Class #5006

Athletic Reformer Circuit

50 min - Class
249 likes

Description

Train like an athlete with this advanced Reformer workout by Courtney Miller. She focuses on power, coordination, and endurance, using the Jump Board to increase your heart rate. She also teaches creative combinations, adding dynamic layers so you get the most out of every movement.
What You'll Need: Reformer (No Box), Jump Board

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Hi I'm Courtney and I'm here with my friend and fellow instructor Elena. Elena's a professional athlete, she rides BMX, she rides mountain bikes, she surfs, I'm sure a whole lot of other things that you do. And she also trains for these sports at the gym and in her Pilates practice. So what we wanted to do today was bring in some of the things she does in the studio and outside of the studio to help you train like an athlete. It's gonna be a lot of dynamic power stuff, coordination, endurance.

It's gonna be such a hard workout right? Yeah. I don't know if you've noticed but we do have the jump boards on also. So let's dive into it. This series is gonna have three flows which we repeat.

So you'll get better at it. They're hard, let me tell you. So just keep coming back to this video. Let's start with your hop hop squat. So we're gonna face the camera, feet are about hip distance apart.

And soft bend at the knees. We're going up three times then down in two, (Courtney laughs) up two times and then down into a big squat. (Courtney claps hands) Here we go. Up up sit. Up up sit. And you're kind of on your toes during that up up.

It's like light light deep down. Up up. Small range and then big. Five. Four.

Three. Two. Up up down and one. Nice. Going into your split squat favorite.

One foot forward, make sure that foot's pretty far forward. The other foot you're resting on the top of the carriage. We did something like this with Wes a while back, we used weights. This is more about dynamic and explosive work. So we're gonna go down and up three times, let's go.

One, all the way up. Two. Three. And jump. One.

Two. Three. And jump. I did my jump on the fourth. One.

Two. Three and now jump. There we go. One. Two.

Three. And jump, one more time. One. Lean into it. Two.

Three. And up. Switch legs. (Courtney claps hands) So you can see Elena's doing this knee tuck, she's way stronger than me. I'm just doing a vertical jump.

Oh she's not even waiting for me. One. (Courtney laughs) Two. Three on the next one we hop. One.

Two. Three. And hop. One. I'm just lucky to get my foot to leave the ground. Two.

Three. So much power to get that knee up. Hop. Yes. (Courtney claps hands) One.

Two. Three. And up. Two to go. Big jump, good.

One. Two. Three. And rise hop last time. She's kinda leaning into that lunge loading the glute.

Let's see what ya got! Pull that knee up. Nice. All right so now we're gonna go into a mountain climber version. So hands to the floor, step both feet back onto the carriage. We're gonna do a twisted knee to elbow.

Pull, pull, pull, pull, cross, twist, pull, pull, nice job. Really get that flexion in the hip. Five. Elbows soft. Four, keep pushing the chest bone up.

Three. Nice. That's two. Awesome. And that's one.

Send your feet to the floor. Rag doll it for a moment and take a moment to reset all the way up. For the next one you wanna make sure you have a lot of springs on. That carriage is not meant to move. Turn to face your carriage.

You have two options, let's show them both. You face that way I'll face this way. Option one is you're down into a squat. You're gonna do a vertical jump, pull those knees up, land. So you rise, pull the knees up, land.

Option two, jump land on your carriage. Jump or step backwards. Your choice. Yeah and back. So just practicing that knee up is gonna give you the confidence to get up and onto that carriage.

And as you can see when I do it look at the height of my carriage, look how high I can get my legs. You can do it. It seems intimidating but you've got this. Five to go. Another option guys, step up if you want.

Four. Just keep moving, get your heart rate up. Three. Good. Two.

Nice. And one, step or hop back. (Courtney claps hands) That is our floor series. So you will see that come two more times into the class, you can build on it. All right for the next flow you'll want two red springs on.

So join us with two reds. We're gonna do some hands and straps and some jumping. Lie down. You can choose your long or short loops if you have the option. The long loops will feel lighter, the short loops will feel heavier.

Maybe you switch halfway through. Move down away from those shoulder blocks, take those legs to table, big breath in, exhale, curl up, extend the arms and the legs. Get those legs real low right above that board and then hands over chest bring it in. Five. Four.

