Control Flow with a Ball

Hi. I'm Delia, and today we're gonna be doing a reformer class using the box and the ball. We're gonna start off with a yellow spring, but any of the spring load is just a suggestion. So if you need to add more or take away some spring load, it's up to you. I'm gonna start on the foot bar side of the reformer and I have a ball right now on my right hand. I'm gonna place my heel of my left hand onto the edge of the box.

The ball is going to be on the platform. As you notice, the ball is going to be a little bit mobile, so it's gonna give you a little bit of feedback on stability of your shoulder. So as we press the box away with the left arm, I'm gonna bend the right elbow and find flexion in the elbow and flexion of the shoulders I'm pressing forward, my knees are bent. I'm gonna hold the first one and take a couple of breaths inhaling through the nose as I expand my ribs and exhaling out of the mouth and enjoying that nice stretch at the of those hamstrings one more time, deep inhale. And on the exhale, I'm gonna return the carriage rounding my back, and we'll do that again.

Press the carriage away, then bend the right elbow, and return the carriage and round through the back. This is a nice spinal articulation exercise. A great way to start the class, and give yourself some stretch and feedback on how your body is feeling today. On the next one, I'll press the carriage away and hold And then bend the carriage arm a few times, warming up that left shoulder, left elbow, and even that left wrist as I continue to hold that stretch, making sure that I've got a slight extension in the or part of the back as I'm gazing forward towards the box. On the last one, press that carriage out and then take the ball into your right hand and out to a t position to the side. When your arm is out to the side, that right shoulder blade should have glided right to the center you should feel a really big wingspan.

This time when the carriage returns, let's take that hand with the ball and thread it underneath the left arm and then press the carriage away. So now we're adding a little rotation, and you can follow that ball with your eyes. To give you rotation in both directions, continuing to bend and extend through the legs, and you'll notice you'll start to feel those muscles on your legs working, which will warm up your whole body. One more time, pressing it out, and then returning. Now let's take it to the hips. So I'm gonna place the ball back on to the platform.

This time when I press the carriage away, my right leg is gonna reach away. So the leg that's in line with the ball will reach away, I'm gonna find some nice hip extension. And then return. Here we're working on your balance, reach it out, and return. Let's do four more. Inhale to press the carriage away and open up the right hip and exhale.

Ahead and be free with that right hip. So if you wanna turn it into an arabesque, you can. Whatever feels good to you is you're starting your workout. One more time, reaching it away, and then returning the carriage. One last thing here on the side. I'm gonna take that ball now and place it behind my right calf and hamstring, and then place both hands onto the box so I could square myself off.

Let's start by rounding the back and tucking that knee in so you can feel a big stretch between the shoulder blades. As you press the carriage out this time, you're gonna open up through the right hip, making sure to bend that left knee and opening up into that hip extension with a little emphasis on the hamstring and then turn pulling it back in. Inhale as you press away and exhale to return. Four more for six total and scoop and three. Making sure not to put too much tension on to those upper traps. So you're moving freely through those shoulders.

Last one. Now hold it steady if you can't for a little bonus exercise. We're gonna bring the right knee under the hip, and you can add a few hip a b ductor to the side, continuing to hold on to that ball so that you can feel that hamstring. One more time, and as the leg comes down, you'll grab that ball and bring your foot to the floor. And I'm just gonna press it out for a little reset with both hands. And round my back to return the carriage.

And we have another side. So I'm gonna go ahead and bring the ball to the left hand now, place it onto the frame, right hand onto the box, bending that left elbow as I reach away with my right arm, bending through the knees, and returning the carriage. And feel free to move your spine in whatever direction you feel it works for you and then sinking your breath so that it warms up your body and you create nice fluid movement throughout your workout. Let's do that twice more, press the carriage out, bending the left elbow one more time, pressing the carriage away looking up towards the box as you bend your elbow six times, holding that nice stretch, Three more. Two more. On the last one, let's hold the arm out.

Take the ball out to the side, finding that shoulder blade gliding to the center of your spine. Bringing it underneath that right armpit rounding through your back, threading the needle, and then following that ball all the way over to the other side, and exhale breath and inhale. Your breath work is also a suggestion as to when you inhale and exhale, play around with that breath. That you can get as much movement out of your body. We're doing that twice more and one more, and then return the carriage.

