Class #585

Play with Tempo

30 min - Class
16 likes

Description

A good-tempo challenging class that incorporates Monica's great cues with exercises like the Full/High Bridge, Swan, and a great arm series against the Wall.
What You'll Need: Mat, Hand Weights

About This Video

Dec 16, 2011
(Log In to track)

Transcript

Read Full Transcript

Hi. Hello. All right, so perfect. We're going to start in our Pilati stance and you just want to [inaudible] I feel way on the ball of every toe as well as the side of your foot and your heel. But today I want you to most importantly, focus on keeping weight on the ball, the big toe, and yet lifting up that arch as if there's a grape underneath that arch and you don't want to make any wine. And then we're going to make sure your ankles aren't rolling in as well and keep just a little bit of distance between the ankle bones. Whenever you feel these two bones touching them, I know that that's not quite right. So keeping your weight forward on the balls of your feet, lifting the arches, continue that lift up through the inner thigh, up through that pelvic floor, that powerhouse.

It's like you're lifting your lower belly all the way under your sternum, all the way up the crown of your head and then one arm over the other. Now as much as you can when you lower yourself down, try to keep your bottom as your bottom underneath your box and not too much behind you. Okay, so we're going to go ahead and put one foot in front of the other and just keep that lift to lower that bottom and then put your hands halfway through the mat. Lift your bottom back and go ahead and stretch out and nice and long. Beautiful. Reach your arms really long back. Great. Stretch out through the fingertips and through the tips of your toes. Wonderful.

Just breathe in with the air. Exhale, stretch, not really staying in your powerhouse, just like four horses are pulling you in opposite directions. And then I want you to lengthen those arms to ceiling as you inhale and exhale, bring them long down by your side. Just leave them there. But think about bringing your underarm closer to your hipbone so your alarms get really long. Really Nice. You should feel a good stretch on the back of your neck. Good. Take a big breath and on your exhale, draw your knees into your chest and draw your head up to your stomach. Good.

Extend the legs. Ready for the a hundred okay, good. And pumping in with year two, three, four, five x out, two, three, four, five. Good. I bet you could come in just a little bit more with those feet. Nice. And you're lifting through the yard lift and through the pelvic floor and yet pushing something away with the balls of your feet as if you were standing so that opposition really lengthening from the lower back. It's beautiful. Nice job. Keeping the shoulder blades down on the mat. Good. Exhale.

Nice energy in those pumps. Inhale, two, three bop. Five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Good. Another 40 as much as you can, try not to over tense your extremities, your arms, your legs, your neck. Just really warm it up. That powerhouse. Good. Excellent. Make sure you feel that your bottoms awake. Last exhale, lower those legs. Lengthen your arms behind you and we're going to get ready for the roll up. Try to anchor your back on the mat as your arms lift.

Then let's try that one more time. Yep. I love seeing the arms and the head, really stretching through the years between those and then curling up one bone at a time. Keep the hip bones over the sit bones as you stretch all the way forward. Drawing back, roll back the lower back, the middle, the upper good, and stretch it back. Arms head. Beautiful. Scooping in, really lifting [inaudible]. You're lifting over a big physio ball right here. Go ahead and wrap and squeeze those legs. You lengthen them awake, getting a stretch in your lower back as you go back. Arms head in with the exhaling. I'm sorry, all the way forward and held to begin the exercise and exhale.

Really get a good stretch through there. Send your tailbone to your heels again. Exhale to do the whole exercise. We're going to keep these hipbones here. Stretch the spine all the way forward. Reach the crown of your head to your feet. Then draw those hip bones back. Anchor in the lower back. Down first. Beautiful.

Let's do three more in with the air. Empty the lungs the whole way forward and reaching. Really stretch and inhale, pulling back. Pull me down through that lower back. Oh, you need that stretch guide and arms. Head scoop and then keeping your hipbones here, reaching the spine long away.

Then pulling back from here like you're pulling back a heavy weight and reaching up last time in with the air. Empty the good and just stretching and pulling back from here. Length any good and and with the arms reaching up and back. Good, great. Lift your arms up just a tiny bit so that you really anchor those rips.

