Class #2583

Cardio and Strength Blend

55 min - Class
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Be prepared to sweat with this Reformer workout with Melissa Connolly! She teaches a perfect blend of cardio, strength, and flexibility with challenging variations and combinations. This is a great class to work on your stamina, endurance, and coordination!
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box, Yoga Block, Jump Board

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Hi, I'm Melissa, and I have my friend Jenny here to demonstrate a jumpboard class for you. I just wanna say, at first, I love this jumpboard class. It's a perfect blend of your cardio, your strength, and your flexibility. So be prepared for a little bit of a sweat and a good workout, but also to feel really good and stretched out after the end of the class. So, we'll start with the feet on the jumpboard.

You want your toes towards the top edge of the jumpboard, and really feel the feet grounded. From here, engage the back of your thighs, draw the stomach in. Now, keeping the feet flat on the jumpboard, start to bend your knees. We'll go into foot work. So you bend, and then exhale, press.

Good. And we'll just repeat that, pressing out and in, warming up through your legs. And pressing away. The tendency is if the Achilles tendon is tight, the heels will wanna lift, so just try to keep the heels pressing down into the jumpboard. I really like to feel that grounded, nice foot placement into the jumpboard as you're pushing out and in.

And then press out and just stay straight in your legs. From here, your heels are together, toes are apart, and bend the knees, and press away. Bend, and ground the feet to press away. That's it, really feeling the inner thighs engage. Lower glutes engage.

Top of the inner thighs, abdominals, and press out, good. Just two more, pressing out. Last one, press out and stay. Your toes stay where they are. The heels swing apart.

Feet are parallel, hip distance, and you bend the knees, and press out. Good, and then in this position here, just being aware of the knee tracking. So you have your toes, your heels, ankles, knees, hips in line. What I notice is a tendency for the knees to roll in and out, so just trying to keep that nice and balanced. And do four more, exhale four, pressing out three, last two, and keeping the legs nice and straight.

Take your toes to the outer corners of the jumpboard. Legs are in their nice, natural turnout for second position. And go ahead, bend the knees and press out. Bend, feel the heels pressing down, and also drawing in, so you get the inner thigh connection here. And pressing out, and out.

Good, and five more. And four. Press three. Last two. And stay straight in the legs.

You're gonna bring your feet all the way together. The toes and the heels are touching. We're gonna roll through the feet, so starting to get nice foot articulation. You're gonna raise up onto the balls of your feet. Keep those heels high, bend the knees.

Lower the heels, and then press it back. Lift the heels, bend the knees, lower the heels, and press back. Lift, and bend, lower the heels, press back. Good, do two more. Getting the ankle joints to warm up, feet to warm up, heels down, and then stay straight, heels stay down.

Bend your knees to reverse. Raise the heels. Lengthen all the way out. Lower the heels down. Again, bend, raise the heels.

Lengthen and lower down. Bend, raise the heels, lengthen, and lower, two more. Raise the heels, lengthen, lower. One more time. Bend, raise, lengthen, lower.

Good, stay there. Bring just your left foot hip distance apart, and then raise your right knee to a tabletop position. Good. Tighten the back of that right thigh. So the right glute, right hamstring is our active.

Bend your right knee. Inhale, exhale, press for five. Exhale, push through the foot for four. Exhale, three. Last two.

Last one. Now we're gonna add on. So bend your right knee. As you straighten it, extend the left leg straight up from the knee joint. Bend both of the knees.

Extend, two. Bend both of the knees. Good, so you keep a still, straight line from knee to hip. Two more. Last one.

Now, from here, as you bend your right knee, scissor the leg down, raise it up. Inhale, lower, exhale, lift. Lower, and lift. Two more, and lift. Last one.

Now, hold it there. Hip stays stable. Five leg circles, across, down, around, center. Across, down, around, and center. Inhale for half, exhale to sweep it up.

And exhale to sweep it up. Last one, pause in the center. Let's reverse. Take the leg out, down, around, across. Inhale, and exhale.

Out, down, around, and lift. Two more. And lift, last one. Stay there. Bend your knee.

Place it on the jumpboard, and lift your right leg to tabletop. Before you move, engage the back of the thigh, and go ahead, bend the knee. Exhale, press, one. Bend and press, two. Inhale, exhale, three, really pushing that foot into the jumpboard, and that is five.

Bend again the left knee, and unfold from the knee joint. Bend, and exhale, unfold. Three, and stretch. Four, and stretch. Five, and now from here, scissor the leg.

It goes straight down, lengthens up. Down, exhale, lift. Three, and you lift. Four, good, one more time. Keep the leg long, hips square, and take the leg across, down, around, center, one.

Across, down, around, center, two. Inhale and exhale, three. Two more. And center. Last one.

Pause, reverse. Take the leg out, down, around, across, one. Inhale, exhale, two. Inhale, exhale, three. Two more.

Last one. Go ahead, bend that knee. Place the foot on the jumpboard. Bend the knees all the way and carriage to the stoppers. Lower your headrest flat down.

Okay, good. And then you're gonna take your heels to the top edge of the jumpboard, parallel, hip distance. Roll your hips up into a bridge, one vertebra at a time. Good, staying there, exhale, press away. Inhale, bend.

