Full-Body Challenge

Hi, my name is Debra Harris, and I'm so excited to be back here at Pilates Anytime. Today, I have a special workout for you. Pilates mat 2.0. I absolutely love teaching this class. I find that it is a fun, challenging way to engage my clients.

My clients love this class because there isn't a single part of their body that isn't completely spent by the time they're done. What's unique about this class is how Pilates Mat and our former exercises are smoothly blended together to create a challenging workout. Participating in today's class, I have Caroline Deets. Let's get started. So, start at the end of your mat.

I want you to cross one arm over the other. Cross one foot over the other. Pull everything in and up, and carefully lower yourself down to the mat. Uncross, and then roll all the way back down. Interlace the fingers and bring the hands back behind your head.

Go ahead and bend the knees into a nice tabletop position. Curl on up. We begin with our footwork series. Heels are together, toes are apart. Stare right down at that bellybutton and stretch the legs out long.

One, and then back in. Press out, two, and in. Press out, three, and in. Press out, four, and in. Press out, five, and in.

Press out, six, and in. Press out, seven, and in. Press out, eight, and in. Nine, and in. Ten, and in, hold.

Turn parallel, press out long. One, and in. Press out, two, and in. Press out, three, and in. Press out, four, and in.

Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Flex those feet, reach long. Stretch one, and in. Press out, two, and in. Three, really waking up the stomach.

Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Stay out. Heels are together, toes apart, point. And flex, one, point. Flex two, keep squeezing from the inner thighs.

Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Turn back to parallel, then the knees, and curl a little higher, and relax back down. Getting ready for your hundred. At this time, curl on up, look at your powerhouse, stretch your legs out nice and long. Vigorous pumps.

In, two, three, four, five. Out, two, three, four, five. In, two, three, four, five. Out, two, three, four, five. Navel to spine, and out, two, three, four, five.

Squeeze the behind, and out, two, three, four, five. In, two, three, four, five. Out, two, three, four, five. In, two, three, four, five. Out, two, three, four, five.

In, two, three, four, five. Out, two, three, four, five. In, two, three, four, five. And out, two, three, four, and five. Bend the knees, curl a little bit higher, and relax down.

Stretch the legs out long on the mat, getting ready for your roll-up. Let me just straighten you out a little bit. Reach those arms up towards the ceiling. Drop the ribcage down, squeeze the inner thighs. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way up, nice and long.

Beautiful, working for that nice control. Drop the head down, and then slowly start to roll back down. Find your lower vertebrae, your middle vertebrae, your upper vertebrae, shoulder blades, and head. Again, inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up, pressing that air on out. Reaching long past those toes.

And slowly start to roll back down. One vertebrae at a time, and hold. We're going to make this a little bit harder. Reach your arms back further. Again, draw those ribs together.

Don't let them pop up. Lift your head up, in between those arms. Keep them there, and exhale all the way on up. Trying to keep that head in between those arms rounding forward, and then slowly start to roll back down. Keep squeezing those inner thighs towards each other.

Exhale until those shoulder blades touch the mat. Again, deep breath in, inhale, exhale. Let the breath help you, keep squeezing those inner thighs, rounding forward. And with control, very slowly, start to roll down. Lower, middle, upper back, and down.

Beautiful. Bring your arms down by your side. Short spine massage, then the knees back on in. Now, short spine a brisk out and up, and then you'll slowly roll down your spine. That's where the massage comes on in.

Stretch your arms a little bit longer, and here we go. Pressing the legs out, reach up and over. Bend your knees in line with your shoulders. Start to roll down, trying to bring your thighs towards your chest, and continue rolling down through that spine. Get in an additional stretch.

Bend the knees in. Press out. Brisk out and up. Bend those knees in line with the shoulders. Rolling down that spine, bring the thighs close towards your chest as you roll back down.

Just don't let the feet drop too low behind your head. And again, press out, reach up, and over. Stay on that diagonal. Bend those knees and slowly roll down, one vertebrae at a time, beautiful. One more time, press on out, stretch on out.

