Traditional Reformer

So today, um, I will be teaching, my name's Adrian, I'm going to be teaching a probably a more of an intermediate reformer on the grots. This is Andrea. She's going to be working on three springs. We've got our normal box, our bar, and a sticky pad. Okay, so start on your toes. She's going to go through this fairly quickly, stretching out and coming in and going into her foot work. Now, this being an intermediate level, she has familiarity with the routine stretch all the way out and all the way in. So she's going to do 10 of these and come back in. And as she's moving, she's trying to keep her shoulders out of it and really thinking of that spine, getting it long and imprinted. Six and seven.

Smooth out in eight out in nine, a Walmart out and transitioned to your arches, knees and feet togethers. Hug those knees and stretch, wrapping the heels, wrapping the toes. The more wrap you get, the more stretch. And you're also getting those feet working. Three out. Four good. Getting the neck long. Five not locking our elbows. Six, zipping up your legs. Seven eight, nine and in high slide up to your heels. So now you're flexed. You're still parallel, feet together, out in end.

So trying to get through the foot work as smoothly as effortly effortlessly as you can. Three. Now she's on three springs, she might've mentioned, but that's for her body. You can be on for three. You can even be on to the lighter the springs. The more work it is for the powerhouse, it takes a little more control. But a day, you know it's a little bit different for everybody. Sometimes that's better. Kay, she's done 10 so now go down to your toes, heels together, toes apart into her tendon. Stretch out. You Go.

Little bit more of a turnout. Sorry, I let me have you open your feet a little bit wider. There you go. And let's actually have your heels come apart a little bit so you don't knock your knees. So if you feel like your knees are knocking, go a little more parallels so the heels don't touch it otherwise, keep them together. Lower the heels. One, two, three, lift two, three, lower two, three, lift two, three. As she's moving through these. I want to see a lift happening through the waist and a length in the legs for five. Good with your neck. She fixed it. Six it's easy to start to lift the Chin and kink your neck with keep them long. Is that eight k?

Nine just going to do 10 Ben Journey's come back in. Now from Grosse, you had transition to your a hundreds in this who she would grab her straps. Do you? I had to take the bar down. You remember how? Yeah, exactly and as a little bit tricky you have to find this bottom bar lifted up at lower down and then she will go ahead and bring her knees in and lift herself into a hundred positions so the legs are long and then she's going to begin lifting the arms, pumping them up and down to five and you notice she's staying on the same spring she started with with balanced body, you would probably want to change those springs and make them a little bit lighter if you started on more than three springs and out two, three, five breathing in, breathing out. Now if you wanna challenge that, you could always lower your legs. I want you to turn your feet in so you don't. Yeah, and out three, four, five, two, five, three, four, five, two more.

Four or five stretch the legs. One more deep breath in, and a long breath out. Bend your knees, bring yourself down. Go ahead and drop your headdress. You're going to end up taking those straps in one hand and dropping one spring. So she's going down to two springs, so she'll have to sit up to do that. Good know, lie back down. And then for these straps you have to adjust them, but do it Kinda to the side, you know, slide it down and put the strap between inside the handle.

[inaudible] I have you do it to the side because if those are heavy, you don't want them to drop. Good. All right, so her, your headdress are down. You're on to spring. She's gonna lift your seat and put those straps on her feet. So don't pull the strap, lift your bottom, put your feet in the strap, and then we want to get it a little bit lower so you're right in the middle of the foot there. Lower heels, let the shop's fall between your knees so your knees are slightly open. Do maybe two extensions, two frogs out and and get a feeling of the springs. Now on that extension, you're going to go lower. To do that again, go low.

She's going into short spine. She'll lift her bottom up. Good. Getting the carriage in, keeping her arms longer. Neck Long. Bend your knees, lower your seat, leave your feet and stretch or really get a nice long back. Bend your knees and then when you come down to come down, start again. Benji's and I want you to actually take a pause and counted to before you go get one, two and then go out.

Lift up. Good. Now the carriage is, and she's going to bend her knees. She got drop her seats but leave her feet. So I want to kind of stretch you. Can I get your leg? There we go. Nab. Bring the heels down and roll your seat down. Remember, you're going to count to two. So let's drop those heels. So you're here to start. Good. I'm going to challenge that.

