Creative Classical Mat

Hi. I'm Kathleen Mangan. Today's mat class is inspired by a traditional Pilates mat. However, there is some fun sequencing variations and Pilates spice mixed in. You won't need any props today, just you and the mat, so let's get started. Walk to the front edge of your mat, cross one foot over the other, cross your forearms one over the other, and lift your center as you sit all the way down to the mat with control. We'll go right into cat cow, so flip over so that you're on your hands and your knees.

So starting with cat cow, round your back up to the ceiling. And then let everything melt back down towards the mat, but lift your chest and your gaze towards the sky. Go again round through your hips, deepen your waist, and really press into the mat to round your back. And then let it go. Open everything in your front body up.

Let's go one more time round to the hips. Let your head hang heavy. And then this time, lengthen out into a straight line from tailbone to the crown of your head. We'll go right into bird dog. So stretch one leg back, stretch the opposite arm forward and lift both, try to find the longest possible line from fingertips to toes.

And then tap both your toes and fingertips to the mat, stretch long, right back up and out. Let's go four more times. Tap and stretch. Focus on the length. Get as long as you can.

Last two, hold the line last time, stretch out and hold for a little extra challenge, shift your weight ever so slightly forward, and see if you can pick your supporting foot off the mat. It's harder than it looks. Lower your foot, lower your hand and your knee. Other side, stretch one leg out, stretch your opposite arm out, and find that long straight line. You're working to square off your shoulders and your hips and lower your fingertips and your toes to the mat, stretch right back out.

Let's go four more times. Find your length and three. And up, meanwhile, consciously square those hips off. Last time, stretch out and hold your line. The more energy, the better, reach shift your weight ever so slightly forward, see if you can pick your supporting foot up off the mat, deepen your waist, keep your energy through those toes and fingertips, replace your foot, replace your hands, and then your knee.

Alright. We're ready to go into some more traditional work. Flip over onto your back, and we'll first prep for the 100 just by opening everything up. Imagine you're reaching into a big full body yawn. Roll your backbones down into the mat, and then pull yourself into a snug tight little ball.

Let's go two more times. This is one of the few times in a Pilates class. I'll ever let you shrug, but go for it. Shrug those shoulders up. Push your hips up.

Roll everything back down and pull yourself into a tight little ball. Let's go one more time, feet to the mat, stretch everything up and out. Roll all the way down. Pull yourself back into that final tight little ball. Set yourself up for your 100, stretch your arms and legs out long and straight.

Pump your arms. Take your big breath in. And breathe out two three four five inhale two. XL five four three two one. Keep it going. We'll do three more sets just like this, and then we're gonna spice it up a little bit. Last two breaths.

And breathe out. Last time, and breathe out and squeeze those heels together. Now here's where things get spicy. Pump your arms on your inhale and then freeze. XL two three four five and in two three four, five, hold your arms, beat your legs, and inhale, and exhale.

And then see if you can put it all together. Last two breaths, arms up, legs out. Last time, big breath in, and breathe out, and rest. Going back to that full body on, this time put your feet together on the mat, lift your arms all the way up and overhead, We're gonna sneak our way into the roll up, stretch your arms and legs out long and forward. Reach forward three times.

Pull back in your center. Allow your knees to bend enroll yourself up nice and hot. Let's go two more like that. Lift and reach. Go three.

Two. One, roll it back. And up and over, you go. And roll it down. Go three, two, one, and let's just do two more regular roll ups.

Inhale up. And three, two, one, roll it back. And last time, go three, two, one, roll it back. Switching things up again will go into tree. So draw your right knee in, and then stretch your leg up three times trying to keep that thigh close to your chest.

Press forward into your grip with your hamstring strength. And climb up your legs so you end up in a seated position. Flex and point your foot. Let's go two times here, and then just circle around to each side pull yourself in tighter, climb down that tree. Climb right back up.

It's a very good tool to help you square off that hip by pressing your leg forward. Climb back down. Third time, press that leg and your hip forward. Come all the way up, sitting tall, climb back down, and you should be nice and stretchy for your single leg circles. Five times go three, and two, and one.

Reverse it. Open cross and come up. Open cross and come up. Three more times. You're pressing into the mat with everything that's still touching, your hamstrings, your shoulders, your hands, your ribs. Hold here. We're spicing it up again.

