Class #321

Creative Overball Flow

50 min - Class
1416 likes

Description

Pilates Anytime welcomes Tracey Mallett to the "studio." Tracey utilizes the Overball (or one from "toys R us") in this level 2 class. She offers creative and effective variations while establishing a well-balanced, fluid workout. Set a mat down in class and see why Tracey is considered an expert in the fitness industry and the three instructors in class felt it was "the perfect class for them."

Tracey utilizes musical selections from Fit DVD Music.
What You'll Need: Mat, Overball

About This Video

Nov 23, 2010
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Transcript

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Alright guys, we're going to do a lovely mat class today with the ball. It's one of my favorite pieces of equipment for a mat class because it just adds a little variety, and also a little challenge, too. And you can use any kind of ball. This is like a sponge professional ball. But you see these little balls here?

They're like little playground balls that I got from Toys R Us, 1.99. So if you haven't got a ball at home, just go to Toys R Us and just get a little plastic ball, and they actually work perfect. This is just a spongy one where you just blow up, okay? You ready, alrighty guys, so we can just turn around. Let's place the inner thighs, connect them together.

We're just going to reach forwards, and you're just going to gently pull the shoulder blades down. We're going to take a deep breath in, and I just want you to exhale and roll down to where you feel the abdominals engage. Inhale here and then exhale and curve and roll all the way up, just to get into that spine a little bit. Inhale, exhale, draw in the abdominals, and curl through the spine. Go down a little bit further to feel those abdominals engage.

Now inhale, exhale, roll all the way up back to a straight spine. And, again, inhale, exhale, draw in the abdominals, curl through that lower spine a little bit further and then exhale and slowly roll all the way up. This time you're going to go all the way down. Inhale, exhale, draw the abdominals in, and slowly roll all the way down. Now we're going to shift your heels close towards the sit bones, and place the ball just underneath the sacrum, and gently lower the tailbone down, and you're going to try and find your neutral position right here.

Your heels are level with your sit bones, and the hands are either side of the body. Just going to warm up your whole core musculature, so we're going to take a deep breath in. On the exhale we're going to go into a nice pelvic tilt, rolling the ball. Inhale back to a neutral position. And again, draw the abdominals in as you exhale.

(exhales) Inhale back to a neutral position. And again, exhale, draw those abdominals in, pull the rib cage down together, and go inside a little pelvic tilt and then back to a neutral position. Let's just do one more time, and slowly curl that pelvis up, leading with the pubic bone. And then come back to a neutral position and find that beautiful neutral position. Sink the tab on down into that ball.

It feels really good. Now we're going to transfer the weight to the left leg, and lift that right leg up, all the time you're trying to keep that pelvis still. And let's just bring that leg down again. Now be conscious of keeping that pelvis really still as you're transferring your legs from right to left. There you go, and then come back down.

Now if you want a little further challenge, you can bring your hands off the floor, palms facing in, so just your elbows down onto the ground, and then down, very simple. Focus on that transfer, as you transfer, you'll feel your hips shift a little bit, but you're going to try and stop that by drawing in those abdominals as much as you can. And again, just give me two more. Just want you to get in touch with your abdominals, just kinda getting in the groove of feeling your abdominals, feeling how your body's moving today. Are we feeling stiff, are we feeling tight?

And come back down. Now place your palms down, bring your right knee up, and then exhale, bring your left knee up, so we're into our chair position. Let's try and dip the right toe down to the floor, so you're going to exhale down, inhale, bring your back to a neutral position. And again, make sure your shins are parallel to the floor. Imagine you've got that little seatbelt going around your core, and every time you dip your toe down to the floor, your abdominals are pulling in a little bit more.

Okay, we're going to pick up that pace a little bit, you ready? So exhale, we go down, switch, down, switch, down, switch, down, now, take all the tension away from your upper body, and take your focus right into your core, keeping that beautiful, neutral position, tailbone is sinking down into that gorgeous ball. Down, and again, take it down, breathe, four more, exhale, four, and three, and two, give me one more, and one. Now let's try double leg, so we exhale, go down, not too far, don't kill yourselves, inhale, back, this is just a little warm up, and exhale, relax the upper body, inhale, exhale through the mouth, and try and imagine your ribcage pulling down into those intercostal muscles. There you go, and again, flow the air out, forceful exhalation, (exhales) inhale through the nose.

