do a very long movement into the ankle.

That's it, perfect. Are you breathing? So remember to breathe, (Julianna laughing) and one of the things that I want you to feel is that is the sacrum as the pelvis that is pulling the heels up and down okay? It's not like you think about the heels going up and then you move. No, you really move your body, and the legs are allowing to do it.

That's what happens when you run. You really move your axial skeleton and your limbs will follow. So that's the image I want you to use. Okay, so if you find that there is somebody who needs some sort of feedback in the abductors and external rotators you can use a Thera-Band. So sometimes what you see is like the knees are going together when they press.

So if you see that you can use a Thera-Band and you can make a loop around, and there you go. And what I want you to do, Julianna, is just to press a tiny bit, just a tiny bit. So let's keep the feet parallel, and with these little feeling of abduction try to keep it when you extend and when you bend your knees. Awesome. Keep thinking about the sacrum.

Really down into the platform. The hips are really going down. So now you need to imagine your legs like taking care of the Thera-Band, and the pelvis moving up and down. So it is the pelvis who is moving the carriage, and the legs are taking care of the Thera-Band. Okay, so maybe you feel a little bit more focused on the external part of the hips, so that's important.

Very, very important part for runners, okay? Perfect, that's it. So let's take it out. So, I'm gonna take it here. Thank you.

So after this we're gonna do a little breach, okay? So hip extension is key for runners. So we're gonna do a little modification for the bridge because I want you to focus on the hips. So I want you to slide down just a tiny bit, thank you, until you feel that the knees are resting on the foot bar okay? So now, from here, try to take the heels together.

Not the knees. The knees are a bit separate, but the heels together, alright? What I want you to feel is like the seat bones are joined together just a tiny bit and try to lift the hips forward, okay? So I don't want you to think a lot in rolling back. I just want you to think in going in that direction, okay?

And it's very important that trying to get the focus on this part of the hip, okay? So you want to really lengthen and push the hips here in the groin instead of rolling the spine, okay? And to go down is the same. So let's lengthen as much as you can. There you go.

That's it. So let's do it again. So now if I try to separate your heels (Julianna chuckling) it should be hard. That's it, so keep it, keep it, keep it. It's not that easy right? No it's not easy.

So, no, no, just up a little bit. So keep the heels together. Okay. There you go, and now do the bridging. Awesome.

That's it, that's enough. And now keep that feeling in the heels. Perfect, okay. So let's try to do it without any movement in spine. So let's do like more flat.

Okay, I think it's going to work better for you. Alright, awesome. Okay, keep it there and just now lengthen the sacrum, that's it. Maybe you feel that the movement is here, and not that much here. Okay.

So I really want you to open here without losing this feeling here. Do you feel the glutes working? Mmm hmm. Are the heels together? Awesome.

Let's lengthen, and go down. Go back again. This is the feeling. This is the feeling. Perfect.

Now we're gonna do a little bit more different. So we're gonna take this knee into the chest, and you're gonna hold it. So now we're doing a bridging with one leg-- Okay. But there's another thing that is very important. When this leg is pushing, it's doing a hip extension, this leg is doing a hip flexion.

So it has be reciprocal because sometimes what we do is to press against our hands to get support, but I don't want that. I really want flexing here, and the image is like you to drag your whole body and your pelvis with this leg, and then you leave the pelvis just up okay? Don't think about rolling the spine. Just going up. That's it.

Quite different right? Yeah. So breathe, go up, up, up, up, up, and now keep it. It's hard. Keep it, keep it, keep it, and very slowly let's go down.

Okay. So one of the cool things about doing this is like it creates a lot of extra stability in the lumbars. Why, because you are rotating your pelvis. So now your lumbars, the little rotation of the lumbars, that is nothing it's finished so there's no more rotation. So it gets a lot of stability there.

So you really can get more focus into the hips. That's why maybe you're feeling that's it's so hard. Yes. Because you really need to extend the hips and that's the whole point about this exercise. So, let's do it again.

So, this leg is doing flexion, and the other is doing extension. So feel the supra from the hip extensor, breathe, and now let's go down. Perfect. Okay, so let's try the other one. Alright.

Perfect. Maybe you feel difference between one leg or the other but that's normal. We will work on it. Okay, so flexion here, and extension, and press, and feel the reciprocal motion, the contrast. That's it.

So keep in so the glutes are working. Very good. So open and lengthen the front of the hip and go down. Perfect, okay, and relax. Okay, do it again.

There you go. Okay, so let me help you. Okay. That's it, now keep it. Keep it for awhile, and now roll down again.

Perfect, and now rest. Cool, how it was? It was good. Well let's release. You can shake the legs if you like, and you feel like you need to, okay?

We can do this also with the feet supported, but, for today, we're gonna keep it that way. So I use this, the foot bar, to focus on the hips, but I will progress to a feet support in the future. Okay, so now we're gonna do the semi-circle exercise. So one of the things I need to do is put your feet, again, on the foot bar. I'm gonna use just one red spring.

