Athletic Wunda Chair

Hi, I'm Sarah, I'm from Australia. I'm here today to take you through an athletic wunda chair workout using the physioball or fit ball, whatever you prefer to call it. Later on during the class, we will also be using some two pound hand weights or one kilo hand weights and some magic circles, so just have those ready to go as well for later on in the workout. Today I've got these two lovely ladies here with me to demonstrate my workout. It will be quite a tough workout, we're gonna try and keep the flow as much as we can.

I think the great thing about this workout is we're gonna do the whole warmup using the balls before we actually jump onto the chair so you'll get a really nice full body workout just from doing sort of the first 15 minutes of this program and then it's sort of gonna push it to the next degree once we jump onto the chair, really looking at challenging your strength, stability, and the reduced base of support that the chair gives us when we're doing a workout. So ladies we're gonna bring you around to using the balls first and we're gonna start by just lying on your tummy over the ball, yeah. If you face heads out this way, that's it, and you'll actually just get to flop over the ball to start. That's it, knees just softly bent, and we're gonna turn the head so that the left cheek is on the ball, that's it, and the right ear is listening up towards the ceiling. We're just gonna start in this position just with some really nice gentle breathing.

On the breath in, we wanna fill all the way down through the back and then on the breath out, we're hanging the tail and the head apart as much as we can. We wanna feel as though that breath in goes all the way down into the lower back and then on the exhale, you're draining all the air out so the spine really starts to open out over the ball, creating that little bit of traction between the vertebrae in the spine. Ladies, once you've done five breaths there, we're gonna turn the head to the other side so that your right cheek is on the ball. Again, start that process of the breath in, feeling like it goes right down through the back of the body. With each breath out, start to imagine that the pelvis gets a little heavier and that the head gets a little heavier so that we really start to open the spine.

For some of us, it might feel a little uncomfortable around the diaphragm and the abdominals. I know sometimes when I'm doing this breathing I do, and it's usually just because of that tightness and that little bit of locked up sensation through here so if you can just breathe through that and really try to relax into the breath, it's gonna be really beneficial for your body in the long run. Ladies, once you've done five breaths, slowly start to make your way up from there and we're gonna flip you over onto your back and we want your head and shoulders on the ball. I'm gonna literally flip you over, that's it. The feet will be flat onto the wood and you wanna be able to slide down enough so you've got enough room that hands are behind the head, head and shoulders are on the ball, that's it, good work, and the legs are parallel.

Yeah, okay you might need your ball back a little bit further, slide this way a little bit more, perfect, yeah. That start position, we're gonna lift the pelvis up so it's in a nice long line with the shoulders and the hips so you're really engaging the back of the legs. From there, keep the head and shoulders where they are and just let the spine roll down over the ball, so your pelvis hangs down and then on the exhale, tuck the tailbone under, roll the pelvis back up. Really nice and simple action, just getting to know the spine through this articulation and focusing on that engaging through the back of the legs as we deepen that scoop through that front wall. I'm just gonna bring your legs a little closer together, that's it.

And lengthening down, breathing in, yeah. (laughter) She said that's a little harder. And lift. Good, we're gonna do three more, ladies, and I want you to think of really finding that connection through the feet. We wanna feel the center of the heel and then all 10 toes really pressing into the floor, keeping that stability as we lift and lower the hips, bringing it together with the bottom ribs, good, last one.

Lower the spine down, lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, and then exhale, reach the tailbone under, up, hold, and then walk yourself back up to sitting onto the ball. Beautiful. Sitting all the way up onto the ball, now ladies, and you keep the hands behind the head as you are. Feeling that the spine is really stacked on top of the ball of pelvis, beautiful, and you've got that energy reaching through crown of head and down through the feet. From there on the exhale, we're gonna float the right leg up off the ground.

Beautiful, inhale to lower. Exhale, float the left leg. Good, so you can see we're starting off with some really nice simple actions, so nothing too complicated, but at this point in the workout I just want you to get to know the body, feel the imbalances maybe between the sides and the areas of the body that you maybe need to reign in and get a little bit more strength in or a little bit more mobility and breath in. Really good ladies, use the exhale to float the leg up, feel the breastbone soften as you float. Inhale, feel that breath come into the back again, just like we did with that start breathing.

I'm gonna bring your chest back in space a little, yeah that's it, exhale to lift, almost imagine I was drawing your ponytail, that's it, up and back. One more each side, ladies. Beautiful work, keep that length in the waist, exhale to lift and then breath in to lower. We're gonna reach the arms up to the ceiling and on the exhale we're gonna rotate out towards the windows breathing out and then inhale, lift the spine, up, big exhale, rotate, and press down through the feet and then breathe in to come up. On that exhale I wanna hear you squeeze all the air out.

Big breath in, let that lift the body up through space. Big breath out and squeeze the air out of the body, really lovely. Big breath in, feel the rib cage back on top of the pelvis. Exhale, squeeze the air out and breath in, let the breath lift you up. Big breath out, squeeze the air out and inhale lift.

