PRO | Sculpting Flow

Hi. I'm Courtney. I am so excited to be back here on Pilates anytime. Today's class will include some challenging movements. But we're gonna take a little bit extra time and really dive into the foundations of those movements. Likely, you've been doing these exercises already in your practice. So I hope I'm able to give you some tidbits help you a little bit deeper into it.

Feel more confident and help you get to that next level. I'm using the booty band today, and I'm only using it in one way. And that's to wrap it over the shoulder blocks. This is something I taught on Pilates anytime years ago. I had a new baby at home, and I wanted to recreate some of the movements that I would do in my studio, but I wasn't able to get there.

And so this was a great little solve for me with my home reformer, so I hope that you like it too. I've got one blue spring on and the box is at the back of the machine strategically. So you're gonna want to put your box back there as well. Meet me in the well. One blue spring on.

Let's get you warmed up. So we're just gonna start with some spinal articulation. Grab those shoulder blocks Step back and open the legs as wide as the frame will allow. Bend into your squat, weight into your heels. I'm gonna flat back to start, exhale straighten the legs round the spine and pull the carriage towards your shins, inhale into the flat back.

Exhale around and pull. So in this exercise, I'm keeping my arms straight. I'm not pulling the carriage with my arms or back. Instead, it's the flexion of the spine. That's creating that movement.

Pull. Inhale bend. You can even look up really extend and then exhale find that flexion. One more time. Inhale lengthen is a general rule, and exhale contract, but you can always change that and then come into the long spine. I'm keeping my weight even into the four corners of the feet, shift my hands to the sides and come into this carriage pull up.

Exhail pull. So now this is a upper body and back exercise. As I'm doing the pulls, I'm also thinking lifting my sit bones and drawing in through my low and deeper abdominals. This exercise can be done single arm as well. One pull, and switch. Here's a little tidbit. When you're doing single arm exercises, you have the option, you could stay on one side like this.

This is going to work endurance of that side. Let's do the other side. Or you can do a reciprocal pattern, which is what we started in. So you pull, switch, pull. This is more coordination. And stability. So I have to stabilize against the shifting weight.

So this is an easy way for you to switch up your choreography and have a different muscle focus. Nice. Okay. Carriage comes all the way in. Hands go onto the blocks. Feet come up onto the back of the machine. A version of downward facing dog, bend into it should feel good.

One leg comes up and then lean all the way forward knee through the arms. Now there's a reason why we're doing this flow now. You're gonna see it pop up a little bit later, but this is the foundation. This is the star of our cardio Lunch series from the floor. So there's three moves here.

Me comes through. You'll see this in a yoga sculpt class. Me comes the same. And then the knee crosses the body, rotation, opposite elbow. One more time.

The knee comes through into the three legged dog. We're just kinda building some heat. Finding some mobility, checking in with the body, knee comes across. Now that leg, step it forward, and high onto the shoulder blocks. There's gonna be a weight transfer here, so shift your weight forward into that front heel, you don't have to hold on super tight.

The back leg pulls up, tap the ground. We're gonna go fast using our abdominals to drive that back leg up, up, up. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, stepping your leg back into the three legged dog on the other side. So you should have the opposite leg up now like me, and then the flow was knee comes through. Kick it back.

Need to the same. There's a little side cinch action. Kick it back. Need to the opposite. There's rotation.

Kick it back. So as the leg comes through, there's a scoop and a lift. Kind of feels like a pike. And as the knee comes to same, I'm cinching my hip towards my rib on that side. My goal is to reach towards the elbow. The knee comes across.

I'm twisted. One more time. The knee comes through. And I want you to remember this pattern because you're gonna see it again. Across, and twist.

Bring the foot all the way forward. In order to keep the carriage steady, there's like a lean forward here. So I'm shifting my weight into that front heel and into my hands, and then I'm gonna use my abdominals to pull that back leg in. Light touch down to the ground, quick quick, quick. We'll do five, four, three, two, one, foot can come back. And we'll just be in our downward dog.

Press back, stretch your shoulders, bend your knees if that feels good, walk it out, and take it down. Alright. Let's turn around. We're gonna use that band. So I prefer to step my foot through the back side of the band. You can do the middle or the back.

It'll be a little bit heavier. And I also wanna remind you, you're on a blue, which is not the lightest. So if this is feeling too heavy, today drop down to a yellow or a quarter spring. I want to rise up pulling the carriage all the way to my calf. So I want to feel that connection. Hands on hips is a great choice.

Standing leg is straight. And then I'll bend my standing leg lean forward carriage will drive back, and back leg will bend. And then all the way back up. So the power in this move is the lift, and you're gonna see this sequence happen again and again through today's class. So it's a push exercise with my standing leg versus a pull exercise with my back leg.

So I'm pushing up the powers on the lift. Four, three, two, and then one more time. And you could stay here on the floor. There is no reason to progress to the box unless that's in your practice. I'm coming up onto the box using the risers to find my stability.

All the way up you go. Again, hands on the hips is a great place to start. Same exercise, more load. So I go down into the lunge. I'm not pulling with my back leg. I'm pushing with my front leg to come up. And if you can find that, you will find a lot of power.

And stability. It is a push exercise to rise. Four. Three. Two, and one.

Use the risers to hop back. So now we're gonna change into a pull movement without changing that back leg. So you're gonna keep that hook. Hands can come either flat onto the box like this. I know some people prefer to be wide.

I think you should play with it and choose what works best for you. When you're ready, your back leg comes up, ankles cross. And now this is a pull move. I'll bend the knees and pull my knees through the risers. Eight is a great goal on this way.

Four more. Four three two one, rise up. So I know you can feel the difference. I can feel the difference between the push and the pull. This is a great super set.

Push and pull combinations. So let's send the opposite leg back. Find that band and rise. Hands on hips, you can feel stability, bend both knees, drive it up, lean into it, use the glute. I'll show you what it looks like if I don't use the glue.

Pulling kind of afterthought to rise. Right? So this is all about getting either a forward motion or an upward motion, if I were to leap up or run forward using that glute on my standing leg. One more time. Use the risers. Remember as you switch sides, it's like a whole new exercise.

It's gonna feel totally different on this side. Alright. Down you go. From that front leg, one. Two, knees traveling right over that foot. Three, leaning the chest forward. That's four.

How low can you go? Power up. Five, working these level changes. It's gonna get your heart rate up. Six. Seven. All the way up. Eight. Keep the foot in.

Cross the ankles, eight knee tucks. Drive the knees through. Don't stop at the risers go through. Three, four, five. This is power. Six, seven, eight. Nicely done. That is a lot of work on a blue.

Well done. You did it.