Balance and Burn Express Mat

Hi. I'm Zola, and this is a balance and burn mat using the magic circle. I found throughout my pregnancy, my balance continued to be challenged and got worse and worse as I went further and further in my pregnancy. So even to this day, I like to challenge my balance because it's never been the same since then. Then we'll get to the floor and do a little burnout of the outer thighs and inner thighs. I think sight lying is the most accessible, at least it was for me, for my leg workouts.

Let's get started standing up, magic circle in hands, in a pilates v with the feet. The pads of the circle is in the heels of the hands with the fingertips reaching long, arms reaching straight forward, standing tall through the spine, crown of the head reaching up, heels pressing down, consistently pulling the baby into your spine. From here, let's just squeeze the circle with the hand. So press that circle in and release. Exhale to press, inhale to open.

Making sure that squeeze is coming from the muscles surrounding the armpits, keeping the neck muscles relaxed, those upper traps relax. Four more. Four. Three. Hug the baby one more time. Now let's add a lift of the heel. So heel lifts, squeeze the circle, put the heel down. Good.

Heal lift squeeze and put it down. Thinking more about the standing leg than the leg that's moving, standing tall in your standing leg. We're trying to not shift from side to side. As you lift the heel, one more time each side, lift, lift and squeeze adding more. So lift the heel up, bring the knee up toward the ceiling. Toes come down, heel comes down. So as you lift the knee up to the ceiling, find that gentle squeeze of your magic circle, release the squeeze to put the leg down.

Good. Think about that standing leg, rowing taller on that standing leg to lift the foot off of the floor. The lift, squeeze, toes down, heels down. Let's do four more. Heal up. Lift, toes down, heels down.

One more. Squeeze the circle. Lift the knee. Toast down. Heels down. Now let's seamlessly just lift the knee up toward the ceiling, like a march. Lift and squeeze.

Put it down. Lift and squeeze. Roll through the foot. See where your balance is a little tricky. Is it more tricky on the right leg or the left leg?

Just take those little notes in your brain. Lift and squeeze. Exhale one more time each side. Last one, lift. Good. Now from here, You can let the arms rest for a second.

Go parallel with your legs, bring your legs together, and then reach those arms forward again. This time, a parallel march, keeping the foot flexed, a gentle squeeze of the magic circle, and then put it down. Good a parallel march, switch side, squeeze, and put it down. Thinking more about that standing leg than the moving leg, trying to keep those hips stable, and even don't hike the hip to lift the knee. Last my balance there. Lift.

And lift. Now let's add a raise of your arms. So knee up arms up. Find that balance every time. Need and arm lift. Need and arm up.

Every time you lift that knee, you really hug the baby to the spine. Four more times. Lift for four. And lower. Lift for three.

Two. One more time. Good. Keep the arms reaching forward. Lift your knee.

Hold here. A gentle twist to the same side of that knee. Catch that balance back to center and put it down. Other side, lift. Standing tall in your spine to gently twist toward that knee back to center and put it down. I'm telling you my balance has not been the same since I gave birth. So This is great for even post needle.

Good. Sales lift. You wanna grow tall to twist, making sure it's coming from your center, not just moving the arms. So keep framing that circle to your chest as you twist toward the leg, back to center, and bring it down. Let's do one more like this. Twist toward the leg.

Center. Put it down, adding more. Lift that knee. Hold here. Same thing twist toward the leg, but also twist away from the leg. See how that feels for your balance.

Bring it center and then put it down. Lift the other side, what is your standing leg doing? Twist toward the leg. Can you feel the back side of the leg? Your glute twist away from the leg. Bring it center.

And lower it down. Your arm should be burning too. Lift. Go toward the leg. Go away from the leg, but grow taller in your spine to twist. Bring it center.

As you get further in your pregnancy, you want to be very gentle with your twisting, if you're twisting at all. Center one more time each side just for fun. Lift it up. Go toward the leg first. Go away from that leg. Center, bring it down. Last one.

Lift grow taller. Go toward the leg. Go away from the leg. Bring it center. Put it down. Rest your arms. Beautiful.

