Ed's Go-To Wunda Chair Flow

Good day, everyone. My name is Ed Bother. I'm from Sydney Australia. And today, I'm gonna be taking you through my personal wonder chair flow. So this is just a fun twenty five minute class that I'm gonna move, and I'd love you to join along with me. So let's get going.

So I'm working on a balance body combo chair, and it's got a cactus setting. So it's got four levels. I'll always be using only one or two springs, never three or four, but I'll take you along with the spring settings. So I've got the spring on one spring on the fourth level, so the highest level. And I'm gonna be standing in front of the pedal, arms at my side.

And I'm gonna start with a roll down onto the pedal, so I'm gonna take a breath in. And exhale rolling through my spine. And meeting my palms onto the pedal, I'll pause there for a moment. Take a breath in. And without sitting too far back, I'm gonna try roll back up.

Back up into tall standing. So on the next one, I'm gonna roll all the way down, and I'm gonna take the pedal down to the mat. So taking a breath in. And exhaling. Palms meet the pedal. Try to meet both palms at the same time, and I'm gonna inhale.

I'm gonna press all the way down. And if you can, you wanna touch the pedal to the ground with your legs straight. And then exhale. Continue rolling up to about halfway. And inhale as I press down again.

And I want the emphasis to be on the up. The exhale, I'm pulling my lower back up to the ceiling, creating flexion, stretching out the back extensors, and inhale. As I'm going back down and exhale. Keeping the space between my shoulders and my ears and inhale. And exhale and inhale.

And last time, and exhale This time I'm rolling all the way up. Again, I'm trying not to sit too far back, so I wanna use my hamstrings, inner thighs, and my back extensors. To bring myself back up to standing. So from here, we're gonna squat down. So I'm gonna take an in breath, and I'm gonna reach my hips away, and I'm gonna take hold of the pedal. And then exhale, I come back up into tall standing.

And inhale, reaching back with the hips, taking hold of the pedal, exhale, pressing up into tall standing. And again, inhale, and exhale. I'll do one more time. I'm I'm reaching, I'm hinging, taking my hips away from me, and I'm reaching for the pedal. And then exhale as I come back up.

So again, it depends on the type of chair you're using. We'll give you a different distance of the pedal from away from the actual platform. So you may need to come a little bit closer or further. So I'm gonna do the same thing with a single leg. So I'm gonna reach back with my right leg.

I hinge forward on my left leg, and I find my pedal, and then I'm gonna come back up. And I'm gonna alternate. So I reach back, left leg hinging on my right leg, coming back up into standing. And again, reaching back there. And up. I'll do one more time.

Reaching back. And coming back up. And this time, I'm gonna take it all the way to the mat, so I'm gonna sit back. Reach And so you wanna make sure your chair is nice and sturdy. So it's got a little bit of a non slip underneath.

I'm dropping down, bum all the way to the heels. So this gives me a little bit of feedback, and then I'm gonna press all the way back up into tall standing. So I'll repeat that again, so I'm going all the way to rock bottom. So I'm sitting out and back. Taking hold. This gives me that little bit of assistance.

I can drop all the way. Down into my stretch. So I get a beautiful stretch of my lower back, and then I'm gonna come back up tall again. And inhale, taking it back, stretch and exhale pressing up through the hip extensors and the quads, and one more time, inhale. And exhale as I press up up into tall standing, So we'll use that as a transition to get down into sitting.

So I'm gonna reach hips back, reaching for the bar again, and I'm gonna come all the way down into a seated position there. Okay? So depending on your tension of your pedal, you might get a little bit of travel. So I'm gonna keep it on the four zero. For those of you who want a little bit lighter, depends on your ability to use the back of your legs. You could either do a two or a three zero. So I'm gonna start supine.

So on my back, legs are straight, and the arches of my feet are over the pedal. So from here, I'm gonna use my hamstrings. Back extensors will keep my back in neutral, and I'm gonna bend my knees, and I'm gonna pull the pedal all the way down towards the ground, and I keep The balls of my feet on the pedal toes wrapping over from here, I'm gonna go up into a pelvic curl, or a bottom lift keeping the heels pressing down, and I'm gonna roll up all the way. Till I have a long diagonal line, and then I'm gonna come back. Roll back down, so articulating through the spine and back into neutral.