You're going to push out. I'm going to have her pause to go out and I want you to try to lift your bottom, not your legs. More seat. That's it. Keep going. Now take the legs with you. That's it. Beautiful. That's powerhouse. And Bend your knees. Drop the seat. Leave your feet. [inaudible] kind of arrest.

We're going to, I'm going to show you why. Push out. Lift your bottom up. That is so you're coming up as a unit as opposed to just the legs. Then the seat. Bend your knees. So what I want her to think about as she's rolling down is getting that spine to articulate. So you're here and then the middle back, not so much the legs. Get you back down. That's it. See, you're stretching your spine. Short spine, special short being in the lower back. Bend your knees come down. Good.

One more time. Legs and hips up. And I'm gonna actually say that again. I'm going to have you do it one more time. Bend your knees, roll down. When you go on that extension to go out, bring your heels down. You need to go a little lower with the heels, so you're coming up off the runway like an airplane.

You wouldn't already start up. That was better. Good. These are not easy to do correctly and rest. Okay? She's going to go into her, her coordination, which means she'll need to take those straps off her feet, hold the handles as well so they don't fall into you. They should really grab those handles, one in each hand and make sure you're kind of against the shoulder pads but not squish. So if you need to put your feet down to get yourself adjusted, do so. Bring your knees into your chest.

You're going to be in a plotty stance or heels together, toes apart. She's going to bend her elbows and put them on the mat. You're going to glue your elbows to your rib cage and that's where they're going to stay on the mat and to your ribs. She's going to add her head, living, lifting, head and chest. Now you're going to take your arms dropped into the mat. As you stretch the legs, can you curl hold so you're curly into that stomach pulling in now open the legs, close the legs, bend your knees, Bend your arms, keeping your head up the whole time. Now stretch out. Deep breath in.

Curl up, up. There we go. Bend the knees all the way into the years and arms up and inhale out. Girl Up. Good knees, arms, deep breath in. Stretch out. Let me see that lift. Very be nice. Open, close. Exhale in one more time. Inhale, stretch. You've got it.

Bend those knees. Bend those arms and arrest. You're going to put the straps on the hooks behind you. She's gonna sit up, drop a spring and grab your boxes. Getting ready for long, or you're pulling straps and she's going to set it up in the long position. Good. She's going to end up lying on her stomach. She'll grab her straps. I like you to grab the handles and you slide them up and you'll hold on pretty high and then you're gonna end up with them on the outside of the carriage getting ready to pull those straps. Now for for traditional plies, you're actually need to be much further back, so you want your shoulders on top of the box, right?

There's different variations, but traditional plot is your on the box. Your shoulders are on the box is pretty good. She could still be back a little bit. All right, your legs are long, your arms are long. She's going to reach down and pull up towards her hips. Keep your chest down though. [inaudible] this is an arm exercise, good powerhouse exercise. Now lift your head a little bit and crack a walnut between your shoulders.

Roll those shoulders back and hold. Since she's hugging between those wings, two, three and all the way down. Good and reached down. This is the toughest part, right? When you get here, you have to roll those shoulders back even more. That's where I want it. She's really working two, three and lower. Last one. Reached down and hold. Now find it. Where are those shoulders? That's it. Two, three and lower. Still holding the handle.

She's going to slide her hands to the end of the straps for teas. So slide your hands all the way down to the end of the leather. That's it. And then you'll take your arms out to this side and a t position. Same kind of hug between the shoulders, but now you're in a t position. Bring the arms back and then she's got to once again, try to crack that walnut. You can lift your head a little bit more, even more.

Lift those ribs and hold two, three open. There was bring yourself down to rest. But keep the arms up. I shouldn't say that. No resting right and tomorrow reach back. Now crack a walnut between those shoulders. Roll. I'm rolling. Rolling. And bring yourself back in. You've got Walmart time, arms up, high reach. Hold, Choo.

I'm going to give her a little more range. Shoulders, that's it. Haul three and come back in. Take your handles on one hand. Um, make sure that you let go the actual leather. But just holding the handle so they can fall. That one got kinked, it'll help you out there. And then she's going to step off to the side, add a spring as she rounds back up to standing. Okay?