Reach up and over, bend those knees, and slowly roll down that spine one vertebrae at a time. Bend the knees to a nice tabletop position. We get ready for coordination. The elbows stay glued tightly to the side of the body. Curl on up, look right at your powerhouse.

Press out arms and legs together. Open, close, bend the knees, curl higher, bend the arms. And again, press out, sharp open, close, bend the knees, bend the arms. Press out, stretch, open, close, bend the knees, bend the arms. Adding variation, press on out.

Cross, one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight. Bend the knees, bend the arms, one more variation, just like that. And one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight. Bend the knees, bend the arms, hold, and relax back down. Stretch your legs out long on the mat.

Reach the arms up to the ceiling. Transitional roll-up, deep breath in, exhale all the air out and roll all the way on up, one vertebrae at a time. We get ready for our rowing series, so if at home, you have a light weight, anywhere between one pound to two pounds, you can grab them at this time. If not, you could also do this exercise without the weights. Rotate those knuckles to face you for into the sternum.

Round back into a strong C-curve. Pause, pull directly into the sternum. Open the arms out to the side, press back. Dive your nose to your knees. Now slide your shoulder blades down first, then reach up and over, and lengthen out of that spine, and roll all the way back on up.

Good shoulder blades down, strong C-curve. Round back, pull directly into your sternum. Open, out, press down out of the shoulders. Reach up and over, lengthening. And roll up through the spine.

We do one more. Rounding back, strong C-curve, pull directly into your sternum. Press back, dive your nose to your knees. Press down, reach up and over, and I'll give an additional stretch, and roll up through your spine. 90-degree angle, make sure the elbow's in line with the shoulder, elbow in line with the wrist.

Get the lift up out of the waist. Ribs stay in, hinge back, one straight line. Reach those arms up, dive your nose to your knees, and your hands will come on the outside of the mat. Reach back, press down, reach up and over, lengthen towards your toes. Rolling up through the spine to that 90-degrees.

Get that lift out of the waist. Inhale, exhale, reach up, dive your nose to your knees. Reach your arms back, press down, and around. Sitting up nice and tall, and again. Lift up, hinge back a little bit deeper this time if you can.

Reach up, dive your nose to your knees, and reach back, out and around, and roll up through the spine. From the chest, press straight on out, pause. Now, grow taller in the spine as those arms come down. Reach the arms up, keep them in your peripheral vision. Open out and around, and again.

Press on out, press down, reach up, open out and around, and again. Press out, grow taller in the spine, arms down, reach up, open out and around from your hips. Flex those feet back, make sure you're pulling back from those pinky toes as well. Reach along past your toes. Continue that reach as you roll through the spine, and open out and around.

And again, reach long, stretching. Roll up through the spine, open the arms out and around. Last one. Reach long, roll up through the spine, start to open those arms to the side, and you're gonna bend those knees back on in. Reaching the arms back on up for our shave.

Lean a little bit more forward, pulling those ribs in. And press out on a long diagonal, and then back in. Keep the elbows wide, and bend back in. Press out, and in. Go ahead and lift those eyes one more time, press out, and in.

Press the arms out, open the arms out the the side, and exchange the feet. Keep those elbows lifted, contracting your biceps. Inhale, draw the arms in. Exhale, squeeze the shoulder blades back and down. Inhale, draw the arms in.

Exhale, open. Stay here, we change our breath. Inhale, exhale, contracting those arms. Inhale, open, exhale, contract. And inhale, open, nice.

Go ahead and place the weights on down. Stretch the legs out nice and long on the mat. Center yourself on the mat, and, with control, roll all the way down one vertebrae at a time. Once you get down, lift up your right arm. Turn over onto your stomach, onto that right side, and then onto the stomach.

You'll measure to make sure you're in the center of the mat by opening up your feet. Make sure you have equal distance, and then draw those legs back together. Now, you've place one hand on top of the other, place your forehead onto those hands. Slide your shoulder blades down, pull your navel to the spine, and in this position, keeping the hands where they are, we're going to work on strengthening the upper back. Go ahead and lift up your torso.