And what I forgot to mention is our spring tension. She has three red springs on, so whatever you would do for footwork here. And exhale, out, and in, press out, and in, good, engaging in the back of your thighs. So really starting to wake up in the back of the legs. When you start to jump, it tends to be very quadriceps-dominant, so we wanna work the glutes, the hamstrings, and really feel the abdominals pulling in for that support.

And last time. Bring the carriage into the stoppers, and let's slowly roll down, lengthening through the spine. Very good. I'm gonna change Jenny's spring for her to a red spring and a blue spring for the hundred. Okay, go ahead, pick up your straps.

All right, so raising your knees to tabletop, arms are lifted. Take a nice, full inhale. As you exhale, lower the arms, curl the chest, and start to pump, breathing in. And breathing out. And inhale through the nose.

Exhale from your abdominals. Draw in and up, breathing in, and out, and inhale, and exhale. Again, inhale. Use that exhale to scoop deep. She's halfway there with the hundred.

And exhale. Inhale. Deep scoop on the exhale. And exhale. Let's do one more breath.

In through the nose, and then breathe out all of that air. Just pause there. Bend your knees, raise your arms, lower your head down. Keep tension on the straps. Your head stays down.

Exhale just the arms. Press down, inhale, the arms raise. Exhale, press down. Lengthen and lift. Abs pull in as arms lower, and lift, two more, pressing down and up.

Hold the arms down. Curl head, neck, shoulder blades. Stretch and lengthen the legs out to 45. Exhale, pull the knees in for five. Inhale, stretch.

Exhale, scoop it in. Lengthen, and pull in. Two more, and in. Last one. Now from here, the arms are gonna lift as the legs reach way five times.

Exhale, pulling everything into the center. Exhale, draw into the center. And breathe out, three, and four, last one, hold it here. Now, bend your elbows. Lift your chest maybe an inch higher for coordination.

Arms and legs reach out. Open, close the legs. Bend the knees and then the elbows, and reach, open and squeeze. Knees and elbows and reach, and close. Knees, elbows, great.

Do two more. And elbows, last one. And bend, good. Put your head down, very good. All right, so I'm gonna take her straps.

We're gonna lower them into the well. I'm gonna lift your headrest up for you, okay. So we're gonna prepare for our first jumping series. This one's gonna be abdominal focused, light spring, just focusing on form, foot articulation. So we're gonna just do it on a red spring.

So start with your legs actually all the way up to straight. So in the straight position, engaging into the lower glutes, the inner thighs, the stomach, take an inhale to bend your knees, and then as you exhale, start to flow it away and roll through the feet, good. Keep it going. So you exhale, and let's actually keep jumping, but feel that your hands are gonna touch your lower abs. What I find is the tendency is to push when you jump out, and by pushing, you're pressing the belly out.

So feel the stomach really pulling into your spine as you jump away. So, we're getting that connection, scooping in and out, and then rolling through the feet, toe, ball, heel. Do two more. And this is my version of the ab series. Arms down to your sides.

Let me talk you through. So as you jump, you're gonna bend your right knee, straighten the legs, and land. So you go bend, stretch, and land. Bend, stretch, and land, good. And bend, stretch, and land.

Exhale as you jump, good. Bend, lengthen, and land. Bend, stretch, and land. Bend, stretch, and land. Do four more.

And land. Three more. Exhale. Now, my version of double leg stretch jumping, bend both of the knees, pull up, in, stretch, and land. That's it.

Bend, stretch, and land. Exhale, three, and land. Four, and land. Good. Rolling through the feet on the land.

And land. And six. And exhale, seven. And exhale, eight. Two more.

Okay, the scissor. You're gonna take one leg up, stretch together, land. Other leg up, stretch together, and land. Three, stretch together, and land. Good, stretch it out, four, and land.

This one should feel kind of good. And stretch, and land. Four more. That's it, and she's going a great job with those feet, articulating. And keep jumping.

But both of the legs are gonna lift. They don't have to lift too high, so don't worry about the height. Think of more low abs are pulling in to lift those legs. It's coming deep. You pull the stomach in and raise.

That was beautiful, very nice. She's trying very hard. And lift, and exhale, lift. Three more. Exhale, lift.

Two more, and lift. Last one. Last exercise, air jack, open and close the legs. You're gonna open, close, and land. Only open to the width of the jumpboard, yeah.

So just open, legs together, and land, good. Open, legs together, and land. Exhale, and land. Exhale, close, and land. Four more.

Last three. And two. Last one, and bring it all the way in, good. Stay on your back, all right. So I'm gonna add a red spring.

So two red springs, and I'll give her the straps. Her feet are gonna go into the straps next, so here you go. Okay, so we'll start with the feet together. Toes and heels are touching. And you're gonna do six legs circles, raising the legs just to the width of the jumpboard, and then go ahead, circle around.

Inhale, just getting that nice range of motion. Inhale up, and then exhale, sweep it around. Up, open, exhale, around. Nice, keeping the pelvis stable. Do one more in this direction, and exhale around.

Raise your legs up, and let's reverse. Press them down one, open and lift. Exhale, down two, open and lift. And down three, open and lift. Exhale, four.

