Traditional Reformer Flow

Hi, my name's Adrianne, and I'm gonna be teaching, most likely, more of an advanced reformer work out. We're on the Gratz machines today. And I've got two lovely ladies who are gonna be my students. So, I'm gonna have them go ahead and lie down on the reformer. Being that it's advanced, you should know your springs.

Do you generally work on three or four springs? Three? You're about three as well. And if you have any knee injuries, you wanna lighten the springs and or go parallel. Okay, so, I'm gonna have you turn out.

Heels together, toes apart. So in your Pilate's stance, unless, do you have any knee issues? Nope. Okay. So, go into a wide, wide turn out.

And both of you may begin. You're gonna keep your knees liked with your hips, and begin to extend. Basically, you're warming up. So I'd like you to try to keep this kind of rhythmic and moving together, two. Going out and in 10 times, three, four.

Breath internally. So we don't really wanna hear it as much. Five. Breathing. Six.

Don't let your knees go wider than your shoulders. So, keep them, there you go. And you wanna get that nice long flat spine. Are we on eight? Okay, nine, 10.

And now you're gonna quickly transition to your arches. Again, this time your feet are together, as well as your knees. You're gonna extend out and in 10 times. As you're moving, I wanna see you get long, getting that nice imprint. So pulling in through the navel and up.

Nice, with your chest, nice and open, necks are nice and long, shoulders are relaxed. Wrapping those toes. Four. Out and in. Five.

Together, in. Are you getting that wrap on the out? So once you're out there, you get that nice squeeze and wrap. And that's enough. Let's go to your heels.

Flex your feet, and extend out and in. Right. So the idea is to keep the movement, especially with the Gratz machines, you wanna keep the movement going, so when we get to the next exercise, you transition without really stopping. Get a nice flexion as you come in, so pull those toes to your knees. Zipping up the legs as you're moving.

Seven, hopefully you're keeping count. Not doing more than 10. Unless you like a little extra there. (laughs) All right, let's come in and go back down to your toes. You're gonna go back into that Pilate's stance, this time not as wide.

Out you go, going into a tendon stretch. So you're gonna begin to stay out there this time and lower the heels, and lift, lift, lift the heels, and lower, and lift. So as you're doing these, you wanna keep in mind that navel, not letting it pop up. So you're pulling in and getting a nice wrap in those thighs. Three, and four.

We got a delivery going on. He's gonna have to go around this side. Nothing like live. (laughs) Six, so I want you to try to fill this up. Seven, so pull your hips back, good.

Seven, lifting, lowering. Eight, nine. And now, when you come in, you're immediately going to grab your straps. So go ahead, start to bring yourselves in, take your straps, and if you're able and know how to take the bars down, go for it. Otherwise, I will help you.

Gratz's are a little bit different than, obviously, Balance Body. The bar isn't gonna move as easily. So, there we go. So, both of you stay on the same springs. You're gonna go ahead and get right into position.

So legs are extended out into about a 45 to 60 degree angle. Lift your head and chest at the same time, and begin breathing. Five, out. Long breath in. Lower your chest a little bit.

Pull your shoulders out so you're reaching. In two, three, four, five. Out two, three, four, five. Now, the more advanced you are, you're gonna always lower those legs. But it really depends on how strong you're feeling in that particular day.

I'm gonna actually have to your in a little bit. There we go. Out two, three, four, five. Get a nice zip up through those legs. So squeeze.

And out, two, three, four, five. In, two, three, four, five. Out, two, three, four, five. Good, checking your alignment. Both of you are doing great breathing.

Two, three, four. Getting tired? Good, warming up, one more. Three, four, five. And out, two, three, four, five.

Let's go ahead and bring yourselves back in. You're gonna take your straps in one hand, you're gonna drop down to two springs. So you're gonna stay on two springs. You take one spring off to do so. And generally, with Gratz, we're gonna work from the inside out.

There we go. Okay, so now, you're also gonna take your headrest down. Shoulda told you that. Good. All right, so now you have the straps in one hand.

Go ahead and extend your legs out on the reformer, so they're gonna be all the way out. Getting ready for an overhead. Okay, so now, as your arms coming down, your legs go over your head, about 45 degrees behind you, maybe 60, I should say. Over, and then you give it a nice kick up, control it, reach with those arms, squeeze your seats, and slowly bring your selves down so you're articulating. Bring your toes towards your nose as you come down.

Arms and legs go down. So legs go down, arms are now up. So, ready? Same time. Arms down, legs over, big kick up, squeeze your seat, use it, push those hips forward.

There you go. Now start to curl down. So let your toes drop towards my hand. There we go. So think of your thigh as skimming your chest as you come down.

Arms up as the legs go down. Ready? Nice and controlled. Arms down, legs over, one, jackknife up, two, control it. Come on down, thee, four, five, six.

Two more. Arms down, one, legs over, lift, two, jackknife, three. Come on down, four. Keep reaching with those arms. Five and six.

Las time, over, one. Big lift, get those toes to the ceiling. And bring it down. Control it. Good job.

And all the way down. Hopefully, you felt those in your abdominals. Very nice. Bring your knees into your chest and place your elbows on the mat at your side, going into a coordination exercise. So now your back in that Pilates stance, heads are up.

Elbows are glued to the mat and glued to your ribs. You're gonna reach with your legs all the way out, stretch. Let's get you curled into that sternum. Let's bring your legs a little higher so you have support. Very good.

No, open close the legs. Bend your knees first, arms last. Keeping the heads up the whole time, inhale, stretch out, one, open close, two, exhale, three, four, five and six comes the arms. And reaching, one, open close, knees into those ears, elbows bent. One more time.

Reach out long, stretch, get a nice curl up, and knees all the way in, let those knees open. And now bend the arms, and rest. Let's go ahead and take your straps, once again, in one hand. You're gonna sit up and drop down to one spring. And then you're actually gonna turn around for a rowing series.

