Reformer on the Mat

No reformer. No problem. Today, we take our reformer flow to the mat. And the best part, all you need are a light set of dumbbells and a towel sliders, whatever you got, but no reformer. Let's begin with footwork. Today's footwork is standing.

So heels together, toes apart, pilates stance, arms on top of each other, genie in a bottle, And let's come to the toes, all 10 toes, squeeze those heels together. We're gonna bend the knees as we lower and squeeze straighten the legs as we lift. Now, Imagine your back is up against the carriage. And, of course, for footwork on the carriage, we wouldn't move at this glacial pace. No. We're gonna create a little more tempo in heat as we lower and lift. Now do your best here to keep your back up against the wall, up against the carriage. Meaning that I know you sometimes think you are, but a lot of times people start to fold a little forward, try to prevent that Are you still on your toes?

Let's do two more before we settle in for a few pulses to find the burn. To wake up those muscles, let's lower halfway down arms are tight on top of each other, back up against the wall and pulse it down. Down. Now stay here. Pull in and up on your abdominals. Close the ribs.

Check-in with yourself. Inner thighs connected via the heels, outer thighs feeling the burn. And again, grow a little bit taller as we pulse for three. For two, hold it here, press those knees away. Just a few times. Waking up those abductors, those outer glute muscles for four, for three, for two, and one, straight and push out on that imaginary reformer and lower yourself down.

Next, let's go on to the arches. So to recreate this, we're gonna bring our legs together, glue them together, inner thighs zipped, and sit into a chair, bring your arms out in front of you. And stand. So standing footwork feels a little different, but also feels somewhat familiar. You're going out and in. I'm gonna turn profile. You keep squatting down low and standing tall.

Now again, keep your back long, but now you add a little bit of a hinge as you put your weight back into your heels. Imagine you're wrapping your feet around the foot bar. Good. Last few, let's add some tempo here, inhale down, exhale up, going through our footwork motion. Last one. Let's get into the burn zone. This time, pulsing back and down.

Putting the weight back into the heels as if you're almost gonna fall backwards and then feeling that in the smile of your seat, legs always together. A lady reveals nothing. That's what my mother taught me. Down, down, down last two, one, and stand. Second position out wide.

Imagine your heels are on the foot bar nice and wide. So your heels should be about footbar distance, back is up against that wall. Once again, tailbone down, ribs in, bend the knees, knees are tracking over that second toe, and then stand really tall. Do that again. Inhale out, arms reach, exhale squeeze in.

After a few reps, see if you can push your weight to the back outsides of your feet to better engage all the muscles that wrap around your legs. Good. We're keeping that external rotation, and now let's add a little tempo, getting the heart rate up. Before we hit the mat, last few This time, hold all the way down, check-in with your alignment. Whoo. Little corrections make all the difference. Hold out. Let's lift one heel at a time for the tendon stretch.

If that feels okay, try both heels, lifting up, up, down, down, down, down, stay the same height as you roll right over that second toe. Try not to pronate or supinate rolling the ankle in or out. We all have our tendencies, but here on the mat as we're where we return to life and make those changes last two. Hold on this last one. I'm feeling frisky.

I'm gonna pulse it for eight, lower, lower. How low can he go? Press the heels down. Squeeze to come back up. And let's just finish with a few tendon stretches lifting up up up down down down up up up down down, imagine you are working against those springs.

It wouldn't just be up and down. It's a journey. It's an articulation squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, last two, and hopefully footwork has warmed up your body from the ground up. Let's take it to the mat. Great job. Okay. So come down to the mat, safely take one foot back, step back, and let's do a few roll ups.

First things first. You're gonna have your knees bent, your heels down, grab your thighs and sit up really tall. A few rollbacks to warm up, you're gonna tuck your tailbone, scoop your abs in, use your thighs for that two way stretch and bring yourself up. So the arms, pulling me forward, the abs are pulling me back, and that is what gives you the two way stretch through your spine. Try to lift and not collapse. We all have a part of our back we like to go into.

See if we can keep that high c curve equally distributed so that round flexion feels good, and we get the stretch where we need it today. For me, it's like my thoracic. I got this one spot I like to dump into. I'm fixing that right now. Now imagine we're on the reformer here. We're sitting on the box.

