Intermediate Reformer

Okay, we're going to start today with the pelvic curl. Hello class. Hello. Hey, no married. Okay. So the pelvic curl, your feet are the foot bars down. Your feet are resting on it and you can go on your toes or you can be on your heels. Take a breath. As you exhale flat and through your spine, start to roll yourself up. The head rest must be down. Thank you. So you're just rolling yourself up, looking for a straight line between the knees and the feet. Taking a breath at the top, starting from the chest and just making your way down. So just using this as a warmup, articulating through the spine, finding each bone individually. When you reach the bottom and breathing again, and you read out to Rola, anchoring through the feet, feeling that the knees are right in line with the hips, looking for a sense of reaching forward. Inhale and exhale to come back down.

It's mobilizing the spine, getting ready, hearing your body. Inhale. Exhale, roll up and you're cheating. Or just drop your Chin just a little bit, Laila, as you roll down and exhale to calm down. So maybe look down on the front of your body slightly as you are moving through space is to keep the back of the neck long. Let's do that one more time. Breathe in, breathe out.

Last time ribs dropping down as you roll up through your spine, knees reaching just in front of the shoulders. Take a breath and as you exhale, roll yourself all the way back down. Reach your hands back and hold onto your hooks where the straps live. So the handles, if you wanted your head rest back up now it would be appropriate. But if you're fine, you're fine. Uh, bring up your legs to a tabletop position. Glue them together for this spine twist. We're going to go to the left for us.

So breathe in. Rock the knees to the left and breathe out as you come through. Center. Breathe in as you rock the knees to the opposite side and breathe out as you come through center. So don't worry about stopping and center. Just continue to move with your breath. Keep the knees in the feet, lined up, the elbows in the shoulders wide, rocking the hips from side to side. So looking here for the shoulders to stay stable, the upper body really to stay stable while the movement is occurring through the lower spine. Just under the ribs. I mean the, the one rib will lift up but it does, comes pretty much straight back down.

Let's do one more time. Breathe in, deeply breathe out or deeply contract anyway as you come back through center last time to the other side and Xcel to bring it home. When you get home, reach up for your knees. We're heading to the double leg stretch. I'm going to get it out of the way so you don't kick me. And here we go. So inhale the arms and the legs travel out. Exhale, we scoop the knees in and bring the arms around to the side and inhale to reach and exhale to dig deep in the answer to bring the legs and continue moving. So again, moving with the breath, looking for a sense of length, finding the musculature in the back of the leg as the legs extend out.

So although they are looking to be relatively light, we also some muscular activity happening in our thighs. A little bit of glutes, a little bit of hamstring. Last one coming up right now. Single leg stretch. It's got a little one leg straight out. Doesn't matter to me. Which one and change toes are lined up. Could you go into deeper and deeper into your abs as you touch your knee or as you're holding onto your leg, maybe you could use that.

Press down with the upper back muscles to help you curl up a little bit higher and do three more to each side. Two and one hands behind the head for the criss-cross turning to the knee. That's been keeping the head stable in the hands, the shoulders away from the ears. So again, not pushing the head forward but allowing the head to rest in the hands. And how about three more to each side. One and one. Two, three. Come back to center. Lift your just a little bit higher. Just challenge it and release all the way down. Rock yourself up if you haven't set up for footwork.

Do so now. Um, footwork three springs, medium to heavy, something like that. Lying back down and starting with our footwork. So we're going to start on the heels of the feet. Feet parallel to one another. And we want them to flex as though they're up against a wall. Tailbone heavy. Take a breath in. Exhale, stretch your legs out.

Pause for a moment. Look up there in your body for a little bit of length. Definitely get some solidity, some solidarity and bend in. And with that we create a rhythm. Find the back of the legs and press. Use them to pull in and press and press. Good. So if the hamstrings, if their job is to bend the knees, can we contract them actively to pull ourselves in?

So that's where that resistance cue or that word comes from. Last for coming in using the breath last two and one more. Bend yourself all the way back in and slide to your toes. They stay about as wide as they were before. Um, heals up just a little bit, not all the way. Now keep the feet still there as you press it in and out. Squeeze from the sitting bones or a tightened the glute slightly as you press out engaging not only through the fronts but more specifically through the backs of the legs, the front of the legs. Really just finished the movement.

