Intense and Challenging Mat

Hi, I'm Tracey Mallett. Come and join us today for a nice mat class. I want you to have a ball with you and let's get moving. Okay, so we're gonna start with your feet hip-width apart. Always start with a warmup just to get the body moving, okay?

So, we're gonna inhale here, exhale chin-to-chest, and roll yourself down, all the way down to the floor. Now as you roll up, your head is heavy, one vertebra at a time and you're rounding into that upper thoracic area. Let's reach the hands over your head and then dive into that beautiful pool again and you dive, and then you roll all the way back up again and reach the hands out. And again, exhale, dive, draw those abs in, and try and keep your weight on your balls of your feet and then roll all the way up and lift the arms up and over. And again, let's go a little bit faster.

Down and roll and lift, and down. And you can almost try it next time, if you feel confident enough, to try an relevé, or to go up onto your tippie-toes a little bit and see if you can manage to reach up and over. It's a little bit more challenging and then roll all the way up. That's the hard part is you're rolling all the way up. Yes, and then lift up.

Let's try that again and we'll concentrate so we're all perfect next time. Ready, inhale, exhale (exhales loudly), and then slowly exhale, concentrate, as you roll all the way up. Keep your weight forwards. That was a better one girls, and then roll all the way up. Roll down, drop the heels down into the floor, and hold that stretch.

Good job. All right, from here we're gonna sit down onto the floor. All right, let's start. We're gonna grab your ball and squeeze it between the inner thighs, hands underneath your knees. Inhale to start, exhale (exhales loudly).

Draw those abs in. Inhale, hold here. Exhale, round, roll all the way up. Inhale. Exhale, draw the abdominals in.

Come all the way down a little bit further, (exhales loudly) exhale, round. Extend the sternum up. Inhale, exhale, round, round, round, round. A little bit further, go away into that thoracic spine. Squeeze that ball.

Work that pelvic floor into those abdominals and lift up. Let's do one more time. Roll down, roll, roll, roll, roll down. Now squeeze that ball on the way up (exhales loudly). Now we're gonna take it to a nice extension here.

I want you to reach back, reach back. So you imagine you're reaching your thumbs to the back wall. Try not to hyper-extend the upper thoracic spine though, and keep your ribcage funneled down and together. You're working that mid-upper back. Pull your shoulder blades down into those little pockets.

Squeeze that ball, four. Exhale three, exhale two, exhale one. Squeeze that ball, reach the hands forward, roll yourself down, all the way over your head. Inhale here, exhale, draw those abs in and roll up to an extension and then we're rolling back down again slowly, one vertebra at a time. Squeeze that ball, inhale, (exhales loudly) exhale.

Sternum lifted, roll down. Just two more times. Inhale, slight pause, (exhales loudly) exhale. Squeeze that ball. Work into that pelvic floor, you guys.

Draw that pelvic floor up. Last time, inhale, (exhales loudly) exhale, lift all the way up, hold it here, and then slowly we're gonna round through the spine, hold it, take your hands to the right side, and we're gonna continue the roll down the right side of the body, lifting up and over and coming up the other side. Let's try that again. Now keep that rounding in those abdominals. This time, your lumbar spine is not gonna extend.

You are keeping the way right into that round, into that mid upper spine as you round and you're keeping the work on those abdominals. (exhales loudly) Keep that rounding, keep that rounding, keep that round in. Though soon as you go into an extension, you lose the work in the abdominals, so the key is to exhale, lift up or keep that rounding, keeping that C-curve. One more time, slowly. You're gonna feel a little bit more heat now as you warm all the way up.

Now, hold it. Back to the other side. There. Now ready? Go down the side of your body.

Squeeze that ball, Christie. Good, reach the hands over your head. Squeeze that ball will help you get up. We're always gonna have one side stronger than the other and we've got to work at getting even symmetry. Over your head now.

Squeeze that ball as you come up (exhales loudly). Pelvic floor, draw the transverse in, and around, and round. Lift over your body and exhale. Slow and controlled, one more time. Down two more.

Over your head. Lift up. Okay, one extra one for Christie. She can never get enough of Pilates. Lift (laughs) over your head, roll all the way up (exhales loudly), come back to your center as you're working those abdominals, come back down a little bit further, hold it.

Down a little bit further, hold it. A little bit further, hold. Back up again, hold, back up again, hold. Hold, back again, hold. Hold.

