Class #3601

Conditioning Reformer

55 min - Class
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Challenge your strength, balance, and control with this athletic conditioning Reformer workout by Ed Botha. He teaches a class that he typically gives his clients, which includes exercises he used to rehabilitate his knee after surgery. He shares wonderful variations to exercises like Side Splits with Saw, Front Splits with Rotation, and much more!
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

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Hi, my name is Ed, I'm from Sydney, Australia, originally from South Africa and I am so excited to be back at polite is anytime and with me I've got Martha and Mandy. So kind of m and m together. Yeah, that's pretty funky. Alright, it's a good start. And I'm going to be taking you guys through a conditioning workout. So this is a really, it's a workout for everyone. It's not just for athletes and it's a the typical workout that I've been doing with my clients over the last year and they've always had a lot of fun.

Really enjoyed it and you come out feeling great. So ladies enjoy. So what we're going to do is we're going to just start with the standing roll down. So feet parallel in, apply these hip distance apart, arms down at your side. And what's important for me is that your arms are parallel and your thumbs are facing forward so that we already have the shoulder in a good position, fingered together and stretched out good. And then we're going to take a deep breath in and on the exhale head heavy and we're going to roll the spine down. So finding that bit of articulation and just remember the roll down resembles the same arm position as the roll up.

So I'm going to just stretch Martha's arms a little bit further forward. So when you're at your, your your bottom position, you're not collapsed but your arms are parallel to your legs and right now the hamstrings are having to work to keep you in position. So we're going to take a deep breath and exhale slowly rolling up. So we're doing vertebra by Vertebra and just coming up into that lovely tall neck position. Good job guys. Let's do that one more time. So deep breath in and exhale. So the head is heavy.

It's not compressing the chin onto the chase. We keeping a little bit of space and Mandy is doing a great job here of keeping her shoulder blades into her back pockets and she's going to take a breath in and then leading up from the lower back. Mandy, that's it. Good. Martha opening up into that lumbar area and tall, I think let's just do one more time. That was looking, starting to look really good. So inhale and exhale. Good. So when you're rolling down, your goal is not to try to touch the ground. It's really to try keep that lovely c curve position in the Lumbar area, keeping scapular stability, right?

So we already starting to think about all those different stable, bony landmarks in the body and then we're going to take a deep breath in and exhale to come back up curling up and round. Great. Okay. Good job. Summit asked the ladies to take a step into the well of the reformer. Alright. And we've got one blue spring on. Um, I wouldn't recommend going much lower than a blue spring cause you want to get the work of the hamstring for this exercise, but you could always gear the reformer down, right? So I'm going to ask Mandy and Martha to place they heel. So we'll start with the left. So I'm left handed.

So you ended up doing a lot of left things first, right over the shoulder rest. Right. And I'm indifferent. If you have a Dorsey flex foot or applied to flex foot, the important thing here is that you never feel vulnerable with your foot slipping off the, the carriage right on, particularly in the shoulder rest, right? So we want to get our hips squared off. So we're going to really drew up the hip. Yep. Of the leg that up. Beautiful. Right?

And from there we're going to go into a little bit of standing knee flection. So standing up tall, we're going to take a deep breath. And without rotating the pelvis, you're going to bend at your knee. And your goal is to try get the headrest to touch your Shin or just below your knee. Great. And then inhale as we lengthen. So we're getting that lovely work in the hamstring right off the leg.

That's bending. That's it. Good. But more important is we are getting some lovely work on the standing leg, particularly the glute medius is being challenged. So inhale and exhaling. Good. So let's see if we can do two more times. So he inhaled to lengthen. Yeah, and exhale.

And so they've done to themselves a little bit of a disservice with having the head rest up. So it makes you have to work a little bit further and longer. But I love that. All right, so exhale. And then we're going to bring it all the way out. Good. So let's lean forward. So you connect to the stopper so we don't ban, so we bring the carriage all the way home and then just change legs for me. All right, so we'll do the other side and then we'll come back with some variations.

Beautiful. Excellent. So guys, what's important is both Mandy and Martha, if you could just scoot a little bit more to your right side a little bit more. Good. So that your sitting bone and your heel are directly in line. Yeah, absolutely. In line. Okay. So we're going to take a deep breath in so that we know that we've getting that lovely tracking of the knee joints. So we're going to exhale to draw [inaudible] beautiful and lens in the leg. So it's really a, you could think of this as a variation of the leg press standing on the the one to chair. Yeah, an inhale to lengthen. Good. Make sure that we don't forget about the abdominals because they got to come into play pretty soon. So really think about the work in that standing leg is your pillar of strength in this position here.

And we'll just do two more times on the side and exhale. So again, I'm not necessarily counting any repetitions, I just want to see that it's done well. Once we've done it well on each side we can move on and awesome and lengthen and return to the stopper. Great. So let's change, we're going to go back to the first side, right guys. Now we're going to add in a little bit of rotation so the hands are going to go interlaced behind the head. All right. Elbows in your peripheral view. Good.

