Short Box Series

Let's look at the short box series. The short box series is a series of exercises that are frequently done together most often, sometimes separated, but most frequently done together. We're gonna see four exercises, round back, flat back, twist, and climb a tree. So the box is positioned in the short box position, so short ways on the reformer and the springs are all on and the reason for that is so that they stabilize the carriage. The foot bar is down and the way I was taught is to have the feet on the frame of the reformer.

So I'm gonna pull this bar back, and that's the reason why because it gets in the way of my feet on the frame. Classically, The exercise is done with the feet floating. All of the exercises are done with the feet floating so you may see it performed that way. Starting with the round back, we are taking both feet underneath the straps. We wanna sit towards the front edge of the box.

The hands are arms are crossed, and then the arms just rest on the front of the body. From the straight back position, the initial movement is to round into a c shape and bring the arms away from the body. I then take my body back and I'm thinking about tracking my arms parallel to the ground as I go, hopefully, in theory, onto the lower back, inhale to pause, exhale to bring the shape up, back into the c curve, and then the arms return to the body as the body comes up. XL as the c curve is happening. And back.

Not everyone's able to get their lower back to imprint on the box, so you could just make the exercise a little smaller. This is the ultimate goal. All the time as I'm moving my spine, I'm active in my legs pressing down. I'm very active in my abdominals. Feeling the strap nice and tight on my feet.

Round back. Following the round back, we go into the flat back. So for this exercise, the hands come behind the head. And what's happening here is a co contraction of the front of the body and the back of the body. So that as the body goes back, it happens in hinge from the hip joints.

Comes back up in hinge back to upright. Inhale to hinge, keeping the body in a straight line all the time, exhale to return. Very easy here to over arch the back as you're going back and that is obviously I think you can see not a flat back. So useful as the body's going back for to think about little bit of posterior tilt just slightly get behind the sitting bones and then that helps to keep the back in the right position. Following the flat back comes the twist.

So the initial movement in the twist is rotation of the spine. We then take the body in that same flat back. Come up in the flat back and de rotate. Inhale to rotate the body and hinge. XL to come up and come back to center.

In the rotation, what is useful to think about is aiming the elbow towards the inside of the spring. Not the spring. The frame of the reformer and center is what I meant and rotate. It's not an physical reality. It's just an idea that helps you get into the right shape.

And center. What we're not trying to do is hinge and then go backwards. So that's what I was trying to make clear. So not hinge and back. Or rotate and back, but instead rotate and go out and come up and center and rotate and go out and up and center. The twist.

The last exercise in this series, we need to take one foot out of the strap for a climate tree. In order for me to have tension on my strap there, I'm gonna take my foot up onto the footbar and anchor it there. The hands are on the leg. I'm hugging my knee in towards my body and I'm pulling my body upright. And then there's three pulses in the climate tree.

To start, we go, pull the leg, pull the leg, and then we straighten the leg and we roll back and as we roll back, we walk down the leg until the leg is in that upright position. That's where the arms let go. The body reaches back. The arms come around, reach forward, walk back up the tree and come up into that upright position again. Bend.

Pull one. I'm pulling from my arms from my mid back. Three and stretch. Roll back and walk. Two, three let go and extend the spine.

The arms circle the head comes up, we walk up, two, three, lifting the back and back into the bent knee position. Changing sides. Again, you wanna sit towards the front of the box. It just gives the body some feedback somewhere to go. Pull, pull, pull straighten, walk, walk, walk straight up with the leg.

Reach back, come around, walk up the leg, establish a straight back, and bend and pull to three and reach and back to three and reach around one. Two, three, lifting the back and bending back in. Okay. That's the entirety of the series here. A nice way to teach the climate tree if someone needs a little bit more support for their back.

What you can do, I've moved the bar because it will just get in the way of the box. What you can do is you can turn the box long ways on the box same movement pattern, same movement pattern sitting at the front edge, but this as the this orientation of the box, just provides more support for the person as they're going into that spinal articulation. In addition, it makes the extension in the body much more focused on the thoracic spine and less of a full body backbend. So just a little bit more supportive here, and I just wanted to mention it as an option. Just so you know.

So ShortBox series Roundback, Flatback, Twist, and Climatery.