Class #3426

Length and Strength Reformer

50 min - Class
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Description

Tap into areas of your body that need to get stronger with this Reformer workout by Monica Wilson. She teaches her client, Joe, adding modifications and progressions where needed so he can begin to deepen his practice. By the end of the session, you will walk away feeling like you worked hard and stretched so you can get a little more freedom in your joints.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box, Pilates Pole

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Today, I have my client, Joe Fazio, and he is extremely athletic and likes to challenge himself and cycling and tennis and all kinds of different sports. Um, about he comes to Palladia is to make sure he gets very stretched and stays even and has good, strong powerhouse or core work, right? So we're going to give him a good workout today and we're going to make sure that we get to keep letting them tap into other areas where he can keep getting stronger and more balanced. So we're going to start off on the reformer on four springs and I want you to try to lift up your heels a little bit. Great. Alright, and just pull your belly in. I'm going to have you go out halfway, Joe. So you're going to straighten your legs only half straight. Great. And then see if you can lower your bottom down onto the mat.

Pilates Stance

Great. Keep it there. Pull your belly button into the mat and now pull your whole body long and stay there. Pooling your stomach into the mat. It's awesome, right? And you feel that. Can you feel yourself? The lift in your powerhouse? Great. I want you to keep it there. Keep that lift and bend the knees in and then keep going.

Now we're going to flow out and we're going to pull in and we're going to move trying to keep that feeling that you just got. Maybe you can even squeeze your glutes as you go out and pull it. Very good rhythm, very good flow. Pulling out good. Almost like you're on maybe a volleyball court doing some leaps, right? You need that energy to pull out one more and then we'll go to our arches, so we're going to hold it in. Now. Bring your knees together, bring your arches up a little and let's work on the flexibility of your feet and really get those heels down and curve those toes and let's go out with that same feelings you're going to pull in and pull out and then keep that height and that rhythm grid job. That's it. Reaching out, trying to use the glutes more than the quads, pulling your weight up and pulling. Nice. Perfect.

Arches

I really liked that image of like almost leaping on a court of really pulling that weight up at two more and last time. Excellent. Are going to go up to do, go ahead and do one more and we're going to go up to the heels. So now we're going to work on that pressure point and still working on the flexibility of the feet. I want every toe back. Good. And now pull into the mat and up with your weight. Give me a little longer legs.

Heels

Use the hamstrings to extend the legs. Completely. Reach using the glutes all the way up. Touching the crown of the head to the ocean back there. Yes. Reaching. Good job with your stomach. Pull those toes back. Give me two more. Excellent. Stay in.

Let's go down and toes and right here again, lift the heels up a bit and we're going to go out to halfway again. Stay there if you have too much tension and lifting the bottom K and we're gonna pull your waist in and let's go out reaching the thighs out of the hip sockets a little more. Thank you. And now go down with the heels under the bar and pull all your weight up and again down and pulling all your weight up. Very good. Really trying to create space here. See if you can keep doing that, but not have any tension in your head, neck and shoulders. I like that. See just play around with that. And three, two, good stretch. All Right Joe, keep your heels up and come in and give me some space between the shoulder pads and your shoulders.

Tendon Stretch

Little more even good. And now find the handles by your ears. And we're going to do the hundred so we're gonna use your belly to bring your knees into your chest. The legs are not holding any energy. Lift your head up and look at your stomach. Remember how it felt when you just pulled it into the mat against the springs. Now pull it against your arms as they reach forward. Lifting forward more.

Hundred

Come up another inch. Come up another there yet. Go reach your legs long and now give me the hundred. Inhale, two, three, four, five and exhale. Two, three, four, five. Good. I'm going to give you a little Palati stance, turning the toes out, seeing it. That gets you to get where you use your glutes. Good.

Pull your shoulder away from me, reaching it that way. Pulling your powerhouse into the mat and against those springs, right? Just like you did for the foot work. Regain that feeling of that length, creating. It's really looking good. An inhale, two, three, four, five and exhale. Good. And in with the ear.

See if you can find your obliques even as you're contracting in your desks one more time and exhaling drawing in that naval. Really great job. Bend everything. Relax your arms, relax your head and you get to take a little break. I'm going to drop two springs. So now we only have two. I'm going to add some extensions for frog and leg circles. How did that hundred feel good?

Did you feel in the footwork? How anchor you are with your powerhouse? Okay, so we're going to do our frog and our leg circles with not too much tension, but I still want you to, I want you to put your the feeling in good. All right. And then rest your arms down. Keep your knees here, but bring your feet down. Good. And then relax the foot and ankle. Great. Stretch your arms a little longer if you can. Good. Alright, now I want you to see if you can keep your bottom down. It's down, but can you use your stomach to get your thighs a little deeper onto your without lifting up your bottom. That's really good.

Frog

Keep your stomach in and reach your legs long. Good. You want this feeling? And then bend in and stretch out. Very good. And your stomach is pulling in and up. Perfect. And long legs and two more scoop in the belly and yes.

