Fiery Glute-Focused Reformer

Hi. I'm Delia. And if you were looking for an ab and glute intensive class, you came to the right one. But don't worry. We will incorporate other parts of the body as well. We're gonna start on the reformer line supine on your back. I do have springs on here for footwork. So whatever springs you want for footwork, take it down just one notch because it'll be a little bit too much for some of the work in the first series.

So let's lie all the way down. I've got 3 reds on at the moment. I'm gonna lie down on my back and make myself comfortable. To start, we're gonna do a little upper body warm up. My heels are resting on the bar.

Arms are up towards the ceiling, and I'm just gonna open up the arms and stretch the front of the chest a few times. So ultimately, we'll do some glutes, then we'll do some abs, then we'll do some glutes, then we'll do some abs, and some other stuff as well. Take your arms up towards the ceiling, give it a little stretch as you pro track the shoulder blades and then retract the shoulder blades. So just warming up through the shoulders. These exercises are nice too because you can see if you're too far up, on the shoulder blocks.

You wanna make sure that your shoulders are about two fingers away from the back. Okay? And you can incorporate a little bit more here with the upper body if you need it. I'm gonna place my arms down and do a little pelvic curl, so I'm gonna find a little imprint a neutral and a little bit of an arch or an extension of the lumbar spine just to get that all prepared as well. And then just rest here. Take your knees to one side, look over the opposite shoulder, And then take your knees to the other side, look over the opposite shoulder, just to give that back a little bit of a warm up and to make you present for this class. So make sure your breath is a nice inhale and exhale.

K? Alright. Foot work, arms long by your side. We are only going to tackle footwork with the heels on. I've got the legs at about hip distance or fist distance apart, which is the width of your sitz bones about. Let's start pressing back.

Hips stay down. As you press back, think about your glute to hamstring here. Your spine isn't neutral. And with the spine in neutral, you should be able to incorporate those glutes with the heels on. So depending on what part of your foot is on the foot bar, we'll determine a lot about what you feel up the chain of the legs to the hips. One more, press back.

I got those glutes firing. From here, let's go into a nice little hip lift. So let's lift the hips up and then take that tailbone and dip it down slightly so you feel like you're in a neutral spine you're at a hover, and you're going to press the legs back and forth at a hover. So when your hips were down, you're gonna feel something different. Okay? With the hips at a float or just a hover, you should feel a nice 360, from the hips down to the feet.

Nice and long with those knees, if that works for you, but I want you to really focus if you can on knee extension and pulling those kneecaps up with your quad muscle. One more time, Return the carriage, find the stopper, drop the bottom down. Adding on, we're gonna go into a high bridge. So let's roll up for this one, tilt the pelvis back, feel the spine peel off the carriage until you are lifted and supported by your shoulders and the back of your head, and let's press those arms down, gives us an excuse to work those triceps. Extend the legs all the way back Drop your hips to a slight hover.

And then as you return the carriage, bring it in feeling like your knees wanna reach over those toes. So inhale and exhale. And that bottom drop bottom lift is gonna get you that little extra hamstring to glute firing. And press and return. Let's just do two more inhale breath, exhale. Last one return, and you should have really felt that whole posterior chain of the hips working.

Roll yourself down one vertebra at a time and release. Okay. Let's let the legs hang over the bar. Little transition here. Arms up towards the ceiling. Let's roll up. Grab the legs if you need to.

Grab onto the bar. Give me a nice tall posture here at the top and then roll yourself all the way back down. Just four more. Should not roll up, grab onto the legs for a little assist, have the bar help you, promote that back body posture, that tall posture, and then roll yourself back down. And again, Get those abs working here and lower.

Just two more. Chinnads. You flex. You grab the legs. And last one, roll it down. Head up and lift and then grab the bar.

Here's an opportunity to switch springs if you need to. Right now, I'm in through on 3 reds. We're gonna go to single leg. So reach down, change the spring load. If you know that single leg, you're gonna lead a little bit less. I'm gonna leave mine on for now.

Roll all the way back. Let's place both heels on the bar again, and I'm gonna take my right leg up to a tabletop position. Arms are long, I'm just gonna press back single leg. This is a great place to test that resistance with your hips down. So that leg's just at a tabletop. You can also extend that leg long if you wanted to work that front body.

