Class #2852

Unilateral Combinations

50 min - Class
219 likes

Description

Have fun with creative combinations in this Reformer workout with Meredith Rogers and Kristi Cooper. They focus on unilateral work because both sides of the body can feel very different. By making sure you can't compensate with the dominate side, you will feel more balanced and symmetrical.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

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Dec 08, 2016
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Girl time. Girl time. Okay. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna rub butts.

And then we're gonna get started. So, we have a blue spring attached to the reformer. We're gonna stand tall. And just collect ourselves. Or I'm gonna collect myself.

I don't know about you, Kristy. Take it back, close your eyes, take a breath. And reach forward and put your hands down onto the box. So we're gonna start here by taking the back into extension. So reach down.

Don't worry about how low you go quite at this moment. Think about going out. Out with the spine long. Spine shoulders down inhale. As you exhale curl the tail under it and push energetically the box away.

So you just create resistance with that forward energy in the arms. And then again start flaking out the spine. You can think of leading with the tailbone. Lifting the tailbone up toward the ceiling and allowing the box to stretch out in front of us. Inhale.

And exhale. Roll the pelvis under round the spine allow the head just to drop. Looking down. We'll do that one more time. Inhale reach out.

So we're gonna focus today, my friend Kristy on doing some unilateral work because I've decided I literally live in two bodies not one. Oh, me too and you're thinin' So how we're gonna start doing that is by reaching both hands over to the left side of the box. Keep the pelvis squared. Take the spine out again but as you go out lean over to the left so stretch the right side of the waist and then round back. Inhale allow the tailbone to reach up to take the body out and long.

And exhale as we round. I always think about that idea of pushing with the arm toward not necessarily with the shoulders but just creating opposition. And exhale. And coming over to the other side of the box. Just wherever it suits you with your hands in no specific placement is necessary.

And then lifting up through the tailbone as we reach out. So see this side is so different. Very. I mean totally different. And then round.

This is the side of my body that doesn't like me very much. And reach out. Or maybe it likes me too much. And round. What I really find interesting this is the last one on this side about doing this and theN going from side to side in this way that when we come back to the center which we're going to do right now it's almost unbelievable how much more range that you'll experience.

Especially if you started out a little tight. And now take the back down low. And inhale. Bend the elbows. Feel the box coming just towards the top of the head.

And stretch shoulder blades down the back of the arms straightened. Are you bending wide? I'm bending wide elbows and I'm thinking about pulling the box. Stretching the box. And reaching out so the box comes towards my head.

I'm reaching my spine into the box and then I continue to feel that energy as I take my arms away. Take an inhale to hold. And exhale too. Round. All the way in.

And roll up. So I'm gonna leave that spring on the blue spring. You can choose to move a heavier spring. That will make some things easier and some things harder. So it's up to you.

I'm gonna keep my blue spring. So sitting on the box. Facing the back of the reformer. Not fair. We don't know what's gonna be harder.

I know. It's a surprise. How can we know? Life is full of surprises. Okay, so the knees together.

Arms reaching out in front. I'm holding just above the hardware on the ropes. I want us to bend the arms. Inhale. Straighten the arms out to the side.

This is gonna be easier. And bring the arms straight ahead. Inhale there. Exhale tip the tail under and begin rounding down onto the box. So we're looking for the lower spine.

This is where it's harder. Tell you what's happening as we move through. Inhale the low spine touches the box. Exhale just curl the body up. Curl the body up.

Find your round spine with the shoulders over the pelvis and bend the elbows. And straighten the arms. Take the arms around the front. And exhale roll back. Inhale as we hold.

Exhale as we roll up. It's almost a hinge up actually once you've established that round shape and then bend your arms. Stretch your arms. And reach your arms forward. Let's do that one more time.

Exhale into round. Inhale into pressing the heels or the shins against the box. Exhale to lift. And bend. And stretch the arms out.

Now reach the arms forward. We're gonna go back to stay for a little while. So exhaling as we get there. Pause lower spine touches the box Inhale and then a tiny little curl deepening flexion and down. So what I'm trying to do here as I lift my spine is not allow the reformer to move around a lot.

And down. So it's quite small. Mostly just working in a deeper imprint of my lower spine against the box. It's gonna go one more time. Come back down.

Rotate towards the left. And small lift on that side. Knees together. Feet down. Exhaling as we curl it's not even an up and down it's just a forward motion an inward motion.