And we're going to stay out here and keep pushing your feet in those traps while you keep pulling your belly back into your, into your mat. And we're gonna do some circles. We're going to come up a little and we're gonna circle one a little less stiff in your legs for me. See if you can make smooth circles without tensing those legs. How much? This is the only thing tense to reach and mouth like it. One more.

Circles

Very good. Let's go the other way around. Good. Down around, up. Good. Down around two. Last one. Very good. Joe, stay here and let's go ahead and keep your legs straight. Grab onto those handles and you get to breathe and you get to stretch and then it's very nice. Exhaling, allow yourself to stretch. Good. Good. How's that? Feel? Good. All right, I'm gonna Spend, um, slip these off and you are going to go ahead and stand up.

Hamstring Stretch

Stepping off. Good. All right, and let's go ahead and grab your long box. So we're gonna grab it and you can grab the, I'll come. I'll get the pole for you. We're going to sneak it under. Good. All right. And I want you to lie down on your stomach and your shoulders are going to be about the top edge there. Good.

And I just want you to kind of relax, but hold your arms forward as forward as you can right there. Good. All right. Now I need you to think about the box that you're lying down on. I want you to squeeze your glutes to press down into the box. I want your stomach to try to lift up off of the box and support your lower back and then release everything. And I want you to try to do that one more time.

Squeeze the glutes down, lift your belly up. Do you feel like your belly is holding you? Good. And now I want you to grab onto these leather straps. Good. Don't lose any of those feelings. Strong straight arms and your knuckles. I want you to try to reach down and scrape. I'm just go pull an inch to that.

Pulling Straps

They're okay. Hold. So they're scraping the floor. Now with your stomach in, keep reaching your arms down and back, but lift up your head. Keep pulling back the arms. Keep pulling them back against the carriage. Yes, keep pulling them back. Give lifting in your stomach and then come down. Fantastic. Your glutes, press down, your stomach pulls in and let's get the shoulders. Yes, and keep pulling the shoulders excellent and down. And one more time. You're pressing down, you're scooping in and pull the shoulder back. Thank you. That's the right joint and down.

Let's do one more pressing down, scooping and pulling back. This time hold, hold your belly lifting. Press your arms closer to your hepps and then go down. Very nice. Now I want you to slide your hand on the leather until the end and put your hand inside the loop. Good other handed did it. Same thing. Press your hips down, create a tunnel.

But now lift the arms up until they're straight out from your shoulders. Great. Hold it right there. Roll. Open your shoulders and look down just a little. Thank you. Excellent. So there's a tunnel here and now I want you to pull up your arms and your chest as you pull back. Pull him back, hold and then go home. Back to the home position.

T-Pull

That was really great how you lifted your arms up soaps. Press your bottom down, stomach in, and we're going to lift up your arms, lifting up the chest and return back. Arms lift. Stay up there. Staying to work. Long neck. Good more. Press down, scooping in, pulling up. Lift up your chest for me. Lift it up. There we go. And reaching out. As you come back. We're going to do one more pressing down. Let's support and pull up the chest, pulling up the chest. Can You keep your belly in yet? Press me. Come on.

That's it. And then reach back to center or home and relax completely even your neck. And you're going to put those straps. Just give them to me and step off to the side. How'd that feel? You did really good.

So we're going to go into a teaser prep now. So you're going to sit down and you're going to face that way. Sit. Probably quite a bit more forward. Yes. Good. Alright. And so I want to challenge you and see if you can do a roll back right here.

So we're going to bring your knees together and put your hands underneath your knees. Good. And I'm going to help hold your feet and I want you to round your back. Good. And I want you to just pool, keep your hands where they are and exhale, pulling back your waistband. You've done a thousand rollbacks, right? So we're going to hold right here. The waistband stays there. And now pull your powerhouse in to come forward.

Half Roll Back

There you go. Excellent. Ant. Squeeze your legs together. Draw your belly in and roll back your waistband. Good. Just to there. Feel your lower backs opened up. Okay. And exhale. Come forward. Are you using your hip flexors? Are you feeling like you can turn those off?

What are the messages you're sending yourself? All right, so now we're going to pull back your belly and we're going to go down to the bottom of your shoulder blades. Keep releasing. Keep stretching, bound to the bottom of your shoulder blades. Take a breath and you're going to exhale forward pulling away from me. There Ya go. You've got to use your six pack. Add one more like that. We're going to squeeze the glutes. Draw the lower back. Yes, until we get there. Take a breath, and then exhale or unease. Your upper set, and then your middle. You got it. Getting more into your stomach now. And now we're going to go all the way down.

We're going to pull back our lower belly. Awesome. Good. And you're gonna go all the way down. Yep. Perfect. And then you're going to take a breath and come forward a little. And then exhale right here. Use your arms if you need to, but pull it in. That's it. Keep using your powerhouse. Can we do one more of those? Okay.