We're holding on to our handles, but here we have our dumbbells straighten out those legs. Hold on to the imaginary handles pulling you forward. They pull you forward. They pull you forward. You round forward. Pull your abs in, resist the imaginary resistance from the springs via the dumbbells as you round back, touching the back waist to the mat, keeping my legs down, heels down, heels down, and then rounding forward.

If and only if you feel safe, I want you to go all the way back. At any time, you can only go halfway back. No problem, but you have to control the descent reaching the arms up overhead, arms come up first, lift the head, peel, articulate, and press those heels down. I don't want you to lift your feet. It all begins with footwork.

We warmed up the legs, so use them as you roll back. Don't let the legs come back with you. Remember, the springs are helping you stretch your back out. Those make believe springs, good, arms up, head up, all of that reformer work, All of those classes have paid off for this moment. The reformer meant to inform the mat exercises, which let's face it, are the most difficult in the pilates system. But we have each other.

We've got these dumbbells here. Let's do this one more time. Use the weight of the dumbbells to bring you forward abs pull you back. Oh my goodness. That one was good. My spine is feeling better already.

And stretch forward. Great. On this next one, roll yourself back, and we're gonna grab those imaginary handles over our shoulders. Whoop. Make believe I'm using dumbbells. Let's make a few circles as we keep our neutral spine on the mat, long loose energy through the arms, down around and up.

Deep breathe in. Deep breath out. Keep that strong back shoulder connection one more time. Pause at the top and reverse it. So, again, creating your own resistance, that is what the reformer helps us feel. So Again, in your make believe world, you have those handles, you feel the springs, and you're creating even more resistance, making these two pound weights feel like a lot more.

Good. Straight arm sweeps. You're gonna sweep your arms down by your sides, palms down, and then palms up. Add the chest lift when you're ready. Lift your chest. Reach reach reach into the springs.

And then lower yourself down. If you feel okay there, add a leg, curl up one leg lifts, lower down, one leg lowers, and flow from side to side. Preparing for our single leg stretch on the mat. I love using these two pound dumbbells, just adding a little resistance, a little weight forward so I can really get deep into my abdominals. Let's do this last one.

And now holding at the top, single leg stretch, bring those arms down, both legs up to tabletop, one leg in, one leg out, stretch your arms into the springs, knee to nose, one leg out, shoulders wide, ribs in, single leg stretch. How close can you bring the knee to the nose as you march from side to side. Last one on each side, both feet down. Take a break. Again, you're grabbing those handles for triceps into double leg stretch.

So sweep the arms down, feeling the resistance, pin your back arms against the mat. Notice, hopefully my tricep is bulging right now. But I'm really pressing into the ground right now as I bend my elbows in and squeeze my elbows down. So I'm getting my tricep action here, and I'm adding a ton of resistance with my brain. Yes. We're not only beautiful.

We've got the brains here on the Pilates mat. Squeeze down and up. Now option both legs up, squeeze the arms, squeeze the legs out. And in. I noticed my low back started to lift. Try your best to keep that neutral spine.

Takes a lot of mind body connection to put it all together. Good. Now when you're ready, curl up both legs stretch out, bend the knees, bend the elbows. Do that again. Exhale all the air out as you reach forward.

Inhale as you lower. XL, anything that's not serving you, any doubts, any fear. And then bend and lower. On this last one, hold up at the top, double leg stretch, bend the knees, and straighten. Pin those arms down into the mat and straighten inside of the knees to the ears and straighten.

Keep the feet above the knees. Don't drop into the booty and straighten. Can you lengthen your arches like you're on the foot bar doing your footwork. Remember every exercise in Pilates is connected via the perfect system. So get those ankles together.

We warmed it up this way. Last two, And feet down, and take a quick rest before we go into the hundred. We are recreating the hundred on the mat with Our handles. So two pound weights. It's gonna change the hundred as we know it.

Let's see how it feels today. Lakes in tabletop. Sweep the arms, sweep the legs and hold that position palms down and start pumping those arms up and down. Good. So it's inhale. It's exhale.

I'm feeling my arms a lot differently than usual when I do my hundred on the mat. And that is the point here. We're trying to create muscle confusion, giving the body a reason to work, giving the body a reason to change. So stay in it with me. Looking forward looking down.

