Class #4865

Strength Training Circuit

45 min - Class
449 likes

Description

Build strength and endurance with this challenging Reformer workout by Courtney Miller. She teaches a class, inspired by Wes, that incorporates heavier weights and strength training movements. She also blends in a bit of cardio to give you a total-body workout.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box, Hand Weights (2)

About This Video

Transcript

Read Full Transcript

Hi guys, Courtney here. And I'm here with Wes, one of my friends and fellow teachers at Pilates Republic. Wes' classes are awesome. They're always sold out, the wait lists are extremely long. So, you may not be able to take a class with him in person, but you do get a class with him today.

My formatting today is based on movements that Wes teaches in his classes. And also, I think we both share an interest of doing some strength training outside of the pilates studio. So we're gonna be throwing in some weights today as well, working our guns, you know? So if you have weights, grab them. If you don't, don't worry about it, because you can do all the weighted moves without weights if you don't have any.

Okay, let's get started. So, we have our reformers set probably differently. So, Wes is gonna set up his tension at a red, a red and a blue, a red and a yellow. If you're working on different springs, maybe a full spring, a spring and a half. I'm gonna have one red spring on and we're just gonna start with some core mobility, core and mobility, I guess I should say.

We're gonna lay down onto the carriage, hugging your knees. This is gonna kind of remind you of rolling like a ball. So hug the knees, stretch your back. Plant your feet onto the floor, about a hips width, rise to standing, swinging those arms back. That's perfect.

Hug your knees in and then rise to standing, nice. And when you stand up, use your glutes, and when you roll back, activate those abdominals. Find a breath pattern that works for you. Knees hug in. Maybe you want to add a hop at the top.

I don't know. Maybe there might be a little bit of jumping during this class. This class is gonna make you sweat. Four and hugging those knees in and rising up. Three.

Good, and two, and then one more, and one. Okay, we're gonna set up for some bridges, but not the bridges you might be used to. You're gonna use the edge of your carriage, step your feet forward, and you want the carriage to hit you at your mid spine, that T spine, feet hip distance. Let's curl up, chin to chest. I even take my hands behind my head here, but you do what works for you.

Take your right leg to table. Let's do 10 single leg bridges here. Inhale, drop the hips low, exhale, lift and squeeze that glute. 10. I love being up in this position with that chin tucked, because you can actually see your hips.

Keep them level, keep them lifted, inhale down, exhale up. So chin to chest, looking at the pelvis. Three, two, and then switch your legs. So, one foot down, other leg up. Let's go.

Inhale lower and exhale lift. Try to get those hips real close to the mat. So, Wes, slide off that machine a little bit more. Yeah, let's really work that mobility. Lift and squeeze, cool.

Five, four, three. That's two and that's one. Okay, the warm up's working. Wiggle yourself back up. I don't know if there's a graceful way to do that or not.

Take a seat on your carriage facing back, for some bicep curls, so keep a little bit of space behind you, okay, guys? Grab your straps. You can choose your long or your short, do what works well for you. I'm gonna get my short ones. And then roll yourself back into a low scoop.

Let's do some progressive loading, Wes. So keep your elbows low and pull into that bicep curl for five. Remember to activate those abs as well. Four. Neck is long, no tension.

Three. See if you can get lower into your scoop, almost like you're in the 100 position, two and one. Now lift your elbows high. So your elbows are the height of your shoulders and repeat that. Five.

Stretch all the way out. You've got it. Four and three. Nice. And two and hold the bicep curl, keep your arms totally still.

Make more of like a 90 degree bend with those elbows. Perfect. Now, don't move your hands. Lower your chest down as low as you can go and then use your abdominals to come up to the bicep curl. That's perfect.

Down and up. Four. Shoulders down. Three. So it's an isometric kinda style with the arms.

Two and one, and then reach towards your toes. Take a moment, take a break. It's okay if that wasn't the hardest thing you've ever done because the class is just starting. Hook up your straps and swing your legs off to the other side. Let's do those rolls again.

