High-Intensity Reformer

Standard attention, pilates stance, heels together toes apart, arms stacked on one on top of the other. Let's begin with some marches because this is your reformer boot camp. Bring the knees up to the elbows one at a time, and we do not sway from side to side because we stand tall in pilates. So push those arms together, march those knees up one at a time. Make sure you're pointing through your toes as you leave the floor, toe ball heel, toe ball heel. Come on.

Get those knees up. We need to stretch these hip flexors out before we go into battle today. Again, try not to sway This is boot camp, and that means jumping jacks. Let's go feet parallel. Let's start with some low impact jumping jacks. Low impact does not mean low energy people And then if you feel good about this, start with some real jumping jacks.

Up down. Up down. Taking some deep breaths, getting that oxygen in, because you're gonna need it. My recruits Make sure you're landing really soft. Before we hit the reformer, I wanna get the heart rate up. Get the blood flowing.

Feel warm. Feel good. Let's do a few more jumping jacks. And now if we're gonna do boot camp today, we're gonna do some burpees, everybody's favorite exercise. Come on over to the reformer.

Place your hands right down on the middle of the mat. Make sure the springs are fully loaded. You're gonna step or jump back to a plank, one push up, bring yourself back, and reach for the sky. Some burpees, chest down, push through, and lift. If you're feeling extra frisky, you're gonna add a little jump, a little saute at the top.

I love a pre party pump before I hit the reformer hard. Let's do a few more burpees here. All the way down, get your chest to touch the mat, bracing the core. This is the warm up. You better believe it is.

Let's do two more burpees. Now come to have a seat on the reformer for some tricep dips. I'm putting my feet out in front of me, my arms behind me, shoulders down the back, bring the feet out, and I want you to scrape your backside along the backside of the reformer, magnetize those elbows together behind you. How low can you go without scrunching the shoulders? Right? We are proud Pilates soldiers. We keep the chest expansion.

We keep our posture. We are proud. Lower. Lower. Lift.

Let's do eight pulses with our right foot over our left. Down, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and switch. One, two, three, four, five, gets off. Six, seven, we got this eight. Let's hit hit up some footwork. We've got some super sets ahead of us.

Load up the springs. Of course, you can take off a spring if you wish. And then lay on your back. We're gonna begin on our toes with a little sequence. So the arms are down by your sides, heels together toes are fist distance apart.

Push out and hold it, lower, lift your heels one time. And bring yourself back in. Put out this time, lower lift the heels two times, down up, down up, bend the knees return. This time, we go for three. Lower, lower, lower, lift, lift, lift.

Try to use all 10 toes on that foot bar. That pinky toes there for a reason. Bring yourself in. Push yourself out. Lower lift the heels.

Four three, two, One, bend the knees, bring yourself in all the way. And then last time, but five tendons stretches zip those inner thighs together, press those arms down. We have two more Bend the knees bring yourself in, and right away switch to the arches of the feet, wrap the toes over, heels under, zip the inner thighs, and we're gonna push out and in. Push and pull. As you can tell, I'm sparing you the fluff and the small talk today. We are getting right to work with our boot camp workout, so make sure you feel everything pulling to your center line.

Last three, take a deep breath. You're gonna need it because we are going right into pulses this time on the arches, little out, little in, little out, little in. Imagining that you are a bird on a perch? What kind of bird? That is up to you, my soldiers.

Caka. Come on. Say it with me. Caka! Push yourself out all the way, bring yourself in, switch to the heels of your feet, but come to second position, push yourself out halfway, hold it, knees together internal pulses out in. Out in. A lot of pilates happens to be in that pilates stance, that slight external rotation. This exercise, we go inward. We are in the internal rotation.

So make sure you're feeling that in the inner thighs. Make sure you're feeling that stretch through your hips. Let's do four more with that internal rotation. Turn out the legs, push yourself out, and we must go for a run. Boot camp. We've gotta do our laps.

We've gotta put in our miles. Press yourself out with parallel legs on the toes. Lower one heel at a time. And on the reformer, when we run, we go all the way out. We come all the way in up and down, up and down. Good.

Through the trenches, feeling the stretch, finding the flow. Let's continue just a few more. If you can, pick up the tempo without sacrificing form, Make sure the abs are pulling you down into the mat. Let's go for one more each side and a quick stretch and a quick stretch. And you can stretch at a yoga class sometime.