I like to breathe through the back of the throat, a little bit like rapid fire in yoga, it really focuses on getting really deep into those core abdominals, especially into transfers. It's like a (exhales). Inhale, can you give me one more? Nice work ladies, exhale (exhales), and inhale, come back. Take your right leg down, extend the left leg and flex the heel.

Let's go into some leg circles. So we're taking, inhale, and exhale, and inhale, and exhale, good, keep the pelvis as still as you can and again, let's reverse it. And inhale like an ever land, it's like a pendulum that doesn't stop. Inhale and exhale. And inhale, and exhale, two more.

Inhale, and exhale, point the toe, reach the toes up, bend the knee, now be careful that pelvis as you switch the legs, keeping that pelvis still as you lift that leg up and flex that foot. You ready guys, and inhale, exhale, keep the upper leg still, and exhale. Beautiful, inhale, exhale, and inhale, and exhale. Let's reverse that circle, and inhale, and exhale, and inhale. Exhale, take the energy out through the heel, and inhale, and exhale, one more set.

And inhale, and exhale. Now putting the energy out through the heel, bend the knee. Now we're going to take that ball away. Get ready now to work those abdominals. So let's take your legs, reaching the legs out take the hold of the ball, and slowly draw the ball over your head, maintaining the rib cage, pulling down to get that beautiful stretch to the upper shoulders, ready for roll up.

Inhale, look towards the abdominals. Exhale, keep that C curve and reaching forwards. And inhale here, exhale and roll down, keeping the core engaged all the way back. Inhale, head and shoulders come off the floor. Exhale, roll all the way up.

Inhale here, exhale, and roll down. And the next one, we're going to add a little challenge with the ball. (laughing) And inhale, bring the head, neck and shoulders off the floor, hold it there. Exhale, roll up. Now we're going to take the ball and just take it underneath your ankles.

Now you've got a little bit of balance challenge going on there. So keep the C curve with the abdominals, palms facing inwards, and then roll down. Just that little extra challenge, you'll see where the asymmetries are in your body. And again, inhale, look towards your feet. Exhale, are we pressing down more with the right, or are we pressing down more with the left?

The ball will not lie to you. And then roll down. And again, inhale, look towards your abdominals, press down equally on that ball, not with, there you go, equal, good Lisa, keep that C curve here. And then roll down. Just imagine how a little ball can really make that exercise just a little bit more challenging because you really focus on where your asymmetries are in your body.

And then slowly roll down, nice work. Let's just do two more. Inhale, look towards your abdominals, and then exhale, rolling forwards, keep those abdominals. You're reaching forward to the fingertips, and the abdominals are reaching back, and then you roll back down again. And let's do one more time.

Inhale, and then exhale, roll forwards. This time come to a straight spine, take hold of your ball, reaching the ball, and we're going to slowly roll down through the spine, rolling down. So we're going to bring your knees up into chair position, reaching the hands over your head, and slowly bringing your head, neck and shoulders off the floor as we exhale, lift up. Inhale and come back down. We're prepping now to go into double leg stretch.

Exhale, lift, inhale and come back. And exhale, hold it here. Place it onto your knees, ready for double leg stretch. Inhale, reach, exhale, pull in, now squeeze. Inhale, now resist your ball, as your knees come in, you're resisting the ball.

Inhale, now resist the ball, resist, resist, resist. Inhale, exhale, now resist the ball as it come into your chest while you're resisting it. And inhale, and exhale, good. Inhale, and resist that ball. Inhale, exhale, resist it, resist, resist.

Two more, inhale, and exhale. Last time, inhale, and exhale. Slowly roll down. Keep that resistance on the knees. We're going to go into single leg stretch, head, neck and shoulders come off the floor, reach the left leg out, and switch, go.

(exhales) Resist, resist. The more you resist, the more you've got more intra-abdominal pressure, the more those abdominals are working. Your lats are engaged, the abdominals are pulling in, they're working harder. Woo, we love that. Four more, exhale, four, three, two, now reach the arms out, still going off position, and reach, and reach.

