Recovery from Sports

Hi, my name's Ed and we're gonna be doing a Pilates class that focuses on recovery for sport. So we'll do a couple of fundamental Pilates movements with some good stretches and some joint mobility. So guys, let's just start standing, feet hip distance apart, arms relaxed down at your sides and we're gonna go into a roll down. So we'll take a deep breath in to prepare and exhaling allowing the head to be heavy. So again, as this is a class that focuses on recovery, I'm gonna assume that the muscles are generally worked and a little bit tighter and we're gonna roll back up and elongated.

So we wanna focus on getting the body to move and fall back into place. So we take a deep breath in and exhale. So head goes heavy. I'm just gonna turn the palms to make sure that they're in external shoulder rotation. So a little bit more erring towards the anatomical position as opposed to rolling in.

Long in the neck and deep breath in. And then exhaling as we come back up. And I'll meet you guys up at the top, excellent. So we'll start palms up to the sky. So we'll do an external rotator exercise.

Elbows just a little bit forward of the body and squeezing them into the side body. And we're gonna press the thumbs out the sides exhaling (exhales) one. So we go for 10 times. And exhale two, just opening up through the shoulders and the chest. And exhale for three.

Good. And four. So try to get equal rotation on both shoulders. Five, excellent. Really try and keep those elbows tight and a little bit in front of the body.

Good. And exhale and we press. (exhaling) Good, and again. And. (exhales) So we do one more time. And exhale. (exhales) And release. Good.

So we'll take the knees into a little bit of a bend. Reach the arms out in front of you and stretch the fingers out. So I want the fingers, all 10 fingers spread. So you're reaching those fingertips as far apart as possible. And then from there we draw into fists, you bring your elbows into your body and then you're gonna flex at your wrist getting as much flexion as you possibly can there.

And then we reach the arms out and long again spreading the fingers. Good. So if you've got any restrictions this is where you're gonna feel them. This is a great place to actively open them up. And then bring them back in, elbows into your sides getting a little bit of stretch over the top of the wrists.

Excellent. Great for people who ride bikes. And reach out. Anything where you hold onto a grip for a long time. And then bringing it back in and bend.

Good. And for swimmers and paddlers to stretch the forearms. There we go, good. And then bringing it back in last time. Good.

And then relax the arms down and straighten up the legs. So we'll bring left arm up, right hand behind your back, and we try and bring the fingers to touch at least or to interlace the hands behind you if possible. So just a little hold. So we've got an internal rotation, we've got flexion, we've got external rotation, and then we switch. So we go one arm long and circling round and back in.

So we take a little hold. Excellent. And let's just do one more on each side. So just a big swoop round. The hand that's behind your back, that's one of the first ranges that the shoulder loses when there's an injury.

So we wanna really creep the hand up all the way up into the back, that internal rotation there. And change one last time. So we're going round. So if you've ever suffered from a rotator cuff tear or a frozen shoulder, this movement behind the back is always restricted. And bringing it out.

Cool. And relax. So let's start in a kneeling position on your mat. So I'm more or less towards the middle of my mat and we'll just start in tall kneeling. We'll step the left leg out in front of us.

Right hand down on the mat next to us. Make sure that the leg isn't too close to you so have a look here. So I want this little bit of space here, so my knee's almost greater than 90 degree and then my left elbow I'm going for a reach down. So I'm getting my hip to open up, so I'm getting this good stretch in abductor, my hip extensors, and my knee is going to a bit of abduction there. And then from there keeping the hand on the floor we go into a rotation.

So I'm reaching up and twisting, so rotation through the thoracic spine. Good. And bring it back in. So again, if you're playing any kind of racket sports or sports with rotation, we have repetitive movement patterns so one side will get a little bit more rotated. So it's important that we balance that out.

And we go up one more time. So we go for a little stretch up. Cool. And then we're gonna bring it back. So this time we take the back leg and we bring it up off the mat.

My left arm is gonna go down again, so we're going into a bit of deeper lunge position now. So I'm getting additional hip flexor stretch on the back leg and then from there we just take the arm round the side of the front leg. And then flex the front leg and extend the knee trying to lengthen your back, but we don't wanna hold it for too long. And then we bend the knee and we go down again. So we go elbow to heel, hand to the side, and lengthen and flex the foot.

So I'm going into the calf. And we go down one more time. So I go down elbow to heel, and then hand on, and then flex. Cool. From there we'll just step it out and step through the other side.

Knee goes down to the ground. Cool. Basic. So you can either be on your forefoot or on your toes and then we go elbow goes down and then up and rotate. Big twist. And then back in.

