Full-Body Tower

Alright. Hi there. I'm going to do a little tower workout this afternoon. So I have my roll back bar and my uh, attached on this wall unit. It's one, two, three, four eye bolts down from the top. I'm also going to be doing some work with the red top loaded spring, so I've got that up there. I've got some short yellow arms springs and we'll see what happens from there. So starting with some rollback, I mean incorporating some parallel legs as well as some diamond legs.

Let's just take a nice check through the body. I'm having the legs squeezed into the center, just feeling the shoulders pull back and down. Slightly. Nice long wrists. I'm going to start with a nice inhale and the exhale right away. Just checking in, seeing if I can move my lower back back. So you long gating through each section of the spine until I'm long with my shoulders pressed open and peeling up.

Here's where I want to find that f right away, that feeling of somewhat of a heavy chest, heavy set of ribs peeling away from the Mat. I'm going to take my forehead and follow the bar as they come back up to sitting tall, slightly pressing down on the bar to feel the upper back. And the last and trying to delay the curve in my upper spine or the thoracic spine is that's the area that curves most easily for me. And forward. Inhale headon chest and again peeling off deep curve in through the spine and pressing down as I sit tall. One more basic rollback pulling my hips and my abdominals really away from my hips. Opening up the chest. Inhale as a peel off heavy chest, sinking a sternum into the body and peeling forward, pressing up.

I'm going to open the legs into diamond for rollback and diamond [inaudible] and so an opportunity here to start pressing the thighs more open knees toward the mat, long through the spine. I'm going to add one or two, probably two chest pools, starting to wake up that connection side of the back toward the abdomen there. Same breathing. Inhale peel heavy chest. Now it's a nice opportunity to really see that level pelvis right here and peeling off, trying to lead the low back on the mat as long as possible. Same thing following the bar with the of the head and up to sitting tall again. Exhale, pulling back, pressing the knees toward the mat, reaching those low back vertebra down to chest pools. Let me think in elbows wide toward the side of the room. Inhale, peel, pressing the spine down and curl.

Slight variation. Rolling back from straight legs. Wow. Two Poles rolling up. [inaudible] and as I roll up, I'm gonna slide back into that diamond position and repeat the whole pattern. Just one more time. Rolling back.

Okay. Pressing those knees down and pull the bar. Shoulders, lats, upper back extensors. Now for here, rolling back up just half way or just up to the tips of the shoulder blades. Looking at that level pelvis, I'm going to do extra little contractions for this upper part of my abdominal wall to challenge the level pelvis and just a little exhale. [inaudible] [inaudible] really pressing the knees down, watching that the pubic bone doesn't pull [inaudible]. Trying to get some external oblique connection here.

Really wrapping those ribs around the front. Taking two more. La Locking my elbows. Yeah, and then once again, going all the way down to straighten the legs close into parallel. Inhale head and chest, and as if the springs are pulling me, I'm resisting with that strength in my abdominal wall. Feeling that wide back and coming up to sit nice and tall.

All right, I'm going to turn myself around and come out onto the back now and get set up with the arms long and straight. Little separation of the feet, making sure I'm parallel and taking some spinal articulation to a bridge to light. Press out on the bar. Inhaling from a level pelvis. Exhale against sinking through, peeling up. Okay. I mean that effort of reaching the hips toward the thighs, thighs out toward the knees. Nice. Squeeze in the Derriere inhale and then exhale pressing on the bar a little bit.

Not a lot at this point, but that slight out on the bar is kind of an encouragement to also think of the spine lengthening out away from the head. Couple more and exhale of course at every ever present thinking of that length, creation of space elongation. So here I am rolling down, trying to reach every vertebra away from my head down longer through the spine, reaching the tailbone forward. One more time. You're finding those hamstrings. So getting myself up in up. Nice flat line. Now I'm taking five presses of the arms and triceps and lats [inaudible] almost as if I'm trying to meet the bar with my hips, although they don't pump up and down and harass, hugging the middle line with the inner thighs. Last time, pressing the bar. Inhale, release and again sinking the chest, keeping slight tension on the springs, enrolling all the way down till the level. Now I'm going to walk the ankles and knees together and bring the bar down toward my chest. Again, that elbow, why elbows wide position? Hello, I'm going to row the bar. I'm going to push it toward my size.