Energy out the crown of your head. And then come back on down. And again, lift on up, and come back down. Now, hold. Your hands are now glued to your forehead.

The shoulder blades stay down, working on that upper back strength. Go ahead and lift up, and lengthen back down. And again, lift up, and lengthen back down. Good. Bring your arms alongside your body with the palms face-up, and turn your head to your right.

This is pool straps too, but this particular way in which we're gonna do it is gonna help to strengthen the rotator cuff and help give a little more mobility for the rotator cuff. So, in this position, you're gonna inhale. The head comes centered, the palms lift up. Rotate your palms down, reach out to the side. Reach your arms back, rotate your palms, turn your head the opposite direction, and lengthen down.

And again, inhale, rotate your palms down, reach out to the side. Reach back, rotate your palms, and lengthen down. Inhale, lift up, rotate your palms down, reach out to the side. Reach back, rotate, and lengthen down. One more, inhale, rotate, reach out to the side.

Reach back, rotate, and lengthen down. Very good. Go ahead and rotate back onto your back, and we get ready for our backstroke. Center yourself into the mat, bend your knees back on into a nice tabletop position. Knuckles are in line with the eyes but they are not resting on the eyes.

The ribs are dropping down, go ahead and curl on up. Look at your powerhouse. Inhale, arms and legs come straight up. Exhale, open to a V. Inhale, swoop down around, and hold, two, three.

Bend everything in. Inhale, arms and legs come straight up. Exhale, open to a V. Inhale, swoop down around, and hold, two, three. Bend back on in.

Inhale, press up, exhale, open. Inhale, swoop, and hold, two, three. Bend back in, and we reverse. Inhale, press out, hold, two, three. Exhale, open, out and around, and then back down.

Inhale, press, and hold, two, three. Exhale, open, out and around, and then back down. Relax down. Preparing for the teaser as if we were doing it on our longbox. So, our palms will face up.

Rotation from the top of the hips, the tummy is nice and tight. Go ahead, inhale, exhale, come all the way up. Finding that beautiful teaser position. Now, keep the legs still, allow the arms to drop down, and lift up, one. Drop down, lift up, two.

Drop down, lift up, three, hold. Everything's going to roll down. Head and heel arriving at the exact same time. Working for that control, beautiful. Good.

Inhale, exhale, everything comes back on up, finding that beautiful teaser. Allow the arms to open out and around, and come up, one. Open out and around, come up, two. Open out and around, hold, three. Everything starts to roll down.

Head and heel arriving at the same time. Working for that precision of movement and control. Alright, we're gonna have a fun transition after this next teaser. I'm super excited, so come all the way on up. This time we drop our arms down, open out and around, hold.

Drop down, out and around, hold. Drop down, out and around, hold. Open your legs in line with your shoulders. Open leg rocker is next. Take a deep breath in, inhale, exhale.

Roll back, and then come all the way back on up. Scooping, squeezing, that's okay. Beautiful, you're doing great. Inhale, exhale, roll back, and then come all the way on up. The most important thing is to have fun as you're working out.

Inhale, roll back, exhale, come on up, good. Inhale, roll back, exhale, come on up. One more. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way up and hold. Find that balance, draw those legs together.

Find the teaser position. Start to roll down just the upper part of your body, your legs stay behind. Allow the legs to float on up and get ready for corkscrew. Take one quick second, though, to really stretch down those arms. Create space through your beautiful neck.

And we're going to do our corkscrew keeping our hips down. Drop down and around, center and pause. Reverse. Down and around, center and pause. This time, when you come to center, you're gonna lift the four lowest vertebrae off of the mat.

Down and around, tummy is nice and tight, and lift straight up, beautiful. Down and around, straight, beautiful. Down and around, one more. Down and around, and hold. Bend those knees back into your chest, extend them long on the mat.

Transitional roll-up. Reach the arms up to the ceiling. Ribs are drawn in, inhale, exhale. Roll all the way on up, pressing the air on out. Spine stretched forward.