And exhale. Lower back. Yes. Yes. All the way down to the your shoulder blades or on the box. Take a breath and then exhale the head comes forward. Look how great you roll up. Pull away from me. Yes. Now stay right there. Okay. And I want you to keep pulling your ways back, but bring up the right knee. Great. And then pull it in.

Bring up the left, pulling back with your stomach. You got it. And put the feet down. Good. We're gonna start with the left. You're going to pull into my hand. Yes. And now add your rye. Excellent. And put 'em down. Good. Sit Up. Take a little break there. And now I'm going to hand you these handles. Good, good. And you're gonna relax like that.

Half Roll Back w/Leg Lifts

Head down and almost doing a roll back again. So you're going to relax the legs. Let the carriage come in. If it's out. Yeah, just a tiny bit. And you're going to roll back the lower back. Yes. Pull in back. Good. And now let's bounce with one leg up and then pull it in and let's get the other great. Okay, so we're gonna pull our belly in as we bring those arms forward.

Modified Teaser

Good. Good. Stay here. Balance. Pull your stomach back more, more. You got it. Now stay like that. As the arms go down, no legs go down and nn forward with those arms as the belly pulls back. Come on just like you did a second ago. Yes. And arms back and pull those arms forward against full the belly hold. Now. Head down and roll down your lower back all the way down. Middle Back.

[inaudible]. Go all the way down. All the way out. And this time Joe, you're going to let your arms hang and we're going to let the legs go. Yes, very nice. Inhale, lift up your head and look at your belly and you're going to roll up. And I want you to pull up the legs at the same time, pulling back in here, pull him back in here and coming forward. Just one more inch. Yes, three pumps for me and the waist pulls back. You got it. And the waste pulls back. This is how we get stronger in our powerhouse, not our hip flexors. So Paul, hold now, keep your arms reaching and I want you to go down with this bone. Come on. There we go. Yes. Excellent. Nope. That's what I wanted. And then the legs lengthen out. You got one more of these. I think you got it.

Teaser

Head to your chest and with the air and exhale scooping in with your powerhouse. Yes, very good in control. Three pumps and pull against the spring. Bring your head a little more forward. Pull against that spring. One more. Hold the arms forward. I love you have a ton of wrinkles in that shirt.

That's what I want to see. You're going to roll all the way down waistband first and the legs just stretch over and you get to hang out and that was excellent. Really? Give me those Joe, and you'll get to turn your box around for short box. Very good teaser. We're going to take this pillow down. Turn it around. We're going to add a little strap pad.

All right? And you can go ahead and sit down. I'm gonna give you a towel too whenever you need it. Sure. Adding a spring. So we have two springs on now. Okay, good. Sometimes I put it out for you a little bit further.

Is that okay or should I put it out of gear? Okay, good. All right. And you're gonna let's start with your hands underneath your thighs and we're going to do another roll back. Head down. Separate your legs wider. [inaudible] you're going to bring your feet maybe a little lower. Yeah, right there. Good. Alright. And I want you to take a big breath and exhale, expand those lungs. How round can you get your back? That's what I'm talking about.

Taking another breath. I want you to squeeze the glutes and now we're going to roll back the lower back. Mol Lower back. Yes. Very good. Very good. Getting it onto the box. Can you get this onto the box, onto the box, taking a breath, and now go forward. Still pulling your waist back into the box. Yes. Fantastic. Now do that with your arms wrapped around your waist. Good.

Round Back

And squeezing the glutes. And you're gonna roll back here. So we're working on your alignment because we're going to do some other exercises that you need to feel your alignment. Good. So you feel it on the box and then exhale forward pulling into the box, into the box. There you go. Rounding. Great alignment. Let's do two more. Squeeze your goods and willing back. Really good articulation, feeling that and exhales pulling in. Good. John, want you to do one more because you can, I want you to squeeze your glutes and we're going to roll back and you're doing such a good job of getting this part onto the box that I'm going to let you go all the way today. Okay?

So I want you to just go ahead and let your shoulders and head hang. You. Got It. And now head to your chest and now exhale forward. You got it scooping in, pulling away. That's exactly it. Good. Let's go ahead and let go of your arms and just reach forward and stretch. Yeah, very, very good.

We're going to slowly get back Benz into your, into your repertoire here. Yeah, I know, huh? And then you're going to grab onto the bar. Good. So I want to see your tall alignment, so we're gonna stay a little bit forward. That's it. Very good. With your stomach into my hand. I want you to lift your arms forward. Good. And then can you lift them up even higher from your waist?

You remember that feeling of when you were on the roof lying down in the beginning? That's what I want you to think about and we're going to go backwards taking your waist with you. Yes. Keep lifting and then go forward. Good. So just like you start off with the footwork, you're going to pull into the mat and you're going to keep pulling your weight up and up and up, and then come forward. Very good. And pulling your belly in. We're going to keep pulling your weight up and up and up and forward.

