Minimal Flexion Reformer

Hi. I'm Gia, and today we're gonna do a reformer class using no forward flexion, and we're just gonna flow through and have a good time. So we're gonna start with footwork. I have my reformer set up with three red springs and one blue spring. You can do whatever settings that you like on your reformer, and I have my head rest up. So you can lie down.

We're gonna set your prehensile position. So you're gonna have your toes on the bar. Let's have your legs together. You're gonna wrap your toes around the bar and then push your heels under. So you're gripping the bar with your toes, and then just push all the way out.

Just hold it here. Push those heels under the bar, lengthen the legs and feel a nice stretch on the back of your legs. Just find your cell your center. Six deep inhale, and exhale one more time, inhale. And then as you exhale, bring your carriage all the way in. We're gonna keep the feet here and then push all the way out, reaching out through the heels each time, exhale to come back in.

Inhale stretch along. Excellent to come in. Let's try to relax in the arms. Pull into your abdominals. Start to get your center fired up already.

Reach out. And then come all the way in. Let's do form where we're trying to keep nice neutral pelvis. And three more. Heels are reaching under even as you come in, two. And in last one, and then come all the way in.

We're gonna stay with your legs together. She's gonna switch so you're on your heels. Flex your feet as much as you can, inhale as you stretch along, exhale as you come in. Again, thinking about working those feet, standing on your heels. Inhale lengthen, exhale to return. Hugging the midline of your legs.

Let's do four more. And three, all five toes coming back on each foot. Two, last one. And then come all the way in. Slide down to your toes. You're gonna have your heels together toes apart in your pilates v, knees are right over your toes, really glue the heels together, and he'll stretch all the way out, exhale to come back in.

So focusing on keeping your pelvis in that neutral position so nothing's changing, we're just changing the position of your legs, finding the rotation from your hips, and in four more. And three deep inhale, strong exhale. Two. Last one. Come all the way in.

Now you're gonna switch so you're on your heels again. This time you're gonna go to the edge of the foot bar. Turn out from your hips. You can go a little bit wider than your your first position. Flex your feet, knees are right over the toes, inhale stretch, and then return it back in.

Again, rotating from the hips, feeling the inner thighs coming forward, Making sure it's not just your feet rotating out. It's that whole leg and your feet just follow along. Standing on these heels. Keep flexing the feet. Let's do two more. Last one.

Now, we're gonna stand your heels. Keep your feet wide. Just rotate your legs in so your knees are together. Make sure your knees are over your toes again, so your toes come in too. Inhale as you stretch long, exhale to come in.

So as you straighten the legs come apart, they come back together as you bend. Inhale, and exhale. Four more. And three try to keep the internal rotation the same on both legs and in last one, all the way in, bring your feet back together on your toes. Heels are lifted high.

You're gonna push all the way out and hold. Keep the legs straight. You're gonna lower both heels under the bar for a tendon stretch and then lift all the way up. And lower down. And lift back up. So this time I'm gonna keep the toes long. So we're at the prehensile we were gripping with the with the toes.

Try to keep your toes long as you reach the heels under and lift. Four more. Using your glutes to lift you up, so it's not just your calves, three and lift. Try not to lock into that hyper extension if you have it. They just pull up in the front of the legs, last one. Going into running.

So you're gonna lower one heel, lift the other heel up, and lift and switch. Pasting right through the midline, so your hips are stable, knees are parallel. And bend and lift other side. Then we're gonna go into a little bit more of a flow, a little bit faster. So you're gonna lower lift lower.

It's breathe how it feels comfortable to you. Still focusing on keeping the hips stable. Four more sets. Three, two, last set. Lift both heels up. Bend your legs come all the way in. And then we'll turn over onto your side.

Use your hand to push you up when you change your springs. So I'm gonna take off two springs. So I have on two red. You can do whatever you're gonna, whatever you'd like. I'm gonna lie back down.

We're gonna use your arms. And the straps. So you're gonna lie down scoot away from your shoulder rest just a little bit so you have some space, grab your straps, and we'll bring your legs to tabletop. So bring your shoulders or your hands right over your shoulders, plug your shoulders in, Gloo your legs together. We're gonna keep your head down this whole time.

So take a deep inhale with the arms up, exhale, press your arms down by your sides. Inhale arms reach up to the ceiling, exhale as you press. And just really anchor that pelvis down again, feel that nice neutral position in your spine, lifting up, and pressing down. Two more. Try not to break at the wrist, keep the arms as long as you can. Last one.

