Finesse Reformer Jump Board

Welcome to Pilates anytime. I'm Elizabeth Larkham, so happy to be with you for this tutorial, Finesse reformer cardio. First of all, let's consider your springs. When you choose springs that challenge your muscles, it's possible that you will have a heavy landing and spend more time down on the jump board than up in the air. So choose springs that are respectful of the resonance, the frequency of your tendons, your ligaments, and your cartilage.

So that yes, you're recruiting your muscle fibers, but also giving just the right kind of spring in your step. So the cartilage, the ligaments, the tendons, they don't get beaten down. Second consideration is to sequence for success. It's important to prepare your joints and your brain, your motor control from your nervous system to be able to have the accurate alignment. For example, we'll start out with an exercise that's not jumping at all, but instead is mobility for your hip joints.

And here's how we'll organize that. Using your short levers, you put the long loops behind your knees or at the back of your thighs just above your knees and internally rotate your legs. Pigeon toe your thighs so when your knees are together, your heels, your feet are wide apart. Now take your heels below spring level. This requires a strong abdominal connection then point your feet and slide the little toe sides of your feet on the edge of the frame, bringing your knees wide to your shoulders.

So this is an internal and external rotation spiral from your femur heads out through your feet. Then you reverse that direction of your knee circles. Getting the cobwebs so to speak finesseing glide in the tissues of your pelvic floor and in your hip joints connecting your feet with your abdominals. So we actually start with a preparation for jumping that is kind for your hip joint foot connection. Now, you'll be done with these loops so you can just cast them away so they're not in your way or clanking in your ears.

Another consideration for sequencing for success is to articulate your feet on the jump board in such a way that you strengthen the core of your foot. I'm going to use this aligner from balanced body to keep the upper inner thighs organized. Whoa. I chose. My mistake.

I forgot to take two red springs off. Now when you start your feet at the bottom of the jump board for doming on parade, the common error is to curl the toes and hide the toenails, but that puts you back on your heels. A preferred position is to plant the soles of your toes lift up your metatarsal heads as if you could lift up the knuckles of your hands and slide your heels, your rear feet towards your four feet. You will notice, she said leading the witness that the moment you do this with your feet, you will feel the deep abdominals activate sliding your rear feet towards your four feet. Eventually, you'll get to the top of the jump board and then you'll make your way down. It's true.

This is a kind of coordination that you likely haven't met before, but it's time well spent. Now, the second preparation, the last one we do in preparing for the feet, is push ups for the feet and ankles in which your knees do not bend. So you connect your landing gear. The low glutes sound like that. Then you activate your quads, suctioning your kneecaps up to your hip joints and push the jump board away.

Anchles and toes are activating. Continue that motion, landing right and left So you pendulum your legs pushing the jump board with your toes and your ankles. Then you are well prepared with your hip joints, your feet, your ankles, and your abdominals, to jump. Now, we're going to sequence for success so that you alternate leg jumping with arm jumping. And in order to do that, you have to be quick on your transitions.

So for example, let's just say that you've been doing your leg jumps, alternating, landing on one foot, and landing on the other, quickly sit up change to what will be your arms springs, maybe a blue spring, maybe a yellow spring, and immediately come onto your knees, to your shins. Now, let's discuss the safety factor here. When you are doing your arm jumps in quadruped, it is imperative that you address your glute strength for your hip extensors and your deep abdominals so that when you jump off the board, you don't take a nose dive into the springs. Cause remember, we didn't say in the show notes that you have to wear a helmet, a nose guard, and a mouth guard. No. It's the just you show to keep your quadruped integrity. Now, as the class progresses, you will increase the difficulty of trunk control such that you come to vertical and then land parallel to the ground.

And then also you rotate this challenges your vestibular system and your trunk control on your legs. The reason that we alternate leg jumps and arm jumps is so that your brain, your motor cortex never gets complacent like, oh yeah, I'm just lying on my back jumping again. No. Sometimes you're on your back, sometimes you're on your side, sometimes you're on all fours, but you're always doing the next new thing. And that's a way for you you to get curious about what's coming and also to be, engaged with another squirt of dopamine. That's what novelty will do for you.

The second reason for sequencing for success alternating quadruped with arm jumps is that you avoid, so much compression on your shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees, that you could be setting yourself up for, fatigue or setting yourself up for a compression injury. So none of that. Now, it's important when we finish the the jumping, that you feel Let's just say challenged in terms of your in terms of your cardio work. How do you gauge how hard to work? Well, in order to stay in zone two cardio, let's just say that you could talk through the exercises as I do, but you cannot sing.

So if you're teaching the class, then always do the class and talk. And if you can do that, then that's the right amount of challenge. If however you put on your your favorite your favorite cardio music and you're singing along with the singing along with the vocals while you jump, then that's an indication that you need to increase your spring tension or you need to increase your jump power or possibly increase your jump springs. Now, when you finish the class, you can't don't don't just do your last jump, jump off the reformer and go out into your day. No. Respect the fact that it's time to store the the glide in your tissues ready for your seated work or your house work or your driving work or your child work.

Whatever is coming up next. So we do two two ways to send you off well for your day. And one is to make sure that your shoulders are not still in landing position on the jump board, but no. You have some smile in the upper lobes of your lungs and the smile in your upper ribs and the ability to rotate in the direction of extension and rotation. We also, finish the class. The last move is finishing the class with giving some glide to the tissues at the front of your hip joint. Now lots of jumping involves hip flexion, especially in quadruped.

So when you slide your shin up against the shoulder block and the front of your thigh can be coaxed down to the front of the top of the carriage, then you have an opportunity to move in the direction of hip extension, and to that, you can add rotation, which will accentuate the hip extension. Thank you so much for joining me for this tutorial. I really look forward to hearing your comments and to answering your questions. So do be in touch. Thank you so much.