And I'll flex that right ankle if I extend that leg long, so I can feel nicely consistent with the feet. Return the carriage, place the heel back onto the bar, and we're gonna go all the way up to a high bridge. So you're gonna roll up with both feet to a high bridge. Once you're up to a high bridge, take your right leg you just had up in the air back into that tabletop. This time, you're not going to move the carriage.

You're just gonna lower the foot down to the bar and return, focusing on glute work on the left side, but the beauty of shoulder bridge is it works everything. Shoulder bridge works. The back, the front, and the sides, and the triceps keep pressing the back of the head into the carriage and now putting the foot down, bring the heel down, roll yourself all the way back down. Last thing here is same leg, position. Roll yourself up. You're at a high bridge.

You're gonna take your right leg back to that tabletop. This time, you're going to extend the leg to the ceiling, flex the ankle, lower that leg towards the bar. Now as you press the carriage back, you're going to bring that foot towards the ceiling and then return. So just like bridge on the mat with a moving, a moving carriage and reach, just two more. And you'll feel the glutes now if you haven't already, one more Return the carriage, bring the heel down, roll the spine down, and let's take it to the other side. Hips stay down.

Other leg comes up, and you go into a one leg press, focusing on that right glute, extending out. And you can take that leg out, flex the ankle, loading up that left quad. It makes it a little bit harder to stabilize in the hip, so a little added challenge. One more time. Return, heel goes on the bar. Roll up to your high bridge.

Take that left leg up to a tabletop. From here, dip the toe down. Careful how high you lift. If you don't have the strength to be up there with that glute, you might take that pressure into your lumbar spine. So modify. Heel comes down.

Roll your spine down and pause. Now into the high bridge with the leg extended to the ceiling. Roll your hips up. Peel it off nicely. That feels good. Almost like a little stretch on the back.

Extend that left leg to the ceiling, flex the ankle. Lower that foot by pointing the foot as well. And then as your leg comes back, you're gonna press the carriage back. And, again, flex point. If the flexing and pointing is just too much coordination, eliminate it. 2 more last one, place the heel down, roll your spine down, take your legs over the bar, and then we're gonna come up to that roll up again.

But this time, chin to chest roll up, grab the bar, extend the legs, a little teaser position, bend, roll yourself back. 4 more, chin to chest, exhale, scoop those abs in, grab the bar, extend the legs. Lower the legs and release. 3 more. Exhale. Shush. Inhale. 2 more. And lift in the chest.

Don't be afraid to grab those legs. I'm not. Reach and lower. On the next one, we'll hold it for just a moment. Arms up to the sky. Head and shoulders up. Roll yourself up.

Extend the legs. Hold, reach the arms up. Count to 4 full teaser, 4, 3, 2, and rest. Ab should be nice and warm now. Nice and toasty. I'm gonna reach down. Take off two reds so that I only have one red on the reformer.

Alright. Feet onto the bar, and you do not have a lot of resistance. And from going from footwork resistance to one red, it's gonna feel like you're you're floating off the bar, but that's the point. So balls of the feet are on the bar center. So you can lift your head.

Don't be afraid to look to see where your feet are because there's nobody here to tell me that. So squeeze those inner thighs together. Nice and strong. Now interlace the fingers behind your head and then hold your head up. So with your feet on the bar, you're supported by the bar so you have a closed kinetic chain in this position so that you can really reach and grab that head. Don't just hang your hands back there, actually pull and stretch through that back body.

From here, if you like, a little jumping, but pay attention to your feet. It's not a jump board, so you need to land your feet. And you're not trying to reach the back of the reformer. Make sure it's just a little float of the feet. Tuck those abs in.

Two more. One more, but before you rest, let's burn it out a little bit. Just extend the legs. Hold. Drop your heels under the bar. Feel that nice little stretch.

Lyft your head and shoulders up a bit higher. See if you can get your heels even lower. You'd be surprised. They'll stretch. Head and shoulders up a little higher.

Drop those heels even lower. This hurts Head and shoulders up, drop those heels even lower, and then go ahead and return the carriage. That was a nice little burn on those glutes. So I'm gonna sit up and face you guys. I'll keep the red spring on.

If it's too much for this next series of exercises, we're gonna do some sideline with the strap at the foot, then just switch to a blue. It's in it's a little bit more doable. Okay? So legs are gonna go on top of the carriage. And my forearm is on the headrest side, so I can grip the side of the block if I need to. Grab onto the strap. Here's an easy way to get into this without feeling like you're getting twisted like a pretzel.