If this goes into your neck, lower your head. If you're okay here and you feel an equal distribution of burn through your body, You're doing it right. Keep pumping. Keep breathing. Two more deep breaths together. Inhale. Exhale. One more time. Inhale.

As you exhale, reach into the springs. Reach into the springs. You got it. Bend the knees, lower the head. Look right. Look left.

I'm so excited for leg circles because we get to put the loops, imaginary loops on our feet. I love playing make believe together. I feel like a little kid again. Both legs out long arches, and let's make our circles. So imagine you have those loops on the arches feel the resistance as you press down around and up.

You know, moments like this, I kind of miss the reformer. The reformer makes this exercise a lot easier to feel, but the mat much more difficult for the powerhouse and the abs to control. So imagine you're controlling those legs from your center, embrace the burn as you brace the spine last two. Around and up. Notice my circles are not that big.

I'm not going for the size, reverse. It's not the size of the circle. It's the reach of the circle, and that's why the reformer springs are so helpful because right now I'm imagining, I'm pressing and lengthening into the springs, just like my long lean muscles. Let's do three more. Why do my legs feel so heavy?

Oh, it's starting to burn. That's okay though. Last one, hug the knees in. Great job. One more thing on the mat.

Let's just add a little crisscross here. You're gonna grab those weights, bring the weights elbows forward, the weights are in the hands to add a little bit of weight to the upper body, bringing the legs up the table at the top. Let's just do a few of these really slow, crisscross from side to side, adding that thoracic's twist. Making sure we acknowledge each of the exercises in the series of five. We're just doing them with a little different mindset today as we imagine the springs, and we imagine ourselves on a reformer.

One more time on each side. Up up up. Set those weights to the side as we gently rock ourselves up. You're doing great. Now, we just did a lot of forward flexion on our back. So next, we're going to use the towel to feel the extension through our spine.

So place the mat, place the towel at the front of the mat, and then come on to your stomach. You know, I love a transition. Teezer. Place both hands on top of the towel shoulders are about shoulder distance. Well, shoulders are shoulder distance. The arms are shoulder distance as well.

So you're reaching out really long let your legs stay about hip distance or you can glue your legs together, but it's not in the back. The abs are lifted. You're gonna press down into the towel as you reluctantly draw it towards you lifting your chest through your shoulders. Feeling the heat as you press back down. So imagine you're on your long box.

You have your hands on the foot bar. You're going to draw yourself in as you lift your chest. And then press yourself out as you lower and lengthen lengthen. Use the towel and the pressure against it to set the shoulders down the back. Now use your abs and your back extensors to lift yourself up. Lakes are one unit on the mat.

Again, it's not about the height. It's about the reach. It's about the length. Grab those dumbbells for pull straps t position. So now you're holding on to those handles.

You're on the long box. The palms are down. Just like in our t pull, you're going to lift the arms up first. Keep the arms above the floor, above your shoulders as you sweep the arms back together, lift your chest, sweep your arms back out to a tee as you lower. Let's do that four more times.

Lift those arms, shoulders out of the ears, reach into the springs, lift, lift, lift your chest, and lower, lower, lower your chest. Two more. Sweet it back. Lift the chest, reach lengthen from the crown of your head through your toes. You can do it, and sweep out, out, out, arms stay high.

Again, sweep back, Like a torpedo, everything into the midline of your body. Keep stretching. You can do it. Reach, reach, reach, reach, reach, arms come out to a tee and lower. Child's pose, well earned decompress the back, stretch and breathe. Rock yourself up. Let's take it to standing with some lunges.

So come on up to stand, make sure your area is nice and secure. So you can do your full lunges standing on the reformer. So I'm using a towel. Maybe you've have sliders, whatever works for you at home, You're gonna take your left foot to the towel, feet are underneath your hips, take both hands behind the head, elbow slightly forward, get as tall as you can. Let's go for some lunges sliding that left foot back, lengthening the upper body as we bend back.

So back leg is straight, abs are in, see if you can pitch a little forward. So you're putting the weight over that standing right leg, that right leg is gonna feel it through the sequence. See if you can take it a little further back, imagining we're standing on the reformer, pushing that carriage back, and then reluctantly drawing it back in. We'll do four more of these getting a little bit deeper each time before we go into our repeaters. Two more.