So scooch forward, lie back and hug your knees in. Cool. And then feet to the floor about hips width, rise and roll. And if you have any flat spots in your spine, any flat spots, you're gonna wanna try to mobilize that. Maybe adding some jumps, up to you.

I'm gonna jump now, but I might not jump later. So I'm just pacing myself. Four, three, two and then one more. One. And you'll be able to see from this angle kind of where the carriage is hitting us on the back.

So step your feet forward. It should not be uncomfortable, but you want to have enough mobility in those hips to drop down. Do you have room there? Hands behind your head, take a right leg to table. Let's do 10 lifts.

Down and up. One and two, three. And I'm not sure if you notice, we do have some weights, some dumbbells. You could always take those weights and place them on your pelvis to add more resistance, more load in that lift. One more time and switch leg.

Chin to chest. Look at your pelvis down and up. Squeeze it at the top. Two, three, four, five, six, seven. There's a pause while you're at the top.

There's a squeeze of those glutes and one more here. And then help yourself come up. Take a seat. Biceps round two. So send your legs long.

Grab a hold of those ropes. Short loops. Roll back into that low, low scoop. So round two, same as round one, elbows low. Five.

Maybe you can get even lower. Four. Three. Oh, I love how Wes criss-crossed the opposite angle over. That's the sign of a true pilates person right there.

And then lift your elbows a little bit higher. Pull. It's hard when your elbows are up to keep your shoulders down, so you have to think about that. And then we hold that 90 and we let the upper body do the movement here. So roll back, close your ribs and curl towards your arms.

That's perfect. Five in total. So four to go. Four. Inhale, low, low, low.

Three. Two. And then one more time. One, reach to your toes, take a stretch, take a breath, whatever you need. Hook up your straps and meet me in a straddle.

Now, chances are the resistance you have for the last one is the right tension for this, but if you have anything going on in your shoulder, reduce the resistance. I'm on a red. You could certainly do this on a blue. Hover your hips. Also guys, the closer you are to your foot bar, the lighter it's gonna feel.

Lean your chest forward and then you're gonna push the carriage forward five times. One, two, three. We're gonna be here for a while. Four and then we're gonna do arm jumps five times. Ready?

Let's go. One, two, three, four, five. Now, single arm, let's keep our left hand on, take the right arm out to the side and kick it for five, four, three, two. Other arm, here we go. Five, four, three, but there's not a break after this, two, one, there's carriage hop froggy style.

So keep the carriage closed, pushed down to the shoulder blocks. Get those knees up, yeah and hop down. Five, up and down. Four. That's three, that's two, that's one.

Stay low. You're repeating this set. So, get the chest low, arm presses for five. Good. As the arms push forward, the shoulders have to pull back.

You got it. Step back if it feels too heavy, guys. You do you. Time to jump. Let's go.

One. Jumping with the arms, with the arms, yes. Wes' carriage closes quickly because it's heavy. If you have a lighter tension, it might close slower. All right, last jump.

Single arm. One arm out to the side. Give me five. Good, four. Be careful that shoulder doesn't lift up by your ear.

Three. Good. Two. Make this about the core. Switch those arms.

You can do this. Pushing. We're gonna do those frog jumps next. Press your sternum up, up, up, so the (indistinct) flat on the back. Two, awesome.

And here we go, knock them out. Feet up. One, five times. Two, good. Three, that's four.

Stay up on the carriage. Rest down onto your knees, Wes. Let's do a plank. I think the running joke in these classes is we can rest in a plank. So walk your knees back, drop your elbows down.

We're gonna do a combination movement. So curl your toes on the wooden platform and press yourself out. The first part to this combo is gonna be pushing your elbows forward and back and then keep your elbows under your shoulders. The second part combo is to bend your knees over the carriage and press out. So we go arms first, forward, back.

Knees. Good. So arms first. And keep on going. I want to remind you guys that in this plank, you're working your lower body as well.

