Stability Ball Flow

Hi, everyone. My name's Sarah Kahoon, and I am here at Pilates any time today to take you through one of my favorite workouts. It is a workout using the ball. So we're gonna be using the ball for every exercise today. It's a nice short condensed down workout around twenty to twenty five minutes. This is a series that I take myself through almost every week. I use it as my break between admin because I've got my ball at home. It's something that you don't need to be in a studio to do, but you can also do it in the studio or use it as a warm up as well for your clients.

So we are gonna start with the ball up against the wall first. So I'm popping that down so that it will be up against sort of my lower spine and my pelvis and walking the feet out away from the ball. So the feet are parallel and you're just having a little rest in with the hips towards the ball. On the inhale, we're just going to go down, bend the knees and reach the arms up to the sky on the exhale come up and straighten the legs. And on the inhale going down and bend and exhale come up and straighten.

So just using this one just to warm up the legs and to also work on that alignment through the ankles, knees, and feet. All the way up through those hips. We're gonna do three more of these and just be mindful that you're not resting into that ball that you're really holding your body weight as you come up to stands. Last two, Big breath out. Last one, and let's stay down at the bottom.

Take the hands behind the head. We're going to inhale extend the spine back over the ball, exhale come back up to center. Inhale, extend, exhale, and back up the center. So you should feel those legs kicking in now. They've been working to hold you in that position whilst we're working on opening that upper spine.

Use a breath out to engage the abdominals to come forward and using the inhale to go back over. Two more. Breathe out. Last one. And then coming all the way up, reach those arms to the sky and lower them back down.

Okay. We're gonna take the ball away from the wall now and come down lying onto your back on the mat. So from here, we're lying down and placing the feet onto the ball. Now depending on the size of your ball, you might have the feet flat or you might be on the heels and there's no right or wrong, just whatever you feel comfortable with. Let's press back through the shoulders, breathe out, draw your tail by number, roll it up through the hips. Take a breath in at the top and exhale roll it back down, joint by joint through the spine, inhale at the bottom.

Exhale roll it up, breathe in at the top, breathe out, roll it back down, and inhale at the bottom. I'm gonna do four more of these. Really feel that articulation through the spine, but also work for that heat through the back of the legs and keeping your ball as still as you can. Two more, feel those abdominals, scoop in and away from the lining of tights or the lining of shorts, and inhale at the bottom last one, we're gonna stay at the top. We roll it up Now take the right leg up to table top, lower it back down, left leg and down. So I'm really pressing back through my arms and shoulders and pushing into that stabilizing leg Use the breath so the hips stay up.

One more each side. Last one, Back to two legs, take a breath in, exhale roll it down joint by joint through the spine. Keep the feet on the ball, but just squeeze and knees and feet together. Arms out to the side. Go for a little spine twist.

Just give those legs a little bit of a breather. Try and let the feet move with the knees. Big exhale to bring you back to center. Last one each side. Gluing their shoulders back to the mat and then back. Now space the feet back out again so they hit with the part, press those arms down by your side, and now we're gonna go into pelvic presses.

So we lift the hips straight up one in how to lower it down. We've got 20 of these, lift and lower. So we're going to go for that nice dynamic case, get the blood flowing, get those hips moving, Four breath out. We're halfway 10 more to go. Keep the back of those legs heated as you lower down.

Five more. You should be feeling those hamstrings burning. Four three two last one. Slowly down and rest. You guys legs are breathing. Okay. We're going to come up from there and sitting onto your ball. I'll bring that back a little.

And we're going to walk out until your lower spine is on the ball. And my feet just stay flat onto the mat there. Take the hands around behind the head. Just check that your pelvis isn't dropping down around the ball. We're gonna keep an active little lift up so you're engaged and you've got that deepening through the abdominals. On the inhale, take the chest back over the ball, exhale come up into the chest lift. Inhale back.

Exhale up. So these are a great challenge on the abdominals, but they're also a really good challenge on the stability of the hips and those legs. We've got four more. And I'm really thinking about softening that lower part of my spine into the ball and keeping that as I extend the upper chest back over. Last one. Now we're gonna do the oblique.

So we're gonna do it all to one side. Rib goes towards that hip for eight. Still think of that lower spine softening into the ball and we are trying to keep that nice dynamic pace. Two more. Last one and then we've got eight to the other side.

Breathe out to go across, inhale control it back. And if you feel like you're losing a little bit of stability in those hips, check-in with the feet. Make sure they're really firmly pressing down into that mat and you've got that little bit of heat coming from the back of the legs. Last one, Now we're gonna come back up into the middle and stay. We just go back an inch and up back an inch and up two and three.

My lower back is staying soft in towards that ball the whole time. Three more two last one. Now scoop, bring it forward a little bit more reach the arms out in front and now roll it back through the spine take the arms over circle, scoop and pull up. Roll it back. So it's like a little overhead that you might do on the spine corrector. It's a little challenging on your stability as you come forward and back.

So just make the range as big as you can cope with. And if you do two more of these, really open that chest, and then round the lower spine. Last one, and then walk it all the way back in. Okay. From there, we're gonna come over to use the wall next and we're gonna go into some side overs. So my feet are going to go up against the wall.

