Class #5382

EXO Chair at Wall

10 min - Class
52 likes

Description

If you need a quick pick-me-up, then this EXO Chair workout by Mychele Sims is perfect for you. She teaches a feel-good class, filled with delicious stretches that will lengthen your entire body. This is a great class by itself or you can add it to the end of another class.
What You'll Need: EXO Chair, Wall

About This Video

Transcript

Read Full Transcript

EXO, EXO. We love working out with our EXO Chair. So this little workout is a little ditty. If you wanna add this EXO Chair experience onto a workout that you've done already, or if you need a little quick pick me up stretch, this is a great one for you to share with a friend. So let's go over to the EXO Chair, walking over to the EXO Chair with you.

My spring setting, I've already set it on a high spring for me because this part of the workout is just more of a stretchy, feel good, yummy thing. So we're gonna come to the front of our chair. I will stand in parallel. You pick your Pilates, be your parallel, but I like parallel today. I'm gonna reach my arms to the pedal.

Both arms come to our black pedal. I'm gonna step back to make sure that my heels and my hips and knees are in line. Head is gonna dive down and I'm gonna press the pedal down and find my tabletop, find my flat. My neck is reaching away from my shoulders and I'm gonna press the pedal all the way down, staying soft in my knees. And then I'm gonna find that arch in my back for my cat cow.

So as the pedal comes up, I'm bracing my abs, rolling my spine up towards the ceiling, keeping my head tucked under and now I'll press the pedal back down. Good. So press the pedal down, tuck the tailbone under, really exaggerate the shoulders. The middle of your back is reaching up to the ceiling and then press the pedal down. And as you press the pedal down this time, now your gaze is gonna come up towards the top of the chair.

Your tailbone is gonna come towards your ceiling and then stay there with the pedal. Bring the pedal up just a little bit to round the spine and then press the pedal down. Go through neutral spine and open your chest, extend your back and we'll go two more times. (exhales) Finding that breath, press the pedal down. Gaze goes up above the chair, tailbone is up and then tuck everything under. Let's just do one more for good measure because it feels really yummy.

Press it down, open the shoulders, gaze over, hips square and then bring the pedal up, stack your spine, head's gonna stay with you all the way up, come all the way up using the back body, posterior chain is fired up, arms come out to the side. Yeah, yeah. Going on to our next exercise. Next exercise is our push down. Staying in parallel, keeping the spring where it is, arms come up to the ceiling, tall, tall spine and I want you to reach your arms past going over like a barrel and to find the pedal.

Find the pedal, press the pedal all the way down. Good and then come up, stacking the spine, arms come away from the pedal and I call this 10s across the board like I'm a gymnast. We'll do one more time just to kind of check in with our bodies. This time we'll add the pumps, go over, find the pedal, press the pedal down, knees are soft, stay here with wide elbows, bend the elbows, bring the pedal up, press it down for one and up, pressing it down for two and up, last one, press it down, hold it there. Extra credit, straighten that neck up, find your gaze to the back of the chair, stretching the hamstrings and then tuck back under, ride that pedal up, stack your spine, keep coming up, coming up, coming up, coming up, coming up, coming up.

(exhales) Wow, all stretched out there. All right, next exercise. I have one spring on at the top, I'll put a second spring on to support me. So taking it, I'm gonna go to the second from the bottom. Your chair may be a little bit different, hopefully you're on an EXO Chair.

So the reason why we're doing this is because we want to make sure that we have full purchase of the chair and we have something to support us when we're on the chair. So coming to the front of the chair, place your hands on the top of the chair, step down with your right foot and hold the pedal down. Other foot stands onto the black part of the EXO Chair, heels touch together. I'm taking my hands to the back of the EXO Chair and I want you to just dip your heels into the four-four tendon stretch and then lift the heels. Good.

Hips are nice and square, checking in with the ankles, squeezing our legs together through the midline. The arms are turning on to support us. Let's do one more and come up. Now our next one will come just maybe like a half heel, if you will, or kind of not all the way down, not all the way up high in the middle. Tuck your head under and place your weight forward to the back of the chair.

I'm gonna grab onto the back of the EXO Chair and really tuck my head in. Heels are up. I don't want you to reach the pedal all the way up. I want you to push forward and then see how much you can lift the pedal off the floor. Good, and come down.

That was a check. We'll do two more just like that. So again, it's almost like elephant if you're on the reformer. Press yourself back, head tucks under, shoulders round, heels stay together, press up, squeeze your bottom so much so that the pedal comes up and then lower down. We got one more.

Abs are on, y'all. Abs are on. Last one, tuck the head. Squeeze the bottom, press up, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Good, and lower down and step one foot back.

Hands walk to the front of your EXO Chair and then carefully let the pedal ride up to the front. Now we're gonna make an adjustment towards the back of the chair and we're gonna use a wall to help us find length in our spines. I'm gonna leave that top spring on. So what I'm doing here, this is my left leg. The leg closest to the pedal will come over the side and drape there, kind of hang out.

The other leg will find the crease in your wall. That's a wonderful way to find length in your spine. So we're here. You'll already feel taller. You have this wall to support you.

We love the wall. Thank you, wall. All right, tall wall, that rhymed, tall wall. The left hand will find the pedal. Right now, my hand will go, heel of the hand will go to the pedal.

The opposite arm or the right arm will go up to the ceiling and this is my mermaid. So I'm gonna press the pedal down and as I press the pedal down, I'm finding this length here, stretching through all of my body. So really stretch through that and then bring yourself back up, rise the pedal up. We'll do this two more times. Reach.

Good, and then come up. This third one gets really fun. So take a stretch over. Want you to turn your hand towards the same direction of the pedal. We're gonna bend and straighten that left arm.

Three pumps, three, two, one. Hold it there. Can we reach further because we have this wall supporting us? Find more length in your neck, more length with the side body. You're good.

Turn the hand back towards the pedal and ride the pedal up to the top. Amazing, right? We have another side to do. Gotta give you my back, y'all. Here it is, there it is.

All right, same thing. (laughs) Don't change anything with the springs. So the legs closest to the pedal will come over, drape the side. Opposite leg will go in that wall crease and we will find our tall posture here. Arm will hit that pedal. The hand will be on the pedal.

Left arm will go up. Find that length for your mermaid. Press the pedal down and away. Long neck, wide shoulders, wide collarbones, and then come up using your side body to bring you up, not the arm. Press away.

That wall is giving you support and I want you to use those side obliques on that left side to bring you back up to the top. Good. Next one, we'll go all the way over. Change the placement of your hand towards the pedal. Three elbow bends here.

Bend three, two, one. Stay here, maybe switch your hand or leave it where it is and find a deeper, further stretch. Find the oppositional stretch between the fingertips and that foot into the wall. Stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch. And then come back up to the top.

Wow. Fun stuff, yes? Amazing. So again, take it to the beginning of your workout, the end of your workout, a quick in and out workout. We'll call it a snack.

Enjoy yourself and your EXO Chair. Thanks for working out with me and thank you all. See y'all later.

Comments

Taryn Upchurch
I really enjoyed Mychele's energy! The class made me smile.
Holly
1 person likes this.
Exo Chair LOVE! Love this little stretchy worky “snack”! Love her! Love that energy and smile!
Martha M
1 person likes this.
I am doing Holly's stretches at the end of the day and they are helping me in every way including stability, mobility and yes my sleep.  If I ever need a late night snack I now know where to go:).  Thank you Holly!
1 person likes this.
Should the metal ring not the fabric be attached to cactus for safety??

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

Welcome to Your Pilates Era

Experience Your Joy

Let's Begin