Use your back. Squeeze, three. Inner thighs connected. Two. And stay up for one.

Nothing with the legs just the arms. We're gonna circle up, T in. Five in each direction. Up, T you could do it with your head down. Up, out, squeeze.

Using your lats, your back muscles. Up, out, reverse. So to the T and down. Notice the carriage doesn't move when you go from the T to the ceiling. That's 'cause your lats are working isometrically.

One more. Hold it deep in the scoop, take a little break. We've got some triceps coming up next. We're gonna add knee tucks to it. Curl ups stay up.

First just the legs. In, out. Then the arms. In, out. Then the legs.

In, out. Arms. Knees. Elbows. Knees.

Stop at that 90. Knees. Elbows. In. Bend.

Two more. Tuck. Bend, one more. Just the knees, just the elbows. Hold it, find that breath.

Take a break, take it down. Last exercise the 100, let's do it in a Pilates V. Curl up, extend the legs, send them long, start to pump. In from the nose out through the mouth. In through the nose out through the mouth.

Cool. Big breath in guys (Courtney claps hands), you've gotta work that lung capacity. Breathe in until you're full, breathe out until you're empty. Every exhale you're curling higher. Squeeze the legs, get energy through those feet, point. Externally rotate from the booty bigger pumps with the arms, create that momentum, challenge.

The bigger you pump the arms the harder it is to keep your body and that carriage still. Two more rounds, big scoop. Good almost there. And how do you finish the 100? You hold it, you hold it! Send those legs long.

Good, send 'em down a bit. And take a break. Nice. Drop those straps on the floor guys, get rid of 'em. We're going into some jumps.

Heels together toes apart. Let me pop that head rest out for you. You might want the head rest up. I always like it up. Do you like it up?

It kinda closes the ribs a bit. We're gonna start in that position we were just in, first position power out let's go. (Courtney claps hands) Two red springs, these are heavy jumps. What I want Elena to focus on is drawing her inner thighs together, pulling up through the knee caps, power out. See how she's using the entire length of her machine?

Not only is that showing her strength but it's showing how smart she is because the more time you have in between the jump the more recovery you have. Go to a wide second position. Good land light, power out. Land light power out. Good.

Your carriage is moving, I mean your machine is moving. I'm gonna pull you back. Yeah and do it again. Good. Nice.

Showing the power in those jumps. Now put those moves together. Ready? Jump and land in first, jump and land in second. Yeah, knees right over toes.

Land higher. Toes towards the top of the board. Get those heels down, never just land on your toes. Toes, ball, heel. We're going for five.

Nice. Four. Awesome, three. Land light. Two.

And one, come in for a recovery break. Take the heels of your feet to the top of the board. Just rest right about here. Yeah draw your legs together, squeeze your inner thighs. Curl up into a chest lift, hands behind your head, open your elbows wide.

I want you to release your tail bone down. So this is not the hips doing the work. Curl towards your thighs and drop an inch. Curl towards your thighs and drop an inch nice. As she's doing this series I'm putting that head rest down in preparation for a bridge series.

Good. So if your head rest is up put it down now or put it down later, I'll remind you again. You've got five. Close the ribs, pull in from the sides. Three.

Nice. Two. And stay up. One foot is resting on the top of the board. So you're taking the load completely off that leg.

Send the other leg up to the ceiling, cross diagonal touch, reach towards it. Keep going up to that side. So I just want you to rest that leg on the board, don't hold it up, rest it, relax the hip, stay heavy in that glute on that side. Lifting and soft for five. Four.

Three. Two and stay up. Take both hands behind your head, put that foot back down. Before you do some on the other side just rest that foot. You're coming back up into your chest lift.

Keep coming. Good. There is no break, we're working endurance. You feeling okay? Yeah.

Hands behind the head supporting her head, supporting her head supporting her neck. Rib cage is moving. We wanna get those ribs to move so when she needs to take a big powerful inhalation she's got that allowance right in those intercostals, those muscles around the ribs. Stay up on the next one, relax this leg. Let the jump board take all the weight of the leg, send that one up to the sky, and then opposite hand to foot.

