Full-Body Mat

Okay, we are gonna do a little bit of a movement class. It's not gonna be the classic historical Pilates mat class but a multifaceted movement class that I hope you enjoy. So ladies, let's get started. Why don't you come around to the center so you can see what I'm gonna do. All we're gonna start with is just our feet.

Let's lift our toes up and put our toes down. Lift them up and put them down. Lift them up and down. Up and down. Easy right?

Spread your toes out. Spread those toes out so you can get rings on all five of your toes. Reach them up and bring them down. One more time. And bring them down now.

Bring them up and hold them up. Hold them up right there. Spread your toes apart. You can use your hands, that helps. It really helps.

Okay? And release them down. And do that again. Lift them up. Spread them apart and release it down.

One more time. Lift the up, spread them apart. Use your fingers if you need to. And bring them down. Very nice.

Okay, bring them up. Hold them there. Just the big toe. We're gonna tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Notice what's going on in your body when you do this.

Come on. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Four more. Two. One.

Stop. Pinky, here we go. Out. Two. Three.

Four. Five. Six. Seven Eight. Four more.

Three. Two. And one. And stop. Put your feet down for a second and give your toes a break.

Okay. Here we go, bring them back up again. Big toe, pinky toe, big toe, pinky toe, big toe, pinky toe Get it going. Warm your feet up. Big and pinky.

Big, pinky, big, pinky, big, pinky, big, pinky. We need some music, huh? Four more. Three Two. One.

And stop. Phew. All right, bring them up again. Big toe down. Pinky toe down.

Hold three toes up. (women laugh) What do they look like? Are they gnarled? Okay, hold them up. Hold them up there.

Bring them up. And release them down. All right let's start with the right foot. Bring it up and take it across. Take it across.

Take it across. Cross your metatarsal heads. Three. Two. One.

Circle in and around. In and around. In and around. In and around. Four.

Three. Two. Ah, we're getting the little cracks. Little cracks are happening. Go the other way.

Other way to circle. So you're going out and around. Out and around. Feel it move. Get your feet limber.

You've got to rely on your feet for everything. And stop. Let's take up the left foot. Take it across. You want to add it a little (makes popping noise).

Back and forth. Back and forth. Move it across right. And circle. Circle in and around.

In and around. In and around. Four more. Feel the metatarsal heads move. Get them to move.

Go the other way. Take it back. Circle it around. Boy all the cracks are happening. We're getting them all out of the way at this point.

Three. Two. And one. And stop. Okay.

Grab the floor with your toes and let them go. Just grab. And let them go. If you're standing on carpet or if you're standing on your mat, feel like pulling the rubber off the mat or pulling the shred of the carpet off the floor, okay? Pull them.

Pull them. You've got two more here. Pull them up. And release. Pull them up and release.

Just kinda shakes you legs out. Okay. This is one of my favorite ways to warm up, so I can get the best workout. So I'm done my feet. What I'm going to do now is I'm gonna do my arms and my upper body.

So we're going to start here, palms down. We're gonna pull in, palms up. So we go out. In. Out.

In. Out. In. And that's it. Out.

Let your elbows hug the side of your body. Four more. Three. There you go. Squeeze your elbows back.

And hold it here. Palm up and push. Push the elbows back. Open your chest up. Keep your head lifted.

Last four. Three. Two. And one. And release.

Ah. Shoulders up. Shoulders wide and down. Shoulders up. Shoulders wide and down.

And again, up. And wide and down. One more time. Up. And widen down.

Okay just shake your hands out little bit. Let's work on our hands. So we're gonna come here and we're gonna pretend like we're praying. Then we're gonna reach out and come to the fingertips. Then we're gonna come back in and go back to praying.

I'm not going to you correct because I can't see you. But I want you to move and I want it to feel good. Move your hands. You can make it big. Or small.

Notice if you have some issues with your shoulders, this is why I do this I like to get some movement happening. Okay? Up and down. Your hands can come together. Your forearms can come together or not.

One more time. And stop. Fingertips apart. Come here. And Move.

Up and down, right? Makes some movement. Make some movement. There you go. Okay now have a little fun.

Whoa. Go round your head. Round your head. Get the movement happening. Feel what happens in your hands.

Move your hands, go the other way. Rotate it around. Get everything moving. There you go. Keep moving them around and come back here, and just come up and down.

Up. And down. Up. Up. Up.

Oh, I'm starting to feel this all over. Right? Keep moving. Change direction. Whatever you would like to do, but just get some movement happening there, okay?

And stop. Just shake it out. Just shake it out. Shake it out. Shake it out.

