Class #3256

Nice and Effective Mat

30 min - Class
746 likes

Description

If you like using Hand Weights, then this quick Mat workout by Meredith Rogers is perfect for you. She teaches nice and simple movements so that you can check-in with your whole body throughout the class. She also adds in a few coordination exercises to challenge your mind in addition to your body.
What You'll Need: Mat, Hand Weights

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Transcript

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Who likes weights? I like weights. I hope you do too 'cause we're gonna use the weights. So, let's do it. Sitting up.

Getting organized. Taking the weights and just allowing them to rest on your shin. I have two pound weights so they're not incredibly heavy, but I wouldn't go heavier than three pounds, and maybe even one pound, and I promise you that at some stage in the game these weights will feel heavy. But for now imagine that they're heavy and they're just resting on the shins, and the heaviness of the weights on the shins could allow the spine to be more buoyant, or lengthen or light. And breathe in.

And breathe out as you tuck your tail under and just hold your weights as they are. So they'll prevent you from backing up, but try not to do any round shouldery stuff. So, we're just flexing the lower spine and then press the weights into the shins, and use your arms to pull you up. And inhale and exhale, keeping the weights as they are, but you could potentially imagine rolling them down your shin. So maybe stretching the skin of your shin toward your ankle, and then pulling the skin of your shin.

That rhymes, that makes it fun for me, towards your knee. Oh, that rhymes too. Inhale and exhale, one more time. Skin of the shin down towards the ankles. Skin of the shins up towards the knee, and now lift the arms overhead.

Take the arms out to the sides, around as you reach the weights forward, and roll back. Finding the lower back on the mat, lift the arms overhead. Take the arms out to the sides, reach forward and roll up. Arms out in front and lift the arms up. Take the arms wide and round the spine.

And roll back, control. And lift the arms up. Open the arms out. Bring the arms for gathering, collecting yourself and roll up. Maybe the weights already feel heavy.

Inhale, up, open, out. And round and roll back. And inhale and open and reach forward and roll up, up, up, last time. Open the arms out, we're gonna transition at the bottom. Round down, be prepared, roll down.

And take the arms out, now inhale. As you exhale, take that right arm to the left arm. Inhale, open and center. Exhale, take the left arm to the right arm. Doesn't have to touch and they don't have to be level, but you're just bringing one right over the other and finding center.

And one right over to the other and finding center. And twist, and center. And twist, and center. And let's take the arms forward and roll up, up, up, up. Bringing the arms with us, take the arms out to the sides, reach forwards and roll all the way down.

Once you've arrived onto to your back, either scoot your feet into you or scoot your body into your feet, reaching the weights down at your sides, and here you can imagine rolling them away from you. Inhale, in fact, put the heels of the hands, rather than holding your weights, put the heels of the hands on the weights, and as you exhale and roll up, try to roll your weights away from you. So lifting up, lifting both hips, pressing down and forward on the weights. And then exhale, roll down and as you roll down again try to find the sensation of pushing the weights away. Where are you pushing them away from?

From your hands, no? From your back muscles. And inhale, and exhale, push down and reach away. Standing on both feet as you lift the hips up into the air. And inhale, feeling the connection of the body.

And exhale, roll down sending the arms away, maximizing the flexion of the lower spine. Dropping the pelvis down. Let's do that one more time. Inhale and exhale, roll up. Standing equally on both of your feet, and inhale and exhale, rolling the weights away, away, away.

And then take the weights in your hands again, so be prepared to pick them up is all I'm saying. Roll up, so hips up high. We're gonna lift the right arm and the left leg. Take the arm back. Place everything down.

Now transition, stabilize. Opposite, so you're marching in space and watch that as you put one leg down and go to lift the other leg up that the spine just stays absolutely still. So there's some concentrated effort definitely needing to happen, just at that transition point mostly, at the transition point. And back, we'll do two more to each side. One arm, one leg, and stabilize.

One arm, one leg, and stabilize. Hips up high. One arm, one leg, and down. Last time, and down. Lift both arms all the way overhead, lifting the hips up nice and high, and then as you roll your spine down, take your arms out to the side.

Allow the arms just rest in the hands. So mine are just off my mat 'cause I have to be. Lifting one leg at a time, we're gonna inhale. Take the knees to the left and exhale. Pull back through center.

Inhale, take the legs over in the opposite direction. Exhale, pull back through center, and inhale, reaching over, stretching through the body, keeping the knees aligned, and exhale. Coming back to center, and inhale. Over to the other side, and exhale. Coming back to center.