Big lift, big twist. Nice. So what I want her to feel is this sense of heaviness in this hip, it's dropping down, it's relaxed. You've got five more and then we're into bridging. That's five.

That's four. Three. Two. And that is one. Take a break take a rest.

I'm gonna join you for bridge. Love it. Take the arches of your feet to the top of that board. Move down away from those shoulder blocks. Reach your arms up to the sky.

We're not using our arms, instead we're gonna use our abdominals and our back muscles to keep us stable. Roll your spine up, come into your bridge position. We're gonna go into a march one leg up, take it back down. Other leg up. If you notice that you're moving a lot in the spine, in the pelvis, in your carriage, put your hands back down and find that stability.

The arms up make it more challenging and they kind of force those deep muscles in the spine, in the low back to do their job. The next time your right leg is up we're gonna keep it up, right leg up. Extend it to the sky. We're gonna go right into a combination. First flat back hinge, down.

See if you can get your booty to touch. Up. Second, as you push back Elena you're gonna swing your leg down, tap the board. Make sure those hips stay level. Bring it in.

Repeat. So we go down, up, press it out, kick it up. Again down, up, level hips, kick with power. Down, up, press, pull. Ribs are closed.

Press, pull. Three. Two. How's that hamstring? Good.

Good, burnin'. One. Bend the knee, place both feet down. Before we would go into the other side just give yourself a reset real down. Articulate.

Inhale at the bottom and find that neutral. Exhale as you roll back up. Into a march first. So one leg up, take it down. Other leg up, take it down.

Stay lifted, stay level. Not only are we building strength but we're building spatial awareness. You cannot see the board yet you still land in that same spot every time so you're building this pattern, this muscle memory. The next time your left leg is up keep that left leg up, extend it to the sky. Your combo.

Dip. Lift. Press back as the leg sweeps. Pull. Dip and lift.

Press. Pull that leg up. Dip. Lift. Swing it back.

Nice. Keep your right knee in line with your mid foot. So for most of us that right knee's gonna wanna open to the side. You gotta use the inner thigh. Two more.

Dip, lift. Press. One more. Dip, lift. Press.

Pull. Take both feet down. Again we're gonna articulate down nice and slow one bone at a time. Go ahead and rest those feet. Back up to the top of the board.

I want your legs to be relaxed, curl back up into your chest lift. You're reaching, you're reaching as if your leg is to the sky. You're going there in a second. Try to keep your pelvis as steady as possible. We've got five.

Big lift and twist. Four. That's three. And two. You ready to add those legs?

Like a scissor you're gonna send your legs up to the sky. One leg drops as you reach to the other. Up and up. If you prefer to have the feet back on the board put 'em back. Lift and reach.

Lift and touch. Five. Four. Three. Two.

One. And take a break. Nice. Roll to one side, help yourself come up. Let's do that floor series.

Oh told you it was gonna be a hard workout. All right so we started with the hop hop and the squat. And the hop hop is really about finding that ankle stability, that ankle mobility. It's smaller deep muscles. The squat is a real big movement.

Let's go. Up twice. One one, down. Up up down. Light on the toes, sit into it.

Up up, squat. Little, down. Up up, nice. So training the entire spectrum right? We've got those big global movers, we've got those smaller muscles that help to support and stabilize joints.

Light light (Courtney claps hands) down to that squat. Five. Nice. Four. Three.

Good. Feeling those calves working, quads working, glutes working, one more time. Awesome. And into that split squat we go. So one foot comes up to the carriage.

You wanna relax the foot. So notice how she's got the front of the foot on. Her toenails are down. And then when you go down into that lunge there's a forward lean. One we're doing this three times.

Two. Three. Then we jump on the next one. One. Two.

Three. And we jump on the next one. One. Nice. Two.

And three. And up. Perfect. One. Two.

Three. Power. Explosive dynamic energy. Two more Elena on this leg. Nice.

There is a recovery when you switch sides so stay in it. Big, last one. One, down two, down three. Next one jumping. Nice, take a moment and reset, recover, breathe it out.

It's so hard to get that knee up what you're doing. I wanna try it one day but not on camera. (Courtney laughs) So we've got the opposite leg forward. It is important you've got a wide stance here, so get that foot real far forward. You ready babe?

One. Two. Three. Lunge and jump. One.