So now we're working into those obliques. Imagine your inner thighs are swishing against each other. Keeping those inner thighs engaged, and your feet are pointing out and reaching the same destination. Four, three, two, one. Bring you back to center, and slowly roll it down.

Take the ball, squeeze that ball, I want those hamstrings engaged. We inhale, transition, roll all the way up. Now, I want those hamstrings engaged, so you're going to really squeeze that ball. Just squeeze it, feel those hamstrings. Now we're going to roll in like a little ball, so we roll back, squeeze.

There you go, so our focus right now is squeezing as you come up, and really focus on those hamstrings. Your heel's towards your glutes, towards your butt. Inhale, keep that C curve with the spine as you come forward. Nothing is changing as you roll back. And I love this because in most cases, a lot of people kick back with their feet.

But here, the ball is stuck when you're doing that. You can't kick with your feet, you've got to truly work those abdominals as you come forwards to balance. Two more, inhale, and exhale. Last time, inhale, and exhale. Nice work, take your feet down, take the ball in between your ankles, transition down.

Reach the hands forward, and slowly take the hands to the side of the body, bend in your knees, and then reaching your legs out, ready for roll over. Inhale, 90, exhale, squeeze and roll over. Open, flex, but you can't open your legs. Roll down, and point the toes, and then come down. So inhale, 90, using your abdominals to go over, exhale, your legs are parallel, reach down and flex, now slowly, reaching out through the energy, rolling down through the spine, tailbone hits, you point your toes and you lower down.

And again, inhale, use your abs, and exhale. Inhale, flex, point the feet, and then roll down. Always trying to reach out through those heels as the tailbone hits, and then you gotta really keep that ball engaged as you go down. Let's do two more. Inhale, 90, and exhale.

Open and put your feet down to the floor, flex the heels. Feels beautiful, that lovely stretch through the lower back into the thoracic spine. One more time, inhale, 90, exhale, reach out, flex the feet, now roll down slowly. And then slowly take your legs down, bend your knees, take the hands up over your head. We're going to go into ball toss.

So, from here, extend the legs out, reach the legs up, take hold of the ball as you bring your head, neck and shoulders off the floor. Take the ball, lower all the way down. Lift up, now take the ball back between your inner thighs, and then press down. The palms go back, and again, head and shoulders come off the floor, and switch. The only time your head comes off the floor is when you're switching your hands to your ankles, your ball.

And again, lift up. And down, nice and controlled, four more. Exhale up, inhale through the nose. And exhale, nice work, ladies. Try and keep that tailbone down as much as you can.

I know flexibility prohibits, but try as much as you can. Last time, and then slowly bend your knees, bring your knees into your chest. We'll just give it a little stretch. Slowly reach your legs out, transition up, inhale, exhale, slowly roll all the way up. Sit up into a nice, straight position, take your feet into a V position, like a diamond, should I say, now bring your ball in between your knees.

So you're going to squeeze that ball, as you can feel those adductors, your inner thighs working. We're going to take your hands, wrap them around, and balance, squeeze. Now, we're going to exhale, roll back, and then we do a little extension, roll back, and lift. Rolling back, and as we go back, little extension, roll and lift. It's kinda like a mixture of a open leg rocker.

And then roll up, squeeze those inner thighs and lift. So roll, out, roll, now lift. Roll, out, roll, lift. Roll, reach, roll, now extension. You got to really work those inner thighs.

Reach, down, extension. One more time, curl through the spine, extension, roll, now reach. Now hold it there and see if you can balance. And five, four, three, two, one. Take hold of your feet, bend your knees and finish it off, and lift up nice and tall.

Nice work, so let's turn to your side. Now we're going to take your ball and place the ball just underneath, right by your rib cage right here. And you're going to place your hand behind your head. Okay, a little bit higher there, that's it, there you go. Perfect, so, now we're going to reach both legs out.

So now we've got the instability of the ball. We're going to go into side leg kicks, so reach that leg up. So we flex it front to front, reach back, one, two, and back, inhale, inhale, exhale back, good. Inhale, inhale, exhale back. Two more, one, two, reach back.

Last time, one, two, reach back. Now we're going to go into circles. So we're going to circle all the way up and back. Yeah, circle up, and back. That ball gives you that little extra balance challenge, doesn't it?