Lots of this is strength work for shoulders and upper back. Inhale and and as I bring it to the chest, nice and uh, connected there. I'm still resisting with the springs a little bit. I haven't gone all the way back to the chest. [inaudible] in the chest wide. One more this direction. Inhale, reversing the pathway. Reaching out first. Now this is the tricky one.

Release the elbows, but keep the shoulder blades down on the ribs in the back. Very easy to shrug up on that. Does the work on those scapular depressing muscles? Skeaping those down the back of the ribs. Inhale, lengthen. [inaudible] I exhale. Row Up the body. Two more to go. Inhale.

[inaudible] every so often. Check your level pelvis. It might want to rock away a little bit and rowing back up. So I'm going to combine that back into the pelvic curl. Murray, separate the theme. Yeah. I will inhale, pull onto a tele, a pelvic curl and bridge. I'm gonna do two of each. A position. So inhale to the chest. Now it's like it's going up hill. Push along the thighs and round bar.

Actually good things come in threes kind of sometimes. So we'll do sets of three on the rowing and then reversing it long. Reach out. How far can you reach? Don't throw those ribs out. Keeping tension on the springs here. Two more. Really connecting to those hip extensors.

[inaudible] last one. [inaudible] and lengthen. Now breathe in again. Here we go. Roll down, sinking that chest, sinking the ribs, keeping the chest open and all the way to level. Now I'm going to move my body a little further forward. Going into the water wheel, looping the knees around. I like to get that full reach of my arms.

Really pushing into the frame and hands are low on the stable pipes here. Nice level pelvis again, so taking a moment to really connect into those shoulders, feeling that stretch without lifting those ribs up so thighs will come in on the inhale. All right, XLP heal the spine. We're going to go right into the water wheel coming up onto the shoulders and I'm thinking of reaching my hips up toward the ceiling, squeezing the hamstrings to hold onto that bar. Feel the mat. Peel down and peel the spine to level. Finding the flow. Inhale feet, knees coming in.

XLP think of lifting the spine up. Hips up. Now I'm going to push with my arms into the frame for a little added elongation connection. It's a nice wave like feeling through the spine. Ah, lifting the spine, high hips, high push with the arms. Much surface area.

Can I cover with my spine? Your ago elongates and one more time. Inhale thighs with the chest. Peeling up. Lift the spine. Now instead of pressing all the way through my feet, I'm just going to touch and reverse it here. Lift up to the shoulders. Fold at the hips. Now that massage, oh, that feels good. Just like this. A short spine on the reformer. This is one of my favorites from my back and peeling up.

Now getting those hips up. Try your hardest not to pull with your arm muscles. Lift with your hips in your spy. Fold as you inhale. Push with the arms. Now again, stretch those muscles in your spine. Elongate. Articulate. Two more in this pattern. I really enjoy the lifted hips.

Squeeze the butts in full [inaudible] and one more time. Press like a water wheel. Wheels are smooth and round. Okay. Trying to feel that connection visually. Feel it in my body, roundness through those back vertebrae [inaudible] and then release. You can just look off. We'll come all the way around so we'll get back to the bar and just a few moments. I'm going to go into some of the rowing series, more arm work, so rowing facing back.

If I were on the reformer facing the back of the reformer, so I've got my yellow springs and I'm actually on the lowest setting on the wall unit for me. Here we go. Legs pulled into the center line. No, it's up to you as well. You can have your fist together. Thumbs up or thumbs down. I prefer thumbs up so you'll see that now just taking a moment to check in. Again, not holding those shoulder blades back, rather reaching very wide, sitting tall on the exhale.

Here goes the curl. Again, the articulation, bringing the hands with me to the chest, so I'm pretty warm. I'm going to go back, get my sacred down. Inhale as I open. That's a lot of work in the musts. XCL as I'm diving forward. When a press my arms behind me, long fingers low to the mat. Hold for a moment. Feel those abdominals. Pull back. Lift your arms.

I'm going to go up high today. All the way around. Rolling back up to sitting tall. That felt too challenging. You'd want to wiggle in toward the frame. [inaudible] holding those abdominal stable, dyed and so internally rotating those upper arms still flexing that spine deep up with the arms. Can you get deeper in the flection of your spine? Rotate those shoulders.

Reach for the toes and that plus take three more. [inaudible]. Yeah, out with those arms. Flex the spine deep over the body. Always asking, can you go a little bit more into that contraction through your abdomen? Can you sit a little taller?

