Conditioning for Sports

Hi, my name is Ed Botha. I'm from Cape Town, South Africa and I'm gonna be doing a conditioning class for action sports. So for all of you people who like to get on your bikes, surfboards, skis, this gonna be great for you. Gonna get you prepared, ready for the summer waves or the winter waves, alright, or the snow. Okay, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna just stand up tall, hands down at your sides.

We're gonna take a little bit of a bend in the knees. And the important thing about this section is that we keep the knees bent, alright. We don't want the angle of the knees to change at all, alright. So we've got our quadriceps active, our hamstrings are active, and a little bit of adduction with the legs. Alright, let your arms relax down at your sides and we're gonna take a deep breath in.

And on an exhale, we're gonna allow our head to be heavy and we're going into a roll down, keeping the legs bent, just allowing the spine to articulate down one vertebrae at a time. Gonna take an inhale at the bottom and an out breath to restack but keeping the legs bent, alright. There we go. So we're keeping the thighs active all the time. Alright, one more time.

So deep breath in and out breath, excellent. Allowing the head to go, the upper back, the mid-back. And see if you can keep the arms in just gentle external rotation so at least facing forward with your thumbs, and deep breath in, just to keep the shoulders open and exhale as we roll it back up tall. And then we can straighten the legs. Alright, so we're gonna take an athletic stance, so a little bit wider with the legs.

Alright, so not quite your hip distance. I'd say a little bit wider than your hip distance. And we're gonna take a squat down. Alright, so we're gonna hinge at the hip joint. Try keep your upper back nice and tall.

So we sink deep, palms together, great, elbows pressing against the inner thighs. Super, alright. So let's just move from side to side, from left side and right side, opening the hips gently. Excellent, so you'll get a little bit of stretch in the adductors, working with hips in abduction and external rotation. Important movement for getting down low on a board or on a bike, alright.

Left hand, we're gonna hold onto right ankle. We're gonna take the right arm and we reach up to the sky. So opening up in the upper back. And then bring it back in and we change. So we'll alternate.

So we take left hand, or right hand, left ankle and reach. Take a deep breath out at the top. And we switch and exhale as we lift then open. And back in, we'll do one more on each side. And let's go back and open.

So this is the one more coming up now. And last one and over to the left side. So you're trying to get those fingertips as high as you can, almost vertical. Excellent. And then bringing it back in, super.

So you're gonna take a hold of your ankles or your feet, alright. Upper back open. Keep your spine straight and then lengthen the legs but I'm trying to keep my back as straight as possible here so my chest is lifted up in front of me. So you feel a little bit of pull on the hamstrings but we don't want to stretch them cold so we go straight back into that squatting position there, keeping the hips open. And again, so we're lengthening up through those legs.

That's it, just get a little bit of pull on those legs. And bringing it back and down. That's super, it's looking great. And one more time. And we'll go and lengthen.

Little lengthening of those legs. This time hold a little bit longer. Try to get the thoracic spine to extend. And bend the knees. Excellent, palms together again.

And then from there, we'll push ourselves all the way back up to standing, super. Gives the legs a little shake loose. Alright, now it gets exciting. So we're gonna go onto all fours for me on your mat. And again, I just modify this position on my fists because I have a little issue with my wrist but if you can go on your palms, by all means, do that.

And we'll start with the right arm. We reach it out in front of us, palm facing down. So just the right arm, alright. And then from there we take the right arm out to the right side so we take it into an airplane position, trying to keep symmetry in your spine, and bring the hand back down to the mat all the way, good. So we'll go left arm out in front, palm down.

Out to the side. And then bring it down to the mat. So you can bring it straight down. We'll do one more on the right side. So we go right arm out, good.

So if you can, keep the palm facing down. Yeah, that's excellent there. So that always just puts a little bit more stretch on the shoulder. And then arm out to the side and bring it back and down. And then the last one on the left.

So we go left arm, palm is facing down, arm is going out, and we bring it back and down. So this time, right arm, left leg so it's the bird dog position. So right arm, left leg, so like four-point kneeling. And then we bring it back and in. Left arm, right leg.