Now the ball goes black to the back to the platform and we'll open up for that left hip. Let's press the box out to bring that leg up and then return. And you'll have to bend that left elbow so that way you can keep your back a little bit straighter. But like I said earlier, if it feels good to even go into a slight arabesque, if you can find balance, that's up to you. Last one. And then return that carriage.

Now we'll take that ball. Place it behind the left calf and left hamstring. Both hands on. Let's start with your spine in a rounded position. As you press the carriage away, lift through extension, feeling that hamstring, fire as you open up through that left hip. And note the position of your hip, we're gonna try to keep the hips over the center of the foot as much as possible.

So that way the whole foot can feel the floor for balance. It's a great place to warm up your feet as well. Last one, and then we're gonna hold it out, bring the knee under the hip, and then open it up to the side. I know people call this a fire hydrant. I don't it's not my favorite thing to call it.

I'll take any suggestions if you guys have any for this one, but just a little hip opener, two more. Last one, and then grab onto the ball, and I'm gonna place the hands back to the box with the ball in hand for a nice little stretch. And then let's roll it all the way up. I'm just gonna reach my arms up and then return. The next one is seated on to the platform.

Now I know everyone's got different reformers, and sometimes the platform won't be wide enough. I know this particular one comes with a little, little extension to this platform. But you're not here for very long, so try to get those sits bones comfortable. I'm gonna take the ball into my left hand as I'm facing you, placing my right hand, or right heel to the box, and let's just push that box away. This is why the yellow spring seems to work a little bit better because I don't feel shoved into this box.

As I reach the box away, I'll take my other arm up and over for a nice lateral stretch. And as the box comes in, you'll notice that it'll try to shift you away from the carrots, try to stay centered. Inhale as you reach out for a big stretch and exhale to return. Making sure you're in a nice long line, like, if you're between two panes of glass, so you can really feel that stretch and anchor that left hip. I'm gonna hold it out on the next one. This time, I'm gonna take the ball and thread it underneath again.

I'm gonna bend my elbow, reach away, and then open up. It's a little different rotation this time. Very focused from the hip all the way up to the top of that neck. Two more. This is also a great way to warm up the top of that shoulder in a different direction, some more a b duction.

Let's hold it right here, see if we can open up for a bigger extension, and then go ahead. And return the carriage. I'm gonna turn to you so you'll see my back and see a different perspective on the exercise. So I'm gonna have a seat facing the back side. Left hand is on there.

My the ball oops. Caught it. The ball's in my right hand. I'm gonna press the box away. And as I press the box away, I'm gonna reach up and over. Kritin a nice long line.

I like a strong gesture arm. This arm that comes up and over is your gesture arm, and make sure that you have the right amount of distance between the ear and the shoulder. It's nice and consistent. That long strong arm is going to really stretch that entire lateral sling on that side. Let's do two more. Inhale.

And exhale. Last one. Hold it here. And as the carriage comes in, now you're going to thread that needle. And rotate. And again, and the red and rotate.

Make sure that head comes with you. So there's consistency from the bottom of your vertebra. All the way to the top. One of my favorite cues is that the eyes lead the spine. So whichever direction you want your spine to go, turn your eyes in that direction.

Let's open up here for a nice extension to shoulder. And then you're gonna head and return that carriage. That felt pretty good. You guys are all warm. We're gonna go into a little bit extension early on. I still have it at one yellow, and I'm gonna lay prone onto my belly facing backwards.

So from here, the ball is gonna go between the feet. This is an exercise if the ball starts to irritate you. You don't have the mobility in your hips. Just drop the ball and continue the exercises because it can be a little bit difficult if you're tight to hold that ball. We'll start with the blower body slightly relaxed so that I can go into extension and focus on my upper back. Hands are to the side of the shoulder blocks, head and shoulders forward.

And I'm gonna find a nice extension. I'm gonna roll myself back down. I want you to think about the top of your head if there was a wall at the back of that reformer, and I've got a ball up against my head, softball. And the back of the reformer, I'm gonna roll that ball up the wall. It'll give you a nice opening of the collarbone.

The opening of the collarbone is a great way to find that extension. This is your last one, and then I'm gonna place my hands on the frame. This time, I do want a little bit of emphasis on the lower half of the body. So I'm gonna press the pubic bone down. What that'll do is float those quads slightly up so you'll feel a little bit of a fire between the glute and hamstring.