Hold, back up again. Hold, hold, are you shaking yet? If not, you're not working hard enough. Take it down, hold. Hold.

Hold, and back up again, (exhales loudly) exhale, exhale. One more time for good luck. Squeeze that ball, Christie (laughs). I just like your name. Yeah.

(laughs) And two and three and reach. I'll say Meredith next time. Ah. Reach your hand forwards (laughs). Flex the feet and hold that ball.

From here, round through the spine, and exhale and extend out. Round. Exhale and extend out. Just release that upper spine. Inhale and exhale, last time, inhale and exhale.

Now we're gonna slowly pick up that ball, roll back down again. This time your arms are straight and your legs are straight. Now, we're gonna take the ball and we're gonna bend the knees and we're gonna try and get the ball just underneath the lumbar spine. It's actually underneath the lumbar spine and then we're gonna extend those legs and walk down a little bit so it's in the small of your back. Reach the hands up and over so you're actually in an arched position.

From here, you're gonna roll all the way up, reaching forwards, and hold it, and then bring the elbows down, and then walk a little bit further. (laughs) Hold that stretch. Hold it there so now the ball is just below your bra line, okay? Are we all there? They've got the giggles today.

I don't know what happened. Did you give 'em some laughing pills or something? All right, hold it here. Now, we're gonna bring the right knee into chest. You go right and reach.

Exhale right and reach. Exhale right and reach and right and reach and four and reach exhale three and reach exhale two and reach exhale one, bring it down, switch leg. Exhale (exhales loudly) and out (exhales loudly) and out (exhales loudly) and out, four, and reach, three, and reach, two, and reach, one, and reach, bring it back down again. This time, bend your knees, reach your hands forwards and take the hands all the way round the back of the head. Now, we're gonna walk forwards a little bit so now you're up into the mid-thoracic.

Exhale, breathe as you lift all the way up. Inhale down. Exhale, lift all the way up, and inhale down. Exhale, lift up and over. Now you're gonna feel those abdominal start shaking.

Exhale as you lift up (exhales loudly). Inhale down. Exhale, lift all the way up and hold it there. Now we're gonna add the knee with it that we just did. Knee up, ready, so we go up and down.

Up and down. Now we're gonna add the knee comes up, the knee goes down. The knee goes up. The knee goes down. Exhale up.

Inhale down. Exhale up. Inhale down. And lift. And down last time.

Lift. Press the leg down. Reach all the way back. Hold it there. Do we all feel good now?

Mm-hmm. Good, let's try the other side. So, we'll lift the head and shoulders off the floor, draw the rib cage down and pull those abdominals in, lift that left leg up. Now just keep it high. We go down and up and down.

Exhale up and down and up. Now you're ready to lower the leg, up, so you go down and lift, down, now you're breathing (exhales loudly). Intensify those abs (exhales loudly). (exhales loudly) (exhales loudly) Let's do a few more (exhales loudly). Last time.

Hold it. Bring the leg down and then come all the way back. Reach the arms out into a V position. Hold it there and then slowly bring the legs together and we're gonna roll yourself all the way up. Leave the ball where it is.

Reach forwards. Now, take hold of the ball behind you, roll yourself back down again, take your hands over your head. Now, we're gonna lift the left leg as it comes up. You go left leg, reach. Bring it back down again and you're gonna lift all the way up so to your left leg, roll the ball up and lift, and then press down again.

Can you see how I'm rolling forwards and I'm leading and into that extension and then coming back? So your first is your C-curve, then it goes into your extension, and then you come back down again. Exhale (exhales loudly), lengthen, inhale round. Three more. Roll it all the way up and extend and then control it down.

Two more. Lift and then down. Last time. Lift, hold it there, hold. Pulse up, eight, seven, spine extension.

It's about your upper body. Four, three, two, hold it. Roll yourself down, control it. Are you ready to try the other leg now? So, we're gonna come all the way up, so ready, roll all the way up a spine extension and then control it, roll back down again.

Exhale, roll all the way up, shoulder blades pull down, and then control it back down again. Exhale (exhales loudly), lift, and then down. Let's do four more of those. Are you extending, are you lifting up, are you open up your chest and then roll down. (exhales loudly) Lift, pull the shoulder blades down.

Looking good. Can you do one more? Exhale, lift, hold it here. Are you ready? Go (exhales loudly), push, push, looking nice guys.