Okay. So you're going to adjust those handles behind your back, one on each hand without twisting them, which did really good. I'm gonna have you move pretty far forward. Your feet are here. There's a traditional way of getting home, but for today you're going to lie down just however you can comfortably without looking out of control, which he did, and he look very nice. Okay? Bring your knees into your chest. You're going into a backstroke exercise. You're going to have your hands above your forehead, knees open. Good.

So this is where your arms and legs are gonna follow each other. You're lifting into here. You're going to take your arms and like straight up to 90 degrees, and then you're going to open the legs and arms at the same time. Swing them around or reach for those toes in your hundred position. And you're going to hold that for two counts. One, two bending. Comment.

So this is smooth. Inhale up one and six counts. Exhale two together. Three, hold for reach for me. Five bend in six. I'm going to come behind you. Inhale up one, exhale, open two. Inhale, reach three. I want you to hold that. Get the chest open more. Get those shoulders down. Good. Reaching forward. Add Bandon, come in. And one more time. Inhale one. Exhale, two together.

Three, lower those legs up. You better do that again. Have one. Open two together. Hold, hold and come back in. Very nice. Take your handles in one hand. Sit Up and drop. One spring. Supposed to do that with that touch. You don't know. Alright, so you're going to adjust the handle so they're back and in two hands. That's okay. We'll work on that. There is definitely a smooth way.

You're supposed to actually come up into a teaser, but you haven't learned all that yet. Move backwards. Just a little sea of support. Not too far, not too far. That's probably too far. Just in NASA that your bottom support, that's fine. Let yourself just relax. So your legs are long, your neck is long. Good. So what she's gonna do, she's on one spring. She's going to come up into a teaser. So keeping the palms just like they are, you're going to curl up like a roll up.

Keep the hands close to your hips. Lift your legs, lift your back. Looks like you are too far forward. He feel okay right there. Come all the way down. Tuck your chin to your chest as you rule down like you would on the mat. Yeah. Do you move backwards? Just a little bit. There we go. Alright.

And you'll feel that when you come up, you ought to make sure you have good support. Curl your chin. Come up into position now. Stay Tall. Now, not so much energy in those feet. Lower the arms to the hips. Keep yourself tall. Lift the arms towards your ears. Three times one. Where's your center? Are you sitting on two hips or just one hip? Oh, there we go. Two and one more time and 30 everything comes down.

Tuck your chin. Bring yourself down. Nice and graceful. Very nice. She's going to do the same thing. Same thing again. One more set. Okay, let's actually do two more sets and now curl up. Good. Good. Take your time. Stay in control of it. Who down to the hips. Up to the years. The higher their arms go, a little more challenging.

It becomes. But keep those legs up and up and everything down together all the way and arrest. Good. Just up and down with the arms. Curl up, Chin Up. Get your position first. Get your balance, get to control. Now begin lowering and lifting three times one. As you're moving, you're thinking about staying tall. To keep that those legs up. Three, she's ready to come down and rest. Normally you would just drop the shop's behind your head. I'm going to take hers cause it'll get loud on this wood floor.

She's ready to turn her box for her shorts box series. So first she'll flip, flipped her box. She's going to add one spring and she's going to grab her pad and her bar next. And she's setting up for her short box series. Good. And so the bar can just go underneath your knees for now.

And then what you're going to do is put the strap on your foot. Your feet will be hip with the part flex that got a little snag. And then you want to be a hands with from the back. So you'll need to move backwards. Good. So hands with [inaudible] so you got good hands with not too far.

And then she's gonna go into a hug position round yourself forward into a c. So here's where you start. Okay, so you're in a nice rounded position. Got Her back in a nice round back. So staying around it so you stay scooped. You're going to start to go backwards. As she goes back. She, you keep your feet flex, but you hug those hips to squeeze. Get your bottom tuck.

I want you to stop right there. Now I want you to come up, pull in. That's it. Keep pulling and use those arms. Pull them in there we go. Hugging herself. Okay. And Go back and we're just going to spot her back here and see what she's doing. So I'm looking at her placement.