With your hands on the frame long, head down between the arms, start to roll the head up, open up through the chest, and move the carriage to find a deeper stretch of the front of the body and a deeper extension, and then return the carriage to the stopper. I like the inhale as I extend. And exhale as I flex. Let's do two more for four total inhale. One more. And return.

Relax the legs for just a moment without dropping the ball. Take your hands behind you now with the palms facing up, and I'm just gonna center myself on the box and drop my head and shoulders. And this time, I'm gonna try to find a bigger extension by reaching back with my palms up towards the ceiling to open up through the chest and create like a rocket shape with my body and then flex forward. So now my lower half of my body and my upper half of my body are actually moving from relaxed neutral flexion into extension, and there's one more here. And then we're gonna reach for those uprights. So I want you to hold that last rocket position if you feel comfortable too.

Grab the frame. And with a light yellow spring, one swoop, you could grab those uprights and then drop down. Now this is one where some people might slide, which sometimes indicates you have too much resistance. But from here, let's bend the elbows. And find that extension.

So I would call this the second level of that swan. And if that was enough for you, continue with that last swan exercise. But this is a great way to work those biceps as well. Little lap pulls. One more.

And then the arm slide and the head drops. I'm gonna add a little coordination early on, so we're gonna bend the knees. This is a modification or variation of grasshopper. So from here with your arms extended long, head between the arms, tap your heel and ball towards your bottom three times. On that fourth time, you're gonna extend the legs, look up and find your swan.

As your elbows bend, you'll tap the ball. One, two, three, and then up. Coronation makes splies a little bit harder. So if it's difficult for you, just eliminate. The pulse, you know, the heels. We'll do that one more time.

You tap, tap, tap, extend, and then release And grabbing onto the frame, because nobody wants to bang the carriage onto the stopper. We all the way back. I'll grab the ball and come up into a quick cat cow, a little stretch. So the ball usually if it's sticky, will stay in place. And just round your back on your exhale breath, and then inhale breath. And then you can go into a wag the tail, a little stretch in the hips, and take your time here if you need to in child's pose to release any tension into your back. I'm gonna move sideways now, and I'm gonna keep I'm gonna change the spring, excuse me, to a blue spring for a little bit more resistance. So I'll drop down.

For those of you that don't have color coded springs, I'm at a half spring load. So I'm gonna take the ball this time and use it for more of support. It's going to be underneath my right rib cage, and it's gonna find a comfortable home here for just a moment. And then make sure that you're comfortable and don't feel like you're wedged into the back of the box or falling off. The bottom of the box.

I'll grab the closest loop and place it onto my top foot and press the carriage out. You'll know right away if you have too much or not enough resistance just when you start to press into that exercise. Let's take that top leg forward into a kick. How far do you go? Well, that depends on your hamstring flexibility and also your stability of your back. So you're gonna press back.

I like to always pause on the first couple. So I can really feel my end ranges of motion. And then I can move a little bit quicker. We're only gonna do six of them here because we've got a few to go through. So I'll do four more exhale breath.

The ball will give you some feedback. It'll tell you whether or not you're leaning into it. If it's moving around a little bit, it means that your body might be adjusting your upper body as you move through your lower body. We're gonna hold the leg out to the side now and then bend the knee what I like to call like a donkey kick, band and extend. The free arm could be behind your head.

If you'd like, and that'll support your head. It'll kind of bring it back to your shoulders and in line with your torso. Otherwise, you can keep it here. Yeah. Right on to the box. One more time, and then return and bend that knee.

Now I'm going to slide the circle or the strap above my knee. And we're gonna try to keep the legs parallel. We're gonna take the legs up and down. Now if you're doing this correctly, the carriage might move a teeny bit, but not much. Because you're just keeping that resistance on the whole time. Two more.

One more. And now hold the leg up at the height of that hip, and let's just bring that leg behind. I'm just gonna move my bottom arm under out of the way. If you notice the beginning of class, we did a little warm up for this. So you're moving through your hip through flexion and through extension. Nice.

Now if you wanted to be mean, You can add some rotations or if I want it to be mean. I can add some rotations. Here on that hip, just four, and then four on the other side. And then the toes will come together for your very last exercise size here, you're just gonna open up a little clamshell exercise. Now by this time, that outer side of your thigh should be barking, but make sure that if you're hurting down here, you're not falling into the upper part of your body.