And lift, you guys are doing awesome. Last time, lift, now should we reverse it? And back, reach. And then back, lifting all the way up, bring your scapula down, really focus on the core as you're lifting up and over, the longest possible circle. Lift and then take the leg back, reach the hand forwards, and pulse it up.

Up, nice work, really draw the shoulder blades down, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and one. Bring the hand back, take it back to the side, and then slowly come down. Take the ball away. This time we're going to come down, take the ball just underneath your knee, and you'll squeeze it. So you can see I'm in external rotation.

I'm turned out from the hip, my ear is on my bicep. You can put your hand here for support today, but as we get challenged, I'm going to ask you to lift the hand off the floor. So we're just going to lift, and down. So find that balance, and for some reason, today, I think I haven't eaten enough potassium, because my little feet don't want to point today. I don't know what that is all about (laughing).

They're cramping today, so let's see if we can add a little balance challenge, and reach the hand out, nice work. So we've got to keep those hips stacked facing me. Up and down, five more, five, four, and three, two. Now this time hold it up, little pulses, exhale, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, draw the shoulder blade down and the hip open, nine, now hold it here, hold. Now place the hand back down, we're going to need a little bit more support, we're going to go internally rotate with that thigh.

So you go in, out, in, out. In, out, so you're really rotating through that hip, internal, external. Now try and make a tap, in, make a tap. There you go, that really forces you to work through that external rotation in the hip. Can you feel that, just that little extra tap, yes, it goes a big way, working right in that gluteal fold.

Four more, four, lift, three, draw in those abs a little bit more on that point. Two, and one, nice work. Let's take the ball away, bend your knees, and then just go into a beautiful mermaid, because it looks very pretty (laughing). And then slowly, let's lift it all the way up. Let's go to the other side.

Just place it down. And then place the hand behind the head. Try and bring your feet a little bit further forwards if you're having problems balancing, or you can also bend the underneath leg, too, alright? So hands behind your head, we'll just go into our side kick, four, three, two, one, flex it. And exhale (exhales).

Good, and back. One, two, and back. It's always strange how one side is always stronger than the other side, right? But that's the human body, and that's why we do Pilates for symmetry, right? And exhale, good, keep drawing the shoulder blades down, nice work.

Two more times (exhales). Last time, and then reach that leg behind. Now, we're going to take it to the side, and we're going to do our circles, ready? Forwards, go, forwards, lift, round slow and controlled. It's all about being slow and controlled.

That's it, forwards, keep lifting up and out of that socket, and down. One more time, forwards, lift up and out, woo, as I lose it, now, reverse it and reach. And I always think of if you're lifting up and out of the mat, so there should be no dead weight in the mat, so you're lifting up and out of the mat. I think that really helps to execute the move a little bit more fluidly. One last time, lift up and out, now reach that leg behind, hand forwards, beautiful arabesque, lift, lift, so you're really working deep into that glute maximus.

Push it out, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Take your hand behind the head, bring the leg to the side, finish it off, take hold of the ball, all the way down. Take the ball just in the crease and bend the knee. Ready, so lift it up and down, so it goes up and down. Up and down, now if you guys are feeling good, you're feeling groovy, let's take the hand up.

There you go, now look and focus on your body right now. Focus on keeping that hip turned out, your hips are stacked, they're facing me. Now find that point, point. And every time you point, try and get that knee open a little bit more. So you're really trying to open out the hip.

Every time you tip that toe, think of opening up that hip just a little bit more. And squeeze in that ball, focus on those hamstrings. Beautiful, can you give me three more? Three, two, one. And bring your hand for support for the internal, external, four, three, two, and you take in, touch, in, squeeze, that's it.

Open, (exhales), inhale, exhales) nice. (exhales) Good job, nice, you look beautiful. Four more, four, three, two, and one more, now little pulses, I think we've got little pulses here. Good, eight more, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Nice work, guys, take hold of your ball, let's come up into your mermaid. Bend your knees, lift up and over into your mermaid, and hold it like that.

And then slowly come all the way down. Let's turn to this side here. Now, we're going to roll down, inner thighs are connected together, and we're going to roll down through the spine. Now this time, you're going to take your ball and place it back underneath the sacrum, tailbone. Now, hands either side of the body, bring your right knee up, then your left knee.