That's it. That's a better finale. Now bring the arms up and down by your side and using your powerhouse. We're going to lift those legs all the way over. Taking them as far over and low to the mat as you can. As you can. Then push back on the balls of your feet.

Separate shoulder with press back again and then roll. Dan, I'm going to lengthen your spine for you. You want to keep your thighs as close your chest as you can with the belly anchored. Sweep, low, sweet [inaudible] together over pressing back. If you can slide apart, press back if you can. And again, a nice long back stretch. Sweep down as low as you can. Squeeze together and over. Press Open. Good and rolling down. Nice parallel legs.

Now the middle of your body for the reverse. Go down, squeeze and open and over. Press back, slide together. Press good. Now focus on relaxed feet here and a little lift in the arch. A little lift in the inner thigh all the way through that pelvic floor and powerhouse as you go downstairs. A lot of wrapping in, squeezing on the reverse. Down, down, open around lifting. Press back, slide together and let me see that nice length, beautiful scoop. And then one more time down around over. Press, back, wrap and squeeze together and relaxed feet.

And here we go. Really close to the body. That's your stomach pulling your thighs to you. Good. And so you're going to keep your right leg and lower the left and stretch. Preparing for single leg circles. Just perfect. A little more down the middle. Arms by your side. Use your powerhouse to bring it up higher.

Cross around, cross around. Lift good each time. Try to make the line longer on your left side. Don't I mean right side. Don't let that hip hike up. One more. Crossing Iran. Reverse around enough. Good job keeping your left hip stable with your powerhouse. Angry, but really try to get up to the shoulder. Work the back of your thigh.

That's what really leans out that thigh. Last one. Hug the knee in and alternate legs. He can either bend it or straighten it in good and arms by your side. It's like loves the Keke out. I'll just stand right here and we're going to try to first off, stretch down that left hip. It's really up, up, up good.

Is your stomach to pull that leg up? Cross around and up. Really up to that right shoulder. Cross around and up. Two more. That's it. Keep the hip turned out as you pull it up. Last, was that already five? Yeah, so neuron around and scoop it. Guy As you reached down, lengthen that hip. Reach out with it. Yeah, that's it. And then keep it long as you pull it up to your right shoulder all the way up there. Yeah. One more. Oh, let up. Good. How? Get in.

Stretch. Bring that leg nice and long. Lift your roundup to a seated position. Lift your bottom forward to your heels. Prepare for rolling like a ball. Good. Give me more space between your hip bones and your thighs and then use your upper belly to pull your head through and really stretch the spine forward. And we're going to do six. Rolling like a ball. Inhale, roll back.

Exhale right up. Good. Inhale, roll back. Exhale. Each time. Relax more with it. It's a massage of the spine. You can lift your bottom up even more. A little bit more up to daisy. Good. Two more. It's a massage and you want to exhale and breathe. Last one. Really exhale. Rest your feet down.

Put your hands behind you. Good. As we go back, think a little bit about teaser, right? We're going to bring the right knee in for single leg. Stretch this legs up here and we just roll magically away. Staying perfectly up there. Good, good. I would say your left right hip could lengthen out just a little bit more to goods. You use more stomach than hip flexor to bring that knee in. Right, and we're going to switch left scooping and bringing in that right left and right. Good. Nice job. Keeping your hips more square, reaching long. Good. Now in joy. A little bit of length as you go out. Keep switching.

Sweep like down and out. Nice. One more set like that. Bring in both knees. Grab both ankles, double leg stretch. Inhale, reach in. Hold. Exhale. Inhale. Long. Exhale. Inhale, reach. Exhale. Inhale, energy out the fingertips. Exhale. One more. Good. Right leg up, left like forward and switched. Left, right, left.

They really fly through the air. We're going to fly and fly and stretch. Good. Do it. If you can sneak in a double balls, then do so. Let this leg looser as it goes down. It's reaching for the ceiling down to the ground. Last set both legs up, hands behind your head. Press into your hands as you lower and lengthen and progress with those ribs.