So only do as many as you can maintain consistency throughout your torso. Just one more because it's burning. And then I'm gonna return that. Take the strap out and glide myself back. We're gonna put the strap onto the l hook for just a moment.

So that way I could do a little figure four stretch of the leg that I just worked, I'll place over my thigh. And one of the great cues I've ever been given about this stretch is imagine that you're peering over a building and just lean into it. And then once you get to that point, then you'll flex and really stretch that hip. We're gonna spin around and do the other side. So now the ball will be under the ribs.

I'll grab the strap and place the foot onto the strap and extend that leg out. So you wanna have that long line from that tailbone all the way to the top of the head. The ball is wherever it gives you the most support and feels comfortable. Let's start with the kick. Inhale here and exhale here and back.

I'm gonna place my hand behind my head for now to set my head in place because it's a little bit tiresome on my neck. And back. Just a couple more. Shores wide. Let's hold that next one and into your donkey kick, band and extend.

Bend and extend. Try to keep that foot as much in parallel as you can. Almost as though your leg also only has a little bit of room to move between two panes of glass. I'm gonna take the strap off of or not off my foot, but just slide it up above my knee and then align the knees and the feet back up. Taking my hand back to the back of my head because that's what feels best for me. And I'm just gonna a b duct the leg at the hip.

The biggest thing here is keeping as much as you can that ankle to knee perpendicular and the carriage as quiet as possible. One more, And then we're gonna take that leg into hip extension. So back and forth, you could also have the option of taking the ball from underneath your ribs, and you can place it here if you'd like a little bit more emphasis between the hamstring and calf just like we did in the warm up exercises, we were standing. And then you're a bonus circles here for in each direction. Again, the movement comes from the hip, not the foot. You'll see a lot of foot play in this one. We'll reverse it. Four times.

Two, three. What you'll find is maybe even the bottom hip is fatiguing just for stability's sake. Now put the toes together and then a little clamshell open here. And open. And this is when you really start to feel like maybe those hips are cooked. You have two more.

Last one, and let's slide the strap off the foot. And slowly return the carriage, and I'll be facing backwards for a quick little figure four stretch on that hip. So I'll place my right leg right over my left, and there's also a little ledge here. On the back end of the box and the carriage that will give you a deeper stretch if you don't let that other leg hang. And return.

K. Alright. So from here, we're gonna go into some short box exercises. So now the box will move in short box position. I don't know the exact math, but I like to say to some people if you're like five seven or taller, you can place the box over the shoulder blocks. As long as you're not doing anything with the carriage where the box will slide, it should be fine here. I'm on the short end, so it's right in front of the the blocks. I'm gonna place all of the springs on and I'll face forward for a little short box abdominal exercises.

My feet are gonna be under the safety strap, and all safety straps are different on different reformers. This one happens to have a little bit wider play to it. Just wherever you feel comfortable in this position. What I do want is the sits bones close to the front and the ball between the knees. The ball here is not gonna be more for emphasis on those inner thighs and pelvic floor. So before you get started, make sure that your feet feel comfortable about the same distance as the knees and the strap is over the crease of the ankle.

Placing my hands to the front of the box, I'm gonna find a tall posture and just give the ball a few squeezes. Inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth. Now, I don't have a mirror, but I'm assuming that I've got my head and my ribs and my hips stacked like yoga blocks. So you wanna find that tall posture before we start moving into the abdominals. Do not over squeeze the ball in these exercises.

You will strain your groin. That's not fun. It's just for more of a fire in that inner unit. So let's take the arms out in front. Palms face each other. I'm going to turn the wheels of my pelvis and roll myself back. Towards my lower back, and I'm gonna round back up and find my tall posture. Inhale at the top, exhale pelvis wheels turn, rib wheel turns, and the head wheel turns naturally still gazing forward, and then back up.

I'm gonna scoot forward just a teeny bit. Two more exhale flex. Inhale back up. Last one, exhale. And then back up.

The next one I'm gonna hold it there. So I'm gonna go ahead and hold here squeezing the ball gently crossing my arms. I'm going into obliques. Rotating to the right, try to keep your chin and your sternum in the same plane back to the center. Rotate to the left, back to the center.

