Energy & Strength Flow

Familla, welcome back. I'm still Michelle and you're still here. So going on from our previous workout for our foundation, that was a lot that we did there. It felt good. It was nice and rosy toasty. So now from that little upwork, we're gonna progress just a little bit. So we're gonna be building on increasing our strength, a little more coordination, and a little more flow.

So a couple of modes, I'm gonna show you where we're gonna be going. So don't get scared. Stay with me. I got you. So we're gonna start. I have my footwork springs on on my balance body.

I have three reds and one blue to keep the carriage nice and steady. I have the head rest down right now because I'm gonna start with my lovely cat cow in a quadruped position. So go ahead, step onto the carriage lightly. Kneeling. Like I did last time, I have my feet between the shoulder blocks and my feet are there. Again, go where you're happy. Go where you're good. So here, I'm in my quadruped position.

The wrist the shoulder and the elbow are tracking in the same way. Depending on your carriage, my hands are gonna go over the sides of the carriage. The heels of my hands are in, and I'm pulling my belly button up. Tail is long, head is long. So we're there right now.

From our cat cow, we're just gonna give that little tilt looking through the middle and then come up for the half semi circle. Tailbone up, gaze is up, chest is open, shoulder blades are nice and wide. We're spreading them here. We're gonna go about five ish times. So if I forget counting, you just keep moving through.

We like it. So, again, I like to do this as an orientation to the reformer just to say hi. I'm on you. I'm with you. We are one. Good. And last one, each direction. And then when I get through with this side, I'm gonna bring my chest and hips back to neutral. Now I'm gonna thread the needle.

So what I do for me, I take my hand to the middle of the carriage. So this is my right hand to the middle of the carriage. I'm gonna open up my side body. Arm is gonna reach up. So reach up. I'm gonna twist, take that hand threading through. I want you to see it here.

Thread through and try to get that shoulder down to the carriage. Okay? So if that's go gorgeous for you, stay there. If you have a little more room, you can sit back more on your heels and getting a nice little rotation cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine. Everything is nice and twisty. And I like to come back up into my quadrupit and then reach.

There's my twist, and then thread through. Maybe two to three breaths here. We'll come up. We'll do our last one reaching, really twisting. At the waistline, reach thread through. Try to get that shoulder down, maybe get the ear down, maybe sit back on the heels or on the shoulder block, and we're opening the shoulder girdles We're twisting the spine, and then we're gonna come back through.

Bring that arm right back to your quadruped position, do the other side. Pull that in. So here's the reach up. You can see it from this direction. I have that hand kinda in the middle, and I reach through. Getting that ear, shoulder down as much as possible.

And I I want you to be encouraged here because as we move through that not two more of these. I want you to think, like, if it's not there for you today, maybe as you keep practicing, you find more mobility, more stretch, more reach, So please be nice and be easy on yourself because this is kinda new, you know? And maybe you've done this before in a mat class or maybe a yoga class, but this is a little bit different because we're on a moving surface. Yes? Alright. Last one, I think that was three. If not, I'm just gonna stop right there. Alright. So there's our cat cow.

We're done with that inner quadrupet. We're gonna step off carefully to the side. To the side. I'm gonna put my head rest up. Alright. And we're gonna come into our supinated position. Springs are still on as they were.

Take a nice little lay down. A little bit of distance between you and the shoulder blocks. Take your feet up this time. Last time we were on the platform. This time, I'd like you to take your feet to the foot bar toes are on and parallel arms to your side, and I want you to just feel the back of your head, deck.

Actually, this is a bridge. So I should actually put the head rest down. Okay. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Leave that in there y'all. Alright. So now we're here, shoulders are away.

Both shoulders are pressing down. What just do a hip tilt. So I want you to just pull the tailbone up and then tilt it back down ever so slight move. So think a hip rock more than a hip tilt. Last time, we did a lift and lower, and we rode through the spine through a flow, This one we're just articulating, just getting our spine ready to move, getting the hips ready to move.