So you don't want to put your pull on your neck. So if anything, think of pushing your head back into your hands. Slightly that to, so you feel that little bit of work through the upper back. So this time when you get to your final part of your pool, I wouldn't start rotating too early. Then I'd like you to rotate towards their leg that's on their carriage. So we're going to take a deep breath in. So on the exhale, we're going into knee flection and think of the rotation. So once you get into pull that leg a little bit for them, I thought, yes, there we go. And then you're rotating, you're rotating, you're rotating from to your sternum is leading the way.

And then we de rotate and length. And so Mandy, if you can keep your eyes in the horizon, good. That's going to help you with the balance, right? So we're going to exhale. Good. Staying up vertical. So we're still up on our vertical longer toodle axis. Beautiful. Good, beautiful. And Dee rotate. Good. Not yet. Yeah.

Good, good, good. I promise you it'll be that. And exhale. Awesome. Good. You guys are doing beautiful rotation. You're not over rotating your head. And that's really key for four rotation. Deep breath into the head and sternum are moving together beautifully. Okay.

And then return back to the center. Right now let's add in a little bit of lateral flexion and rotation. Good. So you know I come from a bad Bassey training. So this will probably look a little bit more like the classical crisscross, right? So it's not just pure rotation. You are actually going to think about more of a bicycle where your elbow comes towards your knee. So you want to just become smaller. That's Mandy.

So lift your top elbow. There we go. Good. Well to open your top elbow a little bit, that's it. And see if you can draw deeper into your flection. She's got it. She's got it. There we go. That's money. And then she comes back up, up, up, up, up, and turn back to the Sante. Beautiful. So you guys, you just need to do one more, right? That's a beautiful, so we've got, here we go. So exhale. That's it. Knee flection, knee flection, knee flection, knee flection, Mandy, Mandy, Mandy, Mandy, Mandy. It's a beautiful good.

Give me a touch if you can open the top elbow pads and then d rotate. Lengthen too. Good. All right, let's change legs for me please. Well done ladies. Right, so we're going to do first, it was just the rotation on the longitudinal vertical axis, right from the sternum. Good foot, either Dorsey flex or plantar flexed. Good. You guys both got good alignment. So we're going to take a deep breath and start your knee flection first. I would get as much knee flection as possible and now start your rotation.

That's it. Good. Awesome. And the obliques already firing in this position and lengthening off. Go ahead. Okay, Nice Mandy. So we keeping the hips, just doing a good job at keeping the hips stable. Give me a little bit more sternum, a little bit more sternum, little bit more sternum. We're out there. We're out there. We're out there. Good and odd. I think. Let's do one more rotation. That's it. Good.

And exhale. There we go. There we go. There we go. Smiles. Always good. That's it. Beautiful. Open Up. Open up, open up. Open up a love that. Love that. And then di rotate. Good stuff. Alright. This time we adding in the lateral flection. Try to think of elbow to knee. So remember more of a classical type of bicycle exercise, a [inaudible] to rotate and then you crossing over the diagonal.

That's it. Good. Good. Lift the elbow up for me. That's at Ma, this elbow, this elbow, this elbow. That's it. Good. So it's really about opening this side. Well that's good and closing and good and good. So what's really important is when you spotting someone that you're not giving them too much pressure in these positions because you don't want them to lose their balance. So we are going down and down. So I'm just guiding her. Maddie, I'm more like a motivational speaker, then a spot at this point in time and then rotate back. Awesome guys. And relax. Cool. All right, so, um, we're going to change to one spring for me please. And you're going to step out and we're going to set up. So yeah, you can both go onto your left side of your reformers.

Are you going to set up in a modified scooter position? Right. So if I can get you over there. Okay, perfect. All so their hands are together. On the foot bar [inaudible]. And what I'd like is, let's say if your, your standing leg, your left leg is gonna cut your Shin Midway through. All right? So remember this is modified so your foot can go all the way flat against the shoulder rest, right?

And by no means are you in a c curve at this point. So it's a, it's more of a, a long flat spine. All right, so the knee comes off the carriage. So knee off the carriage. Beautiful. So what I want you to do is to extend your right leg into terminal knee extension. So terminal knee extension, I really want you to pull up through that quadro set. Good. Beautiful. So you're getting a little bit of an opening of your hip flexor at the back, right. And obviously the use of your hip extensor. All right, so I'm just going to rotate this hip out. So that's what tends to happen more so than people rotating too far too far out. They rotate too far in.

So I'm going to bring this hip a little bit open and then you guys can come back in for me. Just nice and slow. So let's repeat that another two times. So you fully lengthening the leg. That's good. That's it. So you can think of a really tightening just, and they're hamstring just on the gluteal. Good. And pushing out, pushing out, pushing out, pushing out, just getting full Nth, good terminal knee extension. That's really what I'm aiming for. And then bringing it back and all the way in.