One foot to each corner of your mat. Really flex those feet, lengthen long. Spine stretched forward is a stretch into yourself, so reach those arms out long, lift up out of your waist. Inhale, exhale, rounding forward. Finding that beautiful C-curve, stretch, and then articulate, one vertebrae on top of the other, rolling up through the spine.

Inhale, lift up, exhale, round forward. Stretching into yourself, getting that beautiful C-curve. And then sit up nice and tall, and again. Inhale, exhale, rounding forward. And then roll up through the spine.

Draw your legs together, squeeze the inner thighs. Rolling back back down for a transition. Once you get down, stay down. Lift your right arm up, rotate over onto your stomach. Long stretches next, again, take a second to make sure you're even on your mat.

Curl your toes under, and your hands are right in line with your shoulders. Lifting up into a plank position. Tummy is nice and tight, make sure that the elbow creases are facing each other. You're going to shift forward and back, one. We'll do four of these.

Shift forward and back, two. Keeping a tight plank, three. Making sure not to shift into the lower back, four, and hold. Our up-stretch is next, so I want you to bring your feet in just a little bit closer and open them just a little bit wider in line with those shoulders. In this position, drop your head.

Round though the spine, and then articulate the foot. Roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. Dig those heels down, pause for a second. You're gonna feel this nice, amazing stretch through those calves, so enjoy it. Curl the tailbone under, we shift forward.

And again, inhale, rolling up. Round through the spine, and then work through the feet. Metatarsal, arch, heel, lovely stretch. Tucking tailbone under, making a beautiful wave with your body. And again, roll on up, don't forget to breathe.

Exhale, roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. We'll do one more, curling that tailbone under, and then rolling all the way back on up, and work through those feet. Pause this time when you get there, and again, really press down those heels. Get that lovely stretch. Elephant is next, so I do want you to bring your feet up just a little bit closer before we start.

You'll be walking your feet in, and each time, I want you to pull deeper into that strong seeker. So find that rounded position in the lower back. Keep your shoulders nice and even, and start to walk on in. Nice, big steps, one, two, three, four. Keep that head dropped, and we walk it back.

One, keep pulling deeper in the stomach, two, three, four, and we'll do one more set. Walking, one, two, three, four. Pause here for a second, feel that stretch! And walk it back, one, two, three, four. Good. At this time go ahead and lift up your right leg, but keep your toes facing down to the mat, and now I want you to push your foot into my hand.

So we're lengthening out of the hip. Go ahead and relouver on your left foot, and roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. Keep pushing me, lengthen, beautiful. And lift up, so we're staying in parallel. Roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel.

And lift up, roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. Pull up through your powerhouse and, with control, lower your leg down. Keeping those hips even, keeping your weight evenly distributed through both arms. Reach your leg out, tummy is tight. Toes face down towards the mat.

Press your foot in to my hand, and relouver, and roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. And lift up, roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. One more time, and roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. With control, lower your leg down. Let's open up our hips.

Go ahead and lift up that right leg. Point your foot, rotate, so we get a beautiful hip extension, but square those shoulders. Relouver on your left toes, and then roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. And again, lift up, roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. We do one more.

Lift up, roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. For an additional stretch, you can get, just by lifting up that leg a little bit higher. Now, Caroline is a dancer, that's why she has this beautiful extension, but it feels lovely to do. Go ahead and lift up the left leg, rotate, find that hip opening. Keep your shoulders square, and relouver, and roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel.

And lift up, roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. One more. And roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. For an additional stretch, we'll just grab ahold, beautiful. With control, bring your leg back down.

Bend both knees, and then you'll turn around and face the front of the mat. We're gonna get ready for our stomach massage series. So, since we have this elevated mat, you're gonna bring your hands to the outside, and you're working in that strong C-curve. When you're ready, lift your legs on up. Heels are together, toes are apart.

We'll do five of these. Press the legs on out, point, flex, and then back in. Press out, point, flex, and in. Press out, point, flex, and in. Press out, point, flex, and in.

