Athletic Conditioning

Hi, guys. Courtney Miller here. Love being here. I have my friend, Andy with me. I'm gonna ask him again at the end of the class if he's still my friend.

We'll see. I have an awesome, really hard, really awesome athletic conditioning class. I've kind of geared it Pilates for men, but it doesn't have to be just for men. I'm gonna get you to lie on down, Andy. Lie on your back, feet are gonna be on here.

The idea with the class, is I wanna get you ready for athletic conditioning. For sports, for all the things that you love to do in life. I'm gonna be talking about a lot of unilateral, one-sided stability, I'm gonna be moving the spine in all the ranges of motion, and we're gonna have a really fun time. So you're gonna have a fun time, whether you like it or not. (laughing) Okay, so we're gonna begin with some leg and foot work.

So important. So our feet are our foundation to the earth. They will dictate the biomechanics through the rest of the body. So let's work 'em. Let's begin with the arches of the feet on, Andy.

Yep, separate the feet hip distance, mm-hmm. So we're gonna work a lot in parallel hip distance today. I want you to drop your sacrum down, find your neutral, open your collarbones, active and long arms, breathe in to press out. And on that same breath in, come back to me. Then exhale to press out, and on that same exhale come back to me, good.

You keep going. So why did I choose this breath pattern? In athletic conditioning, we need to have a good lung capacity. So he's gonna take a full breath out, empty his lungs, and a full breath in. You keep going, 'cause you're doing awesome.

One of the things I wanna see here, is the ribs moving, right? So on an inhale, I wanna see that opening, and on the exhale, I wanna see the ribs melt into the body. Now, on the next one, push all the way out, pause. He's doing a great job drawing up through the vastis. Come halfway in, drop the sacrum, and just push out an inch and in an inch.

Good, you can breathe in your natural breath pattern here. I'm gonna get you to slow it down just a little, and come a little closer to the foot bar. Right about there. Now, out an inch, and in. Good.

Right about now, we start to feel that burning right above the kneecap. Sacrum heavy. So what happens, is when we get fatigued in our thighs, we start to tense up through the whole body. But I want those hips to relax. I want him to disassociate this pain.

Forget about what's happening here. Keep your collarbones open, good. We've got a little bit of a fascial release happening at the feet, this is awesome. Go ahead and push all the way out, pull up through the front of the thighs, and resist to come in. Well done.

Toes on. All 10 toesies. So your toes help to connect you to different parts around the knee, so don't let those baby toes fall off. Heels will be lifted here, press down through the big toe. Go ahead, you've got it.

Inhale, but inhale back to me. And then exhale, and exhale back to me, good. So one of the challenges here, when I have the toes on, is I now have the ankle stability to contend with. But ankle stability in whatever sport you do is so important. So I wanna make sure that these heels are staying still in place.

I wanna make sure that the knees are tracking right over the mid-feet. The breathing is awesome. You've got two more rounds. Really exhale all that air out. On the next one, push all the way out, pause.

Again, find that connection here. Come halfway in, pause. Now, just stay here. The carriage is not gonna move. The heels will go down on a breath in, and the heels will lift up.

Yes, but let's keep that carriage steady. Here we go, heels down, heels up. There is it, heels down, heels up. You keep going, heels down, heels up. This is not easy.

So he's working his quads isometrically, to hold. We're getting some great work through the calves. Not just the superficial calf, but the soleus as well. Great work through the feet. You can see the challenge of getting them to move in symmetry, huh?

Two more here. Close those ribs. He's doing awesome. He's like, why did I come? Good, lift the heels up, press the carriage all the way out, and resist to come back in, awesome.

Take the heels onto the bar. You're gonna stay in parallel for this one, and I'm just gonna take a little bit of tension off. So I had him pretty heavily loaded. Now, it's medium-heavy. Heels of the feet are on.

So don't go pushing too far back, 'cause I did take a spring off, and I'm just gonna adjust you. Well done. Okay, breathing through this one. Exhale to push out three times. Use the backs of the thighs.

Pause for a second, go all the way out, yeah. So here's my correction. Pulling up through the vastis, activating through the hamstrings. Drop the sacrum a little bit, and now resist to come in. Give me one more full press out like that.

Yes, now come in. This foot comes off and into tabletop. Three more presses. Go for that long leg. Good, exhale two, nice.

Now, as he comes in, he places the foot, yeah, the opposite foot comes off and you're ready to go. There it is. So that functional movement pattern, or walking pattern, as you come in, place the foot, opposite foot comes, three presses, nice job. So now that we know what's going on with the legs, let's talk about the hips and pelvis. Place the foot, yes, all the way out.

So in this weight-transferring exercise, Andy has to find stability through his lower back and his pelvis. This training is gonna make him better at walking and running, right? Good, now let's do singles. One press out, as you come in, switch. Mm-hmm.

You keep going here. Now one of the things I'm seeing, which is really common in my athletes, is over recruiting the front of the shin, or the tibialis anterior. So I'm gonna make him keep his toes, and push more through the heel and hamstring. Good, last three. Nice.

Be sure to go all the way out, all the way, yep. And two, one more each leg here. Keep the collarbones open, well done. And one, good. Toes come back on, awesome.

Let's draw the legs together, lift the heels up high, get those adductors to fire if you can, you got it. Breathe in to press out. Stay there. Exhale, resist the heels, inhale, lift. Bend the knees and come back in.

Next time, two calf raises. So, inhale, press, exhale, lower. Inhale, lift, exhale, lower. Inhale, lift, bend the knees and come in. Next time, three calf raises.

He's like, yeah. How high can we go? Let's find out. So when you're working with your athlete, coordination is important, right? So I'm gonna challenge his neuromuscular coordination.

Because the more we do it here, together, in a controlled environment, the better he's gonna be out there. He's a surfer, right? Good. Five, four, oh I let him go with one. (laughing) We're gonna go all the way up to six.

I believe you can do it. Good. And resist. One more set, he's gonna go for six calf raises. Keep the sacrum heavy.

Co-contracting those abdominal muscles with each breath out. Good, engaging through the feet. Nice, and resist to come in. Now, he's done a really good job, so I'm gonna give him a reward. Press all the way up, lower your heels under the bar.

Now make sure those feeties stay on, begin to bend your knees, I hold his heels under, come all the way in. Hallelujah, right? So that, there you go, that combination of strength and flexibility is so important. Felt good, huh? Okay, heels of the feet on, go parallel hip distance for me.

Head up for a second, head back down. So we see a lot of tight hip extensors, yeah? Tight can mean weak. So let's see how they are. Feet are separated hip distance.

What I want you to do, Andy, is you don't really have to move your body so much, but begin to reach your arms, yeah. You see how that depresses his scapula? And then from here, he can wrap his fingers. So what's happening, is now the carriage is assisting this open and long neck. Well done, keep that.