Two. Three. Lunge and jump. One. Two.

Three. Lunge and jump. Nice. One. Two.

Three. Lunge and jump. Elena you have three more rounds. I wanna remind you that you can build up to doing this work. Right so reduce the repetitions, slow it down, build that strength.

It takes time, consistency, and repetition. Nice. Power up. Use the abs, pull the knee to chest, last one. Three.

Two. One. Big finish you got it. Awesome. Stand on the floor, take a second, take a breath.

Into those mountain climbers. Now guys if you don't wanna do them with the hands on the floor flip around and do them with the hands on the carriage. Let's go. Ready? Twisted, pull, pull, pull.

Pull, pull, pull. Spread your fingers, distribute your weight evenly through the hands so you don't feel your wrist. Keep your elbows soft. Eight. Seven.

Six. Five. Four. Three. Two.

One. Recover. You get that nice forward fold. Rebuild. Turn around.

I'm gonna, oh you already have two on, she's fine. Make sure you have enough springs on that your carriage feels stable. Face towards your carriage. Guys let me tell you a secret. To get up you have to go down first.

So in order to get up high you wanna sink down so your muscles can act like a spring and help to propel you in that up direction. Let's go when you're ready. Up. And down. Good.

Up. And down. In some of my previous videos we've done this using the box. That's another great option right, if you're right in between, step up and do it on the floor, but you're not right here yet grab the box and jump and land on that box. (Courtney claps hands) All right five to go.

Boom. And down. She gets low. And down. Four.

Three. Two. Nice. One more time. Nice.

And then there's a recovery in our transition. The good news is is we've done two out of our three floor series. So it's gonna be easy. Change to just one blue spring guys. (springs clinking) Well nothing's really easy though is it?

(Elena laughs) Okay so you're gonna grab the strap that's on the floor, the one that's closest to you. Choose the long or the short loop. What are you doing, long or short? Short. Okay she's doing short I'll do short.

We've done this series before. We're gonna add a little something to it okay? So let's step back into a lunge with our right leg as we do a row five times. Five. I like to come to a balance, you can come to a stand.

Four. Three. Two. Stay in your lunge, extend your arm. You're not using that strap, you're gonna jump and do a scissor lunge landing on the other leg forward.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

Okay switch hands, come on up. You should be on the other leg. Did we do it? And the other arm. Success.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

Scissor round two. Leave those arms long. Five. Four. Three.

Two. One. Done. Drop that strap. Take a seat on your carriage facing one direction.

If you can, sit cross legged with your hip as close to the edge of that carriage as you can get. Sit really tall. One hand on the board slightly in front of your shoulder, other arm like a T. Elena we're gonna do an overhead clap. So stay vertical, jump, (Courtney claps hands) clap.

Yep. Jump. Clap. Keep going. If you feel silly clapping here, how silly do you feel doing seal?

I mean come on. (Courtney laughs) So she's working to stay vertical in her spine. Even weight through both glutes, anchoring her straight down. Nice. I want you to do one more like this and then you're gonna cross that arm across your body and reach. You can clap or just touch.

I want you to turn towards me. Yep. Turn towards me. Yes. Try to keep the legs as stable as you can.

Shoulders down and back. I love jumps with upper body, it trains you for anticipating a stability challenge, it teaches you how to activate right before you need that support and stability. One more. It adds up right? Take a break.

The next tension down if that felt too heavy would be a yellow spring instead of a blue. Let's kneel and face towards our board, knees nice and wide. Sit the hips down, lean forward. The trick is to lean, flat back hinge, hover those hips, knees to the front. Same thing, let's do a clap overhead.

Ready? Get it back down. Get it back down. Up. Four to go.

Four. Three. Remember this is a back exercise. Two. Diagonal line coming at you, one more clap.

Now I want you to lift, look down at the hand that's low. Other side. Look down at the hand that's low. Nice. Jump.

Nice. And lift. The sensation during the lift is what she was feeling while in the bridge, hamstrings and glutes. Four. Good.

Three. Nice. Two, there's a tuck, there's a squeeze. One more. And take a break.

We're gonna sit facing back. Now you can really see how stable we're staying in our spine. Glute right up at the edge okay guys? Sit as tall as you can. The hand's not behind, it's slightly forward.