And lift, just two more. Last one. And then lower the legs, 45, heels together, toes apart. Go into your frog. Bend the knees.

Exhale, pressing away. Inhale, bend, exhale, away. That's it. As she bends the knees, the tailbone stays anchored onto the mat. Abs pull in, engage glutes and inner thighs.

Last two. And then stay there, heels together, toes apart. Open out to a V, and then draw those heels together, down and together. Inhale, open, and then exhale, feeling the top of the inner thighs squeeze together. And exhale, squeeze, and three, and exhale, four.

And last two. Nice, bring your legs together. Now, keeping tension on the straps, bend one knee as the other leg stretches out to the side, Peter Pan, and then press on the straps, good. So bending one knee, other leg stretches, and reach, keep going. You wanna keep equal tension on your straps, and then pressing forward with the inner thighs.

And press, one more on both sides. And stretch, last one. And enough. Go ahead, bend your knees. We'll take those off.

Great, I'll take 'em for you. So I like 'em not on the, the pegs when you jump. They start to bang around. So I'm gonna take her tension to a red and a blue spring, okay, for the second jumping series. So go ahead, push out all the way.

So now the tension's gonna be heavier. So focus more on the landing, the toe, ball, heel action. So bend your knees, and here, you're gonna jump and land, one. Jump and land, two. Exhale, three.

Exhale, four, good. Jump, land, five. Jump, land, six. Jump, and seven. And land, eight.

Rolling through your toe, ball, heel, and jump, now go to first position. And one, jump, land, two. Try to keep the heels connected, inner thighs connected. Exhale, good. And rolling through your toe, ball, heel.

The hard part is to get the heels down. And jump, good. Three more. And two. And one, land, now go to parallel hip distance.

Jump one, and jump two. Like I was talking about in footwork, you wanna keep the alignment of the knee, 'cause if you have any instability, it'll show up now, so focusing on those knees just tracking straight up to the ceiling, rolling through the feet, toe, ball, heel. And jump, three more. Exhale, one, and two, land it, bring it out to second position, jumping wide, one. 10 times.

Two, exhale, three. Stretch, land four. Jump, land five. Jump, land six. Exhale, seven, and eight.

Two more. Nine. Now we do an echappe jump into first position. One, jump out to second position, two. Exhale, three, jump out four.

Good, lengthen, jump in five. Jump out six. Jump in seven. And out eight. Two more.

Now, bring your toes and your heels together so the feet are together. Now, hip distance apart, parallel, like a parallel echappe. Jump in, jump out. Jump in, and jump out. Good, four more.

Exhale four, and three, and two, now, jump on your left leg, right leg to tabletop, 10 times. One, jump, land two. Exhale, push away. Push away. Good, really working that entire left leg.

Last four. And three. And two. Land on one. Switch legs.

Jump one. Exhale two, good. Jump, land three. Stretch, land four. Exhale, five.

And six. Exhale, seven. Good, two more. Now you're gonna bring your feet together, toes and heels together, and then jump to first. That's it.

And jump in, and first. So, basically, your heels stay connected, and it's just the feet that are coming, the toes open up to first, heels stay connected always. And out, two more, in. And out, last one like this. Now you're gonna swivel the heels apart.

So go parallel hip distance, and then bring the heels in. That's it. So you're gonna go land, parallel, land in first. So that's it. Heels together and parallel here.

And heels together, and jump. Good, four more. Jump four, and three, and two, and one. Go to first position. Last thing, raise one leg to front attitude.

So you're jumping, that's it. Good, single leg, two, and three, and four. She's feeling it. Five and six. Stretch away seven, and eight.

Two more. Stretch nine, 10, switch legs. Final 10. One, and two, breathe out three, still working that foot articulation, four, scooping the stomach in, five, and six, so always working from that core, lifting. Two more.

And land on two feet to close the carriage. Good job. (Melissa laughs) All right. You're gonna step off of here. Face this direction.

You wanna towel? Okay, here you go. She's sweating. You might be sweating yourselves. (Melissa laughs) All right, very good.

So you're gonna sit facing forward. So ground your feet so they're parallel hip distance. The heels of the hands are to the edge of the carriage. And then you're gonna scoot your hips forward, keeping a nice, straight spine. Stabilize the shoulder blades.

Bring the hips off of the carriage, and do 10 tricep dips. Bend, exhale, press, one. Bend and press, two, nice job. Bend and press, three, and exhale, four. That's it.

Jenny's doing a great job of keeping the chin lifted, shoulders down, spine long and straight. I'm not counting. Do two more. (Melissa laughs) And have a seat on the carriage. There you go.

All right, she's gonna be on a red spring for the next exercise. We'll do kneeling abdominals. So your knees are right up against the shoulder rest. Place the hands onto the frame on the reformer. Okay, good.

Starting with a nice, straight spine. So feeling that length out through the crown of the head, reaching out through your tailbone. Ribs are connected. The shoulders stay stable. On your exhale, pull the carriage in.

Exhale, inhale, release back, and pull in, and back, good. Just try to keep the back nice and long. Three, and back. Good, we're just gonna do six. Four, back, two more.