The medium one, okay? (spring clanking) So what I want you do is. that's it, so put your hands, and leave the pelvis a little bit. I help you. That's it.

So I want you to feel a nice support in the shoulder rest, okay. You okay there? Mmm hmm. I want you to put the weight on your toes. That's it, alright.

And now let's try to move. There you go, perfect. So, let's let the pelvis go down. Okay, and lets the gravity helps you to extend the thoracic. You feel any discomfort or pain in the thoracic spine?

Or the shoulders? Okay, so now if you look at this position this is a full squat overhead, and it's very supported. So, now I'm kind of obsessed about squats so (chuckling) I see squats everywhere. So this is a perfect example of squats. So you have the gravity supporting you.

Your extension you have the flexion of the shoulders, and the hip flexion is very deep. So we're gonna practice this squat in this position okay? So I'm gonna raise the headrest because you're tall. So very slowly I want you to just extend your legs. Keep the pelvis down.

Keep the pelvis down, yeah, perfect. (reformer clanking) Yeah, it was just (chuckling) it's too small. Okay, that's okay. Let's change the bar okay? Alright.

Okay, so here. (reformer clicking) I think you're gonna have space. So one of the things that you can do is to put the heels a bit forward when you do it. Okay. You know what I mean?

It's like well I will tell you now. Okay, so feet are parallel. You are centered. Good space between the shoulders and the ears. That's good.

So now let that spine to roll down. Perfect. So it's very important that you feel that you can find more movement here in the thoracic. Okay. Alright?

And the hips are really deep into the groin, into the socket. So from there keep it down, and now let's extend the legs. And let the heels go, that's it. And I don't mind if you keep a little bit of flexion in the hips here. So let the pelvis go down.

That's okay, alright? And now, again, bend your knees. Go deep into the hips. That's what I want you to do from the very beginning. So really deep, deep like we did at the beginning in the full work.

So now press again and keep it deep. Keep it very congruent in the hip. Awesome, and now again release the seat bones, let the hip sink into the socket, perfect. And now do it again. Perfect, cool.

So hip flexion, that's it, and now keep this extension in the thoracic, okay. It's okay? Yeah. Let's do it again. That's the movement I want, okay.

Very interesting. So now, from here, let's do the other part of the exercise. I want you to take the hip into extension, and I want you to raise, that's it, the pelvis. Not that much. Just a tiny bit, and from there I want you to lengthen the sacrum up and forward.

Great, now keep this open. Mmm hmm. And now extend the knees. So the position will shift a little to this part, and now go forward. Now we're working in the extension, and I really want you to feel the support from the glutes.

Not the core, not the spine, but they are participating, but the main players here are the glutes. That's it, awesome. One more time. Perfect, and go up. So now, very slowly, let's come back to the initial position.

Okay, how are you? Good. Good, so we're gonna change this position. Supine to quadruped. Okay, so let's go.

Okay, so for the quadruped we're gonna use this for the comfort of your knees. What I will need you to do is to with your hands here, and the feet on the shoulder rest. So, here it's very important that you really get a lot of flexion in the toes so I want you to make emphasis in this motion there. I want you to put more force, and stress into the plantar fascia in order to lengthen, and prepare this tissue for running. Is that okay for you? Yes.

Is this kind of not very comfort? It's okay. Okay, cool. So I'm gonna take all the springs in. (springs clanking) Alright, so I'll have a dowel here.

So I want you to find your what you believe is your neutral position, okay? So lengthen the sacrum in the direction of the dowel, and the head in the opposite direction. That's pretty much what I like to see. Maybe I want you to find (dowel clattering) a bit more hip flexion even if it's a little bit strange for you in the beginning. Let's go here, and from this reference what I want you to do is to lengthen, and take the, not that much, it's just a tiny bit, the ribs back, and also the hair back.

There you go. How you feeling there? Good. Yeah, okay, so now I want you to keep this feeling, and with the carriage closed I want you to sit in your heels. Actually, what I want you to feel is the seat bones are going behind your heels.

I want you to keep the thoracic spine on the dowel. That's it, and lengthen the neck a tiny bit, and now go forward. And there you go. So let's try to get more feedback, and more awareness of this position for you. Okay, that's enough, and come back again.

So one of the things that is really important is that you keep the extension in the lumbar. The lordosis, the natural lordosis, all the time. There you go. And let's do it again. Open the seat bones.

Seat bones are going back. You feel the hip? Like a very strong hip flexion? Yeah. Okay, so now I got you where I want it.

So, this is gonna be the next position so keep it there. Try to remember this feeling with the dowel, and I'm gonna (springs clattering) leave one red, and one blue, alright? So let's press a tiny bit with your arms like 10 or 15 centimeters, that's it. So this is your starting point, and I want you to move the knees backwards and forward. Very gentle, very little.

