Lower Body Reformer

Hi guys, I'm Tracey Mallet, and I wanted to share with you today which is quite incredible, this is my fifth year of being on Pilates Anytime. I know, where does time go? I have no idea, five years we're just all talking about just like how things move so quickly and look how incredible Pilates Anytime has gotten and we're all like a huge family and I'm still here five years later, so if you haven't seen any of my other videos, there's plenty of them, go and have a look and come work out with me and today, we're going to do a fun workout, it's going to be obviously it's a total-body workout because we're doing Pilates, of course, but I'm going to focus a little bit more on the lower body, okay? For this workout, you're going to need a lovely band. Oh yes, a lovely whipping band.

I call this, I think we all should have a whipping band so we can whip ourselves into shape, right? So here's your band, grab your band and obviously your reformer. Alright, let's get going. Alright, I'm gonna put this lovely band down here for later. Alright, so we're gonna start off with, I'm on a blue spring, just to warm up, we're gonna warm up the core and warm up those lovely leg muscles.

So let's lie down, gonna put your tippy toes, your toes until the ball of your foot under the pad here. We're gonna take a nice deep breath in, on the exhale we're gonna roll ourself all the way up into bridge position, and already my hamstrings are firing, and then I'm gonna roll back down again. And again, inhale through the nose, as you exhale, you draw those abs in, you're gonna curl up into your bridge position, hold it there, feel those hamstrings, and then roll down. If this is a little too challenging, remember you can always go up to a red spring. Inhale, exhale roll all the way up, and then back down again.

Roll all the way back up again, hold that bridge position, inhale here, collapse the sternum into the spine as we close and roll down one vertebra at a time. One more everybody, inhale, exhale roll all the way up into your bridge, hold it there. Now slowly come down so you're in a neutral position but you're hovering, you're hovering the mat. Now hold it here, you're gonna feel your glutes, you're gonna feel your hamstrings, gonna feel those extensors working. Hold it there, and all I'm gonna ask you to do is just push out and then come back.

You're just gonna push out and back. So I'm keeping my hips hovering and my focus is my hamstrings pulling me back. There is a tendency to try and kind of grab into your calf muscles, I want you to take that notion away and just think of focusing on the hamstrings pulling you back. Let's just do a few more, try not to go to full extension, keep a slight bend in the knee. Two more, last time, hold it there, and then lower your hips down.

Right knee into your chest, extend that leg, little stretch, flex and point, flex and point, flex and point, flex and point, pull, bend your knee, bring it down, let's go to the other side, grab and pull that knee into your chest, lift that leg up, flex and point, flex and point, flex and point, flex and point. Bring the leg down. Interconnect the inner thighs so they're squeezing together. I want you inhale here, exhale, lift your head, neck, and shoulders off the floor, you're gonna reach towards your toes. Reach the hands up over the head, bring them back down, and curl yourself down.

Inhale reach, and lift, and arms, and down. Reach towards your feet, keep your head where it is as your arms go back, bring it back, and down. And lift scoop out those abdominals, reach, bring it back, and down. Inhale, exhale, lift, and reach, and down, and again, and lift, try and keep the carriage as still as you can, the hamstrings are still working, they're holding the carriage still and your abs are firing as you lift your head and shoulders off the floor. Couple more, lift, and reach, and down, one more.

And lift, hold it here, we're gonna cross and cross and cross and cross and eight and seven and six and five, look to your pubic bone, two, and one, hold, circle round, bring your legs up, single leg stretch. Resist the legs and reach the legs out, hands behind the head and clasp the hands, cradle the head. Now the inner thighs are swishing against each other, swish, keep lifting up and four, and three, and two, and one. Chair position, lift up a little bit higher, draw in those abdominals a little bit more. Take the knees away from your midsection, bring them back in again, let's try that again.

Take the knees out, feel those abdominals challenged a little bit more, bring them back in again. Lift your head a little bit higher. Inhale out, exhale fall back. And again, inhale out, exhale sometimes the smallest amount of movement reap the biggest results. 'Cause you are controlling using maximum amount of abdominals to make that tiny movement.