Take your bottom foot Push away from the, foot bar, and then you can put this foot in and then switch. Okay? So now I've got this leg out nice and strong. From here, I'm gonna bend my knee and then press out. I call this a donkey kick. You can call it a one leg press on the side or whatever you'd like to call it.

But what I like about this is I can get a little extra stretch, so I allow my knee to come in a little bit more to stretch that hip so that I can go into full range. Which is a great way to train is to train with control on those n ranges of motion, those full ranges of motion. Okay. One more time, press it away, and then bring it in. I'm gonna slide the strap up my leg now so that it's up on my thigh, readjust myself here, just remember not to lose your upper body in this exercise. Knees are bent, toe stay together, A little opening of the hips, little hip opener here.

A lot of times, my neck will bother me in this position. So I'll place my hand on the back of my neck and then or back of my head and press my head back into my hand. And what that does is it puts my head back into position, so I'm not straining my head forward, my little tech neck that a lot of us have. Now legs stay together in parallel, but instead of keeping the toes together, you're gonna separate and open and try to keep the carrot steady as you do so. So really focused on the outer part of the glute and all around those muscles, like the glute need. A little burn in there.

The glute need is your agility muscle. It's your side to side muscle. It's a balanced muscle. It's really important to keep the glutes strong so they can absorb that shock on your feet one more time. And then rest. Let's take the strap off the foot and go into a little figure 4 stretch on that side.

So I'll take the leg that I just had in the strap, cross it over the other, Mhmm. That's sore. So from here, to get a really good stretch, sit up nice and tall. Imagine that there's an edge of a building there, the edge of a cliff, lean forward, look over that edge That'll get you to that sweet spot, and then you can fold over and really get a good stretch on that glute. Alright.

Before we go to the other side, a little transition exercise, I'm gonna turn and face the back of the reformer and drop to my forearms. Once I've dropped to my forearms, I'll put my feet back here and go into a forearm plank. If the forums don't work for you, then put your hands down and go into a full plank and just a little mountain climber exercise holding the carriage nice and stable as I move through the hips, a little more of an ab burn for 4 3, 2, and 1. Drop those knees. And let's switch to the other side. So I'll step off, turn around, and drop my left forearm.

So if you can remember, bottom leg pushes up against the bar, you extend that bottom leg out. Take the strap, place it on the foot, and then exchange. So from here, a little donkey kick, bend and extend. Try to keep that leg parallel and fire that glute to press the leg out. Feel a little stretch if you like as your leg comes in and think about your abs maybe working to pull the knee in. So it's not always relying just on that hip flexor.

Now take that strap and drag it up the leg to the thigh, stack the knees on top of each other, keep those toes together, and then external rotation. You should feel it right around that side pocket of the glute. Don't forget to come out of the ribs here. Nice and tall with the spine for 3. 2, I can really feel these on this side 1 more and then return. Now keep those legs parallel and you're gonna open from the hip and try to keep the ankle and the knee and hip in alignment.

And lift for 4, 3, 2, and 1, and then return. I'll take that foot out of the strap, and go into my figure 4 stretch on this side. So the right leg will go over my left, and I'll lean forward for a nice little hinge and really feel that stretch here at the side and then fold over, take a breath, inhale, and exhale. Alright. Popping on to the knees. We're gonna face backwards.

This next series of exercises is gonna require some balance. So be really careful here. If it doesn't work for you, you can go ahead and put the foot down, and I'll show you what I mean. I'm going to start with my left leg forward since I just worked my right hip. So I'll bring my left leg forward.

And this is a a lunge position here, and my foot is way off the carriage to start. Okay? So if you cannot come up on this next exercise, just stay here. I'm holding on to the short loops. I'm gonna scoot my back knee forward so I can curl my toes under and adjust my forward leg so that my hips are comfortable. Careful as you lift up into your lunge.

So once you lift to hear and your hands are still secure and you feel comfortable, then slowly float up putting that pressure onto that forward leg. Okay? Pull the elbows back so that you're in a row position. From here, drop the knee and lift the knee. So you're just holding your rows essentially. You can pitch the body forward. However, if you pitch the body forward, it's gonna go into that quad so you decide where you wanna work. My right quad is working because it's under the right hip, but I am really focused on my left glute.

And then hold down into your lunge where you're working the hardest pause. Now you can slightly pitch your body forward and go into some tricep kickbacks. And there is a burn on that left side. Make sure the feet are spread so that you can feel the entire foot on that left side Two more. Last one, tall spine. This is all about control here.