We're coming right back up because this is a super set of footwork, gently rock yourself up to the side, and put that foot bar up to its top position. So the foot bar is in line with the hip, as we go into our single leg footwork, I'm going on two medium springs. Good luck with that at home. Let's lay on our back. Face me. Bring your backside to the back frame of the mat, bring your top foot, my left foot, parallel, toes off, knee behind the toes, and let's see how this feels for one legged footwork today.

Oh, the first few reps feel okay. We'll check back in in a few reps. So things to think about, lifting the right waist. I'm not wearing my leotard today, but I assure you there's space under here. Push out. Make sure you bring the carriage in all the way every repetition you're responsible for those long beautiful legs of yours.

Last one, they deserve full range of motion halfway in, hold it, little pulses. Keep it small, Keep it precise right into that outside glute. Oh, you I wonder where we should be feeling this. Everywhere. Last few.

Three, two, push out all the way. Come in to transition onto the toe. Same exercise on that four arch to releve. Let's see how it feels here. Push out all the way.

And bring it in. Push out all the way and in, keeping your knee over that second toe perfectly parallel, feeling the burn, intensify in the calf. You're not alone. I'm right here with you. My cadets. Last few with that full range of motion on the toe.

Push out all the way, pull it in all the way on this last one. Come in halfway, abduction with that top leg, up down, up down. The secret to success, moving in the right way, top leg is moving. Bottom side is stable. Carriage does not move. Can you do a few more of these? Come on.

Lift that knee up and keep the toe down. Last four, three, two, and now hold the knee parallel, lower lift the heel. Come on. Just like your drumming. Everybody loves a drummer, mysterious, the tattoos. Or maybe you're more about the lead man.

Lower lift and heal. Down up. I'll take the drummer any day. I'm the little drummer boy right now. Last two. Last one. Push yourself all the way out.

Bend your knee. Bring yourself all the way in. Right away. Bring that heel to the front of the foot bar. Turn out the leg. You're in second position here. Push out. And in.

I need to see the knee and the toe both pointing up. So, don't compromise. Press out and in. Get that full maximum burn on that outside glute. Keeping everything externally rotated, but keeping that hip pinned down.

Don't let the hip roll back. I know all the cheats. Remember I was young like you once. Push out all the way. Bend the knees in. I know all the secrets.

Bring it all the way in. Hold it. Little pulses. We're doing both pulses and abduction first. Just those little pulses. So small. I can't see the movement.

I'm watching you on the other side of the camera here. I'm watching. Keep it smaller. You know who you are. Lift that waistline up and then hold it, abduction at the top leg. There's the superset.

That's what I'm talking about. Back to back sets of footwork. Up, down, up, down. Doing footwork on one leg reveals all out in which leg do you favor? It's time to restore the symmetry. Last one. Bring yourself, push yourself out first then bring yourself back in, spare the small talk, other side, gently rock yourself up, and take it to the other side. Bring your backside to the frame as you lay on your side, taking that top leg to the foot bar toes are off the footbar so you can assure that the knee stays behind the toes, stack the hips, lift the waist, let's go all the way out, all the way in, pressing out long, pulling back in.

This is going to help with my one legged squats. This is going to help with my sit spins when I go figure skating. This is gonna help me stay strong for long. Let's do four more full range of motion. If you're working like a classical Pilates aficionado, you're working that full range of motion just brushing the carriage in every time.

Boop, and bring yourself halfway in. Hold it. Little pulses out in. Out in. So small, so powerful. How can something so cute and so small? Be so painful.

But it's a good pain. Right? If that lactic acid burn, push all the way out, bring yourself in, and let's transition onto the toe, force arch to elevate, lift the heel as high as you can, push out and in. Right away, I'm feeling that burn through the calves. Distributate the burn by squeezing into your glutes, lengthen your spine by lifting the left waistline. And then set those shoulders back.

We're already halfway through the reps here. Just a few more. Make sure you're bringing in that carriage. Find the gear bar every time. Especially with that heel lifted, extra challenge. Bring yourself halfway in for the abduction.

Hold it. Top leg up little down. Up little down. Up little down. I feel it right here, baby. That's the Pilates body. I'm talking about everything working here, but definitely that right abductor, right glute isolating.

Keep that left side stable. Just a few more like this out in out in. Oh, no. Another little drummer boy moment. Bring the knee parallel lower lift that heel up down.