Two more, inhale slightly out. Exhale, one more. Inhale out, exhale and then slowly reach the hands down, lower your head, knees to chest. Inhale here, exhale, lift your head and shoulders off the floor, reach the right leg, I'm going to stretch out those hamstrings, this is a quick warm, pull switch, control, four more. Legs come together, lift up a little bit higher, find that nice pike position, pull those abs in, and then slowly roll down.

Turn over to the side, I'm gonna roll all the way up, we're gonna move on. Okay, now do you feel a little bit warm in your core, little bit awake in those muscles? Then we're gonna work into those legs. So we're gonna come down and we're gonna be on one blue spring. We're gonna come in to our side, so I'm just gonna lift up the footrest, just to give me a little bit of support.

Now to get into the position, you want your forearm on the pad, on your reformer, you're gonna pull your scapula down so you can feel those obliques activated here. And your hips are gonna be facing forwards. This knee is bent, and we're gonna gracefully try and get into this position. There's no graceful way, I know, we try, reach the leg out, now bring this leg a little bit further forward so it's flush with the front of the reformer. Now depress before we even move.

You can place your hand here or you can place it behind your head. This is gonna be the easier variation 'cause you're gonna depress and you're gonna stabilize through the pelvis. Alright, so you got two choices, here or here. I'm gonna go for this version, alright. So we're gonna just go up and down, up to where you can feel that stretch and then press down.

So your focus is your hamstring, your hamstring is pressing down, you're slightly externally rotated in the hip. Lift, and down. And lift. And down, let's try and do about six more so you want 10, six, pull your scapula down so you're not sinking into your shoulder blade. Five more like this, four, depress as you press down, three more, press down with that hamstring, that's it, two more, keep lifting up and out of the reformer, one more, feel those hamstrings, feel the external rotators in your hip.

Now from here we're gonna go forwards, up, and then down. And forwards, now don't go too far forwards, you're here, you lift up and down, forwards to hip height, no higher than hip height, lift up, and down. If this is too challenging you can always go a little bit smaller. It's better to be smaller and controlled than big and out of control, we all know that, right? (laughs) And forwards.

And up, and forwards, and up. Do a couple more, you want at least around about 10 each way, now reverse it so this time you're gonna go up around and down. Up, now this is gonna get a little bit more emphasis on the hamstring pulling back, so you're lifting up, it's parallel as you come forwards and you're pressing back. Now as you're pressing back that leg, depress even more. There you go, can you feel that as you press down, depress, you'll feel those obliques on fire.

They are stabilizing, they're doing a lot of work to allow you to move your leg all in the upper body. Let's just do a few more. And last one, I think we're pretty even and then we're gonna come back and bend your knee to the front. This time move your hand to your hip. I want you to take your leg out to the side and then back again.

So the knee's in line with the hip, say hello to the train, hey! I wonder where they're going. Okay, push away, now watch your head, ear towards the headrest, right. Let's do four more. Now you're gonna feel your glute medius now, glute med firing right now. Just a couple more, one more, whoo, now if you can take your leg up and find that stretch, call this the Jane Fonda pose, right?

Hold this, I just need my legwarmers, hold that stretch, depress as I'm collapsing, I correct myself, see? We practice what we preach, alright, let's come out gracefully, we're gonna take the leg away and gradually come down and bring it back. I want you to turn onto your back and give yourself a little stretch, so I'm gonna go into a figure four stretch and pull. Great work for your rotator of your hip, I really feel that, I know this is gonna be one of your favorites now. Alright, let's move on to the other side.

Turn over, alright. Let's grab the leg. So we're gonna gracefully get into this move, alright. So before I start, I am going to make sure my upper body is engaged, scapula, serratus is engaged, my ear's towards the headrest, now you can either put your hand on your hip, or we can put the hand behind the head, alrighty? So you're parallel, now make sure your top foot is flush with the reformer.