I'm gonna go up again. So I'm gonna roll up, so pelvic tilt. Pressing into the back of the mat with my arms, lifting up, and I'm looking to create a nice long line up over here through my spine. And my legs and rolling back down. Right. So very hamstring dominant.

If you feel that it's too much for you, you can move a little bit closer to the chair. So from here, I'm going up again. You'll see my hamstrings activate as I go posterior. So I feel like I'm really pulling in with my feet, pressing down with my heels, pressing through the back of the arms. Abdominals drawn in, and then I'm gonna roll the spine all the way back down and straightening the legs. Alright?

So this is where the extra little bit of spring is gonna be a little bit more challenging. So, again, you feel free to drop. I'm gonna bend my knees so I have some tension on the pedal. I'm gonna bring my hands behind my head and interlace my fingers. And I'm gonna come up into a chest lift. So I'm gonna exhale.

And I'm lifting up to the tips of my shoulder blades, and I'm going down. Lengthening the legs again. So I do a little hamstring curl every time. So I bend the knees, I pull in, and I'm lifting up into the chest lift position, inhale, and then exhale as I bring it back lengthening the legs and repeat. So bending, bending, lifting, chest comes up and forward, down, and extend the knee. So one more time, and exhale.

Up, chest lift up, and taking it all the way down. Good. So, I'm gonna go chest lift with rotation. So every time I rotate, I'm gonna do a little bend of the knees. So this time, I stay up in the chest lift position. So I'm gonna bend the knees, chest lift up. I straighten the legs a little bit. As I bend, I rotate one.

And straighten staying up in between, and two. And in and three and in and four and in and five and in one more time, and six back to the center, bend the knees one last time, and lower the legs and lengthen. Arms overhead, and we'll roll up into a sitting position so I'm coming up, head and chest, and exhale. I'm rolling up, inhale, and exhale. As I roll back down and arms overhead.

So we're going inhale, find the chest lift phase over here, exhale, and articulating through the spine, coming up, inhale, exhale, melting, and back. And again, inhale, So head and chest comes up and exhale. Inhale. And rolling back down, let's go one more time. Inhale up to the chest lift, exhale roll it all the way up, and we're gonna relax here. So I'm gonna change my spring setting.

So it's gonna go significantly lighter. So I'd either use one or level two with one spring. Alright? So I'd probably opt for level two. If you're a little bit lighter than me, then level one. So I'm gonna go to the pike sitting. So I'm gonna bring the arches of my feet onto the top of the chair. And this exercise, it feels for somebody that you may need a raise, but all you need to do is just press the pedal down. When you set up. So it won't feel like it's pushing up against your calves.

So you may opt to sit on something, but I recommend you just keep the pedal down and keep it a little bit lighter. So what I've got my hands wrapped over, I'm pointing my feet and I'm stretching my lower back down towards the mat. So I don't wanna feel like I'm pulling forward. I'm drawing my shoulder blades down. And all I'm doing is extending my shoulders.

So I'm exhale. And inhale, and exhale, two, and inhale, and three, and inhale elbows as straight as we can. We four. And by no means, do you have to touch the bottom? Four. Five. Because I don't wanna lean forward. I'm actually pushing my lower back backwards and six.

So really opening the lower back and seven. And eight. Two more. And nine, one last time, and exhale. We go, 10, and bring it back.

Good. So I'll take myself down onto the back again. But I'm gonna first lift my weight up a little bit, so just one click up. So I'm on one spring on three. So from here, I'm going supine. Same setup.

Legs or straight, arches of my feet over. So this is gonna feel nice after the pike, the hip flexion. I'm gonna bend my knees, and I'm gonna butterfly My hips, so I'm pressing my little toes together, and you can see my heels just off the edge of the pedal here, opening up through the hip joint. So from here, I'm floating the pedal up. Keeping my knees pressing out to the sides, and then I'm pressing the knees further out as I lower the pedal, and I'm lifting up.

