Open Chest and Long Spine

Hi, I'm Susan Salk, and Amy's going to join me in, in a really just an easy reformer workout, paying more attention to the specifics and to moving and to moving through a [inaudible] as I practice it myself as a dialogue between me and my body. So instead of making corrections, I'm just going to be queuing what I'm feeling, what we're doing, and I'm trying to move right through it. So I hope you enjoy. I hope you enjoy. Uh, so we're going to start with some spine articulation. So we're gonna come around and we're gonna scoot down. We're gonna do some roll downs. What I do is I push the carriage open.

I work my way to the very edge because I'm going to be rolling all the way down and we're gonna put our feet on the bar in a small Palazzos v okay. You're going to take your arms forward and we're just going to take a moment, reach your fingertips in one direction, and then draw your shoulder blades and the other. So you've got energy going in both directions. Peloton is about moving from center. So we're going to start trying to float our ribs above a little bit of pelvic articulation. So we're going to take a breath in, sit tall, and make sure those shoulders are softly drop. Exhale, we're going to move the carriage with our pelvis. Okay.

And I do the Fletcher Breath Nice and easy. So I'm trying not to sync. I'm trying to keep my ribs lifting as I take my pelvis under. And one more. The feet reflect a tiny bit and now this is very small.

I'm going to try to push the carriage away with my pelvis. Inhale to prepare. We're going to do a little j posture when you're going to get a hamstring stretch. Always checking the shoulders because they creep little buggers last one, and land at neutral. We're going to take a breath in. We're going to go under moving the carriage and back to an arch under to an arch. On the inhale, exhale, see curve from the rib cage down. One more, just two vertical checking the shoulders again, we're going to take about four exhales to roll down.

Inhale to prepare. Try to float the shoulder Guerlain rib cage. You move the carriage with your pelvis. Pause on an inhale and exhale number two and pause. Exhale number three, and I'll all the way down with a nice little, we're going to take a breath in. We're going to take one exhale to come up, but you're gonna come and, and Amy, you'll come with me. We're going to try to push the carriage toward our head with the pelvis as we come into an app grill. Now push the carriage with your bottom, and now the one Xcel carriage comes under because the pill, this is moving.

You take a breath when you get there into your abdominal curl and push the carriage with your pelvis to come up. Take a breath and one more time. We're going to go down and stay for a moment. Hold the weight down and just bring your arms down. Let's go to parallel. Bend your knees and come on in. Personally, I need to scoot down just a little bit and I want you to find a nice little arch in the back of your neck.

We're going to do a little abdominal work here like we haven't already. And uh, what we're gonna do is we're going to press out to straight legs. We're going to take a breath in. On the exhale, we're going to bring our arms wide, and we're going to come into a little abdominal curl. We're going to come in and as you push away, everything's lifting towards your ribs, Zip CEP. You're reaching your head up and over. Inhale back.

Exhale. There's an upstretched from my heels to my ribs, and then I'm upper ab curl and two more and one more [inaudible] and coming down. And just bring your arms down by your sides. This is a little bit light, but we're gonna do a little bit of jumping. So pushing off and catching, push off and catch. So everything to me has an element of stability and mobility. I'm stabilizing my torso and mobilizing my legs, and I'm using my proprioception by really feeling where the pad of my foot is so that I can put it right back down onto the bar.

And two more, these and last one. And just come on home. We're gonna just gonna take one leg up, press the carriage open and flex and point. Nice straight leg. As you pull the leg towards you or you're going to be mindful to reach the hip, you don't want to take the hip, reach the hip away one more and reach that like long down to the bar and switch.

I like to bend to straight, both heels under, I'm sorry, right heel under left foot, flex and point flex. Make sure you're not taking the tension in your neck and throat. Easy shoulders, easy ribs, sink in your belly. And one more flex and point. I'm not big on counting when I work out myself. Stop when it feels right and bring your heels under.

We're going to go back to our PyLadies v. We're going to go back to the arms up. We're going to take an easy breath in. And on the exhale we're going to round our spines up. We're going to go into a little bit of um, stomach massage, but life exists here, so I don't like to work too much on that upper back round. So we're gonna work with an open chest, but from my ribs down, I'm trying to work my c curve. We're going to come on in to start.

I've got my fingers up because I do body work and my wrists get cranky if I don't. I'm trying to keep my chest open in my shoulders dropped. I'm in no way compressing my shoulders down or squeezing them together. I want my back and my front wide. So here's the breadth. I like Amy. Inhale. Exhale, exhale, exhale.

[inaudible] two more. [inaudible] pulling your belly [inaudible] and last one, just press out. Turn to parallel, let your heels come under, bring your arms up. We're just gonna do a nice little spinal rotation. Let's rotate to our left first inhale to prepare. Exhale and twist. Hip stay nice and square. Inhale back.

