PRO | Creative Roll Down Bar & Box

Hi. I'm Delia, and today we'll be doing a tower workout using the short box, long box from the reformer. We're gonna use the box so that it actually simulates some of the short box work on the reformer using a strap. The strap that's on the tower here is called a belly strap for all intents of purposes. But we're gonna call it the foot strap today, and it's going to remain between the box and the tower. These workouts can be done on a tower unit like I have here, or you could also do it on a full Cadillac trapeze.

So the safety strap or I should say just the foot strap is over towards the bar and I'm gonna set you up here. So the short box, obviously, you want it to be even on either side because the box is not as or the tables not as long as the box. You wanna make sure that it's even, and where does the box go? Well, have a seat first, and I'll show you. So you want to be about a legs length away this is about right for me because I tested it up before we got started and I want my sits bones to be close to the front. The only part of the tower we'll be using today is the roll down bar. So go ahead and remove all of the other components to it. And just keep the roll down bar on its high setting. I'm gonna place my feet underneath the foot strap, and I'm gonna sit close to the end.

And obviously, you don't wanna sit all the way off because you'll roll off. So you want those sits bones to be nice and stable. Let's roll roll down here and grab the bar. Let's reach and grab the roll down bar. Thumbs are on the inside of the rings for safety, and fingers are on the outside.

We'll start with a little breathing, taking a deep inhale breath, nice and tall. And exhale breath. And you can put a little pressure onto the springs to start to depress those shoulders down. On your next exhale, let's fold forward, putting a little bit of pressure onto the bar, adding a little resistance as you roll forward. And then sit all the way back up.

Eyes are forward and exhale breath to flex and inhale breath and back up. One more time to flex the spine forward Delia that nice stretch, allow the shoulders to glide up towards the ears, and then sit all the way back up. Let's do a little lap press here, making sure that you have the right amount of resistance. So how resistance springs work, The further away from the source, the tighter the spring. So you don't want the resistance to be too tight, but you also don't want it to be too loose because it's gonna assist you. So that way when you're going back on this box, you've got a little help.

Or, to be able to get back up on it. So we're gonna take the arms down. You're going to hold. We're just gonna turn the pelvis back. So you're gonna roll through the wheels of the pelvis and the, rib cage, and you're gonna roll back until your long bar spine makes contact with the mat.

And then you'll just sit all the way back up maintaining tension on the spring until you come to the top. So arms come down for a little resistance. The wheels turn. Notice how my feet are gonna come with me. They're gonna hook. So they react to me rolling backwards and then back up. This is a great place to start because if we're gonna extend over the box, which we are, you wanna make sure that you feel comfortable here.

And the extension on this box, which is coming next, is an option that you can opt out of. Take a deep inhale. We're gonna go ahead and roll back. So I'm gonna roll back and then from here, find a comfortable spot on my spine, drop my head and shoulders back, and find a nice extension, head drops towards the mat. Let's turn the wheels of the head.

Wheel of the ribs, maintain tension onto the roll down bar, release at the top. Twice more, arms down, roll back. Inhale, open up, this feels really good, chin to chest, and then roll back up. If it does not feel good for you to dip that head back, please do not. These are all little added exercises to level up, and just do what your body wants to do today and where you feel comfortable and scoop through those abs.

A little bit of that tension on the spring is going to help, engage the inner core. So I'm gonna roll back on the next one and add the arms to it. So as I'm in this extended position, I'm gonna bend my elbows, drawing my shoulder blades into more of a retraction, reaching the arms forward, roll all the way up and then sit up and we'll just do two more, exhale back, inhale extend and bend, exhale nod the chin, and roll all the way up to the top last one, and flexion. And take the shape of the box with the spine and bend the elbows. Give me a nice stretch. Make sure those elbows aren't too high.

You wanna keep them at that mid row level. And on the last one, let's just press the spring down. In this forward position, maybe lift and the upper body extend, and then release that tension off the spring. I'm gonna rotate now towards you so we could do some of the mermaid exercises on the box. I'm gonna sit towards the back, not all the way at the edge. We don't want the box to tip back.

The foot's gonna be in the strap towards the front. So I have a little diagonal here. Relax that strap leg. Hold the center of the bar and let's go ahead and just reach the arm out. We're gonna lift the, sits bone off of the box.

I want you to see how we open up that hip and that foot might slide back a bit so that the hip opens up even further. Reach as far as you can, take your right elbow and right forearm, drop it towards the mat, get a big stretch, lift yourself up, and then hold center. So reach with your arm gesture forward and then lift that hip up and then you bend the elbow for support on top of the mat, and then you lift all the way off that table and return one more time inhale to reach. Exhale to fold, inhale to lift back up, and then exhale to return. Let's do a quick counter stretch, and we're gonna add on.