Last three, supporting the knee as it straightens or don't lock it last time. Bring it all the way back. Small v position is next. Little maybe a smidge wider with your knees. Layla, squeeze the heels together. Finding the inner thighs. Here we go. Pressing and pulling in. So there's active resistance in both directions.

Can you find a rhythm where it takes you exactly the same amount of time to go out and in working the musculature of the outer hips and the insides of the thighs, I think about three more is going to be it. Bring yourself all the way back in. Move your heels to the outer edges of the bar again on your heels in external rotation of the hips. Flexing the feet. Maybe just less arch. More heel. Yeah. Good. Here we go. Pressing out, finding the inner thighs. So again, initiate backs of the legs in our thighs, keeping the feet nice and still pressing up from just under the ribs of the abdominal state. Active. They stay a part of the exercise throughout.

Maintaining a neutral spine. Last four Paul in your body in one more to go. I get all the way in. Lovely work. Ladies on your toes please. Sorry. Toes wide on the outsides of the bars. Slightly lifted through the heels. Externally rotated in the hips, tailbone down, abs.

Then go pressing out and pull back. Make the pull back more work than the press out. Finding that inner thigh outer thigh wrap. Nice. And last three here.

And to come all the way back in on your toes in the center of the bar for cavities, his feet are slightly apart. Two or three fingers apart. Um, press all the way out. Take a moment there. Again, look for length in your body. Look for solidity. Lower your heels down before you lift your heels up. Squeeze all the way up to the twoish, meaning engage the hamstring and the glutes and here we go. Lift up, see if you can lift up, not from just the calves continue but from all the way up the back of the leg. Full range of motion in the foot. All ribs dropping down or the chest relaxing downwards.

Let's do that five more times so you could do more than that if you wanted. We're going to 15 today. This one's three counting down to two and one. We're heading right into Francis, so up on both shows. Been one knee raise up on the bolt toe so that there's that lift and come down. Pelvis isn't moving, abs are hanging on, pulling the heel down but also staying connected to the top foot so that top foot, it's not real light.

Both feet are working evenly and let's do four more to each side. Really pull that bottom heel down. Three one and give yourself a stretch if you want. And then straight to the other side if you want and come in when you're ready. Once you've come in, we're going to come up all the way. Changing the springs for abdominal work of medium to light.

I recommend one blue and one red or lily. You could go green and a yellow medium to light is really what we're after. All the reformers are different. Lie Down, please reach for your straps with your hands. It's a good idea to move yourself just a little bit away from the shoulder blocks. And another good idea is to make sure just for a quick moment that your straps are even with one another. And with both of those things have occurred, bring your arms just in front of your shoulders.

Carrots will move slightly away from the bumper. Pick up your legs, take a breath, lift into the a hundred position in HIPAAs and Xcel. Hundreds one, two, three, four, five can keep the carriage still open up your collarbones just a little bit, Layla. That's nicer. Oh three working from the back. So it's like you're trying to reach your arms out to the touch. The foot bar that's halfway in here, and six nice steady pace. Looking for intensity each time. So don't give up at the end. Work harder. Good. Keep the lots to keep the carriage still last too.

Last one, breath finishing with the inhale. Exhale, pull the knees in. Inhale, lower your head and chest. Exhale, uh, have a rest. We're coming up to coordination. Coordination goes. Exhale, lift into the a hundred position. Open and close the legs. Inhale, bend the knees. Stay lifted and continue. Inhaling as you go down and come straight back up. Exhale, open, close, Ben. Stay lifted and come down. Good thing to think about in order to stay lifted on that bend is to potentially lift higher and then come down. Let's do that four more times. It's exhale.

Open-Close pull and release. Go working with your breath. It's one full breath cycle. Only bend, come down last two, open through the shoulders. That's it. And one more time. Well lovely and release all the way down and catch your breath. Bring your feet into your straps. [inaudible] so the same springs that you use for abdominal work, unless you went really lighter, more than likely appropriate for HIPAA.