Five, back, last one here. Now, stay there. Lower your head heavy, so tucking the chin, feeling the ribs pulling up, so you're in that nice, round back, and now, go ahead, pull those knees in again, exhale. Good, and I'm just gonna place my arm here so you really scoop the abs in. Exhale, three, good, and four.

Two more, keeping the shoulders stable. And six. Now, go back to your flat spine. You're gonna take your hands to the right side. So bring your left hand over, yep, next to the right.

I'm gonna drop her down to a lighter spring, a blue tension, for oblique work. Okay, good. So feeling this right shoulder pulling to the right hip. So shortening the right side, lengthening the left side. Go ahead, pull the knees in.

And release, good. And pull in, and release. Exhale three. So working in the right obliques, we'll also just draw the belly in, right from the center of your core. Is this one six right here?

Six. (Melissa laughs) Switch to the other side. Good, so pulling the left shoulders forward. So left hip, and exhale, pull in. That's it, pull in.

She has nice, straight arms, so she can really pull that left shoulder down towards the left hip. And two more here. Pull it in, and last one. Good, and then just go ahead, sit your tailbone down to your heels. Lengthen your arms forward in a child's pose, so stretching the arms, and I'm just gonna give her a little assistance stretch before we jump again.

So, stretching on the back. All right, good. So go ahead, roll up, and let's go into another jumping series. So, next series, I'm gonna have it on a red spring and a blue spring, okay. So lying down on your back.

Okay, good. So, go ahead. Push the carriage all the way out to straight. You're gonna ground your left foot, raise your right knee to tabletop. So this is a single-leg series that we're gonna do next.

We're gonna do just eight repetitions of everything, and it's gonna flow from the left leg moving. So I'll talk you through it as we go. So engage the back of that right thigh. Make sure you're strong in the back of the leg, so again, you're not quad dominant, and feel the stomach really pulling in for stability. Bend your right knee on your inhale eight times.

I'm gonna count, go. And jump one, and jump two. Exhale, three. Exhale, four. Exhale, five, and I'll have you mimic my arm, six, so you know what's coming.

Seven, last one, eight. Now unfold from the knee joint, one, like you did in footwork, unfold, two, unfold, three, exhale, four, exhale, five, exhale, six, exhale, seven, and eight. Now, you're gonna scissor the leg. Up, down, one. Lift, and two.

Lift, and three. Lift, and four. Good, exhale, five, and six, and seven, stretch up, eight. And now bend that knee. In, reach it long.

And in, stretch two. In, stretch three. Breathe out, and five, and six, two more. Then there's this one more on this leg. Keep your left leg 45.

Lift the right leg up to meet it. So the right leg is lifting. This one's kind of a killer, 'cause now that quad really does have to engage to lift you up. Four more, here we go. Lift four, exhale three.

And lift two, and one. Switch to the other leg. Here we go, jump one, and two, and jump three, exhale four, and jump five, and jump six, two more, seven, eight, here we go. Unfold from the knee joint. One, and you bend.

Two, and bend. Exhale three, and four, stretch up five and six, two more, seven, and scissor the leg. Down, up, one. Down, lift, two. Down, lift, three.

Lower, lift four. Exhale, five, and six, and seven, and eight. Bend that knee in, stretch it long. And two. Stretch, exhale, three.

Stretch, and four. Stretch, and five, and six, good, two more, seven, eight, stretch it long, lift the leg, left leg, up to meet the right, and three, and four, lift it up, five, almost there, six, two more, and you can finish there. Whoo, she's feeling it. (Melissa laughs) Good, we have short spine, a nice, feel-good one we know and love. Okay.

So, I've got her on two reds. Go ahead, lower your headrest down. I'll hand you the straps to place around your feet. All right. All right.

So, taking your time, enjoying short spine, take a nice deep breath in to lift the legs up. Exhale as they go up and over. Just keep 'em reaching on that high diagonal and then bend the knees in line with your shoulders, and take your time, rolling down through the upper, the middle, the lower, the tailbone, and send it out long. Inhale, legs up. Exhale, up and over.

Inhale, the knees bend. Exhale, nice and fluid and flexible through the spine. And last one, taking those legs up and over. Now, stay here, keeping your core engaged, keeping the hips where they are. Just drop the feet into the well, straight down, and then bend your knees.

Get the springs to connect, and roll it down, one vertebra at a time. Nice. And then take the straps off of your feet. Lovely. All right.

We're gonna repeat what we just did, the jumping series, but this time, in a turnout. So, single legs once again. All right, we ready? (Melissa laughs) So we're on a red and a blue. If you have a yellow spring at home too that's a little bit lighter, that also is great to do, red and yellow.

But she's in first position. Go ahead, push the carriage out. So, taking the leg up, it'll be in a front attitude ballet position here. The tendency is, especially if you're not used to it, is to lift the opposite hip. So try to keep both hip bones anchored onto the mat.

So it's just a slight turnout. So we'll keep that leg there and go ahead. Bend your left knee and start to jump, same series. One, exhale two, jump, land three, stretch, land four, exhale, five, exhale, six, two more, you're gonna unfold from the knee joint, here we go. Unfold it out, so it's reaching to that diagonal.

Two, I don't wanna get kicked. Three. (Melissa laughs) Exhale, four, and five. And six. Good, two more.