Up down. Do you play any instruments at home? I wanna hear about it in the comments. Down up. Down up. Come on my bugle boys. Down up. Down up.

Last few. We're gonna have a little Pilates army band by the end of this. Push out all the way, bring yourself in all the way, put that heel on the corner of the foot bar. Turn out the leg as much as you can without dropping the hip. I don't want this. I want the hip stacked.

I want that leg up already burning. Push out and in. Renegotiate if you need to. That feels better for me. I wanna make sure I can drive that heel into the foot bar so I can feel this right under my seat.

We're out and we're in. Super sets. What boot camp is all about? Back to back. Same muscle groups. That was a little too aggressive.

Yes. Let a little love tap in halfway in. We're doing both the pulses. First, the pulse is up down, up down. Smaller, tighter, more precision. I don't ask for much. Just perfection. Little pulse is a few more like this. I want you to hold this last one. Abduction, lift up and lower lift up and lower. Yes.

Why are we doing this? Cause we need a strong backbone to be a good soldier and we need strong backsides to get through life. Yes. To support the low back and also Bikini season is always around the corner, especially in sunny, California. What a beautiful day. Alright. Enough of that. On this last one, press yourself all the way out.

Bring yourself all the way in and in those transitions and gently rock yourself up. And that folks is how we do footwork and boot camp. Take your footbar down to the middle position. Arms and abs are next. And we're going straight into the Pilates hundred.

So lay on your back. You're going to grab those handles, and let's get to work. You know the exercise, shoulders a little bit in front of the blocks, legs and tabletop, Again, spare in the small talk. Let's get right to business, curl up off the shoulders, extend those legs out, pump the arms up down, up down, up down, do your best to keep the carriage perfectly still as you reach into those springs. Everybody inhale and exhale out.

Come on, reach into the springs, inhale, exhale everything out. Breathe in the good air and breathe out anything that's not serving you in your life. I've got a lot of that apparently. Deep breathe in. And deep breath out.

Two more breaths. Come on. And exhale out. Pain is just weakness leaving the body. And exhale out. Reach, reach, reach, reach, reach, reach, bend the knees, reach the arms up, coordination, sweep the arms down, bend at the elbows curling up off the shoulders, open close the legs, the distance of the reformer, bend the knees lower down.

Good. Inhale. Hold your breath in. Reach into the springs. Open close. Bend, exhale lower. Three more times.

Inhale reach. Open close. Bend and lower. Reach as far as you can, reach into the springs. I don't believe you. We don't accept first offers in boot camp.

Up, open close, bend right into scissors, heels together toes apart a little resistance into the springs. Tap the right foot, the right leg to the foot bar. Tap the left leg into the foot bar. Can you give me double tap. Tap, tap, and lift. To modify, you soften the knee, you take the weight out of the back. If you're with me, straight legs, long straight legs, tap, tap. No playing footsie in boot camp.

Tap, tap. This is Pilates. Tap, tap. Okay. Maybe just a little flirty. Tap, tap. Yeah. And then Can you do the same thing with both legs, double straight leg?

Tap, tap. Holy moly. Lower, lower, lower. Tap, tap. You knew that you signed up for boot camp here. You know what you clicked on. Tap, tap.

Come on. No turning back now. Inhale reach those long legs. Tap, tap, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, come up to 90. Come on. Two more. Don't give up on me now. We've come so far.

And we still have the crisscross. Tap, tap, open the legs, the distance of the reformer, left arm through, right hand out, come off the shoulders, and then back to center. Lift, reach, back to center. Important that you come up off the shoulders before you add that crisscross twist back up, important that you keep the legs the same distance. Maybe they're straight. Maybe they're slightly bent like mine.

Whatever they're doing, you better keep them there. I'm watching you. Your fearless Pilates drill sergeant. One more on each side. Curle up, reach, reach, and let's put those handles back onto the pegs and gently rock ourselves up to a seat and take down our foot bar, grab our long box because today's workout is all about super sets, back to back, sets of focused exercises for maximum burn, maximum results.

Series of five, you know these exercises, we're gonna put these back to back to back. So roll onto the tips of their shoulders, single leg stretch, grab a leg and stretch, and switch, grab a leg and stretch. Just a few of these. Need to nose. We just worked with the springs So try to bring that feeling of arms and abs with the springs into our series of five, last one, double leg stretch, ankles together, toes apart, get those temples to the knees. Reach out as long as you can being pulled in two different directions, exhale in, inhale stretch.