Inhale in preparation, keep the carriage in, exhale, just lift your hips up, you don't even have to articulate. So you're gonna go right into your bridge. Exhale up, nice. Inhale, hold, reach through the knees. Hug the midline a little.

Exhale, articulate down. Upper, middle, lower, nice. And then the hips come down. Find neutral, breathe in. Exhale, lift the hips up.

You can just go right up to your bridge. Inhale to hold. Exhale, the hips stay up as we start to mobilize through that thoracic. Good, melt the ribs, awesome. Then the lower back.

Reaching through the knees, and then resisting. Finding that parallel and neutral alignment. One more time. So working the stability, we just come up. Inhale, opening through the front body, and then working the mobility of the spine.

Exhale, as we take it down. Well done. Inhale to prepare, and be ready, 'cause I took some tension off, it's gonna be harder. Exhale, lift the hips up, nice. Stay up here.

Find the level pelvis. Inhale, right leg comes to tabletop. Good, now we're gonna keep the leg in tabletop position. Inhale to push the carriage back, exhale, return in three times. One, good.

Two, melting the ribs and staying square. Three, adding a kick, press back hold. Resist to come in, three times. One, awesome. Here we go with that running pattern again, right?

Stability, nice. Now press out, keep the leg straight. Keep it straight, the leg swings down as you come in, carriage comes in, and then kick the leg up. Three, use the belly to draw the leg towards you, two. Yes.

And one, bring the carriage in, place the foot down, reach through those knees, and let me see that beautiful articulation. Exhale, ribs. Good, lower back, find the neutral, awesome. One thing I wanna mention here, guys, especially for my athletes, tight lateral muscles of the legs, like IT band, are gonna make you do this, especially in a bridge. So for the next one, I want you to think about hugging the midline, and pushing through the inner part of your heel.

Andy didn't do it, though. He was perfect. Inhale, exhale, lift your hips up. Okay, cool. So we're just gonna stay here for a second, left leg, find your tabletop.

Well done, pause for a moment. Even this is proprioceptive challenge. Your athlete needs to know, where is their body in space at all times. Inhale to push back, exhale to pull, one. Pushing down through the inner part of the heel, two.

And three, combining movement. Inhale, kick lift, good. Exhale, resist, bend. Using the muscles around the knee to mobilize the lower part of the leg. Hold it, keep the leg straight.

The leg swings down as the carriage comes in. Nice alignment, the leg scoops up, yes. Yes. Open, stretch reach, and resist. One more, find it.

Bring the carriage in, place the heel down, reach through the knees, and exhale. Begin to articulate down, well done. One vertebra at a time. I love that series, because it takes the challenge of unilateral stability, strong hamstrings, but also a lot of flexibility to get there, too. Well done, good job.

Okay, I'm gonna take you into an inversion. So headrest is still down, you can stay down. Take you hands back onto the silver pegs. Open your elbows wide, and you can grab hold of those silver pegs, yeah. One of the things I see a lot with my athletes, is they wanna dominate through a muscle group that's already strong.

He's extremely strong in his upper body, so I don't want you dominating with those arms. Feel free to move away from those shoulder blocks a smidge, if you think that they're in your way. Good, give me a good exhalation, and I wanna see those ribs melt into the body. One at a time, draw the legs into tabletop. Yeah, very good.

Now, hug the midline, activate those adductors. Send the legs long and low for a moment, and just pause, well done. So he's awesome at keeping those abs engaged. Make sure your stomach's not popping, make sure you low back's not overarching. Now, no momentum, lift the legs up, pause.

Exhale, articulate into your rollover position. Yes, no weight onto the neck at all here, guys. If you can, lower the legs a smidge, yes. Separate the feet, inhale, flex the feet. Exhale, push your heels into my hands as you roll down.

One vertebra at a time, spine goes back to the carriage. But there's a sense of resisting here, there's a sense of opposition. Keep those legs long and apart as they go down, zip them up and together, and repeat. Inhale, but I don't want him to use momentum, exhale, up, yes. Separate the feet, flex the feet.

Exhale, as he rolls down, I can really see that articulation. Good, well done. Engage through the front of the thighs, draw the legs together one more time. Up, pause, exhale, find that pelvic curl to get there. Yeah.

Inhale, separate, good. This time, lower halfway down. Go, go, go, go, go. And exhale, come back up, using the power of the breath. Three more, very good.

So to get a real good breath, to do marathons, let's say, we wanna have mobility through the thoracic spine, right? This is our lungs go underneath there. It houses our lungs. So right now, he's massaging an area that's tight on most people. Good, you can take it all the way down on the next one.

Cool, just unraveling. And I can see from this angle, it's perfectly level. Good, draw the knees in, bend the knees, and hug them into towards you for a moment. Curl up like a little ball. That was very good.

Stay up for a second, I'm putting the headrest back up a little bit here. Nice, lower the head, neck, and shoulders down. Now, we're ready for the hard stuff. Just joking, it's all hard, or it should be. Okay, before you press into those straps, I'm gonna just take a little bit of the weight off to be nice.

So I do have a heavier tension here for him, because of the nature of the class. But adjust it for your body. I've got two red springs on right now. When I do this exercise, I like a red and a blue. So here we are.

Something I wanna talk about before we even get into the exercise. I want you to press your hands at towards me, pause. Good, now lengthen through the arms, good. The arms are long, right? There's pressure into the straps.

Now, glide the shoulder blades down the back. That was awesome. I hope you guys could see that. So by firing into the lats, it helps to co-contract the obliques. And those muscles here, they are what make you do that.

Flex up, and that's exactly what we're gonna do. Inhale, get ready. Nod your chin towards your chest. Exhale, flex up as you pull the arms down. Inhale, arms go back up as the head lowers.

Good, but he stays engaged through those lats. Do it again, exhale up. Cool, inhale down. And I'm gonna have you keep going, Andy, 'cause you're doing it perfectly. One of the things that I see a lot with my athletes are dominant hip flexors.

And what it would look like here, is they would pull their knees in. He's been corrected on that before, I think. He does it too well. Perfect. So imagine you're balancing a lemon right here on your shins.

It shouldn't roll, it shouldn't move, it just stays right there. On the next one, stay up. Turn your palms in towards your body. Yeah, thumbs up. There they are.

Inhale, open the arms, pause. Get into your lats. Exhale, pull your arms in and extend your legs long, hold. Bend your knees back in as you open your arms, good. You keep going here.

The ability to co-mobilize your arms and your legs, so, so important, right? But the arms and the legs are gonna be limited to how strong your center is. So there's a sequence here. Andy is not moving everything at the same time. He's connecting his core first, and then pulling his arms and his legs.

And it's so quick, you don't necessarily see it. But you can feel it. One more if you can. Cool, stay here. Flip the palms down, bend your knees in first, well done.

Lift your arms, and lower your head down, perfect. Rest your feet for a moment. Awesome. So great job. Very strong, very coordinated.