Slower? That's it, that's it. I want you to get now different focus of the hip disassociation. So try to find this openness here when you getting to the knees forward. That's good.

So lengthen spine, and breathe. Perfect, okay. Now that you got this we gonna get more input into your thoracic spine. So I really want you to extend completely the arms, alright? Like horizontal, there you go.

Take the knees together, forward sorry, and now let the thoracic spine going down, down, down, down, down, and push. It's too heavy for you? That's okay. It's okay? Okay, so put the forefront in my arm.

There you go, and now let the thoracic spine sink. Okay, are you okay there? Mmm hmm. So I want you to find now support in your thoracic at the same time that you extend it. So now this is a very stable position for your lumbar spine because you're getting support on the whole spine, and I want you to move the knees back and forward again.

Perfect. So, every time you go forward try to keep the thoracic extension. Every time you go back try to enhance, and create more extension in the thoracic. Can you feel it? Mmm hmm.

Awesome. Oh yeah. So the focus is here, and you're using the hips as a lever to create more thoracic extension. Awesome, perfect. One more time, okay, and rest.

Are you okay? Yeah. So it looks like much more difficult, but at the same time it's much more stable for your hips. So sometimes you have problems to control the hips, and you go into a more locked position, and it helps. So it's something to think about.

Now we want to work the stability into hip extension again. We've done it before. We're working on the hip flexion, and then we worked in the hip extension so now we're gonna work in this position, but in hip extension. So your arms are going to take the foot bar again, and now what I want you to feel is the same feeling, the same idea, of bridging. So I want you to take that, no, not that carriage yet.

The (chuckling) hips forward. That's it, even, there you go. So the more you take the hips forward the less you need here. So this is automatic you don't need to hold anything. I really want you to work with the hip extension, and now try to lengthen, and grow as much as you can.

Now keep this feeling. So this is your support. This is who's protecting your lumbars, and now, with just one red, press. There you go, and now imagine that you're going this direction, okay? So hip extension.

Not the abdominals, not the lumbars. As far as you go the more protected is your spine. Okay, so try to go back. That's it, and when you go forward feel the shoulder blades really connected. That's it.

Are you feeling the glutes? Oh yeah. That's it. Cool, one more time. That's awesome.

Okay, now rest, and let the feet down, and sit on your heels. I'm sorry. No, like you were, yeah. Okay. And now what I want is just to with very little spring (springs clattering) just to rest, and press.

Yeah, just. It's just a blue spring, okay? Alright, so just breathe and rest. You okay? Mmm hmm.

That feels good. Yeah, okay. So ready to do a little bit more (chuckling) work here? I'm ready. Alright, so let's go to do a tiny jackrabbits.

Okay. So, the foot is going to be the same position as before. Remember, I really need a lot of flexion in the metatarsal phalangeal joints. We gonna take maybe this time (springs clanking) a green spring will be enough. So one of the things that I want you to do.

First I'm going to support the carriage for you. I want you to find the lumbar lordosis. That's it, just a tiny bit, and now take the ribs backwards, and the neck is gonna be very, very, very long. So what I want you to feel is like you put the hips into the socket, but without moving the sacrum. So it's like just as a lever to leve the knees, but supporting in your toes, and getting deep into the hip.

Sorry (chuckling) I didn't explain it very well. So let's try to see what it gets, okay? So leve the knees, okay, and stop it. So let me show you so you can have an image. Okay. Sometimes we want to use

the abdominals very much, and it's not about the abdominals. It's about the hips. So remember this if the hips are not as strong the abdominals will compensate. So, we really need strong hips. Especially when we wanna run.

So what I want you to feel is like you are taking the sacrum in this position, and without moving it, it's just this tiny bit. Can you see the knees? Mmm hmm. So that tiny bit without moving the lumbar. So what you really want to feel is how you suck, I don't know if it is an appropriate word, but suck the hips into the socket, and feel the lever.

Okay, let's try again. You have the image do you think? Okay, so lengthen. Okay, lumbars, there you go. Let me take the carriage for you because it is important. Okay.

That you feel that support. That's it. It's hard to keep it, right? It is. Alright, but you're getting it.

You're getting, so once you're there keep it, and now extend your hips, and now forward. Keep it. Now you're not using it as your core. You're using your hips. It's that support.

So try to feel the shoulder blades. I know it's too much. You're doing very well. Breathe. Keep it there that's it, and rest.

Okay, perfect, so take this down, and just sit and just rest a minute. There. It's a bit different focus, right? A different emphasis. Cool.

Alright, so let's move to a different exercise. So we're gonna do a lunge. Okay. (chuckling) What I need you to do is the feet in the same position as before. So a lot of flexion in the metatarsal phalangeal. Both feet, okay?

And then here, once you got this, it's very important that you feel that the knees are just in front of your toes. I need one of the foot, probably the left one, here in this part, okay? So let's take the toes back. Imagine that I have a knife, and I wanna cut your nails or your toe. That's it.