Drop your knee. Place your hand on the blocks. Now before you come out of this position, scoot the foot back. Okay? Once you scoot the foot back, you can go into a little expansion of the chest, open it up, exaggerate it. So retract the shoulder blades and open up through the chest and let your chin rise. So your eyes gaze up one more.

And even while doing that, I was still getting a lot of work on that forward leg. Let's switch sides. Right. Foot goes forward. And then I'm gonna scoot that back knee forward, lift myself up, hold, bend the elbows, and then just lower and lift, up and down. Chest is open, so I'm promoting back body posture.

It's easy to forget about the back body because we don't see it in the mirror. 2 more. Last one, hold, pitch the body forward slightly and triceps. And you're getting a nice burn, hopefully on that right side, that right glute for 2 more Last one, and then slowly gentle drop. Right? Let that foot just relax over the back. And then another set of chest opener for 5 And for big wingspan, last one, and let's go ahead and put those straps down.

And go into some side oblique work. So you'll get a little bit of arm work on this next series. Red spring still on. If you notice, I don't change spring very often because I try to maintain a little bit of flow, but please edit it for yourself. Okay? Legs are together and it's about center of the reformer.

Legs adducted so that when you take your hand over to the bar, forward to the shoulder, your side, you're gonna lean into that leg that's closest to the bar, and this foot has floated up off of the carriage. So you're using your inner thighs to keep that stability there. With the hand pressing up against the thigh, just press out and back. Think of your body shooting up towards the corner and ceiling of the wall. So when you're coming in, you're really trying to reach your head towards that corner.

Okay? Now press it out and hold it out. Bring your arm out to an airplane arm. You're gonna thread the needle and bring the carriage in with your hips. So the arm comes under the armpit, that right knee will drop.

You'll keep your left arm along, Scoop the abs in and then use your hips to bring your arm out. So adding a little side twisting to your workout today, inhale out, and then exhale to return. We make sure it's the hips that are moving. Good. 2 more. Last one.

You're gonna hold it out for one last thing here. Hold hand behind the head now. Hold that carriage steady. Extend that leg. Let's bring the whole body into this.

Tuck the knee in towards the chest. Keep in the carriage as steady as you can. Just do 2 more. One more. And to end the series, drop the knee next to the other, reaching the arm out to airplane arm, twist, bring it all together, and stretch. And let's go over to the other side.

So I'm gonna step up and off and then up and on. Center, feet hanging off the sides, and we repeat. Right hand goes slightly forward to the shoulder, so it's in my peripheral. Now I'm gonna lean into that left knee, pressing my hand up against my thigh, and then pressing out, bringing that head up to the corner where the ceiling and the wall meet and thinking about this side pulling me in towards the bar. 2 more. 1 more.

Now take the carriage out arm to the airplane arm. Keep the arm steady. You're gonna bring the carriage in by dropping the knee, pulling in with the hips, and threading the needle, and then pressing back out 4 more. And you can inhale as you rotate to get most the most out of the stretch in your ribs, Try to keep that arm long and keep the same distance from your shoulder to the bar, 2 more. Last one, press it out hold carriage a steady hand behind the head, leg comes out, knee tucks in 1, and the challenge here is to keep the carriage from moving. You've got 2 more. Sh. 1 more. Tuck with control, bring it in airplane arm, tuck it under.

And then turn towards the bar for your last and final exercise, I'm gonna actually add a yellow spring on to support my hips down stretch, my version of down stretch, hands onto the bar, feet back up against the blocks. Can I get a cat cow? So you're gonna extend and you're going to round, and you're gonna keep your hips or your heels are your hips over your heels. Okay? So you wanna make sure that you can feel those glutes back there. Now look up, find that extension. Push the carriage back with your legs so that your hips open up and your hips drop into the well.

Maintain that shape of your spine like the bottom of a rocking chair. 5 of them only. Wrap your hands around the bar and pull. So you're trying to get almost like you're trying to get your pubic bone. To the bar. It makes it way more challenging.

You've got 2 more. Last one, press the carriage back hold, round your spine, tuck it in. Let your toes come together. Center of the blocks and prep bring your hands to the platform so you can press out and give yourself a little extra stretch. Give me two breaths inhale through the nose.

Exhale through the mouth, and one more. Return the carriage, and you are all done today. Thank you so much for joining me.