Horian and start with our frog position today. So bending the knees. Make sure that when you bend your knees, your tailbone stays down. That's important. Squeeze your heel, see other. Find your inner thighs, squeeze your glutes, and with those two muscular focuses, press up. Pull your legs in, press your legs out. God, can you make it about your ads more than it's about your leggings? Pay attention to what your arms are doing.

Are they starting to push up into the shoulder blocks? [inaudible] squeezing you inner thigh, outer thigh. It's a sense of rapping outside, in or inside out. This is going to be our last one. Bring the legs straight up. Keep the external rotation in the hips. Press down. Exhale. Inhale. Circle the legs out, up and around. I make an exclamation point at the top.

Check that you're still in rotation and press down again. There's your down circle. Inhale up around the to the top and exhale to press down. Of course we're working our legs here, but it's not so much about the legs as it is about the stability of the pelvis, about the contraction through the abdominals, about looking for symmetry in your body, symmetry in your circles. About four more here. Yeah, the three big all the way to schoolies and three come all the way. Touch, touch, touch too. And last time come all the way up to the top to finish and then reverse.

Separate the legs. Circle the legs down together and bring them back up. So we're working the entire time in external rotation here. Nothing wrong with working in parallel for a reason, but today, external rotation, keeping the arms long, bodies shoulders soft. Last four, working full ranges of motion, hitting all points of the circle equally the last two times. [inaudible] keep the legs at the bottom. Imagine a horizon if you will, just underneath your feet and draw a straight line along that horizon.

Squeeze upper inner thighs and abs and pull the legs back together. Openings in healing. We open and exhale. You're pushing like you're trying to squeeze something solid and open and press. Could play around with flexing your feet, with pointing your toes. It doesn't really matter. I feel a little different. So check what you like better. MMM. That's that one that wants to come up.

Just for your information. Can we do two more? I think that'll, it's only nine, but I was just thinking to myself, well, nine's really hard. Nine is plenty. All right, that's it. Ladies. Benji's take your feet out of your straps. Um, since you're already down, I'm just going to have you drop your head rest down. I'm gonna adjust the springs. I mean using, um, two red springs here on a balanced body apparatus. And we're gonna do the bottom lift.

So the bottom lift is essentially a pelvic curl that's a little bit more work than a pelvic curl on the mat. Cause the, now you have to keep the carriage still, so you're on your toes. You know, drop your heels down, take a breath in. Exhale, articulate your spine, your goal. Here are your goals. Here are a couple you can move. And I'll talk a number one. Don't move the carriage, uh, bringing you a stand on your inner foot a little bit so your knees come in a little bit. Perfect. XL Roll down. So I liked the breath. Exhale to roll up. Inhale to pause. But you could also play around with a breath so that you inhaled to come up and exhaled to roll down and you decide what feels better to you. A lot of work in the hamstrings, keeping the feet nice and still.

Let's do three more. Okay. Holding in and excelling to come down on these last two, I'm going to add some extension. So let's inhale up. Exhale as you press the reformer, I'll go about to three quarters of the waist rate with your legs and pull back in. Inhale all the way in and touch that bumper. Kiss it XL. Press back. I think I said Kiss, not bang and come all the way and I was just teasing you. Let's do one more. Press out and come in. And when you squeeze my hand, squeeze it hard and roll down.

Poor. I was only teasing you. Roll back up again. Touch me in ELA. We're going to do that one more time. One more set. Three extensions. It's exhale. Inhale. It's nicer. Exhale out. Inhale. And try not to lift the heels up last time and in healing. Good. Bring it all the way down and rest.

Oh, good work. That's tough. One A, hug your knees into your chest if you want to stretch. I'm sorry. Lately I think I did that. Okay. And then when you're ready, come up. Going down to a light spring one full spring is what I'm looking for here. We're going to do the full lunch today. So step up onto your reformers.

Let's go the right foot up against the shoulder block. Halfway up. You don't have to be all the way up on your toes. And then the left foot comes up onto the bar. As you lower your body down into a lunge position, see that the knees is just over the ankle. Uh, and then Yep, go ahead and push down with the hips. And I would just push back a little bit. Layla w right there. So you don't have to be all the way in.