Now we're gonna turn it into a circle. So you're gonna go up to the ceiling, open out to a tee, and then down to your hips. Arms reach up. Open and down. Trying to keep the shoulders anchored down so you're not letting the shoulders move all around or creep up by your ear.

Last one this direction, and then we'll reverse. So you're gonna push down, open out to your tee, and then back up to the ceiling. And squeezing the legs together, filling everything coming the center of the body, hugging that midline, reaching the arms long, two more. Last one. Now you're gonna push your arms down by your sides and hold. You can hover your elbows just off the mat. You're gonna bend your arms and then straighten.

So elbows stay right by your sides. Just bend at the elbows and straighten again, watch your wrist, make sure you're not bending at the wrist to bend your arms. They stay long and stretch four more. Ben and stretch three Two. Last one. And then bring your arms up. Bring your feet down to the foot bar. Just rock your knees side to side for a second.

Just take a nice little break. So we're gonna bring your legs up to the ceiling. Glue your legs together. You can point your toes if you'd like. You're gonna bring your hands up over your shoulders again.

This time, bring your hands together. You want all five fingers and the heels of your hands together in this prayer position. Take a deep inhale with the arms up to the ceiling. As you exhale, you're gonna bring your hands just to your legs, and then back up to the ceiling, and then back to your legs. So you wanna try to keep all five fingers and the heels of your hands together.

Much as you can, really squeeze those hands into each other to get into your deep core muscles. If you start to let the especially the pinky side of your hand come apart, it feels different. So you really wanna push the hands into each other and keep the arms long. Let's do four more like this. And three.

Two, we glue the legs together. Last one. Arms up to the ceiling. We're gonna change the hand position. Lakes are still glued together.

Time you're gonna have your fingers reaching up to the ceiling and your thumbs touching. Try to keep this position with your hands, keep the arms as straight as you can, inhale with the arms up, exhale push your hands to your legs, inhale arms up. I exhale push. So just changes where you feel it slightly. Still keep pulling the naval into the spine, deepening those abdominals far more.

And three. Two. Last one. And then arms come up to the ceiling, bend your legs bring your feet onto the footbar. You can hang up your straps, and then turn over onto your side. Use your hand to push you up. I wanna grab your box.

So you're gonna grab your long box and we're gonna put it on the rear carriage and then you can bring your foot bar down. And then I'm changing to one red spring. So I have one red spring on taking everything else off, and we go into pulling straps. So make sure everything's straight. Lie down on your box.

You want your chest just off the box. And then hold on to your straps. I like to hold on at the tape. Arms are straight, legs are reaching long, glue your legs together, take a deep inhale with the arms forward as you exhale, sweep your arms back, lift your chest up as you pull your hands to your sides. Inhale. Coming forward, lower your chest down.

Exhale as you pull back lengthen your spine up. Arms reach forward. Inhale. Aghale as you pull back. One more. Hold this one back from here, elbows stay by your side, bend your arms, and then straighten. And, Ben, and straighten. Try to keep the shoulders away from the ears. Keep pulling those shoulder blades back. Reach your sternum forward.

Two more. Last one. Keep your hands back. Turn your palms down to face the floor. Open your arms out to a tee.

And then keep your hands facing the floor as you reach your hands back to your, hips, open your arms out to your tee. Stern them reaches forward as you bring your hands back to your hips. Three more. Ex failed to push back. And two more. Last one.

And then reach your arms forward. Lower your chest down. Hang up your straps. I'm gonna take off our box, and we'll bring it back later. So we're gonna stay in this same, single spring.

You're gonna come on to your knees with your knees right against the shoulder rest, and then your hands are gonna go on to the frame of the carrot or frame of the reformer. I like to bring my hands out a little bit further, in front of my shoulders. That way we have somewhere to pull too. Thumbs are on top, so you don't squish your thumbs when you move the carriage. We're gonna keep a nice long neutral spine.

So keeping the neutral spine, we're gonna keep your knees right under your hips and use your upper body to pull the carriage forward. So you're gonna pull your shoulder blades down. That's gonna bring your carriage forward and then bring their arms back. So I'm thinking of bringing my shoulders over my hands as I come forward and then coming back. Pulling my abdominals in just for support, but I'm using my lats, my back to move myself forward.

