Bala Weight Mat

Hi. I'm Gia, and today we're gonna do a mat class with ankle weights. These are two pound ankle weights. If you have something different at home, you can use that, or you can do this with no weights. It'll feel good either way. So we're gonna start on your back.

Alright. I'm just down by your side. Have your spine nice and neutral. We're gonna bring your legs up to tabletop. Fill the abs pulling in. Think of your naval pulling toward your spine.

Arms are reaching long, you're gonna to start with your toe taps. You're gonna bring one foot down, keeping it at a 90 degree angle, exhale as you bring the leg back up to tabletop. Inhale, the other leg is gonna reach down, exhale as you lift it back up. Let's keep alternating. Trying to keep the shoulders open.

As you keep moving your legs with the weights on, you'll notice that it's pulling you towards your legs. So you wanna think of using your abdominals to help keep you nice and neutral in your spine and your pelvis. And up. Inhale to lower. XL, lift one more each side.

I feel my abs shaking already. Hopefully, you do too. And lift last one. Now we're gonna lower both legs down toward the mat. Inhale as you lower, exhale as you lift. So I'm having I'm squeezing my legs together.

I'm going as low as I can without arching my spine. Inhale lower exhale lift and keep those shoulders nice and open. Try not to let them round forward. Two more. Pull the abs in and up last one.

Keep your legs and tabletop. Hands are gonna go behind your head, one on top of the other, elbows are wide, inhale back here, exhale curl your head and chest up. Inhale lower back down, exhale to lift up. Again, using your abdominals to hold your legs up, try to put all that energy into your center. Two more.

Last one. Hold it up. Keep both shoulders off the mat. You're just gonna rotate to one side and then back to center. Rot it to the other side and back to center. So my hips are staying stable. Of rotating from the ribs and center. Rotate elbows are wide still, squeezing the inner thighs together.

One more each side. Last one. And then hug your knees into your chest rest for a second. You can rock side to side. And then when you're ready, we're gonna curl up for single leg stretch.

So curl your head and shoulders up, one hand on the opposite knee, same hand on the ankle, stretch the other leg out, elbows are wide. We're gonna inhale, switch inhale, switch exhale, exhale. Just keep alternating the legs, and exhale. Exhale. Inhale. Inhale.

Exhale asset. Inhale. Inhale. Exhale. Exhale. Both knees in. Rest your head down. Take a breath.

And when you're ready, we'll curl back up. Going to the double leg stretch. So inhale arms and legs reach out away from each other, exhale circle your arms around, hug your knees into your chest. Inhale arms and legs reach out. Exhale circle, hug your knees in.

Three more. Circle and hug. And two. And hug. One more. Circle and hug, and then rest your head down. Turn your head side to side.

Keep your neck loose. And we'll go into scissors. So stretch your legs up to the ceiling. You're gonna grab one leg behind either your calf or your hamstring. The other leg is gonna reach out to a diagonal, curl your head and shoulders up, we'll go into scissors.

So you're gonna inhale switch, inhale, exhale, exhale. Now the since you have the weights on, you wanna make sure you're not swinging your legs. You're still controlling the movement from your center. Exale last set, inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale both knees in, rest your head down. Take a breath. Lakes are gonna come up to the ceiling, glue your legs together, hands behind your head, we'll curl your head and shoulders up. Inhale as you stretch both legs out, Exhale as you lift back up.

Go where you can, inhale reach, exhale low abs pull your back up. Try not to let your chest drop. Keep lifting it up as your legs come up to the ceiling. Two more. And lift last one.

And lift hug your knees into your chest. Rest. We have one more in the series. So hands are gonna come behind your head again. Curl up as high as you can. You're gonna twist to one side.

Shows the other leg out and then switch and switch and switch same bring these before. Inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale two more sets. Rotating from the ribs, exhale hips are staying stable, and exhale, exhale hug your legs in. Whoo. Take a breath. And then we're gonna flip over onto your stomach. We're gonna go into a little prone leg lift. So you're gonna have one hand on top of the other on the mat, your forehead on your hands. The abs are pulled in, shoulders are down, legs are reaching long. You can have your legs hip distance part if that feels good to you.

I'm just gonna look both legs up. And then back down. And lift both legs up and lower. As you're lifting the legs, try not to arch your back too much. Think of it coming from your glutes, your hamstring. So you're gonna back my arch a little bit, but you don't wanna let it just jump.

So keep pulling your abdominals in and up. To support your spine. Two more. Next one, you're gonna hold up. Keep your legs up.

You're just gonna beat your legs in together in, in, in, in, think of those inner thighs coming together. So it's not just the feet. Keep the legs reaching long shoulders down, in, in, in, in. We'll go for five, four, three, two, One, lower your legs down with control, and then push back into child's pose. Take a breath. And then roll up one boat at a time, and you're gonna sit down. We're gonna go into a short box series from the reformer.

