Mat Class with Theraband

Hi. I'm Gia, and today we're gonna do a thera band class. I have a medium weight thera band, but you can choose whatever works for you or whatever you have. We're gonna start on your back. So you can lie down with your feet, hip distance apart. Nice comfortable position.

You're gonna hold your band. I like my hands just a little bit wider than my shoulders, but you can go where it feels good to you. Arms, we're reaching long. Take a deep inhale. And as you actually just gonna pull that band out to the side. Just a little bit. Inhale release the band, exhale as you pull, and release, and pull as you're moving.

Just watch your wrist. Make sure you're not bending at the wrist anyway. You wanna keep the wrist in line with the rest of the arm, and then think of pulling from your back. So it's not just your hands moving. It's your whole back side of your body working to open the band, close and pull and close.

And pull. We're gonna do two more. Arms are reaching long last one. You're gonna find a little bit of gentle tension, not as hard as you can pull, but just a little bit of tension. Bring your legs up to tabletop. Find a nice long position with your neck, inhale here, exhale as you push down with the arms curl up. The band is just gonna touch your legs a little bit.

Lower back down as you inhale, exhale as you curl up Your band just brushes by your legs, inhale lower exhale as you curl up. Two more. Can you have nice gentle tension on the band, not as hard as you can pull? But just enough to keep your arms active. Lower, and lift up. Last one. We're gonna hold this next one up.

Think of wrapping the band around your legs. So you're just gonna bring your arms down a little bit lower and then your arms for the 100. So you're gonna inhale two three four five exhale two three four five inhale and exhale. This is three. Keep curling your chest up exhale two three four five four. And exhale, make sure you're not bending the wrists or the elbows, inhale, and exhale.

Inhale. Try to keep the legs as still as you can. So using that resistance on the band with the legs as well. And exhale. This is seven and exhale. Inhale.

Exhale. We have two more. Exhale squeeze the legs together. Last one. Inhale. And exhale two three four five.

You're gonna bring your arms back up. Lower your head down. Bring your feet down to the mat. You can stretch your legs out or keep your legs bent whatever feels good to you. If your legs are straight, flex your feet, push your heels into the mat. Again, nice gentle resistance on the band.

You're gonna inhale here, actually gonna push into your band, roll all the way up, reach towards your feet, and then you're gonna roll all the way down. One bone at a time. And then rolling up. Squeeze your legs together really hug that midline. Read short your feet.

And then roll back. Try to keep the shoulders away from the ears. Two more rolling up. Reach and keep that nice tension on the band. Try not to let it go slack at all.

Roll down. Just keeping the whole body active. One more rolling up. Reach towards your feet and then roll back. I'm gonna roll up and hold.

Find your nice tall sitting position. I'm gonna bend my legs just a little bit and then wrap the band around your feet. You wanna loosen up just a little bit. And then your feet are gonna hold your band still. So from here, sitting up tall, you're gonna go into a row.

So you're just gonna pull your elbows back and then reach arms forward and then pull back. And forward. As you're pulling the arms back, make sure your, spine is staying tall. You're not letting your ribs thrust forward. Keeping everything stacked on top of your pelvis. Lifting your spine, getting taller each time.

Two more like this. Last one. Now we're gonna add rotation. So you're gonna pull one arm back. The other arm's gonna pull out to the side a little bit as you rotate and then come back to center. And then pull the other arm out back and then the other arm out to the side.

And center. So you just have one arm out back, one arm side as you rotate. Think of rotating from your waist, the hips are staying still, and center. And rotate and center. Rotate center one more each side and center last one. Now keep the band around one foot.

I'm gonna roll down all the way down to your back and then stretch it leg up to the ceiling. Flex your foot. Pull your elbows down and just get a nice stretch on your hamstring. Should feel good. If you're particularly tight, you can always bend your other leg and just have your foot on the mat just to give you a little bit more room to move. From here, put both straps in the opposite hand and cross your leg over to your opposite shoulder.