I'm going to space my right leg forward which is my top leg and my left leg back. My hips go onto the ball and I straighten my legs. So sometimes can be a little bit hard to get into. So just make sure you're using your hands to support you with that ball and we're going to take the hands around behind the head. On the inhale we go over, exhale lift it up.

Inhale to go over, exhale lift. So really use the pressure of the feet into the wall to give you that support through the hips and then get that torso to lengthen for you as you go over and work as you come up. Two more. The last one. And take it all the way over.

Take a little side stretch. Just reach that arm out and then slowly come in and then we'll swap it to the other side. So this time my left foot is going forward. My right leg is going back. I push the hips onto the ball, straighten the legs and then take the hands around behind the head. On the inhale we go over, exhale lift up.

So again, really think of pressing down into those feet and use that to zip you up through the inner thighs, through the abdominals, engaging the shoulders down into meet those abs, last two and last one stretch it all the way over, reach that top arm and just lengthen and then coming all the way back up. And in. Alright. For the next one, I've got some hand weights prepared. So I've got a heavier set and a lighter set. So my heavier set is three pounds and my lighter set is two pounds. I'm going to start with the heavier set first.

And I'm just gonna have the lighter set ready to go as well for the next ones. So we're using the wall again to pop your feet up against and this time we're prone onto the ball. So my hips are onto the ball. I'm grabbing my heavier set first and taking the arms down either side of that ball. So the heels are pressing up against the wall and the toes are flexed under.

The spine is nice and long. We breathe out, fly the arms out to the side inhale lower exhale out breath in lower. Really pull from the back of the shoulders. Picture that spine lengthening in both directions. And the back of those legs really engaging.

We've got three more of these to go and two last one and lower it down. Just let your chest rest, let the knees bend. We're gonna come back in, same position straighten the legs, engage your abdominals up and away from that ball. This time, breathe out both arms lift. And down, now just the right arm goes left, and down, now left arm, and down both arms, and you'll feel the body you want to shift from side to side you're really gonna try and use your centering, press into those feet.

This one's hard work one more time through. Use the breath out. And then all the way down and again let that spine rest. Let the knees bend and just take a little moment breather. I'm gonna swap it down to the lighter hand weights now cause this next one gets a little bit more challenging, but you're more than welcome to stay with the heavy hand weights if you can, or you can always do it with no hand weights.

So we start with the palms facing back towards the feet, bend the elbows, rotate from the shoulders. Reach the arms out, bend elbows, rotate, touch the ground, bend, rotate reach, pull back, rotate, and down. We've got four more. Lift, rotate, reach, bend, rotate, and down. Try and breathe with each movement.

In how down. Exhale lift, inhale turn, exhale reach, inhale bend, exhale turn, inhale down. Last time through, these get really fatiguing on that back of the body, turn and then have a good rest over the ball. You deserve it. Have a hang. You can let the head turn to the side if that's more comfortable. And then from there, just leave those weights there as well, stretch your legs back to straighten take the hands around behind the head, lower your spine over the ball. On the inhale come up into your back extension.

On the exhale, lower the spine back over. Inhale lift it up. And exhale. Lower it back down. Inhale.

So you can see I've got a lot of extension work, a lot of backup body work in this little workout because as I said it is my routine that I do in between all of my admin work. Which can go on for hours. And, yeah, two more. Last one. And down and have a good hang. Turn the head to the other side if you turn the head before.

And have a breather. And then from there, slowly coming back. We're just gonna pop the weights just out of our way for the moment because we don't need those. And and then we're coming back down onto our back and feed it onto the ball. This time the legs are out straight.

All the way down and press the arms down by your side. Have a little v with those feet so we've got that wrap through the back of the legs and on the exhale lift the hips straight up. And then roll it back down through the spine. So this one will just give you that nice feeling of length through that torso, roll it all the way down and lift it up and take your time as you roll down. Three more, lift and roll.

Last two, and we're gonna stay up there on that last one. I've given you warning. So be prepared. Stay and hold. Now from there, we're gonna lift the right leg three times. Two and three. Right leg comes on.

We lift the left leg. One, two, and three. Hold, squeeze up through both hips, roll it back down through the spine. Let's go off and do that one more time and we lift straight up Right? Like three times. One, touch two, touch three, smooth transition to the other side. And two, and three, slowly roll it down, joint by joint through the spine and then rest. From there, we're lifting the right leg up and now we curl up just on that left leg.

So we lift and lower and lift. We just got three. Lower it down. This is tough work on that supporting leg and lower other side, right leg presses into that ball, lift it up and lower and you can see how hard I'm having to work through the upper body just to keep myself stable. Last one, roll it all the way down. And then rest. Good. Okay.

We're coming back up from there and we're gonna go into a little cat stretch series with the ball. So I'm gonna walk out until I land into a plank position and you can get into this however you feel comfortable. I jump down onto my tummy. Walk it out until my shins find the ball and you can either do that on the mat or on the timber whatever you feel most comfortable with. On the exhale, we're going around the spine and pull the knees in.