Place your feet inside the shoulder pads. And you do wanna move back a little bit, 'cause you want just about a hands width from the back, for you, a little big forward. Very good. You're to take the straps, one in each hand, starting at your sternum, good, sitting tall. You're gonna begin by curling your chins towards your chest, and you're gonna round backwards.

So think of getting those hips underneath you as you go back. Go back. Now, the tricky part is getting those straps to stay above the shoulder pads. Why don't you go back a little bit further. Very good.

Now, stay there with your hips and open the arms to the side. Hold those arms out there. Now here's the hard part. You don't want anything to move but your arms. Move the arms back, back.

Not your heads, just the arms. Then when you can't go any further, go ahead and round forward, hands together, reach up and touch your toes. So you will stay down now. Okay, so, let's do that again. So, you're starting at your sternums, you start tall.

Now you drop your chins, and you start to fall backwards. Get those hips underneath you. That's it. Now take the straps, open up the arms, flip your wrists. Good, both of you did.

Now you're gonna pull back with those arms, round over towards your hips. And now take those arms up. I'm gonna give you a nice stretch. And circle, and reach for your toes. Pulling in.

Let me have you move a little bit forward. You slid back a bit. Andrea, you're good. All right, so, ready? Now that you kinda know where we're going with this, you're gonna do it a little bit quicker.

So starting from the sternum, chins down, hinge back. One, open the arms on two, push back without moving, three, then you come back, four, lift the arms, five, reach for the toes, touch them, six. So, again, one more time. Ready? Chins to the chest, hinge back, one.

Keep going back, hinge back. There we go, now open the arms out. Stay right here, don't move. Just the arms, push back with those arms. Push back, push, push, push.

That's it. Now round over. Touch, lift, reach for those toes. All right. Sitting up tall once again.

This time you're gonna take your hands up to 90 degrees so the elbows are up lined with your shoulders. Staying in a nice, tall, flat spine, you're gonna hinge back 'til you can't hinge anymore, keeping those feet level, keeping them down. And then you're gonna come up really tall, take the arms up with you, reach upwards, drop your chins towards your chest, nose to the knees, flip the hands, and skim the carriage. So you're gonna pull back toward your hips. Arms will be straight.

Try to get those hands to touch together. Try to keep them as close together as you do a big circle, lift, and reach for the toes. That's it. All right, so again, up at 90 degrees, sitting tall. Hinge back, one.

Keep going, keep going. That's it, now come up. Reach for the ceiling, drop your head, stretch. Hands down, pull back, touch those fingers. Very good, arms up, squeeze, and reach for those toes.

Pull in those waists. And one more time, 90 degrees, together, hinge, one, up, two, reach, three, pull back those arms, four, so you should already pull back, touch, five, big circle, up, around, and touch those toes. Very good. Place the straps one on each side of you, and you're gonna turn around and face forward. So you're actually gonna put the straps down.

And let's just put 'em right here. Yeah, because you're gonna end up grabbing them again. So put yours here too. You wanna be able to access them. You're gonna start with your thumbs in the strap.

Good. Sitting up tall, it's called your front rowing. Starting from your chest, you're gonna lift the arms up, one. You're sitting against the shoulder pads but not squished. And lower the arms, two, staying tall.

Take the arms up, three. And what you're working on as those arms go down, is you're growing taller in your spine, up, and up, and up. So, from the chest, breathing, inhale, one, exhale straight down, two, inhale up, three, and circle around, four, five, squeeze your seats, six. One more time. Inhale, one, exhale down, two, inhale, three, circle, four, five, six, immediately round your backs and drop your heads.

Flex your feet. You're gonna keep the hands as close to the mat as you can and skim it as you reach for your toes. Stretch all the way out, pull those ribs back, keep reaching with your arms as you stack your spine one vertebra on top of the other. Sit up tall. Heads are up, chests are open.

Deep breath in. (inhales sharply) And now grow tall, tall, tall. From the hips, and stretch, one. Keep reaching, keep reaching. Go ahead and pull by back with your waist, so your head stays down. Come back down.

Pull backwards with that waist. Great, keep pulling back as you sit up. Good. Now take the arms up, and then circle and open, so there's resistance going on. Drop your heads, stretch, one.

You reach out as you pull back. Keep reaching, keep reaching, and lift, and lift, and lift, and arms up, and big circle, and rest. Cross your legs one on top of the other. Good. You can adjust your hands, so put your fingers inside the straps.

Going into a shaving, so your arms are gonna come up and behind your head in a diamond shape. You're gonna lean into it, so you're tall but flat, so a nice flat back. Your hands try to bring them towards the base of your neck. Good. Now you reach out, stretch all the way, get those arms nice and long.

And bend again, five times, and reach. Let's lean you back just a little bit here, and in. So you just basically think of skimming that ponytail, reach, and bend, come as low as you can, and now reach. There you go. Good. Grow taller.

One more time. Stretch out, hold, open and sit up tall. So now you're in a hug position. Recross your legs. Breathing, you're gonna inhale as you close, (inhales sharply) and exhale.

Stay tall. Elbows up, no floppy arms. Inhale together, (inhales sharply) and exhale. One of you is smiling. Inhale. (inhales sharply) and exhale, now both of you.

Now hold that, keep those elbows up, and reverse your breathing, so exhale this time. (inhales sharply) And inhale, exhale, and inhale. Thank you for that saline. And exhale, and inhale. Very nice.

Let's put your straps on those hooks behind you. You are gonna step off. You are gonna stay on that one spring, and you're gonna grab your boxes. You won't need those pads just yet. And you're gonna set up for long box, so where you're gonna go into pulling straps.

So you stay on your one spring. Good, you've got your straps. You're gonna lie on your stomachs so your heads are towards the, let's get you straight here, towards the headrest there. And then you're gonna take the handles and walk up the straps so that they're nice and tight, so you have one in each hand. So you'll actually hold this handle at the same time.

So you just go like that. Somewhere where it's comfortable. Yes, exactly. All right. Just gonna check your positionings.

