Back Body Focused Cadillac

Hi. Thank you for joining me today. We are going to work on the Cadillac. So let's spend just a couple of minutes talking about what we have ready. I have a box which we're gonna use.

And the one to cheer is here just to give the little bit of extension to the bed of the Cadillac for footwork. I don't have the flexibility to do it without. So we are using the one to chair just for that reason. It won't be used for any other thing besides that. I have two blue springs set up from the top for the push through bar.

And I have two red springs set up for the bottom for a footwork. So bottom loaded springs to red. And then at this end of the machine, we have the roll up bar with two yellow springs, and I've set it about the level of the top of my head when I'm sitting. So that is the setup. Of course, we have the safety strap.

I would ask you if there are any questions, but you can't talk to me. So let's get started. We're gonna come to this side of the machine with your feet. Underneath your sitting bones and your arms on the poles in front of you with straight elbows. I'm gonna give all of us just a moment to find a lifted spine. And as you're feeling that lift in your spine, do a little down push on the pulse.

So there's no movement. It's just energy. And from that place, we're gonna lead with the pelvis. So we're leaning back looking for a flat back. Hanging from the bars.

Bend your knees there and then curl through the spine. So here, I'm hanging back from my hands. My knees are going forward to create opposition through the center of my body through my abdominals come to standing and from standing that feeling of pushing down on the poles to lift the spine into thoracic extension. So it's not a big back end, but we're just feeling into that upper back area. And then we're gonna do that again.

So hang back, feel the abdominals, working to support the movement in the body, bend the knees, pull back away from the hands to stretch through the spine and come all the way back to standing and from standing. Little bit of down push on the poles to feel that mid back working as we lift through the chest. We're gonna do that one more time. Come to straight. Hang back.

So that there's equal weight on your feet that the shoulders are pulled down away from the ears, bend the knees and roll through the spine, let it feel like it's fluid. And stand and press on with the arms and feel the chest lifting up and forward. Come back to a straight back, and now we're gonna lean. We'll go left. Kind of hanging from the opposite arm, but I'm keeping both arms straight here and come back to center.

And lean right. So as I lean right, hanging from my left arm and pushing a little bit into my right arm, just using my arms kind of to steer and come back. And inhale as you lean. Enjoy. It should feel nice. And exhale to stand.

And inhale to lean. Stretching the sides of the body and exhale to stand. We're gonna do one more, but this time we're gonna add rotation. So we're gonna lean first. And then we're gonna let the pelvis go back So I'm leaning to the left and pulling back away from the right arm. Come back into that side bend.

You'll notice you've probably gone a little further into that stretch and then find center, find to use your arms to help you organize, or if it feels like a big stretch, just let your arms assist you as you're coming back up to standing. So leaning to the right and then taking the pelvis back away from the left arm, coming back to the side. And returning back to that upright position. The next thing that we're gonna do is sit on the mat. So when you sit on the mat, position yourself approximately in the middle, and we're gonna take the roll up bar.

Holding on to the outsides of the springs and finding an upright position in the body, round into a c curve. Take the body back. So we rotate the pelvis under, feel the small of the back come into contact with the mat, and come all the way down. Little bit of down press on the springs will help you, a, keep your shoulders in your focus. And, b, make it a little bit more challenging for your abdominals come back to the c curve.

Bend the elbows and lift up into a straight back. And then once again, we tip the elbows down. We go into that little thoracic extension. So just an upper backbend. And then as the arms straighten, we'll round the spine again, and we'll do that again.

So as you roll down, the abdominals are pulling the spine down. The legs are pressing down and also reaching forward and just that slight downward pressure on the arms goes a long way. Inhale the head and chest comes up. Xhale, we resist the pull of the springs as we return back to the c curve. Bend the arms, lift the back. Find your thoracic extension. I don't know if you know this fact about me.

Fun fact, I'm obsessed with thoracic extension because I think it feels amazing. I hope you enjoy. Let's do one more. Roll down. And lift the head and chest.

Imprinting the spine before you take the body up, finding the c curve, bending the elbows to bring the body into an upright position, and finding the chest lift the thoracic extension. Take the arm straight around into your c curve and roll back again. We're making a change, but it will happen at the top. So just exactly the same information on the way down. Head and chest come back up.

