Class #382

Standing Magic Circle

15 min - Class
76 likes

Description

Focus on your powerhouse while challenging your balance and your legs in this 20-minute Standing Magic Circle workout.
What You'll Need: Mat, Magic Circle

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Transcript

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Hi, here we go. Standing with your feet together tonight, fully together. Stack your spine standing tall. Feel good about the fact that you're already here. The hardest part is overtaking deep breath in. Fill up. Bring in some energy, let go of whatever you need to. Yes. Again, inhaling up and exhale and I'm going to suggest you raise your shoulders on this next one. Bring it up. Hold the arms up and really just reach way up there. Way Up there, way up there. Drop the shoulders down. Let the arms go down. One more.

Lead the shoulders down. This time we'll head into a roll down, taking it up. Once the arms come down to about shoulder height, let your head go forward. Your upper back. You may decide to bend the knees a little, but I am going to the ground with the fingertips. Inhale, exhale, connect to the low belly. Roll it back up. Standing just a little tall or just standing here. Inhale. Exhale. Make it easy. You don't want, we don't have to be too too, too involved there just to let the arms be.

You can think through the inner thighs here, pressing together. Inhale, heads are hanging heavy. Exhale, we roll back up. One more time. In fact on this one, go down and pick up your ring. Yeah. Inhale, grab onto that ring. Exhale en. Roll yourself up. Just hang onto the ring. There we are. I got to take it.

He loved the hand feed or still together. Shift your weight forward just a little bit. Elbows are out to the side, your lats engaged. Exhale, rise up. Don't worry about squeezing the ring just yet. Inhale, stretch your low back. Stretch your waist to lower the heels, barely touch. Exhale, go again. I suspect now when you lightly squeeze the ring, go ahead and do that.

Now you'll feel a little more awareness to the center and lighten up on the ring as you go down. Connecting through the glutes, really through the whole powerhouse, right? Think there rather than it's your feet and legs can apply as much pressure on the ring as you want to. So long as you don't throw everything forward, you want to feel action in the back. That's almost where I'd focus and down one more time like that. Give you this ball. This will work. That'll work just perfectly from there.

Extend your arms forward but slightly lower than straight off. So just there. Let's do a few more here. Rise up. You're squeezing the ring. Not Real heavy. Right. You got to remember with the ring here, down and up that it's not about the hands. Even now you have some awareness to the back and I'm going to ask for straight elbows even though it kind of takes away the ability to squeeze hard. It's kind of why I'm asking, especially for those of you who hyper extend.

I'm watching you. You want to know? I do not want you to hyper extend. No, no. I know. I want them straight. Let me be clear. Okay. Bring it in. Let's, sorry. Yes. Bring it in. Keep your feet on the ground and just little pumps. Good. I'm thinking Erin, a slight lifted the chest. I'm not sure. Maybe. Let me just see the side view before I correct something. No, you're right.

And then taking the arms extend extended out as one, two, three, four, five, come back five one, two, three, four, five and see those little puffs of air can connect to the rib cage four and five and haul two, three, four, five again, one, two, three, four, five one, two, three go a little lower with the arms. And one, two, three, four, five one, two, three, four a little higher and up to three, four, five and back to one. Back Down here, il, one, two, three, four, five and in last time up high, one, three, four, five and back to three or five. From there, just extend it down, right like forward. You can turn the lower leg out a little bit if you'd like or you can move it out a tiny bit. And then not much though from there, let's just squeeze the ring. It's almost like, in fact, let's do this. Take the ring just above your elbow, all that with the arm so you can actually use the other side. And I'm doing that again cause it's not about the hands. So raising the right foot off the floor and just squeeze the ring, kind of sustain contract. Bend the knee.

You're still squeezing the ring. I'm going to extend the knee from here. It doesn't have to be high with the leg straight. Bring it down. So like a slow mini bicycle, squeezing the ring kind of throughout. Lifting and stretching it to come down. And again, Ben to reach and stretch. It does help to focus the eyes. I noticed you guys are all doing mat.

I should do it too rich. Go for one more easy. Good job and changing legs. All right. And we squeeze it extended Angela, her hips are nice and level and Ben n reach and 30 a little higher. If it's too easy, if it's still too easy, rise up on the toes of the supporting leg hop. Do something.