Hopefully you're answering yes to yourself. If you ask those questions, reach out. Squeeze your legs into the center. Reach those shoulders down last time and healing some arm work today. [inaudible] staying low. Lift. Trying to get my head right in between my knees holding that Nice stretch rolling up. As I turn around, Oh, we're going to start rowing front, so let's go with hands right here by the front of the shoulders. Just a simple reach first and we reach and tap and up with the arms, not too high or else you get pulled back toward the frame. I've got my fingertips about a head level. [inaudible] open the arms, bend the elbows, and bring my hands to my chest again. So four movements. One, touch the fingers down to here's the scapular work again, dropping those down, open around in to the chest. Three more.

So feeling that slight. Lean forward toward your legs so that you don't let the springs pull you backwards. You could absolutely do this with your legs folded. [inaudible] I happen to like the challenge of the long sit for the back muscle work and it would be that way on the reformer and down and one last circle all the way up. Now this time row fit front too. We're going to come down to the mat, bending down. All right, big reach. No, this the abdominals. Have to pull back. Reach them back. Just as much as you're efforting, reaching the arms forward. Now I'm going to leave my arm, shoulder level rolling up to sitting tall.

As I do that, the shoulders stay down. Then a big reach up to the frame of the ears circle to come all the way down. Bending down. How far can I bend the spine? Stretch, pulling the waist back, leave the arm, shoulder level we roll up between the arms. Then the arms lift open. Whoops, that clink wasn't so great of my spring and curl.

Ah, rich roll up. Arms will lift what I meant there. I shouldn't have let go of the tension open, keeping the resistance. I know better than that [inaudible] but I suppose to err is so I would just learn to stay focused and up and open. One more to go abdominals back to reach the arms forward. Re articulate up to sitting tall. The arms are shoulder level. Then reaching up high open and all the way down.

Okay, now I'm going, I'm tone to my knees. I'm going to do a hug, a tree and salute. Now I've got my knees down, my toes tucked and heels together to feel that press forward of the pelvis. A nice stretch across the front, taking the arms out to the tee position slightly forward. I've got the elbow soft little bend. Actually, they're not soft. They're bent intentionally, just slightly to engage the biceps and the triceps together.

Taking a moment, lift the chest. I'm going to inhale and bring my arms around thinking of the inhale as a widening of my back and my front, so I want the front of my body chest, the back of my chest, the same width. Inhale, close. Exhale. [inaudible] two more hoping the arms are traveling the same height, one isn't coming higher or lower. Last one, coming into salute. Fingertips together. Now again, I'm a slightly leaning forward and I'm inhaling the stretch. Exhale, think of longer spine to return with control.

Inhale as I reach [inaudible]. Quite a bit of abdominal work. Of course going on hamstrings, helping out back muscles, abs, obliques, everything in the front core holding me steady so I can work against the resistance of these springs without being too wiggly and in one more to go. [inaudible] and chest expansion facing the frame. Same setup with my legs. Inhale, depress, rotate the head, rotate the head. [inaudible] long arms pressing down a hold it there. Rotate. Get a neck stretch, neck stretch center, and again, Zip. We're trying to touch the floor with the fingertips, feeling those muscles in the upper back and prs pulling those rear back ribs back.

So great exercise for me. One more each side holding those obliques, rotate, rotate, Centra and release. Once again, I'm turning left this time. PRS, turn, turn, center and release. Okay, I'm going to let the springs go. Now reach my arm up and just give my triceps a little stretch. Then I'm going to come in to thigh stretch here using the rollback bar, so finding that set up long arms.

I've got my hands on the outside edges. Once again, feeling the shins. Press down onto the mat tops of feet down and bringing their shoulders back slightly. So I'm gonna approach this just by looking straight ahead rather than coming in to any back extension or upper back extension. So first just feeling the hands, the weight shift, looking straight ahead. It's bending the knees to a greater degree, stretching those quadriceps. Now as I come up taller, by the time I reached the top, I want to feel as though I'm taller. Then I started going back.