Pull your shoulder blades down, four, three, two, hold it, and then slowly roll, roll, roll down. Bring the knees into the chest hands to your knee ready for double leg stretch. Head and shoulders come off the floor and inhale, (exhales loudly) exhale, inhale, (exhales loudly) exhale. Resist the knees as you come in. Inhale, (exhales loudly), four (exhales loudly), three (exhales loudly), two (exhales loudly), one.

Hold it. Drop the knees down, bring the ball in between the knees, and cross the legs. Squeeze that ball and cross the legs. Inhale here, exhale, draw those abs in and lift the tailbone off the floor and down. Try not to use your arms as much as you can.

If you want, a good cure is to have the elbows into the mat and you're teaching them to use the abdominals to tilt the pelvis and that's what you want to do here. You want to draw those abdominals in and lift the pelvis off the floor. Now squeeze that ball. Get into the adductors, get into that pelvic floor, use those abs. (exhales loudly) Exhale.

Can you give me three more? (exhales loudly) (exhales loudly) One more, hold it (exhales loudly). Hold, reach the hands up. Hold it there. You're in that little pike.

Hold it. Lower the tailbone down. Now draw the head, neck, and shoulders off the floor. Now lift. You're in your true, rounded C-curve position.

Hold it there. Now, from this position, you're gonna rotate to the right, to the left. So you're shortening the distance to the right and to the left. Let's pick it up. You go eight (snap), seven (snap), six (snap), five (snap), four (snap), three (snap), two (snap), one (snap), hold it.

Lower the tailbone down and the arms. Take hold of the ball. Extend the legs and then gently put the ball in between your shins. From here, we're gonna take the hands down. It's going to roll over with this beautiful ball.

We inhale ninety, exhale (exhales loudly) all the way over and let's touch the floor. Flex the feet. Roll yourself down slowly. Tailbone hits. Point the toes and let's take it down.

And here let's go a little bit faster. Inhale, (exhales loudly) exhale, touch, roll down and point. Inhale, relax the upper body. (exhales loudly) Exhale. Touch that floor and then flex the feet as you roll down, point, let's do a couple more.

Inhale ninety, use those abs (exhales loudly). Take it over. Touch the floor as you flex. Take the energy out through the heels. Roll down, you guys, all the way down.

Point the toes. One more, inhale, (exhales loudly) exhale. Now hold it here. Flex the feet, hold it. So, walk the hands around if you can.

See if you can hold onto those beautiful toes. Flex the energy out through the heels. Now squeeze that ball. As soon as you squeeze, the inner thighs are working. You're gonna feel the hamstrings kick in a little bit.

Now resist with your hands. Resist in your hamstring. Your hamstrings are pressing up to the sky and you're pulling on your feet. You're gonna feel length through the back of the leg and you're extending those legs as much as you can. Arms are straight if you can.

Now roll down and try and keep the arms as straight as you can. Drop the tailbone down. Hold it there. Some of you are gonna be here from your flexibility, and that's fine. Feel that stretch and try and get that tailbone down.

Hold it there. Point the toes, bring the legs. We're gonna try and go into corkscrew, but we're gonna keep the tailbone onto the floor and we do a mini tork-screw. We're gonna take it around to the side and then around to the other side. So, we're pivoting around the sacrum.

I always say think of a sideways eight. You inhale (inhales loudly), and exhale, and then as you get more secure with the movement, make it bigger. Make it a little bigger. You can try and test it out. If you can take it a little bit bigger.

Good. Let's do one more. Now hold it to the center. Take the hands, bend the elbows so your elbows are in line with your shoulder joint. Just open up your chest and just take it to the right side, back to the center.

So your hip is slightly coming off. It's only gonna come off as much as you can honestly support it. So, depending on your core strength, over. Now flex your feet and try it with a flex foot, energy going out through the heel. It's gonna feel a little different, a little bit more hamstring.

(exhales loudly) Over. (exhales loudly) Bring it back to center. Point those toes, bend the knees, take the hands behind the back of the legs. Now you're in a chair position. Knees over your hips.

We're gonna try and roll yourself all the way up. The first one's the hardest one so roll, yes, and then extend. Now as you roll back, resist the hamstrings as you roll back, squeezing that ball, one vertebra at a time, and come back down again, still keeping the knees over the hips. Inhale, exhale, now press your hands into your hamstrings. Roll yourself up.