Last two. Last time. Come down rotate the opposite direction and here we go. Lifting for five and low. Four.

See and feel the abdominals sink prior to the spine moving. Last two. And one more. Come down and roll up. All the way.

All the way. Sitting up tall. Bend the elbows. Stretch the arms. All of a sudden that feels really really great.

It's so nice, isn't it? After being in flexion. And then round. Still we'll come back into flexion Holding here we're gonna lift the right leg. Go up.

And right leg down. And forth. Up. As the leg is coming towards your chest you can feel the arms reaching for the reach of the arm can magically pull the spine deeper into flexion in theory. It does and it's harder.

Oh, goodie. Last one. Use your imagination at your own risk. So legs down. Legs together.

Here we go, Christy. All the way up. Up up up up. Sitting up all the way tall. Christy, we're sitting up all the way tall.

And bending. You're usually much harder on me then that. No, we're just doing five today. And here we go we go down now. Again.

So now we're gonna do five. Lifting of the left leg. Keeping the lower spine connected into the box. So a different way to think about it would be as the leg is being lifted the spine pushes into the box to lift the leg. And down.

Here's number three of five. And down. Two of five. And down. Last one.

And leg goes down. And inhale. And we're gonna do one more thing. So but first we sit up. And we bend the arms.

And stretch. And reach forward. And roll back. Okay, so this is where it would be harder if you had a heavier spring. So look after yourself.

Stabilize your lower spine it's important. Lift one leg. Hold and we change. Five Five Four Four Three Three Two One One leg down Other leg down Up we come Lift the spine all the way Bend the arms This time as the arms straighten let's dive backwards through the upper back going a little bit further into upper back extension and then bringing the arms forward reach down and hang the straps up. So instead of traditional like our traditional heels toes parallel we're gonna do just single leg.

We're gonna do just a lot of side to side work. And that means, for those of you who know me, you may wanna keep track. You may wanna keep track of your repetitions. I will do my best. I'm gonna use two springs.

Two full springs. And we'll start facing inwards. Christy, thank you. So just getting set up and coming down onto your side. Gonna bring my arm through just so I can lay down on my arm.

What you could also do a set isn't comfortable for you is just to put the headrest up and rest your head there. I don't like that so much so I'm gonna lay on my arm. And then we wanna take the pelvis towards the back of the reformer. And put the top foot up onto the bar. Bottom leg can just stay bent and rest.

I'm here. You like that better? I do. Okay. So, we will have our own happiness.

Happy places. Okay, so reach back maybe feel that pelvis is stacked straight and then allow the arm, the free arm, to come down in front of you. We're gonna press into the heel of that foot that's on the bar and straighten that knee. And take a moment there just to find a longer spine and then bend. And heel presses into the bar to reach.

And bend. So what we're thinking here about not pushing with the front of the leg but, pushing from the back of the leg. Set four. I'm gonna say this is five and if I'm wrong I'm sorry. I will do better.

I say that daily, but I will do better and help you. Better in this or better in life? Well, both. Okay, two more. So focus on the back of the body.

One more time. SO once the leg goes out straight we're gonna lift the heel. Keep that heel still. So we're on our toes on the bar and bend. And press.

For me it's little harder to find the work from the back of the leg. But it's possible here. You just here to think about where you're pushing from or pulling from for that matter. Christy's counting for me on her hand. A good friend.

So that's half way. I'm here for you, Mary. Here's a six. So we'll do four more. You might feel the bottom hip working a little bit creating stability.

Here's three. And two. And numero uno. So come all the way in. Rotate so you're in externally externally rotated hip position.

The leg can be a little bit in front of the pelvis if that's an easier place for you to be and here we go. Four 10 As we bend we wrap the knee to the back. Nine Making sure that the knee isn't going beyond the second toe. Eight Seven keep a little bit of focus or some focus in the trunk to stabilize the spine. This is Six And five Amazing with two counters we almost can't seem to get it right.

And three. I had it right. I know, Christy has it right. You just count backwards and awkward Got to keep it fresh, Christy. That's it, that's it, that's it.

So that's it. That's the end. We come all the way in now. And now I don't know what I'm gonna do when I can't see your little counting fingers. So come up.

Put both feet on the floor for just a moment. Take that foot that ankle put it on the other leg. And then just hinge pivoting or pivoting around the pelvis hinging the spine forward taking a stretch there. And now for our next trick we'll do the other side. So turn sides.