Last one each side. On the exhale I want you to turn the head to look all the way back towards that back arm, so we stretch the neck. Lovely, and back up. Last one, spiral the body and then reach the head to look all the way back to the back arm. Good, lifting it all the way up and then lower the arms down and rest, beautiful.

Ladies, we're gonna lie you onto your backs with your feet onto the ball. So if we bring your ball just a little bit closer to the chair and then we'll lie you supine. That's it and Erin, I might bring you around this way if that's okay. Yeah, that way. (laughter) She can crawl like a bug around, yeah, perfect.

However you get there is fine. Now we're gonna have either just your heels or your whole foot on, but I don't want too much of your calves on the ball. Yeah, the knee should be directly above the pelvis and you're pressing through the center of the heels, pressing back through the shoulders and the arms and on the breath out, we're gonna press the hips just straight up to the ceiling. We exhale, lift two hips up. Good, now on the inhale, lower the hips straight down, no curl.

Breath out, we lift. Breath in, lower the hips. That was two, we're gonna go for 10. Exhale, lift it up. Breath in, lower.

Exhale. When you come down, think of landing really lightly on the floor and then lift it back up. Good. Five more to go, ladies. Exhale, opening the hip flexes.

Breath in, lengthen to go down. And up. Good, three more. Exhale. Inhale.

Even though we've got a long spine, still feel that pubic to breast bone when you get to the top. Last one, lift it up and slowly lower it down. Awesome work. Take a breath in when you get to the bottom. On the next exhale, tuck the tailbone under and we're gonna roll the pelvis all the way up this time.

We're gonna go for that articulation through the spine, take a breath in at the top and then breathe out, articulate the spine to roll it back down. Really feeling that length through the waist, tailbone heavy. Four more of those, exhale, roll it up through the pelvis. Breath in at the top. Exhale, roll it down.

Good. The ladies are doing a beautiful job of keeping the ball nice and stable, so you just wanna make sure that that ball doesn't get closer or further away from you as you go through the exercise. Good and then roll breastbone, middle of spine, lower back, lengthen the pelvis. Last two, ladies. Exhale, I'm sure the hamstrings are on fire by now, yeah, but they're doing a lovely poker face of making it look beautiful for me, and roll it down.

Now this last one, we're gonna stay at the top. Exhale, roll it up and breathe. Good, keep that little tuck of tail. Take a breath in at the top. On the exhale, float the right leg up to tabletop.

Good, inhale, lower the leg down. Change sides, breath out to lift. So we've already given them the lovely prep of the single leg float seated onto the ball so they're quite aware of if there was one side that was more challenge than the other, this is definitely gonna show up here. Exhale, we're aiming for five each side. Keep the hips up where you started.

Good. Exhale, tuck the tail and lift. Breath in to lower, exhale, tuck the tail and lift, breath in to lower, one more each side ladies, use that breath. Inhale, gorgeous work, last one, lift, lower the leg down. Take a breath in at the top and then exhale, slowly roll it down.

You're at a full, ladies take the arms out a little bit wider, yeah just to give those hammies a break, we're gonna go into your spine twist. We'll take the legs across towards me. Keep the ball, so we inhale, come across. I'm just gonna pull your ball kinda towards you a little bit more, okay yeah, inhale. And then exhale, pull the ball back to center.

Good, breath in and exhale, so just using this as your breathing time before we head into the next exercises. Exhale. Challenge the spine twist a little bit more here with the ball, so you can be a little bit more playful with it, that's it, and then work through your center to come back. Breath in, pull across. Exhale, squeeze the air out and go across.

Good, exhale, squeeze it out, one more each side, ladies. Big inhale over and wring all that air out of the body. Last one, breath in and squeeze all the air out of the body. Awesome work. Now ladies we're gonna bring you up to sitting, so you come back onto your balls facing towards me.

We need the feet up against the chair, so at home you could either use the chair to prop your feet up against or if you've got a wall to prop your feet up against, that's perfectly fine, just something for a little bit of feedback. Now we're gonna slide down so it's more towards your lower back, the ball, and the hands are behind the head for chest lifts. Lovely. Good, so in this position, we're thinking of keeping a baby posterior tilt to the pelvis just to keep that length through the lumbar spine. On the inhale, the chest goes back into a baby extension and then on the exhale, lifting up.

Gorgeous, inhale to go back. We've got eight of these. Exhale. The feet are there for feedback, but you're aiming not to push into the feet to bring you up so you just wanna feel that nice neutral stance through all 10 toes and use that for feedback to come all the way into the back of the hips right around into the abdominals as you come up into that chest lift. I think that was five.

Exhale, feel that wrap around from the shoulders, inhale soft through the pecs as you go back. That's it, keep the pecs soft as you come up. Good, last one. And really rest the head into the hands. Yes, keep that as you come up.

Beautiful, this time go back into the extension and we go oblique, so we'll go exhale across towards the windows first. That's it, inhale. Lengthen it just three quarters of the way back. Exhale other side. Good, breath in.