I guess is the point I'm making push actively through that back leg. We're holding for about three breasts. We've definitely done one. Let's do two more breasts. And here's our last breath. Now as you stretch through the front leg, bringing the hips straight back so it's like you're sliding it along a table. Oh, if only I was as flexible as you, I think my life would be complete childrens down, breathing in, breathing out.

Three full breaths. Good. And then [inaudible] bend the knee. We're going to do that whole thing one more time. As you're in the lunge position, guide your spine up and forth. So you're, you may not look like your arch much, but you're, you're looking for that in your body is, I guess is what I want to say. When you've had your three breaths, you guys really great. Um, go ahead and press back. Note that it's more important, although both of these lovely women are extending their legs and their spines, it's, if you can't do both, it's more important to have a straight back than a straight leg.

So there's that information. When you've done your breaths, come all the way back in. I can step that foot down. Put it up against the shoulder blocks, change legs. Okay. And then just set yourself knee over ankle is what we're looking for for the setup position. Different people, different heights of people will be in different places you know to breathe. And you know when you're done with your third breath, you start to stretch the front leg reaching long.

You've come up a little Christie. Okay, no are bending. When you're ready. By the way, as you read, bend, push pretty actively through that back heel. Engage the glute, the hamstring on that leg. Just that will give you a bigger stretch. So that's worthwhile mentioning. Go ahead. When you're ready. I'm just looking. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do anything. I'm just looking, just, just there is where you want to flatten out. I'd come all the way back here. We go into the long stretch. Step your foot back. You're already going to be in position. There you are.

Now as you inhale, pull your body forward as far as you can over your bumper without rounding your spine. The goal is to come all the way to the stopper, but depending on your height, that may be impossible. Let's press back. Exhale, press back. Exhale. I don't mind if you don't come to the stop or you don't, but what you don't do is round your back and get it up into your neck muscles or anything like that. You'll work with precision. That's nicely love out. Exhale, strong legs, active legs, heels pressing into the shoulder, blanks coming forward. Let's do three more pressing out, working the shoulder blades down as the arms reach forward and bringing you back in. So in my mind, two more. It's the feeling of pushing the arms forward by pulling the shoulders down or maybe we could think of last time relaxing the arms forward by working heavily in the back. Bring it all the way back down in, I guess Ben Janiece and come down the down stretch. Okay, so the hands for the down stretch or on the football you guys. Okay. All right, so we're looking in the down stretch for just a little bit of a posterior tilt, pubic bone in front of hip bones or, or a tucked position from that place. You're going to bring your body forward into an arched spine. Good. And once you're there, this spinal position isn't going to change. As you exhale, push the bar away from you.

Same feeling of shoulders going down to move yourself away. And then inhale. Imagine a brick wall coming straight up from your reformer coming up, up, up, up, up, away from it. Xcel to press out. Inhale. Don't go over the bar. Come up away from Xcel to press out. Inhale the abdominals. Have to work really hard to support and stabilize the swine. Get Taller.

Two more. Press out pollen. Good. And last time for the day. Don't look down the electric. Just keep looking forward. And then I just sit back to your feet for a moment. Reach down and adjust your spring. So I'm a light spring. We're going to do arm circles here. So, um, if you have a blue spring and you're working with a balanced body, that's what I would do. I think Layla, what we'll do for you is just, uh, because you don't have a blue thing.

Want to just move the gear bar and I'm high. You Go. Okay. So with that, grab your strap. I don't even know if you need your bar. I don't think it really matters here. We'll put that one down too for aesthetics. Okay, so the arm circle, you're on your knees, you got your feet up against your shoulder blocks. If that feels funny on your knees, it also works to just bring your feet together behind you.

So there's some information. Hands forward, shoulders down. Check out in your own body that you have your shoulders just over your knees working the abdominals to hold the position. It's an XL to bring the arms up all the way. They rotate forward and that rotation come around. It doesn't just happen in the wrist. It happens all the way from the shoulder.

Exhale up, rotate the shoulders and reach out to come down. Exhale to come up in my mind. That outward feeling is a feeling of trying to stretch the chest or to touch the sidewalls. Definitely. It's not a squeezing together of the shoulder blades. It's a broadening through the back.