We inhale up, exhale down. Now remember, you're only gonna go as far as your flexibility will allow, so if you're only going to here, that's totally fine, and you're pressing down with the hamstrings. You don't have to get that high up, some of us are not blessed with flexibility but this will definitely help your flexibility. Good, and press down, and we're breathing, inhale up, exhale. Remember, you're pressing down with the hamstring and depressing your scapula as you do it.

That's it. And then let's just do one more and then lift that leg up nice and high, now ready, we're gonna go into the circles. So we're gonna go forwards, down, around, and up. Forwards, down, around, remember don't take it too far forwards. Hip height, control it.

It's not easy to control, you've gotta concentrate and focus on the movement, rotating in your hip as you depress. Good, breathe, and smile (laughs). Five more, five, lift up, and four, lift up, and three press with that hamstring, lift up, two more, last time, and now we're gonna reverse it so we're gonna come up, forwards, down, and back. Beautiful, so now you gotta work even more with the hamstring because you pull back, lifting up, forwards and pull back, inhale, exhale, inhale up, exhale now remember just keep depressing in that hip here, nice opening there. Let's just do about three more, Last time.

Good job. Bring the hand to your hip, pull out a little bit more, ready, knee towards your chest, and then push out. Knee to your chest, now you're parallel, your knee's facing forward, your foot is facing forward. And you're coming forwards, knee in line with the hip, and pushing out. Knee in, knee out, knee in, let's do five more for good luck.

Five, reach out, keep lifting up in those obliques, four, and three, and two, and one, hold it there, go into our little Jane Fonda move and stretch it out. And then try and lift up without collapsing. Hold that stretch and then release gracefully as you come out. Woohoo! That's a great workout to really open up those hips, stretch the hamstrings, and you also got your obliques going, your abdominals going, it's total body with a lower body focus. Hold that stretch, pull in a little bit more, stretch it out.

Bring the knees into your chest and let's turn over and let's get ourselves up let's move on. Alright, let's bring our lovely bar down, now we're still going to be on a blue spring, okay, we can be on a blue or a red, I'm just gonna go on a blue spring today but you can progress to a red. Alright, I'm going to pick up my lovely band now, I'm gonna double it up, going to make it nice and tight. Now before we do anything I want you to grab your band and I want you to depress and think of opening. Now as you open, you're depressing your scapula, your lats, you're opening your chest, now I want you to open and feel that constant resistance there, so the band is never gonna be slack, we don't like slackers do we?

None of us are slackers, we want a nice, taut band so we want it looking like this. This way through all the movements that we do today we are resisting that band so we are working our upper body at the same time, okay? So now, we're gonna get up onto the top and I'm going to come into parallel position first. I'm going to put my toe and my foot right at the edge there, we're gonna slowly balance and roll ourself all the way up and come into this position here. Reach the hands forwards.

Very simple, we're going to bend the knee in, and then push away. Bend and push, now all the time I'm doing this, I'm actively trying to open my hands out. Good. So now you're working those legs and the glutes and the hamstrings. And of course your beautiful balance.

Let's do four more, four, and three, and two, and one, hold it there, come down, hands go forwards, now you're in that lovely hip flexor stretch. Ready, we're gonna bring the knee in. Knee in, knee out, two, keeping your body forwards and reaching out through the crown of the head, awesome, that's it, now push. Working the hamstring and glutes, push, can you give me four more? And four, and three, and two, and one, come into your stretch.

Now your hips are square, really twist those hips so you're nice and square. From here you're gonna round like a cat, and then from here pull your shoulder blades down and stretch it out. Doesn't that feel good? The calm before the storm, as you would say. So we're gonna come back, we're gonna try and balance, bring the hands all the way up, straight leg, ready.

We're gonna lunge back, lift up. Lunge back, now for most people, this is enough, this is challenging as it will get. But for those that want a little extra challenge, you can come with me now, we're gonna add a little rotation. And center. And rotate, and center.

And it's much easier when you're not talking like me 'cause you can focus. Not trying to cut myself some slack but just so you know. And rotate, and back. And one more, rotate, and back. Nice work.