Exhale. We wanna keep the knees lengthening, yeah straight out over the second toe so we feel that really nice parallel alignment. You're already starting to think about setting the body up for your leg and footwork position even through this abdominal series. Good work ladies, exhale. Let's do one more each side.

Still think about that little pelvic position. Baby posterior tilt. Last one to the other side. Good, take the chest right back into the extension. Come forward into the chest lift and reach the arms towards me.

That's it, good work, we start from here for the overhead. We take the chest back, breathing in, circle the arms around. Exhale, scoop it forward into your chest lift. Beautiful. Breath in, take it back.

And exhale, scoop it forward into the chest lift. We're gonna do four more of these, inhale. It's a really lovely exercise to do on the ball. We're probably used to doing it on the barrels more commonly. The ball really gives you a lovely feedback into the lower spine and a great opening out through the shoulders and chest to prepare us for our chair workout.

Two more ladies, use that strong breath out to lengthen the spine and then the inhale to lengthen the chest as you go back. Exhale, scoop it forward, beautiful, and then bring yourself back up to sitting on the ball. Fantastic. Now ladies we're gonna use the ball to do your side overs now. Again, we'll use the chair for your feet up against.

I actually don't mind which foot is in front. Yeah, go with what you feel most comfortable with. That's it, usually this one is harder to get into sometimes than the actual exercise. (laughs) So they're doing a good job, yeah? Perfect, okay so let's take the hands behind the head. That's it, good work.

If your stability feels a little shaky here, you can always use that left hand onto the ball if you need. Inhale, we lengthen over the ball. On the exhale, come up into the side lift. Beautiful. Inhale to go over, that's it.

And on the exhale, feel the shoulders wrap around into the waist. Breath in to go over, go for that stretch, yes, and then exhale, keep as much length as you can as you come up. We're gonna go for eight. That sensation of the tailbone reaching down to the heels as that pubic bone zips up to the breast bone. Two more to go, ladies, and just an even work through both feet so you keep that energy.

Good, last one. I want you to come just three quarters of the way up and stay, good, you go 10 little pulses from there down and up. That's it, so it's just a little inch movement. Good, make sure it's coming from the waist, not the shoulder and the elbow. Good, once you've done 10 you can lower it all the way back over the ball for a little breather.

Good work, and then we'll roll you around onto the other side. Beautiful. Wee. Yeah so they're feeling those obliques working. (muttering) Good work.

That's it, so press the feet. You really wanna spend a bit of time finding that foot connection first and then once you've got that, take the hands off and bring them behind the head and as I said, if you need, use this bottom arm on the ball to help stabilize you for the first few reps. Exhale, lengthen to lift up. Good, inhale. If you are going through this exercise at home and you feel like you need more of a challenge, you could always bring that pelvis up a little bit higher onto the ball and that's really gonna challenge that lateral flexion.

Pull up through the legs, through the thighs. Yeah, all the way up. Pubic to breastbone. Good, two more ladies. Breath in lengthens you out, keep the length as you exhale and lift.

Get as much length through the lower back as you can. Keep that, that was great, as you come up. Good, this last one come three quarters of the way up and stay. Beautiful, keep the length in the body as you do 10 little pulses. Good, be mindful that that head neck doesn't take over.

Really keep that heat in the waist. Good, energy in the legs. That's it, once you get to 10 lengthen it over, you can reach out those arms. Beautiful, all right. From there we're gonna flip it over onto your tummy on the ball and again, we're gonna keep using that chair for the feet.

The feet are in a little dorsiflex. That's it, you want the heels up against the chair, toes under, perfect. Yeah, legs are straight and we're gonna hang the chest over the ball and just reach the arms out in front of you. Good, just spend a couple of breaths in this position ladies and you're trying to find that length that we had at the very start but now we want the energy all the way through the back of the legs to the heels. Go with what's best for your body in terms of the foot position.

I don't mind if it's a little V, a little bit wider for a bit more base stance. Find the best position for you. From there ladies all we're gonna do is just start by lifting the arms and the hands, keep the head hanging. That's it, so arms and hands lifted and hold. Good, once you get that then we start to lift the spine up to a long neutral.

Yeah, good work, and just to there, we're gonna hold. Good, reach it back out long. All the way, you start to go down. Beautiful, and then you lower, touch the ground. First thing that lifts is just the hands and the arms then the spine follows and it just reaches, lifts, lengthens, that's it, good work.

Then you start to lower it back down. And Erin if you wanted to, you could pull your ball out a little bit closer, yeah a little bit further away from the chair, that's it, and it'll give you a bit more stability around that pelvis. One more like this ladies. That's better. Good, then we're gonna take it into the full swan.

From here we're gonna hold. We gradually start to bend the knees and lift the body up only as far as you don't lose your ball. Good. We're gonna reach it back out to a long plank position, so find your abdominals and then start to lower the chest, lower the spine all the way back over, touch the ground. Beautiful, just the arms lift first.

Lengthen the spine. Then lift to a neutral here, yeah. From here, use the back of the hips to pull the body up in space. Lift into the extension, beautiful, and then reach it back out long, find your plank, breathe out. Good, start to lower the body, hang it down, we've got three more of these if we can, ladies.