I've taken the tension down a little to one red and one blue. It's still on the heavy side, though, but we're gonna go into some single arm work. So you go ahead and you keep that guy, I'm gonna take this guy. Yep, okay. So now he's gonna be challenged with coordination, and he's also gonna get pulled to one side, so he's gotta find his stability.

I want you to first hover through your right hand. So this arm here that's not working, is gonna be hovering an inch or two off the mat. It's not helping him. His legs are nicely in table top, except I'm just gonna adjust the feet a little bit so the shins are more parallel to the ground. Sacrum heavy, find your neutral.

Nod your chin before the head comes up, find that lat connection, and then exhale, flex up. This is good, close those ribs into the body. Now, hold the position, lift your left arm to the sky. Inhale, and exhale, pull for three. Nice.

Knees hugging together. Get those adductors to fire, too. Good. One more. Hold it.

Arm goes up as the head goes down. I'm giving him a mini break. Legs stay up if you can. I'm gonna add some more coordination. He's working hard, I love it.

Okay, so here we go. Set the shoulder, exhale as you flex up. Bend your elbow. As you straighten the arm, right leg kicks to me five. Very good.

And four. So now there's this cross-diagonal challenge. Three, very functional. Two, one, Andy keep going, but both legs extend together, yes. So the challenge is to keep those legs moving in unison.

Three more, press. Two. On the next one, I want you to hold it, freeze. Reach, find the center. And release down, good job.

Rest you feet for a second, that was awesome. Stay here for me. So the great thing about these single arm exercises, guys, is they will show you where your weak points are. They're just gonna show you. It's not a bad thing, but keep building.

He may feel on this side he's getting a little pulled, where on the other side he's more stable, or vice versa. You're gonna feel the same thing at home. Okay, so one more variation here. I'm gonna leave the weight where it is. You can take it down if you want.

Andy doesn't have a choice. So, left arm is up, keep it there for me. Right hand goes into the strap as well. So both hands are into the strap. Very good, yeah, you are so correct.

Legs are in tabletop. When you lift your legs to tabletop, give yourself a good exhale, to lift them with a sense of power. Now here we rotate the arms slightly to the side. And move the legs out of the way. When you're ready, exhale, flex up, hold.

Energy through the arms, set the lats. Inhale, the arms drop, but the head is gonna stay up. Pull down five times for me, Andy. One, so now he's getting his contraction in the opposite direction, rib to hip. Good, on the next one, hold it.

Extend the legs to the sky. All the way up, all the way up, good. As the arms go up, lower, and exhale, pull from the center five times. Two, yes. Find that center point, three.

Good, very good. Four. And hold it for five. Get your picture taken, and release the whole thing down. Very good.

And here on Pilates, any time that really means you're getting your picture taken. Okay, that was very, very good. So we're gonna try this sequence again. The one thing I just wanna note here, guys, where is your center of gravity? So just think of yourself, kinda where is it?

I'll tell you, it's right under your belly button, right above your pubic bone, but it's deep into the center. So it's right between here and here. That's what's gonna help you be balanced when you're on your surf board, or your snow board. That's what's gonna keep him centered here on the reformer, so find that center. Good, arm is hovering, exhale as you flex, and inhale.

So we're gonna go right into that head lift, ready? Here we go, up, hold it, and now the head can go down as you resist, good. I'm wanting to see the sequence of his lat, obliques and breath initiate the movement. Very good. And up.

Not with the leg just yet. Give me one more just with the head and arm. Yes, go down for a moment. Now, here we go, we're ready. Curl up, stay up, bend the elbow, and when you straighten the arm, you straighten the leg.

There is it, yeah. Awesome. Mm-hmm, find the sequence. One thing I see is that if they're not exhaling before the movement initiates, they twist. You ready for both legs?

Here they go, knees together, press one. Good, and two, looks great. Through the collarbones, awesome through the breath. Three. Four, heavy those hips.

Hold it for five, set your shoulder. Pull your lat towards me on that right side, good. And resist down, mini break. Very good. You're doing awesome.

Here's the oblique twist, okay? So both hands come in, yeah. Give me a good exhale to draw those legs up to tabletop. The knees move away from the body a little, on a slight diagonal, the arms will come to me. Inhale, exhale as you lift up, hold it.

So we're getting this side of his body to cross over to the opposite hip, good. Just the arms, not the head. Arms up, inhale, and flex, scoop. Good, I want you thinking about wringing out your center. Good, and pull, nice.

One more. Hold this one, send the legs to the sky, all the way up, keep them straight. Lower the legs as you lift the arms, pull back in the center five times. One, keep those hips down and heavy, two. Very good, three, hug the midline.

Four. On five you're gonna hold it, you're gonna twist it, and then you can take the whole thing down and rest. Very good, allow those knees to rock side-to-side, releasing any tension. And then when you're ready, rock yourself right up to a seated position. We've graduated, we're evolving from lying down to sitting up.

Okay, sitting is harder, right? You don't have the carriage behind you to help stabilize you. So there's more that could go wrong, there's more spatial awareness that's gonna be challenged. I'm gonna get you to turn for me when you're ready, your legs are gonna go through the shoulder blocks, and we're gonna do some bicep curls, some back extension, all kinds of good stuff. Good, detoxifying, it's good.

Okay, so we want a little bit of weight behind us. If you'll just show them, Andy, it's about a hand's width, right? And roll, yep, and then roll your pelvis back into your c-curve, cool. So if he didn't have the space behind him, he'd roll right off this thing. And I don't want to scare him, I don't want him to do that.

So come on back up. And in fact, you've got a little bit of room, so just move back until you feel my hand. Yep, right there, perfect. Okay, great. So grabbing hold of the straps, nice.

Ankles can be crossed or uncrossed, depending on the needs of your body or your client. So before we begin, let's find a vertical neutral. Andy, take your hands slightly wider than the carriage. Awesome, pull your shoulders down. Lengthen your wrists, yeah.

And exhale, just press your arms back, pause, inhale, resist forward, very good. Keep going. So my teaching style, I really like to get them moving, and then layer information. Because he's gonna need to process that information when he's moving in whatever sport it is that he's doing, right? You don't just stop in the middle of the wave and figure out, okay, now I'm gonna set my shoulders.

So I want him moving, but I wanna give him the technique to feel where his body is supposed to be. Slide your scapula down the back. Good, lengthen and lift up through that lumbar spine. Nice. Chin up a little, yes.

And neck long, give me two more. Nice, long elbows, very good. One more. Grow taller, decompress, yeah. Good, relax for a moment.

Cool, taking a little bit of the resistance off. I have a green spring on. Stretch your arms out. He's already there. We're such good teamwork today.

He's doing all the work. Okay, here we go again. This time, a c-curve if you will. Exhale, roll back into the c-curve. Go, go, go, go, go, pause for a moment.

Okay, bend your elbows into a bicep curl for me, and then inhale, extend the arms long. Good, you keep going. So I've talked a lot about co-contracting, right? What I mean by that is you never just stabilizing your body, and moving one thing. Not in everyday life.