Flat Back

One more. The last, we're going to drop these shoulder blades. Yep. And we're going to just use your stomach now, lifting off the glutes and then go back as you go. Yes. Ooh, is so good and forward. I need one more because that one was so good. So you're going to squeeze up off the glutes and you've changed your energy and you've gotten so much stronger because you didn't take it all the way up in your shoulders. Awesome. Rest your arms down. Really good, Joe. We're going to still do, um, side reach though. Okay. So we're going to use our bar.

Yeah, we're going to beautiful shoulders. Lean a little forward. Can you lift up out of your lower back, any. There we go. And now we're gonna go over to the right just side bending. Keeping the left hip. Yep. And then come center again, dropping these because you've worked so hard. And then over yes. And Center.

Side to Side

And it says if someone has a hook on your stomach and you're pulling, they're pulling you back and then go over to the right. So someone's holding your waist, but the rest of you gets to go. Nice. And again. Okay. Very good control. One more.

Leaning a little forward and over to the right and you get to reach and reach and reach and center. And last one, someone's pulling. Pull back. Yes. Yeah. And then use it to come on and rest your arms there. Good work, Joe. We're still going to do, use the bar. We're going to do, um, to uh, twist a rat. So lift up your body, lift up your arms. Good. And I want you to think of your stomach like a wet towel, right?

That image works really well for you. So you're going to twist to the right wringing out that wet towel. Now that strong long arm, I want you to reach all the way out. We're going to go, we're going to come out, we're going to reach retreat and you're going to come back up. Very good initiation. I want you to ring out that wet towel, drop the shoulder, and now we're going to reach back to this back corner and keep that length as you come up. Good. And ringing out the wet towel. Did you get it?

Twist and Reach

Your obliques there and reach out. Squeeze your glutes to help you. Yes, and back up. Very good at twists. Work in, drop this right shoulder so we stay square and now use your right glue a little more. There y'all go. And up. Very nice. One more set. We're going to pull back these feely. Yes, and pull back the waist. Perfect Joe and up. And one more time wringing out that wet towel, squeezing the glutes. And let's reach long. We really want long length and backup.

And then you get to stretch down. Hook that bar beneath your toes, open these shoulders and you get to relax. Take a big breath for me and exhale. All right, but the bar neath your leg. Now we're done with the bar finally, and we're going to tree. You can start with the left leg or the right one. Which one would you want to start on? Here we go. Hold underneath their left leg and come forward with your weight. Good.

And straighten it and bend it. Perfect. And again, two and hold it up and then walk up your leg and then I'll hold it. You stretch, you come forward over it. Stretch. And then maybe point, flex point. Try to relax those shoulders. Good. Now pull your belly away from me. Good. And now pull me back with your stomach. Yeah, good. Staying even on the legs, on the hips. And then walk down. This is your teaser, just like you did earlier and walk down, moving the upper body and then come back. Good.

Tree

Come all the way forward. Stretch over that leg. And then I think you should bring the right hip. Just a tiny bit forward if you don't mind. Good. And now pull your waist back to rock back. Good. Flex your left foot, right foot and down you go. Lower belly, middle. Think of that six pack and then forward.

This is another great spot to work on your back Benz. Little bit more. Um, less fear and one more or a little less scary I should say. And walking down cause you can keep your hands on your thigh and you can let your shoulders and chest open. And you know that they're going to help you come up. That was great. Very good. And bring the leg all the way down. Stretch over it. Stretch. Reach out to the lower back.

And now bend the knee and sit up tall for me real tall. Grab your toes. Good. And now push that leg straight. Keeping your chest up. Where's your chest? Where's your chest? Yes, that's important. Very good. Switch legs. Good holding underneath the right leg. Maybe slide your whole body for just a little good. And then straighten and bed.

Good. Just limber it up. Just stretching. Now hold it up and then walk up the leg and stretch forward. Good. And I'll help stretch you and we're going to flex and point and flex and point. Good. All right.

Now head down and pull your waste away from me rather than push with the left leg. That left leg is not going to push it off. There you go. Just pull your waist back. Oh, so good. That's it. And then this one's going to hold you and walk down that leg and then come up. Feel your upper six pack, your middle, your lower. Bring the leg all the way down, stretching over and again, pull in back.

Good and okay. Coming up nice and stretching forward so it's like feel any easier. A little bit. And one more time going down if you want, you can open up your chest and you can open up your head. Okay. And then coming all the way forward. Good. Nice. Stretch out of the lower back. Now sit up tall for me real tall.

Grab your toes. Good. And now stay tall as you straighten that leg. Excellent. Don't push with your other right foot. Your left foot if you can. Good. Very good. Bring that leg down and we're going to bring everything down so you can bring your box down. I'll keep the pad good. I'll give you the bar. Thank you.

And I'm going to put it in second gear and we're going to do some pushups. You ready for some pushups? Okay, good. All right, so you're going to put your hands so your feet are going to go on that black pad and your hands are going to go on this bar. Let's do your right hand and then your right foot. That's a good question. Left hand, left foot and then stay there. I want you to use your glutes to push your pelvis down and I need your stomach to lift up just like you did on that long box. It was great.