You're going to do your overhead clap. Think of hug the moon. Don't forget to land it. Stay vertical. Keep going.

What you'll notice maybe in the beginning is a tilt or a lean and you're gonna see that tilt or lean in your legs. If you're able to keep your legs perfectly still you good. Three. Use your back. Two.

Shoulders down and back. One. Now taking the twist, bring it around to that left hand, bring it back to land. Any time you twist you have an opportunity to take a real big breath, a big inhalation. And that's golden right?

You have to get that lung capacity, you wanna breathe into your back and sides, feel that expansion. Don't give up now. Three. Legs as stable as you can. Two.

You have to activate that transversus. One. Take a moment, take a break. Let's kneel face back, we'll do some pull ups. It can't just be all legs all the time, gotta do some upper body too.

So knees are against the shoulder blocks. You're coming in at the exact same position where your butt's gonna hover, you're in a diagonal lean. Walk the rails. I put one, I put my thumb over, do you do that too? I put my thumb over my fingers around.

You might have different risers than we do, so just do what feels stable. One arm out to the side. We do a pull, a release, a switch. A pull. A release.

A switch. Pull. Release. Switch. So you're doing that switch when the arm is straight.

Pull. Keep it going. It's so hard. It's important to do pull exercises and not just push exercises. The board is a push, this is a pull.

How you doing Elena? Pull. Lengthen, switch. Do one more each side, even yourself out. Awesome.

And then when you're done just ride the rails back, just glide back. Meet me in a straddle position. Guess what? Same position, you're hovering and you're hinged forward. This diagonal hinge forward is a really great position for stability in the spine.

So let's see if we can find that, hinge forward. Same exercise except totally different. One arm out to the side, you're gonna jump the carriage, toss it with one hand, catch it with the other. Did that make any sense? Same exercise but totally different.

So set your shoulders down your back. Nice. If you want the exercise to feel more challenging step forward, less challenging, booty closer to the board. Five. Don't forget we have that standing series on the other side.

Four. Nice. Abdominals in and up. Three. You got it.

Two. And one, take a break, take a seat. Swing that left leg over to me at the right. I'll come around with you. And here we go again.

I love these rows because they lengthen your wrist. Like do you feel that pull? Right that's why it's important to incorporate those pulling exercises and not just the pushing ones. So we decided we're gonna start with the inside leg, we step back as we row, come to a balance or come to a stance. Four.

Three. Two. Hold. Just extend the arm, hold the loop with both hands, scissor jump let's go. Five.

Four. Three. Two. One. You should be on the other leg with the other arm.

Rise up and step it back. Five. Four. Three. Two.

Hold. Release the arm, hold the loop. Ready? Let's go. Five.

Four. Three. Two. One. Wow.

That was hard and I didn't even do the whole flow. One red spring on. Take that blue one off. (springs clinking) More legs. Ah! (Elena and Courtney laugh) Okay so this is a fun one.

We're gonna play with repetitions and repetition reduction which really helps with endurance training and coordination. Carrot tops, pikes, presses. Okay? One foot on the carriage. We're gonna go up and over four times, come back to this side and land. (Courtney claps hands) Go.

One. You can use the board or not. Two. Three. Four.

Freeze. Put your foot against the shoulder block. Let's kick it back four times but really kick it back. One. Like power.

Two. Three. Four. Four pikes. Stay low, round your spine.

One. Two. Three. Four. Good.

Bring the carriage home. This series starts again but we have to land on the other side. Let's go. (Courtney claps hands) One. Two.

Three. Four. Freeze. Set it up. The closer you stand to the board the lighter it's gonna be.

Ready? One. Two. Get that back knee straight. Three.

Four. Hands to the board, get low, pikes. Just hover that foot right underneath your belly button. Two. Three.

Four. Guess what's next? Three-sies. Bring the foot on, up and over three times. One.

Two. Stay on that side, set up your carriage, kick it back. Three. Lean into it. Push through that heel.

Two. One. Hands to the top of the board, low lunge, three pikes, round your back. One. Good don't be tempted to kick back.

Two. I want the glutes relaxed, find the scoop. Three, back to carriage hops. Foot goes down you go over. Tap it.