Bring your hands down onto the bar, and then switch legs. Take the legs so it's parallel, bend your knees, roll yourself all the way up and here. Ready, you're gonna bend your knee in and out. In and out. Good, shoulders, you're actively trying to open your hands if you can.

Are you breathing, shoulders over your hips, can we do five more like this? And five, and four, and three, and two, and one. Come down, hold onto your bar, reach out through the crown of the head, now we're gonna push out and in, out and in, awesome. Little bit more dynamic, dynamic, that's it, and push out the leg, feel the hamstring, feel the booty, five more like this, five, and four, and three, and two, and one, this time you're gonna stretch all the way back and enjoy that gorgeous stretch, hold that stretch, and then from here round like a cat and then reach out and beautiful stretch. Bend your knee, coming in.

Now find your balance, pull those abs in, reach all the way up, straight leg. Now remember to stay as you are, or you can add the little rotation in a minute, so we're just gonna go straight back into your lunge and then lift up. Inhale back, pull your shoulder blades down, and lift up. Inhale going back, lifting up, let's do one more like this, or you can continue doing this or follow me with a little rotation. Let's try.

Rotation, and center. And rotation, and center, try and take your eye level with your arms, your gaze is following your hands if you can, working into those obliques, let's get two more. One more and down, get your balance, and lift. And come all the way in. Take your hands back down, bring your foot in, and step out to the side.

Whoo, nice stretch. Okay, from here just open your legs into a little plie, take the hands, go into that nice plie, you can see me here, what I'm gonna do is just do over and over and over. Straighten the legs up, take it over into that stretch, focus on the obliques, back to center, up and over to the other side, now I'm gonna actually do a little rotation just to stretch out those hips, rotate forwards, stretch out those hamstrings you were just working on and resist. Back to the center, other side, scapula pulls down, rotate, reach out in opposition your hips are going one way, your hands are going to the other, rotate, back to center, nice work. Alright, let's put the lovely band down.

Now back down onto your reformer, I'm gonna still be on one blue spring. We're gonna work a little bit of our abs now. So you're gonna put your hands forwards on the footrest and we're gonna put our toes right at the edge. So I'm here. From here I'm going to shoot the legs out, gonna get myself into a nice position, and I'm gonna hold it here in that beautiful plank position, reach out through the crown of the head.

Now what I'm gonna do is bring the knees towards the chest and then push back out again. So the breath is exhale in, inhale out. Exhale in, inhale out. So the work is on the inward phase. Your focus that you imagine the abdominals are pulling the knees to the chest.

Two more, one more. Reach out, now from here, we're gonna go all the way up into a pyramid, but we're gonna go past the pyramid into a pike. Look beyond your legs. Inhale plank, reach out through the crown of the head, exhale and pull, pull, pull, pull, and back in that stretch. Look beyond your legs, inhale plank.

Exhale pull, pull, pull, and back, keep going, keep going, keep going in that stretch, look beyond the legs, and again, inhale, try and keep your shoulders over your hips, in that position, exhale, pull, the spring is pulling you back and you're trying to resist the spring, that's the hardest part. This is your last one, we're gonna inhale, into your plank position reaching out through the crown of the head, exhale, really resist with your upper body, pull your shoulder blades down, upper body resists as you round, round, round, round, round, round, hold it there. Drop the heels down, walk your hands back, and then pull. Bend your knees, exhale pull, bend your knees, exhale reach, two more, bend your knees, exhale reach last time, inhale, and exhale roll yourself all the way up. By doing it this way, gives you a little extra movement to really get into the hamstrings as well as your core but remember, be careful to keep your shoulders over your hands as you're coming into that plank position.

Alright, let's move on, we're gonna come back down onto our knees. Now once again, we're moving back again into our beautiful legs, we're gonna grab a strap, still on the same spring, blue spring. Alright, let's put our foot on the strap, bring it into the center. Now we're going to take our hands like this, can you see, I'm externally rotating here, we don't wanna be here, it shortens the shoulders, compresses, rounds the upper back, we don't want that, we want that openness to open up through the upper body, really open up through the chest so we're holding like this. So I'm going to put my hands forwards underneath the bar here.