Two more. And then reach it back. Last one. And then reach back. Now I'm gonna bring my hands back just slightly.

There's still a little bit in front of my shoulders. Now I'm gonna pull forward, bring my shoulders over my hands and hold it there. Now I'm gonna use my abdominals. So I'm gonna think of bringing my knees into my chest, and then bring the legs back. Same thing, knees into your chest.

And back. Try not to round your spine at all. Trying to keep that long neutral spine and back. And pulling in and back. Four more. Shoulders stay over the wrist this whole time.

So I'm working my lats still, but I'm adding the abdominal work by pulling my knees into my chest. And in last one, and then go ahead and sit back on your heels, shake out your wrists. We're gonna go into an oblique version. So hands are gonna be in the same position. This time you're gonna have both knees over to one shoulder rest, and then your feet are gonna go to the other side of the carriage. Again, trying to keep your spine as long as you can.

From here, you're gonna pull yourself forward over your hands, and then keep your upper body still, and then bring your knees into your chest and then back out. Knees come into your chest. And four more. And three again, I'm trying not to round the spine at all. Trying to keep the long mutual position just with a little rotation. One more.

And then bring care to all the way home. Shake out your wrists. We're gonna do the other side. So knees are gonna go to the other shoulder rest, feeder to the other side of the carriage, hands back on the, frame, pull yourself over your hands, and then from here, keep your upper body still, knees come into your chest. And I'm back out.

I'm trying to keep my weight even on both arms. So even though I'm in this rotated position, I'm trying not to favor one side. Two more. Last one. And then come all the way down. And then go ahead and sit back on your heels, shake out your wrist.

You can even stretch the top of your hands, stretch your hands the other way. Just make sure your wrists are nice and loose. So we're gonna stay on our knees. You're gonna bring your knees right against the shoulder rest again, grab onto your straps. I like to hold on to the tape part again.

I'm gonna go into chest expansion. So make sure you're in the straight line from your head all the way down to your knees. Press your hips forward and engage back the legs to help keep you strong. Abs are pulled in. You're gonna reach your arms down and back.

Hold. You're gonna turn your head to one direction. Turn your head to the other side. Come back to center, and then arms come forward. Pull your arms down and back, hold, turn your head to the second side, to the first side, back to the center, and arms reach forward. Do that a few more times each way.

Pulling back, turn your head, and other way. Center arms reach forward. Pulling back, look the other way, first way, center and forward. One more each direction. And turn turn center arms reach forward.

Last one, pulling back and you turn your head and turn center arms reach forward. Hang up your straps. We're gonna turn around still on your knees. This time your feet are gonna be right against the shoulder rest. We're gonna tuck your toes under as much as you can and think of reaching your heels all the way to the back of the shoulder rest. Grab onto your straps.

Stand up tall on your knees. Again, you're in a straight line from your head all the way down to your knees. Push your hips forward so your glutes are engaged and the front of your hip is straight. Arms are just slightly bent. You're just gonna scoop your arms up as high as you can, and then reach back down to your sides. Arms reach up.

And then back down to your sides. Trying to keep the shoulders away from the ears. Don't let them follow. As the arms come up, you stay connected to the back. Do two more like this.

So reaching the heels to the shoulder rest, stretching the feet. One more. Now we turn this into a circle. So you're gonna go up, open, and around, and up, and around. Again, watching the shoulders, make sure they're not creeping up by the ear. Last two in this direction, and last one, reverse out and around and down. The reverse is a little bit harder.

So if you need to make the circle smaller for this direction, go for it. I always find this a lot more challenging and around one more. And then lower down to your heels. Get a nice stretch on your feet as you hang up your straps. I'm gonna bring your foot bars back up.

So we're gonna go into long stretch next so you can find position that works for you. I'm gonna do one red and one blue spring. If you wanna stay on one red, you can do that as well. It'd be a little bit more of a challenge for your abdominals, but I like a little bit more support. So hands are gonna go on the foot bar thumbs on the same side as your fingers.

We're gonna come onto your toes. You want your ball of your foot right in the little crevice of the, headrest and then find that nice long plank position. From here, you're gonna push your arms back and then come forward over the foot bar. So as I'm pushing back, I'm reaching my heels back toward the top of the headrest, and I'm keeping the heels there the whole time. Trying to keep this long position, not changing my spine, pushing back.