Get into your IT band a little bit and then switch hands. Open your leg out to the side. Just make sure you're not letting the hip of the leg without the band rotate. You don't wanna rotate your whole body toward the leg that's stretching. And then come back up to the ceiling.

One shot in each hand, you're gonna flex your bottom foot and then keep your top leg flexed as well. You're gonna cross your leg over rounding up for leg circle and cross over around and up. So while you're using your abdominals to help keep you stable, should feel really good, especially in your hip socket. It's like a little massage of the hip, reverse your circle. Open around and up around and up and up two more.

Trying to keep that bottom leg nice and still last one. And then keep your leg here. Gonna bring your other foot into the band and then stretch the other leg out on the mat. Go ahead and stretch your hamstring on this side and pulling those elbows down. Trying to relax into it, just breathe, flex your foot as much as you can.

Both straps in the opposite hand and just cross your leg over to the opposite shoulder. Try to keep the hip down though so you're not letting it hike up and then switch hands, open your leg out to the side, make sure you're not rolling with it. And stretch out the inner thigh. And then back to the ceiling, one strap in each hand, elbows are anchored down. Going into our leg circles are crossed over around and up.

Cross over around and up. Flexing that bottom foot, keeping that heel pressing into the mat or around and up one more or around and reverse. Open out and around and up. Trying to stop at the top each time. Up stabilizing the hips and up one more around and up, bend your leg.

You're gonna tighten your hands on the, their band. Again, I have them a little bit wider than my shoulders. I'm gonna bring your legs back up to tabletop. I'm gonna go into the series of five. So just like before, gentle pull on the band, not as hard as it can go, but just enough tension to keep your arms active. And curl your head and shoulders up and hold single leg stretch first.

So you're gonna stretch one leg out and then switch legs and then just keep alternating. Keep that tension on the band, their arms. Pull and pull. Two more sets, reach and reach last one, and then hug both knees in, rest your head down, rest your arms, shake out your hands, your hands are like mine. You're working on your grip strength. You might feel a little cramped.

Just kind of wiggle your fingers and then go back to holding your band. So again, gentle tension on the band, curl up as hard as you or as high as you can. You can go into double leg stretch. So arms and legs are gonna reach out away from each other and then pull everything back into your ball and then pull everything away. Just keep paying attention to your wrist so you're not bending them in a weird way.

You wanna keep them as straight as you can. And then pull it back in. Two more. Chest stays lifted and in last one, reach and in lower down, rest your head. Take me inhale, exhale curl up, arms reach up, legs are gonna stretch up to the ceiling going into scissor, so one leg lowers. The other leg comes towards you and switch.

So you have the band to kind of stop you. So you're not going too high with that leg. Think more about the other leg reaching long. Reach and reach. I do four, three, two, one, both legs up, bend your legs.

Rest for a second. Take a breath. Arms are gonna reach back up, find your tension, curl back up, legs up to the ceiling. From here, you're gonna lower both legs down, and then lift back up. Squeeze your legs together and lower, make sure your upper body's not moving.

It's just the legs. And lift, and lower it down, and lift back up. Two more. And just watch a wrist. I just caught myself bending my wrist as I get it as I'm getting tired.

And then bend your legs. Rest your head down for a second. Take your breath. Arms back up. Last one, we're gonna go into crisscross. So you're gonna bend one leg straight to the other leg out. You're gonna turn, rotate, and then come back to center.

And rotate toward the bent leg and back to centers. All trading sides. Rotate and center again, keeping that tension on the band. So arms are active. Two more sets.

Rotate and center. Rotate. Center last one. Or rotate. Center last one.

And then hug your knees into your chest, rock side to side. Wanna place the band down for a second and come back to it later. Rock up to a seated position and we're gonna turn onto your belly. Trying to go into some back extension just to give your abs a little break So hands are gonna come just in front of your shoulders and a little bit wider. Lakes are reaching long.

I like mine, hip distance apart, but you can have your legs together. I think of pulling up in your abdominals just to kinda support your spine, shoulders down your back. I'm just gonna lift up into nice swan. And then lower down. It should actually feel good on your abdominals too to get a little stretch lifting up.

