Class #5241

Total Body Reformer

40 min - Class
802 likes

Description

Join Tracey in this Reformer class where she blends traditional Pilates movements with classic strength training. She will progress and build on exercises helping you find what is most challenging for your body. Her exercises target the whole body and as a bonus she works in rotation and balance. This is a feel-good class that helps you remember why it is always better to move your body!
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box, Hand Weights

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Transcript

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Hi, everybody, Tracy Mallett here with Pilates anytime. We have a great class for you today. Total body, obviously on your reformer. All you need is your box and some light dumbbells. I have like three pound dumbbells here. Okay?

So let's get down onto the reformer. We're gonna be sideways to warm up. We're gonna move your hips right to the end here. We're gonna sit up nice and tall, shoulders over your hips, reach the hands out to the side, either side of the room. We're gonna exhale and do a little twist to the right side, back to center, a little twist to the left side.

And I want you to imagine you are pressing down to the floor and connecting your arms to the back. Now, as we rotate, your body stays forwards, your hips are forwards and just rotating from your torso. Two more, exhale. Reach the hands towards your head and reach forwards in that position here. And we're gonna hitch a ride, we're gonna move with your shoulders.

Really mobilizing that midthoracic spine. Three, two, one. Reach forwards towards your toes, and then curl back up again. Let's put your hands towards your ears. Reach diagonally forwards, and then pulse.

All the way from your shoulders here. Feel that mid-upper spine. And then reach towards your toes and curl all the way up one vertebra at a time. Bring the legs together. Take the hands down onto your reformer and roll down.

Bring your legs up into your chair position. We're gonna dip the right toe down, then the left toe, and then the right toe, and then the left toe. Let's circle the hands all the way around. Hands behind your head, stabilizing your upper body and looking towards your feet. There we go, let's do eight more like this.

Ready? And eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Chair position. Open your knees, heels together. We're gonna go into a little bit of a frog just to work those abs, few froggys here. Three more.

Last time. Bring the legs together. Now double toe taps. We're aiming our toes towards the floor, but not quite making it and come back. Exhale down.

Inhale drawing those abs in. Exhale. I inhale, I'm pulling back. Couple more, exhale. Inhale, back. One more, exhale.

Reach the toes down to the floor and exhale back. Wrap the hands around behind the back of the knees. Lift your head, neck and shoulders off a little bit higher. And we're gonna go into single leg stretch here. Reach the right leg out, hold onto the left leg and switch.

And switch, and switch, and switch. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Chair position. Hands underneath the knees. Let's roll ourselves all the way up.

Up we go. Curl, lift up nice and tall. So let's flip our headrest down. We're gonna turn around onto our back. You're gonna be one and a half spring, that's a red and a blue. Heels on the bar. We're gonna exhale, pelvic tilt.

Roll all the way up into your bridge position in a high bridge. And we're gonna start to push out an in. Now, your knees are only going to a semi-bend. You're pushing out and in. Reach your fingertips towards your heels, out and in.

Be mindful to keep the knees in line with the heels. And let's do four more. Exhale four, exhale three, exhale two. One more. Bring it in, hold it here. Now we're gonna drop the tailbone down into more of a neutral position, but you are hovering the mat.

And then we push out and in. So your tailbone is hovering the mat. Think of a neutral spine here. Heels drawing towards the sit bones. And your knees are still in that semi-bent position.

And we're pushing out and in. Out and in. Four more. Four. Three.

Two. One. Hold here, drop the hips down. Now, turn your heels out so your legs are turned out of the hips, get your feet wide. Pelvic tilt, bridge into your bridge position. Your hips are high.

Start to push out and in. You're gonna feel those hamstrings. Yes. Remember, you're only going to a semi-bent position and you're pushing out and in. Out and in. Inhale and exhale, let's do five more.

Five. Four. Three. And one more, hold it here. Drop the tailbone, neutral positions.

