This video is part of a course.

Class #3855

Upper Body Power

30 min - Class
496 likes

Description

Welcome to Class 2! Today Gia increases the intensity by adding Hand Weights to challenge your upper body. Because the beginning of the week tends to be more productive, you will enjoy working with more energy and power.
What You'll Need: Mat, Hand Weights (2)

About This Video

Transcript

Read Full Transcript

Hi, I'm Jia Calhoun and today we're doing a class with hand weights. It's going to be a little bit more intense for your upper body. Yesterday's class was a little bit more just traditional. Just get you going. So today it's a little bit more productive, more energy, and we're going to get started. So for the beginning you don't need your weights, so you can just put them anywhere. You're going to lie down on your back.

Arms are going to be either down by your side. If you can, you can bring them out to a tee. I don't have the full mat here, so I'm going to go to a low v. Legs are going to come up to tabletop. You want your legs glued together, your chest is open, you're going to inhale to bring both legs over to one side. Exhale as you bring them back up. Inhale over to the other side, exhale to come back up. Just keep going. So your shoulders are quiet, but you're letting the opposite hip come up off the mat, back up to the center, and then other way, exhale up. One more time. Like this. Inhale, exhale up. Keep the opposite shoulder down. Last time.

Yeah. Now we're going to change it just a little bit. So we're going to go back to the first side hold, stretch your legs out, long bend back into tabletop and then back up to the center. Other side. Inhale, exhale, stretch. Inhale, bend back to Table Top. Exhale, back up two more times. Inhale, exhale, reach. Trying to keep the legs even and back up to center last time and reach the legs out.

Then back to the tabletop and center. Stretch your legs up again or trying to keep the legs even. So you're gonna inhale. Do you bring both legs over to the right, kind of like a ticktock exhale to come back up to the center and heel over to the other direction and then backup. So you might not go as far as you did when your legs were in tabletop and that's okay. Let's go. Or you can up feeling your obliques as you reach legs over and then coming back up to the center. One more. Each time.

Reach trying to keep the legs one on top of the other. Not letting one leg get shorter last time. So I'm going to grab my hand weights and then lie back down. I'm going to bring the legs up to tabletop, arms up to the ceiling, shoulders or anchor down. Just take a deep inhale as you actually gonna push the arms down.

Curlier your head and chest, chest up. Inhale, lower. Exhale, curl up. So I like keep my hands, uh, my fingers reaching long on the weights just so I'm not gripping. But if you want to hold on with your whole hand, feel free to two more. Inhale back. Exhale, Corolla. Last one. Hold it here. Stretch your legs out. And we're gonna pump for the hundred. So you're going to inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Keep going. And exhale. Legs are glued together.

Have my legs parallel and exhale. Inhale and exhale. Just feel the weights in your hands and exhale. They're not too heavy. I only have two pounds. Inhale and exhale. This is seven and exhale and eight.

Two more. Keep lifting, lifting your chest up. Last one, and then rest. Keep the weights in your hands. We're going to use it for most of the class. If you don't have weights, you can do this without the hand weights as well. Legs are going to be out long. Flex your feet, arms up to the ceiling. Take a deep inhale as you actually gonna roll up all the way up, reaching your head between your arms and then rule back one bone at a time. Again, rolling up.

So just holding the weights is a lot of work in the upper body. Rolling back. Two more. Rolling of and then rolling back. Last one. [inaudible] we're going to roll up one more time and hold.

We're going to come to a seated position. Bend your legs just slightly. I'm going to have my legs hip distance apart for this one. Arms are going to come forward again, this time you're going to roll just halfway back, so you're gonna Round your spine. Tailbone is under roll to a spot that's challenging for you. I'm gonna flip my hands up.

Elbows are lifted and you're gonna do a bicep curl and then reach the arms out. Inhale, exhale. [inaudible] keep pulling the ABS in and up for more and three to elbows cracking. Last one. Turn the palms back down. Roll all the way up to your seated position and then roll halfway back again.

Find that spot that's challenging for you. Hands are gonna face in. You're gonna bend your arms just slightly for hug a tree. So you're just gonna open the arms and close, open, close. Try not to bounce in your upper body. You want to stay in that same position the whole time. Four more and three to [inaudible].

Try to keep the feet planted. Last one. Turn the palms back down. Roll up, sitting nice and tall. Last time. Rolling. Halfway back. Let's have the palms facing into each other. You're gonna roll up just an inch and then roll back down. Up An inch and back. Arms are just staying in this hold and lift and lower.

It's pretty small. Up and back. Two more. Last one. And then roll all the way up. Sitting nice and tall. Palm stays down and roll down one bone at a time. We're gonna go into legs circles. So going to keep one foot down on the, on the mat. You're going to flex that foot.