So it's not just upper body. 50% is in your lower body. That includes your inner thighs squeezing together, your glutes, your booty working hard. Your quadriceps are toned when the legs are straight. Wes, give me one more arms first and then knees second and out.

Nice job. And take a break and take a rest. But just joking because there's no rest and there are no breaks. So come off your machine forward. We're gonna go into the dumbbell or the free weight section.

Now, we're gonna repeat this three times. So if it feels a little bit new or unfamiliar, the first one, don't worry about it, because we've got lots to do. Grab those weights. I have eight pounds. Wes has twenties.

And you don't need to use any at all if you don't want to. So let's bring those weights up by your shoulders. Good. And we're gonna come down into a squat and we're gonna stay pretty low as we hop the feet together, then hop the feet apart and rise up, reaching the arms overhead. Squat.

We go in, out. This is power push. In, out, up with a lot of energy, guys. In, out. Again.

In, out. Use the legs. In, out, up, two more. In, out, push. Last time.

In, out, push and rest. Okay. Keep those weights. We're gonna do a split squat. So come away from your machine a fair amount.

We're gonna keep our left foot on the floor and take the top of the right foot onto the carriage, okay? And if you don't want to use the carriage, you don't have to, you could also use your box instead. Slight lean forward as you bend to that front knee. You want to weight that left glute and rise 10 times. One, go slow.

Two. Make any adjustments, guys. I want that left foot under your knee. So if you need to step your left foot a little bit more forward, go for it. We're slightly leaning forward while in the lunge, so we activate our glute on our left side.

How many do we do, Wes? One more. And then step forward. And we'll do the same thing on the other side. So, right foot stays down and left leg comes back.

Okay, easy. One, I'll count this time. Two. It's like that's your only job, Courtney, is to count. Three, four, five.

Press through your heel. Good. Come up to a fully straight leg. We're gonna be dropping one of these weights in three. That's two.

And that's one. Awesome. You feel okay? The next one is a very dynamic movement. I did it in my Pilates With Heart series on the mat.

So, it might seem familiar with one weight or none at all. You're gonna drop down into a squat. I'm gonna go from the side. You do whatever you want. But as you come up, it's kind of this flat back hinge to come up.

The hips are not pushing forward past the knees and you switch the weight to the other hand. So, flat back hinge, hinge, hinge. Yeah. Quick. I can't even imagine what that's like with 20 pounds, but then again, I did carry a baby and birth a baby and take care of a baby.

So, I mean, we all work hard in our different ways. Five, four, three, two, one. Nice. It's fun, right? Keeps your brain sharp.

So I've been told. Let's take a seat and do some twists. Make sure you have room behind you, use the floor if you'd rather do that. Hold one weight with both hands, rock your hips back, float your legs up. Let's do 10 twists, ready, guys?

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, that's nine and 10. We did it. Put the weight down. Make sure it's out of the way, guys. You don't want to be tripping on those weights.

And we'll do that again later. Okay. So, let's come to a kneeling position. I think the tension you have on is gonna be fine. Wes is still on a red and a yellow, I'm on a red, we're gonna do some arm jumps facing front.

So, knees against the very front edge of the carriage. I like wide knees because when I add my seated squat, I feel more stable. Lean forward, hands on. Don't do anything crazy, just find your rhythm. For me, the discovery of this being more of a back exercise really helped me.

It's a back exercise, it's not just an arm exercise. Do you want to add those seated squats? Hips up, lean into it. You got to lean into it. Five to go.

Five flat back hinge. Four, three, two, one. Look at that. And we even coordinated ourself. Great job. Okay.

Let's change our springs. I'm gonna be on a blue. Wes, I think maybe a red or a blue and a yellow. We're gonna do some pull ups. We're gonna turn this around.

Knees against the shoulder blocks. We're gonna make our way to the risers. We just did a push, now we're gonna do a pull. So walk it, walk it, walk it. I like thumbs on the top.

Yeah, fingers wrap. Hips low and go ahead and pull yourself forward. Pull and release. And the thing about these pull ups, guys is it's not about necessarily power, otherwise your shoulders might end up by your ears. It's that controlled return.