So here, I want him moving his arms, but I want him to connect in his head, that every time he does that bicep curl, he gets more into his center. His ribs melt into his body. His lower back is getting decompressed, his c-curve is deepening and his abdominals are engaging. On the next one, release the arms halfway out. Yeah, athletes hate these isometrics.

They're like, I just wanna move. So this is what I do to torture them. Now, just lower your elbows down a little, and lift your elbows up. There you go, you've got eight more of these. He didn't even smile when I said torture.

He's like, ugh. Keep your elbows bent a little more, there is is, yeah. Down and inch, and up, yeah. Down an inch, and up, two more. Down an inch, and up, one more.

Down an inch, and up, freeze. Draw your arms and your elbows out. Remember that position, 'cause you'll come back to it in a second, stretch over your thighs for a mini break. Very good. Awesome, he's doing a great job staying out of his traps.

So I'll give him a little release just in case. Shoulders melt down the back. This is a nice time to see, feel, and teach a lateral and posterior breath. So Andy, inhale, breathe into my hands, and exhale. There you go, one more time.

I feel his ribs pushing out to the sides when he breathes in. He needs to master that lateral and posterior breathing if he wants to take his athletics to the next edge. It's amazing how a lot of athletes don't realize the importance of that deep, lateral and back breath. Cool, inhale as you roll back up. So I don't want you to be freaked out here.

I'm taking some of the weight off. So guys, I've got a red spring on. If I didn't tell him that, he might lean back too far and fall off. So it's lighter now, very good. Begin with your arms out in front of you, awesome.

So from here, I want you to exhale, roll back into your c-curve as you draw the arms in towards you, good. Now, check it out. Yore gonna rotate towards the people at home. You're gonna lower your right arm down, and your left arm up. Both arms open.

Even tension in both straps, and then you're gonna come back through center, as you bring your arms to your chest, this is perfect. Now you can go the other direction. Open, hold. And come back through center, yeah. Now here's what I want you to emphasize.

Elbows a little higher. When you open hold, I want you to lift your chest and extend. Yeah, lean back more, lean back more, lean back more, and then exhale, come into a c-curve scoop. Yes, but lean back a little bit more in your c-curve. This way, more, more, more, more, more.

Yeah, check it out, guys. Careful of jamming the chin to the chest in the c-curve. Good, okay, other side. Open the arms, open the chest, extend, lean back more, lean back more, good. And now, c-curve scoop, and the scoop comes from the belly.

Good, again, other side. Inhale, lean back, open, open, open. Exhale, c-curve scoop. Elbows up, good, one more time. Lean back, open, open, open.

Awesome. Exhale, c-curve scoop. Reaching your arms forward, and flexing forward for a break, cool. Well done, breathe it out. Come on up, good job.

So taking the spine from flexion to extension, something we do in everyday life, working the back of his shoulders, or his posterior delts, super important for everything he loves to do. Come on out, you're doing great. Okay, so he's graduated again, from lying down, to sitting, to kneeling. So I'm gonna have you come into proposal position. Most men are really afraid of this position.

(laughing) Love it! Okay, so your hands are gonna be here. Let me show you what proposal position if you've never been there. Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about. The hands are gonna go here, and a foot's gonna come up here, okay. There you go.

(laughing) Okay, there you go, okay. One foot up. Yep, mm-hmm, you're perfect. And when I come into this position, I like my ankle to be touching the shoulder block, so it gives me a little tactile cue, I feel safer. And then go ahead and rise on up, cool.

Here are your straps. Although, don't pull on them yet, 'cause I'm gonna adjust the tension. Awesome. So this position right now, is creating a major challenge to stabilize the hips and the pelvis. So one leg forward, one leg back, kinda like a lunge position.

Just slightly lean forward a little bit, yeah. So if you guys could see that, you may have been doing that as well. Sometimes it's easier to sit into the joint. And what I want him to do is decompress his lumbar spine, close the ribs, and lift up, not back. Cool, okay from here, palms are open.

You're gonna go through the same arm sequence I taught you seated. So let's start with the chest expansion first. Press, and resist forward, good. And press. So he already knows it, it's perfect, looks great.

Two more here. Good. Shoulders are pulling down the back. Cool, now sweep the arms forward, turn the palms up, and take it into a bicep curl. Yeah, the challenge with this one, guys, is to keep those elbows lifted.

Two more here, close those ribs. 'Cause he already knows now what I mean when I say co-contract. Shoulders down, pecs open. Now, we're gonna put them together. So go ahead and stretch your arms long for a moment.

Flip your left palm down. Yep, and then one arm's gonna do a bicep curl as the other one does a lat pull. Now, both arms long, and switch. Yes, now you keep going. So do you remember when I had him doing the single leg presses?

One, and then the other. And I said that he has to find that space in between right? He has to find that load transfer stability. Same thing here. Make sure both arms go long, long, long, and then switch.

Yeah, try to keep even tension in the straps. There you go, and switch. That's okay, flip, there you go, there it is right there, yeah. Okay, one more each. So we reach, flip, switch.

Yes. This is a good paddling exercise. Reach, flip, yes. Switch, very good. Okay, here's what we do from here.

Both hands go down onto the shoulder blocks. Hook up the straps for a moment, but keep your hands there on the shoulder blocks. This knee comes back, very good. Preparing for a plank. Oh, he knew it, very good.

Okay, push out into a straight leg for a moment, and pause. So I have just been teaching him how to find his stability through the back body. Now I'm gonna see if he was really listening. Shoulders pull back, ribs pull up, lift the hips slightly higher. And then go ahead and step that opposite foot back.

Well done, squeeze your heels together. This is awesome. Keep pulling the belly up, hold the position, push the carriage forward five times. One. And two.

And three. And four, now pike the hips up, drop the chin, bring it all the way in. This is actually kinda nice. Not so bad, like downward-facing dog. Now, push back out to your plank five times.

One, very good, and you can actually hold the arms, go back to your pike. So we're gonna go five times here. One, drop the head, and press. Very good. Two, yes.

Three, drop the head, flex from the belly. Mm-hmm. Four. Go back to your plank. Good, lower one knee down.

Bring the carriage in with grace and lower the other. You're ready to step the opposite foot forward. Love it. There, he doesn't even need me. Arms are long, abs are in.

Exhale, chest expansion, press back. Cool, and you keep going. When you're doing chest expansion, guys, the more you release your arms forward, the more of a break that you're getting. So if you wanna amp it up, focus on the pressing back. Just don't roll forward in the shoulders, and dominate in the pecs to get there.

Go ahead and try your bicep curls. Reach forward, palms up. Good, keeping the elbows lifted. Inhale as the arms reach away. Exhale.

Shoulder blades pulling down the back. And again, totally awesome job maintaining this vertical neutral. A lot of people in a bicep curl will lean back. Let's put them together. Flip the palm on the right hand down.