Your tailbone's hovering your bed, and we push out and in. Inhale, exhale, bring the carriage back. Try and relax the upper body, I know it's challenging. But see if you can relax the upper body and put all the work into the hamstrings. Tailbone is hovering the mat for four, three, two, and one more.

And then slowly lower the hips down. Draw the knees into your chest, give yourself a little bit of a stretch here. Now take your right strap into your right foot, and just press that leg up, and then release the other leg. We're gonna press the leg around into a circle, and then down and circle around. Keep the other knee completely stable as we circle the leg around.

Let's reverse it, circle the other direction and back. Try and keep that pelvis as still as you can. The opposite of bleak to the leg that's moving is working really hard to stabilize. Let's do one more. Bring your feet together, and we're gonna draw the heels together into your frogs.

Push out and out. So your heels are glued together in your frog position here. Inhale and exhale. And it's a little challenging to keep those heels together. Now remember, this is all about the back of the legs.

Sit bones drawing together, pelvic floor pulls up. Last time. Hold it here. Take that leg in front into a figure-four stretch. And we're gonna lift, we're gonna keep going, keep going, keep going.

Roll yourself all the way up. Roll down and take it back. Let's try that again. So we're gonna hit the stopper, and then actively roll all the way up. Crawl down.

Tailbone, hips, press down with the hamstring. Let's do two more of those. So you've got a lovely stretch who the hip and piriformis. And then we're lifting up using our abs. Keep the leg straight and down, you have one more.

And take the leg over towards your head. Exhale, roll all the way up. Curl down one vertebra at a time and press down. Release that leg, wind that leg down. Grab your strap.

Quickly move to the other side. Leg nice and straight, long waist. Bring the other knee to join it. And we go into our circle straight away. Takes a little bit of adjustment there, that pelvis kind of wants to move around.

If you need to, you can put your opposite hand on the hip just to kind of help stabilize it. Inhale down, exhale round. Inhale down. Let's reverse it, the opposite direction. Away from your midline.

Keep it small, not too big, so you're in control of the movement. Let's just do one more. And hold it there. So let's press that leg down. Cross the other leg in front in that figure-four stretch.

Now let's take the carriage towards the stopper. Actively roll all the way up. Curl down one vertebra at a time, and then press down with the hamstring. Now, in your mind your tailbone is connected to the mat, even though it's elevated, to get that longest possible stretch. And then we roll down, keep that leg straight as we press down with the hamstring.

Okay, two more. Exhale. Curl down, upper, middle, lower spine, tailbone, hips. Press down. Last time.

Hit that stopper, curl all the way up. Feels so good. Roll down. Tailbone, hips, and then we press down. Release. Take your foot down onto the bar and then release.

Take your strap down. Awesome work. And we're gonna roll ourselves all the way up. Now get your box, we're gonna grab your box. We're gonna put the box short ways to here. All right.

Let's sit on top of your box to start with. Your toes are on the mat, and your heels are against the box. Now we're gonna look down, we're gonna take you to one spring, so on one red spring. Place the hands forwards wide. Now from here, we're gonna go into a hover.

Now curl underneath, your tailbone is going underneath. And then inhale. Facilitate that extension as you reach out. Exhale, draw those abs in. And then reach out.

Now, in this position, we're gonna tilt the pelvis slightly underneath you. Long, extended spine. Now push out. Bring it in. Push out. Now we are gonna go out and then bring it in.

We press out into a plank, draw the knees in. Now push out into a plank, and go into a pyramid. Push out into a plank, knees forwards underneath your chest. Push out to a plank, pyramid. So we're alternating from your plank to your pyramid.

And again, plank, knees to chest. And pyramid. One more. Knees to chest. Hold it here. And we're gonna lift up reaching the hands forwards.

Tilt the pelvis underneath you slightly with the lower abs. And we're gonna go up an inch, down an inch. Up an inch, down an inch. Up an inch, down an inch. Up an inch. You have two more.

Up an inch, down an inch. Up an inch, and hold it there. Take the hands back down. Now from here, we're gonna step the right leg. We're gonna push out, draw in.