And keep it like this, like pretty neutral. At the same time I want you to support the tibia against the foot bar alright? You okay? Mmm hmm. So bring the carriage forward, and I just going to use (springs clattering) one red spring, that's it, alright?

So here's the thing. Here's the little detail I want you to understand. You are going to pull, that's it. So I want you to pull with the thoracic spine. So you want to feel that you really want to take the foot bar out, and, at the same time, I want you to press out with the hip, okay?

So you keep it there. So you're pressing out with the hip. You are extending, and you keep this connected feeling all the time. With this I just want you to press with the right leg, and the rest is giving you the stability that you need, okay? So little by little I want you to feel the same feeling of getting into the socket when you move the knees forward.

Okay, so try to keep that lordosis and then when you come back you keep this lengthening, and this pressure here, okay? Alright, let's do like okay, by now keep the knee down. That's it. So you really need to go very deep into this hip as well if you want to go farther. There you go.

That would be enough. This range it's more than enough. Okay, you got this? Okay, now I think that you have the feeling of control and stability in this hip, of extension here, and extension here. I think you got it.

So now we're gonna take the hands out of the foot bar, and I want you to be as much vertical and elongated as you can feel. So take the knee forward. That's it. That's something to do because sometimes it's not easy, and try to, that's it, to take the ribs back and the neck really, really high. Very small movement.

Very, very small movement. That's it. I want you to extend the right hip. That's it, that would be enough, and forward. That's it.

I want you to keep just the movement into the hip. So remember that the hip is not extending more than 15 degrees. With that position you are almost take 10 degrees because it's zero. The pelvis is in 10 degrees off anterior tilt. so if you are like this you are in zero so just have like five degrees of motion, that's it.

The rest of it has to be with the lumbars. So what I want you to do is once that you feel that you get into the full extension try to lengthen and go deep into the hip flexion, so that's it. And now the lumbars and the thoracic spine will follow, but in a very elongated and stable way. That's it, okay. So let's do it again.

Awesome, very good. The farther you wanna go the deep you need to get into the hip. You're amazing student. Okay, where is my, okay. (shoes squeaking) So more difficult.

Are you okay? Yeah. Need to rest? I'm good. Take this overhead.

So now the idea is that you keep this lengthening here. So find this extra thoracic extension, and do the same exercise. So when you press I'm gonna keep you this feeling there. I know. Are you breathing?

Forward, forward, forward, forward. There you go, there you go. I can feel your thoracic spine moving. I know, after four or five of these you really need to go home and rest. There you go.

Last time, awesome, that's beautiful. Okay, and now I take this. Okay, so let's rest. So, Julianna, we're gonna do the other leg. Okay. So remember, that's it.

First, take the forward foot on the bar. As a good reference if you take the middle spring-- Okay. And you align your inner part of the foot with the spring it will be a good reference to have a good alignment with your hips. So, remember, we hold here very close to the knee. This also is holding the foot bar in front of, that's it, in front of the shoulders.

So take the carriage forward, extend and try to lengthen, that's it, and now with all this stability. Remember the right hip now is pressing out again, and now extend the left leg, awesome. That's perfect for the beginning. If you really wanted to go deeper you need to find the flexion here. That's the tricky part.

Looks good. Okay, now that you got this let's go no hands. So as much as vertical as you can. So let me help you with this. So the sacrum is going down, the ribs are going backwards a tiny bit, and then you lengthen.

I know it's a bit unnatural, but try to be as much natural as you can. First it's just a tiny bit. Five, 10 degrees of the hip that's it. That would be enough. That's it, so try to that's it, keep it.

That's it, no more than that. I'm sure that you're feeling the glutes doing the job. Probably some sort of lengthening in the front of you. You really need to feel that. I want you to feel that.

Okay, now that you got this go forward, go farther, okay? And now you are using the lumbar spine. You are using the thoracic spine. You need it. You doing hip flexion here.

And try to find the same lengthening as before. That's it. Perfect, so really make the sacrum do its job. Okay, and now finish up. Really extend.

So try to be there. Awesome, and now try not to lose any height. So try to keep your body there, and press at the same time. Perfect, and now let's do it again. That's super cool.

One more time. Alright, okay. So rest. So now take the feet back, and can you make like a tiny ball again? Great.

Okay. Alright. Now we're gonna do some side splits. Again in a little modified way. So I'm taking the bar completely down, and I'm taking this also out of here.

So remember to step first in the fixed part. So with your right foot in here, and yeah. (Julianna murmuring) So, this is the first difference. We're gonna use very little spring just a yellow one. So, no yellow, blue one, sorry.

So now take the right foot all the way back, and the left foot a little bit forward. So this is very similar of what happens when we walk. So we barely stay in this position, like parallel static position, but this is much more common for us. I want you to get used to move in this position, alright? So now your posture is very good, so you have your lengthened spine, your extension in the hips and the thoracic.

