Strong Advanced Reformer

Hi. I'm Gia, and today we're gonna do a reformer class playing around with some of the advanced exercises and also using a ball to activate their midline. So you're gonna start with footwork. I have my foot bar up my head rest up, and then I have three red and one blue spring, but you can do whatever springs work for you. You're gonna put the ball in between your knees. I'm gonna start with a prehensile position on your feet.

So toes are wrapping around the bar. You're gonna push your heels under. And try to keep that nice grip on the bar the whole time with your toes. You're in, heel, reach the legs out, exhale as you come all the way in. And as you straighten the legs, so you might not get all the way straight, but just focus on squeezing that ball activating your inner thighs.

Reach the heels under the bar and then pull it back in. Let's do four more and in and three. Trying to keep a nice neutral pelvis, two. And in hold last one out, come halfway in. Little pulses here for eight.

Seven. So keep wrapping the toes around the bar, working those feet for three, two, one stretch all the way out, and then come all the way in. We're gonna slide up to your heels. Still keep the ball where it is. Flex your feet as much as you can. Really stand on your heels and heel stretch long.

Exhale to come back in. Again, squeezing that ball, trying to make sure your toes are facing up to the ceiling. They're not going out to the side and turning out. Reach and comb in. Let's do four more. Fending a nice rhythm. Three Trying to get both legs straight at the same time.

Or even if they don't straighten all the way, that's okay. Just get length. Come halfway in little pulses here for eight. Seven flex the toes a little deeper. And we have four, three, two, one, push all the way out, and then come all the way in. We're gonna change to your toes.

You're gonna lift your heels up as high as you can, like you're in high heels. Same thing here. Gonna push all the way out. And then back in. Inhale stretch.

Try and keep the heels in the same position, so they're not lowering and lifting and reach and in. Should feel those inner thighs active by now. Three more. And two. Last one. Come halfway in.

Little pulses here for eight. Again, keeping the heels where they are. Let's do four more pelvis is neutral. Three, two. Once it's all the way out and hold, keep your legs straight, lower both heels under the bar, and lift back up, and lower the heels under, and lift. Think of using your glutes, really pulling into those inner thighs, lower, and lift.

Lower, lift, try to keep the toes long, so it's different than the prehensile, and lower, and lift last one. Then your legs come all the way in. Go ahead and sit up We're gonna change your springs. So I'm taking off one red, one blue. I'm left with two red springs.

I'm gonna do some supine work. So you can lie back down. Just go away from your shoulder rest so you have some space, and then you're gonna place the ball between your ankles. Grab onto your straps. Arms are gonna be straight over your, shoulders.

Inhale with the arms up, exhale, just push your arms down by your side. Just stays down for now. Inhale arms up, exhale push down. Again, I'm I have a nice gentle squeeze on the ball. Not as hard as I can, just enough to activate the midline of my body.

I'll do two more like this up, and then press down. Last one. And press. Now we're gonna add a chest lift, arms up to the ceiling, push down, lift your chest up. Lower your chest down as you inhale, exhale, push down, curl up. Try to keep your legs where they are.

Just keep that nice gentle push on the ball. Trying to keep everything as still as you can. Just moving the upper body and lift one more like this. This time you're gonna keep your chest up, arms come up to the ceiling, and then lower your arms down. So your chest stays up the whole time, just the arms are moving, and push.

Still squeezing that ball and push two more. Last one. And then lower back down. Take a deep inhale, exhale push down again, curl up, stretch your legs out, keep your chest up, and then bend back into tabletop. Lang stretch out, still squeezing the ball, and in try not to let your ball rock side to side. So I'm trying to keep everything as controlled and centered as I can.

Stretch and in two more. Hold this next one out and then pop your arms for the 100. So you'll inhale to three four five exhale two three four five inhale two three four five exhale. Inhale squeeze that ball. Exhale keep lifting your chest. Inhale.

And exhale. Inhale deepen those abdominals, exhale, keep the arms flipping strong inhale, and exhale curl up a little higher, inhale reach the arms and legs long, exhale. We have three more inhale. And exhale, inhale, and exhale, lhasa inhale, and exhale two three four five. Come on in. Put both straps in one hand for a second.