The other leg is going to go up to the ceiling. We're going to alternate your circling with your leg and then our movement. So I'm going to start with the arms up, palms facing down. Turn your leg out slightly. You're going to circle this leg, cross it around and then back up. And then going to bend your arms. Elbows are wide for a chest. Press. Arms come up.

Say circle the leg and chest. Press with the arms and lift. Circle up. Chest press lift one more. And chest press. I'm going to turn your palms in. You're going to reverse the circle. This time you're going to do tricep Presley, Ben, arms and straightened elbow. Stay up around and up.

Bend the arms and stretch two more hips or even try to keep them stable. Bend, stretch one more. And Ben, good. Reach that top leg all the way out. Flex that foot, bring the other leg up slightly, turned it out. Turn the palms down and gonna do the other leg. So you're going to circle around and up. Chest press, bend and stretch.

Keep the opposite hip down on the mat and Ben so you don't have your hands to help stabilize you so you really have to pull into the center of your body and stretch one more around and up. Ben, hands face in, reverse the circle and up. TRICEP press and lift around. Almost went the wrong way and ven and stretched. Two more around, up Ben. Stretch. One more lift and Ben Stretch. Hug your knees into your chest and take a breath.

So we're going to go into the series of five. We're going to still use the weight, so you're going to reach the arms long, curly your head and chest up. You're going to reach one leg out, keep the other leg into your chest and then switch legs. It's like an inhale. Inhale, exhale, exhale. Trying to keep everything stable. Inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale. Last set. Hug both knees in. You can rest your head. Turn your head side to side.

Just keep your neck loose. We're going to have the head up for awhile, so I'm going to bring your head and chest back up for double leg stretch. Instead of the arms reaching back. We're going to reach the arms straight out and then hug the knees into your chest, legs out, and in. Trying to keep the low back down so you're not arching and reach and into more. Inhale and exhale. Last one at rest. Your head arms are going to reach out again by your sides.

Curlier head and chest back up. One leg will come up to the ceiling. The other leg is going to reach out to the diagonal and you're going to say to the legs to switch and switch. So inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale, arms, legs, the reaching long. Exhale. Exhale, try to pass for ride through the mid line. Exhale, exhale both knees in, rest your head. Take a breath. Arms are going to reach back out. Curly head and chest up, legs up to the ceiling. We'll have your heels together, toes apart like inhale and exhale. Inhale, reach. Exhale, lift.

Three more thing of pulling the abs in and up and to lift. Last one. Squeeze in are thighs together and then bend your knees. You can put your weights down for crisscross. We'll bring the hands behind your heads. One on one on top of the other. Elbows are wide. Curlier head and chest up. Keep one knee into your chest. The other legal stretch out. Twist toward the lake that spent and switch. Good twisting from the waist.

Make sure it's not just your elbows moving, trying to stay balanced so you're not rocking. Side to side. Two more sets. Okay, unrest. We're going to rock up to a seated position. I want to do spine stretch. We're still gonna use the weights. So you're going to have your feet, um, open as wide as your mat.

You can flex your feet if you're hyperextended like me, try not to straighten your leg all the way. Think of pushing your heels down to so you can get a little bit more lift in your hips. Arms are gonna reach out, shoulders are down. You're going to inhale, lift up a little bit. Exhale, you're going to round forward into your spine. Stretch. Try to reach your arms long. Abs are pulling back and you're going to come back up.

Exhale, you're going to reach forward rounding. Reach that inhale. So I'm thinking of reaching the top of my head, past my hands so that way I stay in a long line. I'm not just letting my head fall rolling it and then reach forward. We're going to add onto this, so this time you're going to reach forward like you did before.

You're going to stay here from the low back. You're going to lift up into flat back arms are going to come up by your ears. You're going to round back again to your spine stress position and then roll up and sit tall so you round forward arms are long flat and you're back from the base of the spine all the way up. Round, back over into that spine stretch and roll. Two more round forward, flat back lift. It could be using those back extensors and then round back up.

One more and flat back and then round forward and then rule up good roller shoulder that for a second. We have one more in that progression. We're going to do little iron pulses. The arms are going to come back out, sitting up nice and tall. You're going to round forward. Find that flat back position and hold. Arms are reaching lawyer's gonna. Push the arms back and back. Try not to let the ribs thrust forward. Keep them in line with the rest of your spine.

That's what I'm thinking about anyway. We have four more and three. You should fill this back muscles working two and one round. Back over and lift good legs together. I'm just going to come out to the side.

We're going to turn the palms up so you're externally rotating. Your arms are going to do a spine twist. Try to keep your feet glued together. You're going to twist three times to the right twist, twist, and then back to center. Other way, twist, twist, twist and center. So you're trying to get a little bit further. Each twist, making sure you're not just leading with the arms, it's coming from the waist. Twist. Good. Feel those arms burning and just go ahead and try to keep those palms up.