And extend both legs up to the sky, beautiful. So find your comfort in that position. You're still in neutral position, even though you're elevated. Now we're going to go into scissors. So scissor right leg, you exhale, scissor.

Switch, double, double. So we're going to mimic some of the movements that you could normally do on a spine corrector. So now you're in hip extension, keeping the upper body still, beautiful. Good, now focus on keeping that tailbone down, so you're not moving those hips. And a level split, the front leg is level with the back leg.

Four more, exhale, four, three, and then we're going to go into single counts. You ready, last time. Single counts for 10, exhale, 10 nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Bring your right leg back into split, and hold that split, you ready? We're going to go into our helicopter.

Four, three, two, into helicopter round. And split, and just keep going in the same direction. There you go, so you're going to your right, and imagine you're going through quicksand, you're resisting, don't rush that split, don't rush the circle, ladies, I can see you. Slow and controlled. There you go, feel every single part of that hip.

Let's, should we go to the other side? Let's go to the other side. So split, find where you feel stiff, and try and work through that stiffness in your hip. Big circle, quicksand, quicksand, there you go, nice, good Christie, and split. Focus on the neutral pelvis, beautiful.

And you're going to give me one more. Now bring the legs together, turn down. Let's go into a froggy, so lower your legs. Feel those abdominals engage, hold it right there, now froggy. Flex out, flex out.

So you're going to where you feel those abdominals working, still focusing on that pelvis in a neutral position. Beautiful, push out five more. Inhale, exhale, four (exhales). Three, (exhales) two, (exhales) one. And let's do extended fox, so we go frog, extend out to the side, now point your toes, you bring them together.

And again, flex the feet, frog, and out, point the toes, and pull together. And flex, and all the way open, now slowly and controlled together. Let's reverse it, so open wide, now bring the heels together, nice, and extend out. Be careful as you're bringing the heels together. You're still keeping that tailbone down, you're not tipping the pelvis.

And out, nice, and open. Flex, keeping the knees wide. Can you give me one more for good luck? Okay, open and flex, and reach those legs out. Bring your legs straight up.

Let's go into circle, so you're going to parallel position, you're going to up and around, and be careful, you can move your hips. I love this because you're just moving those hips. It's okay to move your hips. I'm fine right now, you can roll with that ball. There you go, it feels lovely in the lower spine.

Take your legs as low as you want, and feel those abdominals, because then you've got to bring them back up again, and down. And up and over, and down. One more time, yeah. And then slowly come back up to here, up to 90 degrees. Now, we're going to take it down to about 45 degree, and hold it there.

Now, keeping your knees still, we're going to tip down to the floor, extend and pull back. And again, so you go down, you've got to keep the thighs still as you go down. Think of hamstrings, quads, abs. So it's abdominals, hammies, quads as you extend, and lift. Nice work, ladies, you guys look gorgeous.

And bend, use your abs as you reach out and up. Let's do two more like this. This looks easier than what it is, doesn't it? (laughs) And up, one more, let's just hold it down there, and we're going to tip the toes for 10, 10. Reach out, nine.

Reach out, eight. Reach out, seven. Using those abs, six. (exhales) Five. Good, now dip, four.

(exhales) Three. (exhales) Two. (exhales) One. Now slowly use those abs to bring them back up, nice work. Bend in your knees, extend the left leg, and bring your right knee in.

This is my favorite hip flexor stretch, because you're already in hip extension. This is worth going to Toys R Us and spending 1.99 on this ball, just for this stretch alone, it's so worth it. Press your pelvis up, and you get a beautiful stretch. Okay, ladies, other side. Less of the stretching, unfortunately, one more side.

Press your knee towards your chest, and hold it there. Take a deep breath, and slowly take your foot down, and we're going to bend your knees and take away the ball. Beautiful, bend in your knees, and placing the ball in between your ankles. Alright, we're going to go into advanced corkscrew. So we're going to take your legs down to 45 degrees.

We're going to inhale, exhale, take it all the way over. Let's go down the right side of the body, so we go right down, inhale, and then swick it around, and over. Let's go to the other side, so you're going down the left side, swish around, inhale, exhale and come up, and go back. Let's go back in the same direction. Down and around, and back.