Make sure your neck stays in line with the rest of your spine so you're not cranking it back. Reaching the legs long, lifting up. And lower down. You don't have to get your arms straight. Just go where you can. If you wanna bring your arms a little more forward or a little wider, it's always an option.

And lower last one, lifting up. And lower. Come on to your elbows. You want your elbows right under your shoulders or even a little bit in front. I like my hands parallel, but you can also hold on to your fist if that feels good to you.

Pull up your abdominals. Pull your shoulders down and reach your sternum forward. Gonna lift your legs up off the mat and from here, bend one knee kick your butt two times, kick, kick, and reach other leg. Kick, kick, kick, and reach. Kick, kick, kick, try not to rock side to side. Sing right in the center, pulling the shoulders away from the ears, kick, kick, center, kick, and center, kick, and reach, kick, kick, reach one more each side.

Last one. Now for double a kick, we're gonna grab your band. Turn your head to one side. You're gonna put the band behind your arm behind your back holding on about shoulder distance apart. So legs are gonna be glued together this time. Just let your shoulders fall forward.

From here, lift your legs up. You're gonna kick three times. Kick, kick. Kick. You're gonna reach your arms and legs back. Find a nice little extension. Turn your head to the other side and kick three.

Two one and reach back and kick three two one and reach back and kick three two one and reach. One more each side kick two three and reach back. Last one, kick, two, three, and reach back. Place the band down for a second and just push back into a child's pose and stretch her back. Breathe into that stretch.

And then roll up. We're gonna go into some sideline work. So you're gonna tie your band around your legs. If you have a, like, a booty band loop, you can also use one of those, but It works fine just to tie it. So just make sure it's where you want it.

It doesn't have to be super tight and just make sure you can get it out later and then lie down on your side. So you wanna line one straight line from your head all the way down to your tailbone, and then make sure your hips and shoulders are stacked with a little space under your waist. From here, we'll start with clams. So feet stay together. It's gonna open your top knee and then close it.

And we open and close. Again, you don't need a lot of tension to feel a lot more work with the band. A little resistance goes a long way. We'll do four more. And down.

Three, make sure you're keeping your hips stacked as you open the knee. Two, and last one. Now, going to hydrant, you're gonna keep the leg parallel, lift the whole leg up and lower it back down. And lift lower. Making sure the top hip isn't coming into your waist. You wanna keep your waist long on both sides. Just keep checking to make sure you have your space underneath you.

And three more. Two last one. Now you're gonna turn your leg in, so your knees are together. Lift your top foot up toward the ceiling. Keeping your leg turned in, you're gonna lift your leg up and down.

And lift. Again, it doesn't feel like much tension, but that little bit really does make your hip work a lot harder. And four more. And three, two. Last one. And rest for a second, just hit out your hip whatever you need.

Give a little break from here. You're gonna bring your leg up, hit pipe. We're gonna alternate turning out and then turning in. A little turnout and in. Or a clam, and then a turned in position. Just keep alternating.

Former sets, and three keeping the hips stable. Nothing's moving, but that leg. It's rotating in the hip socket, last one, and then lower the leg down. I'm gonna hit it out again. And then come on up, we'll switch to the other side.

So again, lying everything in line. Head shoulders and hips. Your feet are in line with your tailbone as well with your hips and shoulders stacked going into clams. So you're gonna open and close. Open and close.

Making sure you're not rolling back with your leg. You're just rotating from your hip. Four more and three. I already feel this side. Burning a lot.

Last one. Now go into hydrants. You're gonna look the whole leg up and down. Making sure your knee is facing front so it's parallel the whole time and lift and lower. And making sure you're not hiking your hip up. You wanna keep your waist long on both sides.

Two more. Last one. Now you're gonna go into a turn in length. So knees are together. You're gonna lift your top foot up. I like to flex my foot just because it helps keep my, my leg turned in and you're gonna lift the leg up and down. I feel like I'm stomping on the ceiling when I do it this way and up and lift.