It's hard to strengthen, to lengthen the arms, pardon me. To lengthen the elbows, and not lift the shoulders. Four. Good. Three.

Good. Two and one. And then place the hands on those white frames and just kind of glide yourself back. I want to do some reverse knee tucks and then I want to repeat that flow. So hands on to the white frame, thumbs on the top, fingers wrapping.

The more your hands are forward, the more you're gonna work. First, bring your shoulders forward over your wrists, then your knees under your hips, round your back and let's do 10. Pull, spine round, pull, pull, pressing down, shin to chest. Pull. Five, four, three, two, one.

Take a moment, press back. We're gonna do that again with a twist. So, both hands to one side of the rails, okay? So if you are sweaty or slippery, you can always grab those non-slip pads. Bring your hands forward.

Take one hand over. I've got my right with my left. Shoulders come over the wrist, knees under the hips, round the back and pull. Ten, nine, eight. Keep leaning forward, yeah.

Seven, six, five. I feel like I'm pulling a little bit more with my left knee just to kind of get into that side cinch. And then right into the other side. Take breaks if you'd like, pull it in for 10. Nine, eight, seven, six.

Keep your shoulders forward. Five, four, three, two and one. And then slide it back. Now, I think the tension we have on is gonna be pretty good for the next one. Find your straddle.

You can either straddle in external rotation, which we often do, or if you're tall enough like Wes, you can even find that parallel wide stance, right? Parallel wide or turnout. Let's grab one rope short loop with our opposite hand. So I've got right rope with left hand and let's do some badass rows. Like let's get low and really pull that arm back for 10.

Pull, return, pull, return. You gotta really dig that elbow back and create opposition as you pull. Four, three, two, one. Nicely done. Hold onto that strap and meet me on the side of your machine.

Let's do a standing series. Use the short loop with your right hand, take a wide stance. I do like second position and find that (indistinct). We're gonna do a kneeling twist. So interlace your fingers, keep your hands in line with your sternum and then rotate your chest towards the foot bar and back through.

How many things we can do? Eight says Wes. Okay, five more. We'll listen to him. Five.

Disassociation, guys, don't move those legs. Four, three, two, one. Rise. Here's where things get fun. I didn't even tell him about this flow.

I'm just throwing it on him. Use the long loop with your right hand and pivot for some triceps. You might want to step back a bit, guys. It's gonna be heavy, even on a blue for me. Bend into that front knee, push to a straight arm, slowly bend.

Not only will you have to adjust your positioning for the setup, you may adjust your positioning throughout. You might take a step back to reduce the tension halfway through. That's fine. You don't have to be all or none. Five, four, three, two and one.

Circle it around, hook up the strap. Now, those pushups with the jumps. Ooh, they're hard. I might be able to do one. I'm sure you can do more.

Let's do our best, hands on the carriage. Step your feet back. You've got room. Can you go maybe... Yeah, perfect.

The wider the stance, the more stable you're gonna feel. We're gonna go narrow elbows, exhale, jump with the arms. Good, go, Wes, go, Wes. Five, four, three. That's power right there.

Strength and power. Two and one. Step your feet forward and shake it all off. Nicely done. Repeat.

So let's straddle. Did you like the turnout or did you like the parallel? I think it's a preference. If you're petite, you probably have no other option than to be into turnout. Grab your left strap, hold it with your right and step back because these are strong movements.

10 rows, let's knock them. One. You could be wide or narrow elbow, two. Why don't you play with the elbow position, see what you like better. Four, stay low.

Five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten. And then come on off to the same side as the rope. We have our rotated twist. Short loop, unless you want the long and then get down low into that turn up. Interlace your fingers.

Eight strong rotations to the foot bar. One. Legs don't move. Two, three, four, five. I'm glad you chose eight and not 10.

Six, seven. Okay. So, this is when we switch to the long loop and we have the leg that was closer to the machine back. This is the one where you have to adjust and find the right tension for you. Bend into it.