Good. Reach out your right hip a little longer. That's it. Stretch it out. Bowling in that left rib to help you. So you're going to pull in that left rib and lengthen the right side. One more and bend the right knee. Keep your elbows really wide. Lift and pull to a tourist. Stay really high and switched legs. Pull up, up.

Beautiful and staying really high, pulling up, and we're just going to keep stretching. Exhale. Last twist up, up, up. Relax that hip flexor so this light can come in and exhale. Bend both knees in. Rest your head, hugging your knees. Sit Up for spine. Stretch forward, arms straight out, legs wider. They can be a little off the mat. That's great. Good. All right, Sam, pull your powerhouse in and really feel the tailbone going through the floor.

Energy up through the crown of your head and push something away with your powerhouse into your lower backs or really feel that energy in that lift and now big breath and exhale, rolling off. You're lifting each bone away from each other. Really a lot of energy. Good. Push those heels away as you roll up through your waistband. Middle Back. Don't throw away the upper vertebra and in and up. Exhaling God, keeping the hipbones right over the sit bone.

Stretch the spine. Stretch, stretch, stretch, and then pool up right here. Work more on each bone after and pull it in and up. Nope. Let's try that again. So press into me and now touch my hand. That's an inch off you. My off your head. K Lift a touch it there and keep going as you go forward.

That's nice. So you really pull each one away because you can and pull back when you hit your bra strap. Really work on the upper back. Good. We're just going to do one more pull into me. Lift the touch my hand up here as you go forward there. So I'm not just rounding down but really lifting to round down and pulling back.

Here we go and keep lifting better. All right, maybe lift your bottom forward a little bit cause we're going to prepare for open like rocker. Pulling back with the powerhouse. The legs float up to your hands. Ice. Good. Relaxing those shoulders in with the year. Empty. The let good and rolling back index had rock and roll and rock and roll. Good. One more. Just roll and roll and hold it here and keep lifting and lengthen and taller and squeeze your legs together and let your hands slide away.

Prepare for corkscrew. We're going to keep your bottom down right now. We're going to anchor your obliques and circle as far right as you can, as far down as you can. Left and center. Left around and center. Now lifting only the hips when you come centered right down. Lift just the hips, but more towards folding into yourself and left around and pull in the past of full, yes and right.

Lift your whole back now so you've come center good and down and left around in your whole spine. That's it. And right around last time, all the way down around left scoop, scoop, scoop and roll. Nice. Down the middle. Sit right on up. Arms straight out for saw. Legs are a little wider. Good. All right. Again, pressing your powerhouse, lift up through it and twist your spine to the right gut. Empty the lungs, dropping this shoulder a little bit more. So it's even with this one stretch. Inhaling up, twist more with the belly pulling into your back.

Don't leave a little arch in your back. Good. And exhale, stretch. So good. Your shoulders are looking good. Now inhaling up through the spine twist, but I love to see no movement in this hip bone. So keep a big shelf here. As you exhale forward. Curve into it. Don't push into my thumb. Yes, instead, stretch that spine away. I know, I don't know.

Inhaling twist. So we're going to keep this right here and exhale. Exhale. Nice. Inhaling up, twist last one. So now you really get that rib pooling in to that long and squeezing that last bit of air out. Inhaling up, which is the whole purpose of that exercise. So pooling in that rib to the longest stretch. Good.

Alright. Nice. New Swan legs together. Flip onto your stomach. That was like a new, a sock. Turn around. Go ahead. I was thinking swan, but it's so hands by underneath your shoulders. We're going to start with neck roll going into Swan. So really feel like your hands are suction cups. Polling the mat behind you as you pull your belly in and lengthen your spine in the opposite direction. Now we're going to come up one bone at a time. Good.

Lengthening your arms nice and look over your right shoulder as far as you can. How far can you go and stretch that neck. Really scraped the chin all the way left and look forward. Really work at left. Circle the head down around right and center and I'll come back down a little less in the lower back. A little less movement in the shoulders, pulling in, lengthening up.