The body comes up this time. We'll find the seeker, but we'll pass through. Bend your arms, bring the bar back into your chest and establish a flat back with your body. And then try really pulling the bar back into the chest. I'm actually trying to connect my chest into the bar.

Go into extension. Back around as the arms reach out straight and go down. Let it flow. So we can find the idea that each piece of movement, piece of choreography becomes the next shape. So we pass through the c curve and lean in. The elbows bend, the back flattens.

Connect the bar to your body if you can. Reach up into extension, pulling the elbows down and wide, and take the arms out straight again. And last time, go down. It feels amazing. Head and chest up.

Roll through. Take your time, find all your shapes lean in. Bend and flatten the back. Lift the chest into the bar and straighten the arms and come back to upright, bring the legs to the outside of the mat. So you're in a straddle here.

Gonna do just a simple chest lift. So what I want us to do is establish a neutral position with the pelvis. So you're sitting right over your sitting bones, and then keep the pelvis exactly as it is as you bend into spinal flexion, and then roll back up. So pretty simple, but there is some significant work available, exhale as you go up and over. And one thing that helps is if you pull the bar back and then lift back.

So we're working in both directions with this brings. We exhale and round. Drawing in, keeping the pelvis in that upright position. So what I'm saying is we're not posteriorly rotating. We're just moving the upper spine around the lower spine, and we'll do that twice more.

XL as you go up and over. Again, feel that you're pulling the bar towards your thighs and lift back up. And one more time up and over drawing in deeply. And lift back up. As you exhale, take a rotation so the bar just comes with the body. And we return to center.

And we go spinal rotation, lifting up as you go across. And center and lift the spine, just bring the springs with you. And center and lift the spine, bring the springs across. And use those springs to help you maximize the rotation, particularly at the end. So you find your rotation and pull a little with your arms and center.

And find your rotation and then bring the arms along. And center, we're gonna combine those two movement patterns, rotate. As you exhale, go into flexion, keeping the rotation. Come back up into the rotation and return to the middle and go across to the other side and bend into that oblique pressing down with the arms. So the pressure in the arms is being generated from the abdominals more so than the arms, but the arms can help rotate.

Here's another piece of information. As you go down, if you pull the spring over and down, you might feel more work. If you're curious about that sort of thing, sit all the way up and come to center and rotate first and go up and over, pulling the bar over as you take your rotation, come up, and find center, and we'll do two more to each side. So as I'm flexing to my right, I'm pulling my arms over that right knee, and come up and center for me. It feels pretty intense. Hopefully, you're enjoying. X, I'll go down and across with the arms.

And up and center. Last time through inhale and exhale. And inhale. And exhale and inhale and exhale. Look for depth.

Come back up. Come back to the middle. Okay. So let's put that bar back and then we will set up for footwork. So it takes a little bit of adjusting.

So bear with me or can use this time to set up your machine at the same time. So safety strap first, of course. And then we'll just pull the spring up from the bottom. Two red springs from the bottom bottom loaded. Always a good idea. Just make sure all your springs have nice stable strong connections for safety.

Okay. We're ready to go. So coming in underneath the bar. Centering yourself on the mat. We're gonna bring the feet up underneath the bar. Okay.

So once the legs are straight, you can find where your body needs to be. In order to be able to get the pelvis nice and anchored into the mat, bend the knees. So when the knees bend, they bend just to about 90 degrees, and we're gonna maximum dorsey flex the feet. So we're ready to go. Stretch the legs up and pull the spring down and feel the pelvis drop and the legs respond.

What I mean by that is not just pushing the feet up, but really feeling like you're pulling the heels and the pelvis in two opposite directions and feeling the abdominals drawing in. And keep that dorsey flexion in the feet. We'll do two more fully extending the knees. And One more. We'll bend the knees.

Come onto the toes. Press up. And then we're gonna dorcey flex the feet here, push the bar back up and bend, and reach up plantar flexion, dorcey flexion. Plantar flexion and then bend the knees. And pelvis presses down.

Arms press down. Abdominals are active. And bend. I like to think all the time about pressing forward into the bar with my feet personally or from I find that that gives that hamstrings a little bit more connection. We'll do three more. Flex, how many are we doing you ask? I have no idea.