So elbow goes down, (inhales) just let it twist. And we'll hold that. Right, then we bring the hands back down on the outside. Straighten the back leg. Excellent.

And your back leg, it doesn't have to be 100% straight, just enough that you get a bit of pull on the back hip flexor. And we go elbow to the ground. And we hand on the outside and straighten the leg and then flex through the foot. So let's go ahead and repeat that. So we go elbow to the ground, hand goes round, and we flex with the foot.

And bringing it back. Good. Into an up stretch position. So we step out, hips go up, and we're just going to peddle the feet. So we're just treading.

We're going for five, four, so one is one on each side. There, there, and there, and there, and there, and there, and bring it back down both feet. Press. So we're stretching the spine. And we're gonna walk the legs into halfway.

Go a little bit wider with the legs and then just squat down for a sec. Just into a squat for a second. Palms together, little bit of an opening of the knees, try to get your upper back up tall. (exhales) Super. And then relax.

So from there you can just have a seat. Hands under the thighs, feet pressing into the mat, and we're gonna gently roll our spines down to the mat. So we curl back down, down, down, down. Feet not too far away from your backside and we'll do a pelvic curl. So we're gonna take a breath in, on the exhale (exhales) abdominals rolling up through the spine.

And then we wanna achieve a nice, long line through the body. So again, this is a hip flexor stretching position. Hip extensors are engaging, deep breath in at the top. And exhale to bring it back down. (exhales) And release. Good, one more time.

Deep breath in and out breath. (exhales) I'm rolling it up, up, up, up, tall. And out breath. (exhales) cool. So taking the arms out to a T position, left leg crossed over the right leg in a figure four. So not in a tight cross, so we're going in a nice open cross position. Then we're gonna take the left foot and we allow it to drop down to the mat.

So you want that foot to go flat on the mat. Yes. Good. So we're getting a stretch on the outside of the hip joint there. Excellent.

And then we're gonna bring it back to the center, but keeping that same cross and then take your left knee down to the mat. So we're going over to the other side. Yes. So now we're getting a little pull through the IT band on the right leg. So all muscles that really work hard when we're active people.

And bringing it back through the center. So we're gonna switch the cross. So I've got right over left and then I'm bringing my right foot, the sole of the foot, I'm actually going in the same direction down to the mat. So bit of pull on the outside of the hip joint. And then we switch and I'm using the top leg to pull on the IT band, good, to open up the leg.

Excellent. So just again, it's also got a little bit of focus in the thoracic spine, little bit of release. And using your obliques to come back in through the center. Good, and then you can come back and release. Cool.

And uncross the legs. And then come up into sitting. Cool. So what we'll do is a modified half a back support position. So we're gonna take the hands behind us, but this time with the fingers facing backwards.

So we're going to a stretch of the shoulder flexors and we're gonna just inch our way down the mat slowly. So from there. You could compare it to doing a long back stretch, it's actually a great preparation for the long back stretch or the back support. And you just go as far as your shoulders feel comfortable trying not to hyper extend and just getting those shoulders into an open position. So as much as this is recovery, I mean this could also be used as pre-Pilates work as well for some of the more advanced repertoire.

There we go, good. And then just coming back up into sitting. Flex the feet, open the legs out a little bit. And then I'd like you to bend the knees. Arms reaching out in front.

So we'll take a deep breath and we're gonna roll down, arms to the outsides of the feet this time. (exhales) Taking hold of the outsides of the feet and then lengthening through the upper back so we engage the thoracic spine, the extensors of the back. Lovely. So obviously a lot more comfortable with the legs bent. And then relax down.

And then just curl back up and arms out in front of you. Good. So what we do next, we're gonna roll down. We're gonna extend the back and once the back is extended, then we'll try straighten the left leg, bend the left leg. Straighten the right leg, bend the right leg.

So we're gonna take turns in getting those hamstrings to release a little bit. So we'll do the rolling forward phase first. We'll extend through the spine and then just allow the leg to stretch out. So you gotta unhook your heel a little bit. So left leg goes straight.

There we go. And bring it back in. Back tall. And the right leg (exhales) and bring it back in. And the left side, (exhales) good.

And bring it back in. And the right side, (exhales) and then hold the right side and get the left side as well. Yes, good. Shoulder blades going down and then just drawing yourself through the legs. Good.

Through the legs, excellent. So you're stretching the back of the legs, hinging at the hips, allow the body to flex forward and relax. So we're folding forward. This is where you wanna be careful, because we've really worked the back in extension is to gently restack the spine up tall. Tall, and tall, and tall.

Awesome. And then relax the arms down. Okay, cool. So let's face the front. So you're gonna scoot round and we're gonna bring the legs into a figure four in the front leg.