And forward. Two more. Last one. Now when I come back down to your knees, Feed against the shoulder rest again just like we had them tucking the toes under, reaching the heels all the way back. This time, you're gonna push your hips forward, find a nice arch in your spine, keeping your chest lifted. You're gonna push out from your arms again. And then think of lifting your sternum up to the ceiling to come in, pushing out, and then lifting up.

Should or stay away from the ears again. We did a lot of back work just recently. So you wanna keep that engagement there. So you're not letting your shoulders disconnect. One more.

And lift up. Then come all the way off. We're gonna stand up. We're gonna change so your foot bar is down again because we're gonna need it down later. We're gonna grab your box.

We're gonna put it on the side of the carriage. So I'm gonna show this front leg first. So you want it on the floor, and then it's gonna be in line with the carriage. From here, we're gonna do one red spring, take off anything else that you have. You're gonna stand in the middle of the box, and then the other foot's gonna go against the shoulder rest. You wanna tuck your toes under just like you had them before.

Answer on your hip or you can have them out to the side for balance. We're gonna go into a lunge. So you're gonna push the back leg as you bend your standing leg and then come all the way in and up. So I'm trying to reach through that back heel as I push. And then I'm going straight up and down.

I'm trying not to lean forward and in the carriage. Let's do four more. And I'm trying to keep my knees over my toes as much as I can or think of my knees over my ankle. Try not to go too far forward with that knee. Think of using that back loop to push the carriage out and up One more like this.

Now you're gonna push back and hold, find a position where you can hold it, and do a little pulses up and down. So we're gonna go up an inch and down an inch up and down. Really pulsing through that standing leg, finding a nice strong position on that foot so you can balance two more like this. Last one. Hold it here. Keep that nice lunge position.

You're gonna pull your back leg in and then push it back out. And bend and stretch. So nothing else is moving. Just that back leg going in and out. And bend. And stretch four more.

And I'm trying not to lean forward, especially as I get tired, keeping the head, shoulders, and pelvis all on the same line. Two more. Last one. And then come all the way up. Take a breath. We're gonna go back into that lunge one more time. From here, she can add a little rotation.

So you're gonna turn toward the the standing leg and then come back to center. Same thing. Turning and then back to center. Trying to keep that nice deep lunge and back to center. Two more. And center last one. And then come all the way up.

Shake out your legs, and then we'll switch over to the other side. So step on down. We're gonna grab your box. Bring it over to the other side. Again, it's in line with the carriage. And then you're gonna stand right in the middle of the box, but close to the, frame of the care of the reformer.

So the back leg, you're gonna have it right against the shoulder rest. Sending it as tall as you can. You're gonna push back with that back leg as you bend it standing leg into your lunge, and then come all the way in. Again, I'm not leaning forward. I'm trying to keep my head right over my shoulders and hips and back in.

Pushing back. It's almost like I'm trying to make two ninety degree angles with my legs. It might not be there exactly, but that's the picture in my head. Let's do four more. And in.

Three, keeping the hips square. So I'm not rotating yet. That'll come later. Two. Hold this next one back. Find that nice lunge.

You're gonna go up, inch, and down, and inch a little pulse up, and down. Breathe, especially as you get tired, four more. The care isn't really moving. Just going up a little bit, down a little bit. Last one.

Come all the way up. Take a breath. And then from here, you're gonna bend down again. Standing leg stays still. You're gonna bend the back leg in. And then push it back out.

Back leg comes in, and then back out. Again, try not to lean forward, keep your hips under you. I just caught myself leaning forward a little bit. Just keep checking where your body is in space. And out, bend in, and out two more.

Last one. And then bend all the way in. Come all the way up. We're gonna go into one more lunge. From here, keep that position.

You're just gonna rotate toward the standing leg. Come back to center. And rotate. Try not to twist your hips just your upper body moves from your waist. Rotate and center. Rotate.

Center two more. Try to keep that deep lunge and center. Last one. And then come all the way in. Bring that carriage home. And then we'll shake out your legs, come off your box, and we'll put it away.

So we're gonna keep the foot bar down, keep that same single spring that you had. And I'm just gonna move this little bar out of my way because I'm gonna stand up on this platform for side side splits. So you're gonna stand on the platform first then onto the carriage, make sure your feet are even. Hips are right under you. Again, I have my hand on my hip if you want your arms out to a t, you can do that. You're just gonna push out as wide as you can, and then come all the way in. Keep lifting your spine up.