There you go! Press, now both arms long, tension even, flip the palm on the left down, bicep curl press. There you go. Reach forward, do that flip, yes. Now his body wants to rotate a little bit more on this side. So I really wanna help him to find that stability here.

This is called disassociation. His arms are moving, but his torso is staying stable. If you are a golfer, or maybe you play tennis and you rotate a lot towards the same direction, this is a great series for you to do, just keep that stability. Good, you've got three more, you can do it. Reach, both arms long, even tension, flip the palms, reach.

Good. Reach. Nice. Reach, yeah, one more set of each. So let's see it, find that stability, yeah.

Flip the palm, bicep curl left arm. Good. Flip the palm, bicep curl right arm. Nice. And take it down, very good.

Both hands onto the shoulder blocks, and walk that knee back. Although I'm not gonna have you do a second set of planking, don't worry, this foot can actually go down for a moment. Yeah. I am gonna however continue to challenge his stability. Taking that blue spring off, left with only your single red.

Let's go ahead and take your right hand onto the headrest like this, yep. Okay. Reaching forward and grabbing hold of the rope. You wanna sticky, or are you good? I'm fine, thank you. Okay, cool.

Okay so, sort of those planking principles again here, huh? Set the shoulders down the back. I want you just to bend this elbow and pull it up to your side and just stay there for one sec. Okay so, energy through the top of the head, energy through the sacrum. Can you flatten this out just a smidge?

Well done, okay. Stabilize the humerus, tricep extensions, give me five of them. One, resist, good. Two, slight anterior tilt to the hips, good. Yep, three, but really close those ribs.

Four. And five, bend the elbow, pause. Option to have a second set exactly the same, except Andy is going to go into a single leg variation. You doing okay? Okay, cool, these are so hard, guys.

So bring the elbow up, pause for a moment. This leg is going to extend up and back. It's gotta stay up there, and it's gotta stay higher than the foot bar. Tricep extension five times, you can do it. One, just go nice and slow, find your stability.

Two, good, hips level. Three, he's got this. Four, glutes, glutes, glutes. And five. Take the knee down first, and then take the arm down, and relax.

Good. Should we just skip the other side all together? Good answer. Okay. Give me your arm.

Okay, before we begin, remember, a lot of these exercises are gonna showcase what side are you more dominant on? What side is more coordinated? So be compassionate with yourself, and just observe. And as you continue to do this class, you're gonna notice that those balances are going to, imbalance I should say, are going to improve. Okay, so here we go.

Shoulders nice and level, you look great. Go for the tricep extension, one. In order to isolate this muscle, this bone needs to stay stable. If his elbow is moving up and down, he wouldn't get the same muscle contraction here in the back of the arm. Very good.

From here, the elbow's gonna stay up, and he's going to anticipate the balance challenge. You can't just jump into this. You've gotta go into this carefully. Here is it, good job, take your time. Exhale.

Now again, he's gotta engage core before he does this with his arm. Otherwise, he's gonna lose his balance. Three, good, pull the ribs up a little if you can. Nice, four. You can do it, one more.

Five, and the knee goes down, and resist. Very good. Hook up that strap, take a breather. You need water or anything, or are you okay? I'm fine, thank you. He's good, okay.

Kneeling facing towards the camera. Cool, okay. So if you're gonna move in everyday life, you've gotta be able to rotate. But I want you to rotate properly. A lot of people over mobilize their neck, so go ahead, just look at the beautiful view.

Yeah, and they think that's rotation. Or, people over mobilize rotating through the lumbar spine, and that's where you can get into some problems. So where I want him to rotate, is where we breathe. So go ahead and put your hands here for a second, take a deep breath in, feel that width, and then exhale all of your air out. Feel it contract.

Do that one more time, take a deep breath in, feel that lateral posterior breath, and exhale. That, where his hands are, is where he should be rotating from. So you know the importance of breath and mobilization of that middle spine is going to affect his ability to rotate. Breath is so important. Do your hundreds.

It's your homework. We didn't do 100. So nice. Okay, so relax for a second, cool. Let's twist.

This is for you. One hand, yeah. And I'm actually gonna have you stand with your knees away from the shoulder blocks a little bit. This is gonna give him more of a challenge, and also more range of motion. Oh, I've got a stick if you wanna put a sticky under your knees.

It's nice and dry. Okay. Cool. Love it. Cool, there he is.

Guys, if you want a pad underneath your knees, go ahead and put one there, too. So this is for the left hand, this is for your right hand. So switch 'em, yep. Good. Strap is on the thicker part of the hands, open your arms out to begin.

Okay, so here we are. Great shape, just lean forward slightly and close those ribs, yeah. Okay, from here, exhale, bring both arms to the center of your body, inhale, resist them open. Yeah, keep going. This is the flow.

So he's got about two pounds in his right hand, a single red spring here, and he's gotta stabilize through his center. Two more if you can. Good, lift your elbows slightly higher if you can, yeah. Good, now open the arms up, but don't rest. On the next one, exhale, bring the arms together, and connect them.

Mm-hmm, now, keeping the elbows lifted, breathe in as you rotate towards me. He's mad at me, he twists away from me. Exhale as you rotate away from me. All the way away, like I'm not even here. There you go.

Inhale, rotate towards me, and then exhale away. Good, you keep going 'cause it looks amazing. So if when you twist you extend, you're putting a lot of undue compression on the lumbar spine. So when you twist, think about the front of the body pulling down to the ground. Cool, and I can see that in his body.

Two more. Nice. One more. Well done. So just take a mini break.

Put the strap in the opposite hand, and the ball on the opposite hand, and I am gonna just take the tension down a little bit. You guys might be happy on a red. But I'm gonna put Andy on a blue for this next one, 'cause he told me earlier, his posterior delts are a little tired, and I want him to say yes, when I ask him at the end of the video if he's still my friend. So he's on a blue now. Okay, so here we go, similar series.

But totally different resistance, okay? So now the resistance is coming into his right hand. So he's gonna have to use the back here. Rotate towards me on an inhale. Mm-hmm, hi.

And then rotate away from me, good. And keep going. Inhale, twist towards me. And exhale, good. Keep going.

Sometimes when I'm teaching a really difficult class, I don't make eye contact, just in case they're giving me stink eye. (laughing) Inhale, and exhale, melt the ribs. Good, four more here. Awesome. So he is doing a great job of stabilizing his arm.

He's using his torso to twist. His arms are along for the ride, but they're not doing the work. They're just staying. One more. Cool, come back through center, pause.

Don't ditch that strap, but I'll take the ball. Unless you really want it. Okay, cool. So left hand down by thigh. Arm into side, John Travolta doing the Hustle.

First things first, though. Lift the elbow up. This is arm a-b duction. Keep the elbow lifted. Externally rotate, punch toward the side of the room.