Super. So here we're not focusing on speed or repetitions. We're focusing on stability. And bringing it back in. So we want to condition the spine.

And we take opposite side. So we're wrapping the spine up with the abdominals and the spinal extensors keeping it secure and safe for impact. And bring it back in. And one more time. And we reach.

Good, and then bring it back and in. Right, this time we're gonna add abduction. So we're gonna have the right arm's gonna go out ahead, left arm's gonna go behind, and then we're gonna bring both limbs out to opposites for some abduction. Alright, so we'll start right arm, left leg. Keep your spine as steady as you can.

So the hip needs to go into a little bit of external rotation as we take the arm to the side and the leg out to the side. So you should get your glute medius and your obliques for sure. And then bring it back in and bringing it back. And the other side, so we go left arm, right leg. And by all means, if you want to work with a short leavy you can do this with a bent leg.

And we're taking it out to the side. There we go, stability. And bring it back to the center and in. And I had such a positive response that we'll probably do it again. So we go arm and leg.

There we go, super. So while we're here, just really focus on reaching the fingertips and the feet as far away from each other as possible, or the foot. That's it and bring it back in and back in to the center. And last one on the other side. So we go arm and leg and we hold.

And we take it out and we take it out, and we take it out, and we hold. Good job and bring it back in and back in to the center, super. And then just take a stretch back. Okay, so we go back onto all fours. So let's just do one thoracic rotation.

So we'll start with the arm closest to the ocean, alright. We're gonna reach that arm up to the sky so we're doing a long lever. Opening up and then let's thread the arm right through. And you can bend your elbow of the arm at the top so you can place your ear on the ground. And then bring it back to the start.

Okay, so we'll do the other side. So we're just doing one on each side. So we lift and rotate, so reaching to the back of the room. And we go through all the way, ear to the ground. Excellent, back onto all fours.

Alright, so we take the legs out one at a time into a front support position. So we go one, keeping steady, and two, alright. Abdominals strong, legs are strong. So important here is that you activate your quadriceps as well. Alright, so we don't hang through our hip flexors.

So we use the hip flexors as a bridge of support here to keep us up in a diagonal. So we're gonna bring the right arm, oh sorry, right leg towards, or right knee towards the left shoulder. So we go up and it adds a little bit of a twist into the body there. And bring it back. And we'll change, so we go left knee to right shoulder.

And back in. So we'll do one more on each side. So right towards left and back. And left towards right and bring it back in. Alright, so while we're there, we'll just chat for a sec.

So when you're doing those movements, the important thing is to keep the shoulder girdle stable, alright. The spine does go into a little bit of rotation and the hips will turn, but you want to pay attention to what's happening in the shoulders. Bring the legs in slowly and we push it back and stretching it out. Awesome. Alright, so let's go through to a seated position.

So the legs are bent in front of us, hands under the thighs. We can start with a tall back, alright, and we'll go into a thoracic extension. So we lift up through the upper back, tall through the spine, and then we go into lumbar flexion. And this time, just allow yourself to flex and roll back at the same time. Okay, so we want to engage the abdominals early on, about halfway, deep breath and out (exhales).

C curve and then we go into extension. So we lift and open the shoulders and round (exhales). And pause (inhales). And (exhales) and lift. Extend through the upper back, open tall.

And down and we go back (exhales). And pause and forward. Keeping the inner thighs engaged and then extend through the upper back as tall as you can and then bring it back to neutral. Alright, so we'll allow our spine just to roll back just towards the tip of the shoulder blades. So see if you can hold and get the tips of the shoulder blades close to the mat.

Alright, see if you can release the hands there. You can go a little bit lower there. And then see if we can take both arms out so we get the obliques to work harder. Bring both arms in and let's bring it all the way up from there. If you need to use your fingertips, use them to draw yourself up.

And we'll go down again so we go back. So again, you're creating lumbar flexion. Excellent, try keep the feet as relaxed as possible. Alright, and then gently allow the arms to go out, scooping in with the belly so we create stability particularly laterally here. The arms going out challenges the lateral flexors.