One more, press out, point, flex, and in, now hold. Your hands come back behind you. Now, if you are tight in your shoulders, you could turn those hands out to the side. She's not, so she's fine to have her fingers facing towards her glutes. Go ahead and press on out, point, flex, and bend back in.

Lengthen your neck, press out, point, flex, and in. Draw ribs in, point, flex, and in. Two more, point, flex, and in. One more, point, flex, and in. Your hands reach forward, there's no pointing and flexing this time.

Just gonna stretch those legs on out. Stretch them long, one, and then back in. Press out, two, four of these, and in. Press out, three, and in. Press out, four, and hold.

Now, some fun. Go ahead and twist and open to the right as those legs extend, and then bend everything in. Try and time the torso with the legs. Opening, stretching, and bend back in. Only rotating through your ribcage, beautiful, and in.

One more time, open, and in, hold. Place your feet down flat. Sit all the way up, grab ahold of the ankles, and stretch through that spine, beautiful. When you're ready, come up onto your knees and grab ahold of your weights again. Chest expansion.

Your palms are facing down, press the arms past the glutes. Turn your head to the right, to your left, back to center, and release. And our breath goes as follows: inhale, turn your head to your left, to your right, to your center, exhale and release. Inhale, press, to your right, to your left, to your center, and exhale. Inhale and press, to your left, to your right, to your center, and exhale.

Rotate to turn your palms to face forward, and in this position we'll start with our arm circles. Inhale, reach the arms up, and reach back down. Reach up, and back down. Reach up, good, open out and around. And reach up, open out and around.

And reach up, open out and around. Reach up and pause, drop the arms down, open out and around. Drop down, open out and around. Drop down, open out and around. Bring the arms down.

Rotate the palms to face back. We're gonna go ahead and do our thigh stretch. When doing the thigh stretch, be sure to keep your shoulder and your hip in one straight line. Pull everything in and up, and hinge back in one straight line. To come up, let the arms lift up, and you come back up, the arms come down.

Ribs drawing in and again, hinge back in one straight line, arms, and then back down. Our last one, go as deep as you'd like. And up, and come back down, nice. Go ahead and place your left weight down at this time, and we're gonna turn and face in this direction. Swakka tease is next.

Go ahead and bring your right hand right in line with your sternum. From your elbow, extend out one, and then back in. Stay long through the sides, press out, two. And in, press out, three. And in, and hold.

Transfer the weight to the left hand. Reaching the arm straight up, one. And down, sliding that shoulder blade down as the arm comes up, two. And lift up, three, and down, one of each. We open to the side, draw it back to the sternum.

Stretches straight on up, that's one. And open, draw it in, stretch up, two. And again, open, draw it in, stretch up, three. And good, bring the weight back to the right hand. In this position you're going to tilt to the side, let your fingertips just touch the mat.

Rotate your chest, from your elbow, extend out, and bend back in. Ribs stay in. Extend out, and in. Extend out, keep it out, we add a circle. Drop the arm down in line with your sternum.

Extend from your elbow, one. Drop down and around, extend out, two. Drop down and around, extend out, three, hold. Engage even deeper into that paras so lift your torso up. Transfer the weight to the other side, our lotus.

Palms face up, inhale, reach the arms up, shoulders down. Exhale, bring it back down. Inhale, reach up, and exhale, back down. Inhale, reach up, exhale, back down and hold. You have to do the whole series on the other side, so let's bring that left hand right in line with your sternum.

From your elbow, extend out, and then back in. Extend out, and in, extend out, bring it in and hold. Transfer the weight, the shoulder blade slides down as the arm goes up, one. And then back in. Reach up, two, and down.

Reach up, three, and down, one of each. Opening, one, bend it in, stretch on up. Open, two, bend it in, stretch up. Open, three, bend it in, stretch up, good. Transferring that weight, we tilt to the side.

Try and keep your shoulders square. Lifting your elbow, extend out, one, and bend back in. Extend out, two, and in. Extend out, three, hold. Drop the arm down and around, in line with your sternum, extend out.