Open. And then we close the carriage. So try to keep the baby toe side of your feet down so you're not rolling and collapsing in your arch. You wanna keep the arch lifted as you're moving into your side splits. Let's do four more.

And then back in, and three. And two, keep pulling up in your quads, lengthening the front of your hips, and then come all the way in. Bring that stopper home. It's gonna heal till your foot out as wide as you can go. I usually go about halfway, but if you're taller than me or longer legs, you can go all the way out to this, the shoulder rest. From here, you're gonna push out as wide as you can.

Use those inner thighs to pull you all the way in really lift up to the center and open, lift all the way in, come all the way to that stopper. Open Still lifting your arch to the outside edge of your feet are down, and open. But as you're lifting your arch, try not to lift any of your toes. Keep those toes lengthen long on the mat. Open. And close.

So lengthening your spine, pulling up in your abdominals. Let's do two more like this. Last one. Now you're gonna push out and hold from here arms out to a t. You're gonna keep the carriage still.

You're just gonna bend over with a flat back. Try not to move the reform at all. And then come all the way up. Hips come under you. Pull the carriage all the way in.

From here, keep the carriage still again, bend over at the flat back again, lengthen out through your spine, just till you're parallel with the floor. Keep that carriage all the way in as you come all the way up. Hips come under you. And then once your hips are under you, you're gonna heel toe that foot back in, and then we'll step down. And we'll go to the other side.

So again, you're gonna have your, carriage on the your foot on the platform side first, then on the carriage, feet are narrow, hips are under. You're gonna push out as wide as you can. Using your hips, and then keep your hips under you as you pull it all the way in. So pulling up in your abdominals, lengthening your spine. You're in a straight line from your head all the way down to your feet.

And try to keep your weight in the center of both feet. So you have equal weight on both legs. You're not favoring one side. Let's do four more. And three. Two. Last one.

You're gonna pull that carriage all the way in. From here, heel toe that foot out as wide as you can. Try to get at least to the middle of the carriage. From here, hips are under you again. Push out as wide as you can.

Use those upper inner thighs to pull you all the way in. Just make sure your feet are even and that they're both parallel. We're not rotating out from the hips at all. We're seeing square as we can. And then come all the way into that software. Think of lifting up, not just in.

And back together. Four more. And all the way in. Keep pulling those abdominals in and up. Lengthening out through the top of your head. Last two.

Keep lifting the arches so they're not collapsing. Last one. Now you're gonna push out and hold. Keep your carriage still arms out to your tee. Keep your flat back as you lean forward.

Just hinge. Try to keep your weight over your toes. And then come all the way up, keep that performer still. Hips come under you before you pull the carriage all the way in. Now keep the carriage still. Keep it closed as you hinge forward again with your flat back. This is the harder one I feel, and then all the way up.

Hips under you and then heel toe that foot back in. Come on down. Let's bring your foot bars back up. And we'll stay on this one single spring again for Eve's lunge. So you're gonna stand up.

Your front foot is gonna be right at the front of the carriage. Your back foot's gonna be against the shoulder rest. Hips are square. You're gonna push your hips forward as you push back into your lunge. And stretch out your hip. Lift your chest up.

Pull your shoulders down. Get a nice opening the front of the body. Come all the way in. This time you're gonna straighten your front leg, come onto your heel, push back again and just adjust as you need to and feel a little stretch in your hamstring. Try to keep pulling your toes back as much as you can.

And then lower your toes down, and then bring the carriage all the way in. We're gonna switch to the other side. So again, the standing leg is all the way at the front. Your back foot is against the shoulder rest. You're gonna push your hip forward, square off your hips, pull your shoulders down, and think of lifting your sternum up.

So you get a nice stretch on the front of the hip. Just breathe and release into it. Come all the way in straighten your front leg. Come onto that heel. Make sure all five toes are coming back.

And then push back into a bit of a split so you stretch out that hamstring as well. Still trying to keep my hips as square as I can. Bring the toes down. You can bend your front leg. Pull the carriage all the way in.

And then just stand up in front of your reformer. You can stand with your feet hip distance apart, hands just down by your side so they could inhale. And exhale lengthen your spine as you release all the air one more time. Inhale. And exhale. And I hope you enjoyed that class and you felt challenged, but you had fun. And I'll see you in the next one.