Seven, keep it out on eight. Cut the leg down, across, open one. Down, across, open two. Exhale, three, and she's doing a great job, keeping her hips stable. Four, and weight equal over both sides.

Two more. Seven, eight, now bend the knee to front attitude, and reach it towards me. Good, exhale two, exhale three, exhale four, and five, and six, two more. Now, you're gonna keep your right leg long. Hook the left leg underneath the right as you jump.

That's it. And you wanna find a third position. So if you can get your left heel to connect to the arch of the right foot, five, I think, or so, six. Two more, seven. And eight.

Let's do the other side. Here we go. Jump one, exhale two, jump, land three, jump, land four, exhale, five, feeling that glute engage, six, abs pull in, seven, eight, unfold out to a diagonal. Out and down. Two, and bend.

Three, and four. Good, so the knee to hip doesn't shift, stays steady. Two more. And now, bring that leg down and out, one. Down, exhale, two.

Exhale, three. And four. And five. And six. And seven.

Eight, now bend the knee to attitude. Reach it long. Exhale two, and three, and four, exhale five, and six, and seven, and eight. Now, take that right leg up underneath the left. And two, lift up, three, lift up, four, almost there, lift five, and six, and seven, enough.

You can relax, very good. Whoo! Good, all right, come on up. (Melissa laughs) All right, nice job. Okay, here's your towel. (Melissa laughs) I'll set up your springs.

So I'm gonna give her one red spring for some seated arm work. All right, miss, when you are ready. (Melissa sighs) Okay, I'll have you sit a hand's distance from the back edge. Your legs go straight through the headrest. Okay.

Holding onto the straps here. Okay, reaching the arms straight down to the sides, feeling that length up through the crown of the head, feeling the sit bones grounded. So now we're sitting nice and upright. You're gonna breathe in. On your exhale, press the arms behind you, inhale, reach them forward.

Exhale, two, resist and reach, good, working on your posture, pulling back, three, and four, reaching those fingernails down towards the floor and back. And press back. Nice job. And the chest stays wide and open, and exhale. Four more here.

And exhale, three more. Two. And last time, pressing back. You're gonna reach the arms forward, rotate the palms up. Now curl the tailbone under, round the spine back, soften your elbows, and plug the shoulder blades back.

Good, do 10 bicep curls. Curl in one, and exhale two. Every time you flex at the elbows, think of the stomach pulling in tighter and deeper. And five, and six, and seven, curl eight. Good, two more.

And 10. You're gonna lengthen your arms. Sit up nice and straight and tall. Criss-cross the straps over one each other, over each other, and this time, hold up higher, so holding onto the strap right next to the metal attachment. Have the palms facing down and bend your elbows out to the side, drawing the shoulder blades together, and then resist the reach.

Draw the shoulder blades together, resist the reach. Exhale. And resist, good, and pull back. And resist. And resist.

Five more. And reach. Four more. And reach. Last three.

And two. Last one, reach arms all the way forward. Just uncross your straps for a second. I'll adjust it for you. You're gonna take your opposite strap.

So I'm giving her the left strap into the right hand, and again, hold up next to that metal part of the attachment. Bring your left hand behind your head. The palm is facing in. You're gonna pull that elbow back. Fist comes into your rib, and you twist to the right.

Reach the arm forward, coming to the center. So, adding that rotation, exhale. Inhale, center, feeling the ribs spiral back. Three, and center. Three more, exhale, rotate, inhale, center.

Two more. Lift and rotate. And center. Last one. Nice job.

I'll take the strap, and we're just gonna release it. We won't need it again. So go ahead and pick up the other one, right hand behind the head, palm faces in, and exhale, lift and twist left. Inhale, grow tall through the center. And twist, grow tall through the center.

Exhale three, and center. Exhale four, and center. Two more. Good, last one. And enough, good.

Very good. Okay. Step off of there. Okay, so we're one on red. We're gonna keep our red spring for sideline jumping.

You're gonna want something for your head. So I just have a yoga block here, but you can use a ball, you can use a pillow, anything that's gonna keep your head lifted to keep the alignment and the comfort. So we'll start lying on your left side, so you're facing forward first, okay. So she has her left ear onto the block. Okay, the hips are gonna come to the back of the carriage.

Okay, good. The hand position, the left hand is gonna hold, exactly how she has it, onto the peg, and then the right hand onto the shoulder block. Okay, the top leg, her right foot is gonna step to the top edge of the jumpboard here. So she has the foot, knee, hip in line. Now, go ahead and push this leg out to straight.

The bottom leg is just bent, yep, just as she has it. Feel the abs are pulled in, maybe a slight lift of your waist. We'll start with 10 jumps here. So bend your knee, and then exhale, just start to jump and roll through the foot, good. Exhale, roll through the foot.

So lengthen and land. Lengthen and land. Out, and in. Exhale, and land. Four more.

And three. Last two. Now, you're gonna sweep that leg forward, so just sweep it forward and then land again. Exhale, sweep, and land. Good, exhale, sweep, and land.

Exhale, sweep, land. And five, and six. Exhale seven, and eight. We're gonna do two more. Sweep forward.

Next one, you're gonna just jump off of that leg and unfold at the bottom leg. So stretch out, that's it, like an L shape. L shape, two. There you go. And three, so unfolding from the knee joint, four.