I should say I've got my right leg, you guys got your left leg, and then the back leg is in internal rotation. So opposite hand over the externally rotated leg, arm up to to sky, and we'll go into a little mermaid counter stretch. (exhales) That's it, yes. And then bring it back in. Hands down on the mat and then stretch forward into the piriformis over the front leg.

Yes, good. And bring it back up. So let's repeat that sequence. So we go hand over. So it's like the mermaid and we're going over, over, over, so we're stretching lat, stretching obliques.

Still use the abdominals to support the spine. And then bring it out, hands down on the mat. And then just take your body forward. (exhales) Good stuff and we're coming back up. So let's switch the legs round. Right, so we go hand over the externally rotated leg, arm is up and just gently allow gravity to take you into the stretch position there.

(exhales) And come back up. Return, we face, and we stretch over. Good. And back up tall. Good, so we face the front again.

And we do it one more time. (exhales) This is as graceful as I'm gonna get, ever. And then bringing it back into the center, and rotate, and relax over. (exhale) Good and then bringing it back up. Super. So we can all just face to the center again so you guys are facing each other.

And we'll take the left leg over the right leg and we take the hands behind us, our fingers can face back. And then we'll bridge up through the hip just into at little push there. And then bring it all the way down, so have a look. I'm bringing my butt closer to my heel and then I walk my hands in a little bit closer there. So we're going into external hip rotation there.

There we go. So it's just allowing that hip to open up. Good. So we'll switch sides. So start nice and long.

I've crossed the leg, then we'll do once bridge. So I push up through my hip extensors just there, nothing too high, just comfortable, and then I bring my hips forward, forward, forward. I bring my hands in and then I'm deeper into my stretching position there. (exhales) Cool. So I'm gonna sit back, I uncross my legs, hands under the thighs, and I'm gonna do five rollbacks.

So just slowly rolling (exhales) just towards the lower back. Deep breathe in (inhales) and exhale. (exhales) Inhale (inhales) and exhale. (exhales) so we're still getting a little bit of abdominal work as well as stretching through the lower back. Deep breath and exhale. (exhales) Good. And out. (exhales) Out. (exhales) And out. (exhales) Good. And. (exhales) And one more time.

We'll go back, we'll go back, we'll go back, we'll go back, and this time to the tips of the shoulder blades. Yes. And then we go all the way forward again. Bring the soles of the feet together and then just allow the arms to flop all the way forward so we're over the thighs. And then we restack the spine. (exhales) And then just crossing your legs like you're sitting comfortably for a thoracic rotation.

Left hand over right leg, there we go. And we take our twist to the back. (exhales) We're growing taller as we twist. And change. We go right over left and (exhales) all the way up through the thoracic spine.

Good. And then bring it back to the center and you guys can stay where you are, I'm just gonna turn toward the front. So we'll take the left arm, right arm, so we wrap it under. Try to get the palms together. Right now I want you to lift the elbows up a little bit, not too high, but now what I do want you to do is to abduct your scapula.

So lead out with your elbows so you'll feel the stretch between the rhomboids. So any kind of pulling action, paddling, if you're doing a pull up, that's gonna get really tight in between those muscles. Or just bad posture as well. And then release. Good, so we just switch it round.

So you just create a little cross, palms together, lift the elbows up slightly. I don't want you up here, so just about shoulder height and then lead forward, lead forward, lead forward with elbows. Good. And release. So as you are there you guys can just push forward into the quadruped position.

Right arm, left leg, opposites. (exhales) And we're gonna hold that for five, for four, for three, for two, and bring it back in so. So we're still activating posterior chain in the body. And we change to the other side. (exhales) Now see make sure that that back leg is as straight as possible.

So yes, Kailee's just rotated her pelvis in which is great at abs, but make sure you're using your quad. On this leg, nice and tight, and then bring it back in for me all the way. Good and then sitting down onto the heels, let's take the rest position. All right. So back onto all fours for me so we'll go into a front support.

So I'm just modifying for my wrist, but we're going one and two. So we'll do scapula movements so we keep the arms straight, but we allow the scapula to actively abduct and then abduct. And we go abduct and abduct. So we've got interplay between the serratus anterior and the rhomboids. And pushing up, but still keeping thoracic extension so you don't want this to turn you into a catfolic posture or a excessive rounding.

Then otherwise the upper trapezius will take over in the movement. Good, lovely. One more time. So we go abduction of the scapula, abduction, pause. Now that abductive position, that's the strong position there.

That's where the shoulders are stable. And bring the legs in, one and two and stretch it all the way back. Right. So we'll have a seat with the legs out in front of us and we're going to move into a back support. So we did that little stretch for the shoulders, now we'll do one back support hold.