Let's do 10 presses. Not only we have to adjust the attention to start and mid exercise, but you might notice this arm is stronger or weaker than the other. Try to keep that elbow up and really isolate that upper arm bone so you can target the tricep. Four, three, two, one. That last one's meant to be hard.

Like if you have like the goal to do 10, by number eight, you should be like thinking, I don't know if I can do it, but then you do it. You've got your arm pushups. I want to show you a different way to do it. You could do it from here if you wanted to. Okay?

So here we go, down and up. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. We rocked that. Okay. So we're gonna go back to our weight routine.

Please stop, drink water, do whatever you need to do. I think when you're pushing it like this, it's okay to take breaks. There's a difference between the cardiovascular hits where we're just going, going, going super setting, strength training, we can take those little pauses, recover. Okay. So that's where recovery (indistinct) weights.

You're gonna take them to the shoulders, wide position, get low. We go together, apart, power, 10 times. Together, apart, use the legs, good. Together, apart, push, good. In, out, up.

Again. In, out, up, four to go. Four, three, two, one, take a break. I mean those do get your heart rate up. Strength training gets your heart rate up in a different way.

Okay. So, I think the important thing to note for the split squat is make sure you're far enough away from your machine that you feel like your knee stays sort of in the ankle zone. You ready to rock? Okay. So leaning forward, 10 times down and up.

One, two, chest is open. Three, four, squaring off our hips. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. You know it's hard when I'm counting. If all I'm doing is counting, you know it's gonna be hard.

Okay. So right foot, let's knock this out. One. I just got back from Canada and I feel like my out and about and sorry is stronger than ever. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, trying to get that back knee low to the ground.

Nine and ten. Ditch your weight. Another reason why I like those split squats is, I don't know about you, but I get a stretch in my hip flexor. Yeah. So it's stretch and strength.

Okay. Here's our agility move, coordination move. Let's go from the side. I think seeing that spine, just to recap, guys, what you're avoiding is this movement. So, as you rise, just find that neutral spine, that long line.

Okay, here we go. Get low. Draw the naval in. Remember your abdominals wrap from front to back, right? So we're back to front.

So keep them tight. Five. Neck long. Four, three, two, one. Yes.

Well, the good news is we get to sit down. Make sure you have enough room to roll your hips back. Close the ribs, float the legs. Remember you can ditch that weight. Here we go.

Ten, nine, eight. Keeping the legs as steady as you can. Not going for perfection. Just doing our best. Five, four, three, two, one.

Awesome. Well, we only have to do that one more time. I actually love that, I think it's really fun. I think you should go back to your original tension. We're gonna do chest expansion, some tricep kickbacks.

So Wes is gonna be on a red and a yellow or spring in a quarter. I'm gonna be on a red. But you'll find there's other ways that we can adjust the tension too. Kneeling on your mat for chest expansion. Let's set it up because it might feel heavy at first.

Grab ahold of your rope somewhere close to the metal clip or the knot and then use your back body to rise. Find that stability. We're not gonna do any fancy rotation in that neck, Wes, We're just gonna pull and pause. Pull your arms back, hold and let your arms come just past your thighs. Good.

Pull, four. We're doing what's called progressive loading. Three. You'll see what I mean by that in a second. Two and one.

Now, I want you to walk your hands up the ropes a little bit. The more you do the heavier you're making it. Second set and there's gonna be three in total. Push back, hold, let it come forward. One, two, three, four and five.

This is our big push. So walk your hands up as high as you think you should go. Remember, stability's important and let's push back. Five, four, three, two and one. Nicely done. Okay.

So, by the time you get to that third set, it should feel really hard and if it didn't, the next time you do this video, guys, walk those hands up or add some springs. Go ahead and hook up your straps. We'll do our triceps. But first, we'll do some elbow taps. So, hands onto the carriage.

I wrap my thumbs around the shoulder blocks so my hands don't slide, palms down. Press out, heels together, toes apart. Push the carriage as far forward as you can go. Take both elbows down to the mat. Yeah, there you go.