Arms first, good, and then lengthen, reach, keep the lower back reaching up and long. Breathe out, push back out, deepen the abdominals, and then hang it back over the ball. Last two, see if you can find those heels, yeah? I want you to see if you can keep the heel pressure so it really engages into the back of the hips. Good, now push from back of hips through to abdominals out through the upper body, then lower.

Good work ladies, last one. Reach it out long, find those heels. Good now keep the back of the hips and heels, lift up. So much better Katie, good work. Reach it out long, keep the heel position and lower it down over the ball, awesome work.

Let your knees hang, let your body hang, have a little breather, yeah? Good, so back of body should feel nice and cooked and that was just our warmup, yeah? (laughs) We're gonna get rid of the balls now so you can roll your balls away. Okay so we're gonna start now on the wunda chair with our leg and foot work. The ladies have already got their springs set up with what they would usually do for leg and foot work. Both of them are on two springs, so the middle springs, second from the top which is a reasonably strong spring for the leg and foot work.

Do what you would usually do for your normal footwork and then you can just adjust if it's not right as we go through. Ladies we're starting with our heels onto the pedal. We're perched nice and close towards the front of the chair and just have the arms down but the palms facing up to the ceiling. Finding that length in the spine first and just start by pressing the heels down just to get used to the weight of the pedal as we exhale and the inhale, bring the knees back up. That's it, we're just gonna do a few just without the arms first, using that breath.

Good. Inhale to come back up. Two more, exhale to press, feeling that lower belly, good, to lower spine. And I would only press the pedal down as far as you feel like you can keep that pelvic stability and the spinal stability. Hold the legs up on the next ones ladies and we're gonna start the pace a little bit quicker and we pump the arms at the same time up and then inhale to come back.

Exhale. Breathe in back. And we're gonna try and match that pace to the breath. Good. Exhale.

Good. (muttering) Good. (laughs) Lots of noises from our chair, but that's okay, good. Two more. Inhale back, exhale press. Beautiful, hold the pedal up, flip onto the arches of the feet so you slide it down and we've got 10 more now on the arches of the feet.

Same arms, exhale to press and lift, inhale return. I want us to think of no stops and starts so the pedal and the arms continually move just like the breath does. Really good, feeling those shoulders drop down into the sockets as the arms go up and then engage the side bodies to pull the arms down. Four more ladies, and lift and lower. Exhale, lift and lower.

They're doing a really gorgeous job with spines. Last one. And down, onto the toes. That's it, 10 more on the toes. Just double checking with your lumbar spine, make sure you've got that high in the lumbar joints and then match that with that deepening around the waist line and low belly to low spine.

Good, keep that pace ladies and press and pull home, and press and pull home, four more to go. Big breath out. Good. Last two, and nine, this last one we're gonna hold the pedal down halfway. Good, that's it.

We're gonna bring the arms circle them around to the front. All right, yeah that halfway position should have the knees directly in line with the heads or femurs. We're gonna try and keep that as we just do ankles. Press down and flex. So the thighs stay really still and it's just the feet that point and flex.

This can be really confusing for the brain. Exhale, press, inhale back, good. Gonna keep those arms up, yeah I know it's tough. Good, we're gonna do 10. Beautiful work with spines.

Try and get a full plantar flexion and a full dorsiflex. That's it, keep those thighs still, so you will feel those VMO quadriceps working now. That's it, last one, press, and then bring the pedal all the way back up. Beautiful ladies, I'm gonna take your weights. Fantastic, and you can go heels out wide.

I'll take those for you, fantastic. And hands behind the head. Okay, good. So two hands behind the head, that's it. Bring the rib cage back over the pelvis.

That's it, start with your pedal lifted all the way up. Fantastic, as we press down with the legs, we're gonna do a little extension with the upper spine. We're gonna inhale, press the legs, extend the spine. Exhale, little flex of the upper spine as you pull the legs in. Inhale, press and open.

Exhale, pull in. If we think back to the chest lifts that we did on the ball to start with, you want that same connection from the feet through to the abdominals. Really good, and the ladies are doing a really nice saddle movement through the spine so it shouldn't be huge because I wanna see the stability around the ball of pelvis just the upper back moving. Two more, deep exhale, lift from the abdominals, that was great. Inhale.

And exhale. Flip it onto the toes, we're gonna do eight more there. That's it, good work. Press down with the pedal, lift and extend the upper back. Exhale, pull in, breathe in, let the eye gaze go up, up, up, up, and then exhale, pull the eye gaze in to meet the lift of the abdominals.

Good, it's a really nice way just to add in a bit more dynamic movement to the leg and footwork so it's not so static in the upper body. That's it, good work. Still keep the lift in those lumbar joints as that upper back goes up, up, up and exhale, pull in, great work ladies, last two. Open the breastbone, exhale deep and from the abdominals. Last one.