Lie down. Get organized. Bottom leg stays bent. Pelvis is at the back of the reformer. And here we go.

Pressing into the heel And in. Working from the back of the leg. And pull in. So working the springs in both directions. Number four.

Now I'm counting with my fingers. Here's five. Christy taught me how to do that just now I don't know why I haven't learned that yet. So last four. One side might be harder than the other.

Three This is certainly true for me on this side. Two And last one. Stay there. Lift the heel. Now we keep the heel still as we continue to move from the hip and the knee.

The knee bends the hip bends. I can't see you either so you got to tell me where you start. Four. Oh, wow. Okay you're on your own.

For me. Five If you need to catch up at the end I'll wait for you. Okay. But you're countin' Three more. Two more.

And One more. Coming all the way in and then moving in to hip external rotation. Lining up the knee and the second toe. Pressing out. Remembering that as we're coming in we're trying to turn that knee backwards.

Here's four. Again lift the shoulders making sure they're soft. Taking in with the abs. Oh no, now I've lost count. Is this seven?

Seven. Seven. Nice. Okay, so last three gang. Two And One Bend and come all the way back in.

Pelt yourself up. Sit down. Feet on the floor. And just give yourself that stretch again. Same stretch except on the opposite hip.

Leaning slightly forward into the stretch. I would like to meet a perfectly balanced person and ask them how. How. I wouldn't. Really?

No. You think they exist? I don't think it exists. Unless it's not real. We can try though.

That's what we're doing. We're trying. Okay, so I've got a red and a blue spring now. Just some spring change. We're gonna lie on our backs.

And pick up the straps. So. Taking the straps in our hands. I like to set myself up a little bit away from the shoulder blocks so I don't end up getting squished into them. You're gonna come up into table top with the legs.

Inhale. Exhale lift the sternum. Press the sternum towards the bed. Reach past the hips with the arms. And now take one leg out.

And change. Five Five Four pushing the arms forward. Three Two One Bend. Lift the arms first and bring the head down. As you exhale lift the head and chest.

Sternum presses down and forward. And now we're gonna take the legs up straight. One leg pulls back. One leg pushes into the bar. Five Four Four I have a special surprise.

Two One Hover that bottom leg and circle in Five Four Three Two One And switch Circle in Five Four Three Two What's funny? I like to change the bar. You're just being lazy. I'm not. Bend your knees.

Try it. And rest. Okay so now. Exhaling to lift up. Stretch both legs inhale.

And now as you exhale bend both knees to the right shoulder. Lift the left hip and stretch out center. And other side. Five Center Four So I'm actually allowing my pelvis to lift off. And three Pressing the arms forward.

And two Last time Stretch the legs out Bend the knees in Come down that's enough. We're gonna come up into some hip work now So back on to our side. Same springs? No, we're gonna take a spring off. Thank you, Christy.

You're welcome. It's possible on a red and a blue. It's possible on a heavier spring it's just. It's fine. You're welcome.

Yeah. I'm not gonna do it. But feel free. So we're gonna take the strap from the front. That's in front of us.

Push off the frame of the reformer and put the knee in the straps. Bringing the knees together aligned. So now we're just gonna take that whole that top knee and we're gonna open it for eight. And seven I like to hold on to my pelvis just to make sure that it stays still. I don't know.

Five Christy, thank you. Four Three Two That's eight right there. You said eight. What? You said eight.

That was eight. Oh eight. Bring the knee into the chest. Lift the knee push it behind you. Eight Rotating from the hip.

Seven Six Three. What? I'm saying four. I'm just giving you opposite. You're confusing me.

I know you're confusing me. Here's one more. Last time. If you ask me to do it I'll quit. No no no.

I love it. Let's go back. Back lift the knee. Come around the front and back. Lift the knee so you just do that nice strong circular motion in the hips.

For halfway now. And four And three Keeping the spine stable two One more That feels good. Okay, so I'm gonna use the frame again with my other leg to take myself out. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna turn onto our back. And take the same foot the one that just came out of the strap into the strap.

The other foot can rest down on the frame I like to bend my knee and put that leg down on the floor. And we'll just bring that leg up for a stretch. Flexing through the foot. You're in charge of your own stretch. You can pull down or not pull down.