Now as you're rolling, then you go up into that extension and then you squeeze that ball. Now resist your hamstrings. Hands are here, resist, resist, resist, resist all the way down. Good exercise to get control on your breath and your vertebraes, one vertebra at a time, rolling all the way up. Now if you can do it, let's try and release the hands and imagine your hands are there.

Those hamstrings are still firing, one vertebra at a time. Keep the hands in line with your shoulders. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way up. I want you to try not to use your arms. That's why I'm leaving them where they are because if you take your hands over your head, you start using your arms.

I want you to use your abs and then back and again. Inhale, round (exhales loudly). Lift in that extension, looking gorgeous, rolling down. Nice work, Meredith, lovely. Roll down.

Last time (exhales loudly). Roll all the way up. Are we all there? Now, reach the hands up and then press down. (exhales loudly) Then give your shoulder girdle, pulling your scapula down.

Inhale, (exhales loudly) exhale, four (snap). Three (snap). Two (snap). One, now the legs. Extend (snap), down (snap), extend (snap), down (snap), extend (snaps), and four more.

Take it four (snap), three (snap), two (snap), one. Bend your knees, take the hands, and then slowly lift all the way up. Give yourself a little hug. Slowly take hold of your ball. We're gonna come up to a kneeling position.

You guys can face me. Now I want you to put the ball in between your inner thigh, a little bit lower so it's not too high. Okay? So you're here. Now I'm gonna go sideways so you can see my profile view here.

So, let's start with the hands on your hip. We're gonna go into a posterior tilt so automatically you're gonna feel that quad open and the psoas open. Now, just put your hands on the hip for now. We're gonna hinge back as one unit and then come back. And again, reach back.

Good. Another good cue is if you want to place your hands here and push together, I think sometimes that helps us all so we're not hyper-extending and you're drawing the rib cage together, pressing back. Good. Imagine a little bit more extension, just a tad more, Meredith, if you can. There, that's it, that's beautiful.

Good. Now we all know what we're doing, let's see if we can add some artistic glamour to it. Let's put your arms down and reach (exhales loudly) and then press back and reach (exhales loudly) and back. Good, keep that pubic bone, reaching forwards, watching that rib cage. You can look at mine too.

You're allowed to cue me too (laughs) and one more time. Hold it here, hold it. Are we there? Hold. And we're gonna reach up, press down, (exhales loudly).

(exhales loudly) Keep steady. (exhales loudly) Two more (exhales loudly). One more (exhales loudly), hold it. Finish it off. Yes, it's challenging.

Good job and press down to stretch. Slowly roll all the way up. We're gonna take your ball. We're gonna come into a Z position, okay? But it's a different kind of Z.

We want a little bit more open. If we were on the reformer, we'd be a little bit more like this obviously. I want you to think of opening, so we got that psoas a little bit more open. Now, you guys have got more room but I want you to put the ball underneath the ankle position. So, I want your knee behind your body and if you can, you're gonna pitch yourself forwards.

I'm gonna cheat it a little bit here and I'm reaching forwards. So, I want that leg to lift up and down, up and down. Up and down, good. Where should the ball be? Yeah, so you want your ball right here and then you lift it.

So, you're in a hip extension and you're pitching your body way forwards. So, I want your body pitching forwards. You're pressing down into here and lifting right from the glute. Good. Now I want you to, Colleen, to come way forwards, because when you're high like that, it goes straight into the QL and we want to keep out of that lower back, so pitch that body way forward.

So, all you're gonna feel is right into that glute mede, right? Let's do four more like that. Press down into that ball. We go four, looks nice guys, three, nice Colleen, two. Hold it there, hold, and now pulse it up.

Up. Up. Up. Up. Think of reaching out through the crown of the head, four, three, oh good, this is challenging a little bit, two, and hold it, and then recover.

Nice work guys, let's switch leg. So we're trying to think of that hip extension as much as we can just to open up the psoas. Okay, so let's try that again. So, get that hip back there and we want that front knee in line. So, if you think about your shin is parallel to the front of your mat.

All right guys? Pitch your body way forwards, way forwards, pull in those abs. I'd even like a little bit more of you there. Get out that lower back. Now lift, go, lift.

Down. Lift. Down. Lift, that's it. So the work is purely coming from those muscles, your glute medius, okay?