So this is very good. What I want you to do is to put the pelvis all the way back. All the way back. Yeah, but when you put your pelvis all the way back I want you to transport the whole body. That's it.

So what you do here is to really get more support into the internal part of the hip, and the glute. So you are in the right foot now. Now the whole body is moving forward over the hips, and when you go forward what you see is the diagonal. That's natural diagonal. Okay, because of the position of your feet.

Okay, so a little bit more. Let's do it again. So back, and out, forward, and out. Look at what happened with the carriage. Okay, so now we're gonna keep it.

Actually what I want you to feel is like when you go forward you really use your extensors and abductors to, I know, it's so hard right? So, I want you to feel how you drag from here. Now you get it. So this is going to prepare the rotation or control you need in the hips for working or running, and the stability in your trunk. And that feedback is pretty interesting.

Yeah. So first, keep it, that's it. Now you get it. So keep it and forward. There you go, and feel the hips.

That's a lot of movement in the hips, and there you go. That's it, and do it again. Okay, now that you have that feeling of connection in the hips go to the middle point. So you're here in the middle point, and now I want you to open, that's it like a side split, and I want you to feel that you grow up when you close. So instead of coming to the right you're going up, there you go, and now open again.

So, in a way to try to keep the pelvis a little bit to the left. You feel this difference, right? So I want you to work with the muscles in the inner thigh, that's it. Try to keep it. So now you're working with the hips so now you're very stable.

Now your abdominals are doing what they need to do. It's just the tiny bit of activity, and not that much is what I want. So now I want you to cross your arms here, and when you open you roll to the side, okay? So at the beginning I want you to disassociate the movement just in the thoracic spine. So I'm gonna help you with some feedback.

Okay, so rotate the thoracic, that's it, and close. Carriage, keep going, keep going, keep going, more, more, more, more, more, more, more. Use this and this. It's hard. I know (chuckling) okay, rotate, okay?

And now come back. So, try to connect the two movement. They are not at the same time but they are connected. So you start opening, at more or less the same time you rotate the thoracic. That's it, and you feel that you need some sort of control with the glutes.

The next step is to rotate the thoracic, and you rotate the hips as well. And then come back. I want you to open the carriage less. So just a tiny bit in order to create this space and then rotate. And now it's very important that you feel this rotation.

There you go, and now back. Okay, let's do a couple. So, open, thoracic, hips. Hips, thoracic. Let's do it again.

Open, thoracic, hips, cool. You feel this? Mmm hmm. Control with that. One more time.

Use the glutes to control this rotation. Rotate, rotate, rotate, rotate. Really feel that lengthening there, okay? There you go, and now (whistling) all together. Got it? Yeah.

So one of the good things about having this position is that the hip is limiting the excessive rotation in the lumbars. So it really drives the rotation from the thoracic to the hips that it wants to happen. Remember that the lumbars doesn't rotate. They're not designed to rotate so you really use this position as a limitation for the lumbars, okay? So now, here, you can take your arms down.

What I want you to do is to open, and do like a squat in this. Oop. There you go, and now come back again, alright? Now from here let me organize your pelvis. So what I want you to feel is like you open a little bit less.

So you open here, there you go, and make, that's it, that's enough. So it's very important that you feel that the knee is driving the movement. So the foot is completely under the knee. It's not that the foot is going, but the knee is going. So you feel all the support.

At the same time you need to feel some sort of a stretching feeling or extension feeling in this thigh so you go deep into here. And now, raise, and come back again. So imagine this, Julianna. That you have a spring here like a slingshot. Like you go here so you tense, tense, tense, tense, and bounce.

So you tense, tense, tense, tense, and bounce. I want you to have that feeling. So don't make it very slow because then you lose your elastic energy, and then you bounce back, alright? There you go, and back. Just a tiny bit, awesome.

Feel that is the knee who is driving the movement in the carriage. Cool. Bounce back. Are you breathing? Yes.

Cool, one more time. Okay, and rest, perfect. Now in the same position we're gonna change completely the focus. Now this leg is gonna be straight, okay, and you're gonna bend this. So now you are basically doing a single leg squat in this position.

You barely moves. So what you do with the other leg is just to take the carriage away. So get room and I'll let you do this. I'll help you here. Okay.

Alright, so that's it. That's what I want. Maybe a tiny bit out, not that much. Okay, alright. You don't need to go that far.

I don't mind if you go backwards. There. That's okay. That should happen. There you go, and you quickly will see how you work with the muscles that control the angle, right?

Oh yeah. And do it again. That's it. Last one, that's it, perfect. Beautiful, and rest.

Now we're gonna do the other side. Okay, so maybe go all the way down, and let's start over. So now it's your left foot that is behind. The right foot is forward. Maybe not that much. Okay.