We'll all be a little bit different in our positions. You have the flexibility to go beyond that 90 degree angle than I'm exhibiting go for it. And then take the strap in the opposite hand and bring the leg across the body. Anchoring the hip down as your bring the leg across and stretch. Okay.

Gonna take the foot off the floor if it's down there put it back on the bar. Take that foot out. Put that strap away. It's important that we get the other strap for the other side. So as we turn onto our other side strap will be waiting there right in front of us.

And we will put our knee in. Okay, ready Christy? Tell me when you're ready. I am ready thank you. Okay, now the feet stay together.

The knees are bent at a 90 degrees from the hip and we lift the knee and lower. And lift. And down. So you're reaching to your full range. I don't know, Christy.

How many? The next one up is five right here. Okay, five. Got it. Six And two more.

Last time. And now we're gonna go into the body up around and back. And so just working that full hip range. I can't remember right now. Does it go behind us?

I'm bringing my knee in first and I am trying to go slightly behind myself. I see. We've got four more. Three more. Three now?

Yeah, if we're on the same page. So you won't be able to go too far into hip extension but you should be able to do a little bit. Okay. And then reverse. Go backwards.

Lift the knee. Bring the leg around to the front. And back. Lift the knee. Again concentrating on the stability of the spine.

The stability of the pelvis. I think there's three more. And then we'll do two more. And last one. Alrighty.

We'll call that a wrap. So put your foot down. Push out. Get yourself free of that strap. Turn onto your back.

Put your foot in. Same foot. The other leg goes down on the ground. And straighten the leg in pulling back for a hamstring stretch. So because I can't think of any spinal articulation that's unilateral we're gonna do the semi-circle.

Next after we take the leg across the body and give it a stretch. Anchoring to the hip. Can we do one more here? After this before the semi-circle? Yeah.

Okay, Christy. What do you want to do? I'm thinking of just another hamstring thing so keep that same strap but go back to the same side. It's just one spring still, right? Yes.

So we'll have to watch our foot bar. So come down to where you can maintain a pretty straight leg. It can be slightly bent even. Hips as level as possible. And you can even just take your knee up.

Which I think is actually a little harder or you can go underneath. And I'm just gonna pull straight down. Trying to keep the hips still. While the other leg doesn't get to have any support. Take this straight.

Yeah exactly. Again you can bend the knee but just know where the foot bar is now. And as the leg goes up that's where you're gonna wanna spiral, right? Yeah. So let's just do five.

Maybe a couple more about right. I just kinda like that. I like it too. Stretch and trying to control it. Then if you stay up.

And take your leg forward. Finish this one. Sorry. I got excited. Stay up.

About 90 if you can. If not back off and then bend the knee but don't let the thigh come closer to you. And you're coming directly in line So hopefully maybe not exactly where the strap attaches but just ankle and knee. Two And three. Try not to let the thigh itself move.

Stretching the bottom leg when you have the opportunity. Is there one more for five? Yes. Just more of a control thing I suppose. I like it.

That's surprisingly abdominally harder for me. Yeah, I was just gonna say it might be more hamstring it might be more hamstring if it were heavier but it be less abs. So right leg, right foot or? Same thing. This one's gonna be a little bit different for me I think.

Hopefully easier but lucky. And leading from almost the sit bone. There's one nice and long. And bring up. And two and recognizing just how that opposite side I think helps even though it's not technically working.

I mean it's definitely working. Be mindful not to put it in the back of the knee. I think we have one more. I just caught myself crossing over the midline. Trying not to do that on this last one.

Then it goes right back up. And then from there it's like the hinge happens at the knee. You're pulling the foot down rather than the knee towards you. Two. And three.

Finally Cool. I like to think. Foot on the foot bar. And I think you said semi-circle, right? Yeah, we're gonna do the semi-circle and I'm happy with the same spring that we have on I like that.

Some people like a little heavier I like a light spring for semi-circles. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna drape our knees over the bar. And then slide the carriage out with our arms. And so The arms are all fully straight. Readjust your clothing if necessary.

So it stays put. And step up onto the bar. Super strong straight arms. Weight of the body resting on the shoulders. And then bend and bring the reformer in as much as you can.

Your feet are? My feet in a small V shape. We're gonna roll the body down. Allow the spine to go into extension. Feel the spring against your body if you're close enough to where you put your spring.