So the elbows under your shoulders, yeah. Now pull your elbows up and bring your hands under your shoulders. Yeah. So it's got four parts. First is push, second is bend.

You got it. Then pull, then return. Keep going. So push down, up and pull. Keep going, Wes.

It's hard to lift the elbows both at the same time. I know you can do it though. Yeah. Keep the middle lifted up, strong glutes. Three more, push, tap, lift, pull.

Two more, almost there. Push, tap, push, everything up, the chest bone too and pull. One more time. Push, tap, pull, and bring it all the way and take a break. I'm pushing us today.

Okay. So, our tricep kickbacks will be the same style as our chest expansion. So go ahead and grab ahold of the rope, close to the knot or the middle clip. I like to hover. It's a great way to really feel your deep abdominals working.

So get low, hover the hips, Wes, and hinge forward, kind of like a lightning bolt shape or just sit down if that's easier. Elbows high, let's kick it back for five. Five. I'm gonna warn you, when you start to walk your hands up the ropes, you might feel like you're gonna lean tip forward. Don't let that happen.

Keep your feet, the tops of the feet pressing down. Okay, one more makes five. I'm not really counting, but that seems like the right thing to say. Now, walk your hands up the ropes an inch or more. Pull the elbows up and let's do it.

Five, four, rolling the shoulders down and back, closing the ribs, three, nice, two and one. Third time's the charm, walk them up even higher. You ready? Five, four, three, two and one. Ooh, that definitely burns.

Hook up your straps. Let's do a side plank, okay? This is all about shoulder stability. Let's build a real solid foundation. So, lie on your right side facing that way and then take your elbow down to the inside of the shoulder blocks.

Shoulders needs to be rolled down and back. Hold onto the shoulder block, push your feet against the wooden platform in any way that makes sense for you. Good. And then prop yourself up. Cool.

And then reach your top arm up to the sky and we're gonna do some hip dips, Wes. So down and up. Now, this is a great place to stay. You don't have to make any changes. If you want to walk up to the foot bar, it's gonna be more load, more work on the shoulder that's holding you up.

But I don't really think just shoulder. I'm really trying to lift from underneath. Three, two, one and then take it down. That was great. Let's do a quick set of tricep dips.

I mean, why not? At this point. Wrap your hands over the front edge, send your legs out. They could be straight or bent. Should we do 20, 50?

50? We don't have time for 50. Let's do 10, down and up. But we'll do two sets. One, two, three, four.

I like these dips for the same reason I like the split squat. You get to stretch your shoulder. You get to open your back. And three and two and one. Good.

Okay, let's set up our side plank on the other side. So, elbow down and hold the shoulder block. And you know, I'm really particular about the setup for this, guys, because we have to protect our shoulders down and back. You lift the hips. When you feel ready, that hand can come up.

Dip and lift. And then this is what I did on the other side. If you want to, as long as your feet feel secure on that bar, you're going up. Six, five, four, three, two, one and take care in those transitions. You know what I mean?

When you're coming up and going down. Okay, cool. Well, I think it's time to add the box. So, come on back here. We're gonna place our short boxes on and mine is gonna go in front of the shoulder blocks, but Wes' is gonna go over and you can leave your straps on, that's totally fine.

Yeah. Let's add another spring to stabilize, so I've got two reds. Now, something to note on these machines, it's the Allegra Two, it's the movable foot bar. If you need that foot bar to lock into position, there's a pin that you slide in. And that pin will stop the bar from lifting up and adjusting.

So, I've got the pin in for both of ours. Our foot bars are not gonna move. Did you want to grab a weight for your back extension? Okay, let's try it. Let's put the weight kind either on the headrest or in the well, in case we decide to try it.

Kneeling on the box, let's definitely do some without the weight though. Rest your pelvis on the box and that's okay, I'll get it for you. Yeah, I'll get it when it's time. Okay. So, rest your pelvis on and take your fingertips to your forehead.

