Knee Stretch Series

Let's take a look at the knee stretches. This is a wonderful group of exercises, and there are absolutely endless possibilities for variation. Today, we're going to dive into the more basic framework and then go from there. So set up here. I've got my bar in the middle position. I've got one spring on. You could use a green.

You could use a red. You could use a blue. This exercise is about control the way I'm going to teach it today. So a lighter spring makes it a little harder. If you add more spring, it's going to shift the focus more to the backs of the legs.

And if that's what you're trying to do, then that's a perfectly valid choice. But in its original form, we're focusing on control here of the the core body. So let's step on to the reformer, taking care with the hands on the foot bar, the feet up against the shoulder rest, and make sure you take a moment here to really enjoy that foot stretch, really getting a good stretch through the toes. We all need more of that, and a really lovely stretch through the ankles. Also knowing that the better connection you have with your feet up against the shoulder rest, the more access you have to the backs of the legs to help you support here.

So that's a key component to that position. We'll place the hands firmly on the foot bar round through the back. Now take some care here to be sure that your shoulders are plugged. Sometimes I say plugged and people ask what that means. It simply means that we're not fully rounded forward with the shoulders, but you also wanna be take care and be sure that you're not squeezing the shot the scapula together or the shoulder blades together. Instead, there's a sweet spot where you're open through the front, and also open through the back body.

Two straight arms, I'm rounding the back. My neck is involved. My low back is involved and my upper back is sustained in that position. And then we just kinda lift the body up a little bit. The legs go back.

The movement here, legs go back, legs pull in. Body stays completely still. This exercise can be done with a really nice energy through the legs, but stability through the core. A very common mistake is to come in and actually tuck the pelvis more, tuck the pelvis more. So what I want you to really think about is can you keep the shape of the spine the same the whole way through? So the body really stays stable in space as the legs move. Now the add on here or the next version would be a flat back. So here, we can stop wherever it's comfortable and straighten out the spine.

So now I'm looking forward. Again, my shoulders are plugged on my back body and not up by my ears, abdominals are engaged, slide the carriage back, pull the carriage in. Staying quite engaged both in the upper back, and the low back. It feels a little bit like I have to aim my tailbone up to not move my pelvis here. So be mindful of what it feels like to stay stable.

It feels a little bit like you have to do something when you come in because if you don't, you might end up curling the pelvis accidentally. Now we can move this into also an arched back position. So By extending my spine, it requires a whole different set of muscles to work. Do make sure you don't feel any pressure in your low back. If you do, return to flat back. Otherwise, when we arch the back, we've got the ribs tucked in. The abdominals are quite active.

Opper back is very active in the same idea here. The legs can move with an energy in and an energy out. When you're finished here, you take a nice easy break at the stopper, And please know that there are endless possibilities for variation. One might endeavor to do knees off in both positions or all three positions, really, usually knees off is done more in a round back. And you can also do a single leg knee off.

We'll recommend that when you try to lift those knees up that you keep the body shape the same, and you hover the knee just a little bit away from the carriage rather than lifting the whole body up. That makes it a whole new set of challenges. And that was the knee stretches.