Press out three quarters of the way. Curl the body up. Lifting up up up up up to the hips. And bend. Elbows are still straight.

And now we roll down. We do this three times in each direction. Control the spine as you press out. Articulate keeping the carriage still as you lift up. And then lifting higher in your mind as our left side.

Roll down. Reach back. Lift up. And in. And now from there we're gonna press out.

Again not all the way. Articulate the spine down. Bend the knees. Roll the body up. Back of the legs working.

Press out. So we're thinking about keeping the feet still. So as the pelvis lifts the heels stay down. We'll just do that one more time. And then bend.

Roll up. Take your hands off the shoulder blocks. Reach down to the frame. And just walk in. See if you can reach for your foot bar.

Pull your foot bar and lift your hips. I'm on the bottom of it not where my feet are. More towards the frame is easier. I can breathe now. Okay.

And then we're gonna get out the way we came in. So just drape your feet over the bar. Slide the carriage back in underneath you. And come up. And then what my body wants right now is just a very simple hip flexion stretch.

So what we're gonna do is I like for us to put the knee right up against the shoulder block. So the shin is trying be kind of straight up and down. And then just think. We're just gonna stay here for a minute. Not a whole minute but longer than a second.

And then keep the same side hand that is on the foot So my right foot's on the ground. My right hand stays on the bar. Lift the opposite arm and side-bend. Hug the frame with your other shin? Hug the frame with your shin, Christy.

Yes, Christy, that feels good too. And then hand comes down. We can just hike in to bring the carriage underneath you. And then come around to the other side. Setting the knee against the shoulder blocks.

Both hands on the bar. Now as your hands are on the bar and your knee's going out from underneath you. Think about lifting your spine up. So using the back extensors. Maybe even using a little bit of the back leg.

The back glute to press into the front of the leg. Christy likes to hug the carriage. Now I like to hug the carriage with my shin. And then we're gonna keep the same side. Stable side down.

Stretch side up. And then reach over. And then bring your hand back down and bring the carriage in. We're gonna come up on to the carriage. Standing on the carriage.

Step your feet back so that you're in the elephant position. So the heels of the hands are on the bar. And then get into a nice long position with your spine. So we're gonna stay and keep the back nice and flat. Keep the heels down on the carriage.

Lift the toes. Press the carriage away. And pull the reformer back. I still have the one red spring. I haven't changed springs.

Inhale reach out. Shoulder blades down. Exhale lift the toes. Reach back putting the weight of the body back over the heels. Inhale.

Pulling in. And last two. Bring the carriage back. And one more. So from here bring both of the hands more towards the left side.

So the left hand can stay. The right hand reaches across. Then take the right leg out to the side and then bring it up around behind you. So for a single leg elephant. Airabask elephant.

Press out with the heel over that straight leg. As you come bring the carriage in lift that back leg even higher. Inhale to press out. Exhale to bring the one leg in. And lift the other leg even higher.

And one more. So be careful with this one now if your bars aren't locked in. Gonna roll the pelvis open just don't pull on your foot bar. Lift that leg even more and then bend and reach it around behind you. Opening up through the front of the hips.

Through the waist. Bring the leg out and up. Around to the side. Step back in. Change to the right.

Find your long spine. Left leg reaches out. Comes around to the back. Keeping the carriage still as we do that. And then you take the right leg out.

And you pull back. For three. Out. Pull back. Two.

And out. And pull. One. Again stabilize. Keep the carriage.

Don't pull on your foot bar. Lift the leg up. Rotating the pelvis up. Bend the knee. Reaching around to the back of the body.

Reach the leg out. Step back down. Organize so that you're on both sides of the foot bar again. And we'll just do one more. In the center in you.

And pulling the reformer in. And then just allow the hands to reach down and soft into the knees. And roll up. All the way. Once you're there you can step down.

So we're gonna do some side arms kneeling now. So if you have a yellow spring. That's what I would choose if it were me. I have one. I don't.

That's the kinda sacrifices you make for your friend. So now we come up onto our knees. And then just right up against the shoulder blocks. And taking that strap that's closest to the front. And then bringing the hand just outside of the face.

Organize so that you're upright aligned. And then that arm is just gonna go straight up. And bend. And straight up. And bend.

Do four. Elbow's still a little tricky for me. I hurt my elbow not too long ago and it's still a little fussy. Getting much better though. So there you switched hands.