Still keep this long God and look over your left. Very nice. All the way around. Don't move those shoulders at all and forward looking right. Work it around the left and look forward and now come on down. Good. All right, let's go into swan dynastic. You're going to come in the same position.

Try to squeeze your legs together if you can. Good. And on the count of three we're going to shoot those arms. Palms up forward. One, two, three, go. Arms, good. Legs up, arms up, legs, up, powerhouse. One more. Beautiful. Round your back and sit on your heels. That was wonderful. Keep that again, that space so that that lower back really gets that stretched today.

Good. I want you to quickly pop forward onto your elbows for single leg kick. Good. Press those fists together and lift the leg straight a little and to where we go. Double Kick. One to left to right to good. Really lifting that thigh and that need a kick your bottom. You want that heel on your bottom.

Lift a little more in those hipbones and stomach. Last set and right facial cheek on the mat. Hands behind you as high up as you can. Stretch. Lift the legs and three kicks. One, two, three legs. Go down in stretch. Beautiful. Switch cheeks kick to three.

Nice and kicking. One, two, three. Stretch and kicking. One, two, three, lift, lift, lift, hands down. Round your back again. Great, beautiful. So keeping this, take that bone forward and that bone in that bone, really stretch them away. Flip over quickly for neck pool legs are, yeah, there you go. Made me start down just a hair so we can, when we slide we really start [inaudible] stay on the mat. Hand over hand, Chris, your powerhouse down so your head can push into your hands it in with the air curl and empty the lungs. Inhale, roll up all the way to the crown of your head and lift up your seat. Staying Nice and long as you go back. Good. Push your head into your hands. Keep going. Long, long, long, tall and roll down.

That's right at [inaudible] and even to the best of us. Exhaling down. That's why we do plies. We're always working on that alignment and even this and pulling in those ribs and going back and tall and tall, curling a little more on your ways to yes and go. There were us down three months in with the year. Empty the lungs, they're going to pull this leg in line with your hip. Inhaling up and exhale back, tall, lengthening, lengthening and down. And exhale.

Inhaling up and I'm going to come back here this time and I want you to pull more into here as we pull back. Use your left side more. Pull into it. Okay. Not leaning to the left but [inaudible] not leading to your [inaudible]. There we go. Yes, yes, yes. That is straight right there. Okay. Last one. And with the air, empty the lungs. Inhale, sit up tall. And so just picture your six pack and cause you have one and you're going to pull this left side in that much. Just a tiny bit more than your room, right?

Good work. Beautiful. Alright, low on your right side for sidekicks, pull yourself back to the back end. Elbow out, legs forward right there. Left-Hand in front of you on the Mat. Good. And keeping these perfectly square and lift the left leg an inch. Kick it forward on to [inaudible] that good. I really want you to reach that thigh as far away from this bone. So don't even think about from the knee down, but really pull that thigh long as you go out. Yeah, because you could use that length. Good and raging and two nice little kicks.

Last one and legs together. Now keeping this right here. Use that outer thigh to push up to your ear and then squeeze down. So don't move my hand. Use that outer thigh instead. Good. And they'll squeeze media three more up and really pull your belly in as you lengthen out and hold it here. Five quick circles. One, two, three, four, reverse one, two behind, a little more. Hand down. [inaudible] onto your belly. Make a small pillow for your forehead. Beautiful.

And supporting your back. Lift the legs up as high as you can and squeeze my hand 20 times. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight, nine. Lower those legs and actually just turn onto your other side. Go to your left. Don't even, we're going to have your back like that right now cause I want to watch your back. Perfect. Right hand in front. Lift that leg up a little bit. Good. And keeping your powerhouse pulled in.

Double kickback and one, two so your hip stays nice and stacked your spines. Beautiful. Good and pack too. You can use your bottom to go back more. So keep your hip here and back. Yes. Two more. Reach that thigh way from this hip on length and out to the walls. Oh yeah, that was your pest one, didn't it? Feel good. Yeah. Yeah.

Legs together and now still lengthening it away. Reach up and down. So no shortening in here. So let's keep that right there and push much better up and squeeze in long down last time. Hold five little circles and no movement and Lackadera, which is the hips. That's fiesta week of after off reverse for five and lie on your back.