Long Stretch

Stay there and you're going to find your arms and push as far out as you can. Go out straight pieces of steel from your head to your heel. And now pull yourself forward. Like you're pulling yourself through water. Open your shoulders, open that chest. Yes and again, really good form pushing out and then pull back in. Yeah, I'm gonna do it a little with more, a little more freedom of energy. Yes.

And squeeze and forward. Yeah. That's not too hard for you. And squeezing down and scooping and give me one more. Hold it here. It's going to get a little harder. You're going to go out now, not as far. And then come back in. Yep. Two more out. Add in. Feel that powerhouse one more and squeezing and pulling.

And now kneel down gently. Both knees. Good work. All right, so good job. So we're going to slide this here and into first gear again. And I want you to put your feet against the shoulder pads. So what, what was the difference between the long stretch that you just did on the two springs and then when I took off the spring, would you feel different? Nothing holding you. Did you feel your stomach working any harder? Okay. Unless you used your stomach. Yes. Very good.

So I want you to work your feet now really hard by flexing the toes under. Okay. And I want you to try to get the hamstring and glute to work and squeeze your bottom forward. Lift your chest up. So we're going to be almost in a back bend that I've been trying to get you to do a little bit more of today. Good. Opening the chest, lift the chest up more. Yeah. Okay. Now use your glutes and your feet to push back.

Down Stretch

Don't let it go into your lower back, right? You're gonna use your stomach. He'd going, going, going, almost lying down on the springs and now come back in, lifting your belly up to your chest and go out back of the thighs and glutes, and then use your belly to lift your head up. Lift your chest up. Good. It's a breathing exercise. You're gonna inhale and you're going to exhale opening. Yep. And in with the air can feel these tennis shoulders that need to open up one more and exhaling head up, chest up.

Good for you to stand up for elephant. So you're going to be flat footed. Good. And then you're going to lift your waist up. I also want your shoulders and hips at the same level. So I'm going to make you go forward a little bit and I want you to Tuck your ears between the arms. And now lift your chest bone off of me. Fantastic. Stay up off of me and try to push back with the glutes a little bit.

Push the legs back a few inches, and then draw your belly up as you come home. Perfect. And out from here and draw your waist up. Yes. Good job. Staying off of me here. Really good shape. Now this time I don't want to hear any more sound. No more bang. Thank you. And pulling up. Yup. One more. Okay. Excellent.

Elephant

Keep lifting in your stomach. Always working your stomach as you step off light as a feather. Very good. I'm gonna throw you this and I'm gonna. We're going to do stomach massage. I'm going to put it in second year though for you for stomach massage so you don't get too tight into your hip flexors. All right, Kay. Joe, go ahead and sit down. So this is almost like a break for you.

It's an easy exercise. Let's try to make sure that we use our stomach. Put your hands on the front edge of the mat and good, and then head down. Good. All right, knees a little bit narrower. Take a big breath for me and release tension as you round your back and then let's pull out with your belly. Pull out, hold it there. Push your heels under the bar for a nice stretch.

Round Back

Pull all those springs up into here and bend your knees in. Good. Now stay here. You did great, but I need you to drop those shoulders. Makes a big difference on you when you do that and lift your elbows instead forward. And we're going to use your upper stomach. Oh yeah. Okay. Now pull out. Perfect down with those heels. Lift the heels and bend it in. So you know the exercise now, right?

Let's double time that. Let's go out, down, lift and in and pull out all the way up. Plus down, lift in and pull your stomach out and down. Lift and in and pull out. Good. See if you can start feeling your glutes gauge yes and two more. Pull it out last time. Great. Now put your hands behind you against the shoulder pats.

I'm gonna drop one spring. Good. You good on the shoulder pads? All right then I need you to roll. Open your shoulders and I need your stomach to lift up your whole body and your chest. Can you get this up a little more? Thank you. Same exercise out. Keep your chest on my finger and good. And people lifting. That's it. And lift all from your waist in the hundred you even drew in your obliques.

Flat Back

You had your whole waste working. Think of doing the hundred right now. You're using it to lift up the ribs away from your pelvis. Nothing's grout and giving into gravity. One more. Really good. Keep up the chest up. Upthere very good effort. Now reach your arms forward. Good. I'm going to drop one spring. Good.

I want you to use your back muscles more and lift your arms up higher. Higher, higher. Good. Now roll down your shoulders. Thank you. And now go out. So good. And exhale forward. We're going to just come in on this one. Joe. I didn't tell you we don't lower the heels. Inhale out and then exhale, reach from here. Reach further, further, further, and again, inhale. And then exhale, reach, reach, reach. And one more. Pulling in your waist away from me. Away from me. Good.

Reach

And now you get to stretch. Go ahead and just straighten your legs. Yeah, you deserve this stretch. It's Kinda like the monkey on a Cadillac. So very good job. Good. And come on in and go ahead and step off.