Just give me three more. Stretch and reach and stretch, last one, and scissors grab at the ankle, kick and pull switch. Kick and pull switch. My biggest pet peeve is when people grab the knee or the calf, Your sergeant here said, ankle, reach, stretch, last one on each side, double leg stretch, grab the hands behind the head, lower, lower, lower, double straight leg, up, up, up, double straight leg down, double straight leg up, don't let the body shift forward, enable the spine, plant yourself last two. Oh, baby I'm shaking. And I wake up doing boot camp every day.

Hold it to crisscross, slow, twist, reach, slow, twist, reach. Off the shoulders looking behind you. Last one on each side. Last one looking outside. Bend the knees, reach reach yourself up, rock yourself up safely.

We're moving right away into pull ups. One heavy spring for me, lying on your stomach, your shoulders, your chest, just off the top of that long box, We're gonna climb up the reformer safely using the frame, grabbing at the pillars at the top, make sure that your shoulders are down your back. Your legs are glued together. Your abs are lifted in as your pubic bone pulls down, pull yourself up, push yourself away. Good. Just like we're doing pull ups on the battlefield.

We are here on the reformer. I love doing pull ups here because I can be extra mindful let's do a few shoulder shrugs just so you can really feel those shoulders stay down your back as you pull yourself through and then lengthen yourself out. Now if this feels good, challenging, I want you to stay here. Otherwise, invitation to go down to a light spring, I'm gonna try one arm pull ups. I'm gonna stay on this heavy spring.

Hand behind the back, pull in, push out five times out and in. Keep your body centered. You have the reformer as a guide. Use it. Two more. Of course, I tried my right arm first.

This is the side I photograph with. So I'm gonna work extra hard both hands on on my left arm to even out so I can Squeeze. Be more versatile with my modeling career. Good. Exa, we don't have a bad side in boot camp. Come on. Three more.

Make sure you're checking in on the rest of your body. Long legs, navel to spine as always. One more. I'm feeling pumped, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, and then mindfully You're gonna slide yourself back down, come off to one side for a very quick spinal decompression. This is the nicest I'm gonna get for this workout.

And you know what? I'm gonna say breaks over, switch the short box, but place the short box in front of the shoulder blocks. And let's switch to one yellow spring. If you've done this with me before, one light spring, If black belt status, no springs. Keep your right shin against the block. Turn out your standing leg as much as you can along the gear bar.

We're gonna press everything out. Out, out, make sure that knee is stacked over the ankle, bring it all the way in, in, in, good. Squeeze it all the way in, close the carriage, all the way out. All the way in. I'm feeling internal shakes happening.

Are you? If not, fix it. Squeeze from the ground up. I'm feeling I'm pushing into my standing heel feeling that all the way up and down my glute. Four more, all the way out.

Squeee, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Good. This is gonna help a number of exercises that we do on the reformer and the Cadillac. But right now, I'm just thinking about that burn zone coming up. On this last one, back to the drumming, we're gonna hold all the way out, lower lift that heel, up, down, up, down, feels much different when we do it standing here.

Lift that heel up, down. Do not move. The only thing moving that heel and the breath. Last two, hold that heel up, pulse that outside leg, out little in, out little in, out little in. No one takes a break on this, out little in.

Out little in. I'm feeling inner outer thighs times 10. Let's go for six. Let's go for four, three, two, heel down. Bring yourself all the way up. Whoo. Just kidding.

Easy for me. That's a lie. Let's go to the other side. Put your left shin against that box. Turn out that standing leg. Again, you're on that light spring. One day, you will graduate to no springs.

But for now, Be thankful that you have a spring to work with, bringing yourself all the way out and all the way in. Make sure that standing knee is directly over the ankle once again. You check-in on this side. Maybe one side feels a little different than the other. I'm much tighter in this left hip today.

So I'm gonna really focus on that range of motion and making sure my hips point forward trying to feel even through both sides. That one felt good. Let's do three more. All the way out, all the way in. Good. Last one.

Hold it all the way out. Lift that right heel up and down. Right over the second toe. That carriage better be still. I have eyes in the back of my head.

Lift and lower. No. I trust you're working hard at home. We got this together. We've got seven. Lift.

Lift. Stay in it. You can do this. You can do anything 16 times. Keep that heel up. Little pulses out and in.

Little pulses out and in. Come on. Little out. Little in. Little out. Little in. Even smaller, even longer, even stronger for eight.