Exhale, five, stretch out, six, exhale, seven, and eight. Two more. Now, you're gonna keep jumping. Keep your left knee bent. Raise your right leg up, hip abduction.

And it doesn't have to be high. Just think about lengthening and lifting. It just hovers above the height of this jumpboard. Lengthen to lift, like there's a gust of wind that comes from underneath the inner thigh, lifts that leg up. Lifts it up.

Nice job. Do three more, and two. Okay, I'm gonna come so you can see me. Both of the legs are gonna stretch together and then bend the bottom knee in. That's it.

So they both lengthen and then bend the bottom, you got it. And three, and land. Exhale four, and land. Stretch up, five, land, and six. Good, both legs stretch long, seven.

Stretch out, eight. Good, do two more. Now, keep your bottom knee, your left knee bent. Kick your leg to the back. Hip extension, that's it.

And again, it's not a very big kick to the back. It's just enough to engage in the back of the thigh and the glute, so just small kick to the back, waking up our glute and hamstring a little bit more. Good, exhale, seven, and eight, and nine. Okay, final 10, you're gonna do a split, so both legs are gonna stretch away. So, kick, yep, exactly.

What I see that Jenny's not doing, she's staying nice and stable, but there's a tendency to lean forward and kick that leg to the back, so keeping the body still, and then just unfolding those legs, unfold. Nice job. Do four more. Breathe out. And three, and last two, and one, bring the carriage in, good.

Whew! She should have felt that right here. So we like to just make a little fist, pound it out a little bit, releasing the hip. Okay, good. So, transition. You're gonna sit facing forward.

Okay, so it was the right hip glute that was working. Go ahead into a figure four. So take your right ankle across your left thigh. You're gonna do a tricep dip in this position. So the heels of the hands are to the edge of the carriage, shoulders down and stable.

Slide your hips forward and then bend and straighten your elbows. And press up one, and press up two, press up three, exhale four, press up five, and press six. Exhale, seven. Press up eight. Two more.

Nine, stay there on 10. Sit on the carriage, and then just drop your head heavy, stretching out that hip. Take a nice, deep inhale, (Melissa inhales deeply) and hold it as you exhale. (Melissa exhales slowly) And go ahead, roll the spine up, and we must stay even, so turn around. (Melissa laughs) It is hot over here.

Okay, other side. Okay, so we step that left foot forward to the front edge of the jumpboard. Right hand is on the peg, left hand is on the shoulder block. Push out to straighten your left leg, lifting the waist, and we go. Bend the knee.

Exhale, jump. Good, and two, lengthen three, stretch it away four, and stretch away five. Exhale, six, and jump seven, and jump eight, and jump nine. 10, now sweep the left leg forward. Sweep it to the window.

And down, sweep two. Down, feeling the stomach pull in to sweep that leg. Pull the belly in, nice. Exhale five. Sweep forward, six, and sweep it seven.

Exhale eight. Two more. The next one is L shape. Extend from the right knee, and stretch two, unfolding at the knee joint, three. Exhale four, and jump five, and jump six, and jump seven.

Exhale eight. Two more. Nine, keep the right knee bent. Hip abduction, raising the leg up. And again, it's small.

It does not have to be high. You're still gonna feel it in the outer hip. And lift. And lift. And lift.

Good, lengthen to lift. Three more, lift. Two more, lift. Last one. The next one, the legs connect together.

They both stretch long. Pull the bottom knee in. Stretch long, pull it in. Exhale, three. In, stretch four.

In, stretch five. Good, breathe out, six. And seven. Exhale, eight. Two more.

Good, hip extension, pressing the leg to the back. So again, just a small range. Doesn't have to be big. You just connect to the back of the thigh, no matter how much that leg presses back. Doesn't matter.

Just engage glute/hamstring. Press it back. Exhale, six, and press seven, and press eight. Two more, breathe out. Last one, you go into the scissor.

Both legs unfold, one, and unfold two, unfold three, exhale, four, and five. Last five to finish, here we go. And four, and three, and two, and enough, very good. Make a fist. (Melissa sighs) Pound it out.

All right, come on up. Face, yeah, face that way. (Melissa laughs) All right, so left leg this time is across, leg that you just worked. Heels of the hands to the edge of the carriage. Go ahead, bring those hips forward when you are ready, and bend and straighten your elbows.

Press up, one, and two, working our triceps and shoulder stability. Press four. That spine is long, and six, getting an active stretch in the left hip and glute. Two more. Nice, and have a seat.

Give yourself a good stretch, dropping your head down, and release, breathing through it. Okay, very good. So come up from there. Okay, so the next tension that I'm gonna have her on is two red springs, and she's gonna go into the elephant. So, take your hands onto the jump board, and the heels will be back against the shoulder rest.

Good. So, let's do a round back elephant first. So drop your head heavy. That's it. So really curling the tailbone under.

Bring those ribs, the front ribs up to the back ribs. Lift your toes, so splay all 10 toes up, and now take an inhale. Let's slide the carriage out. Exhale, deepen that curve of the spine, curling the tailbone under, two. We're just gonna do six.