There you go. Bend your knees into your chest. Good. And we're going to do teaser one, two and three. Extend the legs forward at a 45 degree angle on the arms back. Even if your back arches a little bit, just really feel the lift in your arch through your inner thighs, through your pelvic floor. And roll on up to reach for those toes. Good. That's good. Find your balance, find it, and then lift your arms up. And then with your arms up by your ears.

Wool away from you. Oh, and one with me here. And now. Arms lift. And then rapport your powerhouse. You're lifting your arches, inner thighs. And now I'll let go for that last one up. Arms lift the away from those legs.

And then you're going to come right back up. And we're going to hold the upper body still and reaching for your toes as the legs go down. Lifting the arch inner thigh through the pelvic floor to last one, not gripping in the quads. Hold arms lift. And now everything goes down. So everything comes up, up, up, arms lift, and I want toes and arms at the same time. One more scoop, scoop, scoop, arms up. And exhale. Hug your knees into your chest. Very good.

I want to just stretch the back with a little bridge. So you're gonna Plant your feet where you want them shoulder with the part though, and hands right by your ears and make this enjoyable. And use your hips to stretch this area as much as you can. One of my friends, and that taught me over the last week, Magine it as a stars, just getting really bright in here and I really like that because we can press so much with those hip flexors, right? So use the seat to really stretch that area.

Instead of getting your shoulders and popping out your ribs, try to find some control on the shoulder girdle as you extend. So just take a breath and then exhale into it, pushing into your hands and just enjoy it. Nice. Inhale, bring your head to your chest and exhale. Roll down again and we'll do it. Just one more time. How'd that feel? And a big breath. And exhale using your seed, imagining that star, just getting bright like you.

And Inhale, bring your head to your chest and exhale, roll through the spine. Sit Up for seal God slipping on your hands and good and clap two, three in with the air and really enjoy this forward. It's again, a massage for the spine and the breathing is super important. You exhale to come forward. You inhale to go back, exhale. And for you today, I can't keep going. I can't stress enough that Madden, your six packages trying to pull that left side in a tiny bit deeper than your right and perfect and that'll keep you more balanced. One more.

I'd like you to cross your ankles and stand up keeping your bottom under you. You did it very good. Good enough. All right. Reach your arms up to the ceiling in with the air and exhale. God, we're going to come over to the wall. Come on over here. So we're going to start off with the wall and I want you to have your heels all the way against the wall. Nice.

Maybe just scoot over a little because I see I'm anal and I need you to in the middle of the wall. All right. And so start with your head against the wall, your heels against the wall. And I was taught that if you had like an optimal healthy spine without doing too much, you would have about one hands with distance behind your neck and one hands with distance behind your lower back or your waistband. And if you, or super advanced and extremely stretched out for today, not just right in the morning, right, that you could use your powerhouse to fill up your lower back and actually press every vertebra there with your heels there and stretch your neck as well. So it's something we always work towards. So what you want to do is work really intensely in your powerhouse. We're gonna relax that shoulder a little bit. Good. And then as much as you can, then you're going to walk your feet out a few inches. Keep going.

Great. Okay. And then get, see if you can get that waistband really pressing through. And a lot of times my clients will say, what do you think? And it's really not something that, I think it's something you have to feel. So you don't want to just feel like you're a little bit making contact with the wall, you to feel like you're pushing the wall away with your powerhouse, pushing it away, as well as lifting that ball up. So if you need to bring a few more inches out, that is more than fine.

Some people have to start way out and just have their bottom against walls. But this is really good for you. So you're fine with your hips, just a t and this is where your shoulders should be. Now get those ribs deep into the wall and this is great. In fact, I want you to concentrate more on your shoulder girdle as we really reach those arms away. Lift up towards the ceiling and Oh, so you're only gonna come up as high as you can get. Keep everything on the wall and feel that powerhouse lift in and up and exhale one more in this direction and with the air and exhale and we're going to go the other way and you're doing great. I still just need you to pull more of that. Haha. And exhale. Beautiful.