Make sure they're not starting to rotate in and twist with one more each way. Twist and center. Last one at rest. I'm going to come down. I'm going to flip over onto your, just keep your weights next to you because we're going to use them in a minute. So you're going to have your head down onto your hands. You want one hand on top of the other, four head arrests on your hand. And then legs can be apart or together. Again, you're gonna pull your abdominals up, shoulders are down, and as you inhale, you're gonna float your head, hands and arms off.

And then exhale as you lower back down. Inhale, floating your upper body. Exhale, Zee, lower back down. Try not to tense in your shoulders as you lift, think of more of the upper back lifting feed or down on the mat will lift, um, low. Two more. Okay, last one. Okay. Grab your weights and then arms are going to come out to a tee so you're keeping that long neck. Again. Imagine your hands are still underneath your forehead.

Arms are going to come out to the side palm facing down. It's like the reformer. You're going to inhale with the arms out. Exhale. As you reach your hands back by your hips, lift your chest up and he'll lower the chest. As the arms come out to your t Alexios he bring the hands back and he'll try to keep those hands, shoulder height whole time keeping that external rotation with the arms so the palms are facing down whole time. Two more. [inaudible] last one.

Hold it up here. Turn your palms up. You're gonna do little pulses with your arm like the a hundred so you're gonna Inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five you to fill your triceps. Try to keep your shoulders down the back. Exhale, we're just getting two more sets. Inhale, not a full hundred. Exhale. Last one would be kind of miserable. If you're doing the full hundred and exhale and lower.

We're going to put the weights down, pushed back into child's pose and take a breath here. So now we're going to go into some bridging. So just move your weights out of the way. Because we're not gonna use them for this. Take here and then lie down on your back.

Feet are hip distance apart. Arms are down by your sides. You want your feet kind of close to your seat so that way when you bridge, your ankles are right under your knees. So you can take a deep inhale at the bottom here. Exhale, roll up to a bridge, one bone at a time, keeping the chest open. Inhale at the top. Exhale, roll down. Tumor plane. Just like this to warm up, rolling up.

I always have to remember to keep my weight even on my feet. I tend to roll to the outer part of my foot, so I have to remember roll down to keep weight over my big toe side of the foot as well. And then rolling up. One more time. Chin is off the chest and then roll down. You're gonna roll up in hold. Keeping that long line. One leg will come up to the ceiling. You can just point the foot, you're going to reach it down to meet the other leg and then bring it back up.

So it doesn't have to go all the way to the mat. Just in line with the leg that's down lower and lift two more. And lift. Last one. Keep it leg up. We're gonna do little circles around, across it, around. And so the challenge of this one is keeping the hips stable and even and up. One more and then reverse. So the circle can't be too big cause you'll lose control and up two more. Last one.

And then bend your leg, bring that foot down. Other leg will reach up to the ceiling. Lower the foot down and the up. See you meet the opposite leg and lift three more and to [inaudible] last one, keep the leg up, cross it around for your circle and up. Cross around trying to keep the hips lifted. One more and reverse around and up and lift two more.

And then bend your legs, bring the foot down, roll down to your neutral spine. And then we're going to lie onto your side for sidekicks. So we're gonna. You can come onto your elbow here if you'd like or you can let all the way down. Another option is to come up onto your elbow and forearm.

I'm going to come here, bend your legs. You want your feet in line with your tailbone, your spine is flat and your front hand is just resting on the mat. We're going to start with the hydrant, so you're just going to lift the top leg up parallel and then lower back down. If you go too high, it'll turn out into a clam. And I want to try to stay parallel.

I personally get enough rotation in ballet. My hips sometimes get a little bit overworked in that position. So for me, parallel just a little bit more beneficial. It's a little bit harder for me as well. Two more like this last one. Now we're going to turn the leg in. So you're just gonna turn, lift the foot up to turn the knee in and then back down.

You can keep the knees together and lift and lower. Four more and three, two, last one. Keep the leg turned in. You lift the leg up and down. Lyft. Good. So you're still trying to keep the hips stacked. Make sure you're not rolling forward with that top hip.

Keep it on top of the bottom. One Timor and lower. You're going to bring your leg back up to that hydro position. Flex your foot. Try to keep your foot in line with your knee, going to kick the leg out and then bend it back into that bent position. So you kick out in line with your body, then back into your chest. Reach. Think of reaching out through that heel. So you're pushing from the back of the leg all the way up to the heel and reach to more. Hold the leg out. Last thing, little circles around to keep it quick. Three, four, five, six, seven and reverse back.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven and down. We're going to go quickly to the other side so you can, he can just roll over. I'm going to switch sides. Second face you. So legs are bent, feet are in line with your tailbone. We're gonna start with hydrate. So you're gonna lift the top leg up and down to as you're lifting this leg. Try not to sink into your waist. Keep your waist long.