We want nothing in that lower back. So if we feel it here, we want to elongate more. Good, that looks nice. Up. Up.

That's it, give me four more. Looking good, four, three, two, now hold it up. Now little, go, pulse, pulse. Teeny, tiny little works. You're looking good, stable.

Keep that upper body still. No movement. Eight more for good luck. Eight, seven, six, five (snap), four (snap), three (snap), two (snap), hold it. Lovely girls, very nice.

Come back and pick up your ball and just take your feet like this into your little butterfly and just stretch it out. Good job, hold that stretch. And then slowly lift all the way up, okay. Let's just put the ball to one side. We don't need the ball.

I'm just gonna put it down here. Okay, let's come into side-lying work. First of all, let's warm up those obliques. You're gonna put the hand in front of your body. We inhale, feet are parallel, exhale, lift the upper body and lower body off the floor.

Lift and then down. Exhale, lift (exhales loudly), and down. Lift, good, and down. So, you're thinking of closing that gap from your lowest rib to your hip. Breathe (exhales loudly).

Good job guys. So, it's not rocking and rolling. Three more, lovely. Two more. (exhales loudly) One more, now hold it here, hold.

We can try and balance. Hold that balance. Five, four, three, two, now click, click, click, click, (snap) (snaps) Good, nice solid core ladies, very lovely. Eight (snaps). Seven (snaps.

Six (snaps). Five (snaps). Dig deeper, four (snaps). Three (snaps). Two (snap).

Hold it. Meredith, just bring your feet a little bit further forwards for me if you can. There, perfect, nice. Four, three, two, one, and down. Come all the way up, elbow bent, cross that leg in front.

Now, we're gonna lift up, rotate. We're gonna lift all the way up and then as we rotate down, the arms come over and your feet are parallel. Can you see that? So we go up and then the elbow comes down and you go into parallel and over. Let's try that again.

Cross. Rotate. Back, turn to your side, parallel feet, lift, and look down, and exhale. Go (exhales loudly). Up and rotate parallel over.

Watch that rib cage and exhale (exhales loudly). Lift, beautiful ladies. Inhale, lift up and over, look down, look down, look down. Two more. (exhales loudly) Hold it and down.

One more. (exhales loudly) Exhale, lift up. Now drop that bottom leg down, lift, down, lift, down, exhale, four three, two, hold it. Rotate parallel, lift up and over, and then bend your knees. Lift all the way up, mermaid.

Good job, nice, and hold that stretch. Circle over. Circle over. Switch sides. Go to the other side.

Ready for our prep first, for the grand one? So the hand is forwards. Keep your body slightly pitched forward just to get at that lower back. Are you ready? Hand in front.

Inhale, exhale, elongate (exhales loudly). Inhale down. Imagine someone's pulling your arm and pulling your feet. You're in a traction. Maybe we'll grow two inches.

I certainly need two more inches (laughs) and down. That was my goal with Pilates at the beginning. I was gonna get taller. And did you? A little bit.

Better posture (laughs). Lift and down. Exhale (exhales loudly). Three more (exhales loudly). And down (exhales loudly).

One more time, hold it there, hold, and we're gonna try and balance. Remember keep the feet slightly forwards. Hold it. I know, one side's always harder than the other. Now lift up, one (snap), two (snap), (exhales loudly) three (snap), four (exhales loudly), five (snap), six (snap), seven (snap), eight, hold it, and then come down, nice.

Lift all the way up. Cross that leg in front. So, ready, we're gonna go all the way up. Now rotate the pelvis and then look up and over. Exhale rotate.

Inhale parallel. So, all in your core, your obliques. Lift and down. And you're breathing, exhale (exhales loudly). Lift as high as you can go.

Inhale (exhales loudly) and exhale. Shoulder blades pull down and down. Shall we do two more? It doesn't matter if we do one off on one side (laughs). And up.

And then down. Keep lifting, watch that rib cage, looking down. Looking beautiful. Last time, lift all the way up. Are we there?

Hold stable, balanced, and ready, lower leg one (snap), two (snap), three, four, five, six, seven, eight, hold it, and then come all the way down. Hold that position first. Look down, look gorgeous as you do, and then come back. Bend your knees, mermaid. Hold that stretch.

Release. Let's turn around. We're gonna go into a ... Actually, let's do a few circles. So we're gonna be ...