Hamstring Stretch

I'm going to put it in first gear again. Good. And we're going to do a little bit of what's called a chest expansion can be a little scary because the carriage slides back and forth. So we're going to break it down a little bit. Okay. So you're actually, when you start off, you look this way the whole time and then as you get advanced you're going to turn around and look this way. So we're still on two springs and you're going to kneel down facing me.

Okay. You can use a shoulder pads or whatever. Good. And your feet are actually going to try to hook onto the back edge. Good. All right. And you're going to stay there. Okay. So right now we're not doing anything right? So I'm going to help you feel this, get the muscles a little bit. I'm going to hold onto your ankles and I want you to try to use your hamstrings and glutes to stay like this tall tower.

And you're going to kind of lean your weight forward until you feel like you might give out, right? Okay. And your arms don't have to do anything. So these are gonna end up hooking their, I'm going to hold here and you're going to squeeze the hamstrings and glutes away from me and tell me when you start to feel them, feel them. Great. Now hold yourself there. Come back just a little bit. Yep. Good. Stay there. And I want you to stay there. Give me your arms and make them strong and taught ks.

Chest Expansion Prep

Tighten all the muscles in your arms and I want you to squeeze the glutes forward as you just move the arm. So you're just going to hold those glutes hold. And I want you to look over your right shoulder and then over your left shoulder and look forward and then come home. So just a flies. Loved Greek, the Greek, and he loves the Corinthian column. So just picture yourself, okay? You're going to pull back.

See if you can pull your stomach all the way up to your chest right now and then look over your other shoulder left and over your right and look forward and then come home. That is the exercise, but now we're just going to add a little balance. Can you use your powerhouse? You're going to hold onto these. Good. All right, so as you pull back, the glutes have to go forward. So we're gonna stay tall. Arm, stay close to your body. Good. Stay here. Look right, look left. Look forward. Now your stomach has to pull back as those arms. Return home. Very good balance. Squeeze your glutes, use your belly to lift up your chest. Look left, look right, look forward. The stomach has to pull back. Very nice. Let's work on those shoulders. Open them. Good. Squeeze the glutes.

Chest Expansion

Let's pull back. Keep squeezing your glutes forward. You got it. Look right, look left. Look forward and pull your stomach in. One more set back of those arms. Open the chest. Can you roll open those shoulders anymore? Good. And looking at forward and release. Stomach, stomach, stomach. Excellent. Step off to the side and I'm going to challenge just a little bit.

You're going to do almost the same thing, but turn around and face that way. So you're going to kneel down and your feet are going to be against the shoulder paths and you're going to work your feet. If you tuck your toes under, you won't be able to get your hamstrings and glutes. Okay, great. And so again, I'm going to hold you right here and I need you to squeeze your glutes away from me. Thank you. And Lean your shoulders forward a little bit too because they're a little bit behind. Thank you whole. This is your position. You got it. Okay. Don't let me let go of your feet. All right, I have to drop one spring cause we're only going to do one spring and you're going to reach back and grab onto here. Good. And pull them by your side. Palms are going to face me. Come bring your arms forward, don't fall.

Keep your steady. Stay there. Good. All right, so everything here solid and pull up your arms, pull up your arms, pull up your arms, and now open them, reaching them to the side. Very good. Keeping them in front of you. Pull your stomach in, squeeze your glutes. Excellent. And opening one more. Polling up and reaching out, keeping them so that you can see them in your peripheral vision. Pause. We're going to go the other way. Squeeze your glutes forward.

Arm Circles

Pull your stomach in all the way up and then come down. The up is really important. You know how you want to feel your stomach lift when you're cycling. Whole pull up in your ways. Pull up in your ways. Keep that feeling as the arms come down, even though your arms come down, you don't come down. Last one, pulling up your waist, pulling up hold. Make a diamond with your hands.

Then the elbows. Nope. We're going to shave our head back of our head and you're going to squeeze your glutes and pull your stomach in. Great. And I want four more. Can we do that? That's it. Very good angle. Your elbows are going behind your ears. And that's what I want to see. Think of that Greek Corinthian column. We've got one more pulling in your belly hold.

Shaving

Turn your palms this way. Open your shoulders and bring your arms down with balance and control. Fantastic. Go ahead and give me these really great, I want you to take. Give your knees a break. You're going to step off and kind of shake them out for a second. Very good job.

How did that feel? Good. I'm going to have you do a short spine massage. Here is a little treat. So you're going to get to go ahead and lie down. Your head's going to be here and you're gonna lie down like you normally do. I'm don't usually give you short spine when you're doing a session with, um, with Eric.

But I get to teach it to you today and it's gonna give you a little release, believe it or not. Okay? So you're gonna bring your knees into your chest. Good. And now bring me your feedback here. Okay, good. And it's shorter strap and it's tighter. And that's why it's called short spine massage. But I want you to bend your knees and roll down your back. Good.

And now keep your knees there and bring your feet here. Good. So the first one is a like a free Freebie. Okay. You don't need to do anything right. And the machine or the apparatus will do all the work for you. But if you want to stretch more or get stronger, little by little, you'll take over the exercise.