We're just gonna put your ball to the side. And then we're gonna go into coordination. So elbows are gonna stay down on your mat by your side, knees into your chest. You're gonna inhale, exhale stretch out, open close your legs, bring your knees in, bend your arms, keep your chest up, and stretching out. Open close, knees in, arms bend.

Try to keep your chest lifted the whole time, deepen your curl as you pull the knees in, reach out, open close, and then pull in two more. And then exhale to come in. Last one, inhale, exhale to come in. Now we're gonna keep your straps. We're just gonna lower your headrest down.

I'm gonna go into overhead. So arms are gonna be straight. Lakes up to the ceiling. You're gonna push your arms down, lift your chest or hips over, like you're doing, roll over. You're gonna open your legs, flex your feet, and then roll down one bone at a time, once you're down, arms come back up to the ceiling, legs together, and point the toes. So up and over, open flex, roll down, arms and legs arrive at the same time, legs together, up and over, Open flex, roll down.

We're gonna reverse the legs. So now you're gonna lower the arms, lift the hips up, close, flex your feet, roll down. Arms come up. Open over flex and reach out through the heels. Arms arrive at the same time.

One more. Over flex and then roll down. And then we're gonna hang up your straps. We're gonna change your springs and your foot bar, and we're gonna go into long box. Let's lower your foot bar down.

And then I'm gonna do just one red spring, take off anything else, and we'll grab your long box. So we're gonna go into pulling straps to start. So let's place your box on the reformer. Lie down. So your chest is just off the box. Legs are straight, and then grab onto the taped part of the ropes.

So arms stay straight, legs are reaching long, pull your abdominals in from here. Keep your arms straight as you sweep them alongside the reformer, lift your chest up. And then lower back down. Again, pull back, reach, and then lower down. Think of your sternum reaching forward as you pull back.

And then lower back down. We're gonna hold this next one back. Elbow state by your side, bend your arms, and then press. Again, think of your sternum reaching forward, reach your legs back, find that length in the whole body, and back, last one. And then lower your chest down, arms reach forward.

Arms are gonna hang out to a t. So from here, try to keep your palms facing down. You're gonna lift or chest as your hands reach back to your hips, and then lower back down. As you open, push, lifted, chest, and open as you lower two more. And then open last one.

And then open out. Now we're gonna turn this into a circle. Kinda like you would do on the Cadillac of the tower. You're gonna open, lower down in front. Open out to a t, push back, lift up, and then down to the front.

Two more in this direction. Open lift, push down to the front, last one. Just keep reaching the legs long, so it's whole body exercise, and then we reverse. Pull back, open out to a t, and then lower your chest to lower your arms. Push back, lift your chest up, and open lower.

Two more. And open out. Last one. And then open. Good. Hang up your straps.

We're gonna turn around. I wanna go into some teasers. So I'm gonna grab my straps before I sit down. Just because it makes it a little easier. And then you're gonna go ahead and sit down on the box.

Just make sure you have a space so that when you tease her, you're not gonna fall off. Light all the way down. Lakes are reaching long. Arms are out of t. And then roll all the way up to your teaser.

Find your position. Hold it. Now from here, you're gonna bring your arms down and scoop up and reach down. Scoop up. And down. And lift one more.

Reach your arms towards your legs as you roll down, and then your legs come down at the same time as your upper body. Same thing. Roll up to your teaser. Hold. Just really scoop the arms up. Pull into your abdominals, circle the arms. So you out and around and up. Out and around, and up one more.

Reverse your circle. Out and around. Up. Keep pulling into your abdominals. Hold those legs from your center, last one. Reach toward your legs as you roll down.

And then lower your legs as you lower your upper body. Last one, rolling up, find that teaser, hold hold your shape from here. Arms stay still. You're gonna circle your legs out and around, and try not to move your torso Just legs really push into your straps, reverse so that the legs can move freely. Push into those straps.

One more. Reach towards your feet as you roll down. One bone at a time. Just take a nice breath here, and then bring both straps into one hand. Come on up. I'm gonna switch to your short box.

So hang up your straps. Turn your box around. And then add another spring so that your box or your carriage doesn't move. We're gonna grab your strap and grab your ball. So bring your feet under the strap.

You're gonna have your feet wide and pushing down. Hands are gonna hold the ball right in front of you. So arms are straight, sitting up as tall as you can. Take a deep inhale. As you exhale, squeeze the ball and round, roll your back.