Other side. [inaudible] I'm thinking of keeping my hips square as I glide my ribs around. Swiveling the rib cage above the hips and last one here and coming on back. I'm going to go to a little Palati XVI to come in and we're just going to come around. We're going to come off and I think we might need another spring.

I'm sorry, I didn't check this before. We're going to do a little elephant here and I just want to make sure I kind of want to springs on this. So forgive us while we put this in. Um, high gear. My time actually working on a grots, which I think is the closest to the Fletcher. So that's what I have at home. All right, so we're going to start with the heels back. Ron called this, uh, elephant at three stations.

So I learned elephant where your shoulders are actually over the bar. You're lifting your ribs and it's not about my legs moving. It's about inhaling way as I am sorry, toes lifted. As the carriage comes in, it comes in because I'm lifting my ribs up. Inhale away. Exhale. Just one more year.

[inaudible] we're going to take a step forward. Toes are up over the bar. Hard for me at my height to be here and, and uh, get my shoulders over the bar. But now I can, I'm going to go into my best c curve. I'm gonna put my heels down and lift my toes up and four times here. I actually tried to keep my legs pushing away as I lift my ribs up and I check my shoulders along the way. Last one. Now we're going to bring the feet all the way to the front edge. Toes are lifted. Restating our position over the bar here.

You can use the heel of your hand to help you push into your best elephant. Inhaling away. Exhale. This is a little hard. Hey Amy. [inaudible] one more and let's just bend our knees. Take your tail down, calming into a precarious riser. Twos over the couch. Take a breath in. Inhale.

I like the scary stuff. Exhale, come down. Inhale. One more time up and exhale down. We are going to come down. We're going to go into what Ron called the prow. I know it has other names. It's putting together, is that what you call it? Okay. Rollercoaster. I've heard. Anyway.

See a nice stretch. You're in a c shape curve. Uh, and we're going to do, we're just going to do six in seeker. Six in flat pack. Okay. And then I'm gonna. Okay, so we're going to inhale, we're going to get into our best c shape curve and then we're going to stay there and make it even better. We're going to inhale away and then I drive my shoulders down as I bring my knees under. Two more flat back [inaudible] and I'm going to lift my ribs up in front because that's my cross to bear.

I've got my chin up and my chest up and we're going to take one more and instead of going to knees off, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take the a c shaped curve. We're going to take the knees away, we're going to take the hips down, we're going to bring the carriage up and when we get there, back to the Sikh, pressing away, hips down, chest up. See shake curve. And two more shoulders drive down as you come up.

And one more time. And of course we're gonna reverse silly. Come over the bar, push long and away. This is my favorite thing in [inaudible]. Curl the tail under and keep your upper body where it is. Yeah. [inaudible] there's dropping down. One more, Eh, let's check our feet to the center space and an e z child's pose or shell stretch here.

And I'm gonna flex my wrist and pull it down and flex it and pull it down. And one more time. Then we're going to take a one arm behind us and the other and you're just going to take a nice reach over and rounding your spine up. Oh right. We're going to take a spring off. Okay.

And we're gonna do, um, some kneeling arms. So we'd just be here and roundup ready, rounding on up. So we're going to go from two springs to one spring faking that one thing, and we're going to turn and do an inner thigh piece that, uh, I have to say I borrowed and uh, I love it. So Mary, who is the wife of Shannon Harris, wonderful physical therapist. I learned this from you, so I want to give you credit. I modified it for a reformer rather than a tower reformer.

Okay. Alright, so we're going to take our arms wide first. We are going to be working the moving side. We're going to be working our, our uh, leg foot that's on the frame, but the supporting side here is going to stay absolutely stable. I'm not going to move at all at this moment.

So the arms are wide and Ron used to say like they're sitting on top of something and you're pushing down on it. So we're going to pull the carriage open with just the one leg and I'm going to adjust my foot little farther so I can get a good long pole. And I've got the other leg. My ankle is lifting just off the frame, so I get some nice hamstring work there as well. Hey, two more of these. It looks small and we're going to hold this last pole.

Now we're going to pull this like under two more and one and that's Polenti. And now we're going to open the car, bring the carriage home. Let's go to our left. Is that your right? Go this way and up. This is very hard for a dyslexic to translate and other way. Oh, I love the train. We're going to come open.

We're going to twist toward the leg. Here we go, even though we have to, and we're going to twist away from that leg and back. And we're going to take the hand to the frame, slide that leg up, bring it on. And you know what? Rather than turning around and turning around and turning around, let's go ahead and do a little, uh, kneeling arm work from this position, we're going to go all the way, what I call around the world. You can be against the shoulder rests for safety. You can, uh, live precariously and come away and hopefully, hopefully. OK, so, uh, the arm's going to be out to the side because we're going to take a straight pull up. Now we're gonna take a press across and we're going to alternate [inaudible]. I'm thinking of my hips staying stable and the ribs, again, rotating around.