Arms come back in and we roll back up. Wonderful, we're gonna do it one more time, and we go back. So we should really start feeling a little bit of a warming up through the middle. And we pause, let's take both arms out to the sides. Deep scoop through the abdominals.

Bring the arms back in, palms turned down. Both legs come up and we're ready for the hundreds. So deep breath in and out, two, three, four, five. In, two, three, four, five. Two, two, three, four, five.

In, three, four, five. Three, two, three, four, five and in, two, three, four, five. Four, two, three, four, five, and in, two, three, four, five. Five, two, three, four, five, pause. Alright, so we'll take the legs out to 45 degrees if you can.

And we'll do the rest. Inhale and out, two, three, four, five and in, two, three, four, five. Two, two, three, four, five and in, two, three, four, five. Three, two, three, four, five, in, two, three, four, five, and four, two, three, four, five and in, two, three, four, five. Five, two, three, four, five.

Finish on the inhale. And exhale, bend the knees, hands on top of the knees and then just rolling yourself back up into your sitting position, alright, super. Alright, so we'll take the legs out long. Plantar flexed feet, hands behind your head, and we want to build the spine up as tall as possible there. Alright, so you're sitting upright.

From there, we're gonna flex forward so we just allow the spine to roll forward all the way. So you're getting a little bit of stretch through the back, a little bit through the hamstrings, and then we re-build the spine so we're gonna go up tall, tall, and tall and then we go into a little bit of a hinge. So we're going into the second phase of a neck pull. And then we allow the spine just to articulate down all the way. So you may want to modify this next phase if you want so let's just do one modified version.

So we're gonna go up head and chest, arms go long and exhale. Hands behind the head and we reach forward over the thighs. Then we're gonna restack. We're gonna build up tall, tall, tall, tall, tall. Ribs stay connected, abdominals engaged, and then we hinge.

This is where we want to hinge. And then we roll down at the end. If you feel comfortable with that, then let's keep the hands behind the head. So we're going up head and chest, elbows stay wide, and exhale (exhales) and reach it all the way forward. And build the spine back up tall again.

Alright, ribs stay soft and we work into our hinge. And back (exhales). Good, we're gonna do one more neck pull. So we go up head and chest, exhale. Wide open elbows, lovely, stretch over the thighs.

This time we build the spine up tall. We keep the ribs soft and we're lifting up. So you're gently pressing the sitting bones into the mat and we'll go into a spine twist. We're gonna move to the front of the room on a double pulse and it's (exhales). Inhale, so use that twist to get deeper, one, and deeper every time.

And we're going for two and deeper. Center, three and deeper and center. And four, deeper and in. For five and through. And the last one to the back.

One, two, bring it through the center and we roll down down down, tips of the shoulder blades, stop. Bending both knees, lifting the legs up to the sky. Left leg can go all the way down to the mat. So we've got a hamstring pull number two. So we double pulse the top leg.

We're gonna go one, two, there, there, and change. And change. And change. And change. And again.

And change, one more to go. Change, both legs up to the top. Lower the legs to 45 and lift the legs up back to 90, keeping the abdominal scoop. So we take the legs down to 45 and we lift up, abdominal scoop, one more time. So we're going down to 45 and we lift up with the abdominal scoop.

Good time to bend the knees to place both feet down on the mat, hands down at your sides, ready for a bridge. So we're gonna stay in a neutral position. Alright, so we're not gonna curl with the spine. I want you to press the arms back into the mat. Press firmly with the soles of your feet down into the mat and then we press up with both hips up to the sky.

And you want a nice flat line over both hip joints. And then back down, so we're using both hip extensors equally. And we go again, pressing up (exhales). And back down through the hips. And again, exhale, pressing up.

So at the same time, we obviously we want to activate our hip extensors but we want to get a little bit of stretch through the flexors in the front. And coming back down. One more time and we press up (exhales) and we pause. So bring the left leg up to a table. And we go down with the hip from there all the way down in neutral.