And I'm pressing down. So my thought here has to not bend and straighten my legs, although they'll Change the angle will change slightly, but the idea is I'm just moving the shape of my hip joint. So I'm opening my hips, opening the inner thighs using the deep outward rotators of my hip. So lift and press and lift and press and lift and press. I'm gonna go one more time and lift up. And press down and bring the pedal back up, I turn my feet parallel, and you should be able to release the pedal over there without it shooting up.

Right. So I'm gonna pop up onto kneeling. I'm gonna keep the three zero, so one spring on three, and I'm gonna go into a kneeling position. So this is a great exercise. It's a modified back extension. So I'm gonna place my hands on the pedal, and I'm just dropping my spine down.

So you're in a little bit of a lat stretch here. So as I inhale, I'm gonna extend my thoracic spine, and just press the pedal down towards the mat. Doesn't have to touch. And then lifting the pedal and then lowering the chest. So just like doing a swan, I lift, and I lower a great exercise, nice stretch here when we set up. So lifting the sternum up, pressing down through the arms, really aiming my sternum forward.

You could even feel like you're pulling back on that pedal slightly, and back down. And lifting head and chest aiming the sternum forward. And down will do one more time. And lift. So chest is up.

And then all the way back down. So I'm gonna go to prone. So we'll step it up a little bit. So I'm gonna slide back. So try keep the pedal. Well, on this chair, it's a little bit easier because the travel of the pedal is not very high, but I wanna try keep the pedal where it is. Same spring setting, and I'm just hanging into a bit of a stretcher. So as I inhale, I'm pressing the pedal down, I'm lifting the chest up, and I just tip the pedal, lift the pedal back up, and dropping down into my stretch.

So head lifts up, Moving the arms, tip, and lift, and back down. So if the weight's too heavy, it's gonna be too difficult to press the pedal down, But if we use a weight that's too light, when we get to this point, over here, you'll feel the pedal or wanna drop away from you. And then you're gonna struggle to float the pedal and use your back. To bring your arms back up. So it's gotta be just right. And I feel this three zero is the perfect spring, so pressing down. Lifting, and I'll go one more time, and shoulder extension, back extension tip.

And float while I keep my extension, and all the way in. Okay. So we'll go into a rest position just to come out of the exercise. Just give your lower back a quick little stretch out. And I'm gonna go into my spinal articulation, which is gonna be the jackknife. Right? So, again, you can keep the same spring.

If you're worried about the stability of the pedal, add a little bit more resistance. Alright? But, you know, I'm a little bit bigger than a lot of you, and this seems to be fine. The one thing I would recommend is just make sure that your chair is secure if it's on a slippery surface. So possibly put a non slip. My arms are reaching under the pedal or my hands, and I should be able to wrap.

I just wanna make sure my head is clear of the wood. So that would be my only recommendation. Some of you may need to pull the pedal down. So from here, my legs are together. I've gotta engage my abdominals.

I draw my legs up with my hip flexors. I'm engaging my lats. I reach my legs out to about 45 degrees. I'm gonna inhale, exhale as I roll over. Now I can pull on to the pedal.

I inhale. I can lift the legs up. I can get a little bit of distance. Keep the feet over the eyes. And roll the spine away. So I'm getting that beautiful articulation as I folded the hips, and then we move the legs back to 45.

So I'm inhaling. I'm pressing into my lats. Exhale as I roll over. I tip my feet on the chair. I press up.

So I'm using my arms. I'm pressing my pelvis to my face, legs go away, and you can see I'm working hard in my arms. And I've got long legs as well, so a lot of legs to hold up there and away. And inhale, exhale over. So shoulder blades, and I'm only lifting so that I'm on my shoulders not on my neck.

And roll away, and taking the legs back out to 45. Awesome so I can bend the knees and hug the knees into the chest, and I'm gonna pop up into sitting. Right? So from here, I'm gonna transition onto hands and knees. So feet, I'm gonna place them on the pedal, and I'm gonna go into a front support position, and we're just gonna pike up into an up stretch, trying to keep our back as flat as we can. I'm going on to hands and knees or all fours position, and we just wanna measure.