Maybe in the middle. That's it. Close the carriage, make it closed, lengthen, that's it. Go to the back, and to the left, and remember everything is going back, and you go here. And then everything is going forward.

So everything is going back. Everything is going forward. Remember you take your right foot into, and then that gives you the support to move the pelvis over your femur. That's it, and forward that's it. And I want you to feel a little bit more motion here in the hips.

It doesn't matter if the lower lumbars move in lots of flexion. That has to happen. Okay. That's it. Has to be more natural and close here.

And really feel these supports. There you go, and now from there find the middle point. Try to feel this kind of integrity of stability, and now let's open. Just a tiny bit, not that much. There you go, and now up.

So, again, the idea is that you want to move your pelvis. And the legs just help you to do it, but you really want to move your pelvis. There you go. Awesome. Okay, so try to breathe normally.

There you go. Remember you go up when you come back. That's it. To get a little bit more focus on the hip. So up, you keep it, perfect.

I like it. Now hands here. So once that you open you rotate a tiny bit. So you open and rotate. That's it.

So remember the thoracic is rotating around 30, 45 degrees not that much. So that would be more than enough. I just want you to have the experience of rotating just the thoracic. Perfect, and now I can feel the connection between your legs, and your torso. Now add the hips.

There you go, and, again, try to open a little bit less 'cause I want you to feel this. And this, okay? So really rotate over this fixed femur, and back. Okay, so try to do it again. Hips, that's it.

So try to find your glutes. That's it. It's a bit different right? Yeah. Now you're feeling your two reins.

Your true functional reins in this movement here. Alright. Okay, so let's do it again. There you go. Here, here, here.

Here, extend your knee. And come back. Now I can see the glutes are working, and do it again. So rotate, rotate, strong legs. Perfect, and now come back.

Awesome. So now we are doing the single leg squats. So you go here, and remember, it's the thigh who is moving the carriage, and the foot stays under the knee. Perfect, it doesn't has to be a very long movement. That's it, but I want you to really sink into the hip socket again.

There you go. Extend there. I will help you here. It's okay, that's it. That would be the motion in the trunk.

You can lean forward a tiny bit if you need, but I want you to, that's it. I want you to feel the hips. That's what we need to feel here. Perfect, now the foot. Want it to go, so let's do it again.

Okay. And it's the knee. The knee, the knee, the knee, the knee, that's it. This is the feeling. So you really create the motion from here, and back.

And do it again here, here, here that's it. Feel the hips, awesome, and now we go to the single leg squat. So let's align this feet a bit more. So you basically take your body into this leg so you don't really need to move your body. Okay. And it's a single leg squat.

That's it, awesome. So let me help you with this. A tiny bit not that much. Just if you unlock the knee. That's more than enough.

So try to, that's it. You got it. You got it Julianna. Okay, one more time. And that's one.

Okay, so rest. Okay, so rest a little. How are you? Good. Go down.

Shaky? Yes. I know. Lovely. I know. That's good.

Now Julianna, we're gonna do the squats. So we're coming back to the same position to the first of the sides, and now the feets are parallel, and at the same level, okay? So that would be a difference. So let me help you. So right foot there.

Not the left. More or less the same position. So let me look at your foot. So if you feel or you see the relationship between the hips, and the pelvis, and the foot you understand very easily that sometimes the foot follows, or most of the time the foot follows what happens from the gravity from up to down. So if you just feel the idea of external rotation into the hips you probably will feel a little bit more arch into the foot.

Can you feel that? And if you go into the internal rotation you feel how the foot is falling. It's dropping a tiny bit. So I wanna super strong movement into external, but just a tiny bit so you can create this little space that's it. So you can align the toes and the tibia over the toes and then you can use the arches of your foot.

So that would be a nice idea to do. (whistling) External rotation into the hips. A little bit of arch, just a tiny bit, okay? Now here it's okay, and let's open a tiny bit. That's it.

That would be more than enough. Not that much. Now the hips are going very deep. The seat bones are going back until you feel some sort of a stretching. That's it, and now, gradually, go even deeper into the hip, and bend your knees.

So the knees are moving forward, but the hips are moving backwards, and try to there you go. Wah. That's it, that's enough. And now hips forward, chest up. That's it, so the movement to go back is not thinking up it's going forward.

And if you remember the exercise before the more that you really connect with the hips the less you go into the lumbars. So it's the hips the one who is giving you the stability. Okay, so let's do it again. Hinge, not knees at the beginning. Back, back, back, back, back, back.

That would be enough. Okay. What I can see is that there's too much movement here. Mmm hmm. And I don't want all that movement.

So I really want you to go back. That's it, and now bend your knees, and keep going back with the hips, and the seat bones, that's it. And now try to go, lend me your hands, and go all the way down. I help you, okay. So lift the chest, keep the knees open, breathe.

Smile, you're on TV. (Julianna laughing) And now extend your hips. There you go. (both laughing) And close. We're supposed to be friends, right?