And, Ben, so if you're fussy about numbers and counting, you can keep track. Seven to eight is my, guess. Last one. And we flex deep, deep, deep, and point, and bend. And in that bent position, externally rotate in the hips and reach up and pull the spring. Press down through the pelvis and reach up and bend the knee.

So active, active, dropping the hips, abdominals pulling in, stretching the springs, and bend. Feeling the work of the springs in both directions. Three more. And bent. Two more.

And bent. Last one, just using this footwork to really get nice and warm in our body. Take the legs back to parallel and we go prancing. So one foot flexes one foot points. Feel that both feet are active.

So as the one leg is getting a stretch, the other foot is pushing up and into the bar. And we change and change and change. And as the legs are alternating back and forth, pay attention to the pelvis, is it act is it centered? Is it grounded on both sides? And we'll do three. Up and change three.

Up and change to up and change to active in both legs. And both feet point, bend your knees and reorient your feet more into like a prehensile shape. So we're wrapping the toes around the bar, and then as you reach up, pull that bar back. Oh, it's a big stretch. And as you bend, keep those feet really pulling back, and lead with the heels as you come up.

Wrapping the toes around the bar. Almost the sensation of trying to wrap the whole foot around the bar. And bend and lead with the heels as you straighten. And two more. And the last one.

Come back to a bent knee position. Okay. So we're gonna take the heels on the bar. Now just so you know, we're about to start a single leg movement. So if those springs feel too heavy to you, winders shaking. Feel free to lighten it up.

So we're gonna take the right leg down, and we're gonna press with the left leg and bend, and press down with the pelvis as the leg presses up. And bend really reaching down and away with that, other leg. We'll just do five and bend and two. Bend and one and bend and bring both feet on. Woohoo.

For me, that's a big challenge. So get grounded in the right foot, stretch the left leg long, and then stretch that right leg anchoring the pelvis and bend. At stretch up and push up on the springs as you bend and three reaching out through the leg on the ground on the mat, two. Active in the arms. And one. Bend both knees. Put both feet down and take your feet out from underneath Sabar.

Take one spring away. I don't wanna move the chair again, so I'm just gonna take it over the top. For me, this is a perfect position for the next exercise. So we're gonna take the hands just to the outside of that push through bar. The legs are straight.

Lift your head and chest as you inhale. XL as you roll through and remain in your seeker of seeker of seeker of until you can't any longer. And then bring the body into an upright position and bend the arms aiming the elbows forward of the hands and stretch the arms up and articulate the spine down starting with the pelvis pushing up on the spring as you roll down through your spine. And inhale, lift the head and chest and roll up. So for me, my shoulders can handle this positioning But if you're a little tighter in your shoulders, you'll need to scoot back more. The more important thing is the upright position in the spine, which I'm hoping I'm achieving and articulating down. And in, yeah, as the body rolls up, feel the shoulder blades pulled down the back, Find your upright position, bend, and stretch, and then really push up on the springs to create opposition as you're taking your body down.

And we'll just do one more. Head and chest. Articulate up. Bend the arms. Stretch the arms and roll back all the way down.

From here, we're gonna slide out until the arms are straight. Bring the feet back underneath the bar on the toes. And reach towards straight legs. So for this human, I can't quite get all the way down to my pelvis, but I am certainly making my best effort point the feet. Roll up. And as you roll up through your spine, bend your knees, and legs will end in about a 90 degree angle at the knee.

And then we're going to roll down. And as the spine is coming down, the legs will simultaneously go back to straight better already and flex the feet and push up with your feet. As you roll up, think active hamstring curl. Roll up use your back extensors, hold at the top, and articulate them. Keep the arms active.

Allow the knees to straighten as the pelvis is coming down. And once it lands, pull the bar back, push the bar up, last time the same, bend the knees and lift up. Holding at the top. Articulate down through your spine. Find the timing where the pelvis is landing as the legs are straightening and dorsey flex and push the bar away, making a change.