Drop down and around in line with your sternum, extend out. Drop down and around in line with your sternum, extend out. Engage even deeper into that paras, lift up. Transfer the weight to the opposite side for your lotus. Reach those arms up, inhale, and exhale down.

And again, inhale, and exhale down. One more, inhale, and exhale down, good. Go ahead and place your weight down, and come on down onto your stomach. Or, excuse me, onto your side, so we'll get ready for your snake and your twist. So, at this time, your left hand is slightly higher than your right, and your right leg is crossed over your left.

You're gonna inhale, the hips face the mat, and exhale, press all the air out. Shoulder blades slide down, inhale, lift up, rotate, and bring your left hip down. Good, just make sure you're not hyper-extending. Inhale, lift up, exhale all the air out. Inhale, lift up, rotate, and the hip comes down.

One more, inhale, and exhale. Inhale, and rotate, and down, good. Getting ready for your twist. So at this time, bring your left hand on in, in line with your shoulder. Tummy is nice and tight, and you're going to lift up to a side plank.

Ribs are in. Inhale, thread the arm through. Exhale, lift back up, and pause. Inhale, exhale, see if you can go a little bit deeper this time as you thread through, and come back up. Don't forget to breathe! Inhale, exhale, really empty those lungs! Come all the way back up, pause, and hold.

And with control, lower down onto that left hip. Allow your legs to shoot forward, to the side, and you might need to scoot down a little bit. So now our right hand is slightly higher than our left, and our left leg is crossed over our right, preparing for our snake. Inhale, lift up, the hips frame that mat. Exhale, shoulder blades slide down.

Inhale, lift up, exhale, rotate, and come back down. Inhale, lift up, exhale, press the air out. Inhale, lift up, rotate, and lower down. And again, inhale, exhale the air out. Inhale, lift up, and rotate, and come back down.

Our twist; our right hand comes in line with our shoulder, tummy is nice and tight. We lift up, the ribs stay in. Inhale, exhale, thread the arm through, and then come back up, each time going a little deeper in your twist. Exhale, thread a little bit deeper. Empty the air out of the lungs, and now our deepest.

Inhale, exhale, threading through, and come back up, and pause. With control, lower down. At this time go ahead and lie down onto your stomach. Bring your hands right in line with your shoulders. Curl your toes under for our pushups.

You're going to lift up in one long line. Tummy is tight, elbow creases face each other and they're soft. Lift your right toes up slightly, and you're going to shift back, forward, and down. Keep those hips square. Lift up, shift back, forward, and down.

Lift up, shift back, forward, and down, one more. Shift back, forward, and down, now hold. Three pushups, keep the elbows close to the sides of your body. One, two, three, and hold. Now our transition place; one in the center of the mat.

Windmill the arm, open the chest towards the ceiling, and adjust those feet. Lift those hips up nice and high, making sure the shoulders and the hips stay in one line. In this position, kick your right leg on up, and lower down. Kick your left leg up, and down. Now we're gonna add a fan kick.

Lift your right leg up, open out and around, and bring it down. Left leg, up, out and around. Reversing the fan kick. Left leg out, and down. Right leg out, and down, hold.

Bend your knees, walk your feet in a little bit closer. Make a tabletop position, and we do three dips. Dipping one, dipping two, dipping three, and hold. Kneeling side kick series. Thread the right leg underneath.

Adjust, make sure that your shoulder and your wrist are in one long line. Your left leg is going to reach out to the side. Press your head into your hand. Lift your leg on up, ribs stay in. Reach your leg forward and back.

Only three of these, forward and back. One more time, doing great, forward and back. Keep your leg to the side. Tiny circles, five in each direction. Circle one, two three, four, five.

Reverse, one, two three, four, five. Lower your leg down, bend your knee. Windmill your arms up and over, and we transition to the other side. Extend your leg on out, the ribs pull in, the tummy is tight. Lifting your leg up, reach it to the front, and then reach it to the back, beautiful.

Reach to the front, and reach to the back. Reach to the front, and reach to the back. Keep your leg in the side position, circling. Five, four, three, two, one, reverse. Five, four, three, two, one.