And circle and circle and circle, beautiful. Okay, let's turn around onto your tummy. All right, we're gonna put your hands right by your chest to here. Now we're just gonna lift the upper body off the floor, relax the lower body, and come all the way up as high as you can so you're lifting up. From here, we're gonna dive forwards and we're gonna try and balance so you're gonna go into a swan prep.

So you rock and extend. You rock and extend. Rock and extend. Rock and extend. Rock.

Now remember, you gotta lift that upper body as high as you can, roll. And you're breathing. Two more (exhales loudly). One more (exhales loudly). Hold it, pull back, round.

Now you're gonna reach forwards. Now you're gonna gently rest your sternum towards the floor and you're reaching forwards. You're lifting up and now curl, curl, curl, curl, curl back. This time, you're reaching your sternum, dragging it along the floor, lifting all the way up, curl, curl, curl back around. Let's do it one more time and sternum.

Lift up. Draw those abs in and back. Now let's just take it down forwards again. We're gonna reach the arms out. You're lifting up, upper body and lower body and now what we're gonna do is open the legs and pull.

You're only as wide as your mat, okay? So your mat is your gauge. Anything over your mat doesn't belong to you and you're drawing the heels together. Out. Hands in line with your shoulders.

Now let's pick it up, you go eight (snaps), seven (snaps), six (snaps), five (snaps), four (snaps), three (snaps), two (snaps), one, hold it here, hold, and then slowly come back down again. We're gonna gently reach back, put your hands by the side of your body, pull back so now you're in a pushup position. Now I'm gonna walk a little bit further forwards, incline position here. We're gonna do some pushups, but the elbows are reaching back. So the elbows are reaching back and then coming back up.

So we don't want the elbows displaying to the side. We want the elbows coming behind the body. So, you're gonna feel where your strength is in your triceps. In your triceps, elbows behind the body. Inhale and exhale.

Nice. Inhale and exhale. Three more. (exhales loudly) Two more. (exhales loudly) One more.

(exhales loudly) Slowly from here, turn the toes underneath, plank position, hold it. From here, we're gonna use those abs and we're gonna round, round, round, flex the feet, and then round again into your pike. Round into your pike back to your plank position and exhale, round, pull those abs in. You're piking up to it. You're flexing your feet.

Pike through those abdominals. Reach back up into your plank position. Let's go a little bit faster. We go one, flex, one, plank, one, flex, round, use those abs, exhale, flex, in (exhales loudly), back (exhales loudly). Last time (exhales loudly).

Now hold it here, hold. Take your left foot down, right foot comes to the side. We're gonna take that leg up, up, up, up, and around. You are externally rotated. You've got an open pelvis.

Still as square as you can and try and reach into that stretch. Hold it. Now we're gonna go back into your plank position. Two counts down, so you go two counts down, Two counts up. Two counts down.

Two counts up. Two counts down. Last time, two counts up. You've got one more. Pivot at your shoulder joint.

Hold it here, hold it. Look underneath your arm to your right side. Hold it there. Bend that back knee. Extend that leg.

Come back to center, now take the leg all the way round. All the way round. Hold it. Bend your knees. Look up.

Curve back. Hips high. Take your weight into your right leg, left leg. You ready, let's take it up and over, up and over, up and over, up and over, and hold it there. Press your chest towards your knee.

Are you ready with that nice open pelvis, down for two, up for two? Go. Down for two, up for two. Down. Pivot at your shoulder joint.

Up. Down. (exhales loudly) Beautiful, down for two. Up. Try and get your hips level with he shoulder joint, lift.

Last time, down. Hold it there, hold. Now look underneath your left armpit. Look. Bend the knee.

Point the toes. Extend as high as you can go. Back to the center point and then come down. Actually, take it back up again. You're gonna do the biggest rounds.

I can't have you scooting out now. Take the leg all the way round in the most biggest circle. We all felt like doing it and we did and we have to correct it (laughs). And then bend your knees. Child's pose, nice work guys.

Hold it there and hold that stretch. Hold it there, beautiful, and slowly roll all the way back up again. All right, let's turn. We're gonna turn to face the front. You guys are gonna face the front and we're gonna put your hands in a quadriped position and I want to see you so turn to face me and put your hands ...

Make sure your knees are on the mats and your hands forwards, that's it. There we go. Now we're gonna hold it here. Now what I want you to do is keep that abdominals contracted. I just want you to push your way, rounded, and then extend.