And exhale, good work. All right, ladies we're gonna bring the legs off from there and come up, we're gonna change the springs now. We had on our springs for our roll down to our plank position, yeah. So we're gonna put one spring on the very bottom setting and we've got one spring second from the bottom to give us a little bit more support. That's it, you'll feel as you go through this one whether you need to go up higher or lower and I'll give you a few options as well.

So we sit back onto the chair, back into our leg and footwork position, and toes are onto the pedal. That's it, we're gonna reach those arms out in front. Start with the pedal all the way up. That's it, good work, because you wanna set up that parallel alignment from the hips through to the feet. We press the pedal down just like you would for your footwork but it goes all the way to the ground.

From there, the ladies are gonna start to roll the spine down all the way 'til their hands find the ground. That's it, we're gonna keep the pedals on the ground and walk the hands out to a plank position. So they lengthen all the way out, pedal stays down, yeah? So they're in the plank position and we've got that connection through to the feet. The body weight goes forward over the shoulders breathing in and then exhale back, I'll give you a little support there, okay, good, inhale and then exhale.

Good, so this is version number one. As we go through, we're gonna do three different versions. If the next two aren't appropriate for you, you just come back to this one and practice this exercise. Exhale, pull back. Last one ladies, take the weight forward.

Now as we come back, pike the hips to the ceiling, so you're gonna lift it up and they've still got that foot connection. Walk it in with the hands, keep the legs straight, and I want you to think of lowering the heels down like a tendon stretch. Buttocks makes it back to the chair, ideally with no hands helping you. Good, roll the spine up. Keep the pedal down, arms to the ceiling.

That's it, take a breath in. Exhale, we're gonna roll it back forward and we're ready for step two, yeah. Out to the plank position we go. This time you've gotta transfer your body weight forward over those shoulders and we try and get that pedal, good work ladies, to do a little lift off the ground. So much harder than it looks, yeah they're doing an awesome job.

Same thing with the body but now the pedal moves with us as the body weight goes forward, breathing in, breathing out. I totally don't mind if you flip the breath. If you want that exhale to support you on the way up, go for it. You've got six, ladies. Remember on the sixth one, we're gonna pike those hips back up just like we did in variation number one and the idea is to land as quietly as we can with that pedal, yeah?

Good work, walk those hands back in, yeah. That takes a lot of practice, yeah. Stretch the back of the body, yeah. Good, sit the buttocks back to the chair, no hands ideally, beautiful, lift the spine tall. All right last one, we walk it back out.

Single leg, yeah? So we go out to the plank position. We float the pedal up and it should really feel like it comes from that lift through the center and the body weight transferring forward. It's normal to do a little adjust of the foot. Float one leg off the pedal, that's it.

Body weight goes forward and back three times on the one leg. Ideally, the pedal will move with you. If not, just keep the pedal still and work on the body weight transferring. Change the other side, engage the hips. They're doing such a good job with the shoulders.

Keep the bottom ribs knitting together. Two feet, find the pedal and then slowly, good work, walk it back in, we're gonna spend an extra breath or two in that tendon stretch position. That's it, now I want you to try and, yes, open up the back of those knees as much as you can. Let the heads go so we release any tension through the neck. Beautiful.

Sit the buttocks back to the chair one last time and roll it up, good, and I bet you they're glad that's over. Good, bring the pedal back up again. Awesome, okay so ladies now we're gonna pump on two bottom springs, so both springs on the very bottom, and we're gonna go into a standing leg press. It's gonna be parallel facing the chair and our setup for this one, we're gonna be quite close to the chair for the transition for the next one. Let's bring your left leg onto the pedal and we'll bring the arms around into a genie position.

Okay so with that position today, we're gonna have a little high heel position, really feeling that heat through the back of the hip. Erin you might need to come a little closer just for the next step, yeah, okay. Exhale, we press the pedal down. Breathe in, we come back up. Exhale we press.

And up. That's it, we're gonna keep that fluid pace with the breath. Feeling that heat through the back of this leg, yes as much as you can. Three more to go, energy all the way out through the spine. Rib cage on top of pelvis.

All right, this last one we hold the pedal down. We're gonna try and keep the pedal down and then we're gonna spiral you around so that we're in a twisted position, that left foot goes flat, that's it, good work. Pulling up on that right leg, pedal does a little lift, and then exhale presses back. Good, yes, the idea is not to let it come all the way up. Yeah.

Good, and as much as you can, work to get that heel down even if you have to space the foot forward a bit, yes good work. You'd rather let that foot move forward a little bit, yeah, so that you can get this lovely wrap, good work, into the back of this hip to press, good. Katie's doing a really good job to keep that lift here. We're gonna do 10 of these and you'll feel quite strongly that you've gotta work through the side body in order to keep the spine lifted in the center. Ladies once you get to 10, spiral your body back around to face the pedal with the pedal down.

Awesome work, bring the pedal all the way back up again. Good and swap sides. That's it, so stand in nice and close. Yes, that's it, find your genie position. That little high heel but just make sure you've got the length through, beautiful, that hip.

Exhale, wrap through here to press. Good. The two bottom springs is quite a strong spring for the standing leg press, yeah. But I've given them that spring tension because this is an athletic class so I do want the strength and the endurance for the single leg work. If that's too strong though, just take it back down to the one spring.