(both laughing) Alright, let's go to the overhead. Okay. Okay your breath. I'm ready. Okay that would be the last step.

Okay, once we get this motion, and you can get into the hips and then you can control this, and you can clip it, and then you can unfold it we will go into this position that is much more challenging because now you need full thoracic extension with full hip flexion. When you go into full hip flexion your lumbars are flexed so all the extending has to be in the thoracic. What happens most of the times is the lumbars are extending the amounts that the thoracics are not, okay? Now, Julianna, once that you get this and we will practice a little bit more let's go to the overhead squat, okay? So try to open the hands a tiny bit.

Remember that the dowel has to be really, really, really over your central axis so I want you to feel some sort of thoracic feeling of extension, alright? The way you set the exercise is the same. So open a tiny bit, just there, to keep it, and now hinge back into the hip joint, and now bend your knees, and try to look there, look forward. I help you. Go back, back, back, I help you.

There you go, and now it's the thoracic spine, that's it. Awesome, and now the hips are going forward, forward, and up. And now rest. Let's do it again. Okay.

Alright? So open a tiny bit, hinge back, okay. That's okay when you feel that you run out of extension there. Now feel the thoracic spine. Not the shoulders, let me, that's it.

Here, okay? And now bend your knees and let the knees go forward. Okay. And now try to keep it so the pelvis is going back, keep it, open, okay, up, and forward. It's kind of hard right? It's good.

Okay, you're gonna do the other side. It's enough. So we will need to work on this a bit more. So, the other side. Remember, fixed point first.

Okay try to adjust your rotation in the hips until you feel that the arms are more supported and maybe higher. So really there you go. So you really feel this. That's a tiny bit, okay. So now arms forward.

Keep it so this is just a feedback to understand if you are losing your thoracic extension. First let's work on the open a little. That's it, and now hinge back. So forget about the shoulders going forward. They will, but you really want to take the seat bones back, and then forward.

Exactly, that's it. Back, forward, so this is the beginning of the squat. So you really need to feel how you go back, back, back when you keep your lumbar spine neutral. You got it? Mmm hmm.

So now that you have this open a tiny bit more the, oops sorry, and now hinge back. That's it, and now when you feel that you need to bend your knees let your knees goes forward, and at the same time the hips are going backward. That's much better. Okay, stop it. Open your knees, lift the chest, hips forwards, and up.

Beautiful, you really learned something here. Awesome. So one more time. Hips back, back, back, back, back. Now when you feel that you need to bend your knees let it go forward, and at the same time the seat bones and the hips are going back.

There you go. Up, up, up thoracic. Okay, and up. So it gets very tricky because at the same time that you really need to control this saggital plane you have energy into the frontal plane. So you really need to control this.

So it's quite challenging, but at the same time it's teaching you a lot of stuff. So that's thanks to the reformer. So let's do the more challenging position that is here. Open up, separate, okay. The same, same idea.

Maybe you need a little bit more focus on the thoracic now. So this widens, okay? Okay. So now same idea. Hips, and seat bones back, back, back, back.

There you go. Keep the knees separate, and now bend your knees, and open the chest. Keep the knees, knees, knees, knees, knees, and up, forward, there yo ugo. It's gonna make it even less deep because if you go very deep you going to more abduction so let's try to be where you really need. Where you can control, when you can learn, when you can have some sort of success.

If not then the system doesn't understand anything. So success is so important. So if you feel that you can control this range let's keep it there, and tomorrow will be more, alright? So let's do it again. So hips down, seat bones, awesome, perfect.

Now I give you some feedback here. So bend the knees forward. Hips back. The weight of your body in the metatarsal, and then forward the hips, and up. I'm gonna take it. Whoo.

I know, perfect. Okay, Julianna, so now is the last exercise of the class. So we're gonna do some sort of front splits, but modified as well. Okay. So what I want you to do is to take your right foot in this part, facing this side-- This side? And the other one is going

to the carriage. Here? That's it. Same idea as before. The fore foot it's supported, that's it.

So I want you to feel the ball of the big toe, and the ball of the little toe-- Okay. Into the bar. And now extend here, and take the carriage forward. That's it so this is the closed position. If we want it here we can do the play with it with the hips.

We're not gonna do it, but we can do it in this position as well. So, first I want you to play with the reciprocal motion in the hip. That is fundamental for running. So I want you to find extension here at the same time you're going to flexion here. So knees are straight now. Straight.

Completely straight, and it's just a tiny bit. Okay, so let me help you. Okay, so that's enough, and forward. So there you go. That's enough. Okay.

And forward. So try to breathe, I help you. That's it, that's enough, and forward. One more time, and forward. Once that you have this experience, and you have the control of the frontal plane we're gonna work with the ankle, okay?

With the strength of the muscles of the ankle. So we need to take this foot forward just a tiny bit. That's it. If you feel the edge of the carriage. So maybe a little bit more.