Push out, draw in. So reaching out to the crown of the head. The arms are straight. And we inhale out. Exhale in.

Inhale out. One more. Inhale out, exhale in. From here, reach that leg out nice and long. If this is too challenging, go back to what we were just doing.

We go towards the bar and reach. Knee towards the bar and reach. Keep your upper body as stable as you can. Forwards, bring the knee underneath your chest. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Couple more. Inhale. Exhale. One more.

Inhale and exhale. Bend that knee. And then switch other leg. Push out, draw in, push out. Exhale in. Keep those arms straight.

The arms are connected to the back. Lots of drawing down. Inhale and exhale. Breathe. Back.

Inhale. Exhale. One more. Inhale. Hold it here. If you can, reach that leg out nice and long. Shoulder blades pull down the back, hold it there.

Hips are square. And draw the knee forwards and back. Keep that upper body as stable as you can. And back. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. That's it. Keep that cadence. Your rhythm, your coordination. Inhale.

Exhale. Couple more. One more. Hold it here. Bend the knee. Hold it there, bring the other leg up.

Push away. Hold it there. Hold in that plank for five, for four, for three, for two, and one. Bend the knees into your chest, step down, and then step down. Put your feet firmly planted down, and we're gonna sit up nice and tall.

Now, moving down to one blue spring. So on one blue spring now. Pick up your front straps. I've got my right strap here. The left hand is behind the head.

Now, from here, I'm just gonna present and bring it back. So I'm working unilaterally here. Presenting with the right hand, the left hand is behind my head. And I'm just gonna reach forwards and back, and then we're gonna add on. Now we're gonna add a rotation.

So we go one, rotation. So we're adding that lovely simple rotation to work into the obliques. Get that lovely rotation within your torso. And reach. And back.

Breathe. Keep the shoulder away from your ear deep pressed. One more. And bring it back. Take that strap down and switch sides. Hand behind your head, and ready with the other arm.

Reach forwards in that present. Scoop out those abs, shoulders over your hips. There we go. Elbow just slightly behind your body. And your palm is facing the sky. Wonderful work to work those arms, your biceps and your shoulders.

Are we ready to add that rotation? Rotation. Look, your gaze followers the direction you're moving in. So if you're rotating, your gaze is following you. There we go.

So look over your shoulder to get that longest possible rotation you can. Fantastic stretch there. Forwards, rotation. Forwards, rotation. Give me one more for good luck.

And then back. Beautiful. Put those straps down. Now from here, we're gonna turn around. I'm gonna keep it at that blue spring. We're gonna pick up your straps here, and we're gonna hold it nice and tight.

And we're gonna go into our little rotation here. So it starts easy. So this is kind of our first step in that rotation here. All right, now we're gonna step it up. We're gonna try and bring our knees towards our chest.

So if you wanna stay where you are, you can. Otherwise, take it into your balance. Rotation. Rotation. Ooh. Be careful.

Exhale, rotation. Follow your arms. Keep your elbows in line with your shoulders. And rotate. Couple more.

One more. And come back. Now put the strap down. Hold it here. Now we're gonna reach those legs straight up if we can.

And then bend. Straight up and bend. So we're in that lovely teaser, working those quads. Hold onto your box, hand down. Lift up.

One more. We have this holder here, if you wanna balance for eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Hands down, bend the knees. We did it. But the other side now, so let's go to the other side. Sit up nice and tall.

Knees are on the edge. Pick up, make sure it's not twisted. And, ready, elbows high. And we rotate and back. Rotate and back.

The focus here is all about the core, the obliques here. And let's do a couple more, we're gonna take it to that second level if you would like to come with me. Ready? Second level, knees up. And ready, get your balance before you move and over. And you're following your elbows.

And your upper body, your torso is rotating, your legs are staying still. Your hips are still facing forwards. Look to the side. Look to the side. Three more. Exhale. One more.

And back. Bring it down, put your hand for balance. Drop it down, that strap down. Hold on. Lift the legs up, bend the knees. Lift those legs up, bend the knees.