Short Spine

So we're going to relax a little bit here and I want you to push your legs half straight, just like you do in your footwork. Good. Stay here and now to get the full length of the leg, pull all your waist deep into the mat and straighten your legs from your glutes. Good. And then just try to keep your belly in and the legs are going to come back and your bottom's going to start lifting up and it's going to, your bottom's going to be over your shoulders and you'll stay right there and then bend your knees and touch the shoulder pads with your knees. Great. And then just rolled down. Good for you.

Hold it right there. Bring your knees in a little more. Good. We're gonna do one more like that. How'd that feel? Good. Anything hurt? Did it stretch your back at all? Correct. And now go forward with your waist pooling into your back and go ahead and let the straps take you over. Over, over in the hips will go over the shoulders and then bend the knees, the touch the shoulder pads, and make sure you exhale as you roll down. Good. Good, good. All right. Now we're going to work a little harder.

Is that all right? Okay. So you're gonna pull your waist in. Go forward. And this time I want you to try to get, squeeze your glutes up off the mat before your legs touch my hands. So legs are gone back. Get your bottom up. Yeah, there you go. Excellent. Now stay here and bend the knees down and we're going to change it here. Also, stay there. And I want you to roll down this bone, but don't move the feet.

Keep them there. They're going to legs are going to straighten. Yes, this bone, this bone, this bone. Can you pull down your waist anymore? Get as low as you can, and then bring your feet down. Good job. Bend the knees here a little bit more. All right, two more. You're going to go forward. You're going to squeeze your glutes up as you exhale, blow out your air, bend the knees, and then leave the feet right here over your eyes and roll down your back.

Exhale. Exhale, exhale. Good. Keep stretching down and then bring down your feet. Bend the knees. Good. One more for me. Go forward. Exhale, squeeze the glutes. Good. And inhale.

Bend the knees and then exhale one bone at a time and you get to stretch the hamstrings as well. And then you bring down the feet. Very good. Let's take these straps off. Nice job. Good. How that feel? Good. Good. All right. I want you to always use your powerhouse, but you're going to stand up and we're going to do knee stretches next, so we're going to kneel down, hands on the bar, feed down, feed against the shoulder pads. Good flexing. You did a great elephant earlier. Let's get your thumb with your fingers. Good. And you're gonna look down and pull your chest away from me.

And the goal is a sit only an inch or two off your heels. So keep pulling into your ways. Good that all right. And so open the shoulders even push into that bar and I want you to picture that you're doing your cycling [inaudible] and you're gonna keep your waist pulling up your energy. And this is going to stay here, but push your legs back as far as you can and then pull them back under. Okay, stay here, Joe. That was exactly what I wanted, but now I want the same thing out, but a really quick stomach crunch in. So smooth out hold and a quicken quick, smooth, quick, smooth. Bring it all the way in. All the way in. Yes. Smooth, quick, smooth. It's a stomach crunch to bring it in. Yes.

Round Back

Stomach crunch. Three, two more. Last time. Yes. Now stay in holding your stomach. Can you stick your bottom out behind you? So stick out your tailbone and lift your chest up. The opposite of this?

Yes. Good. Right here. Strong upper body pushing into those poles. You did a great job lying on your stomach, on the long box. So keep your stomach in and now push the legs back and pull them back in. Push them back and pull them back in.

Flat Back

Try to feel your stomach because in a moment you're going to have to lift your knees up and up. And three and two. Last one. Very good. Hold Round your back. Good strong arms, right? And now I want you to lift your chest up off my hand.

Good stomach in right now. Can we keep your belly in and lift your legs up? This high one to lift up? Yes. And push back with those legs and pull them under. Good. Now look at my arm. Can you pull your stomach in? Very good. And pull in.

Knees Off

Now I want your knees lower and there you got it. And three, you got it. Come on two. One more. And I want you to stay in now lightly lower your knees. Very good. Step off completely Joe. Very good job. Good. We're gonna lie down for our cool down and we're going to do running and pelvic tilt. So go ahead. I'm going to add one spring, uh, and actually needed to be in second gear for you, your hip flexors. So we're going to start off with four sprains. Okay, go ahead and lie down.

Good. Okay. And we're going to go out halfway again. So toes are on the bar. This is your cool down. So you get to relax a little bit. Take your hips just a tiny bit over to the right. Good. You're going to go out halfway for me. Stay here. Okay, very good job.

Running

Keep pulling your waist in and enjoy lengthening your body the entire way. Keep your waist up like that and you're going to run bending one knee, lowering the other. Excellent job. Good. Literally push that heel under the bar. Really lift the knee up. Let the legs move more freely and your stomach is what's strong and steady and working in the legs. Get to move more freely. That's it. Four and three and two. And now come back in.