Keep the legs straight now. Push forward on the bar as you now roll up with your legs straight. Bend back to that 90 degree angle, push up, and roll down, lengthening the spine as it travels back down into the mat. If you're like me, hopefully, your pelvis is getting a little heavier every time a roll up. So we've got the back of the legs working. The arms are working.

The spinal extensors are working to support the weight of the spring. We bend and reach up Annroll. All the way, all the way, all the way looking to anchor the pelvis as best as possible last time, flex endpoint, push forward on the bar as you roll up, bend, stretch, and come all the way down. Flex the feet, bend the knees, take the bar, and remove your feet. So for the next exercise, we're gonna take this spring away as well.

You wanna orient the body so that the arms are straight up from the shoulders. Bend your knees come up into a tabletop position. So there's a few steps to this exercise. I'll talk them through hinge the legs away. Now it's important that the low back stays flat.

So just go where you can go, making sure that happens. Bring that hinge back up. At the top, we bend the knees, press forward on the bar, and curl in underneath the bar, baby ball. Roll yourself down. I have no springs on the push shoe bar at this moment.

Don't need them. When the pelvis comes down, the legs come back into that tabletop position and we go again, inhale the legs hinge. Exhale hinge back. Inhale, bend. XL, keep that tight shape in the knees as you curl through your spine.

Feels fun. I like this one. It's one of my favorites actually. Fun fact to roll down. Fill out a arm work. Feel free to use your arms.

You need them. Last time hinge and hinge and bend and curl get in tight. Stay tight as you roll down and lift the shins, making a change, but it starts the same hinge. And hinge and bend and curl. Now you're gonna roll down this time. Let your legs begin to straighten. So it's kind of like a pike.

Your legs will slide up the push through bar. You'll get as low as you can with your pelvis without losing the connection of the feet to the bar, and then the pelvis will come away. So depending on your flexibility, the shapes everyone's shape will be a little bit different hinge and the back and bend and baby ball. And as you roll down, you're pulling your legs back, but they have to glide. They have to move up the bar as your pelvis is moving away.

And then let the pelvis come down. And bend the knees. We'll do one more hinge, strong arms, hinge, bend the knees, curl through the spine. Roll down. Piking, return the pelvis, return the knees, and place the feet down.

We're gonna come out from underneath that bar. Hope you like that one. I love it. And we're gonna take the springs up from the top. We wanna get rid of the safety strap.

Just tuck it off to the side somehow. And we get to go back into our thoracic extension work. Hooray. So having a seat. You wanna orient yourself to where your arms can be straight when you're in an upright position.

And then we're gonna bend the elbows. Just find the spring. This has a four step movement. First step, bend, elbows feel the body lifting and find the upper back. Next, continue to pull down on the springs as you go into that upper back bend, just like we've been doing.

Return the body back to straight, and then feel the back working as we return the springs. So essentially, we go mid back. We find the Those muscles in the mid back. It's a very simple exercise, but there's a possibility for a lot of sensation here feeling. Pull down on the springs as you take your chest forward rather than back. Explore.

Come back to straight and feel that there is a work happening in the same muscles that pulled the bar down as we return the springs back to the top. Let's do that again. Pull down. Find your extension. Come back.

And return. Two more times. Pull down. Feel that there's support from the front of the body as the upper body goes back. Come back and return last time.

Sorry to say, pull down. Just sorry to say because it feels good. Extend the spine. Come back and return the springs. Okay. So let's take the hands onto the push to bar itself onto the round part of it.

Bring the legs out in front so that they're just pressed up against those vertical poles. And then we're going to posteriorly rotate the body and get nice and deep into your c curve. That's more of less of a c curve, more of a deep around in the low spine, push down on the springs and send the bar through. As you lift up into your flat back position, We're gonna bend the elbows. It's a nice wide elbows really feeling into that upper back. Press back through with the bar.

And then as you come back, pressing forward with 50. We glide the pelvis under, lift the arms, lift the body, and press the body forward. Come back and tuck the pelvis under. Push the spring down. It's a heavy spring.

So if it's too heavy, you can always go to one spring, bend the arms, pull the chest through. Straighten the arms. Roll back. Pressing forward with the feet as you slide the pelvis under. Resist the urge to get really round in the upper back.