Lift those legs up, bend the knees. Lift, you ready? One more. We are all gonna try and balance. See if we can balance here or here. eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two.

Bring the hands down, bend the knees, and come all the way forwards. Beautiful. Slip off. We're still on our blue spring, our half spring. And I just take this down. So take your bar down just to make sure that it's out the way here.

Okay, we're gonna go forwards onto your box. Your knees are on the edge. Now, you can either keep your knees on the edge or your knees can come off. If you feel more comfortable to put your knees on the edge, you may wanna get a pad on here, or you can follow me. I'm going to take my right leg, wrap it around, and it's gonna go around my in step.

Place the rope on top of your box. Okay. Hands forwards. Now, what we're going to do is bend the knee and shoot that leg up. So the leg goes straight up. And you bend the knee and bring it back.

So you can see, just hold it there, you are on a relevé, or we can be right here for a little bit more support. So before we start, pick your position. Make sure your hands are underneath your shoulders. Suck in those abs, pull in for support. And we're gonna go for 10 reps. Let's go.

Ready? And 10. We're gonna flex that back heel. Nine. Exhale, eight. Keep those arms strong. Seven. Pull your shoulder blades down.

Six. Keep your stabilizing leg bent. Five. Press the energy out through the heel. Four. And three. Give me two more.

Two. And one more. And bring it back. Drop the knee down. Take hold of the strap, and bring it back.

Let's go with the other side. So we're gonna grab your strap. All right, put your hand down, and let's wrap it around your in step here, so it's nice and secure. Put your rope on top of your box. Turn it around.

Hands on the edge of your box. Knees against your corners of the box. Now, let's get nice and strong here. Bend your knee. Now, if you wanna take your knee away, you can or rest it on the edge, it's your choice. Now start to push that leg back.

So it's kind of like, I have to say, it's like the donkey kick. Yes. If you've been working out with me for a long time, you know I can't say donkey without going into a Scottish accent. There we go. Donkey. Push out and in. All right, let's do five more.

I've got you. You ready? Exhale, five. Push out. Control it in. There we go. Three more.

Three. Two. One more. One. And bring it in. Woo. Take it off your foot, gracefully bring it down.

Beautiful. Step down off your box, step down off your box. Pick up your box and put your box forwards. So we're gonna put your box all the way forwards here. Okay?

We're gonna pick up your lovely weights. And we're gonna step up onto it. Now, I'm going to work at one green spring. That's one and a half springs. If you wanna bring it down to a one red, you can.

But I'm gonna work at about a green spring, that's about a red and a blue or a red and a yellow. Okay. Optional weights. Now we're gonna put your foot against the shoulder rest, and we're gonna go deep into a lunge. Let's find your lunge position first before we move.

Now we're gonna keep that back leg straight. And we come up and then press down. So the key to this is keeping your hip square, keeping that back leg straight, so it's your stabilizing leg that's doing all the work. Super simple, we're gonna add some arms with it. Keep that back leg straight.

This is your first set here. Back leg is straight. So you're gonna feel it on your stabilizing glute medius and hamstring. So lift up with your hamstring. Lift up with your hamstring. Let's do four more here.

Four, up. Three, up. Two, up. One, up. Bend your front leg, pitch your body forwards.

We bring it in and out. So now your front leg is bent and we're bending extending that back leg. The elbows are high, and you're working into your tricep extension. Stay low, those legs are burning up. And press back.

Press back. And let's do five more. Five, and four, and three, and two, and one. Lift all the way up. Now we're gonna turn around towards me. Towards you.

Externally rotate here in that front leg, and take the other leg back. So it's like in a like a little curtsy position. So we're pushing back and coming up again. It's like a little curtsy. So turning that leg out.

Now we're gonna add the arms. So we go arms go out, lift up. So that front leg is externally rotated. So curtsy with a rotation. And the arms are going directly out to the side.

Working your upper body at the same time. Good job. Feel that bootay. Four more. Exhale, four.