Keep going Accella or can the ABS in all directions and inhale around. Let's do two more hacks selling up nice and in healing. I want you to maybe just look up a little bit. Okay, let's reverse. So from the side of the body we exhale, bring the thumbs up, the arms rotate. This time up and we reach aren't runs down. Reaching out.

Exhale, rotate in the shoulder joint and let the shoulder blades be that. What's moving the arm down with the musculature around the shoulder blades so we can track the upper back to bring the arms down. We can track the upper back to support the lifting of the arms. You can think of this as almost like your leg circles, a stability centered exercise, but also a mobility centered exercise. Looking for both of those things. How about two more times? Lovely.

And on this one we're going to finish the circle. At the top. First. Fingers and thumbs together. Hands behind the hat, check out your position. I l. L I think a little forward with your elbows and childrens down. Good. And then look up and we're going straight up with the hands. Exhale. Inhale down. Exhale.

So if you are pushing your elbows back and experience seeing a lot of neck tension, it's worthwhile to bring the elbows forward slightly and helps to keep tension out of the neck and shoulders as you bend your arms. Think of pulling your elbows apart, really finding those upper back muscles. Let's just do three more. Okay. Deep, deep abs too. And here's our last one. Straighten the arms and reach around to your sides. Um, you guys keep your straps. I'm just going to give you some more spring. I'm not sure. I think it'll be okay. A biceps.

So I've just added another spring. So it's medium now instead of like, so the arms reach back. Your goal here is to keep the arms pretty high in space without turning the elbows inward to this way and without squeezing the shoulder blades together. And with that, keep the arms still as you bend your elbows. Uh, and that was a bad cue. Keep your upper arms still as your lower arms move. So the reason or part of the reason the arms are up so high is that you even get that really nice shoulder stretches. The arms are taken back.

Good ribs in, just a little Christie. And we'll do four more and three. Lovely. That's it. That's it. Set your straps down. Go back to just one full spring in Layli. You might just want to move your gear bar back up as well.

Turn yourself around for chest expansion. Well you guys on your okay on your knees. Okay Layla. Alright, so reached down for this straps. Hold the ropes above the buckles. Once again, we're looking for a shape in the body where the shoulders are just over the knees and then you have to work your abs pretty hard to maintain that position. Bring your arms just slightly forward of your hips. So you're going to have tension right away.

And with that it's about a 10 degree pull behind your hips. So you pull back and you push down to go forward, push down to go back. So here's another place where it's not really just a squeeze of the shoulders. It's not really a squeeze of the shoulders at all. It's a downward movement of the Scapula, a lot focused exercise.

I'm reaching down in both directions. Do you guys look good? Keep the ABS working. Might as well work the Trish a little bit and work the inner thighs a little bit while you're at it. Make it a full body exercise. And let's go four more times down and back, down and forward. Start with the ads and then pull the abs in the direction of the arms.

Two more. And last one. Good. Reach your arms back forward and set your straps back down on uh, where they belong. I'm going to take it back down to a light spring. So I've given Christie a blue spring. I'm moving as far as can I, you can do this on a heavier spring, on one full spring.

I personally prefer it on this spring, so that's why I'm doing it because I'm the teacher. Put your hand on the foot bar. Now, that foot bar on there, on that frame, and put your hands on the frame. Okay, so setting up this way, bring your shoulders in front of your wrists so you'll lean forward a fair amount from that place. Round your spine very deeply and focus the round in the lumbar spine and, and try to let, I mean the thoracic first year is going to be round, but that's not our focus. And with that it's an exhale to deeply try to round more in. That is going to bring the knees in so it's not just a pull in and pull out with the legs. We're thinking about rounding more and that's what's moving us.

So it's a deep abdominal contraction. Both of these ladies are doing such a good job. You'll see that once this bine is, let me come differently. When the ones, the spine is set into that round shape, nothing else changes. Ladles thinking about ringing her pelvis underneath her, wrapping it around my arm in some sense. And let's do three more. You guys good, gorgeous and too and when and release all the way back. Good.

So let's get a box six. I'm setting up for side overs. So for the side overs you want to have all the springs connected to keep the carriage stable. You also need to make sure that you have access to the strap. Yeah, let's just do it.