She could get that waist to pull back more by hugging her bottom more. And now she has to come up. Very good. See how nice and round she's staying. And inhale, go back, curl under. Find that box with that lower back. Can you fill it up and how could good and that come back up all the way forward.

Last time. I think I said one more time before, but that's okay. You'll do it again. Okay. And bring herself forward. Rounding into grab your bar, move back a little instead of tall. Take your arms straight up. Hinge back, so flat that be conscious of staying on both hips.

Come back up and lengthen. Now we want to keep your arms more in your peripheral, so bring your arms forward. So here's that imaginary window. You want to be able to see your window. You'll always want to see it. Okay, good. Fill this in. Now she's in. And what's called the flat back. Squeeze your seat. Good. Now keep your gaze forward. That's it. That's far enough. No, come up.

And as she rises, she's trying to stretch. Lean forward a little bit up but not out. So get those ribs in little bit more right in here. Can you feel that up? There we go. And shoulders down, hinge back, forward stretch. And that's enough. Rushed your arms, lift your arms, lean forward. Keep those legs soft.

Fill this up more almost. There it is. Now Bend to the right as far as you can. So not a twist. You're going to just bend sideways, stretch your left side out. Keep your head and chest open. So head up high. You keep your head open. There we go. And then you're going to come back up.

Can't keep your head up in here. Okay, and over, I want to grab her hip so she gets more stretched. But can you lift your back up? Taller? Open your chest. So tall. There we go. You feel the difference and then come back up. She just fixed it. So sometimes it's really easy to kind of hunch your back. You want to keep it tall.

But those ribs together over good and left. And now double time and over two, three up to three as you moved all at your hips, lift with you, keep them on the mat and up to three and last one to the left. Pull those ribs in ag. Come back up, restaurants. Good. Take your arms back up now your twist. Okay, so remember where here's your window. Good. Okay. She's got her window. She can see it now she's going to hug those hips.

You're gonna twist from the waist, keeping both hips on the mat. Get those ribs in. Now she's going to shift to the right. Go as far as you can without losing your hip and then come back up in that angled position. Center yourself back out. We take a little rest if you need to by relaxing your shoulders and your heads to keep the arms up. Now twist to the left. Good. She's nice and tall. I'm going to lean her forward because she needs to fill up in here.

So fill this in the other way, right there. Almost. There it is. Okay. Tricky. Now shift to the left this way. There we go. So both sides are long. Feel how long your left side is. So as your right now come back up, lengthening through the waist, come back to the center. Shoulders your laxed. Lean a little forward. That's where I want you to start each time. Nat. Good. She fixed her. Her powerhouse twist. Look where you're going.

Shift. Stay on that left hip though. Keep that left hip down. Oh, there we go. And now come back up and sent her out. And last one twist. So keep those hips downs very hard. Go to where you can without losing that part of it is getting this to fill up. Way Back in here and it'll feel like you're rounding. There we go.

See how strong you are now. So much more support now come back up, lift your back, center out, lower your arms and stretch yourself out for a second. Good. Come back up. I'm going to have you put that bar underneath your legs. Take a leg, get ready for your tree. Hold your thigh and do three stretches. So you're sitting tall. To do these. Sit a little bit on your right hip. Good. And then stretch. So three kicks, one and two, and one more. Three.

Walk up your leg round into your, see if you can put your head on your leg. Do so good. Not your ears on your ear, your your shoulders on your ears. Okay, you're ready. You're going to take yourself back. If you need to adjust your hip, do it before you go back. We all, we always usually do. You've got your flex splits for support. You've got that pelvic curl. You've planted your tree. You walk down, you climb, and you come right back up. I don't want you to go all the way back. Come all the way up. I lift and grow tall. Okay, so keep those hips and squares.

You can and you do that when you go back. So as you go back, don't let your hips change the drop your head. Get yourself as close to that and he as you can. There we go. Good. Now you and your leg are going for a ride. You go back, you curl your bottom powerhouse. Good. She's got a nice deep connection going. Now the leg stays here as you go down, tabletop stop you.

Everybody tends to lose a little powerhouse here. That's where you have to engage and then you come back up. Very nice. Good. Now sit up Tulsa. Do that one more time. Shoulders. Take it back. Here comes that engagement right here is where you have to reconnect your seat.