Now you can take a break and sit up between each set, or you could stay here if this feels good to you, or you wanna challenge yourself, continue to rotate. Just make sure that you're rotating with the mid back, and you're not twisting into that lumbar spine. Let's try to keep that stable. That's where the ball comes in handy. I'm gonna do one more set.

And then back to the center and then sit all the way back up. One last thing here. I'll take the ball into my hand. And end up releasing a hand. So we're gonna go into half rollbacks with rotation.

So as I roll back this time, I'll grab the ball with my right hand turn that palm up, reach away. So now I've got this big wingspan, and then I'll sit all the way back up, and then exhale. And this one, we can move a little bit quicker as long as you have control. And you can get that heart rate up up a little bit more Just always do these rotational exercises and flexion exercises to where it feels good. Two more. Last one. And then all the way back to the center.

I'm gonna turn towards you now a lot of unilateral or side work here in this in this workout. I'm gonna now sit sideways. We're gonna work on that lateral sling. The rule for me is to sit a little bit further back on the box so that my leg that's supported by the strap is slightly in front of me. And let's set you up for success on this one.

Let's hold the ball that's closest to the back of the reformer. So the arm that's closest to the back. First, I want you to imagine a high shelf at the back of the reformer. So as you lean, it's like you wanna place that ball on that high shelf. Once I get to this position, the left leg, which is the strap leg, is parallel turns towards you, and I could feel my outer thigh holding me here. And then I'm gonna sit all the way back up. Three more. I do this in classes all the time. It drives people crazy because I make them whole disposition, but it's just a testament that you don't have to move very quickly to feel the love and pain of Pilates so you just reach and then back Buckmaster one, all the way out. Now take that ball, wrap it around your belly, and then come into that deep lateral flexion.

And then as you come up, use that supporting strap leg to pull you up, drop your sits bones, and then counter stretch. That whole long line applies here. So between those two panes of glass, take a little stretch. Lift yourself back up and then return. When you come back up, if there's little to no adjustment, then you know you probably were in good form.

Otherwise, you'll have to readjust your bum on the box. And then all the way back up. K. Now let's use the ball like we did in the beginning when we warmed up. For a little feedback, we'll place the ball onto the headrest. Once the ball is on the headrest, You will find a long line, but I want you to find it with your shoulder first. Once you find it with your shoulder, you'll take the free hand behind the head.

This moves. Right? So you have to make sure that you feel stable for a one arm press. Make sure you're coming into that lateral flexion and you're just not leaning into the ball. I'll show you one time. I see this a bit where we collapse.

I want this. One more. Now hold that deep lateral flexion. And drop your forearm down. So now I'm even lower.

These are effective. Highly effective as one of my clients says to me. I'm gonna take that elbow now so you have those arms saws. I'm gonna saw the arm back rotate gaze towards the floor, and I'm gonna saw the ball forward. Three more. Inhale, the inhale is gonna help me open up those ribs, exhale. Two more. Last one, And then with as much control as possible, lift yourself up, and then counter stretch.

I do want you to notice that the warm up in the beginning of class reflects your workout so we warm the body up and all of those rotational exercises. I'm gonna turn you the other way now or turn myself. Okay. So now you can actually get a different reference here, but I'll sit towards the back. All of you that know the short box, it's not the same width as the reformer.

So always be careful not to tip back. We'll start with the arm reach on this side. So here's the arm. Here's my other arm. I will lean, put that ball up on the shelf, make sure that that hip comes up and then I find that long line and then sit back down.

Inhale and exhale. Two more and you reach Last one, and then back up. Second side always goes by faster. You know what's coming. So we're gonna lean, wrap, fine lateral flexion.

Come all the way back up. That knee does help me. I don't like to call it a cheat. I like to call it an assist. So as I'm reaching, that comes into parallel, then I wrap Then I will put pressure onto that strap and then pull myself back up.

Keep that head in line with the shoulders. It's very easy to come out of alignment on these exercises. And always feel free to drop the ball, place the hand for support onto the headrest so you can just find that nice stretch. This is your last one. And then we're gonna come all the way back up and then counter stretch. Place the ball back onto the headrest now.

And then we're gonna reach that left shoulder so we still stay in form, hand behind the head. One arm press. Inhale, exhale still finding lateral flexion. Don't forget. We have two more. One more.

And now the forearm drops. And the hand stays behind the head, and then we'll saw the arm coming into rotation, and then back. Again, highly effective. Two more Last one. And then with control, come all the way up.