Last one here. So this is a small, tiny movement. You're going to twist and you're going to put your palms flat to the floor. You're not even gonna move the carriage, but you're going to push into that strap. Okay? One more. And coming back, we're going to take the strap in the other hand and we're going to take what I learned as sword.

So you're going to pull and careful on the return shoulder drops and you reach those of you who have a hard time. Just hold the strap and give yourself one tiny little bit of help if you need it. Shoulder drops as the arm lifts. We're going to do two more and that you're going to think of all the time shoulder drops as the arm lifts. And one last one. We're going to take a whole, because I want the strap a little shorter too. Here. You're going to lift your elbows up and you're going to rotate around.

Careful on the comeback. [inaudible] two more [inaudible] and last [inaudible] and that's enough for that there. We're going to bring, uh, our focus to the foot bar. We're going to put our feet against the shoulder rests if that's, if you need to, I'm sorry. Hang this up. Let's, I, let's hold onto the wooden handles. Yup. If it's too long for us little girls, we'll, we'll do that. Okay. No, thank you. Okay.

So we're going to do another little combo. A first thing I always think about is where am I in space? I want my shoulders over my ribs, over my hips, easy breath. We're going to push forward and then come hug a tree. [inaudible] down. [inaudible] so for me this is about keeping the chest nice and open, keeping the spine long.

Shoulders Mary to the back, no matter what the arms do. And one more set [inaudible] and now we're going to go to some shaving. So my, because as I mentioned before, I body work, my elbows don't like my hands touching. So I'm going to take tiny lean forward again. I'm going to use the push of the strap to help me keep my shoulder blades in my back and we're gonna push in return.

Hey [inaudible] shoulders drop as the arms extend. Fingers going one way, shoulders going the other last time here we're going to come y inhale. Exhale right back up. [inaudible] ribs and shoulders drop as the arms lift. That's what I'm thinking. Neck reaches long is those shoulders drop. Last one and coming on down.

Let's turn to face the other way and we'll do that. Uh, kneeling work, inner thigh work at doctor work, right? So the foot that's on the frame, you want your, he'll well-placed and you're really sort of at your second and third toe. Reach the leg away so that you have some distance to go. We're first going to pull with the leg that's on the frame four times and we've got the opposite leg slightly lifted up. So we clear the frame. One side, very different from the other. Really struggling here. Yeah.

One more time, Amy. And we're going to hold the pole. Now we're going to pull with the leg, the snailing on the carrot. [inaudible] two, two more. [inaudible] we're going to bring the carriage home. We're going to lengthen the leg that's on the frame and we're going to go toward the foot bar, stretching, lateral stretch and back to vertical lateral stretch to the other side, dropping the shoulders as we go.

And then we're going to take a twist toward the foot bar, twist toward the lake and back to center. We're going to start with our little um, alternating arms, straight up and arm pushing. You twist four times. Shoulder drops is the arm lifts. One more time.

Now we're going to twist in the opposite direction. You've got a little tension in the strap. You probably will not move the carriage palms to the floor and you push and twist. It doesn't look like much but it feels like much. And one more time.

Now we're going to take a hold of the leather strap with both hands, elbows as if on a table. And we're going to twist around four times getting tall or as you twist taller as you return. One more time. And then we're going to take our sword holding onto the handle. I believe we did. We're going to take, I learned it that you lift the upper arm and then you unfold upper arm lifts in you ext shoulder. Again, dropping as the arm lifts. Let's do two more because they feel darn good. And last time [inaudible] and now we can go to our chest expansion.

[inaudible] knees against the shoulder rests because I'm short rather than holding the handles, I am going to hold the, I'm going to just hold onto the leather straps with my thumbs on top and again, Amy, let's alternate here. I'm going to choke up a little bit on the strap. Try not to clank it too much before we go anywhere. The tendency is to be a little dropped in the hip without tucking your tail. I want you to think of your hip bones coming forward, your chest opening nice and wide and again, it's the upper arm that moves. The lower arm follows easy breath, simple poll. We're going to do five here, Amy, I think of dropping my ribs in front as I wrap my chest open and you want open chest open back. Two more stomach pulls in as you pull. And last one, let's hold the arms to the back and do some triceps.

A little bend, I think of getting taller every time I tug those straps I try to get a little taller and gather my ribs in front. Last time here, and that's enough of that. We're going to take the arms wide. I'm sliding my hands to where the handle and the strap meet and we're just going to take some easy tee poles. I'm going to take my knees a little wider apart. I feel it a little more in my inner thighs when I do that. So I'm going to take an easy breath in. Make sure my head, shoulders, ribs, hips are in line. Abdominal supporting me. Little pullback, three more.