So a little tilt, press down. And again, that same cue that we loo used last time. If you have a little extra lower dotted curve, little extra love in the back. Go ahead and put something there to give you contact so you can feel your full ribs, the back of your ribs onto the carriage. Last one, and then bring her home. Alright. Familia, are we ready? We're gonna do some little footwork. So arms to the side, footwork springs are on, toes are on to the foot bar, heels together, toes apart, pressing away. Oh, it is on. Good. So again, for here, pulling the belly button down towards the carriage as a belly area.

We do eight to 10 of these. And bringing the carriage home as possible as much as possible. Squeezing through the back of the legs, the posterior chain is lightened up as we warm up. There'll be two more here. Again, I don't count y'all y'all know this.

You've worked out with me and bring your home. Alright. Bird on a perch. Alright. Arches are on. It is really important here because if the arches are on, your acclimating other parts of your muscles and your legs on.

So it's really important curve the toes over, heels under, press away. Belly button in, and really feel the arches or the arch area, I have flat feet into the foot bar because it's waking up different parts of your musculature and your leg. It's not just for fun, y'all. It's a reason for everything. Ask Joseph.

Let's do one more. Bring her home. We're going a little bit faster than we did last time. Right? Because you know what you're doing. Alright. Heels are on. Tothes coming towards your face.

Everything nice. Heels press away. It's harder to pull the carriage in. So you're really turning on those hamstrings and really connecting with the glutes. So you have your glute minimus medius and maximus. We're in the meade max area.

A little more control here too. And don't rush through this one. And I say that because it's harder, and also you're getting the most benefit here from really connecting with the back of the leg. You get it nowhere else but right here. You get it in other places, but, you know, that sounded nice to say.

Let's see when we're bringing home. She's home. Alright. Heels are gonna go under toes on feet in parallel. Press the carriage away. Lift and lower the hills, lift and lower. I like these. Alright.

I'm a dancer, so sometimes I get dancy pantsy. Alright. Keep going about eight to 10 of these. But then we're gonna twist it because you've done this before already. Right? And your legs are talking to you right now. They're screaming. Alright. Last one, on this one, stay up. Oh my gosh.

Stay up. Can you bend the knees? Think knees coming down sitting in a chair. And the knees to about a 90 degree angle where the hips, hip bone, and the knee are in the same place. And I want you to find that place there, pull the belly button in, and just little pulses. Little pulses, slight movement.

Eight to 10 of those. Oh my word. She said footwork, but his footwork keep going. Alright. Last one, press the carriage out. Bend the knees, bring the carriage all the way home, but wait.

There's more. A little bit wider than your hips. Come back out. Tows are onto the foot more. Press the carriage away. Whoa. That's different. Same bend in the knees.

Halfway there. Halfway there. Think of a squat. We're sitting down on it. Sit a little more bend. A little bit more of a range of motion, turning on everything in the back, squeezing those glutes. Squeeze.

Turn the booty on. If you see me shaking, you know I'm really doing this, y'all. Oh, I'm gonna feel this later. Alright. It's two more for me because I'm I'm done with this. Ah, press it out and bring the carriage all the way home. Good night. Good morning.

These things are on. Alright, my dears. Leaving everything where they are, I think I wanna go down a notch because I'm feeling it right now. So I'm gonna switch myself off. I have, I'm gonna take a I'm tick off. How am I feeling right now? I'm gonna leave a red and blue one.

That's how am I feeling right now. So go medium heavy for you. Okay? Alright. Going back down. Gotta keep it real y'all. Keep it real. Alright.

Grabbing my lovely straps off of my pegs. We're gonna go into a hundred hold. Alright. So we kinda preface this before in the last workout. My feet are on the foot bar. My hands are gonna press into the straps just to find a place where the carriage, that's my arms go 90 degrees out of my shoulders. Yes? Alright. Finding your tabletop on each leg pull it up. Now I want you to keep that tabletop legs are pressed together or maybe a little bit separated depending on your body.

Head neck and shoulders roll up. Okay. We can stay here. Otherwise, you could also bring the hips down, but I want you to hold this. So we're gonna inhale five four three two one exhale. Uh-huh. I know you want me to go faster. I know. So instead of a hundred, we're gonna do the 50.