Get a nice good grip, keeping your hands on the outside of the carriage. Now you're gonna reach down, feet are together, and pull up towards your hips. Start to life your chest just a little bit. Open up your chest, try to hug those shoulders back. So squeeze between here.

And let's just count to one, two, three, and bring yourselves down. Now, you are way to far forward. For classical, we want you way back, so that your shoulders are right on top of the mat there. Okay, so again, you're gonna reach down, pull back, hold. Now the tricky part, get those shoulders to roll back, pull up into that powerhouse and hold.

Hold, and release. All right. If you got a weaker arm, that's the side you're gonna have to really work on as you move. Reach down and pull back. Much better, and hold, two, three, and lower.

Very, very nice. Slide your hands down to the end of the straps, stilling holding the handles, going into a T. Take your arms out to the side, so don't pull just yet. You wanna start in. Yeah, so the carriage hasn't gone anywhere.

Now just lift the arms out to the side. Now that they're up, keep them up. Reach back just like you just did, and hug those shoulders back. This time lift your ribs, lift your head and chest, and hold, hold, hold, and bring yourself in. But keep tension on the straps by keeping them up the whole time.

Way up here. That's where you should start and finish. Ready, and reach back. And now roll those shoulders back. That's it. Hold.

Let's get you a little longer here. Squeeze, and open. Keep those arms up as you come in. That's it. Last time.

That's we only do three. Reach back, hold, two, three. And bring it back in. Go ahead, grab your straps in one hand. Let's go ahead and swing your legs to the side.

You can go this way. And you're gonna drop your heads, add one spring, so you're stepping off. Add one spring, you're setting up for your backstroke. You're gonna round yourselves to standing, and then just straps behind your back, so you're still standing. 'Cause there's a transition here that you don't know yet, that you're gonna sit down.

So you wanna place one foot on the bar and sit right on the edge of the mat, so way up here. Way up here. Because what you'll end up doing is getting yourself centered. So make sure you move over. Get yourself centered, both feet on the bar so that you can lie down with your knees in and your hands above your forehead.

So go ahead and lie down. So should we try that again. Yes. Okay. Step off. (laughs) Now that you know what you're doing.

Okay, so you've just adjusted your straps, and your goal is to be able to lie down on there with your tailbone right on the edge. So that means you have to place a foot on that bar, move yourselves a little bit forward. Uh-huh, yes, get yourself centered, lie down right into position. Okay. Now take your arms and legs up together, backstroke.

Open the arms and legs together. Now you reach for your toes and hold for two counts. Let's put your palms down like that, and hold, one, two, and then come back in. This is a breathing exercise, so you're gonna inhale on the up. (inhales sharply) Exhale open, inhale reach for your toes, and hold, one, reach, two.

And exhale, come back in, three. Inhale, one, open, exhales, two, inhale reach and hold, three, four, five, bend in, six. Reverse that order. Reach out, one, towards me, squeeze your seat, lean a little bit over here. That's it.

And now open the arms and legs, lift them together, together bend down. And two more times, reaching out, one, hold, hold, open, lift, together, and bend. Last one, right away, reach, one, hold, hold, open, lift, together. Let's do one more just to make it nice and smooth. Reaching, one, hold, hold, open, lift, together, and bend.

All right, very nice. Take your straps in one hand. You're gonna sit up without touching the reformer into a teaser position and drop one spring. So you're balancing. Using those powerhouses, you're gonna turn around, you will have to use your hand a little bit.

And then you're gonna lie down in a nice open position. So you will adjust the straps so you have one in each hand. This one you might have to get yourself a little more centered and possibly move back, just a little, so you have support for your seat. Okay, so hands are gonna be actually on the outside. Mm-hm.

And you're gonna roll up into a teaser. So it's a roll up on the mat. So I should see this gap here filling up as you come up, so the gap between your back and the mat. Ready? Nice and smooth, start to curl up using your arms, chins towards your chest, peel up into a teaser.

Now you're gonna sit as tall as you can, not using just your quads, try to relax them. Lower the hands down towards your hips and up towards the ears, three times, one. The idea here is to try to get to the ears. Two, way up here. Smooth on that down with the control.

Three, everything's gonna curl down together, and you're gonna take a rest, but not for long. And then you're gonna come back up, and you're getting ready for some circles. Peel up, use that powerhouse, together, hold. Now you're gonna open the arms out and circle up three times. One, lift those hips, two, relax your legs a little, that'll help you.

Three, one more time. Come up with the arms, and everything goes down together, like a roll down. Very nice. Now the tough ones are the reverse circles because that's where gravity really takes over. Ready?

Peel up, back up into your teasers, hold. Sit up really tall, a little less energy here. Now arms go down, circle around, and back up towards the ears. Up one, use that breathing, down. Exhale up. (exhales sharply) Two, I'm gonna move.

And exhale, three, everything comes down together, and rest. I'm gonna have you both go ahead and take your straps still, step off, so take your straps in one hand, step off. Both of you are gonna step off. Grab a mat. You're gonna add that to the front here.

And then you're gonna put your straps on the hooks. Actually, you know what, put them in the well. Let's just get rid of the straps. And then you're gonna add one spring, and let's do your swan on the barrel. Yeah, so always on the outside.

Very good. So what you're gonna do is you're gonna lie on your stomach in a frog position. So your feet are on the black bar. Your knees will be open. And you're gonna be kinda right on your hip bones.

And the hard part is just getting in a comfortable position that is not hurting you. Heels will remain together, your heads will drop. Your arms are down. So this is called swan on the barrel. And what you're gonna do is first come up into an arch.

So take the arms up, and do a little arch back. And now you're gonna straighten your legs by pushing out, go down with the chest, reach your body long, so really stretch, take a nice deep breath in, you're going into an arch. Exhale, stay long with the legs and arch back. Stretch, reach forward with the arms and head, bend your knees, slide yourself back in. There's two ways.

You can keep the knees inside. I prefer my knees on the outside. I'm not able to do that. All right, ready? Again, a little arch back.