Awesome. All right, now hop your foot a little bit forward. Your left leg. So we got to remember this for the other side, the choreography. So I don't want it to be too complicated, right? Then you're going to float your body up. Hands on your hips. All right, so you've just in a little bit of a diagonal. Good. So we need is going to come up off the carriage. All right?

So obviously you can't go as far. All right? And we're going to push out with that same leg. So by no means do you have to get full knee extension here and bringing it back in. So what's happening is the focus is changing from the pushing leg on the reformer to the standing leg. Yup. So now we, we, we involving a little bit of stability, right? And you know, if you guys could keep going for me. So, so last year I had knee surgery, some meniscus surgery and these are the exercises that I used to, to rehab my knee. And it's, I mean I'm back to full ration squats on my operated leg.

So anything's possible with this [inaudible] method. It's really amazing work. All right, let's just do one more time there for me guys. Good. Awesome. So they're doing a good job. Again, they're making it look really easy. So let's bring it in all the way home. Click. All right, now we're going to stay there. It's still folded over knees still hovering. Foot is against the shoulder, wrist, right carriages on the stopper.

So I want you to think of releasing the pressure off the shoulder, wrist. And if you can take your foot off the shoulder rest and then you're going to hinge your body forward, lifting your leg up and reach your leg out in front of your mother. I'll move arch away as, sorry. Behind you. Sorry. Excuse me. Excuse me. That's Australian for behind. Yeah, and all that good. That's up to you. All right. So it's about your standing leg. All right.

Now take your arms out airplane for a bit of balance and you don't hold the window. Yeah, right. Then you're going to soften your standing knees. So a little bend. So your body moves parallel to the ground. That's it. And then straighten the standing leg and bend. Yep. And typically we do about 40 of these. No, I'm kidding. You go and down and up work.

So the goal here is I'm going to hold on few months that we are trying to stay parallel to the ground with our trunk. Good. And you can lift your back leg a little bit higher. So your back leg is your rata, right? That's actually giving you balance. And we'll just do one more time. That's a beautiful and relax. Good job guys.

And have a little bit of walk round. So you'll feel your gluteal of your standing leg, correct? Yeah. Good. So, so walk around to the other side. All right, so remember the setup. So we still on that red spring, you're going into a modified scooter position. So hands to the edge of the foot bar [inaudible] and the reason we've got our hands to the edge of the foot bar is so that this shoulder and this hand are in line. Okay. So that's the important parts of this is all in a, in a long line. So we've got hand, shoulder and hip joint. Good. Yeah. So the leg is cutting midway through your shoe and now it's just terminal knee extension. So again, this was one of those exercises that will really helped with my knee rehab and bending. It wasn't a strength issue, but it was an awareness issue. So exhale.

So I had to relearn how to straighten my leg. Okay. And bringing it back in. Good. Awesome. And exhale. So it's just one of those things you've got to keep reminding your buddy to do and bringing it back in. Good man. He had said, so you've done that well, you've kept your pelvis a little bit more open. Good. And you guys are both stable in the shoulder girdle. Lovely.

And do one more time for me please. And exhale to push out. Good. So now you guys know what's coming. All right. Yup. So you can take a little step forward. Beautiful hands on your hips. [inaudible] little bit of a hover of the knee, a little hinge of the body.

Good. So you've got to a flat back on a diagonal, right? And then this movement really depends on how much resistance you've put on, but we're going to just push out. But again, the work is on the standing leg now, so don't worry if you don't get full hip or knee extension on the leg that's on the carriage. Beautiful. So your hamstring and your glute maximus of your standing leg, they're working to try and keep your body up, otherwise you'd collapse forward. Right? Your hip abductors are controlling your lateral movement, right? Your knee extensors obviously have a responsibility here in just keeping the knee joint consistent of the standing leg.

And let's do two more and exhale. So forgive me if we've done a few extra on this leg, but I suspect most people have difficulty standing on their right leg. Yup. And bringing it back. Awesome. Right? So bring it to the stopper. So stay in the forward position. So this is the airplane one, right? So your leg is just going to float off.

So you've just got to find a way to get away from the shoulder so you can either go over it or inside arms out for balance. Mandy, good. Think of the [inaudible]. Could I get you a little bit flatter with your spine? Good. Beautiful. So remember the back leg that's controlling your lateral movement and then it's just a bend and a lift. So we'll bend, let's go together and then lift up. Yes. And a band and a lift.

So in this position, good recovery mother, the right, I'm trying to actually avoid you from turning your hip out too much. Cause then the glute maximus is going to do too much. And I'm really looking out for the glute medius in this position, right? Not a bad exercise to rotate the pelvis open, but maybe not today. So we're going to go exhale and we pressing up and one more time.

So mother, we still pressing up and relax. Good job all the way down. Awesome. All right ladies, we're going to go to one red, one yellow and you can have a lie down on your bed and if you don't mind taking your headdress down for me. So I'd prefer the head raise to be down. Little bit of space between you and your shoulder, wrists. And we are going to do a few abdominal exercises, right?