Exhale three, exhale four, and scoop five. Hold it here on six. Now, lower your toes flat. Lengthen your tailbone to extend. So we go into a flat-back elephant.

Good. Now, from here, lift up your right heel, yep, so it's halfway up the shoulder rest, and lengthen your left leg straight behind you, keeping the hips nice and square and stable, good. As the carriage slides back, tap your toes to the headrest, and then raise that leg up for six. Exhale, two, keeping equal weight on the jumpboard with the hands. And four, two more.

Lift five. Now, hold that leg up on six. Carry your leg out to the side and then place it down, heel halfway up the shoulder rest. Float and lengthen the right leg behind you. Good, as the carriage goes back, tap the toes.

Exhale, lift. Lower, exhale, lift. Exhale, lift. Good, three more. Good, shoulders down.

Last one, now close the carriage in. Carry the leg out to the side. Place it down. Good, stepping off to the side. There we go.

All right, I'm gonna set it up for the next jumping series. This is a beat series. So I'm gonna lift the headrest up. Okay, we're gonna do it on a fairly light spring, so just a red spring, one red. You can lie down on your back.

Okay. So the heels are together, the toes are apart. She's gonna be turned out for this series. So push the legs out to straight. Okay, good.

Connecting into the glutes, the inner thighs, the stomach muscles, bend your knees in that first position. As you jump, do three heel beats. So, beat, two, three, and land. Beat, two, three, and land. Beat, two, three, and land, good.

Exhale, two, three, and land. And beat, two, three, and land. Good, do three more. And two more. Last one.

Now, cross the right leg in front as you land and go into first position. Cross the left leg, land in first position. Exhale, and land. Exhale, and land. That's it, cross and land.

And cross, and land. And four more. Exhale three. Last two. And one.

You're gonna do a double criss-cross. You're gonna criss-cross, land in first. Left leg goes in front. So alternating the leg that starts criss-crossing in front. Good, four more, criss, cross, first.

Criss, cross, first. Criss, cross, first. Criss, cross. Now, take your legs out to second position. Follow me.

Take the right leg, cross it in front, land in second position. Left leg in front, land in second. Good, feel those inner thighs draw together. Exhale, four. And five.

And cross six, cross seven, cross eight, two more. Now you're gonna do your double criss-cross. So we're gonna criss-cross, land in second. Other leg in front. Criss-cross, second.

Criss-cross, second. Good, lengthening the legs, and second. Criss-cross, second. Criss-cross, good. Last four.

And three, two, one, and enough. Bring the carriage into the stoppers. Very good. All right, you're gonna step off of there. All right, good.

We're gonna stay on one red. You can stay on that side here. You're gonna go into a psoas stretch. So step your left foot underneath the jumpboard. Place your right foot up against the shoulder rest.

And then slide the carriage all the way back, good. Stay there as you breathe in through your nose. Exhale, press back a little further. Inhale, bring it in, and do that four more times. Exhale, press it back.

And inhale, bring it in. Good, nice little release in the hip flexor and the quadriceps before we go into our last jumping series. And lift, good. Two more, and out, and lift. Last one, press out, stay there.

Take your left arm up, and then sweep it back. Grab hold of your back thigh, giving yourself a nice spine twist. Then reach the arm back up around, back to the jumpboard, and bring the carriage all the way in. And then just come around to the other side. Good, all right.

So right foot underneath the jumpboard, left foot against the shoulder rest, and bend the knee. Start to slide the carriage back, pressing back, and then inhale, bring the carriage in. Exhale, releasing that left hip flexor, and inhale, bring it in. And slide the carriage out, and in. Good, do two more.

Exhale out, and in. Last one, press out and stay. Stretch the right arm up. Reach it back, hook it behind the thigh. I'll give you another little twist, and then reaching the arm back up, around to the jumpboard, bring the carriage into the stoppers.

Good, okay. Last series. I'm gonna add a blue spring. This is our ballet series. So lie on your backs.

All right, very good. Push the carriage all the way out, and you're gonna find third position. So you have your right heel in line with the arch of the left foot. Okay, first exercise is changement, which is basically just switching one leg in front to the other. So when you're ready, go ahead and start to jump.

One, and jump two, and jump three. We'll do eight of them. Four, exhale, five, and six. Two more. Now you're doing echappe.

Jump out to second. Jump out to second. Jump into third. Jump out, three, jump in, four. Jump out, five, jump in, six.

Jump out, seven. Now hold there on eight. Entrechat quatre means beat back and front. That's it, one. Eight times.

Back, front, two. Back, front, three. Exhale, four, exhale, five, and six, two more, seven. Do one jump to switch legs. And beat the leg.

Back, front. This one is very challenging to get the heels down. So it may or may not go, depending on the Achilles length. And I'm counting on my fingers, so I can talk at the same time. Six, and seven.

Now, coupe. Bring your right foot in front of your ankle, and hold. Yep, switch, that's good. And switch, and switch, and switch. So, right leg comes up.

Left leg, go to first. And coupe first, coupe first, coupe first, coupe first, good. Four more. And three, and two. Now, follow my arm.

You're gonna go, actually, she's dying. Coupe with your right leg, we're almost done, and now you're gonna ballonne, so leg goes out and in. Out, and in. I don't wanna get kicked. Out and in.