And find a counter stretch. Okay. That was a lot of lateral flexion. We're gonna move on, and we're gonna do some upper body and give the ribs a little bit of a break. So I'm gonna go down to one red spring. That is for all intents and purposes a full spring. Okay?

I'm gonna sit facing back. The ball now is just pretty much your knees are gonna be a placeholder. You don't have to have it there. I like it there. I have a wonky hip So this actually helps me. So I'm just gonna leave it there.

Reach down, grab the straps, and then test the resistance. We're gonna do some rows first. So just test the resistance. A quick remedy without having to go change springs is we can cross them. So I'm gonna cross the springs so that they are a little bit shorter, and they're gonna give me just the right amount of resistance.

Where you sit on the box also makes a difference, by the way. So again, here's our tall posture, head, ribs, hips, a gentle squeeze of the ball as you press back. And if you haven't been told before, arms should move from your back. I have had a lot of shoulder stuff going on lately. I'm hyper aware there. Make sure that you are not in those upper traps the whole time.

One more time, bring it back. And then a return. And you can add a low row variation or a mid row variation to that as well. We're gonna go into a little rotation again. Remember when I told you the ribs were taking a break, I I actually kinda lied a bit.

So nice and tall with the spine. Take the elbow back. I'm gonna start with my left side. I'm gonna punch the right arm forward. So I want you to really think about that rotation and the gesture arm is strong and then reach.

And then the other side, inhale. And exhale. We're gonna do one more on each side. The last one. And now because the resistance is pretty tight for me, I'm going to uncross and bring the elbows in towards my ribs so that the humor is the top of my arm should be in line with my shoulder, and I'm gonna do a little external rotation here. I could feel the shoulder blades slightly glide together.

Just make sure that you maintain a good posture and good replacement for this one so that you're not overusing your lower Buckmaster one. And then maybe some good old bicep curls here, keeping the elbows up the height of the shoulders. Just three more. The elbows are only as high as you can maintain good posture. If your arms come up too high and you can't maintain control, then drop those elbows a bit. And lastly, because I love this one, I'm gonna take the straps up to my elbows.

And you could also take the shorter straps there if you'd like. I have the longer ones here. We're gonna go into gold post arms and work on those rhomboids So as the arms come back, the elbows are gonna be to the side, just making a little adjustment to that right strap. You want the palms to face you the whole time. So you want the elbows to come forward and then back. If the palms are facing you the whole time, it means that you are moving from your shoulder blade, from your back, and you're not giving me the princess wave.

Inhale, exhale. Or even exhale and inhale. Let's hold it back on the next one. And from here, if you give me a little thumbs down action, thumbs down and back, then you really feel that posterior Delia. And you'll feel the rhomboids and low mid traps. Just two more, and then I'm just going to stretch forward and place the straps over the l hooks.

I'll step down. The ball will come into play again. And we are gonna continue with shoulder work, but we're gonna incorporate more of a whole body movement. So I'm gonna drop it down to a blue. Again, these are the resistances, the half spring that works better for my body. But you can more than more than welcome to keep the red spring on there. As a matter of fact, the taller you are or more body mass you have, you'll get more support from more spring load.

I'm gonna place a ball between my knees. And then my feet will gently hook onto the platform. For safety, always make sure that the feet are comfortable on the platform. You can also do these exercises with your feet on the foot bar, which would be more advanced. I'm gonna keep mine down for today.

Make sure the forearms are comfortable, and let's start by testing this out. Ball between the knees, press out to a forearm plank. And just hold, maybe take a couple of breaths. Make sure that you are not overusing those shoulders here. They're in neutral from the humerus, and then come back.

I'm just gonna make an adjustment to the ball, make sure it doesn't slip. Alright. So just four Inhale out and exhale back. By bending and extending the knees. My movement is coming from the lower half of my body.

That's the mover. The stability is the upper half of the body. Last one, and then place the knees down and rest. Now we're gonna go into a saw motion with the shoulder. So I'm gonna hold plank pressing out. My lower body now is a stable part.

My upper body is the mover. For these. And then the knees come back. Last of the series will be a pike. So I'm gonna take this carriage out And then this time, I'm gonna hinge the hips, pivot at the shoulders, and find a nice stretch. So I want you to try to get the carriage to meet the stopper.