Make it challenging, otherwise it's not really worth it. Cool. Alright, leave it down. Taking the ring now. Separate your feet and how far you're going to end up in this position. And we want the knee about over the ankle. It should be relatively comfortable to taking the ring to your hip. Okay, let's all go this way. I'm like, Yup, and the heel of your hand is there so the elbow is going to bend.

Reach around if you're not clear on where, if your back is working, make sure the lad is kicked in just a just by pressing the shoulder down. All right, from here we're going to pull the ring in and bend the knees and then stand up. Pull the ring in and two out of five and theory and backs are long. It's going to be tempting to arch your back, so be careful. I know that was five.

Go down and stay down on this one and now a little pull of the arm is hole one and two and three get lower. If you want five of ten six, seven, press eight, nine standing up. We'll go again. Well let's go and take it down. One and up and two and three. The lower you go, the more you kind of have to watch for the pelvis. Next time we'll stay down. Here it is, and press horn.

To press three for five out of ten six, seven, hang on, eight, nine and come up on 10 let's just change sides. So in a you have yours at your waist, it's fine. It might be a more comfortable lower. It's up to you. Just so you know, just so I feel good. Ready. And we go to another place to check is that it is not so much in your upper Trapezius, right? If you're pulling in the shoulders, creeping up. Not Good. We'd rather have it all coming at the side here. Thank you.

One more to go down just cause I did that on the other side. Thank you. And now we go pull one, two, three. Good. And, and, and, and nine very good. 10 up. We go. One more set of those five. This time for real one. Press and squeeze up. So you're still working on the way up and the degree or here we go. We stay down there. Check, check and one and three. Hang on for four.

Six, connect. Oh, the breath is getting deeper. Good. Take your ring, place it above your knees. May Have to end. Do Wiggle your feet or walk your feet in closer. This one's not super comfortable. I will keep us here only as long as I have to. Here's the thing. Here's the thing.

This is going to be the tendency, so try to keep your pelvis level. Even if you're in the knees, don't go to straight for a lot of us. They want ready, just bend as much as you can without letting it drop. And now up you go. Squeeze, check pelvis, get taller off the waist and it's just like a release and draw in and up. See if you can connect the sensation of inner thigh to the powerhouse or it is a powerhouse really to the sense of pelvic floor and up and down. Just a few more.

And it's like when we get to roll-ups, try for this feeling. But if I'm assuming that you're feeling a little bit higher than just the legs, I know you feel the legs and probably just above the knees where the ring is. And then let's stay there for just a few. Check your pelvis and if anything, slightly tuck under endless, just squeeze, squeeze. Not gonna much. Right. We're already there and it's as if you could suck the ring upward. You would. Everything's coming and not a great cue. I agree, but it's working for me in terms of what I'm looking for. All right. Ah, that's enough of that. Take it out. Oh, doesn't that feel good?

Don't you feel tall? It's, oh, there it is. Okay. Look for that feeling in the roll up. Alright. What I want to do to get to the glutes is this. We don't squat enough. We've done, most of us have done this together. We're going to come down to a squatting position.

This is not going to really help you, but in fact set it down. What we're here. What you can do is either brace against the knee against any, this one's a little harder. I'd rather you be here. Okay. If that's too low for you, you can be instead of here, you can tilt forward and the knee angle won't be as much and you'll still get the glutes. That's fine. Okay. Another option. What I'd like you to try is to press the forearms either right up on top of the knee or to the side of the knee and involve your back. Yeah, your back muscle. That's great. That's great ads you're in.

We're going to pretend we're gonna come up and we go back down. Oh, I love it. Calling me names that fast. That just that just eggs me on air and lift. Push. So you want to be in a position again where you can push through the heel, right? Just through the heel and down. Excellent. Andy. Lovely. You get to tilt forward. One more glute. You don't have to, but I would recommend it. How are you doing quads for sure, but look for the gloop. I surname looking good. I'm good.

You know, so I'm not going fully down. I'm getting close. Okay. All the way up. All the way up from responding to that all the way. No big deal. Right here we go. Take it down. It's fine. Me. Okay. You can be here if you want to. That's fine. You can have your hands there and change the position a little bit. Otherwise, use your back while pushing into them. Okay.