And relax. If you want step a little wider and we're gonna turn right. Turn left. Turn right. Turn left.

Turn right. Turn left. There you go. Rotating and rotating. Let the arms flow.

Let the whole body just spiral. Just happen. Happen in your back. Just spiral around. Great let's go three more times.

Let your arms flow. Release and come back to the center. Okay. Step your feet out. If you don't know how to squat you may want to look at one of our other tutorials on Pilates Anytime.

But I'd like you to squat at this point. Stick your butt out and come down and come back up. Okay. Out and down. Think of the tailbone reaching back and then curling under.

And come back up. I'm going a little slow, don't let that fool you. Down and up. Feel your feet we worked on them. Keep your hands on your knees.

Add some arm movement. Down. External rotation. In. External rotation.

In. External rotation. Open. Push open. Down.

Up. We're going to pick you the speed. Up. Down. Up.

Down. Up. There you go. Press. Press.

Get your butt out. Squat. Keep your abdominals engaged. Keep your torso active. Don't let your back lose it.

Four more. Three. There we go. Two. Go down and stay down.

Stay down. Walk your feet out. Walk your feet out. Hold it here. Butt behind you.

Torso is forward. Abdominals engaged. Turn your feet out. Come right. And left.

And right. And left. And right. And left. Look ahead and left.

Right. And left. Here we go. Four more. Two.

Go double. We're gonna go down. Down. And double, double. Press.

Double, double. Press. Double, double. Press. Double, double.

Again. One more each side. And single. Come forward and move your shoulders. More your arms.

Straighten. Straighten. Straighten. Straighten. If you can want you can look ahead or look out on the floor in the distance.

Last four. Three more. Two more. One. Come to the center.

Squat. Walk in. Walk in. Walk in. And stand up and shake your legs out.

Excellent. What I forgot to tell you is you're gonna need a band. So we have some blue bands. We're gonna pick them up. If you have to pause and go find a band if you forgot where you put it.

Pick up your band. This are nice and long. They're about five feet long, maybe six. I want you to hold it in front of you in a position such as this. Get accustomed to what it feels like.

We're gonna start up and we're gonna pull open. So we go up, open creating an arc. And arc out to the side and open. Pull. Open.

Pull. Open. Pull. Pull. Keep pulling.

Press. Press. Two more. And last one. Okay.

We're gonna change it a little bit I want you to widen the grip. I want you to open out behind you so you can reach out to the side and come back up. So we're gonna reach and up. Reach out and up. Feel the arm length from the shoulders as you pull out.

If you feel like you want a little more tension, then you can short the grip up here. You guys can keep going and make it a little tighter so that the band has more resistance, it's up to you. Okay, but I'd like you to be able to get through the whole sequence without stopping, so don't make it be too tight in the beginning. Okay. Hold it out here and press.

Press. Press. Press. Press. Bring your hand forward a little bit so you feel the band along your back.

Feel the band along your back. That's it. Push. Now make it be some shoulder movements. So scapula together.

Scapula apart. This is just shoulder. It's gonna hurt. I'm sorry. No I'm not.

(crowd laughs) And hold it and reach up and stop. Give yourself a little bit of a break. Okay. Bring it out to the front. Right arm will be steady, left arm will work.

You're gonna open and come together. Open and come together. Open and come together. Open. There you go.

Four more. Three. Let's go. Open. Open.

Change sides. Right arm works, left arm is steady. Pull it apart. Pull it out. Get your resistance working.

Four more. Breathe. Two. And one. And release.

Move your shoulders around up and down. Reverse. Very good. Okay, put your bands down and it's time to get down on the mat. For me I like to do a lot of movement and get my body motivated so I can get down on the floor and get a little bit finer tuned with some of my movements.

So you guys let's come down onto your right side. Okay. Starting on the right side. We're gonna have the arm out and the knees bent. So you've got some support right here, okay?

All I want you to do is to stretch out and come back. Reach forward and come back. Reach it out and come back. Reach it out and come back. Reach your arm up, rotate around Come all the way around, release in the back and let your eyes follow it, and circle around.

Reach around. Circle all the way around. Reach. Let your head follow your hand. And one more.

Excellent. And reverse. Take it to the other direction. Circling around. Reach it around.

Let your head follow your hand and stop and bring it back around. Hold it right there. Bring the top leg over. Put your hand on the top of your buttock area there. Push into and rotate back.

Find a comfortable position. You may have some adjustments in your spine. Reach back and stretch. You want to take your opposite arm and pull it down and get a nice stretch. so you've got some rotational movement happening in your spine.