So deep breath in, arms come up, you arch back, you're not pushing out just yet, just a little arch. Good. And now straighten your legs, drop your chest, so you're nice and long. Reach with those legs, scoop up the ribs, take a nice deep breath in. (inhales sharply) Now exhale and arch, arch, arch. Good.

Reach forward, drop your chin, so you're long again, bend your knees and come down. So now that you kinda know what you're doing, let's put that into a little more flow. Ready? Starting with the arch, deep breath in, little arch back. Now reach out long with the legs and arms.

Deep breath in, exhale, arch back. Inhale, reach forward, scoop your ribs, bend your knees, and slide back in. Last one, deep breath in, little arch back, (inhales sharply) exhale. Inhale reach out long, get the body long, so lower your chest a bit, get those legs really long. Exhale, stretch back.

Inhale, reach forward, bend your knees, slide back in. Very good. Let's go ahead and have you step off, flip your box into a short box position. So you'll still keep those pads. You're most likely gonna put the box over the shoulder pads.

I think you can do that too. And then you're also gonna wanna place your pad in the middle, and grab a pole. You put the pole in from of the box, and you're setting up for your short box series. So now you're ready to sit down, and we'll put the straps on your feet. They're gonna be hip width apart going into a hug.

So make sure you have that hands width from the back, because that's your support when you're going back. You've got your feet in the right position, they're hip width and flexed. Go ahead and go right into a hug, so round over your waist to begin. So you're gonna actually start here. So there's your C, from the top of the head to the hips, you're nice and rounded.

Shoulders are relaxed. Begin. You're gonna inhale, start to go backwards. Feel those hips. You want them under you.

So you wanna find placement on that barrel. There you go. Now you're gonna come up, pull in, and strength back over the hips. And inhale, back, flex those feet, squeeze your seats, exhales, come back over. Let's add a little back bend here.

So now you're gonna go back into a bend where you actually let your heads go back. So deep breath in, exhale, let your heads fall, open your chest. Good. Now to come up, you've gotta use that powerhouse, deep breath in, chin to the chest, use that waist, pull into it, exhaling, exhaling, exhale. Very nice, one more time.

Inhale, go back. (inhales sharply) Exhale, let your heads drop, get a nice stretch, letting the chest open, now deep breath in, chin curls, now start to pull in. Exhale, exhale, and stretch forward. Grab your bars and sit up tall. Now if you slid too far forward, feel free to move back a little bit. Sometimes we'll move, we'll slide on those.

Okay, arms are straight up into a flat back position, yet still in your peripheral, so slightly forward. There we go. Staying long and tall, you're gonna hinge back. You can go as far as you're comfortable. But if you start to feel a little shaky, that's your signal to come up.

Come up, and stretch. Keep your gaze straight forward, so that your heads don't go with you. You wanna stay in one long spine position, and forward. When you come forward, finish a little bit in front of your hips, so you're gonna finish here. Soft quads, squeeze your seat, let's see you grow tall.

It's a waist, we're looking for the waist to lengthen. And now, hinge. Get those ribs together. More, more, more ribs. Yes! Powerhouse, now come up.

Very good, that was the difference. That was your key stretch. Let's see that one more time. That was good. All right.

So, ready? Hinge. And that's your weakness. When those ribs come out, that's when you're losing that support, especially in your lower back. Very good. Nice and strong.

Up, yes. Stretch, go ahead and lower the arms, bring them right back up, lean forward, going to the right, stretch, come right back up, and to the left, and up. Keep moving. Now pull those ribs together as you come up. You don't wanna stay round in the upper back.

That's up as well. So, tall, and center, over, center. You both can go further. Go ahead and let your hips lift a little bit. So the side that you're going to, go ahead and let that opposite hip lift.

Now hold it for both of you. Can you grow taller? Taller, taller, that's it. So it's a long back, and then come up. So stay long.

It's like painting this big rainbow up on the ceiling, and then come up. Good, one more to each side, and over, tall. Very nice. And up, staying forward. And last one, to each side, finish on your left.

So it looks like you have one more side to do. Yes. And they actually feel really good. All right, rest your arms. I'll have you move back a little bit.

I think you're okay. You're gonna go ahead and take your arms up for a twist, so not both arms are up, you're tall. Lean slightly forward so you're right on top of those hips. Now, not using the legs, but keeping your ribs where they are, you're gonna twist them to the right. Keep the sides long and think of reaching up, you're gonna hinge to the right towards the corner of the machine, pull those ribs together, get that flat back again.

More, more ribs. And then come back up, grow taller, center yourselves out. Shoulders relaxed, lots of work going on in those arms. All right, ready? Twist to the left.

You're keeping yourselves long. So what I like to do is shift my ribs when I move, shift. That's your powerhouse. Now close those ribs more. Good. That's it.

Now come up and stretch taller, and relax. Get ready to go again. Tall, good, and shift those ribs to the right, hinge, hinge, pull your waist in. Good. Powerhouse. Now come back up and keep growing tall.

Sandra, see how much stronger you are. And one more time, twist. Shift the ribs left. Good job, both of you. Very nice, nice and strong.

Come back up, center, and get rid of your bars. You can put those bars back underneath your legs. If you don't feel quite centered, get yourself centered. You're gonna take a leg out. You're getting ready for your trees.

Andrea got a big smile on that one. She knew what was coming. All right, take your right leg out of the strap, grab your thigh, sit as tall as you can. And what will immediately happen when you take that leg out is your hips will shift, so fix it so that your hips align, hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, so your box is square. Go into the three extensions, three stretches.

One, stay tall, so on top of your hips, which means you will have to lean forward, two. Walk up that leg, get your C. If you need to adjust, this is the time, because now you don't want anymore adjusting. Hips are turned out. Okay, get as close to your knee as you can.

That's it, shoulders relaxed. Begin, keeping that leg as close to you as you can, go plan your trees at 90 degrees. Once you've planted your tree, walk down your leg, just to a flat position level with the box, then come back up. Follow that center line, put your nose on your knee. Bring yourself forward.

Are your hips turned out? Good. Now sit up tall. Where's your back? Let's see your back lifting.