One. Tap it. Two. Tap it. Three.

Land on that side, kick it, get low, lean into it. One. Push through that heel. Two. Three.

Hands to the board, get low. Pike, round scoop. Hold this one Elena. Try to lean back as much as you can, drop your head. Move that thor asic spine by pulling the ribs up, land it.

Three. Nice. Two. And now things get real interesting, we're into two-sies. So put your foot down, hopping over.

One. One. Hold it, kick it, go. One. And two.

Hands to the board, two pikes. One, hips up, head down. And two. Bring that carriage forward, up and over twice. One.

And hold it. Kick it back, find that shoulder block. One. Two. Pike it.

One. Two. Bring it in, singles. We go up and over. Lunge it.

Pike it. Up and over. Lunge it. Pike it. Again.

Singles ready? Up and over. Yes. Kick it. Pike it.

Again, up and over. Lunge it. Pike it. One more time. Let's sink, ready?

(Courtney claps hands) Kick it. Oh we're ready for our Instagram video. Perfectly in sync, ready? Lunge it. Pike it.

Done. That was awesome. Cool. We're gonna lie down, keep that red spring on. We're gonna repeat sort of that hop hop jump with a little bit something something.

So lie down when you're ready. Head rest can be down. 'Cause you're gonna be up in an abdominal curl anyways. So I don't like to be too close to the shoulder blocks. Make sure that tail bone is down.

Lift your head, neck, and shoulders. Let's do right leg and table. Two small jumps, one big. When you do the big jump we're going double leg stretch, we're staying on the same side for eight. Little.

Little. Big. Same leg. Little. Little.

Big. Same leg. Little. Little. Big.

So we're going ankle mobility. And then hollow body lever. Little. Flick your foot off the board. So during those small jumps this movement is 100% ankle.

Then you go glutes. Three more. One. Two. One.

Two. And take a break guys. Okay. Head down, whatever you need. We're gonna do a jump and touch.

Arms overhead in a chest lift if you wanna be. Head down if you'd rather. Both legs swing up. Let's go. Reverse curl if you want, get those hips up.

Five. Four. Knees soft if that feels better. Three. Two.

One. Take a break. If you're jumping back so much that your machine's hitting the back you should probably add another spring. I won't but you could add a yellow to what you're doing. Before we do the other side press out to straight legs.

And then this is the one we're gonna keep that carriage down. Curl up Elena, hands behind the head. We're gonna keep building okay, so stay with me. Support your head, chin to chest, gaze down, just drawing those knees in and up kinda like our mountain climbers. Keeping the pelvis stable.

Adding a twist to the knee that's coming up. Twist, twist. Twist, twist. Twist, twist. Good.

Twist, twist. Now adding a reach to the outside of the thigh as it comes in. Go. Reach, there it is. So your landing leg is landing straight.

Nice. Now straight leg kick up and reach for those toes. You got it. Try to land toe ball heel, toe ball heel. Five.

We've built up to this, you know how to do it. Four. The programming is already in your body. Three. We've just added more dynamic layers.

Two. And one. Take a break, reset, recover. Awesome. Feeling good?

Second side, so other leg. Lift up to your abdominal curl, hands behind your head. Keep the pelvis anchored. On the jump board I see that tuck a lot. You have to drop the tail bone down, keep that space if you have it between your lower back and the carriage.

Two small, one big. One. Two. Jump out, reach back. Good.

One. Two. And you can lower the legs when they're straight if you want, you'll get more core if you send those legs low. One. Two. Reach out, legs low.

Good. Ankle. Ankle. And then big movement. Keep going.

So as she does this ankle mobility exercise with a bent knee she's working the calf in a different way. When your legs are straight and you're doing calf raises you're working more superficial calf. When the knee is bent and you're doing calf raises it's deeper. So good for all of us to keep strong and mobile ankles. Good.

Two more times. One. And two. And power, one more time. I'm seeing little shakes, I love that.

So gratifying. Take a break, reset. Okay so we're gonna do those jumps again with the leg lifts but let's add a little diagonal twist. I'm gonna hop on, we can do it together because it seems so fun to do. All right so bring the hands over your chest.