And push up into hip extension right leg. So we're going back down and exhale as we press up. Hip extension, right leg, and back down. And press up. Let's go two more, down.

And exhale, press up, and one more time. And all the way up to the top. So while you're at this top phase, just check, are you putting enough pressure on the big toe of your right leg? So you want that inner thigh connecting so we get equal work throughout the hamstrings there. And let's change the legs while we're there without dropping the pelvis.

So we need to stay, we need to stay. I do it slowly just to double-check. And we go down, we go hips go down and we press up. And hips go down and press and up. And down, exhale through the hips, good, and down.

And press up through the hips, good, and down. And through the hips, and I can assure you we should do one more on this left side. And push up and hold, excellent. So let's just keep the right leg up and come down with the hips. Extend the left leg on the mat.

Keep the right leg in tabletop. Hands behind your right thigh. Pull the knee as close to your chest as possible, alright, but try stay soft in your hip flexor. We're gonna activate our quadricep. So from here, I'm lengthening my right leg without the angle between my chest and the thigh changing.

So I'm using my quad to give the hamstring a little bit of release there. And bend. So we'll do that two more times. This time, let's dorsiflex the top foot so we go through the calf as well so the whole posterior chain gets a little bit of release. And bringing it back in.

One more time, so we go a little flex. And bend, super. Let's change to the other side. So important thing here is that we keep our angles consistent. So if I've drawn my left leg in, I'm doing everything possible to keep that leg as close to me as possible so that I, let's go left side, so that I can really work in my quadricep there, and bend.

So we'll do two more, flexing the foot this time. So we're going flex and in. And one more time and let's go for flex flex flex and relax. Okay, so bend both knees, hands on top of the knees. Come up into a chest lift position.

So we'll do a little bit of isometric work. So the double leg stretch hold or we can call it the hollow hold position. So we're gonna reach arms and legs out there and we hold for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and hug the knees in, alright. So from there, I want you guys to go prone. Stay exactly where you are.

You don't have to turn to face inwards but turn prone. And we reach the arms and the legs out and we're holding the reverse. So we go for 10 and nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and release. So straightaway, go onto your backs and we're gonna repeat that twice more, that cycle. So legs up, chest lift, double leg stretch position and hold.

So here we go for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and this time, straightaway, turn. Try not to take too much break, we know what's coming. So we go arms and legs. So the bottom ribs are connected to the mat. The pubis symphysis is connected to the mat.

And see if you can feel your navel lifting up off of the mat at the same time. So we'll go for another five, four, three, two, and release. Still long levers, we just turn over. Start with your legs on the ground, arms above the head and we're gonna lift up from there and up we go. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and lower everything, turn prone.

And this time we add a little swim after our 10 count. So we go for our 10 count, we go arms and legs. And we have 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and hold. Right arm, left leg slowly. Left arm, right leg.

Change. Change. Change. One more, change. And release onto your backs again, excellent.

Little hug in knees and chest. Okay, so everything stretches out long and we're gonna come up to sitting. So palms are facing each other, lifting up head and chest, tips of the shoulder blades, medially rolling the legs, and rolling up (exhales) all the way into the roll up. So build the spine up tall, flex and separate the feet slightly for a spine stretch. So we've got the arms out in front of us.

On the exhale, head goes heavy, upper back, mid-back, and we're rolling through the spine but quite relaxed. So nothing too excessive at the moment and then deep breath in. And exhale as we restack. And we just build it back up and tall. And out breath (exhales).

And we roll, and we roll, and we pause. Inhale at the bottom and exhale as we restack the spine. Good, we'll do two more. Exhale, so head goes soft, upper back, mid-back, lower back. And pause, this time hands to the sides holding the feet.

So if you can, holding the feet. And then we extend the spine slightly. So we extend, we extend, we extend just to what you feel comfortable. Then we hold it steady. All we do is join the arms to the spine.

Arms to the spine, arms to the spine, hold. And allow it to relax forward again and then restack the spine up all the way up to sitting. So we'll repeat that one more time. So we go forward, the head, the chest, and we're rolling through all the way through and we take hold of the feet. Use the legs to assist in back extension, back extension, back extension, hold shoulders, and the arms go up, and the arms go up, and up and up and up.