Now see what it feels like to, as your legs go to the left, let the right arm reach across the body, and then as the legs come to center, bring the arm out to the side. As the legs go to the right, reach the right arm across the body, feeling that all of our movements are connected. And center and an inhale, and then exhale. And then inhale, and then exhale. And then bring the arms over the chest, and inhale, and exhale, curl the head and chest forwards, forwards, reaching through the weights.

Lift the arms up towards the ears and bring the whole body backwards. Initiate the movement with the arms, once the arms pass the shoulders lift the head and chest. Press through the arms, then lift the arms up and reach back. We're gonna do three more. Exhale, head, chest, arms.

Inhale, lift the arms and back. Exhale, head, chest, arms. Inhale, lift the arms and back. One more time. Nice and simple movements today.

Hope you enjoy simplicity, I sure do. We're gonna lower the legs, lift the arms. Press the arms down, lift the legs up. Lower the legs, lift the arms. Keep the heighth of the body consistent.

Exhale, reverse. Inhale, reach down to lift up. Exhale, press back. Inhale, curl the body higher. Exhale, press back.

We go three, and back or reaching forward. Two, so follow the weights forward. One more time and back. Let the knees come down into the chest. Lay the head down for just a moment.

Press the weights away from you to curl the head and chest back up. Lift the legs, lift the arms. Right leg down, left arm up. And change, so it's a little bit of coordination. So both is the same side of the body is lifted.

We're gonna do two more. Oh, almost there. And both legs up, and body comes down. Roll the weights and we lift the head and chest back up. Now, we're gonna take the right leg to the mat.

We're gonna reach across. Touch the left arm with the right arm. Come center. Other direction. Touch the right arm with the left arm, come center.

Don't try to go too far across, you wanna keep the arms just outside the thighs. Just outside the thighs. And go five, and center. Push down every time you're in center. Four and center.

Four and center. Three, I know it's hard. Hard is good, I think. Two. Last one, make it the best one.

And then both knees in. Head and chest down. Feet down on the mat. Readjust your clothes if they're falling off. Take the legs out straight.

Bring the arms up overhead. Palms of the hands face each other. Inhale, bring the head and chest in just into the chest up position, taking the arms just to the thighs. Exhale, roll the body up. Turn the palms down.

Reach out over your legs, bend the elbows, lift the back. Rotate the shoulders, reach up and back through the arms. Take the arms out to the side, reach forward, and roll back. Stretching the legs away, taking the arms up overhead. Let's just keep the palms up and down, and then inhale, so now they're down is what I mean.

Exhale, roll up, up, reaching out over the legs. Bend the elbows to lift the back. Externally rotate the shoulders. Keep your elbows in your periphery. Reach up and back, take the arms out to the sides.

Bring the arms across and roll down, and back. Inhale, head and chest, exhale, roll up. And bend the elbows, lift the back. Externally rotate, reach arm, thoracic extension. Take the arms out to the side, bring the arms forward.

We're gonna do two more, so you can get excited about that if you'd like. Or not excited, or whatever you choose. But that's the plan. Rounding through, bend the elbows, lift the back. Externally rotate the shoulders, reach up and back, abdominals in, open the arms, reach forward, roll back.

This is our last one. Reach up and back. Lift the head and chest, curl the spine up. Bend the arms, lift the back, externally rotate the shoulders, reach up and back. Pause.

Feel alive. Open out to the side, palms face up, abdominals in, flex your feet and twist. One, two, center. One, two, center. And lift as you twist.

And lift as you twist. If it's too heavy to hold the arms out like this, just bring them across the chest. So up to you. Let's do this. Let's all come across the chest with the arms.

Lift and rotate the spine. Now take the arm that's closest to the back of you and reach behind you and turn and look at it. And bend, and come center. And lift the back and rotate, and turn and look back at that arm, and bend and center. And inhale and exhale.

And inhale and center. And inhale and exhale. And inhale, whoop, and center, sorry. Inhale, I was getting ahead of myself, exhale. Stay rotated, Meredith.

And center, and inhale and exhale, and keep the rotation as the arms come back and center and bend your knees and just rest your weights on your ankles. Sorry my top just doesn't like to stay on. Sit back a little bit. Knees are together. Elbows are wide.

Just know that the weights are gonna, the difference of the weights make the rolling like a ball feel different, so just look after yourself. It's not scary, it just will feel different, here we go. Rock back. Roll up. Oh my god, the weights pull you up, don't they?

And rock back. Bounce, and roll up. And rock back. Bounce, and roll up. And rock back.

And roll up, one more. Rock back. Roll up. Take the arms out to the front of you. Start bicycling the legs.

So you're bicycling your legs and you're gonna lower your body. You're riding the bike downhill, and then you're riding the bike uphill. Oh yes, and then you ride the bike downhill, keeping the reach through the arms. And then you ride the bike uphill, control. One more time, ride the bike downhill.