Good. Now come in the middle of those two positions and find that neutral position. All right, from here we're gonna lift your right leg up. So, lift your right leg up, hold it, and then bring it back down again. Lift that right leg and your knee is coming to the side of your body.

What you want to find is that your knee is tracking to the side of the body, not forwards or not behind. There just a little bit. So, the knee is tracking all the way out to the side. So, you're keeping that length from the rib to your hip and you're working through that glute. All the time you're keeping that upper body stable.

Good, that looks nice. A little bit more open here, good. Let's do four more like that. That looks good and four, so the knee in line with the hip, three, two, now one more, hold it there, hold. Hold it and then we do little pulses.

Find that right position, go. Eight, seven, six, five, keep that knee directly to the side. Some of you migrated behind now. It's hard 'cause you gotta open up that hip. Three, two, hold it.

Now, can we extend the leg out? Are we strong enough? Oh, no (laughs). And then bend (laughs), nope, and extend, and in. Extend.

Nice work guys, two more. Extend. Last time, come on. Extend and back, pull back. Good, thank you, you tried.

That was good. It's very important you keep that knee in line because you will migrate forwards or back depending on your strength in your glute mede, but also whether you're tight in those hips. So, it's come back up again. Let's try the other side. Let's exhale first into your cat, inhale into your extension, and then let's come back in the middle of those positions.

Alrighty, extend through the crown of the head. Now lift the leg up to the side and then back. Look at your knee. Is it directly to the side? You're gonna find that most of us have limited range of motion there and that's okay, because the stronger you get, the higher that leg will go because you've got a strong, stable side.

That supporting leg is working harder than the working leg. Good. I can see those legs shaking, Meredith. (laughter) Breathe out. Good (exhales loudly) out.

Let's do four more, four, and in. Three, and in. Two, and in. Hold it there, hold. Now little pulses, go.

Think of opening the door, opening that pelvis. Upper body, try not to sink in through the shoulder blades. Four more, four, three, two, now hold it. Now try and extend. Let's see if you can.

If you cannot, take a little break into child's pose. Out and in. Out. Keep elongation in your spine. Two more (exhales loudly).

One more (exhales loudly). Hold it and then come back. Whoo, nice work guys. Reach out, stretch it out. I'll move here.

Now from here, all I want you to do is you can turn inwards if you want. You're just gonna go into a quad stretch here so if you want to face inwards you can, into that nice quad stretch. Hold it there. It's worth it, I can see now. Hold it there.

Now extend. You'll lift your back leg up. Hold that stretch. Now I want you to extend your hips up to the sky and then just take your head down. Elongate.

From here we're gonna bend that knee, drop that back knee down, extend back. Now flex that foot, walk it forwards. Walk it forwards and see how far you can go down into a split. Some of you are gonna be here, some of you are gonna be way back. If we don't try, we don't get there.

Good for you, good job, and hold that stretch. Good, think of resisting the floor, Meredith. That's it. Keep your hips square as much as you can and you can roll into it a little bit just to release and get a little bit further into that stretch. Nice.

Hold it there and then slowly bend that front knee if you can. Let's switch legs. Opposite leg. Hip flexor stretch. Here, lift that back knee off the floor.

Press that pelvis forwards. Now from here, extend your hips up high and take your head down. (sighs loudly) Enjoy that stretch, you've worked pretty hard today. Hold it there and bend the front knee. Drop the back knee down.

Send your hips back up again. Flex that front foot. Send it forwards. Send it forwards and see how far you can get into that split and let's get into that split and then you ... Once you're in that position, you can do like a little rock.

You can do a little rock-and-roll here. Good, and hold that stretch. Four, three, two, one, slowly pull it back. It's hard getting out of it isn't it? Or you'll stick to the mat.

From here, slowly reach the heels into the floor, into your downward dog position or your pyramid from Pilates and let's walk the hands back to your feet and we're gonna roll all the way up. Okay, let's finish off with a roll down. We're gonna take a deep breath in. Exhale, chin-to-chest, and we roll down through the spine. All the way down.

Slowly roll all the way back. Stand up nice and tall, shoulder blades down. Do we feel good? Do we feel strong? Yeah, we do.

You guys rocked it. (applause) Thank you guys. Thanks. Come back and join us. Thank you.

We're crazy really, but we love you (laughs). Thank you.