Your legs are gonna lift up to one direction like on one diagonal, your hands are gonna go to the other. So it looks like this. Other side. Keep goin'. I said it was fun and then I totally bailed on it.

Kick your legs up if you can. Good. Kick your legs up. Lift and push. Five.

Four. Three. Two. One. And take a break, reset recover.

But not really 'cause we have to do that floor series again. Roll to one side, help yourself come up. You feeling good? Yeah. Ankles good, knees, quads, glutes.

Good. We're working hard, so are you. Okay so we started with the hop hop squat. And I think I love that it was Elena's idea to do the hop hop squat here as well. So you can really feel it right that softness and then that (Courtney claps hands) deep landing.

Okay. Ready? Yep. Up twice. Down.

Light light. It's funny intuitively we do opposite things with our arms. It doesn't matter I don't think, do whatever feels right. Five. Good.

Light toes, low squat. Four. Nice. Three. Two.

And one. The dreaded. Split squat. One foot forward one foot back. So when we bend you lean forward you lean into it.

Up three times. Ready? Up one. Up two. Up three.

Next one jump. Up one. Up two. Up three. Next one jump.

Up one. Up two. Up three. Next one jump. Up one.

Up two. Up three. (Courtney claps hands) Power. Three more. One.

Two. Three. Down and up. Two more. One.

Two. You don't have to do it again after this on that leg. One. Two. Three.

Here it is. She's working for it. Take a break, reset, breathe. Yeah but you do those with a medicine ball in your hands don't you? Well I drop it so I do the hops.

Okay. So she said she drops the medicine ball when she does the hops. All right here we go, other leg. Three. Two.

One. Here's our jump. Three. Two. One.

Use the glute. Three. Two. One. Three.

Two. One. Power up. Good, big finish. Three.

There's something empowering about doing the last round of this floor series. Jump it. Good, two more. One. Two.

Three. Power up. Last one. One. Two.

Three. Power up. (Courtney claps hands) Done. What's going through your head when you do that last one? I'm filming it, I have to do it? Yeah.

(Elena and Courtney laugh) So if you need any extra motivation to do those just film yourself and be like I have to do it. I'm gonna oh yeah go ahead and step up, sorry forgot about those. I was gonna add more tension but we'll do that next. Step it back, twisted mountain climbers, soft elbows, let's go. Twist, twist.

You can do your mountain climbers at any speed. Eight. Seven. Six. Five.

Four. Three. Two. One. Step down.

Turn around. (springs clinking) What do you thinks harder, these or the split squats? Split squats. Split squats, so these are easy, easy finish. (Elena laughs) I added a spring, make sure you add one so your carriage feels stable.

Send the hips back. Oh I missed that one. Good. Down up. Down up.

Three more. Two. One. Cool. But we're not done.

We're not done, we got one more reformer series. Take one of those reds off, leave one red on. Meet me in a side lounge position. So you're up on your elbow. You might have your elbow in front or behind the shoulder block, that's based on your proportions.

But make sure your shoulder is right above that elbow. Top hand to your head or your hip. Stay lifted, take your top leg on the board. Begin to jump. So like I said before, if you're easily hitting the back of your machine just add another spring.

Add a yellow or a quarter spring if you have it. Elena we're gonna go into rainbows. I really wanna see that leg arc up nice and high. So up, land towards the back of your board, up, land towards the front. When you land towards the back it's real challenging to get that heel down.

I still want you to try. Good, keep going. Your arcs are higher than mine. Five. Four.

Three. Two. One. Come on in just for a hot sec. Reach your top arm overhead.

Let's go into external rotation for these. So the knee and toe is pointed up. Try to get your top hip forward a bit. And when you jump she's gonna do a quick knee to elbow, land on that board. Good.

So what you'll feel when the knee comes into elbow is a lowering in your ribs, just a bit. So when you land on the board try to pop those ribs up. Yes. Five. Nice.

Four. Three. Good. Two. And one.

Well done. Let's do a quick plank before we do the other side. So kneeling facing back, palms together, elbows wide. We've got that little ledge for our feet to be on. Do what works on your machine.

Lengthen yourself all the way out. Good. Let's do a pike. So tuck your chin, lift your hips. We'll do five with the feet low, five with the feet high.