Going into standing footwork, keeping the heels down to start. Visualize yourself on a reformer, keeping the spine tall. Or think of the spine being up against a wall. So we're never breaking in the hips. We're never sticking the butt out.

Shake your arms out. They should be burning. Reach your arms forward. As you bend your knees, Make sure those adductors, those inner thighs are still reaching in toward each other, even though they're not touching. As you bend the knees, you bend the elbows.

You reach the arm, stretch the legs. Like you're on a reformer, as we bend your knees, the heels get heavier here. Bend and press good. Three more. Three And two, one more time, stretch the legs, come to a parallel position. From here, as you bend your knees, you lift your arms, stretch and lower.

A little bit harder to not bend in the hips or stick the butt out as you bend your knees. So again, you're on a reformer or you're sliding up and down a wall, your spine never leaves the wall. It doesn't come off of that imaginary reformer. Four more. Four.

Three. Enter thigh squeezing. Two. And one. Good. From here, going to a second position. A slight turnout in the legs, bend your elbows.

Keep them bent. As you bend your knees, squeeze your circle. Squeeze and bend. Really since stretch. Again, using the muscles that are surrounding the armpits, keeping the upper trap or the muscles by your neck as relaxed as you can. Five more here, long spine, heels, press into the mat as you bend your knees for three, and two, and one Good. Retend and stretch heels back together toes apart just like you're on a reformer.

Arms reach along as you lift the heels, just squeeze your circle, lift and lower. For my dancers out there, we're not going up to a full releve. We don't wanna sink into those joints. Just press the heels into each other and lift to the balls of the feet. Five more. Five.

Four, three, two. And on one, lucky for you, we start the same thing over again on the toes. Of course, put your heels down if you ever need to, but let's try to lift those heels. Keep them glued together starting from the top. As you bend your knees, bring your circle to the chest. And stretch. Again, you're on a reformer.

Keeping the spine nice and long, knees tracking over the toes, glutes are engaged. The whole body works together. Five more. Five. And four. Two more. Two. And one stretch the arms.

Lower the heels just so you can change to parallel and together. Lift your heels up. As you bend your knees, the arms go up. Bend and stretch. Bend and stretch.

Just take note if one leg is taking over. I tend to shift my weight over to my right side. Try to press equally into both feet five more times. Five. Four, and our ankles reaching into each other. Three. Feeling all the things working one more time. Bend.

And stretch. Good lower the heels so you can go to your second position, bending the elbows. Again, lift the heels first. And then as you bend your knees, you squeeze and lift. Good exhale. Stretch those legs every time. Five more.

Three more. I feel all the little muscles in my lower leg working. Two. One more time. Bend and stretch this time, arms are straight. Keep your second position with that slight turnout, tend and stretch in your second position. Just squeeze your circle as you lift your heels up and lower down.

Wait equal equal across the balls of the feet. Five more times. Use your seat to help you lift those heels. You're still hugging that baby into the spine. Three, two, and one, lower the heels. Let your arms rest shake it out. We will no longer need our magic circle, and we are coming down to the floor.

So place that aside and just keep in mind how you're bringing yourself down to the floor, especially as you get further along in your pregnancy. Going into a side lying position, lining up the back of your body up with the back edge of the mat, either resting your head in your hand or keeping the arm long, resting your head in your bicep. I choose head in the hand today. Heels come to the front of the mat, lift that top leg, hip height, this is your start, this is your end, and then lift up, and lift. Keeping the low ribs away from your top hip as best as possible.

Keep that space as long as you can. Breathe one more. Now, leg circles, keeping that top leg parallel, keeping that lower leg pressing into the mat, pulling belly to spine, pressing down in that top hand. Four more. Circle four. And three. Two.

Reverse the circles 10 times. 10. Nine. Eight, seven. Breathe through at five. Two more. Two. And one, same thing, but turn out the leg.

And point through the toes, lift the leg, ten, nine. Eight hips stay stacked. Six, five, four, three, two leg circles. Let's graze the bottom heel as that leg circles toward the bottom. Greyze the heel.