Again, that little bit of flexion, try not to flare the ribs, but rather close the low ribs together on this last one. I want you to slightly exaggerate that round shape of the upper body and then pull in the knee underneath you. And just like we do on the one to chair, just like we do on the reformer, I want you to start pumping that leg in and out in and out. Just a few of these. I'm using my low abs to pull in, and I'm using my standing leg. Oh, it's burning. It's holding me up. It's doing a lot of work here for me. Last four, three, two, and one.

Good. Same exercises, but now a side lunge, bring that leg out to the left, make sure the legs are in alignment, the thighs are in the same frontal plane. You're going to hinge the hips back as you reach your left leg out. And bring yourself back up. So you're sliding out for that side lunge, reaching your arms forward, and then coming up to stand. Now important to remember we are on top of the reformer.

We're using the spring, so you're pushing out against the spring, and then on the way in, resist, resist, resist to come back in. Good. We'll do about two more before we try our repeaters to the left. So on this last one, long, neutral spine, abs engaged, use the abs, use the inner outer thighs to pump in, and out. Let's get those arms moving in opposition. Out and in. I'm adding a little armography because it feels good in and out. Feels natural.

Like we're running that cross force production keep pumping in and out for me. Let's go for eight. Let's go for seven. Good. Oh, right booty is feeling it, keeping me on top of this reformer. I don't wanna fall off of it like Sally did in the last class. Just kidding. Last, two.

And one, Ron de Jean, forward, side, back, side, front, side, back, side working, lubricating the hip joint, working all the muscles through the hip flexors and extensors. And then I'm gonna say goodbye to that to goodbye to that towel. Let's try a few on air. Magic, standing on one foot. I feel like someone biles on the balance beam right now. I'm not gonna fall on my country.

Rutes for me. Gold metal is mine. And stand really tall. Notice how you feel on each side. These little moments of acknowledgement, all the difference.

And now the left leg says, I'll have what the right leg is having. I need to keep up here as well. So stand really, really tall. Now the right foot is on the towel, the left foot standing under your hip. Take both hands behind your head once again.

Give yourself a little length, elbows forward, bending that standing left knee, getting ready to burn. Long leg abs in slight hinge and bring it back up. Good. There's always one side that feels maybe a little tighter than the other. I mean, for me, it's this left standing leg, this left hip, So I'm going to embrace the work because this is the time to make the changes together.

Imagine the springs will help us resist, resist, resist, resist, That's where we are going to recruit more muscles, and that's how every exercise in today's class is total body. Two more before we go into our repeaters on side two. Pull up on that neck. Stand tall. Last one, hold to the back, slightly rounding for that forward flexion. Bend that standing knee and pump in and out in and out in and out.

Use your breath. Try to bring in all of those abdominal exercises we did on the mat. We warm those muscles up and now they're still working for us. Come on for four, three, two, side lunge, legs in alignment. Sit back into that chair like we warmed up in our standing footwork and stand up. Keep the connection of the spring as you go out.

Keep the connection as you come up. Reach back. And up. You wanna stick out your butt to the back, but then pull up on the low ribs so you don't go into someone bile's position. Right? You know what I'm talking about when the gymnasts salute, go a little crazy in their back.

We're keeping our spine straight, our back neutral. Just like we're picking up something off the ground and bringing it back up. Last one, Let's go for those repeaters on side two. Lower back, hold, reach one arm out, one arm in, and let's go in and out. In and out. It's up to you to control where that leg is tracking. So make sure it's directly out to the right and in to the right and in.

Let's go for eight. Oh, my standing leg and inferno. Burn, baby, burn. I love it. Let's keep telling ourselves that for two and one.

Rhonda, front side back, side. Try not to shift your weight and counter, but rather stay really tall. Good. Abestron in and up. Control the leg from your center, the leg beginning at your mid back, not at the hip. Think of that long leg connecting through your back.

And then a, b, c, a towel, back and front. I'm imagining, I'm at a Pilates anytime convention, hundreds of eyes on me on top of the reformer, on top of the world, on top of my practice. Whoa. Last one. Thanks, mom, for all the ballet classes growing up.