And the ribs, lengthening through the back. Right, we take the arms 10 times. We just pump back with the thumbs for one, two, and three, for four, for five, and six, for seven, and eight, and nine, one more time, and 10. And bring it all the way down and release. So those shoulder flexion exercises are really important for surfing if you're paddling.

So every time you want to lift that arm up, we really got to engage that flexor. Right, or if we're paddling, stand up paddleboarding. Alright, so we're gonna go down onto our backs again. Pull the legs in close to the body, hands down at your sides. And this time we're gonna stretch it out with a pelvic curl to stretch the hip flexors.

So we take a breath in. On the exhale, scoop in with the middle. And rolling it up one vertebrae at a time. So we go up nice and high through the hips, nice and high through the hips, there we go. And as we come down, we're gonna lift the arms up overhead.

So we roll down through the spine and just allow the arms to go up and back and stretch all the way back with the arms. So this time we'll come up again, pelvic curl. So rolling it up, (exhales) pressing the palms down to your sides, lifting up with the pelvis, getting through the hips. So this time exaggerate your pelvic curl position. Allow your spine to go into a little bit of extension this time.

So yes, the ribs are gonna go slightly. We want a little bit of that arched back position. And deep breath in and then exhale. Arms can stay on the mat this time as we roll and we roll and we release, alright. Legs come up to the table, one and two.

Deepen the abdominal contraction. Both legs are going down to tip the mat from here. And then we're gonna bring both legs up so you're gonna get your 90 degree hip flexion. Now try not to go any deeper into hip flexion and just let the pelvis come up and back slightly. So it's a little reverse curl and we come back down.

And the legs go back to 90, allow the legs to touch. Tip the mat, bring the legs up to 90 degrees again. Use the abdominals and then allow the pelvis to hover so it levitates up and back and little touch down. Scoop through the middle, we'll do that twice more. So the legs come up and we lift up and scoop abdominals, keeping the C-curve, and down and little touch on the mat, one more time.

So both legs up, hold, abdominals scoop in tight, up and over. And bring it all the way back and tip. Alright, so legs can come up again and straight out to 60 degrees and we're gonna do three rollovers. So 90 degree legs, same angle we want to keep. Use the abdominals, roll over (exhales).

Flex the feet, separate the feet, legs to the mat. Keep the legs tight. If you're touching the mat, keep the legs as tight as you can and then keep the knees as close to your face as possible as you roll down, stretching the hamstrings, stretching out the lower back. I get to perpendicular, I plantarflex, I touch. And we go again, we go up to 90, exhale to roll (exhales).

We pause, we flex, we separate, we take it for a touch and then the legs stay tight. So have a look at your thighs. You should see those kneecaps pulling up. That's where we get the stretch behind the legs. And bringing the legs together, one last time.

So up to 90, the exhale for the rollover, the flex, the separation, the legs going down, and rolling through the spine all the way and bring the legs together and touch. Hug the knees into your chest and bring yourself up to a sitting position. Alright, so you're gonna turn onto your sides for me please. Legs are long, alright, onto your forearm, alright. So we're going into a side plank position.

So I've got the legs long, I'm gonna straighten out my legs and extend and lift. So we want to hold, long neck, for five, so again isometric, for four, for three, for two, and we bring it back and down and relax for a sec, good. So this time we're gonna go up and we're gonna bring the top leg up for 10, alright, so working on those hip abductors, right. So we're gonna lift up from there and we hold, okay. So first, pack the shoulder tight and up we go with the top leg for 10, nine, eight, you thought I was gonna count from five.

Two, three, good, do two more, one and up, good, and bring it all the way down. Great, let's spin around to the other side. And off you go. Alright, so legs go long and we're gonna push the legs out. I'm just gonna do a mic check, there we go.

And up we go, excellent. Okay, so we're not bringing the leg up yet. We're first doing a little hold. So you guys have to wait for me to catch up so we'll go from five, for four, for three, for two, lovely, and one, and bring it back down. Alright, abduction.