So keep that whole and really challenge yourself here, pressing into the straps. And if you didn't know already, the reason why it's called the hundred as you hold this is because you're gonna inhale five, exhale five, you do that 10 times That's equals a hundred y'all. Alright. And we're gonna hold for a couple more seconds hold, pressing up, finding that stretch, finding that curve, really finding that stretch. And I'm done with it. Let it go. Hello.

Carriage comes home. Breath is over. Alright. Going on. My dears, we got more to go. Take this, right peg, put that over there. Where is it? Hello?

There it is. I'm gonna take the left foot and put the strap on. We did this last time, but now we're gonna do a little bit elevated movement. So this is gonna be our single leg stretch ish exercise. So from here, strap stays on the foot, the line is gonna track inside of the body.

I have my hips lowered. I'm sorry. I have my hands lowered to my hips, and my foot is on the foot part. So here I'm gonna take the hands and give me give myself a little bit of a guide. Last time we did it, maybe around here, I want us to go deeper in that stretch. So if I let this other foot go, there is more of a stretch.

So I'm really bringing that closer to the chest different from last time. So we press away. And we've deepened that stretch. Now I may be up and over the foot bar. Pick one y'all.

Pick one. So working on this unilateral, exercise, focusing on one side of the body. We're gonna go about five to eight of these depending on where you are. Yes. And I think that might have been 17. Great. Go ahead and bend that knee, take the foot to the foot bar, take her off.

Return the carriage home. You have another side. Now, here we go. Right foot on. This is the right. Alright. Same thing. To the midline, knee bends in, and then I have my hands pressing here to give me a guide, find more of a stretch, inner thighs stretch, press away.

And maybe you lengthen a little bit more than you did before, really stretching that leg out of the hip. Five to eight ish of these. Yes. Alright. Feeling roasty toasty. I'll do one more whatever that number is good and bring the carriage closed.

Take the strap off. Immediately, go ahead and grab your straps again and keep the feet on the foot bar. Hands press up to the ceiling, head neck and shoulders roll up. I want you to go ahead and bring both legs to tabletop going a little bit faster now. Holding this here, legs reach out 45 degree angle, bring it back in. Do about five of these, if your neck is like no, no, ma'am, put the head down and still keep the legs going.

Good. Last one, I think. Come out, hold it there. Keep the leg that tabletop fingertips press forward towards the front of the reformer. A little bit harder. Still beginning, but a little bit harder holding that there. Arms will lift and lower here slowly. Up, curl up. Hit curls up.

Fingertips up, head goes down, fingertips down, head goes up. You have five of these? I think this is the last one. Good. Hold it there. Keep the hands there. Bring the elbows to the carriage, tricep press, press down. My head is still down.

Lakes are still at tabletop. It'll do about five of these. This is four. This is five. And bring everything home.

Alright, Familla. We're going on. What happened, Michelle, you said this is foundational? I didn't say it was slow. I said it was foundational. Okay. So from here, we have one more thing to do with our arms, and then we get off of our backs. Y'all. Alright. Bring the fingertips right back over the shoulders where you were.

Let's go to tabletop. Take your arms out to the side and let her key. Holding that there. We did this last time. We're a little more advanced now.

So we're bringing the palms to the hips closing in. Carriage is riding a little bit forward, a little bit back. Five of these. This is four, I believe. I should just say five and let you figure it out. Hold it out for that t, bring the fingertips to the ceiling, and arrest the feet on the footbar, replace the pegs, and carefully step off to the side for what you're so up.

That was real sexy. Doesn't. It's hot. Alright, y'all. We're gonna take a little forward fold. Alright. What do we have on our springs? We're gonna leave them there. We're not concerned with that right now.

Springs are happy. So we did this before. We'll find a place for extension here. Back is against the shoulder blocks, reach the arms forward, up and over. Foot bar, ankles, platform, carriage.

And as you're forward folding, think about lifting the mid back your thoracic spine up and away to curve. A little more of a curve there. And depending on your props, if you need to hold on to the carriage, you can do that. If you have a moon box, you can use it a ball, something to bring the floor bring the carriage up so you can have more space if you have a little more love in the front and really hold that stretch. Head is relaxing between the arms. I'm taking my hands to the foot bar.