Lift your head and shoulders. Reach for your ankle. Give your feet a flex. Give it a double pull. That's right.

We're doing scissors and switch. Let's go three more sets and two. And one, and hold, bend your knee, climb down your leg, and we'll start right back at tree now on the other side. Stretch that leg up three times, lift your head and shoulders, press your leg into your grip so that you can get all the way up. Flex and point your foot. Let's go two times with a circle to each side and then pull yourself in closer climb down that leg, climb right back up, sit tall, climb it down.

Third time, press that leg forward helps you square off your hips if you do. Climb back down, and then we're ready for our circles on the other side. So cross around and come up four more times. And again, you're pressing your ribs to the mat, You're pressing your supporting hamstrings down and your shoulders. Reverse. Open circle around and lift.

Open circle around and two. Three more. Keep your hips steady and still, even though that leg's moving a lot too. Last time, hold, lift up your head and shoulders. Take your other leg to the ceiling.

Take both hands behind your head. I'm throwing in some of your abs series here and lift. This is your lower lift. Go three. Two.

One and up. Three. Two, one, switch your counts, lower in one, lift up, up, up, lower, lift, lift, lift, lower lift, lift, lift, lower, hold, reach your arms forward like you're doing a teaser. Do do your teaser come all the way up, bend your knees going right into your rolling like a ball. Go five more sets.

And four, up, and three, up, rock through your hips and your lower back. Last time, hold it, stretch out to your teaser again, roll all the way back down moving into your abs series of single leg stretch to start. Let's go three more sets and two and one, going right into your double leg stretch, inhale, stretch your arms out long and straight, exhale circle around, hug your knees. Inhale reach. Fully empty those lungs.

Last two, stretch everything away. Circ around, pull in. Last time. Circ around and pull in and you get to rest. Well, we've already done the scissors and lower lift so we won't repeat. Instead, let's go right into crisscross.

Cur up your head and shoulders. Twist one elbow to the opposite knee and try to lift up a little higher so your bottom shoulder is up also. Lift to your transition. Lift the bottom shoulder up. Up and over to your first side.

Up and over to your second side. Let's just do it one more time. If you're lifting enough, three repetitions is plenty and rest. You may do a full roll up to get into your spine stretch forward. Alright.

So take your seat I have my feet as wide as my moon boxes. My back is tall and straight, and today I'm just gonna leave my fingertips on the mat. So lifting from your center, start to dive from the crown of your head, let your fingertips brush all the way forward on your mat, and then pull back in your stomach to roll up and sit tall, exhale there. Inhale lift, exhale pour your energy out like your liquid being poured out of a container, and then press down in your legs to roll up and create space in your back. Let's just do one more time here round it forward and then press down into your legs to roll up. This time, take your arms in front of you and a little wide so they're right over your knees and then rock your hips under you just a hair.

Come right back up. Do it again. Rock your hips under just a hair. And come right back up. Let's try it a third time. Rock under, see if you can keep your stomach in and your tailbone curved under you, and pick up your legs for your open mic rocker.

Let's go for it. Rock back. Come right back up. Rock back. Come right back up.

That tree you did earlier, pressing your legs into your hands should help propel you forward in this exercise. It was a sneaky little building block, and you didn't even know it. And press up and hold, bring your feet together, catch your balance, open, rock back. Come up, bring your feet together, open, rock back, One more time like that. Together and open rock back.

Hold. Let go. Place your feet down with control. We'll go right into saw. Today's saw is gonna take your hands behind your head.

Twist to the front. Bend your body so that your elbow goes towards your back knee. Try to touch that back knee and use it as leverage to open your top elbow even more. Roll up to sit tall. Reverse, twist. Bend. Your elbow goes to the knee on the same side.

Press against that knee to create a little bit more lift. Roll up. Sit tall. Now try to bring your elbow right into the middle of your knees. Maybe you can get it all the way down. Push your top elbow up, roll up, and center.

To the back, your elbow goes right to the middle of your knees. Press into that mat, lift your elbow high. Roll up. Let's go one more time changing where your elbow lands each time. Now go to your front knee.