All the way as far as you can. Inhale, exhale to roll back up. And rolling back, squeeze that ball, pull into your midline, keep pushing your feet down and back or down and wide, and then rolling up lengthen at the top and squeeze the ball as you tuck your hips under, pull your waist back, and then rolling up, lift. Two more. Rolling back, rolling up, keep pushing out with your feet, and lift last one. Squeeze up all.

Last one. Now you're gonna roll back and hold, find this position where you can control your round back. Just gonna rotate to one side, and then back to center. Rotate to the other side, and back to center. Stay in that position, rotate. And center.

Rotate. Center. Keep pulling your naval into your spine. I think if your waist's pulling back. Try not to shift in your hips. One more each side.

And center last one. And then roll all the way up. We're gonna turn to face the side, we're gonna keep the ball. So you're gonna have one leg in front. Just in the little l shape or, yeah, an l shape. The other leg is gonna stay in the strap.

You're gonna have your hands just either into your chest or if you want a little more challenge, you can reach your arms out in front of you. From here, you're just gonna lower down to your side bend, and then come halfway up so you're in a nice long line, all the way down and lift. All the way down. Think of using your waist to lift you up. Four more.

Three, and two. Last one, hold this one up. If your arms are out, pull them in. You're just gonna rotate toward the ceiling and center. Rotate toward the ceiling.

Center one more. Now from here, rotate toward the floor. Hold. You're gonna lift your chest up and lower. A lift, you can squeeze that ball for a little bit of extra support. And then hold your ball in one hand.

You're just gonna reach over into a little side bend. I'm gonna switch hands just so the ball doesn't fall out of my hand and then come all the way up and then switch to the other side. So again, front leg is in a little bit of an l shape. Your other leg is in the sharp leg is straight. Hands are either out in front of you or into your chest.

You're gonna reach over as far as you can, and then come up. So you're in a straight line from your head to your foot over and up. Reach out through that heel on the bottom foot. Keep squeezing that ball, hugging the midline of your body, and up one more. If your arms are out, pull them into your chest. Sweets up all, you're gonna rotate toward the ceiling, and center. Try not to move the hips just from the waist, and center one more.

Now you're gonna rotate toward the floor and hold. From here, you're gonna lift your chest up, and lower down. Chest lift up and lower one more. And then bring one arm down and to come into a side bend and stretch. And then roll all the way up.

And then we're gonna put your ball down again. We don't need it for a bit. We'll take your box off. You're gonna go into a long stretch series. So you'll bring your foot bar back up, and we'll change the springs again.

So move the strap out of your way. You're gonna have foot bar up the level that you prefer. And then I'm gonna do one red spring, take off anything else, and then bring the foot bar up or not the foot bar. The headrest up. So hands on the foot bar. Feed are gonna go on the headrest.

You want your follow your foot right in the crevice, find your nice long plank position, squeeze your hips and your legs together. Just gonna reach out through the heels and then come forward over the footbar. So try to keep the heels reaching back the whole time and to go where you can control it. At least please squeeze glutes, Lays are squeezing together. Two more.

Inhale. Xhale. Reach forward. Last one energy out through your heels and out through the top of the head. And come forward. Come onto your knees.

For down stretch. So feet against the shoulder rest, hips are gonna push forward. Try to open your chest as much as you can. Same thing here. Pushing back. Think you're reaching out through the heels, lift your chest up to come forward.

Pushing back. And then pushing up. Try not to drop your chest or drop your head. Keep opening the front of the chest. Two more.

Reach out through the heels. Last one, really stretch the feet. And then lift up onto your toes for your up stretch. So your heels are about halfway up this, shoulder rest. Find a nice long v position with your body.

From here, you're gonna push out to your plank. Keep your chin into your chest. Keep that nice round upper back if you can forward all the way over the footbar. Once you're all the way in, lift your hips up and back over your feet. So feet push back first and then pull yourself in over the footbar.

And then lift your hips up and back. Two more. Feed push back, find that long plank position, upper body stays rounded, and then come all the way in, lift your hips up. One more. Pushing all the way back, coming all the way in, and then hips lift up. Keep your hips up.

Just lower your feet down so they're flat. If you wanna lift your toes up for your elephant, you can, or you can keep them flat, whatever you prefer. Around your back, your head is between your arms from here. Push the legs back and then pull them all the way forward. Push back. Pull all the way in.