Just the lower back is our focus. Lift the spring and follow the spring up and push forward one more time the same. We go posteriorly rotate, glide the pelvis through, push the springs down. Bend the arms to bring the bar to the chest, wide elbows, feel your upper back, press back down. Tuck the pelvis, come back, lift the arms, deepen into the abdominals, lift the body, and take the body through.

Making a change. We go into that same position. We take one arm off the bar. Keep the pelvis stable, square, as we take that arm around looking for the middle of those two pulls, then bring that arm up and over. In my mind, no Cadillac.

Workout is complete with this without this stretch. It just feels so good. Start to come up. Take the arm to the center. Take the arm across as you press into rotation.

And come up. We're gonna change sides. We take the pelvis through. The other side. Press both feet into the poles as you take that side bend.

Allow the arm to continue up and over as you reach into that deep side stretch. Come back around. Keep the lower body nice and connected. Nice and still. As you come up, bring the arm into the center, and then reach across for the opposite foot pressing up in the arm that's on the bar.

Come through center. Let's take that one more time through round and side stretch. And interlateral flexion. And back to the side stretch and up and across. And back.

Last time, sorry to say. And go around. Come up and over. Bushing into that same side foot really anchor, come back, come up, and across. And all the way back up.

And for the last time, just take the arms up and lean through and then return. Okay. So there's some more organizing that needs to happen. So what I need to do is we're gonna take this chair away because we're gonna wanna use this side of the Cadillac shortly. I'm just gonna slide it out of the way. And then now we're gonna get the box.

So I included these next set of exercises because I think it will be helpful for people who are tighter in their shoulders to know that in the prone series and in the sitting back, there is an option, a preparatory So that's what this is doing here. Just fussy about making it right in the middle. So okay. Ready? So I have it. I don't I don't know the exact measurement.

Let's say 12 inches, 18 inches, maybe ish. But that, of course, is gonna just be dependent on the portions of your body. So you'll just need to make sure that when you're on the box on your stomach, that you're able to clear your head with the bar. So if you're too far forward, the bar's gonna run into your head. And that's not a good thing.

Okay. So positioning the body with the knees bent, and I have to edge the back edge of the box, just right at my hip crease, just reminding my pelvis where neutral is. We are going to Glide the shoulder blades down. Send the chest forward. So not too too far.

I'm staying on my ribs. Still those two blue springs. Bend the elbows wide. Bar is not going overhead yet. It's just coming up, pressing back down, and then elongating the body to go down.

And reaching out through the tip of the head. Gliding the shoulders down, really finding that mid back. Bend the arms. So their value of being way up here is it makes it far more focused in that upper back than it does in the lower back, which I find is very user friendly for teachers and clients. And we'll do one more lift up.

Keep the abdominals working, bend the arms. Feel that you're widening through your scapula shoulder blades. Stretch out and take the bar through. Prone two is coming now. So now we bend the elbows. The head stays down.

That bar passes the head. The arms straighten and we can use the spring. To come up into that little bit bigger back extension, but still mostly upper back here, drop the chest, bend the arms. And as the arms reach through, The body comes down. Bend the elbows.

You wanna see your elbows in your periphery. And then let the spring take the spine. Really nice variation for people who have tight shoulders, lean in, bend the arms, and take the bar through. We'll do one more. Bend the arms.

Keep the elbows in your periphery. It almost feels like you're turning the corner there to find that shoulder mobility. Drop the chest down, bend the elbows, and take the bar through. Making a change, we're going to bend the arms just like before. Take the spine up just like before.

This time, stay up. Ben the elbows. You see the method to my madness. They all kind of make sense after the at now and come down. And bend the arms. Take the bar up.

Bring the body up. Stay lifted in your body as you bend. Push the spring forward. And come back down. We'll do one more.

Bend and take the bar. Bring the body up. Bend and push down. And take the body all the way down. So getting up just be careful.

Help yourself up. Take the bar back. And then I think it's probably worthwhile to just take a counter stretch there. Just letting the arms slide on the box and sitting back into the heels with the hips. Okay. So here we're gonna round through the fine.

Roll maximum around in your back as you come up over your hands. And then let your pelvis arc and sit back. So just full spinal movement. We'll do that three times. Roll through your spine using your I'm using my arms kind of for traction, very similar to what we did earlier. So my pelvis is going back as my arms are pulling forward and then continue through the spine.