And now I'm gonna press my neck forward, shoulder blades pull back, squeezing my back, finding that extension, then I'm gonna curl curl through back into my forward fold. And then come back up. So if this looks like cat cow, you're correct. It's just a different way to do it. It's more like a seated cat cow.

Because we need some extension. And as we did last time, if the foot bar isn't giving what you want, you could definitely bring the hands to the carriage and do that same exercise to give yourself extension elbows pull back, chest is proud, and forward, and then find that stretch. I'll do one more to the carriage for all of us. And then find that counter stretch, that back extension. Great.

Beautiful. I like it. Very good. Alright. Now we go into the pyramid. Alright. Stepping off to the side, I'm leaving the same springs on, same springs. If you recall last time, we have three different ways to get into our mermaid.

So I'm gonna go into my Z sit. So my legs come well, my back leg comes to the shoulder block. Other legs come to the front, and here is my positioning. Using my hips to slide the carriage back and forth, reach my hand closest to the foot bar there. Other hand reaches out, and the hips push the carriage back, heal the hand is on the foot bar, and then I close the spring by sliding my hips.

Yes? We'll do five of these. I'm counting this time. Okay. Stretch.

This is three, close. We have two more after this. We have one more if you see me smiling. There's so a reason why. I love this exercise.

That's one of them. On this fifth one, let's hold there. Stay there. And I take this arm to the top right above my shoulder, and I want a thread through like we did before. So thread twisting, looking back. Away from the front, twisting, mid back, and then open up.

Look at that hand, see where it's going. The other arm on the footwork thread through. Is really working to keep the carriage open. So don't think it's just sitting there, I, at least, standing by. It is working as well.

And you're getting a stretch, triceps, shoulder girdle, intercostals. Everything is getting stretched. Last one. We like it, come up, then take that hand right back over for a further stretch. Close the springs, and go into a counter stretch.

Other arm comes up and over. It's one of my favorite stretches. Keep the length through your neck, shoulders, open that side body, and then bring yourself back to the middle. We do the other side. So stepping off carefully, You have to remember to do both sides.

Don't be lopsided. Okay? Alright. Cause I know some people who do that sometimes. It's not me, though. Alright. Y'all come on to the carriage carefully. Give yourself the favorite seated position.

I am in love with my z sit. Alright, arm to the foot bar. Here's my other arm out. You don't have to do spirit fingers, but I think this is like a fan for me. Alright. So reach out five of these.

Reaching, slide the hips forward, bend that elbow, to close the spring, head reaches to the front of the reformal, That is my French impersonation right now. I'm lots of people today. I think this is three. Yeah? And this is four. Sometimes I count y'all. Sometimes I count. Close it.

Take it and press away holding that press. We like it. We're staying here. Take that arm to the top, in line with that shoulder. Thread through. And now I get to look at you. Hello. How y'all doing? You see what's happening here?

It's really happening. Open up. You have two more. Watch that arm of the footbar working. It's gotta work to keep the spring open. I'm really twisting trying to get both of my shoulders towards the front or your device, whatever you're looking at, and what you to see.

Both of my lovely shoulders ish, come through. Hello. And then come up out, close the springs, counter stretch. I want the pegs. Yes. There's our counter stretch. It's lovely. Oh, I can go further on this side.

I think the, threading the needles really helped me find more stretch there. Beautiful. Carefully step off. And now we're gonna go into a little more, fun. Come back into the carriage. Knees are on the carriage. We're kinda going to a little bit of a knee stretch.

Forget about this. So my feet are at the my toes are tucked under, feet are against the shoulder blocks. I have my knees square, about the same same distance as my hips. I wanna sit back, sit my bottom back almost to my heels. Okay? From here, keeping my hands on, I'm gonna curl the top of my back. So from for ladies, my bra up. I'm curling here.

So you see that curl, arms are reaching long, and me opening the spring will be me pushing the hips back. And then when I come in, I pull the abs in to close the spring. So I do this Come in. Keeping that curve at the thoracic and the cervical sponge. Good. Really opening the back body. Oh my god. I love these so much.