Lower back. Find it again before you come up. Very good. Come on up and now stretch it up. Where's your back? There it is. Now. Flexing 0.3 times one. As you're flexing, like see you're back working on stretching and rest. Okay. Other leg. Good job. Alright, so lean a little bit forward. So you're on top of, yeah, if you need a move a little bit, do that. And then you start with three stretches. One, two and three. Ready? Kick one tall two and walk up.

Head down flexed. Let's get yourself parallel here. You see your knee there? Yeah, she was starting to roll in so she fixed it. That'll throw your hip placement off. So keep your knees. You remember staying with that leg. There we go. Curl your hips. So you Tuck, you go down, you come right back up. Get that deep connection.

Very good. The other side taught you a lot forward. Sit up tall. Do you feel like you need to move that left hip forward? Okay, so do that. If you're feeling like you're off, fix it. You want to get to the point where you don't have anything to fix with your hips, especially as you go back and come up there. You Go. Much better. Your alignment looks better.

[inaudible] she got a good connection going here. She's really working that lower powerhouse as she's moving. Lift. So one more time. So really pay attention to those hips as you move. Yep, that'll happen. Good. That's it. That's it. Keep the leg there. Good. Now she's coming on. Sure. There's lots of fancy stuff here.

You can do some backbends and stuff like that, but let's really work powerhouse today. Really Tall. Aha. That's it too. She's kind of feeling her left hip, wanting to pull to figure it out. Where are you? That's it. Sit on it a little bit. [inaudible] and three at rest. Good job. Okay. They teach you a lot. Don't these exercise. All right, let's have you step off. Get rid of your box and your bar. We'll just put those behind you and you're getting ready for actually, we'll keep this pad. What am I doing?

You're going to put your headrest up and you want your pad on top of the headrest and you want to lift your bar. You're setting up for long stretch series so far up, and then you're going to go ahead and step on into your long stretch position, so hand, foot, hand, foot. So one hand, one foot on the headrest headdress back here, and then on another arm and then the other foot. So you're basically right in position. Ready to go? She's got those ribs lifted. Squeeze your seat, open her chest, nice and long. Ready? You're going to use your arms. She's going to push backwards.

Keep that connection down here so you squeeze you. She comes forward, one straight line all the way, and keep your chest open, shoulders of the bar, and breathe in and exhale all the way in yourself. Strong in those ribs. Keep them up. One more time back and all the way in. Open, open, open. There we go. That's enough lower to your knees and place your feet against those shoulder pads. Hips forward, chest open for down stretch, and you're gonna drop your head as you go backwards. You're going to lift your head as you come in.

But I want to see you lifting in your waist and squeezing back here so you have good strength. And Inhale, drop. Exhale in open and stretch. Really get those shoulders back. Very nice. Walmart. Inhale back. Exhale all the wind. Where's your tummy lifted up? Up, up, up, up. And that's enough. Stand on your toes. So you're going to first stand up and you're gonna put your heels against the shoulder pads. So you're going into an up stretch. Good.

She's got a nice c going. So see how nice and rounded she's lifted in here. She's not going to push out with her arms. She's gonna use your bottom and her hips push out in her legs. So push till you can't push anymore. Keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing. And then lower your hips.

Open your chest and you're going to bring yourself and ready. Squeeze. Now come in and in and you can't go. It feels like you're gonna fall and it run back up. Hold ready to go again. So nice and easy. Push out. That's it. Now where are those ribs in your seat? There's your powerhouse.

Now try to bring your shoulders to the bar without dropping too low. Drop your head and come back it. Good. One more time. And out. Chest. Open ribs and seat. That's it. Good powerhouse. Very nice. And go to a flat foot through your elephants. All right, nice and easy. Ready? So I want to see more lift here.

Keep that lift. There you go. Dragged in two, three. So you lost me. Where's my hand there? That's the connection. You need to stay in there. Aha. Now I wanna see three smooth counts coming in. So is not in and out. Two, three in long legs. One, two, three. In. So think of your heels down and your toes up. That's better. Last one, okay. To now, if you're going to step to the floor round up and you're going to add one spring. Actually you should add the spring bed roundup.