Stretch the opposite arm out. Feel free to do that. Release and take it back. Let's switch sides now. So all I'm going to ask you to do is to sit up and turn to the other side.

Okay? All right. I'm not going to do it with you because I don't want to have to lose my microphone. Bend your knees up. Right.

Take the top arm and reach it across and bring it back. That's right. Just let the rotation happen. Your head's gonna rotate down towards the floor and bring it back. There you go.

Rotate it out. Bring it back one more time. Then we're gonna circle around. So let the arm reach out. Let your eyes follow and circle all the way around.

There you go. Excellent. Reach it around. Head follows. Make it feel good.

Rotate around. And one more time. Excellent. We're gonna change directions so we rotate the other way. Again, your head follows your hand.

Rotate around. Keep your knees in place. Very good. Breathe. Don't hold your breath.

There's no point to that. When you've finished four you're gonna stop right there. You're gonna take your top leg and place it front of your other leg and hang on to it and press into it and rotate the other way and open up your chest. So rotate and open your right side, pressing on your right hip. Very good.

Then come back to the center. Okay. So let's turn onto our back with our knees bent. Take your body all the way down from there. Let's just move our knees side to side a little bit.

Get a little movement happening there. Very good. Then let's lift our legs up. Don't worry about what's going on in your body and your pelvis yet. I just want you to move a little bit.

You can tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. And stop. Okay. Put your hands on your pelvis. Draw in.

Stabilize as best you can. Then put your arms at your side now that you know where you need to hold. Lift the right leg up. Keep the pelvis in place and then switch. And then switch.

And then switch. And then switch. So you're doing abdominal control and stabilization while moving the legs. Now don't let the feet touch. Keep the legs up and they reach forward.

They reach forward. Get back here in your thighs and keep your pelvis stable. Alternate. Alternate. Alternate.

Move and peddle. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Six. Seven. And stop. Put your feet down and then let your knees drop open and come back to the center. Just let the knees drop open and come back up.

Just release them a little bit and come back up and one more time. Come back up. Excellent. Let's pull our knees into our chest and hold that position. Hands on top of your knees.

Feet together. Please pay attention to this. Feet together. Now I just want you to stir your knee ups. Stir them around.

Keep the feet together and touching. Change the direction, go the other way. Move it around. Very good. Keep it up.

Then release and take your legs back down and reach your arms back. And bring them up. Okay? Reach your arms back. And bring them up.

And back and bring them up. And back. Now bring them just above your shoulders, with the right arm up and rotate off and then come down. Lift the left arm up. Let the shoulders rotate off.

Right up and down. Left up and down. Don't worry about doing a little crunch here. This is just a rotation. Just a rotation.

Start to reach and center. Reach over and center. Reach over and center. Stop there. Hands on your elbows.

And upper body arms circles. Rotate them around. Four times and then four the other way. See if you can feel your shoulder blades moving on your mat. All right.

Then reach your arms up, open them out. Press into the floor with the back of your hands and your arms. Lengthen your arms out. Push, push, push a little isometric push and then come back up. And again, press open.

Push, push. Four. Three. Two. One.

And then come back up. And again, press open. And push. Two. Three.

Four. And come back up. One more time. Press open. Press two.

Three. Four. And bring it back up. Bring your arms to the side. Okay?

Knees, hips lined up. Feet flat. Ready to go. Take a breath. As you exhale curl and lift.

Escalate your pelvis up. Hold it there. Lengthen your legs out. Double check your hamstrings. They're right back here.

Are they working? Walk your feet back just a bit. Take your right leg up and hold it. Keeping the knee bend. Hold it there and stabilize.

Double check your body. What's going on. Shoulders are open. Abdominals are working. Hopefully your pelvic floor is working.

Then release down. Then left leg comes up. Stable on your right. Check out your body. Where are your shoulders?

What's your belly doing? And release and come back down. Escalate and return back down one vertebra at a time and then pull your knees into your chest and stretch. You make rock side to side on your lower back and release a little bit. Okay?

And then release. Take your head down. This is what I'd like you to do. Knees are up over your hip joint. Feet are together.

We did it before, but now we're not going to use our hands to guide our knees. This can be a small movement or a much larger moment. It's up to you, but what I always want you to have happening is that our feet stay touching. There's energy happening between the insides of your feet. Circle around.

Feel the rotators work in your hip socket. Reverse and change direction. Just go the other way. Let the inner thighs do some work. There you go.

Move it around. Okay? And while you're doing this, you better be using your stomach. Keep your back down. Keep some control.

It's all abdominal work ladies and gentlemen. It's all abdominal work. We don't have to flex to work our belly. And stop. All right separate your knees.