Perfect. So you're gonna put your hands into the straps. Yep. Beautiful. And you can just reach your arms up to the ceiling so they perpendicular to the Mat, right? I'm just going to keep your legs down for a six or so. What I always prefer is that you push out slightly with your legs first just and that puts the little bit of tension on the ropes there. And then again, you can show me a stable carriage and lifting your legs up into tabletop position. Good. Beautiful. Right. So the first movement, just shoulder extension.

So the arms come down to your sides. Good. And you know I don't actually mind Mandy for this one. If you press your arms down into the mat. So you're going to press your arms down into the mat and then bring the arms up to perpendicular. Good. So exhale as we press down. So find your lats, triceps, just pressing down into the mat and then bringing the arms back up.

Good. And one more time. So this is really just to get the feeling of shoulder extension. Good. And then bring the arms back up for me. Great. So now this time we're going to hover the arms. So you're going to come up into the hundred prepositions.

So it's going to be exhale to lift hovering the arms just off the mat. So we're going to just hold that position. I'm going to bring your knees in a little bit. Then mother. And now both of you move your bed back and now inch. How do we do that? We come up a little bit higher, a little bit higher. That's a little bit high.

I good. Now maintain that good. Lift the arms up to vertical and in the hidden chest comes back down. So when I say maintain that, not the movement, the stillness of the bed, but the height of the chest lift. So we're going to come up again. Exhale as we lift up, as the arms are down next to your sides, then give me a secondary little movement where you come up a little bit higher. Try move the carriage back. So it could be that you might not be reaching into the arms. So the triceps, it could be the chest lift that needs a little bit of work.

Then we hold that in the arms. Come up without dropping the hand in the chest and then head and chest goes back down. Beautiful. All right, so now we're going to bring the arms down to the sides again. So this time they are going to touch the mat. So we go. Exhale, press the arms down. Beautiful. Now keeping the 90 90 legs, we're going to lower the legs keeping 1990 so they might tip the platform or they're going to hang in the gears. And then we bring the legs back up to the table top right.

So let's repeat that. So we're going to lower the legs. Are you keeping the 1990 so you can tip the end or hang into the gears. But essentially I don't want to change the angle of the knee joint, just the hip joint. So we're going to press down, press down, press down. We using the abdominals. Good, lovely. And so movement just happening at the hips or hip disassociation.

And then you're going to pause up at the top there. If we might, I'm just gonna bring your knees a little bit away again. And then the arms come back up. Mandy, Martha, and in rest your legs onto the footpath for a sec. Right? Okay. So the next one, we're going to do a lowering of the legs. We're going to bring the legs back up to the table Top, and then we're going to go into a little reverse crunch. So a little baby ball. Yup. Okay.

So the legs come up into the table, top position and hold. So the first time I ever did this exercise was with my teacher rail, I Zachary Woodson on the Cadillac. Um, and it was quite an eyeopener. All right, so we're going to bring the arms down. So again, press into the Mat, right? Lower the legs. So you find the little tip. So I'm going to just take you a little bit deeper and then we're going to lift up. So now the legs are going to come in a little bit deeper than 90 degrees. Mandy. Good. And then allow your pelvis, Martha, just to roll up a little bit.

Roll up, roll up, roll up. So you're in a little ball and then come back down. So this would be preparing you for maybe the short spine. Okay. And then the arms come back up. So we'll do that every time. Let's say let's do three of those. So we're going to press the arms down and we're going to lower the legs.

So you keeping good. So she's got a nice angle of her knees. And then we go a little bit deeper and then reverse. So a little reverse crunch. That's it. Good. And down and away. Awesome. And arms up. Good. Beautiful. And again, so we're going to press down, press down, press down. So the knees go down, keeping the angle, bring the legs up to tabletop.

Then we go a little bit beyond the table top. That's it. Reverse. Try. Press down into the palms. MND. Good. And back and down. So let's do one more and press down through the arms. Good legs, we tip. So keep it and lift. Excellent and reverse. So reverse crunch.

That's it. And back and table top arms. Come up and feed down. Good job. All right, so ladies, you can hook your straps. So we're going to do a couple of compressions.

So I use these exercises to prepare you for the more difficult pike exercises on the wonder chair. All right? So they really to build the c curve and abdominal strength. Okay. So you guys can have a seat on your reformers. So as you are, you're just going to scoot back onto your carriage. Perfect. All right. And you know what I'm going to do, I'm just going to hook on a couple more springs for security and then you're going to take your legs and reach them under your football. So the football is a good gauge of how far I want you to get your legs up, right? So you're going to Zombie your arms out in front of you.

Then if you really flexible, you've got to hold back a little bit in this position. All I want you to do is open your fingers all right and become around. So think of a chest lift position and tip your fingers on to the Mat. All right, so literally you can tip with all five fingers onto the matter. That's the end of your support from your arms, the right and really tried deep and you'll see curve position.