Inhale. Take the legs back out, go for a little lengthening and an extension. Pull back in. Exhale round and pulling. We're going for hips high today, stretch it back out lengthen, push away, think of opening the chest. And in exhale inhale reach, exhale open the chest, inhale come back up, and reach, push from the back of those arms right down through the back of the shoulders.

Last two inhale, squeeze into the back of those legs. Really get as much length as you can in that shape. Last one. And reach. Think of those legs going to the sky, chest opening to your hands, pull it all the way back in, step off your ball as gracefully as you can. Now we're going to grab your heavy set of hand weights again.

And come to sitting onto your ball. You can always use the lighter ones as well if you're feeling a little fatigued through that upper body. It's always an option. We're gonna walk it down until your head shoulders are onto that ball. Make sure your head is resting and it's not hanging back off the edge. We're taking both arms up to the sky, lift the hips up, and then on the inhale both arms go back and on the exhale, they come back up.

Inhale both arms go back, hips drop down, exhale pull up. So you'll notice I've got that slight softening in the elbows so the movement really happens around the shoulders and that thoracic spine gets a really lovely stretch as the hips drop down. Three more. Last two. And last one, and lift the hips and stay.

Now from there, just take the arms straight back, circle them all the way around. I'm gonna do five of those. Think of drawing your tailbone under between your legs so you've got the back of those hips engaged. Those shoulders rest into the ball. Last one.

And then let's reverse it. Take those arms back. Exhale, pull them forward, lift those hips. Even if you don't feel like it, you'll be surprised how much those hips naturally drop down. I know mine do. Last two Last one, and then bring the arms forward, walk it all the way back in and bring yourself up to sitting, keep those arms out in front if we can.

On the exhale, we're going to rotate take that arm back and look towards the hand, breathe in, bring it back around, exhale, rotate, and inhale back. Now this can get quite strong on those arms and shoulders holding those weights out there. Even though it looks like a nice simple movement. So if you need to do this with the lighter weight or no weights that's absolutely fine, focus on that rotation. In how back. We're gonna do one more each side.

Inhale center. Last one. Inhale center. Now from there, we bring the arms down. I'm gonna walk the feet in just a tiny bit closer. On the exhale, we're gonna lift the arms up.

The right leg tries to float off. Circle the arms around, lower the leg down. Lease the arms up. Left leg floats off and lower it down. Now this is really challenging on your stability and you might see I've got one side that's a little harder than the other.

Which we're all humans, I'm sure you have the same. And around. And again, if it's too strong with the weights, just practice this one with the arms down, just the leg floats. Let's do one more each side. The shoulders are drawing down as the arms lift and the spine is growing taller.

Circle around and rest. Be glad to know you can pop the weights down. Now we don't use them again. We are gonna come back out though into another little cat stretch series. So I'm gonna walk back out the same way I got in before. Chest goes on to the ball.

And I come out until my hands for me are just onto that timber there and the shins are onto the ball. The legs are really engaged. We are going to exhale into a single leg cat stretch. So my left leg floats up I pull in just on my right leg and I go back out, squeeze, place the left leg down. Right leg floats up, pulling off my left leg, back to two legs, stay, and now we do an oblique cat stretch.

So two knees towards one shoulder, Back out to center hold, two knees to the other shoulder, back out to center hold, and then we're gonna lift the right leg up, single leg cat stretch, and back out, swap legs, pull it in, and back out. Squeeze both legs together and a blink. Inhale back out. Squeeze through the hips, exhale. And back out if we can one more time through.

Leave the right leg. And back out, lift the left leg. And if it's too much on the single, just go back to the normal cat stretch. Two legs to right shoulder. Squeeze out to center.

Two legs to left shoulder. Squeeze out to center. And then again, as grace leaves you can, step off from that ball. Alright. We've got two more exercises to go and then we are done. I'm gonna come back to sitting onto the ball.

We're just gonna do a nice little bouncing exercise. Relax the shoulders for a moment and give those legs a little workout. Hands are onto the ball. We do three little bounces. One, two, three, lift and hold.

My fingertips are on the ball. Back to the ball. One, two, three, lift hold. And back. One, two, three, lift hold. So this is a great one in between because it's still keeping my heart rate up, but it's just giving that upper torso a bit of a break before we finish off with those pikes. Really engaging from the back of the legs and try and lengthen through your spine as you hover off that ball.

Let's do two more of those. Bounce two three, engage through the back of hips and hold and slowly down. Okay. In for our finale, we're gonna finish off with the pike. So we walk it back out into that plank position. So roll myself out.

I might need a little bit further. And then from there, we're keeping straight legs for that pike now. So we breathe out and pike the hips up to the sky. Pull the ball in as far as you can, and then slowly back out. Exhale, poke the hips up.

Pull the ball in as far as you can. And then slowly back out engage the back of those shoulders. Exhale. Press down into the hands, lift the hips up high. We've got three more. And if it helps, I'm sweating just as much as you are at home.

Last two. And last one, really squeeze those legs together lift. And carefully coming out. We are all done for your ball workout. Thank you so much for joining me for my ball home workout.

I hope you enjoy it, and I see you again next time. Bye.