You can do it. For four, for three, for two, heal down, squeeze your inner outer thighs to come back up, side ups, take the headrest down, and let's quickly take our short box between the pillars and the shoulder blocks. Add two red springs just to stabilize the carriage. We're gonna do a quick set of side ups because there's no better way to work the obliques. So take your arm, your hips, your shoulders, your foot, all in one long line, The first repetition, you're welcome to use the headrest.

If that feels good, you can continue to use that. Otherwise, no hands, inhale down, exhale up. Put that weight on the leg that's in the strap. Lift it up, keep it up, keep that resistance, lift and lower all the way down, all the way up, all the way down. All the way up. Forty five seconds seemed so harmless, but in boot camp, it can feel like an eternity.

We're gonna do fifteen seconds here, all the way over, all the way up. Let's go final repetitions. Whatever you got left, one more, let's do it together. And then take your stretch. You can begin with the side body stretch, or you can take it all the way down.

This is boot camp, but this is also my favorite way to stretch. So I'm gonna give it to myself and my gift to you. But we must keep this workout going, right foot into the strap. Let's turn to face, the beautiful outdoors. Take your hand to the headrest, hand, hips, head neck and shoulders, everything in that long narrow hallway cradle the head with the hand. Let's go.

Inhale down, exhale up. If you feel okay, no hands. Now what I see most common is that people start to lose that, that leg that's in the strap. So again, reminder keep it lifting up. What if you made the side bend more about the glutes and the legs rather than always just focusing on the side body? Inhale over. Let's get some more range of motion.

We're gonna be thankful that we did. Inhale over. Xhale up. Forty five seconds of agonizing pain and lactic acid. Let's take a few more all the way down, all the way up. Last two.

Last one. Don't let the audience know what you're going through. Keep that top leg up and take the stretch over, either a side body stretch or if you're looking for that twist or the mega twist, whatever feels good for you, because you did it. Rock yourself back up to a seat, but even the cool down in boot camp is a challenge. So we're gonna put the short box to the back.

We'll put the foot bar back up for some lunges, one red spring, And then we'll finally get a chance to stretch. We deserve it, especially if we're gonna show up again for boot camp tomorrow. So take your hands to the foot bar. One foot on the shoulder block. Foot lined up. I've got my one heavy spring.

Find that lunge. Once you find the lunge, lift the back knee. You're gonna lift, bring the knee to the elbow, and then lift, sweep that leg to the back. So here, make sure that back knee is lifted. So when you pull in on the carriage, you can get to a nice round shape, and then you'll long sweep it back.

Little combination as we cool down here. Reach, stretch. Let's do this one more time. Weee. Even boot camp can be kinda fun, and then take that final stretch.

The splits. The flexed front foot. Check-in on the splits today. And again, keeping the two hit points, I'm gonna correct myself here. Got a little greedy with that split.

So I was trying to impress you at home, but it's not about how low you can go. It's about how good the stretch can feel and how beneficial this will be for recovery so we can come back strong and hit play again as soon as possible, side split, hand goes across the frame, one hand on the carriage, stick your booty out, and then take a little shift forward, a little shift back. In her thighs, and then gently rock yourself up. And let's finish class on the other side. Oh, man. The endorphins are kicking in.

I love working out. Let's push ourselves out. Or rather I love how it feels afterwards, I should say. Good. Once you have that back knee lifted, we're gonna bring our left knee up. And then if you feel safe, you sweep that leg to the back. So one time, knee lift, one time, arabesque sweep.

Good. Just a few more of these combos as we settle into our splits. Again, just getting the heart rate up just a smidge before we go all the way downtown. Last one. Sweet that leg up.

And then bring it down. And then let's settle in. Side two two headlights in the hips facing forward, foot up against that shoulder block for that strong connection from head to toe. And then push out, use the reformer any way you want to. It's here to serve us. Shakes.

Oh, man. The shakes are always a good sign. Can be a little demoralizing, but let's face it. Brake we break ourselves down to build ourselves back up here at boot camp. Take your hands across for that side split hinge forward just a little bit. Feel like Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago right now.

This is my kind of boot camp. Oh, shaky shaky shaky. Bring it back up with control. You have graduated from Pilates boot camp, everybody. So stand tall, like the amazing soldiers that you are.

Roll your shoulders back. Take a deep breath in. Exhale. And I'll see you next time when you're ready for me.