Find a posterior tilt of your pelvis slightly before you begin the hinge. Maintaining that as you go through [inaudible] and coming back up. I'm somewhat letting the springs help me up, but I'm doing quite of that myself. And again, release the pelvis, slightly tilt. Can you maintain the tilt? Can You keep those upper back muscles engaged to hold the shoulder? Stable hinges. Anthony's getting a good stretch in the quadriceps coming up and at the very top we can release that pelvic tilt. Let's take it two more times. Tilt [inaudible] last one. Posts your tilt, maintaining it, deepening it. As you go further back working those quads, stretching them, working them, coming up.

And at the very end we release and letting go. It's a killer for me. I need that so much. Okay. Now we're going to think I'm going to take this down out of our way. We really don't need this any longer and I'm going to attach my red talk loaded spring and I have it, uh, attached. Third eye bolt down from the top. I'm going to do a little lateral work now sideline.

So getting ourself down, bottom arm, long home is face up when it gets yourself set where you're in a straight line from your shoulder to the bar. I'm going to have you do a grip by Paul. Miss facing the wall and you're stacked. Hips, ankles, knees. What'd you like? You'd be setting up for some matte pieces. So we're going to do a little shoulder blade work for, so let's bend the elbow. Do pressing the scapula now. So I reach it through. I'm going to allow the Scapula to elevate. Oh, it feels so good.

And as they elevate the shoulder blade, lift the waist up the bottom waist, creating a little side bend less than the side bend glider shoulder down and return the bar up. Five of these down and reaches is passing through. You can allow your shoulder to glide. Remember it's healthy action to let those shoulders glide from time to time. Inhale to bend. When I envision massage oil, kind of between my bones [inaudible] so that that motion is much more slidey. Gladi okay, one more legs are still zipped. Okay, no region reached that shoulder blade up, slight lift of the bottom waist.

Now there's the change here. I'm going to release the shoulder blade or bring it back down and stabilize it now and work on lifting the top leg and exhale so often the sideline work in mat or even on the Cadillac here or the wall unit. I'm going to work on the sense of balance front to back. So this is helping to provide a little for me that I'm holding onto. I'm not really using it. It's there for feedback, helping me stabilize in connecting to my lat.

And as they lift the leg, I'm lengthening it out. Lift. We're in parallel of course, and I'm gonna take two more. And the last one now on the hat on the coming down, I'm gonna lower just halfway. Bring the bottom leg to meet the top leg. One and two, three reaching those legs long away from the hips. Sand prs, inner thigh up.

Do more guys and lift. Let's take the last one. Lift, whole flex and point. Inhale and exhale. Flex. So feel those rib muscles obelisks kind of hugging the ribs. Remember, we want to be the same or all the way around the body. If you're arching your back, you're shortening those muscles.

They're now little flutters. [inaudible] four, three, two, one and legs together and all the way down. Now if we return the bar, I'm gonna keep going with another sideline, but I want us to switch the palm and face it the other way. Lift the legs and put them. I've got my moon box. I'm in the corner. But you could absolutely just move your body back and step to the front of the Mat. I just happened to set up in the center of the Mat, legs forward. Okay, so as I have my hand on the bar, what I want to do is if I can just open the palm and press my poem into it so that fires that tricep lat down the side of the body. Again, try really hard not to grip it. Okay, front and back kick.

Here we go and stretch the leg back and front front and stretch the leg back and its kick. All right, so really holding this bar for me, making me find that lateral connection on my top side as much as it is the bottom side holding me steady. Let me demanding that I use the center of my body for support. [inaudible] two more [inaudible] last one and I'm going to hold but I do 10 little pulses of the leg and two pressing the palm against the bar. [inaudible] seven eight, nine and 10 and rest.

That is enough on that. So we're going to come around to the other side. First is the just this regular sideline legs are stacked. Excuse me. Here we go. Or along right in the center of the Mat and we've got a good straight line. So we're bending that elbow down.

Reaching over now letting the shoulder blade elevate, then depress return and lift. Rigo shoulder blade, shoulder blade, shoulder blade and remembering too on the elevation of the shoulder blade. Let's lift the bottom of waist a little bit. Two more [inaudible] uh, last one coming. Shoulder blade elevates and then depressed slightly, but holding it there.

Now holding the balance. Here we go. Top legged. Exhale. [inaudible] bottom arm really long for me getting that nice lateral hip [inaudible] do more. [inaudible] [inaudible] last time. And then holding hip height, bottom leg to join the top one and to wow. Well in the leg to meet the other leg and up. So I'm also thinking, can the bottom leg almost get longer than the top leg so that I don't pull into that hip [inaudible] last two and last one and hold flex and point. Inhale, push through the exhale.