This time place the hand behind the head. We'll still reach, but now you're reaching with your elbow, and you'll come into that long diagonal line. They're gonna come all the way down towards the mat and tap the elbow for one. Inhale, exhale, and two. One more.

And now we're gonna hold here at the top so you should feel like you're still reaching away from the tower. We're gonna rotate the upper body towards the tower arm and as we do so, we're gonna bend that elbow and come into that rotation and then extend the arm and find that long diagonal. Exhale as you rotate. And I am tugging a bit on that strap to help assist that hip. One more time, exhale to rotate. Extend the arm lower back to that long line, give yourself a nice little stretch, and then reach the arm out for support as you roll yourself all the way up and find a nice counter stretch.

And we're gonna go ahead and do that on the other side. So I'm gonna rotate place my hand center of the bar. So towards the back, thirds of the box, folding that leg on top. My right leg is slightly forward. Let's bring the arm out and do a little reach.

So we're reaching all the way out, allowing the right cis bones to lift. So you should feel that long line from tailbone to head. And then you're gonna come all the way back up. And we'll do that again. Inhale to reach and stretch.

And exhale and return. I love using the roll down bar for these exercises because the harder part is getting yourself back up and utilizing that oblique on that upper side of the body. Let's do that again. So now we're gonna reach out and then lower yourself to the mat so the forearm drops for support, get a big stretch, and then lift yourself all the way back up. So this arm makes you feel like you're really reach reaching away from the tower, giving you that big wingspan, and then the forearm comes down to give you that extra support to find your deep lateral flexion and then the bar assist you to sit back up.

We're gonna do that one more time. Inhale to reach. Acts, he'll drop the forearm, get a nice little stretch. This feels so good. Lift yourself all the way back up and let's do a quick counter stretch.

And then we'll start with the forearm and the hand behind the head. So now instead of the hand, you are reaching the elbow, and then you're gonna bring the elbow down for that deep lateral flexion. We're not gonna come all the way up. We're just gonna really work on that oblique for one. Inhale, exhale, and two. Tap that elbow to the table and three.

Now the next time we come up into that long diagonal line, I'm gonna rotate. And as I rotate, I bring the right elbow towards the right rib and then extend out two more times, and you should really feel that internal oblique here too. This is pretty intense and highly effective. One more time, exhale. I do love this.

Extend the arm out. Go ahead and rest, and then alley up to the top. For a little counter stretch, and that completes that side series with the mermaid. I'm gonna turn the box long ways now and just move the strap out of the way because we're not gonna need it for the next series. The box will be long ways.

And pretty much you wanna have just an arm distance away from the roll down bar. And I didn't mention this earlier, but I did prop the push through bar back with a safety strap so that I'd have a little bit more mobility on the tower with the roll down bar. You may not have that issue if you've got a traditional Cadillac. So I'm gonna lay on my belly prone. Chest over the top and let's see if that's about right and it seems to be just about right.

So now the straps are gonna be or this roll down bar is gonna be right above me. If this is too high for you, make the adjust minutes that you need on that roll down bar and bring it a bit lower. But this actually forces a nice little stretch into my chest. I'm gonna press the pubic bone down and as I press the pubic bone down, I'm gonna press the arms of the roll down bar down lift my head above, like I'm lifting it above water, taking a deep inhale, exhale releasing the tension forward. And again, inhale arms down. What's great feedback with this roll down bar is that if you were over using one arm, you'll see that you're kind of going a little tipsy with the bar.

And one more time is you lift up into that extension. Now let's hold it here. If you can maintain this extension, go right pull the bar towards you and then reach the bar away. And be careful here. You don't wanna let go of that roll down bar.

So make sure you've got a good grip and bring it back towards you on the third one, reach the arms out. And then lower down. And we have one more here that involves rotation with extension so we can get a little full body workout. So as you press the bar down, lift back into that extension, eyes above the bar. Bring the bar towards you with a flexed elbow because that'll take a little pressure off of your shoulders. From here, we're gonna rotate the upper body and you'll maintain a little bit more tension on the inside hand.

And then back to center. And then you're gonna rotate main tension again on the inside hand. Back to center, release. We have two more sets. Bring the bar towards you on your exhale.

Rotate left. On your inhale, come back to center on your exhale. It's important you do this with a lot of control. You've got a dangerous little spring here right in front of your eyes. Extend the arms out.

One more time. Barr comes underneath. We're gonna go right. This feels really good, and then center, and then left, and then center, and then release the arms forward. You're gonna prop yourself up to the box.

And either a child's pose or in a cat cow just to move through the spine feels good after extension. And then you are all done with that. And that last series of exercises completes your workout on the tower with the roll down bar.