Pull everything up, drop your chest and then it's not important that you lift really high, it's more important that you keep the spine long. So exhale up, inhale down. Let's take it for five. I'll grab the weight. I'm not saying you have to use it.

This isn't peer pressure. Four. Good. Three. I'm just gonna roll it right under here.

Yep. Two and one. Nicely done. Take the knees down, take a moment, take a break. It's always good to rest in between these kinds of sets.

So, we'll do a second option, a second variation and I'll give you two options. So, option one will be to use the weight which will increase the challenge. Option two will be no weight, add rotation and we'll show you both. So back into the position. Your back feels okay?

This is a glute and hamstring exercise. Yes, it works the back, but what you're lifting with is the legs. So, grabbing your weight, if you're gonna use it and you keep it close to your chest, kind of hug it in like a little baby. Good. And then exhale lift.

So using the weight makes it a lot harder. Not using the weight and adding a twist might be the way you want to go. Five, four, three, two and one and rest. That was awesome. You are gonna want to put the weight on the floor, but be careful.

Wes, feel free just to roll it out of the way if that works easier for you. And then if you do have the box like Wes' can you switch it to be like mine in front of the shoulder blocks? Yeah. So not over in front, and then take a seat and face your foot bar. Yeah, bring it over.

You'll see why. We're gonna kick it back and it'll move. If it's not over the shoulder blocks, the box might move. Okay. So, for Wes' tension, I think you should do a red.

For mine, I'm gonna do a blue. I'm on a blue, Wes is on a red. This is a sneaky exercise though. If it feels too challenging, you might want to add a little more weight, okay? Lift your heels up high.

If I said burpee, would you be upset? I'm down. He's down. So, heels are lifted against the box. You're gonna press out.

That's why we have the box there. Yeah. Okay, now push back until you feel that carriage hit the back. Bend your knees in and under you for three. And two and one.

Now bring your chest forward over the bar and do one push up. Bring your knees in. Hover. Lift your arms up and then do the whole thing again. (indistinct).

Okay, ready? Push it back. In we go. Knees in and out. Kick the back.

One, two, three. Bring your chest forward. I usually do a wide elbow push up on this version. Bring the knees in. Lift the arms.

Try to get the hands behind the arms, behind the ears. Do it again. Send it back. Find your push, knees in and out. Go.

Three, two, one. That's a lot of quads. Those knee stretches, woo. Push up. Bring it in and hover one more time.

Hands down, kick it back, we go. One, two, three. Hands forward or chest forward. One push up and bring it in. Now, of course, we could have done more pushups if we wanted to, we could have done like three pushups.

So, as you progress, you could certainly do that as well. Let's just do a quick little booty buster. I can never get enough lower body work. I'm all for lower body. Put your right foot against the box, left foot on the platform.

If you have any issues with your on the platform, get a platform extender or change it, right? Do it differently. You're gonna get low. Kicking that box back, go to a full leg extension. Bring it in, five with the hands down.

One, two, three, four, five. Five, with the hands to the forehead, one. It should remind you of your chair series, right? Those mountain climbers. Wes isn't talking to me anymore.

Reach your arms forward. Five, four, three, two, one, switch. Ready, keep the hands down, square things off, bend the back knee in. I like to keep my chin into the bar. Five, four, three, two, one.

Lift the chest, lift the hands. Five, four, three. This is right now I'm thinking I can't do it. I have to switch my thought and be like, yeah, you can. Five, four, three, two, one.

That was a lot. But we still have to do our weight section, so come on off and let's ditch the box to the back. We're done with that bad boy. This belongs to you. Just bring that over there.

Nice try. He's like, I don't know, I just can't find the other weight. Okay. So, power, ready? Grab those weights.

Bring them to the shoulders. Wide position, get low, hop it in, hop it out. Use your legs. (indistinct) and out. Keep the back of the neck long.

In, out, up. In, out, up. In, out, push. Four more. Four, three, two, one.