And in. Three, and in. Two, and in. One more. One, and in. Beautiful. Turn forwards.

Now we're gonna put the little weights down. Just pop them there. Now stay where you at, I haven't moved stents here. Now from here, I'm going to look down at my strap here, and I'm going to take it down to one red spring. One red spring.

Take the hands to the corners. Push the leg back straight. Now the other leg is going to join it. Listen to my cues, it crosses in front. Now we're gonna pike up, up, up.

Inhale, look out. Now, if this is too heavy for you and shooting you too far, you may wanna go into a half spring. Okay. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, pike.

Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, pike. Look out on the horizon. Exhale, pike. Two more. Look out nice and long.

And give me one more reach. Pike, step that leg. Bring that carriage in. Step down, step down. Curl all the way up.

Let's go to the other side. So let's pick up your weights, we're gonna place them right here. And let's get your box. Put your box towards the end. So it's in that right place there.

Okay, we're gonna pick up those dumbbells. Now we're gonna move it back down to a green spring. Well, I'll say back up to a green spring. A little bit more resistance, remember you can have your blue and your red if you felt you want a little bit more resistance here. But I'm gonna keep that green spring.

Gonna push the foot back so the leg is nice and straight. That front leg is bent. Let's take the arms down. And then we're gonna come up, and then back down. Remember that back leg stays nice and straight as we push back.

Now we're gonna add the arms. So as we push back, the arms come forwards and up. Forwards and up. Get deep into that lunge as much as you can. You're pushing back with the glutes and hamstrings.

There we go. Reach. And breathing. Scooping out those abs, pull those abs in. You're gonna feel that stabilizing leg work; the glutes and the hamstrings. Lifting up with that hamstring as you come up.

Awesome. Let's keep it going. Let's do four more. Then we're gonna go into our little tricep extension. Just a couple more. Ooh, one more.

And then push the arms back. And we are gonna go into a lovely tricep extension and extend that back leg. So you're stabilizing leg is bent. You've got that tricep kick back. Your elbows are high, and you go into full extension.

Full extension of the elbow and the knee. There we go, get down a little bit deeper. We can all go down that one inch deeper, I know we can. Ooh, feel that burn? We got this.

And four. And three. And two. And one. Come all the way up.

Now we're gonna turn around away. So what's gonna happen is we're gonna turn out that front leg, so externally rotate the outside leg. Bend the knees so you're in that curtsy position here. Rotate your hips and your pelvis to the side. So we're gonna push back, lift up.

So you're pushing back in that curtsy and lifting up. Pushing back. Now remember, we're gonna add those arms. So the arms are gonna go lateral to the sides. So that goes out and up.

There we go. So you're in the external rotation. So you're working through the hip. You got this. A little bit deeper if you can, push with that back leg.

Working those shoulders. Good. You got this, we are nearly there. You have four more right here, go. Four, up.

Three, up. Two. One more. Amazing. And bring that carriage all the way in.

Ooh, I felt that glute there, didn't you? Let's put those dumbbells down, just pop them down here. Now we're gonna go into our pikes, we're gonna take the resistance down. So I'm gonna take you down to a red spring, take the green spring off. Keep that foot where it is.

Take your hands to the corner of the outside of your box. Now we are here. Now this other leg is gonna come in front, and you're gonna draw those abs in as much as we can, okay? We're gonna go all the way out into your plank. Exhale and lift all the way up.

Inhale, plank. Lift up. And three, exhale, lift up. Reach out in that extension as much as you can and pull up. Reach out, curl up.

And all the way out draw through those abs. Couple more. One more. Amazing. Come all the way down. Step down, step down and push back.

Nice work, guys. And roll yourself all the way up. Let's pick up your weights, put the weights down. And we're going to come up onto the top of your reformer here. We're gonna work a little bit of our upper body.

I'm gonna keep it up one red spring here. Knees against your headrests. And we're gonna walk forwards, walk forwards, walk forwards. And hold on. You are lifting up. Now we're gonna bend and pull back.