And let's try that again, down, whip, and back. Slowly think of going right the way down each side. And back, let's do one more time. Slowly rolling down and back. Now, your feet are all way back.

Let's take your hands all the way around, and let's hold onto those feet. Press the weight into your hands, and really stretch out that lower spine, up in through the thoracic spine, flex the energy out through the heels. Now we're going to slowly roll down, try and hold onto those legs as long as you can, getting the length through the hamstrings. Hold it as much as you can, until the tailbone comes down. And then slowly bend in your knees.

Good job, let's take your ball, reach the legs out, hands over your head, we're going to slowly roll all the way up. And now we're going to come onto our tummies. We're going to face this direction, rolling down. Now, I love this part because it really opens up the chest area. So place the ball just right in your sternum, just right, just the middle of your sternum, right here, okay?

Beautiful, now place your hands behind your head, and you can curl your toes underneath. It just helps you get a little bit more traction as you're coming up. Place the hands into, lock the hands, and then curve forwards over the ball. Inhale, exhale, and lift up, and let the ball take you up a little bit further through the thoracic spine. And then curve down.

And again, exhale, lift all the way up, and then curve down forwards. Let's go a little bit quicker, so you exhale up, two, down, two, up, two, down, two, focus on that mid upper back as you lift in and closing in forwards. Open, and down, two more. (exhales) Last time. Now hold it here, and reach the hands forwards.

Reach, reach, reach, reach, reach. Your head in line with your biceps. Come here, go, reach and take the arms all the way round, pinky touches, bend your elbows and then come back down again. And again, inhale, lengthen through the upper spine, now reach up and out, up and out, palms are still rotated, bend the elbows as if you're on a plane of glass, and then come back down again. And again, inhale, drawing the shoulder blades down, feel that nice extension through the thoracic, reach and go a little bit further up over the ball, up over the ball, elbows bent, and slowly come down.

Lift one more time. Inhale, extension, shoulder blades pull down. Nice job, guys, lift up a little bit higher. Use that ball to get your higher through the thoracic. Bend your elbows, nice work, and down.

Good job, let's take the ball forwards, reaching the hands and placing your palms of your hands on the ball. Now we're going to gently pull your scapula down first. And let's go back again, let's just feel that shoulder depression as you're pulling your scapula down and back, so you're really working through the lats and your serratus. Now this time, we'll do our first step, which is scapula pull down, then you're going to go into your upper spine and pull up. Pull the shoulder blades down, head in line with the spine, and then come back down again.

And again, shoulder blades pulled down, lift up so it's one continuous movement, and then back down again. And again, scapula pulls down, set the scapula, set your upper shoulder girdle stability, lifting up, and then down. Good, let's do one more time, pull it down, now lift up, now hold it here. Let's release the right hand, look to the right hand. Now the opposite arm is pressing down against the ball, hold it there.

Nice, take the hand forwards, and then slowly come down, controlled. Shoulder blades pulled back, lifting up, find your stability there, that underneath arm is supporting you, and look back, looking back, shoulder blades pulled down, and then reaching forwards. Okay, let's give me two more like that. And again, shoulder blades pulled back, now hold it here, now open, and fall back. That's it, hold it there, hold, palm down.

And then reach forwards, and then come back down again, and shoulder blades pulled back, lift up. So this is your last time. Look back, and then slowly bring the hand forwards, and reach. Let's slowly walk back, holding your ball, and then come back into child's pose and just stretch that lower back. And we're going to slowly curl through the spine, and I want you to curl through the toes.

Now, what we're going to do is take your ball and place the ball in between your ankles, that's it. And then slowly roll all the way up. Now once you squeeze, engage the inner thighs with the ball. And what it's going to do is force you to keep over your toes as you're rolling down, so squeeze those inner thighs. So inhale, keep your weight over your toes, and imagine you're tipping up and over, and you're rolling down, squeezing that ball.

So the inner thighs are engaged, the abdominals are engaged, and you're rolling down because you're keeping your weight on those toes. While you're squeezing the balls, now from here, you're going to walk hands out four times. One, two, three, four, pushup. Inhale, exhale, walk back. One, two, three, four, keep the weight, squeeze the ball, roll all the way up.