So you're gonna bring that leg behind and in front, and behind, and in front. Four, and three, and two, you're almost done, Jenny. You're doing awesome. Switch legs. Out one, eight times, and two, exhale three, exhale four, and jump five, and jump six, and jump seven, and now land in first position.

Jump, do a frog. Bend, one, eight times. And two, and three. Breathe out, four. Exhale, five.

And six. Two more, then Peter Pan to finish. Bend one knee, other leg to the side, like we did with feet in the straps. And two. Exhale, three.

Nice and strong to finish. Four, exhale five, and six. Final two, here we go. Whoo! Bring it in. Stay there.

(Melissa laughs) All right, I've got, actually, the spring tension doesn't matter. I'm gonna keep it where it was. You're fine. You don't need to change your springs. Push the carriage out.

Hold underneath your right thigh, and then just straighten that leg out and bend the knee. Stretch it up, and bend the knee. Hold that leg up there. Walk the hands up the leg. You can lift your head and give yourself a nice stretch.

Good, and then bend, bend your knee, and then take your ankle across your left thigh, and you can bend your left knee all the way in. Hook your hands underneath the left leg, and pull it in for a nice figure four stretch. I'll give you a little assisted stretch here. Good, and then place the feet back to the jumpboard. Push away, and then you can keep the hands underneath that left leg and unfold for three.

And two. And one, walking the hands up, lifting the head, giving yourself a nice stretch. Good, and then go ahead, bring the leg across for your figure four stretch. Hands behind the right thigh, and pull it in to stretch. Good.

All right. And now step off to the side. So, now I'm gonna take off the jumpboard, if you need to. The Reformer that I've used at home, we actually don't need to take it off, because the platform is in front of the jumpboard. So depending on your Reformer, you may or may, may or may not need to take the jumpboard off for the next exercise.

Okay, so I'm gonna grab the sticky mat, so the sticky mat is gonna go onto the carriage, closer to the springs. We're on a light spring, so the lightest spring that you have for adductor inner thigh work. Okay, so Jenny, go ahead and, since you're there, we can just, you can face me. Step your left foot up onto the platform first, and then the right foot just a few inches away, good. Arms are down to the sides.

You're gonna lengthen your spine, nice and tall. You're gonna inhale, slide the carriage out, arms out to the sides, and then exhale, draw it all into the center, getting taller. And five more, inhale, and exhale, drag it in. Again, nice and tall. Inhale, stretch it out, and exhale, scoop the stomach in.

Lengthen tall. Inhale, stretch it out, and exhale, get tall. And last one. You're gonna go out. Come in just a little bit.

Now, with a nice, flat spine, you're gonna lean your body forward, forward, forward. Feel that length from the tailbone to the head. Then round forward, reaching to the frame of the Reformer. Tuck your chin to your chest. Keep the carriage stable as you roll the spine up, stretching the arms out to the sides.

Close the carriage, bring it all the way into the stoppers. Get the weight over your left leg. Look behind you as you step the right leg back. I'll hold the sticky mat. (Melissa laughs) Yeah, that's okay. (Melissa laughs)

Walk around. Safety first. So step your right foot, followed by the left. There we go. Arms are down to the sides, nice and tall.

Take an inhale. Stretch the arms and legs out, and then exhale, drag it in, lengthening out. And inhale. Stretch it out, and exhale, scoop and lengthen, and inhale, stretch it out, and exhale, pull it up. Good, two more.

And exhale, lift. Last one. You're gonna go out, come in about halfway, keep the carriage stable, lean forward, and a long spine, so lengthen crown of the head to tailbone, pause, and then round down. Drop your head. Give yourself a nice stretch.

Keep the carriage stable. Slowly roll up. The arms are gonna reach out to the sides, second. Good, press the arms down and close the carriage. So get the weight over this right leg here.

Look behind you, and then step your left foot to the back. Here we go. (Melissa sighs) And you are done! Good job.

Comments

2 people like this.
wow! SUCH a good workout!! a really nice challenge for me. and it was so fun!!
Pele
3 people like this.
I was really happy to have Melissa back.
This class was fun and flowing. It would have helped to state the springs for footwork before footwork and not towards the end. But really liked this class.
Susan H
1 person likes this.
I just loved this class! Thank you Melissa
Kim W
1 person likes this.
Great class! I teach a weekly jump board class to a group of dedicated ladies, and this is right up their alley. I like the interval approach--combining traditional work with the jumping. That is exactly how I structure my classes, and participants respond well to the variety. More, please!
Z A
1 person likes this.
A perfect workout as always, dripping in sweat but also feel grounded and relaxed. Thank you so much and wellcome back
.
1 person likes this.
So nice to see you again. I remember you so fondly, hope to see more of you soon!
Thanks for the positive comments so far! It is always inspiring to come back and film for Pilates Anytime:) I am truly honored to be a part of this community!!!
1 person likes this.
I love this class and was thrilled to see it here! Thank you, Melissa!

1 person likes this.
This was awesome! Thank you!
Loved the cardio interval aspect of this workout! There are always just the right number of reps to fatigue my muscles and not too many to start losing my alignment. Awesome! Thanks Melissa.
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