That's what I wanna see. Yes, your legs are up, but I wanna see your backs lifting. All right, so ready? Two more times. Drop your head, go back, keep those hips turned out.

They're gonna fight you on it. Walk down, especially if they're tight, and then you're gonna come right back up. All the way, get a little closer to that leg, and now stretch. Good, if you need to relax your knee a little bit to help lift your back, that's more important. One more time.

Drop your nose to knee, let's get those hips turned out. Yeah, if you have to hop it. Go back, go down, hip turned out. That's it, good job. Now come up, noes to the knee, forward you go, keeping that turn out.

Lift your spines, hold your lift, I wanna feel this lift. That's it. Now flex and point your foot three times. One, lift your back, two, reach for your toes, grow taller in your spine, and relax. Switch legs. Okay.

Now you could do this side stretch, but we're gonna move on to the other leg. So now sitting as tall as you can, a little bit more forward, there you are, on top of your hips. Now you go into your three stretches. Lean a little bit this way. That's it.

Now you're centered. Two, three, we all have a different sense of center. You'll wanna hop your left hip forward. I think maybe just a little bit with your left hip. All right, so, when that leg is up, generally, that hip will wanna pull back on you, so you might have to adjust it.

All right, nose to your knee, shoulders down. Let's get shoulder to shoulder square. Okay. And now you're ready. You're gonna go back.

Get those hips underneath you, so use that lower abdominal powerhouse by pulling it in. Go down, walk down your tree, climb your tree, come back up. All the way forward. Now the tricky part, the stretch. You wanna lift your back.

Careful not to fall this way. Come back over here. Lean over here. That's it, now lift, and round your back. And back you go, get those shoulders to relax, walk down your leg, come right back up.

Let's go a little bit quicker now. Staying warm, lift your back. A lot of times when we're right here in this position, we'll tend to lock the opposite leg. So try not to do that, because that's gonna lock everything else up. Okay, one more time.

Drop your heads, shoulders, gonna shift you, and then she's gonna go back, and then she's gonna stretch that left leg, and then she's gonna climb that tree. Uh-huh, go ahead and come forward. Push your left hip forward just a little bit. There you go. Now come up into a lift.

Stretch your backs. Hold the stretch and begin to flex and point your foot, three times. While you're doing that, let me see you continue to lift your backs. Reach for your toes and stretch. Okay, both of you can get rid of your boxes, which I'm sure you'll be happy to do.

(laughs) Those are tedious exercises. You can also get rid of the bar, but keep your pads, 'cause you'll come back to the pad. Good, you're gonna stay on your two springs, and then you're gonna end up lifting your bars up. The pad will go onto the headrest, and your headrest will lift. So let's get your headrests up, and then your bars.

Good, make sure the bars are secured back. Very good. Now you're going into a long stretch position, so to get into position it's hand, foot, hand, foot, right into like a pushup position, so your bottom should be down. You ready? You might have to move the carriage just a little bit.

Thumbs with your fingers. All right, so ribs are up, hips are down, chests are open. I feel more lift here, so squeeze. There you go. Good. And let's go right there.

So if I put a bar here, you're nice and straight. Now you're gonna use your arms, keep those heels up, push back, take a nice deep breath in, exhale, bring your head straight over that bar. Try to get those shoulders over the bar. Yes, now you're gonna move. Inhales, back, exhale, in.

You both can move more, push out. Challenge yourselves. Deep breath in. Exhale, you've got this. It's scary, but you've got it.

And one more time, deep breath in. Pull those ribs, us your seats. Let the shoulders slide down as you come in, in, in, in, in, and lower to your knees. Very nice. Place your feet against the shoulder pads.

Down stretch, so hips are now forward, heads and chests are open, using your arms, but still engaged in the hips. you're gonna push back with your arms, Take a nice deep breath in, let your head drop. Exhale, come in and grow taller. As you're lifting, begin to go into an arched back. Open the chest. Yes.

So now, really push backwards. Inhale, push back. Exhale, come in and open, and stretch. Two more, nice deep breath in. Really get yourselves back, use your bottom, squeeze it as you come in.

Exhale, exhale, exhale, open. Last one, deep breath in and push back. Exhale, come back in. This time you're gonna walk to the tips of your fingers and do a nice extra stretch. Yes.

Shoulders back. And then you're gonna rest. You're gonna stand on your toes for your up stretch. So you're back up onto your feet again, but this time you're up on your toes. We'll go slowly on the first set, and then we'll put the flow into it.

Let's go ahead and shift a little bit forward. Andrea, you're in a good position. You're gonna stop right there, so your shoulders and head are about right here. Your head is tucked, you got a nice round back, so get a good scoop up under here. So she's nice in that C again.

All right, so using, not your arms, but your hips, powerhouse, you're gonna push those legs out 'til they can't go any further. So keep pushing with that powerhouse. Push out with those legs, push out with those legs, push out, lower your hips. Open your chest just like you did a moment ago, but scoop up in here. Bring that carriage in with control.

In, in, in, drop your heads when you feel like you're gonna fall. So get scooped up. Good. There's your powerhouse. Push out with the legs.

Yes. Lower your hips, open your chest, bring that carriage all the way in, in, in. It feels like you're gonna fly forward. And round back up. So keep lifting through here and squeezing through here.

Ready? Again, push out. Okay, let's try it again. Come back into your C. You lost your ribs there. I did.

And you see how different that changes everything. That's good you caught yourself. Push out with the hips, lower the hips. Where's your squeeze? That's powerhouse.

So bottom is a big part of your powerhouse. Now come in, in, in, drop your heads, round back up, and stay up. Go to a flat foot for your elephants. Very good. All right, let's make sure your thumbs stay here so you don't hurt your wrists.

Good. These are actually not as challenging. In other words, it's a nice time to kinda cool down a little bit. Here's a helpful little moment. Push out with the legs, and pull up those toes, and lift your ribs.

Let's take that into three counts. You push out, and you pull in, and three counts in. One, two, three on the end, out. And feel that lift happening up through here. Two, three.