So again, it's that sitting pike right now from there, right? The carriage isn't going to do anything, right? You're going to keep your shoulder blades down and we're going to lift our left leg and we're going to touch the foot bar and lower and left leg again to touch, touch, touch, touch. And good and three. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale, touch and down and for good and down. One more time guys. And five and down. Good.

Other side. So keeping a little bit rounded. Maddie said a little bit more of a seeker of beautiful. So think of sternum to pubis, symphysis pubis, symphysis to stern and but without collapsing and exhale good. And exhale, keep the arms straight. If you can. Good without pulling. That's it. Good lift, lift, lift, lift, lift. And bring it back down. Okay. Stay there. Stay there, stay there.

You know what's coming? Both legs are coming up, right? So we're going to take a deep breath in, but they don't drop. All right, so both are going to come up. You're going to tip and then we just do little drops and one and two. Good. And three straight arms, man. Four. That's a good, keep the CICA. Five, six. We keep going. And seven we there eight min. One more and 10. Wow. Good. Okay. That's tough. Beautiful. Yeah, exactly. So it's a lot of work in, in the hip flexes. So, um, ladies, you can slide onto your backs.

Are we going to, I'm going to put on one and a half springs and we're going to do our short spine. Right. Thank you. Mandela change. Yeah. All right. So you can put your feet into your straps. Obviously you make sure your headrest is down if you do this exercise right. And mother, we sitting up in the frog position. [inaudible] Yup.

Good. So the feet, I'd like the shins to be in a bit of a diagonal. Right? And just before we go, so if you've, you know, often we would do the hip work with the legs and the straps, um, which is really adductor focus. I don't want you to lose that adductor focus. Now that was, we've, we've skipped her the hip work, um, and going straight into the spinal articulation. But I shouldn't be able to get my fingers through the heels so that I know that you've still got that adductor work going on through art. All right, so we're going at it kind of be in the, in the Bassey version of this exercise, right? So you're going to press the legs out. That's it. Good. Straightening the knees. I would have had you maybe a little bit lower.

Their plan to flex the feet. We're going to go into hip flection all the way till we hit the stop at gently good ones. We're on the stopper, keeping a little bit of tension on the ropes. We're going to exhale, we prepared with our little baby ball earlier to roll up all the way up, up, up, up, up, and keeping the tension. So now when you've got this top position, I'm thinking of my legs really pulling against the, this, the, the ropes, but without pulling myself off the stopper. No. Right? So there's that real combination of strength and stability going on. Now we start bending the knees, keeping the tension on the ropes, and I would pretty much pause when the feet are above the face. That's it.

And then on the exhale, you start rolling down from your spine and your knees can draw down towards your shoulders. And we end up really where our feed is over the face, but we haven't moved the carriage yet. Good. So I'm going to give Mandy just a little spot there. Is that okay there? Yep. And then she's going to Dorsey flex the feet and now she's keeping the heels squeezing together. Now all that Mandy thinks about is moving her thighs off her chest and keeping the angle of the Nice Bang. Good. And let's repeat that. So we've gotta to press our through the legs.

That plantar flex inhales are Jane d. So this is where you get your first stretch into the, stop it exhale to roll up, roll up, roll up, roll up, keeping some lovely tension, lovely tension on the ropes. Our hamstrings are still on right? Bending the knees without coming off the step without losing your resistance. Mark that. There we go. Good. And exhale as you roll back down.

So we're going down one vertebrae at a time. Beautiful. Flexing the feet. That's it. And now without changing the angle of the knees, I just think of pressing away, pressing away, pressing away. Beautiful. And it's going to do one more please. So we pressing art, we bring it all the way to the stopper, right? So most people can get to the stop, or what's more important is just that, that you're getting that stretch through the back in their hamstrings. It doesn't matter if your hips lift up a little bit. So keep the tension, keep the tension, keep the tension, keep the tension. Mandy, you can bend.

Sorry, we moving on there. Good. Exhale as we roll it down. Roll it down, roll it down, roll it down. That's it. So the fetus still over the face, Dorsey, flexing the feet, and then press art. Awesome. Great. So we'll take our legs out of the straps. I'll take you out there, mother. And we're going to one red spring for a full land, right? Change joke. You're a little bit done.

Great. So one red spring for a full lunch, or we're going to be standing on. All right, I'll choose your leg, Maddy. So now this is the reverse pattern, right? So remember generally yours, if you're a riot hand or your standing pattern, you're going to love standing on your left leg and you're going to love flexing your right leg. So now I'd like you to do the opposite. So I'd like you to stand on the right again and flex your left. All right, so you've got to use the left hip flexor. There we go. Good.

Beautiful. So you keeping that little bit of tension, right? So if you could bring your toes back a little bit. So I'd love you to be right above the ball of the foot, just below the toes. So above the ball of the foot, just below the toes. So you holding on really with your toes, right? Your back leg.

What's more important than add to the height of your pelvis is that there's energy coming through the back leg. Right? But Mandy, I feel you could drop a little bit. [inaudible] good. All right guys. Now when I'm here, I'm thinking Swan, right? So I'd love you to lift up from the head, the chest, and you reverse articulating up. So it looks like you coming up into back extension, the right into the full lunge release position. Right? So take your time and up we go. Yeah.