There you go. Like you can feel the, yeah, the edge and I want you to work with the toes. So now both legs straight, completely straight, and I want you to lift the heel from the very beginning, and move the carriage with the heel. So I will help you. And come, no, no, not that much.

Come back. So take it, and let the heel down. Right-- Heel down? That's it. Okay.

So now what you do is you lift your heel. There you go, and I want you to feel the big toe, and the heel really pushing down and back. Okay. Okay, you're working with the feet? Okay, and now we come back.

There you go, and I want you to feel this rolling. Okay. This rolling is what happens when we run properly. That's it, so it's very important to feel the alignment in the big toe. Big toe is the anchor of the movement.

That's it, so you got it? Mmm hmm. So I leave you. Yeah. There you go, and come back.

Let me give you some stability. Okay. As you can see if I give you stability the foot's stronger. Yes. It's not that it's stronger, but it needs stability, and at the same time, needs to be able to create strength.

So if we're not stable we can't get benefit of that strength. Now your system is understanding how to do it. Yeah. Now that's good. Okay now you can bend your knees, your left knee, a tiny bit when you do it.

When you feel that you go, and you are pushing back, okay? Okay So, let's do it again. And down, okay? Okay, so-- So keep it there? Yeah, that's it. Okay.

And I want you to roll on the ball of your foot. Okay, hold my shoulder, bend here. Okay, extend the other leg. Okay, keep this feeling. Keep with the foot.

I know maybe it's too heavy, the yellow one, and now roll, that's it. That's the motion. Okay, do it again, that's it. You got it. Okay.

Okay so this is the rolling of the foot. This is where your foot needs to move when we run, when we walk. So this is a very good retraining for the foot. Awesome, now that you got this we're going to our lunge position, okay? So let me give you this for support just for the beginning, okay?

So I want you to keep your body upright, and I want you to feel that the knee's going all the way down into this little space, okay? And then we go up. Okay, so now, knee down. That's it, and now you go up. And forward, okay, let's do it again.

Down, down, down, down, down. That's it, and forward. There you go. Down, that's it, and you're rolling on your foot at the same time. Want to do it without the dowel?

Sure. Okay, I'm close right? I'm gonna fall on my head. Okay the knee is going down. Alright. Like you were about

to propose. That's it. Whoo. Okay, I know. Everything is shaky.

Okay, we're gonna repeat that again, okay? That's it down, down, down, down, down. Upright. There you go, okay. Let's change, I know.

I know, the other side and we're finished. Okay, so the first version is knees completely straight. Foot completely flat on the platform, and this is neutral. Just a tiny bit. Just to get the feeling of reciprocal motion in the hips.

Okay, so we could use also the dowel to have a reference if we need to. That's, a little bit, it's more than enough. Okay, now that you got this let's take it and now leave the heel when you press-- Okay. Back, that's it. So let me help you.

Back, okay. So feel the, keep it, feel the big toe. And feel it, heel over, completely over the big toe, that's it. Keep it. Use this, that's it.

And now roll on the ball and the heel. Now you've got the experience of what I wanted you to do. That's it, perfect, beautiful. Then, if you can see when you have the experience with assistance you can replicate it. That's great, and also this foot is getting benefit of the experience of the other foot.

So that's why it's going better. Yeah. Awesome, now I want you to let the knee to flex okay? That's it, so this is stable. So there's no energy of the spring of the carriage getting into your spine.

It's all out so this is the fixed point, and this is the mobile point. That's it. That's it. It doesn't look that hard, but it's hard. It's hard. Alright.

Okay, one more time. And now do you have this? Mmm hmm. Now we're going to the lunge position, okay? Bend, and down, down, down, down, down, down, down.

There you go, and up. Roll over the foot. Okay, so try to coordinate. When you want to go up let the heel go down. Heel down, perfect, beautiful.

That's it. Without this, let's try. I'm close, okay? Try to feel just one movement. Pop, one movement.

That's it, that's how we move. Okay. It's not a separate movement that we put together. That's it. So feel what is the purpose, the outcome.

So you really want your lower your center of gravity. That's it. Can you see the difference? Yeah. That what happens, that's it.

Okay, enough. So, that was it. Whoo. Thank you, Julianna, for the class. That was it.

I hope you learned something. As you can see there was a lot of functional position like quadrupeds, and lunge position, and standing. It's a lot of work for the thoracic extension, for the hip extension, and there's a lot of support into your feet. So one of the things that I would like you to take home of this class is that if we can use our same body, our very body, to self limit ourself. So you want to do the rotations on one side, use the hips to control the rotation.

If you want to do extension in the thoracic use the hip flexion because that is going to get rid of the lumbar extension because sometimes it's so difficult to get a new movement if you allow the easy part to move, free to move. Okay so thank you very much. I hope you have learned. See you again. Thank you.

Thanks.