You're stretching the backs of the legs with focus on pulling in from your abdominals. So everything's coming into the center of the body. And try not to drop your head. Everything's active. One more.

Now we're gonna go into an air best. So I like to do this on the balls of my feet, but you can do this in a flat foot if you'd like. You're gonna bring one leg up. Try to keep that carriage in. You're gonna reach that leg up to the ceiling.

You can let that hip open up. From here, you're gonna push those leg on the reformer back. Think of reaching the toe up to the ceiling as you come in. Push back. Tope pushes up to the ceiling to come in. So I'm trying to get length in that leg out. And in one more try to stay connected to the shoulder rest, lower that foot down, and then reach the other leg up.

From here, you're gonna reach out. And in, and out. Again, that foot's reaching up to the ceiling. Two more. Last one. I wanna do a little variation on this one.

So go back to that first side. Find that nice long arabesque position. From here, you're gonna push out into a plank, lower your foot down to the headrest, and then lift your leg back up as you pull the carriage in. So you lower it down into a plank, lift the leg up as you pull the hair draw all the way in. Two more. Try to coordinate so everything arrives the same time.

Last one. Lower and lift back up. And then lower that leg down. We'll switch to the other side. And lower down, with that leg come to your plank, leg lifts up as you can pull the hair gin, lower, and lift all the way up. Two more.

And lift all the way in. Last one. And in. Lower that foot down. Come on off the reformer for a second.

We'll shake out your hands. I'm gonna go into long back shots. So shake it out. And it was a little risky. This is the last risky one for a bit. So you can sit on the footbar.

Hands are gonna be on with your thumbs facing forward, feet against the shoulder rest, lift your hips up from here, push the carriage out, lower your hips down, bend your arms, come all the way in, stretch up. Hips push out, bend the arms, and then push back up. Two more. And lift up last one. And then we reverse. So you bend down with the care gen, push the carriage out, lift the hips up, and then pull the carriage all the way home.

So you bend down first. Think of reaching out through the heels still. Use the backs of the legs as you push out and lift the hips up. One more. And lift.

Then we're gonna lower the foot bar down. We're gonna do a few more advanced exercises. So I like the foot bar down. You can keep the foot bar up for a new semi circle. So I have one red one blue spring on. Again, you can have the foot bar up if you like.

I just prefer the foot bar down for my knees and then lie down and then hands on the foot bar or on the shoulder rest and push yourself out away. Have your heels together toes apart. These are reaching over past your toes. Try to keep your arms straight. From here, just gonna keep the caraj as still as you can. Roll your hips down one point at a time till you touch the springs.

You're gonna push halfway back. Hips push all the way up one bone at a time. Once you're all the way up, roll the carriage all the way in. So you try to keep the reformer still as you roll down through the spine, it should feel really good here. Push halfway back.

Hips roll up. Once you're all the way at the top, pull the carriage in one more in this direction. So you roll down, keep pushing into the hands, really keep the arm strong to help support you. Half way back, roll up. And then come all the way in reverse.

So you push halfway back first. Then keep the carriage still as you roll down. Again, trying to get to the springs or as close as you can. Pull the carriage all the way in. And then keep the carriage still as you roll all the way up. Push halfway back, rolling down, touching the springs coming all the way in. Keep the carriage still as you roll up.

One more halfway back and rolling down. This is our nice little break. So we get into a few more advanced exercises roll all the way up. Pull the care to Halloween is not already. You can grab onto the foot bar or onto your ankle.

Just give yourself a nice little stretch. You might feel this in your quads. I think you're pushing your hips up. Again, this is our little breather before we get into some more challenging exercises. Let go of your hands or of your feet and or the foot bar.

Grab onto the shoulder rest and then lift your head up to pull yourself back in. Once your pelvis is on the carriage, just take a nice breath here, and then come all the way in. So we're gonna keep the springs the same, and I like to put bar down again. I'm gonna go into snake. So you have one hand on the shoulder rest.

The other hand on the front of the carriage, bring one foot. It's gonna come to the, foot bar right on the diagonal here. And then try not to move the carriage as you lift your hips up and bring your other foot over. So you're just gonna cross over the ankles. From here, you're gonna push the carriage out, reach your chest forward, into your snake, and then come all the way up into this nice little pike. Hips push forward, as you push the carriage out, open your chest, and then lift your hips up into your pike. One more, pushing out, reach through the chest, and then come all the way up.