Roll up and center and twist. And round, come up, and center, and rest flipping over onto your stomach for swan, flatten your hands into the mat and open your collarbone so that your elbows are poking up right behind your back, glutes are on stomach lifts. Lift your hands. Lift your chest. Keep your neck long as you add a little extra press with the intent of holding your new position.

Hold it and rest. Let's try two more times. The hands lift up first followed by the upper back. The hands add a little bit of help as you come up, your neck is still long. Pick up your hands. And rest.

One more time, we'll go into the full dive, lift your hands, lift your back, at a full press up. You'll dive with your palms facing down. Here we go. Six up, five, up, four, and three, lift those hands. It will help, and rest in a child's pose. Thank goodness. Press yourself into a forearm plank by first flipping your toes underneath you, and then stretch yourself forward coming on to your forearms.

You're pushing strong in your elbows, your feet are grounding down into the mat, and those glutes are on. Start by picking up your back leg, give your leg a double kick. One, two, stretch long, step it down. Front leg, lift it without your hips becoming uneven. Kick, kick, kick. Stretch long, and down. Again, kick, kick, stretch, down, and kick, kick, stretch down. Don't let that knee drop.

The high knee can make or break this exercise, lift it. Kick, kick, stretch, one more set, lift, kick, kick, stretch down, front, kick, kick, stretch down, and you can rest into your child's pose one more time. And then we'll flip onto our backs for shoulder bridge. Alright. So start with your feet hip width apart. We're just gonna roll through our backs a few times first.

So ground your heels into the mat, roll up, and feel your knees being pulled forward as your heels pull back. So there's lots of activity at your hamstrings, lots of length in the front of your body. Roll it down. Go again, curl up your tailbone, feel as though your knees are being pulled forward, your heels are being pulled back, your neck is comfortable long and relaxed. Roll it down.

Now let's try the same thing, but with your feet together now, it's much different, much harder. Ground your feet into the mat. Roll up. Your knees are hugging your center line, The hips pull back. The heels pull back. Your knees press.

Now lift one foot off the floor ever so slightly and push into the ball of your supporting foot. Step it down. Switch. Feel not the lifted leg, feel the grounded leg, feel the foot, all parts of it, and step and change. Let's march back and forth, go five more sets, pressing into the mat with your supporting foot every time. Last two, last time, and hold Your glutes are on the stomach pulls in. Let's add on.

Without your hip dropping, brush one leg forward. Pull it back in. Switch sides. And pull it back in. Those hips are still high. Glutes and hamstrings still on.

Of course, your hips are square, and let's add on. So you brush that leg forward, kick, kick up, flex down, kick, kick up, and lower. Three more, and two, And one, slide it back in. Brush your left leg out and kick kick flex lower. Kick kick, kick, flex lower point point. Keep that hip high to two, and down, last one, and down, slide your foot back in. Those glutes are on.

Your abs are in, roll it down. And you deserve a nice little break and a little relaxing moment after that. So I always like to stir my knees in a little bit, helps relax the hips and open up the lower back. And then we'll move on into side kicks. So place your feet to the front of your mat. If you're on a classical mat like this, you can use your moon boxes.

Your head is comfortably in your hands with your elbow, shoulder, and hips all on that back edge. We just did a ton of work in the leg, so we'll keep this part brief. Lift your top leg up about hip height. Give me 10 circles hovering over your supporting leg, and press down in your supporting leg. So it's acting like a little kickstand, three more sets, and pause, then reverse.

Make sure the circle goes behind the line of your heel, of the supporting leg. Go five, counting down four, three, two, One and pause. We go right into big circles. So sweep your leg forward. Lift it up. Reach back with your big toe and come around four more.

Lift up. Circle around back. And three, circle around back. And two, here's where that kickstand of your supporting leg really comes in. Use it. Reverse back up.

Reach you that big toe, back up, and three, down with your supporting leg, two, up, and one up. Come all the way around. And nice and simple, we'll just go to the other side. You're backed up all the way on the back edge of your mat, hips, shoulders, and elbow, top leg lifts, give me 10 circles hovering over your supporting leg. Your hips are still.

You're pushing into the box with your supporting foot. And hold, and then reversing it, stay behind your supporting leg. Counting backwards five. Four, three, two, one and pause. You get a quick little break before we do our big circle.