Yes, internally rotate, bring the fist toward your pec, but keep the elbow lifted. Now lower the arm down, arm adduction. Well done, now you can flow. Exhale, elbow, fist, inhale, internally rotate and lower. He's got the moves, he's done this before.

Lift and reach. And down, and resist. Yep. Okay, you keep-- Thank you for the blue, by the way. (laughing) Thank you for the blue. Anytime, yes, yes.

One of the things that's so awesome that's happening here, is he's not dominating here in his upper traps. So I wanna try to rebalance my athlete. I don't wanna just keep strengthening what might already be strong. Two more if you can, you're doing awesome. Stay strong through the wrist, reach.

Internally rotate, and then lower the arm. One more, elbow up, stay strong through the arm, reach. Yes, internally rotate, and take the whole thing down. Awesome job, I've got this. Let's turn around and even you out.

Very good, so good. And you'll be able to see some cool stuff from this angle, too. So remember I took the weight down from a red to a blue, so I'm just putting the weight back to a red, so he's gonna be evened out. Good. Okay, so here we are, up onto the knees.

Grab a hold. Yeah, so just begin with the arms out to the side for a second, cool. And don't pull on the strap yet. This is what I'm talking about. So a lot of people when opening their arms are gonna go straight into extension.

This means that when they open their arms, they're not doing it from their delts, they're doing it from their thoracic spine. So keeping the arms up, there you go, cool. Okay, keeping the arms up, I want 'em to pull down through the front body, and up through the back body, good. Set the shoulders, and now you're ready to go. Exhale, bring the arms into the center, inhale, resist open, good.

Again, with that connection of the abdominals, each time he moves the arms. If I wanted to make this harder, there is ways, you know? If I wanted to make this harder, I'd have him narrow his stance, oh, he's going for it, good. So remember, the narrower your base of support, the less stable you're gonna be. Okay, two more like this.

This is really good, guys. This is a hard, hard series. Nice. Open the arms for a second, anticipate the challenge to come. Exhale, bring the arms to the chest, interlace the fingers, twist away from me.

Yes, and then exhale, twist towards me, hello. Twist away from me, good. And exhale, twist. Cool, keep going. The most common mistake I see here besides extension is just dominating with the arms.

As you can see, the arms are staying in the same shape. The nice thing about using the ball is he's able to align that ball with his chest and chin, and as his chest and chin rotate, the ball follows. Last two, inhale. And exhale to rotate to the foot bar, good. Last one.

Very nice, open the arms, good. Relax down for a second. Switch the ball to the opposite hand. I took him down to a blue, so just remember to move a little slower. Go ahead and interlace, yeah, elbows up, cool.

Now, this arm's doing a little more work. Go ahead and exhale, rotate to the foot bar, and then come back through and around. Good, you keep going here. You've got about eight of them. One thing I wanna address, guys, there will be a little bit of movement in the hips.

Just a little bit. He's not initiating in the movement from his hips. But think to yourself, everyday life, right? If you buy some groceries, and you have to take them out of the grocery cart and put them into your trunk, you're not gonna keep your hips facing this way, and grab your groceries, and then put them into the trunk, right? I want him to have some functional patterns.

So there's gonna be a little bit of movement, I'm okay with that. Cool, you did it. Okay, I'm gonna take this, here we go, John Travolta. So let's have this arm have a purpose, though, okay? So press this one into the thigh, energy reaching down, engage through the back.

First, we're gonna do slow. So lift the elbow, pause. Good, drop this a little. Good, now externally rotate, keep the wrist strong. Well done.

Internally rotate, keep the elbow up, and then lower the humerus towards the ribs. Adduction. Let's flow, exhale on the up, and internally rotate and on the down, good. You keep going. I'm looking for a couple of things here, stability through the center, shoulder down, but I'm also looking for a nice, flat scapula, okay?

Right here we have a little bit of what's called winging. He's a surfer, so he's used to pushing his chest forward and pinching his shoulders back. So if I wanna challenge him more, internally rotate and lower, I'm gonna really get him to melt those ribs into the body, yeah, and keep width between the scapula. One more, he can do it. Lift, press, and release.

Nice job, cool, come on off here. Okay, so what happens in everyday life? You lie, you sit, you kneel. You stand. Okay, so standing.

I'm putting him on a red. That's a good place to start. The heavier the tension for this series, the more outer thighs. The lighter the tension, the more inner thighs. This is right in the middle.

So come around here with me. I'm also gonna give you a sticky on this one. Okay, cool. So if you will, step onto the gray platform first, that's important, and then step onto the sticky second. And there he is, great.

Okay, I'm gonna have you stand, and you're fine where you are, but at home, in a slightly narrow stance. Don't go too wide for this one yet. Take your arms into genie position, one hand over the other. Good, bend both of your knees into a squat. Awesome, stay here.

Now, this would be a good time to remind him of all the leg and footwork we did in the beginning of this sessions. Knees tracking over mid-feet, even energy through the big toe and baby toe, even energy through the heel, but now, more important than ever, the arches of the feet have to be alive. Good, scapula down the back, pushing only out on your left leg, exhale, resisting back in. Nice, exhale, and resisting. So he's got to engage through his center before he pushes through the leg.

The right leg's working hard to hold him up. The alignment looks superb. He's in a slight neutral diagonal forward here, abdominals are in and engaged. Good, you have two more. Good job, one more.

Bring the carriage in, stay here, extend your arms out in front of you. Set the shoulders. Lift your hips one inch up. And then down an inch, good. You're gonna continue here.

So what do you like to do? Do you surf, do you snowboard, do you ski? You're gonna be in this position a lot. So the stronger I get him in this position, the longer he's gonna be able to enjoy what his favorite sport is. So just go to your happy place.

Two more, you can do it. Good, and rise all the way up, awesome. That was really good. But you're not done. Arms go forward.

Thanks for coming today, Andy. Bend your knees and go back into your position. Okay, upper body, lower body integration. Open your arms out like a letter t. Thumbs, yep, and push out with this leg.

There you go. And now bring the arms back through center, bring it in, there you go. Press out, and bring it in, good. So not anything brand new, but again, getting him into that coordination where is your body in space. Last four, then I'm gonna change it up.

Three, very good. Two. And one. Now, you're going to rotate towards the leg, and bring it back in. And rotate towards the leg, and bring it back in.

Good, rotate look, and bring it back. Four more, this is great. Four, nice. Three, yep, I've already taught him how to rotate. He's mastered it, two.

One, don't come up yet. Lower an inch first, rise out through your heels, all the way to standing. Very good, yes. Okay, before you turn around and do the other side, here's what I'm gonna have you do. Step this foot back a little bit towards me, nice.

Now, you're gonna pivot, and you're gonna face towards the back here, preparing for some front splits. Good, you're there, nice. Place your hands on your hips. He's strong, but is he flexible? Let's find out.

A flexible body will help to prevent injuries from happening. If he's injured, he can't do what he loves to do. So I don't want him to risk injury. So let's open up those hips a little. Close the ribs, keep both legs straight.