Keeping that knee pointing to the ceiling as best as you can. Three more, three. And two. Other way, he should feel the burn. Raise the heels together as the leg comes down.

That's a little inner thigh work sneaking that in there. Five, four, three, two, And one good from here, we do hot potato, flexing the top foot, turning it out, tapping the heel in front of the leg, five times. Tap five, four, three, Two, one point the toes, ground leg lift, and then tap the heel at the back of the leg five times five. Four three two one, one, ground leg lift. Four taps this time. Four three two, one grand leg lift, four times behind the leg. Four, three, two, one, lift three times four, three, two, one point to lift.

Three times back. Three, two, one point to lift two times. One, two, two times back. Now, just singles. One tap and lift. One tap and lift. One tap and lift.

One tap. One more each side. One tap and lift. Last one, ground leg lift, lower the leg with control. Now let's place that top leg in front of the bottom, foot flat on the mat. You can grab ahold of the ankle.

You can have the heel lifted or lowered, which one the whatever one you like best. I'm gonna actually lift my heel, point the bottom leg, point the bottom toes, and then inner thigh leg lifts, just straight up and down, lifting from the inner thighs. Three more like this and then continue, but flex the foot. Six, seven, three more, eight. Nine, point the toes again. Keep lifting up and up.

Three, four, five, six. 10 more with a flex, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one point the toes, leg circles with that inner thigh, with that bottom leg. The biggest circles you can make, really thinking of the up part of that circle. Listing around. Listing around. Five more this direction. Five.

Four, three, two, and other way. Big circles. Really thinking of the back and the up part of the circle. That up and around. Up and around five more, five.

And four. Three, two, And one rest of the leg. Beautiful. So bring yourself up with care and control, and let's go to the other side. So line up your back body with the back edge of your mat, Find your comfortable arm position. Bring your legs forward.

Press down with that top hand for stability. And let's lift that leg hip height. Press the bottom leg into the floor. Leg lifts up. And up. Second side is usually a little harder because the first side is still on fire.

So we're gonna push through. Good. 10 leg circles, one direction up and around. Up and around. Your bottom most level will be hip height. So try to not go any lower than hip height. Three more. Three and two.

And one, their way. Circle and circle. Circle. Make sure you are breathing. Four more. Four four. And three, two. And one same thing, turn the leg out, point the toes, lift the leg up and up.

Lift. Small lifts here. Nothing crazy. Four, three, two, leg circles grazing that bottom heel as you pass it, graze and around, sneak that inner thigh connection in, squeeze. Five more. Five.

Greze at four. Try to get them to touch. Three. Two. And one. Reverse those circles up and around.

Up and around, graze the heels up and around. Keeping those hips nice and stacked five more times five. And four. Three, two. And one. Good. Flex the foot.

Turn the leg out. Now we do hot potato. Five, four, three, two, one point to lift, ground leg lift. Five, four, three, two, my outer hips are on a fire, ground leg lift. And four, three, two, one, and lift. Four, three, two, one, and lift.

Three times. Three, two, one point to lift. Three, to one point to lift two times. Lift. One, two singles, and point, legs, and point. Legs and point flex. And one more set.

Grand leg lift. Last one. Lift that leg. Lower it down with control. Good. Bring that top leg in front of the bottom. Hold on to the leg, the ankle, and let's keep the bottom leg flexed, lift straight up, and up.

10 times here. Breathing. It's easy to forget how to breathe when your legs are on fire. Point the toes, keep lifting up and up. For three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine flex the foot. 10 more with the flex foot.

Five, four, three, to lasset with the toes pointed, two, three, as high as it can go. Six, seven, eight, nine, leg circles as big as you can make it. Really thinking of the up and the back part of that circle. Breathe four. Five, five more times this direction.

Good, really lift. Four, three, and two, and one, reverse those circles 10 times. Nice big circles. Feel like you're drawing a large circle with your toe on the wall that's in front of your foot. Five more. Five. And four.

Three. Two, and one, and lower it down. Good. Carefully bring yourself up to seated, and you are finished. Thank you so much for joining me today.