So you can look back, and you wanna get a straight leg distance away from your pedal there. I'm not pushing on the pedal, and I'm not pulling on the pedal. So I'm trying to keep it pretty still, and then I'm gonna bring the other leg up, and I should be able to lock in over here. So from here, I'm just gonna hinge up, lifting up through the hips, and I'm getting into that up stretch position at a bit of an angle, and I'm gonna bring myself back down into the front support. And again, lifting up stretch up.

And coming down and forward, and up stretch, lift, and Down and forward. We'll do two more, lifting up, up, up, and forward, and lift up. So you see, I'm not pushing my weight too far back because I don't want the pedal to move. So I'm just moving through the shoulder joint, and I'm coming back, and we can bring the legs down one two, and we can roll ourselves. Up into standing. Okay. So we're gonna turn to face our chair. Alright?

So just make sure if you're a little bit light headed, give yourself a second to breathe, and then we're gonna add another spring on. Alright? So here I've got a three still three zero. I'm gonna pop on another spring, and I'm gonna put that on four. So I'm gonna have one on four, one on three. Alright? The more challenging you want to exercise, the lighter we're gonna do.

So we're gonna do our step down back. So facing the pedal, I put my weight down onto the pedal. So I've gotta lean I've gotta get all this pedal pushed down, and I'm gonna step my left foot. It could be alright up onto the chair. Right? I fold my arms in front of me.

And from here, I'm gonna lift my pelvis up till my thigh is more or less parallel to the mat. Now, we wanna get our pelvis back as far as we can, so we're getting our shin to be more vertical. And from here, I'm gonna bend my knee just to start the exercise, and from here, I pump. One, two, three, four, five, and six, seven, eight, nine, and one more time, and 10. And then you can lower yourselves down. Good. So the idea is to stay as level as you can with your pelvis, not bouncing up and down as you're pumping the leg.

Right leg comes up. Again, finding the fold of the arms, ribs in, come up, Once I'm up, I'm gonna pull my pelvis back a little bit further and using my abdominals so I don't hyper extend. I bend the back knee to start and one. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine, and 10, and down. Good. Stepping off, both feet on.

Hands coming to the front of the chair, elbows straight. Press your pelvis down. And, again, looking down at your pelvis. So from here, you see how I'm really dropping my pelvis as low as I can. Keeping my elbows straight, scooping the abdominals in, and I'm gonna pull the pedal up into a pike, coming up, up, up, up, up, and then inhale.

And I come just to a floating pedal, head still looking down. And exhale, and and exhale, shoo, keeping the flexions, I keep the tilt of the pelvis. And inhale. Two more. Exhale. Inhale. One more time. And exhale up.

And inhale. Down, step off one careful because the pedal's loaded. Alright. And then I'm gonna take off a spring. Alright? So I'm gonna take the heaviest spring off. So I wanna be left with the three zeros. So if you're a little bit lighter, you can leave a two zero if you're going down, and I'm gonna do a swan.

So from here, hands on the platform, bringing my pelvis down, always like to finish with some extension, and I'm bringing my hands under my shoulders. Right? So if you're a little bit taller, you always feel like your pelvis is gonna fall off the end. So you just gotta scoot yourself right to the limit. Of the chair. We're gonna float the pedal up, shoulder blades drawing down and back, and I'm pulling back into that pedal, lifting my chest. And coming back down into a straight line and inhaling head and chest. Forward opening up my abdominals and back into my straight line and up.

Inhale. And exhale. I'm gonna do two more times. Inhaling, and exhale. And last one.

So drawing back into the pedal, trying to aim your chest forward, and then going through your whole spine, back into your straight line. And you can kill the pedal and just slide yourself back. Keep the pressure on one hand and the other hand, and we finish. We're just stretching down and back. It's finding our flexion. And then slowly stacking up.

So I hope you enjoyed that short flow with me, and I'll see you next time. Thank you very much.