Inhale, press the carriage forward, pause for a moment, activate. Activate. Gently draw the right hip forward, and exhale, resist to come back up. This is awesome, try that again. Inhale.

As you push forward, and exhale. Good, keep going, you've got about six more. What I love about this series is I can see what's happening in their feet, and what I'm seeing are these small, little micro movements. That's good. A macro movement would be bad.

It would be whoa. But a little bit of movement is okay. It's training the muscles of his feet to be more reactive. Which they need to be in what he likes to do. Stay out on this one.

Stretch your arms out forward. Now, the body doesn't move. The only thing that moves is the carriage, because you bend the knee, and now kick it forward eight. Drive the heel down, seven. Six, you are in a slight posterior tuck here.

Didn't you feel that really open up the hips? Yeah, five, four, stay strong. Three, lift up through that low back. Two, hold it, one. Both legs straight, rise up.

And relax. Very good, okay. He's with me, so he's safe to stand on the carriage to turn around. If you're at home, you're gonna wanna come off and come around, that was great. Let's go to the other side, good example of how to do it, yeah.

The reason I wouldn't want you just standing all over the carriage, is it could wiggle underneath you. Okay, so safety first. So here we go. Taking a peek at the feet, can you narrow the stance the slightest amount? Very good, parallel.

Cool, knees and toes pointing forward. Take the hands into genie position. Bend both of your knees and just pause for a moment. Close the ribs, reach energy through the knees, even weight through the big toe. Baby toe, he looks good.

Arms stay, exhale as you press the carriage out, and resist it back in. Good, exhale as you press, and resist. Keep going. As he presses out, I'm looking to see that he pushes down through the knife edge of his foot, and that he doesn't collapse in his arch. And it's awesome, good job.

Last two. It's a little one, but it's there. And one. Bring the carriage in, pause. Now this is where he stopped liking me.

Lift the hips up a little, and down a little. Up a little, and down. Trust me, go to your happy place. You don't have to be here on the Reformer right now, think about how much you love being on the slopes. Go to Breckenridge in your head.

Three more. Good. And rise up, very good, relax the arms down. Awesome, very good. Okay, let's go ahead and reach the arms forward for this one.

Good, go back down into the position, ribs closed, shoulders over hips. Open the arms first, and leave them, and press the carriage up. That's the position, memorize it. Now, bring the arms forward as the carriage comes in. Good, press out.

Cool. So here he is doing a nice job staying wide through his scap, keeping the shoulders anchored. I could literally bet you I could balance books on the top of his head, 'cause he's staying so stable through his torso. So there's no transference here at all on the spine. This is gonna help him move more efficiently.

Good, let's stay low, let's add the twist. All right, so hard. Lots of quads. You okay? Okay, we can do it.

We'll do it together. No we won't, he's gonna do it. Come back through center. Exhale, twist, and back through center. Good, so just again, that coordination.

It's also challenging his spatial awareness and his balance as he changes his eyeline, as he changes his gaze. This is quite advanced, guys. If you're having trouble with the balance portion, don't add the twist. One more, ready, here we go. Bring the carriage in, take it down an inch, and rise up.

Well done. Okay, so front splits time. Walk your carriage foot back a little. Pivot turn. Are you doing okay?

Okay. Hands go onto the hips. Chest open. Both legs stay straight. Inhale, slowly press the carriage out.

Okay. Pause for a second. He's a little tired. He's sitting onto the back body a little, so if you're doing that, lift out of the low back, chin up, chest open. Exhale to resist back in, good.

Inhale, push it away. Try to press evenly through both legs. Exhale, resist back in. Very good. The legs are engaged and straight.

He's in a slight posterior tilt. This will help to open through the front of the hip on the back leg. It's a great exercise, guys. It's a nice hip opener. Be careful you don't extend the spine and lean back.

And it's a nice hamstring stretch through the front leg. There it is. Yeah. Okay, on the next one let's stay out. Pause.

Extend the arms forward. Nothing moves except you bend your front knee and press it out. Cool, keep going. Be careful that when you bend that knee, that the knee doesn't go beyond the toes, here. Now, in everyday life, the knee goes beyond the toes all the time.

My knee is beyond my toes right now as I squat. But with this resistance, I wanna maintain that alignment of knee in line with mid-foot, not beyond the toes. Last two. Drive the heel down. Last one.

Hold it, lift up that back leg a little more. And both legs straight as you return all the way in, arms go down, and relax. Very good. Be careful as you pivot, come on off, walk it out, shake it out a little bit. He's doing good.

Okay, box comes on. And we're ready to really make it hard. Uh oh. Okay, you can choose your tension here. A red or a blue, dependent on the health and the strength of your upper body, okay?

I'm gonna show you how to get into it, 'cause I want you guys to know how to get into this exercise at home without somebody passing you your straps. It gets a little complicated, but it doesn't have to. So here I just grab the straps, right? I got 'em. Then I put them through my hands, right?

They're here. Then I don't step in, or I don't turn or anything. I just grab ahold of the box, that's it. Then I'm able to come onto the box, and then from there, I'm ready to go into the exercise. I'm gonna come off the same way that I came on, but I'm gonna control the carriage back again.

Think you can do it? Yeah, I got it. Cool, people get twisted up all the time on this one. Okay, reach forward, grab the corners of the box. Awesome, make sure you got 'em.

One hip on then the other. Yes. Very good. Okay, so chest is gonna be slightly more off the box if you can, cool. This looks great.

I'm gonna have you guys all bend your knees and cross your ankles at home for me, and open your knees a little wide, cool. Press the hips heavy and down, and give me a Superman goalie post position to start. So that, yeah, there it is. Okay, so ribs are still closed. Nice alignment with the head.

Go ahead and reach your arms forward, hold it. Narrow your arms if you can, so they're about the width of the rails. And bend your elbows back to the goalie post. That's the movement. So go ahead and press through.

Yes, inhale, bend, nice. Exhale, press. And inhale bend. Exhale, press. And inhale, I'm gonna just pause you for a second.

I wanna change so it's not just hooked onto your thumb. So I want it, yeah, there you go. See the difference, guys? The strap over the thicker part of the palm, those poor little fingers, right? Don't put too much tension on them.

You got it? Yes, okay, let's keep going. Exhale. Inhale, bend. Good.

So at home, the difference was the strap wasn't hanging on the webbing of the fingers, but instead, around the thicker part of the palm. Last three like this, then we're gonna add on. Last two. Good, last one. Release your arms down, stretch them back, mini break.

In this exercise, if you can press your hips heavy and down, it will elongate and decompress the lumbar spine. If you're feeling your low back on this, you may be anteriorly tilting, or sticking your bottom up. So, yeah, good job. So keeping the hips down is ideal. Okay, round two, let's bend those knees, cross the ankles.