And ride the bike uphill. Oh, and now, pedal the legs in the opposite direction. Ride the bike downhill and ride the bike uphill and ride the bike downhill and ride the bike uphill. I'm laughing 'cause it's kind of fun, and I hope you're having fun. It's our last time.

We're gonna come up. We're gonna go back down. Rolling the knees into the chest, place the head and chest down. Hips, heels of the hands on the weights, stretch the legs long, lift them up, exhale, press down on the weights to roll over. Flex the feet, separate the legs, roll down through the spine, and as you do feel as though you are reaching your heels behind you, pressing the upper arms into the mat, dropping the pelvis all the way down, point the feet, bring the legs around, lift up, exhale, press down to go over.

Inhale, flex, and separate, and exhale to go down, reaching through the heels. Let's do one more, reach through, lift up, exhale, press down, roll over. Flex the feet, separate the legs, push the heels away as you roll down, and then if you can without losing spinal control, bring the feet, take the legs all the way down to the mat, lift the arms up, keep the feet wide, flex the feet, lift the head and chest, and roll up all the way. Here's another readjust your pants opportunity. I know I'm not the only one, and if I am, I apologize for taking the time.

So sitting tall, inhale, exhale round forward. Allow the weights to carry you forward. Let the weights come down just toward your shins or your ankles. And then lengthen through your spine, allowing the palms of the hands to slide back along the shins, push the weights back down, roll up all the way, bringing the weights out in front of us. Inhale, sit tall.

Exhale, roll down, reaching the weights out, and then allow the spine to elongate, bringing the back up along, the hands have to slide along the shins. Take the arms forward and peel up. Soft shoulder blades, three more times. Inhale, and exhale, round down. Lengthen the body, chest reaching out and up, abdominals pointing way back and in.

Press the weights down. This is where you learn if it's time to shave. And sit up all the way, last two. Round down, that was meant to be a joke that probably wasn't even that funny, that's all right. Lengthen out, sliding the hands up the shins, lifting the skin towards the knees.

Exhale, push it away towards the ankles, and roll all the way. Did I say two more? I don't know, I'm gonna do one more anyway 'cause it feels good. Round down, reach through, pull the back long. Yes, reach back forward, roll up all the way, take the arms out to the side, twist to the left, take the left arm back and the right arm just to the outside of the right foot.

Put the left arm down, length and use that back arm to support, come to center. Twist to the right, reach forward, put the back arm down. Use it for support as you lengthen out, lift it back up and open to center. Inhale, and exhale, and slide the arms away from one another to lift, open the arms in center and inhale, and exhale. Back arm anchors reach out, up and center.

Last time to each side, feel the freedom of the spine. The freedom of the spine. Up and center and last one, reaching through. Top arm reaches, bottom arm anchors, lift up, find center, take the arms down. Turn onto your side.

So we're gonna put the head down on the arm. You can still hold the weight. You're gonna put the other weight just down the side of the leg. And what I want you to do is I want you to press down into your leg as you reach both legs up, reaching the arm out towards the knee, and then down. And then reach out and up, and down.

And exhale, sending the legs long and down. Two more like that, sending the legs long, and down. Last time, sending the legs long, hold there. Take the arm up and now lift just the legs up, and as the legs go down, reach overhead and then lift up, and then reach over as we've got some moving things here. And reach up, and then overhead, and we'll just do two more.

Lift up and overhead, and one more. Lift up and overhead, and then place that arm down, take the back leg, excuse me, the top leg behind you. I get to hang my leg below the mat but you just reach your leg way away from you and send that front arm way out in front of you and find yourself a stretch. And then let's bend the bottom knee, take the arm rested on the leg, turn the leg in, meaning turn the knee down, the toes relaxing, just take the leg out and out and out. So the simplest exercises are great reminders for us to check in what's happening in the center of the body.

We'll do five, four, three, two, one. Bring the arm in front of you, take the leg forward, up, take it to the back, swing it down. Bring it forward, lift it up, take it to the back and then down, three more times. Forward and up, around to the back and down. Two more times, forward and up, around to the back and down.

One more time, forward and up, around to the back and down. Reverse the circle, go back, feel the rotation of the hip, bring the leg forward, press from the back of the leg back and up, around to the front and down. And again, back and up, around to the front and down. Last two, back and up, around to the front and down. One more, back and up, around to the front and down.

Bend your knee, push up, leave the weights, cross the leg over. Can't do hip work without stretching in my class. Sitting the hips down, lifting the spine tall, enjoy, breathe, lengthen, release. So many instructions and then grab your weights and head to the other side. So we've got the sliding my weight to rest in the hand, clothing adjustment, arm on the thigh, lining up, inhaling, pressing down, we're just creating a little resistance and want you to feel that you're taking that arm further along your thigh as your thighs lift, and down.