Good, and we've got three more, exhale. Keep that ankle position as the pedal lifts. Last one and hold and then we spiral the body around the other way. That's it, keep the pedal down, good, yes. Erin, you need to wriggle in and just slide that foot a bit further forward, beautiful.

Find your weight now onto that left leg. Pedal does a little lift up, exhale press, beautiful. Inhale, exhale, good. With this one, you're not aiming to externally rotate that leg that's crossed over, it stays crossed over the body. You're aiming to feel that wrap from the back of that leg to do the press and that lift through this whole left side of the body.

Good work, yeah that pedal will wanna throw you off balance. Bring the ribcage and chest back a little, yeah that's it. Good, last one ladies. Press the pedal down and hold it down. Spiral back around towards me keeping that pedal there.

Good, and then bring the pedal all the way back up again. Awesome, now we're gonna cross the springs over on these chairs for our step up. So we had one spring crossed over second from the top, one spring crossed over second from the bottom. You'll see when the ladies cross the springs over on this chair, it brings the pedal up into a lot higher position than the standard position which at this stage in their workout, I want that for the support for their step up. It's also a great thing to do if you struggle with the step up because it really is gonna give you a lot more feedback than the standard spring will.

So ladies use your hands onto the chair. Step the pedal down one foot at a time. Go up one more, yeah and same on that side, beautiful. That's it, good, and then we'll bring the foot onto the chair. That's it, so hands are gonna reach around behind the head.

Beautiful, good, so before we take off into the step up, I actually want you to pull the pedal off the ground into a little hover. Yes, a bit more, up, up, up. Good, yes and just hold that position. Find the wrap underneath this hip, so you feel that femur into the socket, pull back with this left side of the body, and then on the exhale step it all the way up to straighten this right leg, lift, good. I'll be here to catch them if we need.

And then slowly down. That's it, good work. Just back into that hover. Exhale, and lift. Good.

And then slowly down. Good, so the step ups are coming in quite early in their workout, yeah, but for this athletic series I really want them to get that skill integration from the foot all the way into loading that hip straight away. Exhale, zips you up into those abs. Good, you've got three more ladies. Slowly down.

Feel your spine reaching to the ceiling as you come down. Yeah, good work. Think of connecting from the right back of hip to the left side of body to keep that connection, good. Then come all the way down, beautiful, changing sides. Good, use hands onto the chair.

That's it, bring the left foot on. Good, reach the hands around behind the head and just feel we get that connection, yeah good work, of the ribcage over pelvis, keep that as you find the hover of the pedal. Yeah, really using that to get this hip wrapped around and then lift. Then slowly to come down. Good, so start to think about that back leg now as we go up and down.

See if you can really feel that leg that finds the pedal actually stays engaged and has a purpose as you go down to support the leveling out of those hips. I'm not seeing a drop down on that side. Katie's doing a great job there. Yeah, really, no you're doing good Erin, you're doing really good. Exhale, wrap.

(laughter) This step up is so challenging for all of us. Use a strong breath out. Yes, good work, inhale slowly down, bring that chest back in space. Yes, good, thank you, last one. Lift.

Good, and slowly down, good work, use your hands onto the chair, bring that pedal back up. Fantastic ladies. All right, we're gonna go into our springs for our pike or our pull up. I want you to pop on what you would normally have on for a pull up. Keep it fairly supportive because we do have a little series here.

(laughter) Everything has a little series today. I would rather a slightly more supportive spring so that you can get the ab connection than have a popping out to get you up into that pull up. So the ladies have gone two second from the top, two second from the top, okay? So they've given themselves a nice little hand We're gonna step the pedal all the way down and bring the hands either side of the chair, that's it. Beautiful, good, all right.

Let's go parallel with the legs to start for me today ladies and find the rounding of the spine before we take off. Beautiful, okay so we're just gonna keep the pedal flat and all I want you to do is inhale, lower the heels to the ground. Then exhale, feel that pull up from the abdominals as you rise. Good, inhale, lower the heels but keep your shoulders where they are. Then exhale, feel the pull ups start from your center, good.

Three more of those, inhale. Try not pull up from the back, pull up from your center. Good, inhale. Really drive the movement from the breath out. Good, this last one, inhale, go down.

Exhale, pull up into that rise. Now I want you to lower the heels half way, yeah, so they go halfway back to the ground, that's your neutral stance. Little bit lower, okay yeah that's it, okay. Your challenge now is to keep that neutral stance as we go into the pike or the pull up, yeah? (laughter) Now as we breathe out, I want that same ab connection but without altering the ankle position.

I don't mind if you need to adjust the actual toes on the bar, yeah. Inhale slowly down but it's a hover when we go down. Exhale, keep that neutral stance with the feet, pull up from the abs. Good, slowly down. Exhale.