Okay, ready? Let's go and we lift, pause. So this creates balance. Not just balance in the body but literally balance when you're standing. And one, and two, good, flexing the bottom foot, three, four, five, and six, excellent, seven, eight, we got two to go, and one, and last time, and two, and bring it down and release.

And we're going back up onto both knees. Alright, so we're not quite done with the hip abductors. I'd like to do the side kick kneeling, alright. So let's go ahead and everyone tip over to the left side. Alright, so I'll follow you that way so I'm gonna be on my right.

So we'll start arms up. We're gonna slowly lean over, lifting the leg up at the same time, palm down, hand behind your head. Try hide your bottom shin away from me if you can for internal hip rotation. Hand behind the head and here we go. Flexing the foot, one, two, and back.

And two to the back, good. Three, try keep the leg up at least hip height. Four and back, good. And five. Go three more times, we're doing eight.

One and back in, for two and in, last one, and three and leg out. We're gonna place the leg down straight leg and we're gonna come up, hands behind the head. So lateral flexion. Legs stay, side bend over the body, stretching over as far as you feel comfortable, and lifting back (exhales) up to your vertical, alright. So inhaling to go down and (exhales) two.

So we go inhale to go down and three. Good, and stretch over to the side. And four. Reach the elbow as low as you can and up (exhales). One last time for me, and over we go, so this is six.

And lift, alright, so we'll stay there. I haven't forgotten about the other side but we're gonna turn into front support. And hold. Now again, so this is a good time to modify if you need to. So if you need to go down onto your knees, you literally just give the knees a little bend but keep that diagonal of your body, alright.

Otherwise, for those of you who feel comfortable, we're going to a low push up. So we're gonna go elbows in and we push up, one, two, and we'll go one more time, and three, and then hold. Alright, so just bring the knees in underneath and stretch it back all the way. Alright, so we go back onto all fours. Alright, so this time, we're gonna do our push up position but we're gonna scoot our center of gravity a little bit forward, alright.

So we go long legs, one and two, and then just roll over your toes slightly every time you do your push ups. So we go forward, let's see how far forward we can go. I'm gonna go right over onto my toes, right over onto my toes there, and then push up and then take it back. That sounded right, Mandy, okay. And then we go over and we stretch over.

I'm over my toes. And then push up and back. And you just do what you can there. And we go over and stretch and push up and back down onto the knees. Give it a little stretch out.

And restack the spine. Okay, so let's face the front again and this time we go over to our right side for our side kick. So we've got the arms out. We're gonna tip over again. I'm gonna do this just on my fingertips but you want to be flat on your palm if possible.

So we go arm and leg, just a little side bend there. Leg reaches out long, hiding your bottom shin and we kick. One, back, for two, back, yes, three and back, four, excellent, that's good high leg, and five, six, and there, and seven and back, and eight and back. Now for my sake, because this is my weaker leg, just bring your leg in line and push your weight over towards the leg but then lift the leg up higher as well. There, exactly.

That's when the magic happens is when we're over that thigh. Lower the leg and prop yourself up. You've got enough space there, good job. Now again, so over the side and we're going inhale over and exhale (exhales). And again, inhale over, I'm just running out a bit of space there, and exhale to bring it back up, good.

And again, in and (exhales) and breathe (exhales), two times. Inhale and (exhales) and one time (exhales). Let's turn, front support the other way. Left leg plantarflexed or plantarflex of the foot. We're gonna lift the leg up five times for leg pull front.

One, and two, three, four, and five. Other side. For one, straight leg, two, three, four, and five, super. Bring the knees in, just stretch it back. Good work.

Alright, so just back to the front support. We're gonna transition into the side bend. So we go one two. So your right hand, guys, is gonna go to the middle. We just turn over into a T position and then we lift the hips up and we're gonna look down at our palm.

Bring it back into a T. Allow the knees to bend but we're not sitting, we're looking for a hover. We're looking for a hover. And we bring it back and over. Look down at your bottom hand.