And reach the arm out towards the knee and then again naval to spine so we're working through the center of our body, just two more times. Reach out and up, and down, and reach out and up, and now hold here, lifting the arm overhead. Now just lower the legs and then as they lift up we take the arm overhead, and then down. I think I did that in reverse on the other side. So let's take the arm up and then lift the arm, sorry, as your legs lift and that feels the same and reach around.

And lift as the legs lift, and reach overhead. Last two, lift as the legs lift, almost like you're pulling your legs up with your arm. One more time, up and all the way down, allowing the leg to hang to the back, stretching the arm way out in front, big stretch. And then come back, bend the bottom knee, take the top leg out, the top arm out, we internally rotate that hip and just down and up. Just using the weight to create tension, to create weight.

So just out and up, thinking about the waist. And we'll do four and three and two and one. And then take the arm down, bring that leg to the front, keep the torso still, reach around to the back and down. Bring the leg to the front, reach up and around to the back, big, long stretch behind you and through and up and reach behind and down. And use this arm to push, last one.

Forward and up, reach behind, creating energy in your body, and reach out, bring the leg around to the front and down. And reach out, bring the leg around to the front, press from the back of the leg as it goes back. Three more times, around and forward and down and back. Around and forward and down, two. Around and forward and down, one.

That's awesome, so just press up. Leave your weights there, bring that leg around to the front of you. Oh, get it nice and tight into the body. Sit down into the hip, using the arms, using the spinal extensors, bringing the knee across the body, trying to go a little heavier onto the hip. Breathing, releasing, releasing, sometimes I feel like there's so much to release.

Maybe we should stay here for just another second and release. Okay, now, come onto our stomach. The weights should be right there waiting for you. Taking them in your hands, so not holding with your hands, but again just resting the heel of your hands on the weights. I can't quite do that and stay on the mat all the way.

'Kay so what we're gonna do is we're gonna roll the weight in the left arm away as we reach the right leg up and lift the spine and then everything comes back down. And then roll the right weight away, lift the back, and down and in. Left arm, right leg, and down. And right arm, left leg, so continue with that, or pick the weight up, and down. You decide what feels better to you.

I like the rolling away, but this is nice too. Leading with the arm, and leading with the arm We'll just do one more time, reaching out and reaching out and then down. Bring the arms out to a t-position. Bring the arms to the thighs as you reach your back up, and then lower the body as arms reach out. And reach the back up, bringing the weights right to the thighs.

And reach up, palms facing down. Reach out and back, and down, last two. Reach out and back, and down, one more time. Reach out and back, and all the way down. Bend the arms, rest the weights in front of you.

Allow your head to rest into the hands. Allow just a moment for your back to settle. Maybe you're rocking the pelvis from side to side, and then placing the forearms underneath us, let's come up onto the hands and knees. We're gonna take the arm that's furthest away from me, so you're rotating towards me, you let that arm slide under, so you're on the back of the shoulder, so stretching through the shoulders. We got a lot of arm work today.

And then using the arm that is still on the mat that can produce force to help the rotation, and then a single arm pushup to come up. We go the other way, bending the elbow, turning into the stretch, pressing back up, and then just sitting all the way back towards your heels, inhale, exhale, roll through the spine, allow the hips to come forward, extend through the body, take a stretch. Press the shins into the mat, round your spine, and sit back and then roll through, hips come forward, lift the chest, through the arms, press away and back. Last one, roll through, moving the body like a wave, just enjoy, reach up, using the backs of the legs to support that back extension and then come back up. Sit all the way back down onto your feet for a moment or two.

And roll all the way up through the spine. There's nothing like a pair of weights to make a quick, quick workout nice and effective. Enjoy your day.

Comments

5 people like this.
Oh yes!! Very effective!! Thanks a lot Meredith!
Pascale Perez
EXcellent class!! I loved it! Thank you Meredith
2 people like this.
Was that 30 mins, wow a great short work out, thank you Meredith
3 people like this.
Great class! As usual. Love your pace and clarity of instruction. Thank you! (P.S. I got the joke! I need to shave too! LOL!)
3 people like this.
This was great! I liked the side series, I need to work on more stability. I wish there was a love button! Thanks so much 😊
2 people like this.
First time for this one - loved it, thank you!
1 person likes this.
This was a great morning-workout!!! Thank you, Meredith!!! You are my favorite!:)
1 person likes this.
Really great workout! Thank You!
Loved this class Meredith! Quick, simple and VERY effective! Thank you!!
Beautiful execution and lovely combinations of movements. Thank you!
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