Pull up, pull up, pull up, yes good work, inhale. I want you to imagine that your skin is almost drawing away from the line of your tights or your shorts and then your waist is drawing away from your T-shirt as you come up, so it keeps shrinking in to lift the body. Good, okay ladies we've got one more, we're gonna hold it at the top if we can. And lift it up, tuck the scale, scoot, okay now we do our calf raises up here. We exhale, point, and then inhale, flex.

Exhale. Remember, it's gonna come from those abs, exactly like we did down on the ground. You've got six. Good, I wanna see the abdominals pull up as you point. Last one, hold it up there for a breath in, exhale, slowly lower it down.

Have a little breather, but you're not quite done yet. Good. (laughter) Stay on the pedal, good. All right we're gonna go back up, find that position. Our last one here is triceps.

We're doing a tricep bend with the elbows from that top position. Keep your neutral stance if you can. Yeah, that's it, so the elbows start to bend back in towards the body, the pedal will go down at the same time. Exhale, everything pulls up, keep the C curve. We're gonna aim for six but if you fatigue before then, you come down.

Good work, exhale, pull up with the bottom ribs. Eyes look into the abs. Good, neutral stance with those feet. I'm not asking for too much, really. (laughs) Sixth one, hold it up there, good, and then slowly down. Awesome work ladies.

Okay now you can step off your pedals. Yeah, good. (mumbling) Okay we're gonna bring the spring, again we're gonna cross the spring over. Just one spring across second from the top. Again, I've just gone for that cross because it brings the pedal up a little bit higher for the side reach, particularly if you're a shorty like me, it's really hard to get down to that pedal.

Ladies let's sit you on for the side reach, we'll face out this way. Beautiful, yeah, left leg reaching out and right hand onto the pedal. That's it, good. So we'll inhale, come over into the side reach. I'll give them a nice one in between our strong exercises.

Exhale, coming back up. Good, because we all know, whether it's an athlete's body or just someone who works out at this strong level, you really need that mobility coupled with that strength. Exhale coming up. Good, breath in. Go for that lift as we go over into that side bend and stay.

Bring this hand around to find the pedal now. Rotate it around into the mermaid. Space out the right hand. Now we're gonna lift the pedal up and come into an extension as we breathe in and then exhale, press the pedal down and think round the back. Good, breathe in, lift and extend.

Open, open, open and then exhale, scoop and rotate. Three more, ladies. I'm just giving Katie a little hands on there with the pelvis to keep the back of that hip in line with the underneath one so she really gets that true rotation around from the upper spine. Lift and open. Last one, press it down, stay over and down with the pedal.

Bring the right hand back into the middle, stretch it over into the side reach one more time. And then pull all the way back up. Beautiful and we'll do the other side, good. Yeah, nice to get that side reach, good. Yeah, that's it.

Okay bring that forward, that's it, and left hand goes down onto the pedal. Inhale to go over and exhale, pull up. Good, just think of bringing your whole chest back in space, yes that's it, keep that as you go over. Yes, good work, exhale to come up. One more breath in and stay.

And now we rotate that right hand around, find the pedal. That's it, good work, space that left hand out. Breathe out, press down, feel that rotation come from the ribcage. Breathe in, lift the upper chest up coming to the extension. Three more, exhale, rotate around with that upper body.

And then breathe in, lift and open. Such a great stretch for that thoracic spine and really good for your breathing muscles as well to be able to get a little bit more air into the back of the body. Last one, exhale, press. Good and then come back around into the side reach. Beautiful, and then coming all the way up.

Fantastic, good. Okay so we have popped our springs on two bottom springs just to stabilize that pedal. You can have it on just a nice strong spring, we want the pedal to stay nice and still. I've got the ladies lying onto their backs and their hands are gonna go over the top and find the pedal. Yeah, we've got the palms facing down towards the pedal.

It is gonna challenge the shoulder position which is ideally what we're looking for. If that's too strong, you could bring it round to the side or underneath if you need to. Two legs are going straight up to the ceiling. That's it, so really reaching the legs to the sky. We're gonna breathe out and roll the legs over, either skimming the top of the chair or potentially going through the hole.

Keep the legs together and we just go straight back down. Roll it back, nice work ladies. Legs just go to the sky, take a breath in. Exhale, scoop and roll up and over. We really wanna see that lift here.

That's it, roll it back, articulate the spine. Legs to the sky. One more, exhale, roll up and over, reaching out with those legs. Keep the energy with the legs as we roll it back down. Yes, really lovely, okay.

We're gonna do three more but we're gonna add on a teaser. We're gonna roll it over, that's it, good work, now as we start to roll back, then you're gonna start to let go with the hands and then roll it all the way up into our teaser shape. Yeah, nice work. Good, now from there, you're gonna pull from the abdominals, legs come with you, hands find the pedal, we go straight back over into our roll over. Yes, beautiful.

Squeeze those legs together and control it back, let go of the pedal as soon as you can, and roll it up, find your teaser, lift. Good. Use the abdominals to pull the legs towards you, last one. Roll it over and reach, good. Roll it all the way back, lift up into your teaser and hold, two, three.