Without rotating, bring it back into the T and then bring it down into the hover, one more time. So we go up and we go over and bring it back into a T position there and down, down. Have a seat for a sec, for a sec, and then we bring it back up into the T position. Alright, so change through the front support. Alright, change facing the back.

So back into the T, good. So try keep the hand facing your thighs and we go up and over. So arm comes over, look down, still keeping the ribs in, abdominals engaged and then bringing it back in. So you really want to lift from the bottom, from the waist. And then bend the knees just to the hover.

And now think of not being diagonal. Think of lifting your pelvis up. So we go up, up up. So minimize the push with your legs. And we go over.

Over, over, over, Ashley, good. And then bring it back into your T, good. And then bending, pelvis goes low, one more time. And we go up into the diagonal and over, palm faces down to the mat. That's it, you want to get this palm down so we get that stretch of the lat.

Bring it back into the T position. And this time, bend the knees and sit down. And turn onto your bum. Alright, there we go. That's the international language for this part of your body, alright. (laughs) Okay, so we're gonna take the hands behind you.

So either fingertips facing forward or out or on your fists for a back support. So lifting up with the thoracic spine. And on the exhale, again, we're gonna focus on isometrics so we just lift up (exhales) and we hold for 10 counts. Eight, seven, six, five, for four, for three, and two, and bring it all the way down. Alright, so you're gonna scoot slightly forward.

Legs up to 45 degrees. Arms are gonna reach up to the sky and we're gonna roll down through the spine, all the way down, that's it, through your back. Arms goes far back as possible, abdominals stay connected, head and chest come up, and we roll up and up. And we want to show control here. So again, the hip flexors are really important stabilizing muscles.

And we go back down. And if they're not strong, then the abdominals will want to go, and reach. And we go up head and chest, so peeling up, so peeling. So we don't want to pop up and only use the hip flexors. And reach the arms, reach the arms, reach the arms, and let's go down.

And let's see if we could do one more time please. So we've got long legs, long arms. Head and chest, scoop in abdominals. And then we want to lift, and we want to lift. Try to get the arms high.

Lower the legs to the mat. Stretch forward over the legs. And stacking the spine up tall. We're gonna finish off prone, just for the swan dive prep. Alright, so really we're just gonna stretch the front of the body.

So you can lie comfortable in a prone position. That's it, so you're facing in. I like to have my thumbs directly under my shoulders, my elbows into the sides. Again, we start with a gentle lift up over the navel. So I've got my bottom ribs connected to the mat and my pubis symphysis and then we start lifting the head up slowly.

The upper back, the mid-back. Now, it's triceps with the elbows staying in. Now scapula are depressing as I stretch the abdominals, but they're still engaged. And then I slowly come down, elbows into the sides. And probably the most important part here is the hip extensors kicking in now.

So they bring the legs back up into a float. So the legs aren't too wide apart. Just using the hamstrings and the gluteals. And then we push back up. So now it becomes a little bit more of a rocking motion, not quite a swan dive.

So I'm looking straight ahead and we go back down. Abdominals and just allowing the legs to float up at the back. And one more time. Press up, so upper back, remember that. Then triceps.

So this is where the arms get involved. Scapulae stay depressed so in other words my shoulders are away from my ears. And coming back down. And this is, when we get to this position here, this is pretty much your paddling position when you're on a surfboard with the legs lifted because you don't want them dragging in the water so these hip extensors have to be active. And then from there, allow the legs to relax.

Slowly push back into your rest position. So the knees together, actively pressing with your palms, your sitting bones down onto your heels, allowing your neck to relax. And we're gonna just shift the arms over to the left side so we can stretch the right side of the body. So you want to get the stretch through the lat and the oblique. And over to the other side.

So I'm stretching the left lat, my left oblique. And I'm sitting heavy with my sitting bone down on my left side. And bring it back through the center. The head can stay heavy. Your arms come to your sides.

And I'm simultaneously gonna lift my sitting bones off my heels and allow my spine to articulate as I come up to tall kneeling, so as we scoop. Thank you, guys. Awesome. (applause)