And again, inhale, exhale, rolling down, keeping the weight forwards, over your toes, ready, walk out, one, two, three, four, two pushups, and one, and two. Walk back, one, two, three, four, now keep the weight on your toes, and roll all the way up. One more time for three pushups. Slowly curl down, keep the weight over the toes, there you go, really initiate through the inner thighs, the adductors, walk, one, two, three, four, ready? Three pushups, go, one, two, three, and walk back, one, two, three, four, and slowly roll all the way up.

We're going to reach the hands up and over, up. Now we're going to bend and come forwards, reaching forward, squeezing the ball. Now from here, your thumbs are reaching up to the sky, and we're going to pulse it up like a hitchhiker. Squeezing that ball, squeeze, 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, slowly curl down, and roll all the way back up again. Raise the hands over your head, curl back forwards once again.

Last time, pulse for 10, you take it, 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, reach down, and slowly roll all the way up, raise the hands over your head. One more time, reaching down, and slowly let's come down onto the floor. Let's take hold of your ball. You're just going to place the ball in between your knees. We're just going to finish off very quickly.

We're going to roll down through the spine, squeezing. Now squeeze in that ball, we're going to go into a pelvic curl, inhale, exhale, squeeze the ball, pelvic curl, and come all the way up. Now hold it here, now squeeze the ball for 10 times. Squeeze, 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. 10 more, 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, hold.

Pelvic tilt, tilt, tilt, tilt, tilt, squeeze. Squeeze, squeeze, 10 more. And 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, now squeeze. Slowly pelvic curl down through the spine. Let's take hold of your ball, you can grab your ball and take the ball over your head.

Inhale, exhale, pelvic curl all the way up. Back up into your bridge position. Transfer your weight to the right leg, and lift that leg up. Let's see, point it down, down, flex up. Down, flex up, you're reaching out, up, (exhales) and up, good, keep the hips high.

So we don't want any saggy bougies we say (laughs). Three, two, just give me one more, one. Now hold it here, bend your knee, keep the hips nice and high, transfer your weight and lift the opposite leg, ready? Four, three, two, take it down, and up, down, and up, beautiful. Every time you toss that leg, you want to get your hips a little bit higher.

Breathe, good, we're nearly there. Four, three, two, and one. Now point your toe, bend your knee, keep those hips nice and high, slowly rolling down. Now we're going to take the ball, we're going to roll all the way up first. We're just going to place the ball just in your thoracic spine.

So you're going to come down lower, just kind of where your bra line is, and we're just going to take the hands behind the head, this feels really good, and just open (sighs). So you're getting that lovely stretch, and you can just kind of edge your way into that stretch. So it's in your thoracic, kind of where your bra line is, and just open. Now, let's bring your inner thighs, connect them together so your inner thighs are connected, your abdominals are pulled in, and your knees are connected, too. So we inhale here, exhale, and we're going to curve and lift up, and look towards your belly button, and then inhale and come back.

Let's go a little bit quicker, ready? So you go up, up, down, down. Up, up, down, the breath is exhale up, (exhales) inhale down. (exhales) So the beautiful thing about this particular exercise is you're working your abs, but you're also opening up at your chest, which is often the thing that all of us need to do, but never get a chance to. Three more, back, two more, exhale, exhale, keep squeezing those inner thighs together. One more time, (exhales) now we're opening here.

We're going to rotate towards the left side first, so you rotate left, and back down. Right, so elbow's going towards the knee. Now be mindful that your pelvis is not shifting. That's the hard part. Got to keep that opposite hip still.

Exhale, look in the direction that you're going, and try and go a little bit further, just to really work into those obliques. Beautiful. (exhales) And again. (exhales) Can you give me two more? Focus on keeping that hip still, that opposite hip that's moving, keep it still. (exhales) And back. Now we're going to try and go to circles.

So we lift up to the left side, come back down, and again, one more time, and we're going to try and go into a little circle. So you circle back and you lift. You circle back and you lift. So you're circling back and lift. So circle back, and then you go into that rotation.