That'll help keep your hips stacked. Four more and three, two last one into the internal rotation. So usually just lift the top foot and lower top foot so the inner thighs can stay glued. When you just lift the foot, you can try to think about keeping this top hip back two more. Hold it up this time. Lift the whole leg up so it's similar to that hydrant. Just in a rotated internal rotation and lift four more and three, two, last one. Good. Come back to parallel. Lift your leg up and hip height. Flex your foot.

You're going to reach out to that karate kick. So what I call it and back. So it's like you're breaking through a piece of wood with that foot and reach. Trying to stay hip height the whole time. You're not letting it zigzag in and out for more and three [inaudible] to there it goes again. Last one. Hold little circles around for eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and reverse back two, three, four. Your hips should be burning. Six, seven, eight n rest lie on your back.

I'm going to stretch out your hips before we go into the next exercise. So whichever leg you did first, you're going to cross that fit over the opposite leg. Pull your leg into a chest for a figure four stretch. I like to use my elbow to push this knee out to the side a little bit more so that way I get a better stretch. And then switch legs, so other foot over the opposite knee. Pull the leg into your chest and then you can use your elbow or your hand to push that knee out to the side.

So we're going to come up into our leg pulse. So we're going to come to a plank. Hands are right under your shoulders, feet, or back. You can bring your legs, hip distance apart. Just try to spread your fingers and help distribute the way evenly through your hands so you're not bending too much at the wrist. Keeping a flat line with your body, you're gonna lift one leg up, you're gonna reach forward back. Bring the foot down, other leg up, forward, back down. Lift forward, back to keep alternating feet. Trying to keep the hips even as you lift the foot and lift front back one more each side.

Last one, and come on down. We're going to face side. One Hand is on the mat, the other hand is just out to the side. So you're gonna keep the top leg in front. Bottom leg and back. Shoulder is anchored. So you want to think of anchoring into this scapula so you're not letting it do funky things while you're moving into the side plank.

She's going to lift up into your side plank. First one, just kind of where you find your position. Try to have your shoulder over your wrist, top arm reaching up. I'm going to go into a twist, so you're going to swivel onto your back foot. Reach the bottom top arm underneath you, and then come back and then sit down again. Reaching up into that side. Plank twists, reaching that top arm underneath, coming back up to that nice flat line and then back down. One more time.

Lift, twist under and lift and turn over to the other side. I'll face it back so you can see what it looks like from the back. So top leg is in front, the hand is a little bit out from the shoulder, so that way when you come up to your side plank, your shoulder will over your wrist. So you're gonna lift up to that side. Plank first one, just so you can find your position, make any adjustments you need. Two legs are squeezing together and you're going to reach the top arm under you.

Reach under, lift the hips just a little bit, and then come back up and then down into your seated position, keeping the shoulder blade anchored, twists and swivel that back foot Lyft, and then Ben back. Last one, her reach under and lift up and okay, let's just shake out your wrists. We're going to finish with some pushups. If you have any wrist issues and you want to use them, you can always use some hand weights and hold onto them this way so that way you're not bending at the wrist too much. Just an option if you need it. You can come to your plank, whether that's on your knees. If you're on your knees, you're in a straight line or on your feet. Elbows are pointing back leg to glue together in to bend your arms and then push up and lift. Good.

I trying to keep the elbows right by your ribs so you're not letting them go too wide. Think triceps more than pecs. Two more. Last one. And then bend your knees. Place your feet down, feet together, knees apart into child's pose. This, take a deep breath in and then exhale. One more time. Breathe into your back and exhale. And then she slowly roll up.

Sit Up nice and tall, and he made it through. Thank you.

The Pilates Daily: A Class for Each Day of the Week: On the Mat

Comments

1 person likes this.
Thank you so much Gia; this was a great upper work; just what I needed when I woke up...
I'm so glad you liked it Cigdem! It's perfect to get you going for the day! 
Great for strengthening the upper body. Thank you.
1 person likes this.
I really enjoyed this class. Thank you Gia. You have such a lovely peaceful energy whilst working us hard! Perfect!
1 person likes this.
Lovely! Simplicity, clarity, flow-  great side-lying variations too,many thanks.
Thank you all! I'm so happy that you're enjoying this class!
1 person likes this.
Wow!!!! Tough little class but you kept me moving with your wonderful instruction . Thanks Gia
Se siente esa energĂ­a maravillosa,  excelente 
1 person likes this.
Thanks from AUS Gia. I love your simple calming cues. Great daily program to keep motivated.


1 person likes this.
Arm, yes. But hitting all the other parts as well. Love this one!
1-10 of 40

You need to be a subscriber to post a comment.

Please Log In or Create an Account to start your free trial.

Footer Pilates Anytime Logo

Move With Us

Experience Pilates. Experience life.

Let's Begin