Certainly paid off. Great job. Let's take it to the mat for some thigh stretch, a little little limbo competition. We're gonna party. Grab those dumbbells. Once again, make believing.

We're holding on to the straps for some thigh stretch on the knees, shoulders back. Important here that you keep the shoulders down the back and you lean back in one straight line. Again. Maybe you have a mirror or something you can look at. You definitely have the body connection after what we've done so far. So, grow really tall, don't hinge from the hips, rather hinge from the knee and one straight body line.

I'll have to review the tape, but there's always room for improvement. So grow tall, low ribs in, squeeze the butt, but don't lock into the back. Just squeeze the butt to grow a little taller, and then bring it back back back and up. And then a burn zone, you know by now how I like to work. We find the burn zone, the point of control.

We don't know if we can stay here, but then we get tough. And we remember all those moments on the reformer, our life's work have brought us to this moment. We can do anything another few reps. So lean back a little, up a little, back a little, up a little, Nothing in the neck. Smile at the judges.

Smile, baby. I feel like a pageant mom sometimes, bring your arms down by your sides for chest expansion. Reach your arms behind you. Look one way. Look the other way.

Look forward and reach your arms out. Do that again. Deep breathe in. Look one way, look the other way, look center, exhale. One more time, expand that chest, abs in tight, hold the breath, hold the breath and float the arms up. And now time for the grand finale.

We're using the towel for some knee stretches and maybe some pike ups. We'll see what we got left in the tank. Come to the back of your mat with your towel, lay it out, and find a position on the mat where your feet, your feet are on the floor behind you on the towel, hands on the mat, an opportunity to modify if you're feeling this in the wrist or the neck, you can come down to the forearms, front and hold the low plank. Otherwise, fingers forward spread out the fingers a little cat cow to feel the full expansion and range of motion of your spine and then neutral spine lifting those abs in and up, you're going to hover the knees off the mat, and then for your knee stretches, it's in and out. Just like our double leg stretch, Just like our repeaters, we have warmed up the last thirty minutes together for this moment. So let's work in and out Let's work in and out, can you add a little bit of tempo without changing or sacrificing your form?

Elbows a little soft, never locking out the joints. Keep that back neck lifted. Last three. Two and one. Set it down.

Final challenge, the pike up. Now, both hands down. You're gonna push out into plank position Now using your low abs, not momentum, scoop in and up sending your hips up, and then push yourself out back into a plank. Try that again. It's up, up, up, up, up, during that kerogen on that light spring and push out, out, out, out, man, up, up, up, up, up, down, down, down. Let's do this one more time.

Come on, Simone Biles. Get up into that handstand, fold it up, abs in tight, pike it up, and then push it out. Holding that plank for three. For two. For one, we did it. Amazing job.

Let's reward ourselves with our splits stretch. So take your left foot forward into a lunge and let's just shift a little forward and shift a little backwards acknowledging those muscles through your hip flexors I'm flexing through my left hip. I'm extending through my right and let's go a little bit deeper and let's take it back and stretch dragging that left heel along the mat. Do that again. Come a little forward, expand, and then sit back and stretch.

Those of you that wanna come down to the splits, this is your time to shine. And come back maybe a little forward, scoot a little forward, scoot a little back. Let's see where we are at today. Breathe into it for three for two and then coming out mindfully and let's switch feet. Right foot comes forward and let's just rock forward and backwards a little bit.

Just easing our way in to our splits. Remembering the chest expansion, all of the muscles that we work today on the mat. And then going nice and deep into our front stretch, expand, and then sitting really deep into our hamstring stretch, flex the foot, drag the heel towards you, and breathe. If you're ready, go into the full split, but never sacrificing your form, both hips point forward. Maybe you can scoot that leg, that heel forward, and get a little bit lower into your splits.

Breathe wherever you are at today is just perfect because you are doing the work. And let's face it with Matt Pilates, with reformer Pilates, It really never gets easier. You just get better at it. So make sure you hit your play on your reformer workouts and let's say you don't have a reformer. We just did all those reformer exercises on the mat.

So anytime, anywhere on Pilates anytime. Great job, everybody.