And in, lift, two. There you go, three. Now you're in here. And one, two, three, three more. Try to take it all out of the shoulders.

See if you can take that tension from there and just isolate that powerhouse. In, two, three. And last one, out and in, two, three, enough. Go ahead and step off of the carriage and slowly round yourselves up. Both of you can step, yeah, that's great.

Drop your heads, round up. You'll add a spring, or you'll go back to your original footwork springs. So if you were on three, go to three. If you were on four, go to four. You're gonna need that pad, actually, because now you're gonna slide that down.

Place it right where you know you can sit, going into a stomach massage. So you're gonna end up sitting on that pad facing the bar. Good. You have your toes on the bar, you're gonna hold onto the edge of the mat. Good.

Now, this is tricky, because the idea is to get your hips up and over toward your thighs. All right, so ready? You're in a nice C. Good, I'm gonna lift you a little. Relax your shoulders though.

Now pull into your waist and straighten those legs. Hold, I'm just gonna check your positions. Elbows are bent, out to the sides. So you got that little window between the elbows. And what you wanna try to do is get this waist to lift up and forward, so those hip bones roll forward.

That's stomach massage. Good. Now lower lift your heels. Bend your knees and come in. Why don't we go ahead and open your feet a little bit wider.

And Andrea, you go more parallel. If your knees knock at all, you're wanting to go more parallel. Stretch forward. Okay. Now come back in for a second, Andrea, and we'll go together. Ready?

And out together, push out, lower lift the heel, bend your knees and come in. I want you to go parallel too. So feet apart, 'cause we don't want you knees to knock. And now push out, lower lift, bend and come in. Let's bring your feet a little closer together but not completely.

Very good. Now out, lower, lift, in. Now quickly on the in, out, lower, lift, sharp, out, lower, lift, in, out, lower, lift, in. As you're moving, relax your shoulders. Try not to pull with the arms.

in nice and soft. And in, out, in. Now Andrea, you're falling back a little. Fall forward, that's it. Two more, out, in.

Pull in your waist, out, and stay in. Now you both can stay on three springs. If you were on four, you would drop one spring. But since you're on three, you're gonna just go ahead and transition to your arms back and sitting tall. Chests are open, spines are long, knees are lined with your shoulders, or ideally, your hips.

Okay, you can be slightly turned in just a little but not totally. Right, 'cause you just don't want the knees to end up knocking. All right, so here you're lifting your hips, push away, tall backs, lower lift the heels, bend and come in. Out, lower lift, in, and grow taller. So you keep going.

I'm gonna come over and kinda check on you. So what I'm looking for is this part of your back to stretch. Yes, that's where your stretching. Mm-hm, that's it. There's your stretch.

So those muscles that connect to your thighs. Lift, and in. Now we're gonna make the in on the quick part. Lower, lift, in. Controlled though, so you're still in control of it.

Out, lower lift, accent in, out, in, out, lift the waist, in, out, and stay centered, in. Two more, in, one more, out. Stay in, drop down to one spring, so take a spring off in the middle. Take your arms forward, slowly straighten your legs. There's no accent in here.

Not it's slow and controlled. Come in and lift, and lift, and touch my hands way up here. Good. And out, and in. And I want you to sit a little on that hip, and lift to me, lift your hips.

Up, good, and two more. Out, in, and stretch. And one more time. Don't let those knees open. And come in and lift your back up, up.

Now hold. You're gonna now straighten the legs as you twist to the right. Out, lift your back, come back in. Keep your hips turned out, out, to the left, shoulders relaxed. Now can you get taller?

There you go, and come back in. And hold my hand, use me for a second, grab me, lift. That's where I want you to be. And then come back in. Now do it on your own.

Right. Good. And in, one more time, and out. It's very difficult, but boy, it feels good. And come back in, and last one. Out, lift, and in.

Both of you can step off. And let's go ahead and get rid of your pads. Put those down. Let's go ahead and go to our kneeling knee stretch series from here. Or actually, I'm sorry, we're gonna stay with more of advanced.

So let's put your bars down. Put your headrests down after that. And then you guys are gonna lie down and do some corkscrews. (laughs) Got another smile for that. (laughs) All right, so, this is kinda nice, 'cause you've got these handles behind you that you're gonna hold onto.

Yes. Good. And I want you to try to keep your elbows down. Let's just start with real little movements. Bring your knees into your chest. Good.

Take your legs straight up. Now, the challenge for you guys is to keep your elbows down and not move your head. So keep those elbows from bobbing in. Do little circles. So keeping those legs zipped up, circle to the right, down, around, and back to center, not letting your hips move.

You're gonna reverse that, so corkscrewing. Down, around, and center. Don't let your hips move with you. Keep them anchored as your circling them. And whenever you have a weaker side, that side will definitely rear its ugly head here.

Around, around, and center. Now let's challenge you. You're gonna circle, and you add about four vertebra. So you're gonna take those toes back and do a little kick up, like a little jackknife. Keep those elbows down, and slowly bring yourself back down.

Center, reversing, around, toes fall toward your nose, a little kick up. There you go, not so high. let your toes stay over here a little bit more. That will help you, down. Ready?

Circle, around, back, little lift, control. Yes. And circle. Little kick, lift, and control, elbows down. Now you're gonna get bigger.

Circle. Andrea, do what's comfortable. Don't over do it. That's it, and come down. And circle, around, lift.

You could actually give it more of a kick, and then come down. Okay. So one or two more sets. Around, around, lift. These are really great side slimming exercise.

They really make a long waist. And lift, and lower. And last set, let's go ahead and do one more set. Around, around, elbows are down, lift, lower. Last one, and around, around, and lift, and lower, lower.

Hold the legs straight up, tick-tock, from the right, look the opposite direction. You can move the opposite hand onto the top of the shoulder pads. So take that left hand and put it on the shoulder pad and just hold it. You know what? Just hold the bars again, yeah.