And arms are going to come out to a tee position. So looking up a little bit. Good. So that's the use of the back extensors. Beautiful. A little bit of energy through the back leg, the back leg, tighten the back knee, back knee to the straighten. So that's what we work on on their terminal knee extension. Good. So if you guys have it in you, you're gonna push the carriage back.

So I'm going to give Motha a spot so he can, will you push back without dropping mother's, uh, if I lift you up a little bit here and then coming back and in. Good. So we do one more time. So we're going to push out straightening the front leg. Okay. And coming back in. Right. And so bring your hands down. Have a little hamstring stretch.

So you're going to push the carriage back without dropping the pelvis. That's it. Just to about there. All right, good. So shoulders, that's it. Long through the crown of the knee. Bend the front knee to glide back in and pause. We'll ports. The Simon didn't say right. Okay. We've still got the rotation. Okay. So from there you're going to come back up.

So remember I wanted you to use extensions or mother lift the chest, arms out to the t position. All right, so this is a little bit high grade, but these ladies are really well prepared for the, so back leg stays straight. You're going to push backwards. All right? So you do exactly the same exercise and we're going to come back in once you've fully straightened your leg. So we returned back in. Now we pause, you get stable, you secure, then you're going to rotate towards your bent leg. So very similar to what we did in our standing and in turn back to the center. Good. Let's do it one more time. So we're going to push out. Sorry, one more time. I say one more full.

So I'd love you to get a little bit more work through that back leg. Come back in, in, in, in hold there. And let's do a little rotation, a little rotation just to there. Turn back to the center and thank you. Good. And then step out and change legs for me please. Alright, so mother, what I'm thinking I'm going to do on this side, I'm going to give you an extra quarters spring just for a little bit of support.

Yeah, I know you've had a issue with your knee as well. All right, so right leg up. So find that position just above the ball of the foot. So just under the toes. Start with a thought of thoracic extension. So you're really thinking a little bit of extension. I'm going to move you back slightly.

Mandy slightly tighten through the back leg so it's all about that back leg right now. Then start thinking extension of the spine. So you floating up, arms out adequate support with the abdominals. Good. All right, so I'm going to move around a little bit. You guys try focus your eyes on one point. So we pushing art all the way back and bending forwards will not be offended if you don't make eye contact with me and exhale as we push out, pushing out, pushing out, pushing out, pushing out full and good and bringing it back in for me.

Good. Is that the second one? It is. And let's relax down. So we did our hamstring stretch. Good job. Okay, so we're going to push out. So try work on the same horizontal with the pelvis. Andy, a little bit more, a little bit more. That's it. Good. And then bend the front knee to glide back and lift the thoracic slightly.

That's it. Lower the pelvis if you can. A little bit there. Good. Beautiful. Little bit deeper. Okay, here we go. So think extension. Think extension. Think extension. Think extension. Good. Beautiful. Now, abdominal support, back leg tightness. And let's push out. Exhale. Good. Come back in and pause. Now rotate, rotate, rotate, rotate. Beautiful. And then back in and push out. One more time. This is your last one.

So we're only going as far as the sternum takes us and we're going to bend in, bend in, bend and beautiful and rotate and rotate and rotate and back in through the center. Hands come down. Good job. And all the way in. Lovely guys. You can step off for me please. Right? So I'm going to take it to a one red and a blue. So one and a half springs. And we're going to do the knees off. So I'm going to keep it on the regular gears here.

So I'd like you to up kneeling, facing your foot bar. So your feet are going to be just off the shoulder. So just off the shoulder rest. All right, so we're gonna need that for our setup. Then we're going to sit down bum to heels. Yep. And you can start in a, in a straight spine. So that's what gets us into the position. All right? So the, the setup is by far the hardest part of this exercise.

You get good work. Just practicing the setup position. Right now we're going to go into the Lumbar flection. Good job, right? So what I want you to feel, so just come out of that lumber flection for a second. All right? So there's two parts I want you to think of pressing your palms down into the bar and then pressing your pelvis towards the bar. That's a good, so you're creating a lovely brace in this position here, right? So it feels like you're really connecting. Now from there, you gently going to push out with the legs just a few inches, and then your heels will actually start pushing back towards the shoulder, wrists. Good. Now in that position, Mandy, this is where we're going to go into a hover, right?

So we're going to just bring the knees just off the carriage and then we're going to push the legs out and exhale and push and pull. Good. And push and pull. Just do one more for me. Push and pull and then come back down. Good job. All right, good. So what's, what's great is that none of you went into their Jack Rabbit position where your hips come up there either and they end up in line with your shoulders. So we staying nice and low, but we are going to do it again because you're just getting the hang of it now. Yeah, exactly. All right. Okay, so we can go into it a little bit faster this time.