Feel the ankles and the toll [inaudible] and every now and again, check where those ribs might be wanting to go. Keep them in your center. Last one, flex and point. Little flutters now and inhale. Sure. Four, three, two, one and legs together. Down. Return the bar. Okay, so a little lift, change of grip legs and down pressing Nepal feeling at shoulder connection.

Lift. Inhale. And here we go. Kicking Front for the flexed foot and point [inaudible] region from the hip, Ben Flex. So every time the leg comes forward, I'm trying to sit my sitz bone to the other end of the mat kick. I'm trying to keep the leg the same height as I kick it front and sweep it back for more. [inaudible].

Bottom waist has integrity to it. It's not lazy of God. It's slightly lifted. One more to go hold. Think of longer leg, 10 lifts and a one top shoulder hasn't rolled forward. Three and four and six and seven and nine and 10 and n and all the way up. Okay, so I'm in this. Continue using this red spring and top loaded.

We're going to go into a little mermaid, the little mermaid, so okay, that was funny to me. Okay, so [inaudible] behind the head, you could absolutely have a hand out to the side. I tend to like it more back here, the behind the head and I want to start with the bar downs. I'm just going to bring it down and get situated for a moment. So here's a place to sit tall in the body, take a check and do your best to get this hip down. We're going to inhale as we exhale side bend to the left.

How far over can you go before something else has to happen? So I'm going to have us do a very nice shift instead of side bending left and want you to start side bending, right? Stretch your legs out long. And I've pushed the bar through the frame, really connecting long to the this, the waistline here. Now as I go the other way, that a lift my waist up, elbow to the ceiling, bring those legs in and hit that same left side bend and all the way up. Here we go. Side Bend, left and ex CLM side, Ben, right? It's like a piece of seaweed flowing in that ocean is lift nice and undulated and pressing down side.

And when you feel like you can't bend anymore, you can't lift any more on this top waist shift. Contract the side waste, reach long through those legs. Now take the top elbow up, start opening that top waist, fold those legs in and get that hip down. Let's take one more and side bend and lift into the side. Ben Right and lift back up into side bend left and sitting. Tall. Other side hand is in the center of the bar. We have her hand behind her head trying to equalize the weight in the Sitz bones and here we go. Opening that chest. So we bring the bar down to start and it's the same conversation. How far can you go before something else has to happen?

I'm going to shift the side bend to the left waist to reach the legs out. Deep firing of that left waistline in the back. Really now as I come up, I'm going to lead with the elbow open, the waist lift, side bend, right and all the way tall up and over, diving down and kind of visualizing that piece of kelp or seaweed [inaudible] in water. Two more and very spiny. The very undulated really snaky is what I'm feeling inside wanting to connect to that undulation last time. Side bending. Woah, whoa. Why most fell off the mat. Interesting lack.

Just taught me something and Seidman and all the way up. Okay. Taking down that push through bar. I'm going to finish with a little flying eagle or US spread eagle. Actually, excuse me, so holding the frame. I've got my hands about hip height right on that frame.

Hold my feet. Now I want to look forward first and certain leading with the pelvis and the hips. Now reach back and trust that [inaudible] all that shoulder work really if sets you up to just suspend your body weight now is become forward to starting at that tailbone. Really delicious. Lower back curve widening of the back, widening of the back. Some coming up and my arms are still have stayed straight.

Now I'm going to see if I can connect into a little upper back extension, not too much feeling where those shoulder blades are on there. Pull my body to the frame and two more times leading back with the hips and curl healing that nice c curve, steadiness through the legs and feet. So I've just made myself all the way up carrying that extension through my upper back, keeping those ribs held in, pulling the elbows and coming to standing in last time and reaching back, feeling that nice reach through the hips and it is a nice hamstring stretch as well. And here I go. Pelvic tilt widening the back and shrugging, no shoulders. That's a good xylophone. Just playing right up the spine into that nice sense of upper back extension.

Uh, I'm finally pulling the bar, pulling my hands, bending the elbows, bringing myself forward. I'm going to step down off the back and just do nice, easy standing roll down. And it's to feel a sense of centering. Inhale at the bottom, all the way to finish. Thank you guys very much. Thanks. Thank you.