Be careful that hip doesn't move. So you're circling back, going into that rotation. Yes, circle back, keeping both hips as still as you can. All the way back, now look up to the sky, so you're getting that beautiful extension through the thoracic. Circle down and keeping that opposite hip down.

Beautiful, Lisa, she's really working deep into those obliques, nice. Just give me two more, ladies. Beautiful work, gorgeous. One more time, and then come all the way back. From this position, I want you to reach your arms into a V position, and then bend your elbows, so we're in a slightly external rotation.

And think of drawing the shoulder blades down towards your pelvis, and think of drawing the ribcage down and together, just to get a little bit more stretch in the shoulders. And take deep breaths in that position, and take a deep breath, inhale through the nose, exhale through the ribcage, pulling down to get that further stretch through the thoracic. And again, inhale through the nose, and then exhale. Feel the heart rate coming back down. Next breath, reach the arms out to side, and we're going to gently bring our arms.

We're going to hug a tree, we're going to bring it up in front, and then out to the side. All the time, I want you to maintain shoulder stability, so there's no movement going on in your shoulders right now. Beautiful, it's all through the work through your chest. Nice work, guys, and out. And in, just give me one more.

And out, and in, and the last time, just take it all the way out. Take another deep breath, take the hands, rest them down onto the floor, and slowly bring the arms all the way down. Now gently, we're going to slowly take the ball away, graciously, (laughs) and reach the hands over your head with the ball. There's no gracious way to get out of that move, unfortunately. Inhale, here, exhale, slowly roll all the way up.

And let's just face forwards to me, nice work, guys. You're going to bend your knees, and just take your ball and place your ball underneath the knee, and take the opposite leg behind in a Z position, and then just walk the hands forward. So you're slight in hip extension. You're going to feel a little bit more stretch through the hip. There you go, and hold it there in that stretch.

Just take a deep breath, and take time just to connect with yourself. We live in a busy, rushed day every day. There's never any time for us time, just to sit and relax, and take deep breaths. It's a wonder that we often breathe. Sometimes we go through life without even taking a few seconds just to really connect with our body and just taking deep breaths.

And then slowly roll all the way up. Take your hand and go opposite into mermaid, and just hold that stretch. Circle around, and hip, and circle around, and hip. And then release, nice work. Let's go to the other side.

Just place it underneath the knee, and come into a Z position, lift up nice and tall, and then you can walk forwards. Oh, yes, that feels gorgeous. And then all the way down. Deep breath, inhale and exhale. Really focus on opening that hip just a little bit more.

Just take a time just to get in touch with your breathing. On the next breath, we're going to roll all the way up. And let's go into our mermaid, reach the hand, and then spiral it up. Let's do a nice circle, circle, and hip. And circle, and hip.

And then slowly lift up. Bring your legs together, and we're just going to take a deep breath, and we're going to raise the hands over your head. And exhale, bring back down again, one more time. Inhale, lift, and exhale. Nice work, guys, it feels good to take that last little bit just to stretch and just get back in touch with you.

Good to see you, thank you. (laughs) (applauding)

Comments

F B
6 people like this.
one of the best classes I've taken. I felt everything in correct alignment and also it was a hard work for the core.
Thank you.
CJ
5 people like this.
excellent class, excellent instructions. keep it up.we need more of your variety of classes. thanks a million. loved it. blanche pinto.
1 person likes this.
I like the song.... Its keep me up, focus and stay out from boredoom.
More class with the song please ...
Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback, continue to enjoy :)
2 people like this.
great variety! loved the creativity!

thank you
Great class, simple, effective & fun! Nice flow! Thank you Tracey!
3 people like this.
you are my new favorite , Tracey!! your cueing is so gentle yet precise..you make me want to relax into it but work deeper... I love your classes ...got your Booty Barre DVD...I didn't shake quite as much my second time !! You are really challenging me !! Merry Christmas !!!!
3 people like this.
Very impressive. I have added this class to my favorites. Thanks!
Thank you so much for all your kind comments. Flow in a class is so important, I like to call it seamless. I love to feel each movement moves into the next without effort. I love the small ball in mat Pilates, it adds just enough variety but doesn't take away form the essence of true Pilates. Enjoy and look forward to bringing more classes here!
2 people like this.
Totally enjoyed the class! Simple yet effective, both physically and financially:0)
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