So tiny little bit of space off the shoulder, wrist, you're going to sit down into a nice flat back position. We're going to go into lumbar flection. So I remember press pelvis towards hands, hands towards pelvis. That's your connection. So we've got the lat, then press away with the legs slightly. So the heels start thinking about hitting the shoulders.

And that's always unique about any knee stretch exercises, the heels pushing back. And now we float the knees up and we push and push and push and pull and think abdominals and push the legs a little bit further man. And pull in three more, two more, one and back. And relax. Amazing guys. Awesome work. And you guys can hop off. Yeah. Okay.

So we're going to take our foot piles down and we're going to do the side split. Alright, so I'm going to have one loose spring. One blue. Yeah. So one day you don't want it to be too heavy, right? I don't want it to be abduction. Thinking of the abduction of the exercise. Right? So, um, mother, why don't we get you both facing inwards at the same time?

So if you could walk around to this side. Beautiful. All right. Have you got enough space there with this bothered them? Otherwise, let's pop it over to you. Yeah. Mm. So that creates a noodle stopper for you. Okay. Right. Makes it a little bit harder too.

So this leg is going to come all the way to the front, right? Hands onto the frame and the carriage so that you secure it and then step out. And I'd say you're going to step as close to the shoulder rest as possible and keeping the carriage on the stopper. All. Alright. Good job. And then you can roll your spine up all the way up to standing arms can come out to the tee position. Good. All right.

Strong through the legs. We're going to inhale to open the legs not to fall and then exhale. Don't think about pulling in with the legs, but think of lifting up through the crown of the head to come in all the way. Good. Inhale to push out and exhale to pull back and in. Good. One more time. Inhale to push out and exhale to pull back and in. Good.

This inside arm is going to reach and we going to place the foot the hand. Oh, the foot. So you're going to be pulling yourself in with that hand. So can you put it on your ankle there? Free mother, your head. That's it. Good. Beautiful arm is reaching up. Thumb down.

That's an internally rotated head down from the both of you. Ladies. Inhale to open slightly. I'm going to guide you and exhale to bring it back in. So I've got you there. If you could find the position, I can give you the help. So we go inhale and exhale pool. Good.

So we just moving the carriage, Arden in and one more time. Good. And then from there you're all set up just to put your hands down straight away, Mandy. Good. And then step your leg off behind you safely. I'd take a little walk round at the side. Okay. Good job. Not Easy. No. Right?

So inside foot on first. So it's the safe leg, right? Then hand holding the frame and the carriage together so it doesn't move. Then step out as wide as you feel comfortable. So there's no need to put any stress on your knees in this position so you can always work a little bit narrower. So we're going to roll up through the spine, bring the arms out into the t position. Good.

So we're going to inhale to and exhale to draw back in in good. Inhale to open. Exhale to draw back in in. I mean let's just pause right there. So let's go straight into the soul. So we're going to reach inside, arm down and you can hold on to your shin.

Foot or ankle. Head is heavy from is down of the back arm. So it's same as the mat. We move the carriage out and in and out and in. We'll do an extra one on this side.

So we got out and in and we're going to hold it on the stopper. Come back up in a, sorry, we went straight into the step down from there. So hands on and then step your dangerous leg out behind you. End Up, you get. Alright. Beautiful. So we're going to walk back to the side that I'm going to move this additional bit away and I'm going to give you one red, one blue. All right. And all we're going to do is we're going to step in to the twist position, right? So you've got those adductors engaged. All right, so it's your ad doctor of your leg that's going to step on the foot bar.

That's going to be doing majority of the work, right? So we are just going to practice the setup, right? So let's put the right foot on left foot for Mandy. Then you're going to reach right hand, left hand, left hand, right hand for Martha, right ladies. And know it's actually going to be a little bit further down.

So giving yourself some room. Yeah, but again, so what's going to restrict you in this position is your hamstring flexibility, right? But you are going to be using your left arm, Martha, Mandy, your right arm to pull the carriage in onto the stopper right now from there without moving the carriage. So that's the important part. You're going to step your leg and cross it over the other one. So head is down. I've got you there and head down for me please and hold. Good. So try lift the hips a little bit there Mandy. And then step the leg out again and down. Good.

And you're going to walk around to the other side. Good job. All right, so it's all about the positioning, right? So first put the leg up onto the foot bar. Nice and straight. So giving yourself some room, right hand, shoulder, wrist, left arm, carriage. Mandy, you're the opposite. All right, staying strong through this leg over here. All right. And then from there you're going to step up and lift.

Beautiful. Up and through. Good. Trying not to use your leg that's hooked over to pull yourself into position. So it's quite relaxed. I'm relying on the in the Phi of the leg that's on the bar and we're going to step that leg off and you guys are going to come out. Amazing. All right, good. Could you guys go get your box for me please?

So then you're going to place your box into the long box position there. So right now I've just got to spring on to secure the carriage, right? So we're going to lie your chest over the edge towards the head. Rear side. Good. Alright. So mother, we're going to place our hands just onto the frame. Good.