Bend the legs, stay seated, lower the feet to the ground, beautiful. Scoot your buttocks towards the end of your mat a little bit more. Good, come back into your teaser shape now and hold onto the ankles. Beautiful, separate the legs just a little. Find that pull back with the shoulders but that press with the legs and we take it into our open leg rocker.

So we breathe in, rock it back, exhale. Yeah, nice work, inhale. And exhale, pull, and find that balance. Good, I think it's really nice to add some of this mat working throughout your chair work, given the chair is that reduced base of support, exercises like this really compliment it as well because it's challenging that base of support given you've only got that pelvis to balance on when you're at the top. Ladies you've got three more.

If you wanna be adventurous, go for a closer leg rocker, so you squeeze those legs together. Yes, good, they're adventurous today. Exhale, squeeze. Good, last one. You're gonna hold it at the top.

We're gonna let go with the hands, reach the legs out long, good, roll everything down to the mat. So the legs lower, the arms reach back, all the way down, roll it back up into your teaser. You thought the teasers were over but they're not. You've got two more to go, roll it all the way back. I wanna see that chest lift first and then scoop it up, yes good work.

Roll that lower spine to the mat, last one. Find the chest lift first, scoop and lift and hold and then tuck the legs in and rest. Beautiful work ladies, we're gonna come back up to the chair. Come up to standing, we're almost there. We've got two more exercises to go.

Pop your springs on that you had for pike, so I think we were both two second from the top. We're gonna go into the side pike which is slightly more challenging than the front pike so if you feel like you need to add on that bit of extra spring tension, even take the spring up just on one side if you need to. You'll be fine. (laughter) Let's face the chair, step the pedal all the way down. That's it.

Then we'll swivel to our right side and bring the hands, beautiful, either side. This side pike, we're only gonna have the left foot on to start and the right leg hugging beside the left one. Yeah, we're gonna dorsiflex that foot because I want you to imagine that you've got another pedal there so that you've got that right back over the hip, beautiful. We're gonna do three pikes from this position. On the exhale, find that pull up with the abdominals, tuck head and tail, yes nice work.

Inhale, lower. You can see why we did the neutral stance for the standing pikes because it's really gonna prepare them with this position of the foot. They're doing a beautiful job, last one. Exhale, lift. Now when we come down on this next one, you're gonna hover that leg out to the side and externally rotate it towards me.

Yeah, I wanna see the inside of your heel. That's it, and lift. Good, inhale, lower. Exhale, really picture that leg spiraling around, that was gorgeous. One more, you can hold your leg, go.

Yes, good. Slowly down and rest, awesome work ladies. Flip around, other side. Good. (laughter) Good, so hug that leg beside.

Good, think of that wrap around from this hip so it's supporting you. And now exhale, pull it up. Breathing, use the legs as you push down. Exhale, pull up and target it in to this right side of the waist. Engaging those triceps, that's it.

One more, exhale, pull up. Inhale, go down, now extend that leg to the side. Rotate it and lift, good. Yeah, keep thinking in your mind of that external rotation. It's gonna help get the stabilizing hip far in as well.

Good, last one ladies, you're doing a really good job, and then slowly come all the way down and rest. Beautiful, spin back, face your chair. Step off from the pedal and we're gonna go one top spring and one second from the bottom and we're gonna finish it off with our mountain climb. Good, so it's a sort of a nice in between spring. They'll have a little bit of support, but it's still gonna be really challenging, yeah.

If you feel like you need that extra spring, by all means go up. We're gonna step the pedal down, bring one foot onto the chair. That's it. Yes, good, okay. We're gonna reach the hands around to the front of the chair.

That same hover that we were in for the step up, I want you to get that little hover with this right leg. That's it, little bit higher, little bit higher, good. Now bend that back leg so the pedal comes in and think of space between your waist, yes good work, we've got eight presses out on that left leg. Bend and stretch. Good, keeping that rhythm from the footwork that we had.

Good, last one, start to bring the upper body up for eight as you pump the legs still. One and two, that's it, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Keep the body there for eight, keep pumping the leg. Two, three, four, lift the waist, five, good, six, seven, and eight. Now bring the body down for eight, just keep pumping the leg.

Two and three, good I wanna see those abs scoop away from the leg. Good, try and make it all the way to the eighth one, hold. Slowly down, good, it's like the exercise of death, isn't it? It's like a slower wind down. Other side.

They're still alive, I swear. Okay, good, so find that hover first and then really feel that scoop up so your abs pull away from that thigh. Hardest bit is to keep this hip down, yeah. It's a really, ah there we go, that was beautiful. Yeah, you gotta keep that.

And now let's bend and stretch this leg eight times. Two, three, four, good, five, six, and seven, and eight, body comes up. Take the full eight counts to get there, good. Five and six and seven and eight, hold it for eight. This left thigh should be really stable.

Good, seven, and eight, pump it down. Eight, seven, six, scoot the abs, five, four, three, two, one, and rest, beautiful ladies and you can step all the way down from there and release your chairs. Thank you so much for doing my workout. Hopefully they still like me after this workout. (laughs) Thanks everyone, bye.