Keep those weights. Split squat. I have to say, when I do these split squats, I don't know if this is just like OCD, but I always start with the opposite leg on the next day. So like today I'm starting with my left leg forward. The next time I do these split squats, I'll start with the right leg forward.

Do you do that too? Pilates people, we're slightly OCD. Okay. So bring that leg up. Make sure you're far enough away from your machine.

10 times down and up. One, two, three, four, five, six. Leaning a little bit into it. Seven, eight, nine, ten. It's getting serious.

Okay. Let's go. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Cool. Ditch the weight.

I feel like this is like a magic trick. It's something you could pull out at a party. You're like, look what I can do. Okay. Let's really challenge ourselves to get low on these squats.

So, down, up, switch. Hinge, flat back. Navel pulled in. Five, back of the neck long. Four, knees over toes.

Three, two, one. We got to twist. Then we are putting our feet in the straps. We earned it. So, take a seat.

Legs up. Okay, let's go. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six. Bringing the weight and the elbow back. This is sort of a momentum based exercise.

Finding that strength against that momentum. Two to go. And done. Alrighty, pop your headrest up. Add your springs.

I like to do feet and straps on two reds or red and a blue. How do you feel, good? Cool. Wes has this really cool quad stretch that we all love to do. Let's do it.

But first, let's do some circles. So lie down, place your feet in the long loops. Did we get enough core exercise in? I think so. I think so.

Keep your hips down, keep your pelvis anchored. Maintain that neutral. Let's do five big circles in each direction. One. I personally think that feet and strap series always feels better when you really push it during your workout.

So, whenever you're working really hard, just be like, well, the feet and the strap part will be delicious. Okay, reverse those circles. Close the ribs. Nice. And then here, if you finish in the straddle, Wes, loves to teach this one in his classes, let's keep our left leg straight, internally, rotate that right foot, toes to the floor, the strap kind of is on the top of the foot now.

Let the hip open. Sometimes I give the ropes a bit of a pull, like a puppet. Keep your right hip down, breathe it out. It's funny, sometimes I feel this in my quads, sometimes I feel in my abductors, today it's my abductors. But as you come back, just make sure that you are pushing into the strap with that straight leg.

You're not really pulling the bent knee back up so much as you are using your abductors on your inner thighs. Big breath. We did great today. We completely avoided doing the hundred. That's a success.

And then we like to finish our classes with a reformer roll up. So, go ahead and drop those straps on the floor or hook them up if you'd like. Lift your arms to the sky, let's do three. Exhale, forehead to the knees and then down. Two.

Relax your shoulders. And one. Woo hoo, that was awesome. High five. Love working out with my friends.

I hope you enjoyed the workout. Remember to come back to this one again and again and change the resistance, amp it up, take it down, play with tempo. This is a good one. Yeah. Thanks for joining us.

Bye, guys.

Comments

Jill
Loved this class, thank you! It enticed me into weight training in a super fun way. Needed the muscle challenge and enjoyed getting my HR up!
Awesome class! I love a bit of weight training & loved how you incorporated into this class  
I love the strength training combined with Pilates. Also, the stress reducing component of this style workout would be worth millions if you could bottle it and sell it :) Addicted.
Tammy C
I always always like Courtney's classes though I always feel as if she should be on the front reformer so that the participant/instructor doesn't have to keep looking back. Keep being inspiring! cheers
Caroline Close
Holy moly....what a class. Loved the combined weights/HIIT elements, Certainly gave me a 'feel good Friday' boost! Thanks guys. Keep these great classes coming😊
Michele M
Loved combining the weights with the practice!  Reminds me of how important using weights can be for the body.  I’m a huge fan of lunged and squats too so thank you for the fun variations!  
Good class but with two to watch, plus constant chat, the music was unnecessary.
Another winner Courtney!  Thank you 
Absolutely love this series, including this class! I really enjoy the athleticism and flow. Thanks so much for another energizing, super fun class!
Courtney's classes are literally the best Pilates classes in the world. You go girl! Thank you for your creative flows & glowing energy.
1-10 of 19

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