[inaudible] small but mighty [inaudible]. Let's take one last time. Hold this and little pulses thinking up and back for 30 rehabs. Drop as the arms lift and last one into an easy circle. We're going to walk the hands forward and we're going to keep this as easy as we can. The main thing is not letting the shoulder roll, but really working the shoulder into the backlist.

Start pulling long and low and coming around from the back. So take a little inventory is what I'm doing. Easy breath. Exhale. Inhale around. Exhale to pull three and two last time. Now we're going to reverse [inaudible]. It's a hard pole there. Two more last time here.

And let's bring the straps down. Let's for a moment, just bring those straps inside and I'm adding a little something here, a that I like to do. We're going to take our hands onto the rails. We're going to take our knees slightly away from the shoulder rests. If my thighs come away from the shoulder rest, I know that I'm using my legs rather than my pelvis. We're going to take a little, um, kneeling, uh, low abdominal curve. So I'm going to try, I'm, let's do this first. First we're going to pull with our arms.

It's not that we're going to pull with our legs. It's not that we're going to hold our arms steady and we're going to curl fi's stake. Nick did to the shoulder rest two more times. Let the heel of the hand on the frame help you keep that shoulder anchored in. That's our last one. And then we're going to sit back into a little child's pose for a moment and then we're just going to slide into a round, huh?

And we're going to come on off. We are going to take a little cat cow at the end of the reformer. Okay. So he'll have the hand on. We've just got one spring on. Here's what you don't want to do. Move your hips back and forth. The hips are going to stay where they are.

You're going to push the out to a nice long spine and try to get my long spine. Now we're gonna take a seeker back to the long spine. We're going to take an arch back to the long spine. And again, long spine. Exhale, you arch. And we're going to add up. [inaudible] breath here. Go to your c curve. Take a breath into your back.

Go to your long spine. Take your arch, take a breath into your chest, and go to your long spine. Take a breath here into your curve. As you exhale, take a breath there into your long spine. Take a breath here into your [inaudible] arch. This is our last one. Take a breath in the arch and back to your long spine.

I guess we're going to round to come on up almost the last and coming down. Okay. Um, I'm gonna move this back and I think we'll do the dow work instead of legs in straps. You can see that a million times on [inaudible] any time. Great Resource for, is that good? No, it has to be here. Okay. So what we're going to do is we're going to take the straps.

Actually, let's do this. We're gonna put our long boxes on. Long box on. This is just a variation using the dow in between the straps and a, I think we're fine with the, let's put them down here. Good thinking, Amy, that empath stuffs pain. Okay. So you're going to take this and you're going to put the dowel through these leather straps. Now be careful with this. She says, okay, so here's what you're going to do. You want to make sure you're not too close to the end. What I do, um, uh, before we go, we're going to take this back to low gear to high gear before we embarrass ourselves. All right, so we're gonna sit down on the edge, on the edge of the box. And Amy, you're going to have no problem with this.

I have a slightly longer dowel at my studio. So I want you to hold the strap and the dowel. So we know accidents sitting on the very edge. You're going to take your c shaped curve, you're gonna make your shoulders are settled in. Now we're gonna take our balance. You're going to roll back, you're going to push the doubt past you. You're going to bring the Dell forward, you're going to sit up, not pass. And again, rounding back, push that Dell, bring the Dell forward and come to it.

And this is a great way to get people to understand the feeling of teaser. Maybe even before they can do it or for me, a good way to get back in it after abdominal surgery. One more time and we're gonna round back. Push it to straight arms and coming on and go ahead and bring that down. We're going to come off. Feel good. It helps keep organized. So last thing we're going to do here, we're going to stow this. We're going to take a nice easy plank.

I recommend we put on go back while we have three options there. I think we'll stay there. I've not done this on the grot so we'll see how this goes. So Amy, we're going to stand up and this is not unusual. The important part for me is keeping the shoulders over the hands. We're going to go into our c curve. We're going to go out to a plank. Once we get there, we're going to bend, we're going to straighten, we're going to push the carriage, bring it back.

We're going to go to our c curve without moving the carriage. And then we're going to come up. So we carry the carriage opening. Go to our plank. We're going to take a plea ea and push. We're going to push the carriage with the arms and bring it back.

We're going to go to our upper ab curl basically and bring it home. And two more pressing out into your plank. Plea a back to straight push with the arms, bring the carriage back to your c curve and return this time pressing out to your plank. You are going to let your hips drop. And your chest lift and push into your hands. Lift your hips up and coming home.

Let your heels drop. Bend one knee, bend the other knee, one more each side, tipping your hip toward the ceiling as you work your feet, and then you're just going to step off. I'm gonna let you go. I'm gonna go and we're going to take one last. Reach the arms wide. Take the arms behind you, take the arms forward. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. And that's that. Arms lift. Shoulders drop. Thank you very much. Thank you.