Mini Deep Dive: Teaser

Hi, I'm Lesa Logan, and I wanna deep dive with you on teaser on the reformer. By far, probably the the exercise I hear the most questions about why there's a struggle. And I think that together, we can demystify what's going on and really help you find the teaser for you based on what you're doing. So I think it's important to talk set up on the reformer. If your reformer looks different than this, there's some things that I think you could do to help make tees are just a bit more accessible.

of all, I have these boxes here for you these long boxes. So this is the box that I'm gonna use, and you can see it's shorter, not just in height, but in length. And if you are a more fun sized person, a higher box is just going to have different obstacles for you. This doesn't mean it's impossible, doesn't mean there's something wrong with it. All these things have differences for reasons that are outside of my knowledge, but I think it's important to just address, like, if this is a height of box that you're using, my other tips are gonna help you tremendously to overcome the obstacle that the height or the length might pose.

So let's get this out of here. Alright. The next thing that I want us to set ourselves up for is if you are working with a reformer with risers back here. If you've got risers back here and you've got the the ropes on anything higher than that one, I want you just to push them all the way down. We've talked about this in the tutorial in setting up your your former. By putting that riser all the way down, you'll see it'll match closer to where my straps are.

The reason why that's gonna make a difference for you is physics. A class I did not take in college, but now I'm realizing I should have. Because the angle at which the strap is gonna hit your body when it's lower is gonna make it easier for your center to work in the teaser versus your shoulders. Right. If this comes up at a higher angle, then it's going to feel like you're being pulled backwards. And so if you just lower those risers, you're gonna have a lot more access to a teaser on the reformer. The next thing I want you to notice is just how long this handy dandy strap is. So if you're using ropes, You have a ton of extra rope under that reformer.

Just start to lengthen it out and put it so that the loop that your handles connected to is about an inch in front of your shoulder rest. This is going to make the pull of the spring feel less like it's trying to knock it out, and more like it's here to support you. And then lastly, I do like a good handle. Alright? Four teaser specific because if you are using a loop, the 10 that you might not notice that your wrist is bending when you're coming up, and that means you're you're gonna lose all that good stuff that you got before you got to your teaser. So I love a handle because Just gonna show you this.

When you're doing your teaser, you want that pinky side of the hand to be touching the handle at all times. If your hand comes off like this, now we're using the front of our arm, top of our shoulder. But if that pinky side of the hand is on the handle, we have access to these amazing back muscles here, and we really wanna have access to those when we're doing teaser. Otherwise, of course, it's gonna feel like you're falling off. Alright. The next thing you're gonna want is just to make sure that you have a good heavy spring on. If it's too light, you're not gonna have enough to push into. Now if it's too heavy for you, it's gonna feel like it's knocking you over.

But if your straps are longer, the way the spring won't feel as intense. Okay. So now that we've got our self set up, the next thing I just want you to ask yourself is, do you have a good swan? Right? If your extension exercise and pilates are your struggle, your nemesis, then t's on the reformer is gonna be a challenge because we start in extension. Or if you're constantly feeling like you're moving from your shoulders. Right? That is going to be a problem because you're not gonna be coming up from the strength of your back as well.

And then the last thing I want you to know is how are those hip flexors doing? Do you feel like they dominate everything? Because that is not gonna make tees are so much fun. So you might wanna also make sure that you're strengthening the backs of your body equally to prepare you for your next teaser. So then we just set up on our box. So no matter what box size you're using, you wanna have each of these handles behind your back, and you wanna get pretty close to this edge without opening the spring. Now if you're coming from back stroke.

There's a fun little transition that actually sets you up for the place on the box you wanna be, but not every time we do teaser, do we come from back stroke? So what I wanna know, like, here is where your booty would be for back stroke, and you wanna just be a little bit back. If you're in the middle of your box, you're actually gonna have too much of your body into the well, and that's not gonna feel so fun. So when you're closer to the edge, yes, it's a little scary, but you have more support on your back. And so right here, we're not gonna hang. Although it feels good, you want to work your legs away from you and your upper back towards the well, and so you're pulling yourself into a backbend.

Now these hands, they're going to reach to the floor as I curl my head chest and legs up. And so I'm really trying to touch the floor. So watch that again. I'm gonna literally try to scrape my fingertips to the floor. That helps me gather up the spring versus coming up like you're doing the hug. Okay? That's not gonna feel so good.

So you wanna reach the floor. And then come up. Now here's the deal. A lot of people come up to here or to there. And they're like, I'm falling backwards. Yes.

You will. I can't even hold that. You want those legs to be at the level of your eyes. So we're most of us can come up 80% of what we think the teaser is and be in the right spot. So if you were able to do this with the pinky side of your hands up, then get what? You get to do some variations.

You can lower and lift your arms. Now the arms going up and down, nothing should change. Your arms should be able to go behind you without your chest going back. If the arms go behind you and your chest goes back with it, that's where we have some work to do. And if that goes well, you get to lower down.

Now this is really important. I don't think a lot of people talk about this. Pull your waist back, back, back, back, wait till your toes and eyes go down, then your arms, and that way your feet won't clip the foot bar. So here we go. We'll come up again. Either variations will be your circles, three in each direction.

You should feel it from your back, or you can do three circles in each direction with the legs, or we can get really fancy and take the legs to one side, the arms to the other, or you can do a salute, and that's not fun, but it's a challenge. And ideally, it's in front of your face, but it can be in front of the heart, then always find the teaser and roll on down. So hopefully, this setup, and then the idea of the fingers reaching down gets you closer to the teaser on top of the box. But I will say nothing takes place Nothing takes the place of making sure you've done teaser on the mat and on the Cadillac or tower to just help you understand what is involved in your teaser. And then I think we know this already, but in case you don't, teaser is not a peak pose in Pilates. It just happens to be one of the most photogenic ones or the most memorable ones, but it really isn't like what Palizes, like, like, hinging on. Like, if you don't get the teaser, you don't have anything. No.

The teaser to me tells us what we have work to do. When you do teaser on the mat, it comes towards the last of the practice. And so for me, if I can't do the teaser without overgripping in my hips, or I feel like I'm losing my round spine or my length. It tells me I I have I need to work on that when I'm done with my mat practice because I I need that that day. But maybe I feel like energized and I have rhythm and stamina. Then it lets me know I I have more to give.

I can challenge myself with what's coming up. On the reformer, it comes up a little sooner, but it really is gonna challenge extension into flexion. And so just because you're nailing on the on the mat or the tower doesn't mean you're gonna nail it here. It might mean you have work to do in your extension practice. And we're gonna work from our extension into our flexion.

And so you have questions on how to do that, start to look at other exercises that are a little less dramatic, a little less big, and see Can I go from extension to flexion on my knee stretches? Can I do it, over on the ladder barrel? Right? Like, notice where it's impossible in a smaller stage, and then put it on a moving platform and let it reveal where you've work to do. And I think that's what's so cool about Polai is it lets us know where we can be more curious and where we can celebrate. Thank you so much for watching this with me. I hope this helps you with your next teaser. Have an amazing day.