We're gonna take the arm out. The hand out. Bend. And come back. So we go upper arm.

Forearm. Forearm. Upper arm. That two or three? Two.

We'll just do four. Working that deltoids. That posterior deltoids. And back. Okay.

Why four, Meredith? I don't know. Why you ask, Christine? I don't know. I wasn't gonna ask.

I know. I'm just having a conversation with myself. Okay, so now we're coming over to the other side. Fairly wide stance with the knees. Take the strap in the faraway hand.

The hand closest to the foot bar. Put the opposite hand down on the shoulder blocks. The elbow goes just over the shoulder. The eyes go down. The bottom scapula is stable.

The top scapula is stable. And now we push straight up. I think we'll do five of these. No we'll keep it at four. Here's two.

The biggest but more challenging thing I feel like is the side stretch that comes along with it. And four. Bringing yourself back up all the way. Changing hands again. And then we just lift both arms overhead.

Keeping the elbows soft. I'm trying to keep my elbow soft. And where it feels like a lot of these. I know this is hard. Okay, so maybe not perfect.

But I did my best. Okay let's change sides. So coming again to start just right up against the shoulder blocks. The inside hand holds the strap. Elbow bent.

The hand just near the ear like you're gonna put your hand on your face. And then from there scapula goes down to send the arm up. What I like to think about doing most of my arm work but specifically this is not pushing with the hand but orientating the arm in response to where the scapula is going. So the scapula slides down to send the arm up. One more time.

And then coming around to the other arm. And we take the upper arm. The lower arm. The lower arm. The upper arm.

Keep the elbow higher than the hand. And bend. And down. Almost could concentrate on being a little internally rotated. Not in a realistic sense of the word I guess.

But avoiding external rotation or dropping the elbow. And then coming back. And then we're gonna set that strap or keep the strap as you reorganize your position. Taking the strap in the faraway hand the hand closest to the foot bar. Bend over put the opposite hand down.

Make sure that pelvis the one that's closest to your bottom hand is squared forward. Opposite arm is just above the shoulder. Eyes are down and we press straight up. Four. And bend.

And three. And bend. Abdominals are in of course. Two. And.

One. And change hands. I did it. You did? For the first time since June of 2015.

Oh, congratulations. Thank you. We should celebrate. We should. Oh, good idea.

I know how we're gonna celebrate but I won't tell. Go up. I was going back to the beginning I got so excited. And two. Soft arms.

So the trick here is trying to figure out which arm is pulling the straps, right? Or is there visual tricks. Last time. And all the way down. So taking the strap away.

Putting it down. Sit down on your carriage for the mermaid. I'm gonna go back to one full spring, one red spring. Then we'll do mermaid and then mermaid with extensions. Little bit of side work.

Little bit back extensor work. So the blue spring can go away. I'm gonna shut us down now pretty soon. Is there anything else you want to do? No, not if we do the back extension here.

That be great. Perfect. So one arm is down on the headrest. Other arm is on the foot bar. And we're gonna push out with the arm on the foot bar and bring the body out long.

So I'm allowing my bottom hip my faraway hip to lift slightly in order to keep my body straight. Now pivot around the arm that's on the bar. Bring the hand down to the foot bar. De-rotate the body keeping the carriage still. And bring the hip down to lift up.

So here's some breathe. Inhale. Exhale we spiral around that shoulder joint. I like to grab the bar and use the bar to help myself get a little bit more rotation there. And inhale.

I know I love this exercise. We'll do two more. Reach out. And ring out the spine. And reach open.

And lift up. So we're gonna stay down on the next one. So reach out. And twist. And then you can take that hands so that they're right on the outsides of the foot bar.

So just reorganize them. Square the shoulders. And then lifting the head, the back of the head. The chest we pull the body up. Rotating and lifting.

So intuitively one arm will wanna pull and one arm will wanna push and do that. And then reach out. Top of the head reaches toward the ceiling. Ears reach back. Chest lift through.

Arms stay straight. Shin into shoulder rest. Shin into shoulder rest. Wonder if you could say that a bunch of times really fast? Shin into shoulder rest.

I'll just try it once. So lifting. Pushing the shin into the shoulder rest. I like it. One more time.

That feels so good. And then come back. Oh that feels so good on my other side too. Hands back to the center of the bar unwind. Lift up.