And just fall as far over as you can without getting out of control of it. So keep those legs at 90, one more set. Over, don't go too far. Get those ribs to pull pack down as you come back to center. And over, and center.

Very good. Bend your knees, rest the legs on the bar for just a moment. Now you're gonna move down towards me. Keep going. You're gonna actually place your hands behind your head like this.

So make sure you move down far enough that you have two arms like this, so behind your head. Good. You're gonna take a hold of those bars again, and you're gonna end up jackknifing straight up. Okay, so, I just want you to go into a jackknife and hold. Uh-huh, that's it.

Now hold, squeeze, hold, reach. Now stay right there. Take one leg and try to touch the carriage on the outside. Keep reaching, keep reaching. Now take that leg and lift, and lift, and lift.

Very nice, the other leg. Oh isn't this pretty? Uh-huh, that's it, good job. And lift, and one more set. Keep reaching with that tall leg.

Reach for the ceiling as you lower that opposite leg. Don't worry about the arms right now. Lift the leg back up, and last time. Lower, lower, stretch up, both legs up into a jackknife, slowly roll yourselves down with control. You can bend your knees once your down, and rest.

Move yourselves back, or just stay where you are and rest for a second. And let's go to, you're gonna start by circle. So you're gonna end up back down, you're toes are on the bar, you're gonna end up stretching back so the hands are on the shoulder pads, heels together, toes apart. Good, and you could always go parallel here too, if that feels a little bit better. This is a good one to get the hip placement.

I almost want you to move a little bit this way with your feet. A little bit more, she's close. Okay, hard to see if you can't see yourself, right. Let's star with the hips up, and the carriages in, and then you're gonna move the carriages a little bit. You're trying not to move the carriage as you lower your hips down.

So articulating for the upper back, keep the necks long, lower, lower, 'til your hips end up in the well and touching the springs, if you can. Yep, she got a snag there. And now you're gonna go ahead and straighten your legs. So keep your arms straight as you skim your bottom in the well, stretch out. Now you can't go anymore if that carriage has touched, you'd hold.

Keep the carriage still as you roll your hips up. Hips, hips, hip up. And then when you can't come up anymore, you bring that carriage in. And there'll be a lot of squeaking. Line your hips up, so get them square.

Good, about right here. And then you're gonna do that again. Start to roll down. So you got three each way. So this is your second one, get down.

These are some of my most favorite stretches. Not everybody likes them. Not everybody has that flexibility. So if you've gotten to this point, hips up, then you are pretty advanced and must not have very many injuries. Good.

And one more time. And slowly roll down, roll down, roll down, hips down, and stretch out. Keep those arms long. Curl from the lower back, to the middle spine, to the upper spine, but don't let that carriage move, stretch the arms, then bring yourself in. Now you're reversing.

Stay up as you push out, hold. Don't let the carriage move as you articulate your spine down. I'm gonna hold you. That's it, get those arms straight. That will help.

That's it, it's not easy. And then come back in. Hips curl up. Be slipping and sliding. Good.

Sweaty arms, that doesn't help. Two more, push out, hold, follow your center, start to roll down. That's better, there you go. Now come back in. I'm gonna hold you here while you come in, and give you a little stretch.

And one more time, hips up, push out, and start to roll. You can start to bend your knees, but control it, come back in. Lift your hips all the way up, bring your knees towards me, so forward. Keep your bottoms lifted, reach for your ankles, grab onto them, keeping those ribs together. And just stretch.

That's it. Get your bottom up more. Good. Now you'll reach back for the shoulder pads, the hardest part is getting yourselves back, 'cause you'll get sticky. So basically, you're getting ready to get off.

Good. And now you are gonna end up stepping off. We'll grab your straps next. You're gonna remain on those two springs, and you're gonna take those straps and take the long straps, and let's get ready for a long spine massage. So basically, you take both straps, those black ones, and you're gonna loop them through.

I'll take one just for demonstration. You're gonna take your strap, lower it down, and loop that between both the strap and handle. Yep. And then you can put that, I like to put it there. And you just wanna make sure that the apparatus is on the outside.

Because that's gonna end up on your foot. 'Cause you're gonna end up lying down on your back. Yes. Okay. So go ahead and lie down, and then you can go ahead and put those on your feet.

Just know that they are clunky, so go slow and make sure they're high enough or over to the side as you do that. You don't want them to hit your face. That one snagged a little bit. Oh, there we go. Yeah.

Okay, so go slow, 'cause they're clunky. You don't want them to hit your face. I like to do it over the side. And then make sure it's on your foot. And then just do a couple frogs, kinda get familiar with where you are.

Both your headrests are down, so you wanna make sure that those remain down. Go a little lower on your extension. Okay. So now it's gonna get fun. We're gonna go slow motion at first, so bend your knees.

Let the straps fall between your knees. Your legs are gonna end up straight the whole time, and you're gonna do these big circles in the air, and then you're gonna let your back come off from that, and roll your spine down, and then come back up, roll down, and come back up, and roll down. So straighten your legs. Stretch your arms out long, keep your chests open. You're gonna let those hips lift, open up the feet, reach with both legs as you lower yourself back down.

So reach with your toes, forward, forward, forward. So ideally, you wanna come down with the legs, altogether, one piece. So together, so up, open, reach for me, reach, keep your bottom up, keep your bottom up, as you come down, control it, control it, control it, control it down. All right, so you kinda know what we're doing now? I think so. All right.

It's called your overhead. All right, ready? Let's start again with your frog, so bend you knees. Do maybe two or three frogs. Push out, bend in.

Push out, keep your chest open, bend in. Now you're getting ready to go up. Push out first, lift your hips, lift your back, open the legs, reach out long, keep reaching so there's resistance, push, push, push. So don't let any slack come on those straps. Come all the way down, together.

Up, open the legs, reach right away, come back down. So now I want you to make that a little bit quicker. Up, open, reach, stretch. That's it, there you go. And up, open, reach with the legs, stretch to the opposite wall.