You're very even right now. Lengthen even the fingertips. They'll let your energy. Don't stop your energy in your arms. Good, good, good, good. And leave the arms there and now pressing the wall away. Lift the wall up through the spine and then bring your head to the chest and roll off gesture, shoulders, and the next bone. And come only as far as you can keep these hipbones right here. Don't let them sing. Go down. Relaxing the thighs and knees. That's tough. Good.

I want you to get a good lower back stretch I think you're at right now and you're just going to do three little kind of shoulder rules. One, two, three and roll the other way. Still kind of pushing the balls of your feet into the floor, lifting the arch, lifting the inner thigh and pelvic flooring in a pull up with those muscles and roll up. Lengthen your tailbone down to the floor. Ideally not using any hip flexors and one more support in and up. And then lengthening that neck up and forward and emptying the lungs. Good. And really peeling off one. Hold it good.

I'm just gonna Relax and just want you to really stretch one bone at a time. Keep going now. Good. And the next and the next, cause this is right where you have to stretch, right? That's great. Now you have a beautiful curve here and I want you to do those three little circles again, two, three, and reverse. Really just enjoying it and you're going to roll up. Beautiful. Now here's where I always want you to work harder.

As soon as you get that bra strap back, really work on each bone. Nice. Good. And we're going to rise up onto the balls of your feet. Separate. Lower your heels. Good. And now walk them out to about right there. That's about right. It's about right here. Good. We're going to do a wall sit. And you never want your knee to point more forward than your big toe. Okay, so nice straight legs right now. Good. All right. Just a hair, just a hair. It's looking a lot better. So again, as much as you can, press the wall away and we're going to do one with your arm just hanging.

So we're going to keep your powerhouse lifting in and up as you slowly slide down the wall. Perfect. Stayed there, count for three. And while you're counting, tighten your bottom more. Use your hamstrings, are the back of your legs and lift with that powerhouse. Slide back up. The goal is to use your quads as little as you need to. On the next one. Enjoy lifting your arms that simultaneously, so in with the air as you're going. Good. And exhale. Once you're in that sit nice and inhale as you start pressing up and exhale all the way up on this last one.

If you can bring them all the way up to the ceiling, do that. Okay. But if you can't stay where you are and sliding down, good. Still thinking about those feet. Keep the lift in your art. Choose the inner thighs, all of that to come up his arms. Press back down. Good.

Now bring your legs a little more narrow and maybe in a politest, whatever's comfortable here, bottom there. And we're going to do a little bit of a one legged. Okay. So let's start with your right. Uh Yes, your right leg up and you're going to extend it straight out cause you're a beautiful dancer. And Go ahead and keep the legs there and go ahead and sit as good. Stay right there and use that left hip to pop up. Good.

And we're going to switch legs, Huh? Good. And slide down and come right on up and leg down. Which ones seemed more challenging? I don't know. You seem to pretty even, so that was pretty good. Great. Walk your feet back into the wall. Good.

And I want you to have your heels against the wall and pulling that powerhouse in and up. We're gonna still talk about keeping your bottom as your bottom and not your behind. So push the weights into the wall. You can use your arms, but you want to lean your whole body forward without leaving your bottom against the wall. So leaning forward so that you're leaning tower of Pisa my butt. No, do not. Leave your ball. There you go. Good. And let your arms, Hank. Good. And then just relax at that a little bit. Good.

And that lifted the arch inner thigh pelvic floor. That is a beautiful posture for the rest of the day, and we're all set. Nice job. Very good. Very informative though. Good. All right.

Comments

I love your teaching!!!
Great class- added this class to my favorites.
good for when you are in a hurry and have to get in some pilates.
Nice pace too.
Sarah N
Great express morning workout! Enjoyed the wall work.
Liked it except for the wall work. Would prefer to pack in more exercises given the short duration.
1 person likes this.
Kristi your swan dive is the BOMB!!!
Loved the class! felt like you covered from head to toe..
1 person likes this.
Lovely, energizing class. well done Kristy for the single leg wall squat!!

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