Drop them side to side. You can open your arms out a little bit to the side. Separate your knees and drop them side to side. Release through that. Okay.

All right. We're gonna go back to our right side, so turn onto your right side. Elongate your body. Take a look. If you have floor you can use the blanks of the floor to make sure you're straight and lined up.

Bring your fingertips in front. Put your head down, don't worry about lifting it. Flex your feet. Lift both legs up. You can bring your legs forward a little bit in your banana position.

That's up to you. Flex your feet. Bring them up. Up. And down.

Up. And down. And up and hold. Lift your head. Hold this position.

Bring your arm up over your head. Stay here. That's it. Rotate back, hold it together. Rotate back up.

Whoa, there you go. Where am I going? And rotate. Hold it. And come back.

And rotate. And come back. One more time. Bring it back. Bring it here.

Release it down. Bring your arm in front. Keep your head down and press. Come down. Press.

Come down. Press. You say you want more of a challenge? Hold your legs up in the air. And come down.

Pull your stomach in. It's gotta work. It's gotta work. Hold it there. Balance again.

Woo. Pull your knees up. And bring them back. Pull them up. It's a challenge.

Bring them back. Pull them up. Bring them back. And release down. Phew.

Okay. How we doing? Okay? Good. Let's switch around.

Just stay right where you are still facing me, and just change direction. We're on our other side. Flex your feet. Head is down. Hand is in front for some support and lift up.

And come down. Your legs can be slightly in front to assist with the balance if that's what you need to do. Don't worry about it. Come down. Let's do two more.

Flex your feet. Lengthen down your legs. Now hold it there. Point your feet. Roll onto your back.

And come back on your side. Roll onto your back. Come back on your side. Whoa. Roll onto your back.

Come back on your side. Let's do one more. Roll onto your back. Come back on your side. Woo.

Bring your arm down. And release back down. Hold it right here and push up. Come down. Push up.

Come down. Stay zipped up as best you can. Come down. Push up. And come down.

One more. And come down. Then we're going to come all the way back and turn onto our hands and knees. Okay. Spread your fingers out.

Open your hands up. We worked on them earlier. Shake your tail out a little bit. We'll do a little Cathy Grant and Blossom reminiscence here. Move it around.

Are we supposed to do this on Pilates Anytime? Hmm-mm. Okay, holding that position let's achieve our balance. We're gonna extend our right arm out and our left leg comes back. Try to hold the position.

Bring your right arm back. Bring it in front. Bring your right arm back. It's like a one-arm T from the reformer. Bring it front and stop.

Switch legs. Switch arms. Bring it up. Hold it there. Balance.

Get it diagonal between your right hand and your left knee. Bring it back. Bring it front. Bright it back. Bring it front.

Bring it back. Bring it front. One more time. And front. Change.

Right arm, left leg. Right elbow, left knee round. Extend. Round. Extend.

Round. Extend. Round. Extend. Change.

Left arm. Right leg. Left elbow. Right knew. Pull in.

Extend. Round in. Extend. Round in. Extend.

One more. Extend. Come back down. Sit back into a little rest position. Walk your fingertips forward.

Stretch out. Very good. Straighten your right leg back. Come over onto your left knee and left quad off to the side and come down and stretch. Then come back up.

Come forward. Re-adjust yourself. Take the left leg back. Come down onto your right side. Come over and stretch.

Come down, find a comfortable place. Very good, and then you're gonna come back up. All right. So you can decide if you want to be on your mat or off your map. But the feet, I'm gonna come forward a little bit.

We're gonna stand on our arms. We're gonna press the right leg back. We're gonna press the left leg back. We're gonna hold the position. We're gonna engage our whole body to be alive and press back into our heels and come forward.

Press back and come front. Press back and come front. Press back and come front. Kneel down, sit back and stretch. Count four.

Three. Two. And one. Come forward. Come back up into your plank position.

Get into your plank position. Find a comfortable place. Right knee in and back. Left knee in and back. Right knee in and back.

Left knee in and back. Again, right in. Back. Left in. Back.

Now watch. Right, cross, in and back. Left knee in, left foot out. Left knee back, left foot back. So knee.

Foot. Knee. Foot. Knee. Foot.

Knee. Foot. Knee. Foot. Knee.

Foot. Knee. Foot. Knee. And stop.

Kneel. Sit back and stretch. Very good. Stretch back a little further if you'd like or all the way back. Take a nice stretch there.

Come back up. Back into that plank again. Got to love a plank, huh? Push it back. Now I'm off my mat.