As you go out, try to push through your hips first, Then through your shoulders to find plank, and then back to your pike. Your hip is a hinge joint. Your shoulder is a pivot joint. So it'd be like, Turning the knobs of your shoulders to open up the door of your hips almost. So you're pulling it back, last one, and then return.

I'm dropping my knees. As a bonus, I'm gonna do three sets and alternate those. So stay with me. Okay? Here we go. So first, I'm gonna go out. Then I'm gonna bend the knees, extend the knees, saw the arms forward, and then pike up and then repeat. So you'll go to plank.

You'll bend the knees. You'll press out. You'll saw the arms. And then you'll pike, pull it in with those abs. Just one more set.

Plank, knees bent, knees extend, arms extend, arms come back, and you lift a pike, and then you bend the knees, and then you return. And you think that was it, but it's not. So we're gonna do a little bit of oblique work. So I'm gonna take the ball that's closest to you, with the knee that's closest to you and place the ball between the knee and the box. Okay? Hopefully, you got a little room there. My forms will go back When we go out to plank, your left knee's coming with you.

Just remember that part. Okay? So I'm gonna push out. Left knee comes with me. All I'm doing here is spinal articulation to roll the ball up towards the box just for on each side, exhale. Keep that platform leg nice and strong and make sure the head is consistent with the movement of your torso and then lower down.

And that's it. And over to the other side. Last one, it's like a Pilates instructor's famous last four. It's just one more. We're good. Okay. Four arms down.

Okay. Press it out. Pause. Feel strong in that supporting knee. Roll up four times one. Exhale two. Last one.

Lower the knee and return the carriage. Okay. Stepping off to the side, I'm gonna pull the bar up so that it is in, the foot bar position. It'll be two clicks on the allegro. Now we're gonna go into some exercises where the ball is gonna come in and out of play, but we're gonna keep the box, where it is. So I'm gonna stand on top of the box, actually. I'm gonna go back to one red spring. This is a moving carriage.

K? So anytime you come up on that moving carriage, just have a hand on the bar. Hand here on top. K? And then just have a seat. So once you have a seat, you can get comfortable here. We're gonna place the ball between the feet.

This is one of the series that, again, the ball, you don't have to use it. If it's not working for you, then let the ball go. You want the ball to be between the arches. The heels are going to be on top of or the kinda like a high heel. Hands onto the bar.

Sholders or wide thumbs and fingertips pointing forward, we're gonna take the butt up to a hover. Once the butt is up to a hover, let's reach the arms forward and see what we can balance here. This can also be done with the feet flat. Hands to the bar, drop the butt down. Let's try that again. Hands to the bar, butt to a hover, arms to a hover, hands to the bar, butt down.

That femur fold is an important essential function of the hip, and this is what helps you get on and off the floor. So it's a great way to practice that strength. Doesn't work for everyone. If it actually helps to not go up and down on the box, then you just hold that hover. This is the last one.

Hands of the bar, fingertips forward, but up arms up. Now, let's just take the hands to the bar and extend the legs. Now you're in this almost elephant position. So let's go ahead and do the elephant. I'm gonna keep my back rounded.

I'm gonna press the carriage back and forth, scoop. Inhale, exhale. Obviously, this is gonna put you a lot closer to the bar. So it's gonna feel a lot different. And if you don't have that hamstring flexibility, this is a great variation.

Bring the carrot all the way into the stopper, and then find a little flat back. And if you need to bend the knees to do so, go ahead. Just keep them in the same position the whole time. Inhale exhale. This is gonna give you a little bit more hamstring stretch. These exercises, the elephant exercises are meant to strengthen the shoulder for stability, hip mobility, hip flexor strength, hamstring flexibility.

Now from here, we're gonna bend the knees just like we did earlier shoulders wide. We're just gonna go into a variation of knee stretches. So you're gonna press the legs back and forth. Now we did these facing the other direction reverse. But now the shoulders are more stable here, and we're focusing on abs back and legs.

Two more. One more, and then straighten the legs to bring it all the way back in. Now comes plank. So as we press the carriage back, we're gonna set the wrist right over the shoulders, This is a lot of resistance because your feet are a lot closer, which makes the resistance tighter, and then you're gonna lift back up into your pike. So first into your plank, and then into your pike.

Let's just do two more inhale. And exhale. Make sure that head comes with you. Last one, inhale. And then exhale. To return.