Take a hold of the shoulder block or the hardware or the hook and stretch this way. I like to do a little quarter turn here too. The round of the spine getting into the lower back area. And then shoulder rest. Spin into shoulder rest.

Do you see that? Yeah. Other side. Okay. So one hand on the bar.

Carriage all the way in if it's possible. Straight arms both and here we go. Inhale as we reach out. Trying to get that pressing arm parallel to the ground. Exhale pivot around that stable shoulder.

Keep the carriage still. Inhale unwind. And pelvis drops back down to the mat as we come in. And Inhale reach out. And exhale to pivot.

And inhale as we unwind. And lift keeping the body long all the time. Both sides of the body equally long. And this is three out of four. Lift.

Ribs up against the side. And open. And back. Last time. Reaching out.

Going into the rotation. Reorganizing the arms so that they're just on the outside of the foot bar. Pressing the shin into the shoulder blocks. Rest. Lift.

Bringing the chest through the arms. Shoulder blades sliding gliding down. And back. Top of the head reaches toward the top of the ceiling. Ears reach back.

Arms are straight. Chest is lifted. And two more. Breathing Lifting lifting lifting. And last time.

And not dropping the head as you push out just keeping the eyes just looking forward all the time. And then go out. Bring that supporting hand back to the center. Unwind. Stability on the scapula.

Reach up all the way. Dropping the sitting bone down into the mat. Lifting the arm off the bar. Holding on for something, to something if you want. Reaching up and over.

Up and over. And then push the shin into the shoulder block as you rotate that. That does feel really good, Christy. This oppositional idea. And come back.

And come all the way up. And just turn. Feet come down onto the floor. Scoot pretty close into your foot bar. Lift your straight arms here.

Inhale. We're gonna exhale and roll backwards. So if your bar doesn't get stuck in there just don't pull on it too much. You can push too. You can push too Christy says.

I like pulling. I do too. And then lift. We're gonna bend the elbows. Lift the chest up.

And then just press back to straight arm. Just do that three times. This is our cool down. Our wind down so enjoy. Give yourself what you need here.

There's an exhale to be had in there somewhere. And inhale. And bend the elbows stretch the bar. Lift the spine. And press.

Last time. Then come back. And lift the chest. And then neutral spine. And reach the arms.

And open up. Take up a lot of space. A lot of space. And down. Thank you, my friend.

Thank you, my friend. Thank you.

Comments

3 people like this.
I just love you guys ! Pilates is about havin fun too and your " normality " at the start of this video brought a smile to my face this morning . Superb workout as usual but the friendship that is palpable between you both makes this more special . PA videos like this bring you guys closer to us all , your virtual family . Wishing you both a healthy and happy Christmas season . " Nollag Shona" ... in Irish . Thank you ??
1 person likes this.
A new Girl Time video is always cause for celebration, and this is a great one. I love the unilateral arm and leg work. I agree with Lizanne - the friendship between the two of you makes it special. Thank you for letting us join you!
1 person likes this.
You both are hilarious and I want to have drinks with you;). This was exactly what my body needed today thank you!
Z A
1 person likes this.
Oh that was really fun and cozy. Thank you girls for be'ng the treat of the week.
1 person likes this.
I love your classes. Always exactly what I need. I didn't want it to end! Thank you!!
2 people like this.
Lovely! I have a tender right SI joint today ..ugh! But I think this may have helped. I really loved your queue when we were rotated in mermaid doing extension and you said, One hand pulls the bar one hand pushes. Thank you again for a lovely class !
1 person likes this.
lovely and funny class, we all need more unilateral work, loved the variation of the double leg stretch with the mini twist
I just saw the end of the year blooper reel (coming soon!) and a few funny moments from this day made the cut! Good times!
Stacy get on over to the studio one day and stay after with us! Maybe we could organize a girl time live class for us all to do together? hmmm... Connie I hope your SI joint feels better. And, omg, I need a haircut!
Thanks everyone.
Thanks for playing with us y'all.
Ingrid J
1 person likes this.
Great workout! And always good to do unilateral work. Just wanted to make a comment on finding a perfectly symmetrical person.... Starting with our organs Our bodies are made asymmetrically. Our heart is to the left of the sternum, the right lung is larger, we have an appendix on the right side of our intestines etc. not to mention other anatomical differences between the left and right side of our bodies. So no, you won't find a perfectly asymmetrical body. Keep the awesome unilateral workouts coming!
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