PRO | Bridge Into Footwork Flow

And we'll do it one more time. This is a real good time to just feel your connection to your feet into the earth. Even pressure through the right and left foot, even pressure through the big toe, baby toe, take it down, find that hamstring length, let gravity do what it does, and then rebuild. Coming all the way up to standing. Awesome. Okay. On to the machine we go for bridge.

So this is a moving carriage bridge. Carriage is gonna move and we wanna control it. Hands down by your side, heels of the feet onto the foot bar, lift the hips up. We talked about this in the last foundational video, finding the best bridge position means lifting the hips high enough that you can feel your glutes, and then keeping the upper abdominals tight and pulling down. So if I could draw an arrow of energy, I would draw one up through my hips and down through my chest. On a breath in, push back to straight legs on a breath out, bring the carriage all the way in.

I want you to notice the relationship of my hips to my knees. As I push back, my knees drop, so do my hips. As I pull in my knees drop, so do my hips. Courtney, two, and one more keeping the carriage all the way in on this next one. Let's articulate the spine down without pressing back. So upper spine, middle spine, lower spine. This should feel like your abdominals are working to assist, and then do that same, scoop on the way up, lower, middle, upper, lifting more through the hips than through the chest. Do it again, roll down, upper, middle, lower. Really good time to just connect into the body, scoop and roll up.

One more time. You should feel a stretch through the front of your legs when you're at your highest point in the bridge. Roll down. And roll up. Now, we're gonna do a flat back hinge, so the abdominals are working to brace the shape, carriage stays closed, down and up. Ten, nine, eight. Notice if your knees are open into the sides. Keep them tracking in line with your feet. Four to go, four, three, two, and one, take it all the way down.

Draw your knees into your chest, curl up into a little ball for the hundred with no loops. So arms will go to the sky, legs will extend over the bar, find a pilates v, bring the hands down beside you. Start to pump the arms with an intentional pump back muscles working, and a rhythm. The rhythm of the arms matches the rhythm of your breath, exhaling for five pumps, inhaling for five, ten sets. Energy through the toes, stay lifted high.

Halfway there. Complete breathing. Two more sets. Last one. It's always a good practice to hold and deepen a position before you drop out of it. Reach back behind you.

We're gonna grab our loops for a series called supine abdominal. So supine references lying down on your back. I'm placing my hands on my short loops and taking legs to table. We're gonna build from a base here. Keep the head down and practice pulling the hands to the mat, straight arms, lifting the hands back up over chest. Use your back to pull. And use your back to resist up.

Two more like this. Miller bones are wide. One more. Adding abdominal flexion. This is an important thing to note.

When the arms pull down, the chest will lift up towards the thighs. The thighs don't pull towards the chest. So see if you can feel that in your body, exhale, lift towards the legs, and push down into the arms. Three. Two.

One more time. One. I want you to take your arms out to the sides now, keeping tension into those ropes. Same flow. We're gonna pull in using the back muscles and open with control. If you feel your shoulders pressing up into those shoulder blocks, it's possible that you're letting your shoulders rise, and I really want you to focus on avoiding that. This foundational class is all about teaching you the little tricks that are gonna help you to get more out of your work when you start to increase tempo or increase choreography. Let's add the abdominal curl and open and open big lift up.

Even though the hands are in the straps, the work is coming from your back muscles. See if you can feel that. One more time. We're gonna take it to triceps next. Bring your elbows down into your sides, hovering about an inch off the mat.

Try to bring your elbows to a 90 degree, so avoid this kind of release. You're pushing forward with the palms. Keeping the arms steady, the forearms press down and bend. So the upper arm bone isn't moving. It's tucked right into your sides. Stop at 90 and press.

Adding the abdominal curl. Children's come as high off the carriage as you can. Find that complete breath. Last two. Last one. We'll finish with arm Miller.

Lift the arms up right over the chest. Open the arms to the sides and pull them in. Three, use your back. Two, feel wide through the chest. One, reverse to the t, to the sky, down, out to the sides, carriage stays steady, pulled down, out to the sides, and exhale.

Awesome. Hook up your loops, drape your legs over the foot bar. We've got a performer roll up to do. Reach your arms up to the sky, exhale all the way up. You go. Adding a spring. So I had one red and one blue.

I've added another red. I've one blue, two reds, three springs on. Pretty heavy. Roll yourself down. Single leg footwork. Let's start with both feet on so we can find our alignment. I've got toes on, heels high, feet in line with my hips, hips heavy to the mat.

One leg is going to come off, leave the leg out and practice pushing out with your working leg. All the way out to a straight leg and bring it in. Four, hips are staying square. Three, all the way straight. Two, and one. Now this non working leg is gonna bend to bicycle. Sharp tabletop position. Four, three, two, one. Hold the carriage out. Drop your heel on your working leg and lift it five. Four. Lift all the wet through the glute. Three, two, one, place both feet on.

Find that alignment, opposite leg comes up. Here we go on the other side. Keep that ankle nice and high, pressing out four. Three, two, And now add that gesture leg movement, sharp tabletop, four, three, are you straightening the leg all the way? Think of a bow and arrow, two, and press and hold.

Drop the heel, get that lengthening lift, five, four, three, two, one, both feet on. I want your heels together toes apart for this next move, bring the carriage in, find your diamond. This is gonna have to challenge the stability in your hips. I've got my leg off. It's still turned out without moving that gesture leg, push through the hip. Five. Four. I'm really trying to keep my left hip down here.

Three, two, adding that extension. Send it long. Pull it to the diamond. Courtney, two, one, both feet on, heels together toes apart, find that v, find that length. Here we go other side. Right hip stays down.

Pull up through the knee, Find the work in your back body. Last two, and adding that extension when you come in, really challenging our hip stability. Spatial awareness. Three, two, and one. Bring it on in.