This is shortening the lever so I know that his low back is not gonna be overworking here. So now, we're gonna add sort of a downward reach, and then an open and circle. Circle arms? Yes, please. So he reaches, circles the arms around, and then bends the elbows in.

Yeah, so this is gonna be your exhale. And this is gonna be your inhale. Yes. Exhale, and inhale. So what are you thinking about right now?

What exercise is this prepping you for, right? Totally swimming or surfing. Getting low and then coming up. This is another reason why that back breathing is so important for my athletes right here in this position, he's gotta be able to take the full deep breath into his back and sides so that he has the power, the strength and the oxygen to keep going. One more if you can, you're doing great.

Dig deep, and circle it around, good job. And release, very nice. Now, I'm gonna take the straps for you, and you're gonna stay on the box, yeah. At home, you could just drop the straps onto the ground. Totally cool, no problem with that.

Let's move this foot bar up to mid bar position. Thank you. Great, and come on in. So you're gonna feel a little close to the bar. Just don't whack your head and you'll be find.

Now, I'm gonna have you elongate your legs, stretch them long. Separate them a little bit, about the width of the box, and externally rotate. So for a lot of athletes, they're gonna be tight in their glutes. Bringing your legs together, extending the spine is gonna be challenging. If you can do it, great.

If you're feeling any compression, then separating the legs and externally rotating will help to alleviate potential tension and tightness in the lower back and glutes. Now that doesn't mean I want the legs relaxed, though. So stretch them a little longer, lift them one inch higher, well done. Now you can press all the way up with the arms for a moment. Pause here.

Set the shoulders down the back, lift the back of your head up a little bit. Well done. Keep your right hand where it is, it looks good to me. Take your left hand out to the side like a t. Good, little bit, right there, yeah.

Here we go, inhale, bend the elbow. Angle the elbow down a little, little more. There it is, exhale as you press out. Good, and keep going here. It's a single arm pushup.

But it's more than just that. He's really stabilizing through his center. Do you remember when I talked about your center of gravity? Well, even as you lie on your abdomen on the box, you still have a center of gravity, so try to find it. Last four like this.

Good. Three. Awesome, set the shoulder. He's not lifting his shoulders by his ears, two. And one, switch the arms without missing a beat.

Nice transition, here we go. Inhale, exhale, press, good. So the great thing here is I can see and he can feel how he's able to straighten his arm without elevating his shoulders. It's so important, right? If every time when I straighten my arm I do this, then I am certainly gonna have a lot of neck tension.

So we need to train ourselves, how can we reach forward while keeping the shoulder girdle stability? Last three. And he's evenly level. This is great, two. And one, bring the carriage in, and come on in for a break, awesome.

Carefully slide off, either side's good. Yeah, cool, come around over here. So with that exercise I like to do the same repetition reduction as I did with the single leg presses. So maybe he presses eight times, switches arms, and then goes four, two, and one, to really challenge his stability. Great job, okay.

So let's amp it up a little bit more. So I'm putting all of the springs on so that the carriage itself won't move. We're gonna come into a forward step up on the Reformer. So one foot's gonna be on, again, knee's not gonna go beyond the toes, arms are gonna be in genie. I rise up, take a balance, and then I rise back down.

Okay, so your turn. I like to do one. Cool, okay. There's your genie arm. Inhale, get ready.

Exhale, rise up, take a balance. And then the foot goes down. Good, repeat. So I'm gonna give him a few times to really get this, 'cause I've trained now with him to find that stability when in a balance challenge, or in movement, active movement. When you come up, bring this leg to a lifted knee if you can.

Yeah, very good. So I'm taking all the principles that we just learned, and now I'm truly challenging them. He's got to stabilize through his center, in order to be able to balance in this position. Looks great, four more. Again, there's those feeties working.

And that's what I wanna see. Three, good. Two. Nice, square hips. And one.

Good, take it down, and switch sides. Well done. Be compassionate with yourself here. If you need to lower your foot onto the carriage when you come up, go for it. Here we go into our genie arms.

Inhale in preparation, exhale, rise up. Yeah, and inhale down. Very good. And you just keep going. You will see how his movement patterns improve as he continues.

What's happening is he's beginning to communicate with his body more efficiently. He's anticipating what the challenge is gonna feel like, and then he's stabilizing against it. Let's add the knee lift when you come up. Yes, very good. Inhale down.

Exhale up. Good, melt those shoulders. Exhale up. Yes. You have four more.

As you lift that leg, I want you lifting from your low belly. Nice. Two more. Up, I'm such a bad counter, huh? One more.

Up, and stay on the carriage, lower the foot. Good, step forward this time. Yes, and all the way off. Yeah, you got it, mm-hmm, okay. So our grand finale-- Oh, yeah?

Pushups. Yeah. Inverted. Yeah. He can do it.

If anyone can do it, this guy can do it. So before you begin, I wanna show them the right way to get in. So you're good, you can stand here. When I say I wanna show, it means he's gonna do it. Walk your feet forward a little bit.

Okay, cool, so here we are standing nice and tall. Life's good, right? Inhale, nod the chin, exhale, slowly flex forward. Allow your spine to decompress one vertebra at a time. Awesome, allow the hands to meet the ground, even if you have to bend the knees to get there.

So bend the knees, and let's find the hands to the found. Good, now step one foot up and back. It's gonna land right about center carriage. Yeah, take the other foot back to meet it. Good, now find your long, neutral plank.

This is so awesome. Wide scapula. I want you to feel like you're lifting your chest up a little towards my hand. Good, six pushups, let's do it. Inhale down, exhale, press up, one.

Good, inhale down, exhale, two. Yes, inhale, the weakest link right now is the low back. Protect it, this is four, and five. Good, and six. One leg steps down.

Yes, then the other meets it. Nice, take your time slowly rebuild one vertebra at a time. Let those shoulders release. Yes, we are gonna do it one more time. Just one more.

Here we go. Inhale, nod the chin towards the chest. Exhale, articulate, melt the ribs into the body. Good, allow gravity to just pull you down. Stay here, enjoy.

Before you go into your pushups, spread your fingers, guys. Middle finger points straight ahead. Use the hands, and when you're ready, one foot comes back, toes curl under. Good, the other foot meets it, legs are connected, here it is. Now, let's take it down in three steps.

Bend, hold, bend, hold, bend hold. Exhale, push up, good job. One down, two down, three, and push up. Lift your chest a little higher. Good, three lowers, one hold, two hold, three, and up.

Two more, one hold, two hold, three and up. One more, one hold, two, hold, three and up. One foot steps down, the other meets it. Rebuild the spine. Nice, soft knees here.

Roll from the pelvis. Good. Shoulders roll open. And you're up. And he made it.

His arms and his legs are still attached. Didn't lose anything. And are we still friends? Yes. We are.

Good job, guys. So this is a hard workout. Layer it in there. He made it look easy, honestly. But it's a tough one.

Have fun doing it. And just remember the why. Go to your happy place. Bye, thanks for watching.