Kneeling Side Arm Series

Let's talk about the kneeling side arm series. So there's four exercises in this series. It's an advanced series, and it's done on a very light spring. So I had a yellow spring on, and the exercises that we're gonna look at are sometimes called by different names, but the names that I will be speaking about that I know are deltoid reach, cross arm pull, triceps and arms overhead. So with that being said, let's get started. One of the biggest challenges in this series is having to keep the body nice and organized and stable against a very light spring.

You can certainly go heavy, or a blue would be appropriate, even a red, but this person cannot do a red spring. Or very beautifully on a blue spring. So she is choosing yellow. With the yellow spring, when you're moving back and forth on the reformer, just keep in mind that the carriage is now very light. So just look after yourself on the reformer and try not to bang the carriage around too much, if at all.

For the first exercise, the deltoid reach, my body is right up against the shoulder block, and the hand holding the strap is the hand closest to the straps. The other arm is down. The hand is gonna come into position right next to the ear on the side of the face. You'll see that my elbows a little bit in front of the strap. So that does two things keeps the strap out of my way and biases that shoulder into an externally rotated position. As the exercise begins, we have to find a lot of trunk involvement.

So as the arm reaches straight up, There's no side bending in the trunk, which is challenging, and then the arm comes back down. So very easy to lean to move the arm more difficult to keep the body exactly as it is and take that arm directly up until it's straight and bring it directly back down. The next exercise is called the cross arm pull. So I change hands The hand that's not holding the strap is always just reaching down. So I begin with my hand in between my sternum and my naval, my belly button, elbows reaching out to the side.

I initiate by taking the arm up and then I try to keep my hand underneath the elbow as I reach out. I bring my arm back in, my elbow back in, and I bring my arm down. So the way I why I hesitated there, because this is what I want you to see. So very commonly what the elbow will do is it will drop and the arm will then go. That's not what we're looking for.

So instead of that pattern, what we want is elbow, hold that, still take the arm out. You see how the hand stays below the elbow and then back in. I'll do one more. You'll see. Hopefully, there is no leaning in the body, and I come right back to the starting position. For the next two exercises, we actually have to move on the reformer. So again, light spring.

Look after your equipment. Come to the other side of the reformer. This exercise is probably the most challenging to find because of how the body needs to be aligned. So it for the triceps, take the strap in the opposite hand, away from the shoulder block or away from the straps live, the arm that's not holding the strap goes down onto the shoulder block. Now here I have to work very hard to get my pelvis oriented over my knees and create no twisting in my body.

Then, the elbow is bent with the arm just above the elbow, just above the shoulder joint. The arm that's down on the shoulder block is actively pushing And now I'm just in position. So this isn't even the exercise. The exercise is keep the upper arm totally still and straighten the elbow. And keep that upper arm totally still as the elbow bends.

My eyes are down on my arm all the time. It's a big stretch, which is why the position is so hard to find. I'll do one more press up. Upper arm stays still shoulder blade stays stable and organized. I can then come out of that shape.

Take the strap into my opposite hand, and then the challenge in this exercise, the overhead reach is once again not doing the movement of the arms from the trunk, but instead trying to move the arms symmetrically so you can't really tell which arm is pulling spring and which arm is not pulling spring and then move them symmetrically back down. It's very tempting to try to lean with the body, takes a little bit of abdominal support here, exhaling as you reach. And inhaling as you open. On the other side, I had a lot to say on that side. I wanted to give you a lot of details On the second side, I'll show you more temple. How I did that quite slowly, so I'm gonna step off.

Come around. Fortunately, you won't be able to see my face, but I know you're there. Come on to the reformer. We start with the beginning exercise, which is the deltoid reach. My knees are a little wider than my sitting bones.

My hand comes just to the outside of my face. The other arm is actively reaching down, and I go straight up. And back. And back. Deltoid reach.

Changing hands, hand between the sternum and the naval cross arm pull arm, elbow, elbow arm. Arm, elbow, elbow, arm. Remember the focus is not letting the hand get above the elbow. So it stays slightly below the elbow all the time. For the last two, I have to now move myself to the other end of the carriage. Change hands once again reach down, find the position where my body is in lateral flexion with no rotation, push with the bottom arm, establish the elbow right over the shoulder, and take the arm straight up.

And bend. Very common here to try to take people want to take the arm behind the body. Wanna keep the elbow biasing towards a little bit of external rotation. You can think elbow a little forward or something that works really well as thinking armpit a little forward that will orient the scapula in the right place, the shoulder blade, and and triceps. And finally, the overhead reach.

Both arms have a little bit of soft in the elbows like a micro bend, and then you try to make the arms move that symmetrically. Torso stays as still stable as possible. And that's the overhead reach. So, again, for me, not a very heavy spring, but plenty of challenge there, holding the body in place, making sure every everything, all the body parts, the scapula, everything is working well. Particularly challenging is just that trunk stabilization and scapular stabilization.

Once again, kneeling side arm series deltoid reach cross arm pole. Triceps, arms overhead. Have fun.