I should stay a little bit lower, but today's being different. Okay. Keep going. Two more for me because it feels really good. Close the springs all the way. Love it. Now we're here.

I want you to take yourself up. Just slightly. Think Little mermaid. I might be a little high for this. I want you to just open the test more of that cat cow more extension. And then bring your bottom to your heels.

Set yourself up there and then carefully step off to the side. And as we step to the side, we're gonna get back onto the carriage doing side lying leg presses just to turn on the back quads turn on the hamstrings, turn on everything on the booty. So take a lay down here onto your carriage, side body is laying down, and I'm gonna bring my head rest up, because I'm gonna be laying on the side. So to my side, laying my head between the shoulder blocks holding on to the peg or to the shoulder block itself. The bottom leg is hovering and kind of just being there on the carriage nice and protected, staying away from the springs.

Other foot, you will bring your foot somewhat flush with the foot bar, I have more of the ball of my foot on the foot bar, and then my heel is pressing in. So here for my side lying, presses, I'm gonna press the carriage away. So a little bit of a extension there, but don't lock the knees out and then close the spring. So we're gonna do that here. So just keep going.

Press it away. Bring it home. Good. And I want you to see that working. Take your time here. Pull the belly button in as you keep doing this, because now you're focusing on your AB doctors, your AD doctors, the glutes are on.

Things are screaming. So we're gonna do about eight to 10 of these just to get our bodies awake. Later on, if you like this exercise, you can always add clamshells or lift your leg and do all kinds of wonderful things. Gonna do two more here for me. Last one, bring it home. We have another side, carefully step yourself off.

I probably could've went a different way, but this is what we're doing, stepping off, letting you see my back. So let's go. How y'all doing? Alright. So same setup. You saw it that way already. Laying down, hugging my peg and hugging the shoulder block, tucking that bottom leg in.

So here, making sure that we're stacking the spine. You could see it better here. If I had a pole right here, you would see the spine stacked one on top of the other, and I have the side of my foot in line with the footbar pressing away. You can see the action there. As I close the spring, this is turning on here.

So doing this, bringing the carriage home and pressing away, feeling the side of the foot, pressing into the foot bar, connecting there, and really working those glutes about eight to 10 of these. Taking your time. Squeezing. You're doing great work. Two more for me. 20 more for you. Last one.

Close it and come home. Yes. We're already here. So if it's comfortable for you, either step off and get back on or just turn your chest to the ceiling here, this is my favorite. Alright, my dears. Taking my feet to the foot bar, this is my favorite part. I've worked everything out, and I really want to relax.

So if you're into yoga, happy baby or just a straddle stretch is here, so you can open the legs out to the side, I like to hold on to either my ankles or to my arches and just really let the leg stretch. We did a lot of leg work today. We did arm work and just really find a happy stretch. Maybe you hold at the shins and pull, but just give yourself a second. Take some really deep breaths, and I'll be quiet here.

It just let you get into that stretch opening and relaxing. I said I'd be quiet, but I want you to think about happy baby. Think about a little one that you're changing their diaper and they're just waiting. So just kind of be playful with it. Don't be like, let me make it beautiful and all Pilate like, just have fun. Scroll the legs. See what feels good with your hips.

Rocking side to side, maybe a little roundy round both directions. I like little circles too. Both directions. I am a quite happy baby. Alright.

Familla, last thing, I'm gonna take my feet to the foot bar. Tows are on. Here, I'm gonna do a butterfly stretch. So I'm just gonna open up both legs to the side, letting the sides of my feet rest on the foot bar and seeing how much my hips can open here and just letting this feel a delicious stretch here. Little word of advice if you are fighting that you need more stretch from where you are at the foot bar, totally okay to go down to your platform and find more stretch if that works for you.

You have options. And when you're ready, go ahead, bring those feet back up to the foot bar or bring the legs closed back to neutral, carefully swing your legs over to the side. A little more salt little more pepper on it, but a little more work, and we upwork from where we were before. So thank you so much. We got a little bit more to do, a little more pressure to put on you. So I will see you at the next workout.