Round your spine. So this pike is not that different than the pike we were doing over here. Elena you keep doing you and I'm gonna do this version here. So we're really trying to scoop round and use the abdominals. I think that was more than five.

Press out and stay out. Now walk your toes up to the top of the board. Just make sure they feel secure and give me five more. Hips up, head down. The big difference walking your feet up is that you have more work, more load on your shoulders.

So don't let your head touch the mat, try to keep it hovering, drop that chin towards the chest. On the next one I wanna see your ribs close, ribs close, ribs close one more time if you can. I'm such a liar, I'm making her do way more than five and five. Take a knee down. Take a recovery.

Let's do the same thing on the other side. Good you got this. Okay so you wanna use the majority of your machine right, so scooch your booty back, elbow underneath the shoulder, hand to head or hip. And we're finding our mojo. So our knee is in line with our hip.

Knees and toes pointed forward. Look at that landing, toe ball heel. Toe ball heel. Staying lifted and then going into our arcs on the next one. Up.

Land to the back. Up. Land to the front. Up. Stability in the hips.

Big arcs. Yes. Five. Good. Four.

Any time the leg swings it's such a heavy big lever it's a lotta work in the abdominals in the obliques to stabilize. Come on in on the next one. Reset if you want. Turn your knees and toes up. Reach your top hand overhead.

Try to get that top hip to come forward a bit if you can but still keep that knee up. So we're working external rotation of the hip. (Courtney claps hands) Jump and cinch. Good. Keep going.

So what I was saying is that during the cinch naturally your ribs will drop a bit. So during the landing you wanna pop up. And the way you pop up in that rib is to push down into your forearm. You got it. Five.

Nice. Four. Three. Two. And one.

And I think it would just feel so uneven if we didn't do another plank series. Come down onto your knees. This is a fun one. But aren't they all? Drop down onto your elbows and this time hold to the outside of the shoulder block so your hands don't slip, and press out again.

Awesome. Okay draw one knee in towards your chest, hover it above the mat. Now whatever leg is back bend it in and out. Yep. And now hold.

Switch legs, take your time, find your footing. Bend in out. Now hold and switch legs. Yeah so I want this knee hugging in the whole time. Bend.

Press. Switch. Pull it in. Bend. Press.

Switch. Two more. Bend. Press. Switch.

You got this. Bend. Press. Switch now. One more time Elena.

Pull that knee in. Bend. Press. Switch. Last one.

Pull that knee in. Bend. Press. Rest. Take your knees down, take a moment, take a break, breathe it out.

I think that deserves a nice little cat cow. (Courtney laughs) One way that I like to stretch is straddling facing towards the board. And then you can take one hand across the board and then use that shoulder block and get that lift and that twist. You did awesome. That was so hard! You did way more of the workout than I did.

She's like, I know. And then do the same thing on the other side. Breathe. Try not to lean back, lean forward a bit. And then swing a leg over and take a second for figure four.

I wanna remind you, Elena's a professional athlete, she's so strong. (Courtney laughs) I struggle to keep up. So come back to this video a few times. You will notice big differences when you start to incorporate this type of dynamic power type of work into your Pilates practice. It was awesome, it was hard, it was fun.

It was a good well balanced workout. Thank you. Challenge. (Elena and Courtney clap hands) So come back again! Bye. Bye.

Comments

Another outstanding class in this series! I love all the jumping - great to incorporate cardio. 
I am so proud of Alaina! She rocked this workout and is SO strong!
I will certainly have  to break this one down into mini workouts  but  I will do it  :)) Can't wait to take a class from her when I am back in Cali!!
1 person likes this.
That was by far the most heart-rate- pumping pilates workout I've ever done!  And my fitbit agrees!  Always creative and fun, but always good form.
Love it so much! My heart rate was pumping! Thank you :)
Really tough! Please keep these coming.
I’m very sweaty now! :)
Definitely so hard
1 person likes this.
Loved this. Indeed SO hard. But I'm done and am feeling those great endorphins. 
Thank you Courtney, that was GREAT! I had to modify a few things like the lungs and squat jumps, but I certainly kept moving and the blood pumping, it felt great. I will be doing this one again for sure


Inez G
My faaavorite class! I've done it 3x already, hard but amazing. Going to keep doing it! 
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