Go ahead and lower the leg down. Turning around, you're going to lie back down on your mat. Interlacing the fingers, bring the hands back behind your head. This next one's a little tricky. It's our running, but once you get into the motion of it, it makes sense, so we'll break it down, and then we'll speed up the counting.

So at this time, bend your knees back on in. You're gonna stretch your legs on out. The key is to keep your ankles glued together. I want you to bend your right knee and flex your right foot, and then exchange. Always keeping those ankles glued together, and that certainly helps you.

Now that we've got that, I want you to curl a little bit higher, and we'll go a little faster. Going ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and good. Bend both knees and curl higher, and relax back down. Allow the feet to come down onto the mat. Pelvic lift is next, and you're gonna open up the feet just a little bit wider in line with those hips, okay?

Tummy is nice and tight, I want you to stretch those arms, create space for your neck. Lift your hips up nice and high. Now press your knees into my hands. Really engaging those quads, working down with our feet. You're gonna relouver, you're gonna rise on those feet, and then roll down.

Metatarsal, arch, heel, and lift up. Roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel. Lift up, roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel, two more. Lift up, roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel, one more. Roll down, metatarsal, arch, heel, hold.

Articulating the spine, roll down now through your ribs, through your waist, through your hips, and down. Stretch those legs out long on the mat. Reach the arms up to the ceiling. Take a nice deep breath in, transitional roll up. Inhale, exhale, roll all the way on up.

Pressing the air out, beautiful. It's very hard at the end of your mat. At this time we're gonna get ready for our seal. Now, the same way that we came down, crossing one foot over the other, one arm on top of the other, is the same way that we're going to come back on up, and we're gonna come up on our sixth count. So at this time, bend your knees, make a prayer position, bring the hands down and around, grab ahold.

Now, remember when we're beating, we're beating our inner thighs and not our ankles. Turn those heels in just a little closer to you. And we beat, one, two, three, roll it back, and up, and again. One, two, three, roll it back, and up. One, two, three, roll it back, and up.

One, two, three, roll it back, and up. One, two, three, roll it back, and up. Getting ready to come up. One, two, three, uncross, recross. Come all the on up, beautiful.

Alright, uncross, and now we're gonna be ready for our front splits. So, go ahead and bring your right foot forward, your left foot back behind you. It's a runner's lunge that you're gonna go into. So start by coming forward, you're lunging forward, but make sure you're pulling up to your powerhouse so you don't shift into your lower lumbar. At this time you're going to shift back, flex your foot, and drop your head down towards your knee.

And again, shifting forward, lunging forward. Enjoying this beautiful stretch. Allowing the shoulder blades to slide down. And then pull back, flexing your foot. Feeling a great stretch from your hamstring all the way down to your heel.

And again, shift forward, and then pull back. This time we're gonna increase the stretch. I want you to flex the foot as you've been doing, but then rotate, so your pinky toe's going to come down towards the mat, and then you're gonna rotate your torso towards that leg. Becomes an IT van stretch, right from the side of the hip to the side of the knee. At this time, too, pull back more into that right hip, yes, and you should feel that nice deep stretch, right?

She's nodding her head yes. (laughter) Come back to center, and you're gonna go ahead and lunge forward for a nice release. Beautiful. When you're ready you'll exchange the other leg. Good.

Alright, lunging forward, pulling up through the powerhouse. We don't shift into our lower lumber area. Shifting back, flexing your foot. Feeling that nice deep hamstring to heel stretch. And again, shift forward.

These feel great at the end of this workout. And then pull back, nice stretch. And shifting forward. And shift back, good. At this time, rotate your left foot so that pinky toe's going down towards the mat.

Then, rotate to face the leg. Pull back a little bit more into that left hip, and you feel that nice deep stretch. When you're ready, you'll come back to center. You'll shift forward, good, hold that. Curl your back toes under, lift on up, and then when you're ready, bring your leg in.

Drop your head, and very slowly, roll up your spine one vertebrae at a time. Lengthening nice and tall, and that completes our mat workout. Thank you so much for participating. I hope you've enjoyed.