So I'm gonna use my fist position 'cause of my wrists, but for those of you with healthy wrists, fingers forward or fingers out to the side no problem. And then we'll take a breath in and then exhale as we push up and back. (exhales) So focus on using your hip extensors so the back of the legs are active, the shoulders are stretching, the abdominals are engaged. (exhaling) And bring it all the way down. Excellent. So we're gonna swing our legs round and we're gonna go prone.

So just lying on our tummies, hands down at your sides and you head is just gently hovering off the mat. So what I'd like you to do here is, Mandy, can you press your arms against your side body? So like a basic back extension position. So I don't want you to do anything in particular here, just your forehead is either just touching the mat or you're hovering. I'd like you just to draw your abdominals up off the mat so you should feel that the bottom ribs and your pubis symphysis are still touching the mat.

So bottom ribs are lifted and the pubis symphysis, or should I say bottom ribs are touching the mat and the pubis symphysis are touching, but you're abdominals are drawn in off the mat. So all we're doing is creating a scoop and that should get the back to work at is there. And then let it relax. (exhales) Now I don't want you to come up any higher or any lower, what I want you to do is engage. So we draw in and up. So we're going in and up.

So I just wanna create a little bit of a hollow there. Yes, good. A little bit of a hollow there. Now, try maintaining that hollow and then lift the body up off the mat slightly, the upper body should I say there. So the bottom ribs are still touching and you're able to breath in this position, that's important.

That's when we know that we're still using the transverse abdominis and not going into diaphragmatic breathing. We're using our Pilates natural breathing. You can come a little bit lower, a little bit lower, little bit lower. And then let's go down all the way and I'd love you to repeat that one more time. So we go little raise up, small raise, but more important than the height is have you got that lift of the abdominal or the midsection?

The ribs are still connected, pubis symphysis is still connected, good. And then think of a bit of length through the sacral area, there we go. Nice, Mandy. So the hamstrings are working, possibly the glutes here are gently helping, gently helping. And then relax.

Good. Then we're gonna take the arms out in front of you in a wide position. So thumbs up, head is just hovering off the mat, and if you're at home if you have issues with your neck, you can roll a towel and place it under the forehead, and then the fingers long if you can. And then we're just gonna float the arms again, abdominals engaged, float the arms just off the mat. So a little lift and a little lowering.

And again, a little lift, and a little lowering. And little lift and little lowering. We'll do three more. Little lift and little lowering so you really feel the work in the upper back extensors and the shoulder flexors and the rotator cuff muscle. Little lift.

And one more time, little lift. And then we bring it back and relax for a sec. Now, bend the elbows so that you've got a W position with your arms. So have a look here, Kai. So I've got this W position.

And we're gonna do exactly the same thing. So thumbs up there Ash, good. All right, so abdominals engaged, and little raise of the arms. One and little drop. For two, and little drop.

For three and little drop. And four, good. And little drop. One more time. And five and drop.

Excellent. Hands down under the shoulders, push back, find your rest position. Knees together, feet together, tuck your toes in underneath you, hips up to the sky. So you're doing the up stretch. So at least we've warmed the shoulders up for the position.

And then we're going to do a little inch worm forward. So walk your hands all the way forward so the hands are gonna walk forward, forward, forward, till you're flat, flat, flat. Lower the pelvis a little bit. There we go, good. And now walk your feet with straight legs all the way to your hands.

So you're engaging the tibialis anterior and on the other side of that you're stretching out through the calves. Good and then pause there. And then walk it back one more time. We're just gonna repeat it. So you're just walking back with the legs this time.

And then walk the hands back a little bit. So walk back with the hands, walk back, walk back, walk back. And then the last time we're gonna walk it forward again, so we walk forward with the hands. So you take a couple of steps, couple of steps, couple of steps, couple of steps. Pause and then we inch the feet forward.

So we're walking, we're walking. This time we're gonna take it all the way. If you can, you're gonna take your feet in between your hands. If you need to bend your knees, please do that. Now bend the knees a little bit deeper, wrap your arms behind your thighs, good.

And then if you can, with the arms wrapped straighten the legs a little bit. Yes. Good. So we're getting a bit of stretch trough the lumbar, through the hamstrings, allow the arms to relax. Good.

And then slowly keeping the head heavy rolling up through the spine. So we'll make sure you guys aren't too close together. Wow, that is a close shave. Good going. And rolling up all the way, all the way, all the way, all the way.

(inhales) And relax. (exhales) Thank you guys, good job. Thank you. Thank you. (clapping)