And we're gonna go ahead and sit our butt down. The next exercise, you do not have to use the ball. I will be using it. It is an advanced knee stretch exercise. So we're gonna come back up into this pike position.

I'm gonna bring the feet a little closer together so it's more centered on the box. I'm gonna place the ball between my calf and my hamstring again. So it's back. This exercise back again. Okay? Like shady. Alright. So I've got the heart between the thumbs, and I'm gonna press the carriage leg out and draw the knee in. As the carriage comes in, I'm gonna extend the leg, and we'll just do four of them.

Last one bonus. We'll go left, right, and back. So you're taking the knee side to side. We'll do just one more, side to side and return. Careful as you drop your back knee, grab the ball, and we'll switch legs.

And this is gonna be the last of these. So I'm gonna place the ball now between the calf and hamstring. Shoulders are steady, heart between the thumbs. I'll bring the left knee in, and then we'll bicycle four times. And bonus, right elbow, left elbow, three sets, right elbow, left elbow, one more set, rotation, and then you'll place the knee down as the carriage returns, and then you'll carefully step off.

Alright. So upper body now gets a little bit of a break. And we're gonna come towards the end here. And we'll be doing some standing legs on top of the carriage. So the foot bar is gonna have to come down all the way.

And for those of you that have platform extenders and such, go ahead and place us on if that feels good to you. The allegra two has a wide enough platform, so we're gonna stay here. I have a red spring on or a full spring. My foot will go always on the non moving platform that's fixed. Hand on the box and foot on.

Now we talked about earlier where the box needs to be. If you had placed the box over, at any point, it needs to be in front of the box just like it was for the knee stretches. So the toes are gonna point forward. My foot is up against the box, which I actually quite like because if the outside of my foot is straight, that's really parallel. Okay? Let's go ahead and take the ball out in front. And give it a little squeeze. So, yes, it helped with those inner thighs, but could also help with the chest as well to create that inner unit firing.

We'll just press the carriage out and back. Now, because the carriage is or the foot's up against the box, That's gonna feel a little bit easier than if the foot is at the edge. If you're not finished working out those outer thighs, you're welcome to place the foot at the edge of the carriage to give yourself more resistance. But I'm enjoying this a b or adductor stretch here. Let's add a little rotation. So now as I push the carriage out, I'm gonna reach the ball forward and rotate and then return.

What's nice about holding on to a prop as well is it keeps those shoulders in alignment the whole time, so it feels just a little bit more consistent. Two more. Last one, And the last exercise here is called picking flowers over variation of. So as I push the carriage away, I'm gonna reach the arms to the ceiling and soften my knees. From the hip joint, I'm going to lean and hinge trying to bring the ball towards the well or inside the well. As I hold the carrot steady, I'll roll through my spine until I'm all the way to upright.

And then return the carriage. And again, inhale, bend the knees, hinge at the hips, exhale. And then I forgot to bring that ball all the way up. So I'm gonna bring it all the way up, actually. And then return the carriage.

We'll do this just one more time. Reach the ball up hinge at the hips. Roll down. Since this is your last one, make it a good one. Because this time, as I return the carriage, I'm gonna squeeze the ball and do a little extension.

Safety first, hand on the box, foot behind, and we go over to the other side. Right foot is on the platform, left foot on the box, tall with your spine, and we're gonna press press out and back. Let's do six of them. You wanna keep the body in alignment with the center of your hips. So don't lean into it. Stay nice and tall.

I'm giving that ball squeeze for support here. We're gonna go into rotation. So I'll start by bringing the arms forward and sweeping it around. And then making sure again that my body is in alignment that I'm not leaning into the back of the reformer. Two more Last one, and now you're picking flowers.

So arms reach as you press away, soften the knees hinge, a little awkward moment to low, roll yourself up, and then bend. And we'll do that again. Inhale, bend the knees, hinge, roll through, feels so good. Roll through your spine. Let's keep the arms with the ears and feel the hip stack onto the femur's return one more time. Reach. Bend hinge. Roll.

Remember this is your last one. Roll it all the way up, up, up, up, up, up, up, now as you return the carriage, you'll squeeze the ball, return to the stopper. And find extension. Hand on the box, step down, place the ball down. You guys are all done today.

I hope you enjoyed a little box and play on the reformer.