Elbows bend and pull back. So you're in a pull-up position. Exhale. Inhale reach, the elbows are drawing down to the floor. Couple more.

Last time. Reach out. Walk the hand, walk the hand. Come back. Take the hands behind the head, a little bit of heart opening here.

Now we're gonna do single arms, so we're gonna take you down to a blue spring. So one blue spring needs to be a little bit lighter. Ready? Walk forwards. Right hand. Left hand behind.

Now ready? We're gonna pull forwards and back. And pull forwards and back. Just gonna do a couple more, this is really challenging. One more. Switch.

Ready with the other side? Just four hard ones. Two more. Last time. Both hands in, reach out.

That was challenging, but you guys did it. And look how strong you're gonna get. Sometimes you gotta push yourself out your comfort zone just a little bit more, even in Pilates. Rotate, just push yourself a little bit more. And then come back to center.

From here, let's just take your right leg forwards. We're gonna come up into a lovely stretch here to stretch out that hamstring. Switch side, hamstring. And then bend your knees, come all the way down. Turn to the front.

Put your knee in front, so this is your right leg in front. You're just gonna put your hand down to the side, and just reach out in your mermaid with the bar down in that stretch. Circle as you come up. And bring you back. Circle, bring you back into that lovely rotation and pull back.

So you're getting your chest down towards the floor. And then lift all the way up. Pull back, turn around and lift. Doesn't that feel good to finish off your class, that nice stretch? Grab hold of your wrist, little extra traction there.

Little extra pull. That stretch. All right, let's go to the other side. So we're gonna turn, turn, turn. Hand down, reach out all the way over to your side.

And then circle. And then reach out. And we'll circle, feels so good, and out. One more little circle. And then let's rotate, let's take your head all the way down.

That long, elongated spine. Be kind to your spine. And let's rotate. Lift yourself up, hand on the headrest. Into your mermaid.

Little extra traction there. Just give yourself a little bit of a pull. That sideline position here. And then release. Let's turn to your front.

How are you feeling? You're feeling good? You're feeling worked out? I hope so. Let's take a nice deep breath in. Reach up over your head. Now we're gonna plant your feet into the floor.

Lift your hips up, forward flexion. Drop your head down. Bend your knees, look up and press away. Look up, press away. Curl all the way up one vertebra at a time.

Let's align the spine one last time. Inhale here, chin to chest, curl down, and roll all the way up. And then rolling all the way up. Nothing better than finishing a class and feeling fantastic. It makes you realize exactly why you did it in the first place.

Think of how you're feeling right now. Treasure it, because this is why you exercise. This is why when you feel like you just don't wanna do it, think of how you feel right now. Think how good you feel and how accomplished you feel. Remember this feeling, 'cause the next time you wanna work out, it'll make you wanna work out even more.

All right guys, see you back here again. Bye-bye.

Comments

1 person likes this.
Great feel good workou!
1 person likes this.
Holy hamstrings! Thank you 😀
2 people like this.
I was a little confused with the curtsey on the box because I turned the wrong way at first. Had to rewind and watch closer. This class challenged my mind and body! Lovely work out, thank you Tracey!
1 person likes this.
Fabulous workout!  Felt those hamstrings!  Thank you! We didn't do frogs with the left foot in straps. Paused to get that set in! 
Jen U
1 person likes this.
Great workout!  Thank you!
Alex
1 person likes this.
I think one leg frog with strap missed, but great class :)
Laurie G
1 person likes this.
Tracy, thank you for a fabulous workout!  
Miri J
2 people like this.
I love a great workout with Tracy! I get excited when I see a new video posted! Tracy speaks so clearly and is very good at explaining the exercises. Her enthusiasm is contagious! 
1 person likes this.
Thanks, Tracy.  Your classes are always challenging but so well cued, balanced and paced.  I feel fantastic!
Annie R
2 people like this.
Another brilliant Tracy workout.   You are fabulous!!!
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