And making sure you're not rolling forward this time. So it's like the clamps we don't wanna roll back with the turn in one we don't wanna roll forward. Last two and last one. Go ahead and hit that leg out for a second. Or the hip. And then from here you're gonna bring your leg up hip height. We're gonna go into a turned out position heels together and the knees together turned in and rotating out and rotating in.

The hips are stable. You're just rotating in the hip socket and turn out and in four more sets. Turning out. Just keep breathing, especially the more it burns. Mind over matter, turning out and in last one, turning out and turning in. Go ahead and sit up.

We'll take the band off your legs. Take it off and then undo the knot and then we'll stretch your hips right after this. So just place your band to the side. You're gonna sit down one foot on the mat. The other foot's gonna cross over and then bring your hands behind.

You just push down in your hand so lift your spine up and turn your leg out to stretch your hip. You can adjust your foot on the mat depending on your tightness. So if you need a little bit more space, you can bring your leg forward. You want it a little bit, more stretch, you can bring your leg toward you more. Just trying to get your spine as long as you can. And then from here, switch legs.

So cross the other foot over hands behind you. Use your arms to help push your spine up and get a nice stretch on that hip. Breathe, you can rock side to side too. Sometimes it feels nice. And then go ahead and uncross your legs and then sit in a comfortable position.

We're gonna grab your band again and do some arm work. So holding the band a little bit wider than your shoulders. Arms are gonna come up to the ceiling. Shoulders down. Think of using your lats and your back to pull the band apart and then come back to center. Pull it apart and center. As you're pulling, make sure you're not letting your knees come up toward you if you're sitting with your legs crossed or bent.

Think of pushing down and pulling your spine and your abs up. Open and watching the wrist, making sure you're not breaking at the wrist to pull two more. Open And last one. Now you're gonna bring your arms in front of you, shoulders, stay down. Again, pulling from your back. You're gonna open and close just like we did when you're on your back, but you get a little bit more movement this time. Watch your ribs, make sure they're not reaching forward or thrusting forward, keeping them top of your pelvis.

Four more. Open, close. Reach his arms long. Of reaching out through your knuckles. Reach. And last one, and then going into a stretch.

You can loosen the band a little bit and just gonna go up and back. What should feel good? And up and front and to go where it feels good too. You might need to adjust as you go. Maybe you need more space. You just don't want to feel like a strain as we stretch up and back. And front one more each direction and last one.

You're gonna take the band, just bring it to the side. We're gonna go into teasers. So you're gonna lie down on your back. Lakes are gonna come out to your diagonal. If you wanna keep your feet down, that's always an option.

Reach your hands towards your feet, take a deep inhale. Actually, you're gonna roll up. Reach towards your feet. Hold and then roll back. Just to your shoulder blades. Squeeze the legs together as you roll back up, and then roll it back.

One more like this from here. You're gonna lower your legs and lift and lower and lift last one. And then lower everything down together. Arms reach back, and then roll back up, find that teaser position, and then roll down, and roll everything up. One more rolling back, and then roll up. And then bring your feet down, and we'll go into mermaid.

Nice little finish. So one leg is bent in front. The other leg is bent to the side. She boasts its thumbs down as much as you can. Arms come to a tee.

Take a deep inhale. Actually, you're gonna reach out away from your legs, find a nice long side bend, and then come all the way up, grab your ankle, and reach toward your leg. And then come back up and reach away and up and reach toward your leg. One more up. It should feel good. Especially after the teasers. It's a nice little bit of work.

And then come all the way up. Switch to your other leg as in front. And reaching both sits bones down as much as down as much as you can. Arms out to your tee. Left it up and over to the side.

And then come back up. Grab your ankle and reach. Focus more on the length rather than how far your arm bends. Think of reaching long. Good. Last one. Reach and away and reach towards your leg and then come all the way up.

Just cross your legs sit with your hands on your knees. Just take a deep inhale and exhale one more inhale length in your spine. Exale keep that length. I hope you feel tall and stretched out and I'll see you next time. Thank you.