Okay. So here's how I want you to set up the sit on your left hip. So your right foot underneath the strap. Put your left hand down onto the head. Rest just slightly away from the edge of the box just so you have a little bit more space. Okay.

So what I want you to do while your hand is there is to find a really straight line with your spine. The setups important to me. So I'm going to take just a little bit longer to defined it from their abdominals. Engaged leg, maybe lifting up slightly too to just hold the whatever that is. Strap, bring your right hand behind your head. I like that far. Just a little bit. I'll give you less tension here. Here we go without changing anything else in your body. Pick up your left arm and put it behind your head as well.

And with that we take the whole position over and we lift just to that straight line. That's excellent. I would prefer that your hands were totally interlace if you can manage that. Good. And why over and exhale up. Inhale way over letting the hands support the neck, not create tension by pushing on the neck. I Dunno. How many more do you think? Two. Okay, two more. And last one.

Good. And then, uh, put your hand back down. So for the stretch you could either put your elbow on your headrest or if you were tall enough or flexible enough, you could put your hand all the way down onto the ground. Take the top arm over your head. As that arm reaches forward, pull the leg away from the fingertips so you're stretching in two directions. Take that right hand around, put it on the frame in front of you. Bring your left arm back and put it on the other side of the frame.

Pull yourself out and forwards. Just to stretch. Not really part of the exercise, but it makes the whole exercise worth it. In my mind. Bend your elbows in, let your backing down. That's maybe wouldn't be a great thing to do or would didn't. You would definitely need to be careful with this if you had any instability back issues, injuries, things like that. But for come up, Jane side's normal, healthy women, people, men, whomever.

It's fine change. Okay, so the set up, the other foot goes under the strap. We put our hand down for reasons so that we can find that long gorgeous, straight line with our spine so that we have a moment to engage the abdominals to prepare left-hand behind the head, right hand behind the head. Inhale, go over the box. Xcel create a straight line and he'll go over the box. Annex. Yeah, create a straight line. You're coming up just a little bit much here and you're a little bit turn, so kind of that way. So think as you come up.

I think we have three more of going that way. Yeah, last too. Lengthening out and up when to go. That's it. Go for the stretch hand on the floor or elbow on the headrest. Big reach over, big pull through the other leg and then one hand on either side of the frame, first pole out and forward.

And then if it feels good to you, bend your elbows and let your body around or let your spine flex over the box. I just have a couple of breasts there and when you're ready to come up, do and stepped down off your boxes and please turn your boxes the opposite way. We're going to end with pulling straps. So going down again to just one full spring. Okay.

And lie on your box with your chest off the edge. Your legs are out behind you. Okay. And you're going to reach up with the straps and you're actually gonna wrap your hands around here. Yup. You're holding the straps and you've got like a little hook. Okay. So from that place, let the legs be about as high as the box.

They don't have to be up a ton, but there's definitely energy. Their abdominals are in. Breathe in. Prepare. Exhale. Bring the arms back towards the waist and extend the spy. Inhale, let the arms come down. Resist that downward motion. Start moving the arms from the shoulder blades and squeeze a little on that set.

Good. Inhale to release down. Exhale as the arms reach back, you're pulling from your back knot and you're definitely gonna feel your arms. Let me say that, but it's not about the arms. It's about the upper back. So pull from just underneath the shoulder blades. Lengthen the neck forward in front of you as you lift your body up.

Let's do three more. I'm just going to have you not quite look up that much. That's nice. All right, good. How many did I say? Two more. And this'll be our last one. Ladies. Working's a really powerful upper back exercise. Release all the way down. Place your straps back onto the hooks.

Let your back settle as long as you need to, and then step to the side of your reformer standing on both feet. Let's finish with just a couple of roll downs. Feet are parallel to one another. Standing Tall, breathe in, breathe out. Allow your head to fall forward as you round down, release any accumulated tension or any tension at all, right through the top of the head in healing at the bottom. Exhale, lifting up through the waist, feeling the shoulder blades just gently guide themselves down the back top of the head lifts that. Go in one more time. Breathe in and breathe out. As you relax forward, letting your body move, breathing and at the bottom and breathing out to bring yourself up. Excellent. Good work.