What I do want is I want your legs together and in slight hip extension [inaudible] so we're going to bring the legs up just a little bit. Good. Right? And really what I'd like you to think about all three pelvic bones. So your two asi is in the front and your pubic symphysis just equal pressure through the pelvis into the box. Alright good. Alright, so we are going to stay in a long line. Then we're going to lift the arms up straight in front of us, drawing the shoulder blades down. Manny, could you turn your palms down for me for this one? And we're just going to hold this position there for another five and four, four, three and two and one and the hands come back down. All right, so we're just challenging the shoulder flexors by lifting the arms up, right?

So try keep that long spine. So head up so the arms are just floating, drawing with the abdominals and the arms up. Now for both of you to challenge yourselves, straighten your elbows and see if you can bring the arms in a little bit closer together so they will be some scapular elevation. I'm not concerned about that at this point. For shoulder flexes and for building strength in a pushing position, the Scapula do have to elevate at some point and they lower the arms down.

Relax. So this would be a good preparation for getting into a handstand position. Okay, so we're going to do it one more time. So it's just a hold. So on the count of three and three, two one n arms come up and reaching those arms out at a beautiful, so their legs are just lifting into a long line. They don't have to be into too much extension. A lot of the work happens in the upper back. I'm going to bring the arms close, sit together. That's a stronger pushing position. But the shoulders, that's the shoulder blades have elevated slightly, just not too much tension.

And then relax the arms. Good job. And then you guys can right there. I'm changing to one yellow spring. So one really lights springs. So guys, what you can do is um, and obviously I don't want them to slip off. That's the reason for them working on this very, very light spring is walk yourself up all the way to the risers. So you're going to hold onto the wooden poles in front of you and the thumbs are up, man. You say you're going to be holding. Yes. Good. So for this one, I would encourage you to let your legs hang, cause that's going to give you a little bit of counter balance on the box, no for slippage, right? And then from there, very gently start drawing your elbows down towards your hips without going into too much extension, pause there and drop the scaps for this.

So now we're doing the opposite. So mother, can you pull yourself in there without sliding you? Okay then can you pull some more? Pull some more, pull some more. There we go. Beautiful. So you're pulling yourself through the risers and coming back in [inaudible]. Good. Now when you get to this end position later, scapula elevate all the way up. Good. Right? So now we can reset the scaps and now we depress the Scapula.

So we're drawing the shoulders away from the ears and in pulling yourself up all the way. Good. So you know, and more athletic conditioning. This is the way you would get someone to get ready to do their first pull-up. All right. Hanging off a bar. So we let them hang, Scapula can elevate and then we depress the scapula and we pull quid shoulders away from the ears. Beautiful guys. And then coming out [inaudible] and all the way along. We're going to do that one more time. Okay.

So drawing the shoulder blades down and not as I'm doing it with the elbows in, right? So elbows into their hips, shoulders away from the ears, Gerd, and then bring it back. Good. And then this is going to be your last time. Let me pop that up for you there and one more time and exhale and then hold it at the top position. Shoulders away from your years. Right? And guys, if you were learning how to, you guys could just hold there for me for a sec. If you are learning to do a pull up for the first time, this would be the best position to start.

You start at the top of the exercise and work on that East centric movement by lowering yourself off the bar and then coming back down and then you could jump back up onto the pull up bar and then lower yourself back down again. It's a lot easier to strengthen in that egocentric phase than it is in that concentric phase of the exercise. Good. And then you can slowly walk your hands on the frame. I thought we're going to come back in all the way, all the way, all the way and then you can push back onto your box into a rest position. Just be careful cause we've only got one yellow spring on so the boxes kind of loose and you can sit back and you're trying to sync your bum down onto your heels and just taking a couple of breaths guys at, let your arms hang over the sides of the box.

Head is resting on the box and then very gently you're going to start lifting your pelvis up. And rounding your back and coming up into tall kneeling. So you actually going to lift up all the way up, all the way up tall. So it's a nice loose carriage, loose boxer. So you've got to show some control there. And thank you very much, guys. You were wonderful.

Comments

3 people like this.
I love Ed Botha’s classes. The combination of the precise cues and slow tempo let me get deeper into the movements, and I feel the class lets me find new things even in exercises i’ve done hundreds of times. Many thanks!
Just what I needed this Thanksgiving morning! Ed you are such a fabulous teacher. I always enjoy taking classes from you!
Wowzie! That class will burn the bird today!
Wow!!!! In love with this class!!!!
Very humbling class! The knee strengthening and glute work is fantastic. Also the rotation. Being a surfer and working with professional surfers I can take a lot from this and apply to many clients & myself. Thank you. What a brilliant class!!
I enjoyed the class flow and balance component! Thanks! Also used Pilates to recover from a meniscus tear...
I love all your classes!!!
2 people like this.
Thank you all!
Michele M
That as just what I needed today! Great stability and balance exercises, will be sure to incorporate with my clients too. Thanks Ed!!
1 person likes this.
Any hopes that Ed will be filming a mat class while he's at PA?
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