Joe. Great job. We're going to move the arches up here and then you're going to put your arches here. So we're gonna do four on four springs and we'll start dropping them. Keep your knees wider, drop the waste into the mat, squeeze your glutes up, try to keep the carriage home, get the glutes up off the mat. Good. And now straight and your legs. And Bend in. Good for good. Yeah, Paul, I like the control that you're doing.

Pelvic Lift

Let's hold it in and I'm going to drop one spring and let's do a little bit more here. We want to feel in the hamstrings. Do you feel that? And in the glutes, because the very last exercise I'm going to give you today is a delicious stretch. Last one. And then I want you to hold it in and I'm going to drop one more spring. And if you can use your hamstrings and glutes last for this is a tough one. If you can use them, then you're gonna really enjoy this stretch one more. Hold it in and melt down your back. That was good. Slide your feet together.

Hug your knees into your chest. Good. Very good. And Go ahead and we're going to step off and, and bring it back into first gear and you get to end with our thigh stretch or thigh split. So go ahead and put your hands on the bar and kneel down and put your feet against the shoulder pads. Good. All right. And you're gonna take your right foot and try to put it right up on that bar. Good. All right, so your foot's not going to be in the middle.

It's going to be between your chest bone and your shoulders to slide it over a little and then bring the toes onto the bar. Good. Excellent. All right, so you just used your glutes and your hamstrings quite a bit, right? So what we're gonna do is we're gonna squeeze your there, use your knee. Okay, let me know if it hurts at all. So you get an a come forward with this stretch and I want you to keep using the hamstring and glute to push your hip flexor down towards the springs as you straighten your front leg. So go ahead and push out. Good. Straightening your front leg, holding onto the bar. Good. I'm going to kind of let you find your flexibility here and then as you come forward, keep pushing forward your glutes and I'm going to help you open the chest maybe a little bit.

Front Splits

Tell me on a scale of one to 10 how we doing on this stretch. Good. And now try to keep forward like this with your hips as you go out. So don't sit back. Yeah, there you go. And you're going to really stretch that front. Hamstring, right? Drop in that hip a little bit maybe. Yes.

How's that stretch on the hamstring. Good. And then coming forward with the hamstring, the back leg working, stretching. Nice. One more and out. Good. You're going to keep stretching that hamstring. Good. You can even bring your head down and make sure you're breathing. Exhale, that's it. And then coming forward for the last time, pushing those hips forward. Let me know if I'm pushing too much.

He'll push it a little more each time. Now you're gonna bring this foot down and you get the other leg left leg up there. Good. This right foot has to be like it was when you did those kneeling exercises. Good. Taking the heel back as far as you can. I'll go the other side. How does this feel? Good. All right.

And now we're going to keep using the right hamstring glue and go and outline down. Good. So this is just all for you here, Joe. Straightening that front leg is that hardest? Frightened that left leg. Huh? Good. And then going forward and you get to, are you getting the quad stretch here and the hip flexor? Yeah. Good. And two more. Not Everything is mean right? And relaxing your head down. Good. Yes.

And so your goal here is to walk away feeling like you've worked hard, right? And that you stretched and one more and that you can get a little more freedom and strength in other joints to take you to the next level. And last one. Exhaling. Stretching. Yes. Releasing the tension in your shoulders and neck. Good.

And bring that foot down and carefully step off. And how do you feel? All right, great. Thank you for Ghana. Nice job.

Comments

3 people like this.
Really loved how you built up/ warmed up the teaser !
2 people like this.
Very nice . I think workouts are more interesting with normal clients. I like your way of teaching and how you give instructions to your client. Thank you very much.
2 people like this.
I really loved this class. Thank you, Monica. And guess, what? I was able to do the teaser!!
1 person likes this.
I love everything happened in the class. So perfect! Thank you very much!
2 people like this.
liked the build up and the stretching but did not understand gear one and gear two. i need to know what springs to put on.
1 person likes this.
I too loved the progression to the teaser! Very excited to try this with my active cyclist on Thursday. He struggles with teaser. Hoping this will get him there. Fantastic class! Thank you!
1 person likes this.
Lovely instruction Monica. Joe you were spectacular. Very impressive!
Monica Wilson
Hi Verneisa, Thank you for asking about the gears. On average, this Reformer System would be done in 1st gear throughout the entire workout. My client Joe however, is tall and has very tight hip flexors. I have to extend the carriage out a gear for his Footwork, Long Stretch Series, Stomach Massage, Running and Pelvic Lift in order for him to have the right alignment to execute the exercises. I work on a Gratz Reformer which has 4 equal resistant springs. I am not sure about all manufacturers but for example, Balance Body has 5 springs of varying resistance. You might have to play around with what feels right to you when I say "4 springs" or "2 springs" but you should be able to stick to 1st gear on your Reformer. Some examples where one might need to use the 2nd or 3rd gear are: taller then 6', bad knees, or extremely tight hip flexors to name a few. I hope this helps! Again, thank you for your comment:)
Monica, I really appreciate your clear and concise directions. Your visuals are helpful as well.
Danita R
Nice to see a teacher instruct a "normal" guy!
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