So lengthen your foot, reach with your big toe. Draw a circle all the way around to the ceiling and then behind you. Four more times, sealing, and back, and three, and back, and two, last time, and reverse. Paint that imaginary circle with your four, up, three, up, push down in your supporting leg, last two, and one, and rest. Alright. Come on to your back.

Before we do teaser, we'll do a few rolling like a ball just to warm your way up to it. Give me two more rock back, come up, hold your teaser, bend your knees, rock back and up, and back and up and hold. Again, back and up, back and up and hold, roll back with your upper body, and up, roll back, and up, roll back, and up, rolling like a ball two times. Reach. Take your arms back this time.

Roll back and up. Roll back and up. Roll back and up. Going into your rolling like a ball. Two times and hold lower the legs. One, and up, and two, and up, and three, and up, you guessed it rolling like a ball two times stretch everything out. Everything opens. It closes back up. It opens and closes back up.

Last time, it closes back up and last two rolling like a ball hold and flipping over onto your stomach for swimming. Remember the length you did in bird dog, right at the beginning of class. Reach one arm in the opposite leg long. Get length through your knees and rest and switch, long line from fingertips to toes, and rest. Everything up. Keep the reach.

Take a big breath in. And a big breath out. Big breath in. Try to catch yourself from shrugging, even though everything about this exercise makes you wanna shrug. Last set, and breathe out and rest.

Sit back on those heels. Alright. Coming to a side seated position for mermaid, You'll stack your knees, hold onto your ankle, and use your grip to really lift your back and ground your hip. Your opposite arm comes up high. Reach to the ceiling with the crown of your head. And pull yourself over into that yummy stretch and come back up.

Go two more times. Each time lift a little bit taller in between, so you get more length out of the stretch. Your energy goes up and out. Third time, lift up, and pull yourself over. This time, come all the way up into a counter stretch where you come down onto your forearm and stretch your opposite arm high.

And if you haven't done enough teasers today, you'll do another one. Transition to your other side. Hold on to your ankle. Lift your opposite arm high. Create length in space through your center line.

Pull yourself over. Find the length, up and out, not up and down. Go again, lift up and pull. Get longer. And come up. Third time.

Come all the way up and out. And then lift to the ceiling, come down and around for your counter stretch. We've got another side, exercise coming up. It's side bend, but we get to transition to your other side. Place the palm of your hand into the mat firmly.

Stack your feet one foot exactly over the other. Square off your hips so you're setting yourself up for success. Push into your feet. Press yourself all the way up and overhead into your side bend. Push into the floor.

Lift your top arm, bend your knees, and sit down. Really push your weight into your feet so that your bigger, stronger muscles are helping you, not just your shoulder. Lift up, push into your feet, sit back down. Third time. Press all the way up. Come back to your hip with your arm.

Give me little dips of the hips. Five of them. Four, and three, and two, and one, bend your knees, and tees are over to your other side. Stack your feet, ground your palm into the mat. Other arm is palm up by your side, push into your feet. It helps, I promise, take yourself all the way up, and then lift, push into your feet, sit back down. Do it again.

Press and lift. Come up and lower. Third and final, press yourself up, and reach this time, lower your arm to your hip. Give me five little dips. Three Two, hold. Bend your knees. You made it.

Let's scoot around for some boomerang. Come towards the front edge of your mat, cross one ankle over the other. Your hands go next to your thighs and duck your head down. Carve out your center as you lift those legs, come up and over, scissor switch, roll up and land in a teaser, flip your hands, grab them behind your back. Duck, dying down and forward, sweep your arms all the way around and repeat, lift your knees towards your face, roll back, scissor switch, roll up, hit your teaser, flip those hands, work your chest, stretch, control your descent.

Now, this is gonna be a little different as we keep going. Press into your fingertips. I'm gonna teach you how to roll to standing. Rock back. Scissor switch.

Instead of rolling up into your teaser, bend your knees, put your feet down and reach. That's step one. Go again. Rock back. Cissor switch.

Put your feet down, reach forward a little extra oomph to lift the seat. Go again, rock back, scissor switch, feet down. Push your hips up. Go again. Rock back.

Feet down. Hip's up. Last time. Scissor switch, reach forward, lift all the way to standing, and you made it. Thank you for taking today's class. Hope you got a great workout.