Now I'm gonna take it round. Now I want my underneath knee under the hip. So the reformer's moving back. Now I'm gonna try and get my leg up a little bit higher, I can't see my leg, but I think my knee wants to be somewhere in line with my hip. Now I'm going to extend, so I'm going to bend the knee in, and then I'm extending it out.

Now look at my upper body, I'm pivoting back at the shoulder joint and then back. So I'm pulling with the hamstring and then extending back and watching the crown of my head. Pulling with the hamstrings, you can see my hamstrings are fighting there, and then I'm coming back, but my upper body, my core is activated too as I go back and then forwards. Let's try and do about four more. Four, and then back, exhale three, try and keep your knee higher, couple more, I'm focusing on trying to keep my knee a little bit higher because it keeps dropping.

I can feel it. Can we do one more? Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, core draws in, shoulders pull down, and then I go back. Ooh, and then come out. Just a little side note, I would be careful, I'd put like a nice towel there 'cause you can see it made me a little bit red.

So I'd get like a towel here or something if you've got like a nice towel or cloth that you can put there would actually help. This time I'm gonna try and pull this in a little bit more so you can see my alignment a little bit better and you can see my tummy working. Alright, so let's grab the other foot, put it inside of your shoulder rest just so it doesn't get lost, alright. Come forwards, externally rotate, come down, and then grab your foot and lift it up. Now I'm trying to adjust myself so I'm nice and square.

My leg is high, and I'm gonna pull in and then transfer it back out. Watch pull in, now be mindful of your hips, all of us wanna turn out the leg and it's very hard to keep it parallel but we wanna try and keep the hips square to the floor, and remember you're moving at the shoulder joint. Hamstring, and back. Hamstring, and back. Gotta lift my leg up a little higher, if you do not feel anything in this exercise it's because your knee is falling down too low and that's why I have to constantly keep reminding myself to keep my knee high.

And back, last time. And back, whoo. Come all the way out gracefully and place it down. Reach your hands over your head, we're gonna do our lovely halo, elbows in, let's sit down so I can face you and you can see me better. We're here, we're gonna do our little halo, you are the angel, and let's reverse it, little halo here, moving through the shoulder joints, now let's add the body down, side, and back.

And down, side and back, so you really open up your chest and your back. Down, side, and back. Right, let's reverse it to the other side, down, round the back. I do this a lot when I'm at the computer for a long period of time, just do my little angel dance, and all of the sudden I become an angel again. It's that easy, right?

We wish. Lift up, and then release. Good job. We're gonna finish off with a stretch, one of my favorite stretches, taking the hands forward so very simple, leg goes out to the side, we're gonna walk forwards, bend that knee so the knee's bent and holding that stretch and then from here we're just gonna extend the leg out. Bring the hands forward so you got that nice adductor stretch.

And then slowly bring it back in again. Take it back out again, active flexibility is the key. Bring it back in again, one more time, take it back out again, hold that stretch, pull your shoulder blades down, are you breathing? And then come back. And then slowly let's go to the other side.

Foot goes forwards, arms, now bend the supporting knee. Look, I'm pushing my shoulders down and away, elongating, hold that position, now we're gonna transfer over into that stretch and then come back and again bending the knee, try and keep your hips low, back out again into that stretch. How beautiful to look out on that gorgeous ocean. So beautiful here. Reaching out, holding there.

I could stay here for days just looking out at that ocean, it's like infinity and beyond. And stretching at the same time. And let's come all the way back gracefully, and bring it in. Turn around, let's finish off with a lovely roll down. Inhale here, exhale chin to chest, articulate, roll down, and then slowly roll all the way up, the head is the last to uncurl.

Nice work you guys, remember, this is a great workout just to, you fancy working your lower body, you can incorporate with many of the workouts on Pilates Anytime, but if you're looking for lower body focus, then these exercises will obviously help you. Have a great day and I hope that you feel me tomorrow right where it's supposed to feel you. Bye guys.