Bring your foot down, try not to move the carriage again, and then we'll walk over to the other side, shake out your wrists. So again, one hand's on the, shoulder rest. The other hand's right at the front of the frame. Your foot's on the foot bar, and then pike your hips up as you bring the other foot across from here, push the carriage out, reach your chest forward, and then pull your hips up as you pike. And then reaching forward, push, finding a nice extension in the spine, and left last one. Make sure you're not dumping into your low back. Think of the upper back lifting more.

It's starting in reaching forward. Pull in and up. Slowly come on down. Try not to move the carriage as much as you can. Shake out your wrists.

We're gonna give your wrists a little break. I'm gonna go into Russian splits. So one foot's gonna come to the back of the foot bar again. The other foot's gonna just walk out to the headrest. I like the ball of my foot right on the little crack of the headrest from here. You're gonna find your balance find this nice long one. I like the opposite hand reaching forward from here, stretch the front leg out and bend it back in.

Try to stay at the same level the whole time. So you're not lifting up and in The back leg is staying strong, really pushing into that foot bar. The front leg is just going in and out, out, and in two more. Last one. And then bring your hands down, bring that foot back, and we'll switch to the other side.

So other leg is gonna come back to the foot bar. You're gonna jump that front leg forward. So the ball of your foot is right on the little crevice. Find this nice long lunge position and then lift your spine up. Opposite arm is reaching forward.

You're in this nice long lunge. Keep your head at the same level as you stretch the front leg out and in. Reach and in. To give you a nice stretch on that back hip flexor. We stand on that leg, and then the front leg is getting some work as you're pushing it out and in. Reach and in. Two more.

Last one. And then bring your hands down, bring your foot back, and then come all the way down. We're almost at the end. So we're gonna bring your foot bar back up. We have a couple more exercises to go.

So foot bar is gonna come back up. We're gonna stay in the same spring setting. Hands are gonna be back on the foot bar. Feed against the shoulder rest again. Really tuck those toes under.

You're gonna sit back towards your feet for knee stretches. So upper body stays still. Just gonna put your legs back and in. Trying to keep this spine rounded. Tail bone is curling under out and in. Let's do four more and three. Two.

Last one. Keep your spine still. You're just gonna lengthen your spine. Think of tailbone reaching out. L and in.

Still reaching out through the heels. Four and three. Two. Last one. These are gonna lift off round your spine out. And in trying to keep your knees low and reach. Pulling into abdominals.

We have four more. And three. Two. Last one, come all the way in. Lower your knees down.

Push back into child's pose. Just give a nice little stretch. And to finish, we're gonna do a little standing balance with the front split. So grab your ball. You're gonna have one foot against the shoulder rest.

The other foot's gonna come onto the foot bar right on the ball of your foot again. You can wrap your toes around if that helps you balance. From here, you're gonna stand up. Find something stable to look at so you can balance. The ball's just going between your hands.

Squeeze that ball to find your center line. And you're just gonna push that front leg back and then bend it back in. Again, trying to keep this head at the same height the whole time. Just the front leg moving back in and reach and pulling in, squeeze that ball. Really push that back heel into the shoulder rest, pressibility. Push out and in one more. And then carefully lower your hands down. We're gonna switch to the side. So the other foot's gonna go right against the shoulder rest.

The other leg will come onto the footbar right in front of your or right in line with your six bumps. Find your balance. Hands are gonna hold the ball, squeeze just slightly from here, push out that front leg and then come all the way in. Again, pushing that back heel into the shoulder rest for stability. And come all the way in.

Trying to keep my head at the same level the whole time. Spine is lengthening one more. And come all the way in, slowly bring your hands down. Find your foot bar. Hand your foot's gonna come down, and then just step off onto the floor.

And then just place your ball off to the side. Standing in front of your performer, hip distance apart with your feet. You're just gonna slot soften your knees and roll down one bone at a time. Just hang. Just let everything decompress all that work you just did.

Let's take a deep inhale and exhale. Inhale. As you exhale, you're gonna tuck your hips under. We'll start to roll your spine up. Stack your spine on top of your pelvis.

Roll your shoulders up and back. And that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed this class, and I'll see you again soon.