Okay? You're also going to bring your pad down or get it situated so that you are ready for your stomach massage. So she back to her three springs that she started with. With what works. Are you going to sit down feet on the bar, hands on the edge of the mat into a c curve. Now if you can move closer, do so, so you don't feel like you're gonna fall backwards and that you can keep lifting those hips up and over our it. Begin push out lower lift, bend, come in out. Can you lift your back more and stretch forward more? Two out in three. I want you to hold the out for a moment.

Go out. So right here you could be wherever here. There we go. That's where I want you got it now lower lift your heels good and come back in. That's it out. You get a nice stretch that way. [inaudible] three you feel it? K and N, four out in five. I can see you falling back. There you go. Good job.

Six now a little bit quicker on the end and in seven out in eight out in nine. Out and in. Stay in. Take your arms back. Sit up tall. Shift yourself forward. He slipped back a little bit. Now you're gonna try to stay tall the whole time. The legs do the same thing. So out you go lower.

Lift the heel then and come in one out. So quick on the end to lower lift three is good. Footwork two, four. Can you drop those heels any lower? If you need to open up your heels. Do so, so your knees don't knock. That's it. Better vibe out and in six and seven low grow tall in your back. That's it.

Eight out. Lower in last one out. Lower in as she going to drop one springs. You should go down to two springs. Arms up slowly go out, come back and it'll lift your back. So ideally, keep going as you don't want to slide on. These you want to stay where you started and she slipped back a little bit, which will happen. That's it. And our stay in. Now you're going to go out and twist to the right, so ready out.

Now you're falling back. Can you LE, there we go. See you're on top of those hips. Out stared half of those hips and in there you can open up the heels a little so those knees don't knock out or hold or you're on top of your hips. Now you are do that again out. It's really easy to fall back. Good. Last one.

These are all of these exercises are exercises for a reason. Okay, step off, get rid of your pad. You can stay on those two springs and let's go ahead and just go straight to your kneeling knee stretch series. So you're going to kneel down with your hands on the bar. Sit back towards your heels, get a good c. You can sit back a little further right there. Relax your neck, your head is hanging. Get the lift here. Okay, so arms are long. Push with your legs out. One.

Sit on your heels. Think of actually sitting way back there. More [inaudible] for five so head just drops six so you're getting your lower back. Really round seven, eight lift your head back. Keep pushing on and open up your chest like a squat. Sit Way back there. Stay back there. Three and N. Four out open five way back. Good job.

Seven. One more. Stay at round. Back into your seats. Who come all the way in or around? Drop your head. Shift your weight forward because you're getting ready for your knees off. Okay, so nice and easy. Take it easy here out. Stay in control. What? Where's your round? That back. There we go.

These are really not easy. These ones that gravity wants to arch your backs. You have to really work. She's doing great. Rounding five, six but shift forward a little. That's it. Seven get that Tuck. Eight if you can do mu two more, go for it. Nine trying to go for 10 and rest. You will burn on these, right? Okay. You're going to add, you're going to step off out of spring. Lie Back Down, getting ready to cool down. Going into walking. And running.

So back to your toes, hands at your side. Go ahead and extend out and begin walking. Get that placement. Get your spine long. Start to cool down. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, light eight a light in the neck, light in the shoulders, nine 10 put that into your run. One, two, three, a little bit quicker. Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. You worked really hard. Come back in. Put your feet on the corners of the bar. You'll stay there. So one foot on each of the, on the bar for your pelvic lift there.

Now you know where we are. You're on your arches. Good. You're going to curl. Just your hips up. Keep your neck, relax your shoulders. Relax your arm. No, not quite so high. So keep your ribs on the mat there regardless. So just the lower four vertebrates. And then you're going to stretch out to keep the hips up the whole time as you straighten the leg. So you're back on those three spring still.

You stretch and then you're going to bring yourself back in you, Andy, about six times. I want you to go down lower here. Way Down there. There we go. [inaudible] thirsty on my hand and out. Okay. Do you work out? Stretch, stretch, stretch. Control it in though tomorrow. Stretch at all.

Let those springs bring you a nice and easy, easy, easy, easy. Last one, I may see your control. That's it. Stay in slowly. Bring yourself down and you are done. So you may step off. Very nice. And that concludes the full session. Okay.