And hang back. We won't go that slowly. This time, I just wanted to pause and give you the information and come through. And Palthus goes back. Okay. The next thing that we're gonna do is we're gonna come up onto the box, sitting.

Another really user friendly variation here. Always just be careful as you're taking the spring and putting it back. Make sure everything is safe. So we have the arms on the bar behind us now. What we wanna think about is rolling the shoulders slightly forward so the shoulder blades are on the outside of the body.

And then we're gonna roll back on the box, taking the spring back. Have my legs hooked against the front end of the box so I can really pull back into that stretch. Everyone will be a little different with the range just depending on the flexibility in the arms. We're gonna come up and forward, and then we're gonna let the spring lift up. Really important to keep the shoulder blades open, push down so that you're pushing the bar away with the mid back as you come up.

And we go down exhale. Leaning into those into the stretch. And inhale to come up, control the spring. Keep it organized. Take the body through.

And then let the spring pull the arms. And then the initial press, we think, front of the arms. And then as the bar is going back and the body is coming up, we wanna really find the mid back. Let's do three more. Go back. What's fun with this exercise is each time you might feel the, range of motion increase.

Of course do so with care and Make sure it feels available to you. And then we take the bar up. Press the bar down sit tall. Two more The hands just have to glide around the bar. So we wanna keep the wrist straight.

So in order to do that, I just let my hands adjust on the bar as needed. Go forward. Take the bar up, lift the chest up through the arms. Press down. This is our very last one. And we go back.

And forwards, leaning through pushing the bar away as you come over and then lifting the arms and pushing down and coming up to sitting and then just hold the bar in one hand as you turn lift the bar up. Just taking care to control the spring. This is another fun variation sitting on the box with in a straddle. So it's just like a pull up prep. So imagine if you would that you don't have legs to stand on that this is all gonna happen from your arms.

And then you're gonna start to lift your pelvis off the box you're gonna pull yourself up and go back down. So, of course, the legs can assist when needed but let's really find the back. Pull with the arms and lift up and sit back down. You could also do this with your feet in front. Whatever feels better to you.

So it just looks slightly different. Be if you have your feet in front, you'll end up a little bit more on the diagonal. We'll just do that one more time. Remember, it's your arms, your arms, your arms, your arms on the way down as well. And then we'll Come down onto the box, and we're gonna take the box away.

As promised, we're gonna come to this side of the cadillac. So we're gonna position the body with the heels a little further back than straight underneath the body. So when my hands are up on the push through bar, You wanna feel that we're in a diagonal line. Another user friendly exercise, your welcome teachers, pull down on your back with your back and bring the bar into your chest. And as you do that, take your chest through.

And as you release the spring or control the spring, maybe, is a better way to say it. Bring your body back to the starting position. Find the mid back. Pull from there to pull the spring into the body and return back to the starting position. We'll do that three more times.

Drag the spring. Support yourself with the front of your body as you explore into the back extension there. Very supported here. And then control and come back. The bonus is you get a little calf stretch.

You're welcome, pull. Come back one more time. Pull, lift the chest through the arms. Come back. We did such beautiful work in our upper backs today. Change the hold of the hand so the hands come over the top, step away from the mat, pull down on the push shoe bar.

So this is a heavy spring. You can certainly make a different choice, but we're gonna go into a cat stretch here. So the first idea to find is the upright position in the body. And then we're gonna go down pulling back through the abdominals as the springs take the bar forward and then leaning in. And as the springs pull up, we can take the body through.

And then the nice part about the heavy spring is we can use the front of the body to pull the bar back into the body and return back into that upright position. Let's do two more. Round through your spine. Take your time. Feel your feet on the ground.

Pull back in opposition. And then as the springs go up, you can lean into the arms. Come back pressing from the backs of the legs, pulling from the abdominals, pulling from the upper back to bring the bar back. Little pieces of that in many of the things we did today. Last one, go down.

Take the body forward and through. Come back. Stand up nice and tall. And then just carefully take the spring back. And thank you for coming to class with me.

I hope you enjoyed it. I did.