And one more time. Up, open, don't worry about me, reach, reach, reach, reverse. When you're down, open, up with the legs, reach with those legs, stretch, stretch. Keep up here, keep your bottom up. There you go, and come down, and open.

Lift up, push with your legs while your hips are up, hips up, hips up. Good, control it down. Very nice, two more, together. Hips stay up while the legs reach, reach, reach with those legs, control your spine. Last one.

Open, up together, and reach, stretch, stretch, stretch. Very nice. Bend your knees back in like a frog position, hold, and both of you, if you want, can do a side split and just stretch out. One leg at a time or both. And then what Romano always had us do was take our legs back together, you go into like a jackknife, and just controlled, take the legs back and drop the straps.

Not too far, uh-huh. And then roll yourselves back down. And then you would step off. And lift your bars up and get ready for kneeling knee stretch series. Good.

All right, so you're gonna end up kneeling on your knees, hands are on the bar. You're gonna do eight sets rounded, eight sets arched, and maybe, 10 with knees off. Thumbs with your fingers, you wanna sit pretty close to your heels, you're in a nice C curve. There's your C. Good.

All right, double checking. Now you're ready. Go ahead and push out with your hips, keep those arms straight, and come in. One, in, two. Knees no wider than your hips, three.

That's it. And in, four. So accent is on the end. And in, five, out, and under with the hips, six, seven, eight, transition but keep moving. Heads up, chest open, one, two, three, sit way back there, four, in five, in six, in seven.

Keep the chests open, hold. Stay in, come in, get into your C. Shift your weight forward, lift those knees off about an inch or two, heads down, push out. Curl your back, under, under, under. So round your back, Andrea.

That's better, three, four. Shift a little forward, five, all the way in. That's your challenge, get that carriage in, six. No momentum, seven, control it, get that C, up in here, eight, nine, and slow lower it back down, rest. You're gonna step off, add a spring, lift your headrest, lie down to cool down.

Very good. All right, so you're going into your running and walking. So you're back on your toes. You guys both can go a little more parallel, but together. You're gonna stretch out.

Now you have a very good sense of your powerhouse. So now begin walking. You're nice and strong now, nice and warm, two, three, four. So I shouldn't see any hips wobbling. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.

Put that into a jog. One, two, three, four. You've got a little gap, I want you to fill it up. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Go ahead, bring yourselves in.

Place your feet on the corner of the bar, on your arches, going into a pelvic lift. Hips are now up, cooling down, smoothly stretch. Slowly control it in. You're a little high. Yeah, you want your ribs on the mat.

So really, it's just the first vertebra. You just need to, yeah, you're pretty good. And all the way out. This one, your knees can go wide on. Out stretch, stretch, stretch, soften the shoulders.

Two more, stretch, get really long. Get a nice stretch, enjoy the stretch. And then you're gonna come in, stay in, and slowly bring yourselves back down. And then both of you will step off. We're gonna now sit up for your side splits.

So you'll grab a pad. You'll need that. You're gonna end up lowering the bar, and it dropping to, let's go to two springs. You can do these on one spring, but you really gotta know what you're doing. And we're gonna actually put the pad underneath here, 'cause that's where one of your feet will stand.

Yeah, so we'll go like that. All right, so what you're gonna do is you'll kinda face each other, but you first step up on top of the carriage. Yeah, just stand on it. Then you're gonna place one foot on the pad, and you're gonna shimmy the other foot over to the shoulder pad. Good, so they're in line with each other.

Your arms will go out to the side, your elbows are up. You're trying not to move the carriage yet, ribs are together, good. Let's pull this hip back. Great, so hips are square. Now, you're using the legs, and of course, your powerhouse.

So you're gonna push out to the side. It's not a big split, it's little. That's far enough, no more than that. Fix your back. Good job.

Pull in, and come back in. So think of lifting thorough here, right through the center, push out. Pull in and grow taller, longer. Now you're gonna go out and hold. Now you're gonna go find some flowers.

So keep that carriage still as you drop your heads. Go down, scoop some flowers off the ground, drop your chins, keep that carriage from moving, and articulate up. Don't let that carriage move. Good. Give the flowers to the gods.

How 'bout that? And arch back. And now center, scoop those ribs, get your seat down, so you squeeze it. Now come back in and grow taller. You're gonna end up giving the flowers to the gods again.

But first, bring the carriage in. Now hold the carriage in. Exactly what you just did, but now the carriage stays still in. Go ahead and go down, drop your head, relax your toes, scoop up those flowers. This time, keep the arms straight forward, palms to the ceiling as you go into arched back, so arms forward, and stretch.

That's it, keep the tummy up. Heads forward, get yourself centered again, arms out to the side, and hold. You're gonna shimmy your left foot in. Step onto the carriage. You're getting ready for the other side.

So you'll turn. Turn around, face the other direction. Go ahead. You're gonna end up with your foot back on that black pad. Shimmy the other foot over, arms out to the side, nice long flat back, elbows slightly bent, good.

Now you're gonna slowly push out, pull in, come back in and grow taller, taller, taller, and out. And pull in and come back in. Now you're gonna go out and hold. You wanna keep that carriage from moving as you go into a saw, like you would on the mat. You're gonna go down and try to saw off your little toe.

Take your time, keep those hips turned out, drop your chins, articulate to come up one vertebra at a time. That's it. Drop your tailbone. Yes. Get yourselves centered.

And now to the other side, turn, reaching for your little toe, drop your nose to your knee, articulate back up, one vertebra at a time. Very good correction there. And now you're gonna come back in and keep growing taller in that waist, lift. Hold the carriage in, same thing here. Keep the carriage in, though, as you saw.

Twist, go to your saw, drop your nose down, control it, and curl back up. That's it. It's very hard not to move that carriage, and that's your challenge. And one more time. So can you imagine on one spring how much harder that is because there's little resistance to keep the carriage in.

And come back up. So that's what you work towards, and center. Shimmy your right foot in, step onto the carriage before you step down. And then you step down. Very good. Face forward.

Give yourselves a hand. Very nice job, you're done. (chuckles)