If you are not satisfied with the intensity that you get to do one arm up armor and think about your spine stretch, right? Abs are in few more. Two more. One, two hands are down first. Use them to help you up. All right, we're just going to roll down from where we are. Find your ring if you don't already have it. Roll yourself. Becca sums on the inside for side overs. All right, so here.

Okay. Okay. It is a great example of someone with a lot of muscle who can still straighten your arms. That's flexible. I love it. If it gets you tiring though, we would understand. Come up and over just cause the ring's a small hang out and you get longer. Press into your left foot so there's weight. Exhale, come back. Yes, RNA, go wider with your feet. Feel better reaching up and over.

You have a weight in the right foot as well as the left longer and come up and inhale up and over. It's like you're taking the exhale, come up and in and just if I didn't say it, I'm not squeezing on the ring. I mean if anything, I'm lightly pulling. You could have the hands however you want. Just it's more for spacing, general area side of the body. So if you're feeling it in your back, check to make sure you haven't rotated. Right? All right. As you six more little quicker. It's inhale and exhale up. Inhale over. Start that exhale or at least the abdominal contraction. Just before you come up. Last two, one, one more and two right on. Okay. Bring it down.

And then from here we're going into, let me just quickly show you what I'm going to say. What am I going to say? It's going to be turn the week that way from here and I want, I'm just going to do 10 and up. So you're basically coming into a lunge position with the one side. Again, focusing on the glutes. The hand is just there for a little stability. You don't have to lift the leg and back if you want, if you don't want to, that's okay. But the leg in back is straight and the body basically is going up and down.

Okay? Opposites. So let's all just take the right leg forward. Left arm is in front. I turned my ring, you know that way sort of that it was easier for me, but you can probably have it either way and then you can, if you can get low enough to have the other hand on the ground, that's okay. It's gonna come up almost instantly though. The forward leg is going to stay bent as we help ourselves up and back down.

There's not a lot of weight on the back leg two and down three and four. It's like your body who elevates rather than travels a whole. You guys look great. Five, six, excellent. Seven generating the power from the gluten ate and listen up. Nine number 10 are going all the way up to pick up the ring with you.

Your leg is straight, almost straight that you're standing on it. The ring is in the hands, the back leg is lifted and reaching maximum height for now is going to be perpendicular to the floor or hip level. Lining up your head with your feet, your left reaching, reaching, reaching. All right, lower the straight leg. Bend the back knee and just stand all the way up. Yes.

Nothing to say Aaron. Okay. Okay. Switching sides. So the left knee as far left foot forward, right hand takes the ring. Yeah, the back leg is straight. Energize it. That helps. By the way, if your back leg is like a noodle, you're going to be relying solely on the forward leg, but if you disperse energy, which is true for all [inaudible] exercises, you can help yourself out. Is this already for? Yup. All right. Four. Ah Huh. I'm thinking now is five. Sorry. Six. Yeah, Dan are you, don't forget that back leg and I don't mean to, it'll say lifted.

I just mean it's energized. Nine is that all we did? 10 come up my, my the leg. I'm standing on a slightly bent. Energize. The ring is in your hands. I'm looking at the floor, reaching, balancing, energizing arms are relaxed, and then when you're ready, we soften the forward knee and help ourselves. All right. Whew. Yeah.

Comments

Once again great challenging fun class. The balancing exercises helps me so much in my other sports- for example cross country and skating skiing.
This was really great! Thanks Kristi!
Myriam Kane
Fun, Kristi!! Thank you!
Hi Myriam!! So nice to see you here! I love what you wrote in your profile... You are such a good instructor! Elaine great feedback. Thank you to all of you for your comments.
Very good class,nice job.
Thank you
Margherita S
great concepts to stimulate intermediate quartet class that has been ongoing for many years. Love this website. Thank you Kristi
My pleasure Margherita!
Thank you Kristi
Challenging and effective in less than 20 minutes. Thank you.
2 people like this.
I recently find out that these short classes are actually "Pilates for procrastinating PhD students". I am writing my PhD and therefore I am sitting the whole day in front of the computer. I usually do an aerobic-workout every morning that heats me up but still I start to freeze after a few hours sitting and typing (Israeli winters are cold, too). So I realized that doing one of these challenging 20 minute workouts every 2 hours really works for me - not only heating me up but also let's me get back to work with much more energy. Thank you!
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