So the weights will make it a little bit easier for your feet to sit down. You're gonna have your legs just fairly far away from you with your legs bent. Feet are flat on the mat. Arms are gonna come up to a genie position. Inhale sitting up as tall as you can, exhale, you're gonna round your low back, roll back halfway, inhale at the bottom, exhale roll up, lengthen your spine.

So it's kinda like a half roll back. Pull the abs in, tailbones under, and then roll up. Keep pushing the feet into the mat and lift two more. And roll up. Last ones, you'll find with these weights.

Some things are easier like this because you're feet are able to stay down more easily, and some things are harder. Hands behind your head, we're gonna keep those fine long shoulders down, inhale as you lean back with a flat back exhale as you come up. Inhale lower, exhale to lift up. Two more. Keep your spine growing tall as you come up.

Last one. And lift back up. Now we're gonna add a twist. So you're gonna twist hinge back and all the way up. Twist the other side hinge back and lift twist and reach.

Good. And twist. Reach. Trying to keep the hips as stable as you can. Just twisting from the waist and twist.

Reach. One for each side. Twist, and reach, last one. And then sit all the way up to stretch your legs and reach forward, stretch out your back. And then roll up.

We're gonna lie on your side. So we're gonna come on to your elbow. If this doesn't feel good, you can lie all the way down. You want your elbow right under your shoulder, push up out of that arm so your shoulder is not coming up by your ear. The bottom leg is gonna be bent.

The top leg is gonna be straight. So reach that top leg out as we lift it up and down. Up and down. So as you're lifting, try not to sink into your waist. You want your waist long on both sides. And up and down.

Two more. Hold it up. Now you're gonna bend your knee into your chest and then push it back out. You can even flex your foot if you'd like. So it's like you're pushing something out through that heel. Inhale, exhale stretch. As you're pulling the knee in, make sure your spine isn't changing.

You wanna keep it long and reach in and reach. Two more. And out, last one. Keep the leg long. Point your toes. If you're flexing, go ahead and circle that leg around.

Keep pushing that bottom leg down so it's not lifting up. And reverse. Keep checking that bottom shoulder. Make sure you're pushing up out of that arm. And lower that leg down. Let's go into the other side.

I'm gonna turn around so you can see it from the back. So again, you're pushing down with that arm. Bottom leg is bent. Top leg is straight. Pulling up in your waist.

You're gonna lift the top leg up and down. Reach that leg all the way across the room and lower. Four more up and down. Three two, hold it leg up. You can flex your foot as you bend your knee into your chest, reach it out. So the spine doesn't change. You're just bending in from the hip and then pushing it all the way out.

Bend and stretch four more. And reach. Keep checking that bottom shoulder. Make sure you're in a strong position. One more. Keep the leg out point your toes, circle it around. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, and reverse back. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, lower it down.

And we're gonna come on to your hands and knees. So we're almost there. So your hands are right under your shoulders. Your knees are right under your hips. You're gonna reach one leg back, and lift that leg up hip height, make sure your hips are square.

And then the opposite arm, you're gonna reach forward. So find that long position, push up out of that bottom arm, Find a long position. You're gonna bring your elbow and knee together around your back, and then reach everything out away from each other. So you're pulling the in, and then reach out. Two more like this.

As you're moving the spine and the leg and arm, keep pushing up out of that bottom arm, and reach lower your arm and leg down, and we'll switch sides. Reach the other leg back, hips are square, You're gonna lift that leg up. We'll reach it long, and then the opposite arm is gonna come forward. From here, push it down in that bottom arm, you're gonna bring your elbow and knee together, round your back, and then reach everything out away. Pull into your chest.

And then back out. So you're curling into a ball shape and then back out. Last one. And then reach out. Bring your hand and leg down.

We're gonna go back to the first leg. This time both hands are gonna stay down. So you're gonna reach that, leg back, hips are square. You're gonna push down with your arms and lift the bottom leg up, and down. Lift and lower. So I'm trying not to arch my back.

I can going a little bit higher just so I can get into my glute a little bit more and down. Lift and lower. Hold this next one up. Now from here, you're gonna bend and straighten your leg. So the thigh is staying still. I'm just bending at the knee.

Still trying to keep the hips square as much as I can. Push out of the arms. Make sure you're not sinking into your shoulders. Now hold the leg bent. Keep that 90 degree angle and lift up little pulses.

Up. Up four, three, two, one. Lower that leg down. I want to do the same thing on the other side. So hips are square. You're gonna reach that leg back, push up out of your arms, and then both legs up, and down.

Lift and lower. So I'm reaching that leg as long as I can. Again, try not to dump into my back, pulling into the abdominals to keep that support. Hold the leg up. And then from here, I bend and straighten. Check your hips, make sure they're square. And four, and three. Two. Hold a bend.

Little pulses up for eight. Seven six five four three two one lower down. And we're gonna go into child's pose. So feet together knees apart. Just take a little stretch here. Breathe.

And then roll up one bone at a time and just sit however it's comfortable to you. Just take a deep inhale and exhale. And that's it. I hope you enjoyed that class and got a quick little burn in your abdominals and glutes, and I'll see you next time.