If that's better for you, you can do that as well. You're gonna hold that position. You're gonna bring the right leg up. Leg circle. One.

Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

Seven. Reverse. Other way. Two. Three.

Four. Five. Six. Seven. And stop.

Foot down. Left leg circle. I'm sorry you guys, I know you're gonna hate this. Four. Five.

Six. Seven. Reverse. Other way. Two.

Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

And stop. Bring the knee in, bring the other knee in. And stretch back. How we doing? (woman answers softly) Yeah, that's a good thing, huh?

I hope so. All right. And we're gonna come back down on our mat. Come all the way down. One hand on top of the other one.

Shift that pelvis side to side so you can loosen up in case you have any tension. Relax your shoulders. Relax your upper body. Lengthen the right leg out and lift it up. Lower it down.

Then lengthen the left leg out. Lift it up. And lower it down. So we're gonna do right lengthen up down. Left lengthen, up, down.

Right lengthen, lift up, down. Left lengthen, lift up, down. Right out and hold. Left out and hold. And kick.

Inhale. If you want you can lift your upper body up, pressing down into the floor lifting your head up. And kick. Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. One more time.

Inhale. Exhale. And stop. Shake it out. Drop your head down.

Stretch it out. Move your pelvis to one side and hold. Come to the center. Move your pelvis to the other side. And hold and come to the center.

Just kind of shake it out, just a little bit. Side to side. Release. Push yourself up. Sit back.

And then cross your legs. Let's sit up now on our mats, cross legged. If you have a band, which I hope you do, see if you can open it wide and wrap it around your waist. Okay? So you feel the width of this band around your waist.

Cross it over and then get it even first. Cross it over and hold it apart right here. Just like this. And pull on it a little bit and see if you can feel it wrapping around your ribcage. All right?

Hold it now. (host breathes loudly) Good. Now just keep the tautness and rotate and center. And rotate and center. Use the band to guide your rotation.

And center. Rotate and center. Rotate and center. One more time. Center.

Rotate and stop. All right. Undo it and reach long. If you'd like you can either put your legs in front of you or bend your knees, it's up to you. You're gonna reach and bring it down.

Don't go too high because you're gonna lose the band. I want you to think more out then I want you to think lift. So it's a little bit of a movement. Just like we did earlier, hold it there and press your shoulder blades out. See if you can visualize that happening that you shoulder blades extend out.

Now externally rotate a little bit as you do this. Reach it out. Out. Out. And release.

All right. Good. You guy flip around so you're on your mat like I am this way, and come back right to here. Okay? From this position, lift your legs up.

Lift your chest up. Straighten and bend. Straighten and bend. Straighten and bend. Straighten and bend.

Straighten and hold. Chest up. Little windshield wiper. Little windshield wiper. Side to side.

Little half a corkscrew or a quarter of a corkscrew, if you want to think of it that way. Reaching it around and again. And around. And stop. Take it forward.

Bend your knees. Shake your legs out. Move your band out of the way. Stand up. All right.

Once you're up stand on your mat this time. So you can feel the softness of the mat underneath your feet. Think of spreading your toes out. Bring your heels together and your toes apart. Stand right there.

Arms at your side. Now lift your heels up and open your feet a little bit. So now we're parallel and heels together. And parallel. Heels together.

Parallel. Heals together. Back to parallel and hold. Step and bring it in. Step and bring it in.

You can keep this knee soft or you can keep it straight. Try to balance. You're able to touch the floor. Step. In.

Step. In. Step. Up. Out.

Up. Out. Up. Out. Up.

You can add the arms or you can get rid of them. You can have them at your side, whatever you want to do. Out. Up. And hold.

Whoa. Explore where your balance is. Release it down. Ah, okay. Step.

In. Step. In. Step. In.

Step. In. Step. In. Four more.

Out. In. Stand on your leg, make it strong. And lift. Out.

Lift. Out. Lift. Out. Slightly different with the arms.

Bring them higher. And higher. And higher. And higher. Two more.

And stop and step apart. Take your feet apart. Soften the knees. Squat forward. Hold it there and then walk your feet out a little bit.

From here, rotating the right shoulder down and look up over your left and take a stretch and come back to the center. Rotate the left shoulder down. Look up to your right. And come back to the center. Come a little lower.

A little lower. Coming to the side. Coming to the side. Moving to the side, coming over touch. Over.

Touch. Over. Touch. Over. Touch.

Over. And reach over. And reach over. And reach over. And reach.

Four more. Follow your hand with your head. Two more. And come back to the center. Walk it in.

Good. Lift your shoulders up. And bring them down. Lift them up. Bring them down.

Don't forget about your feet. Don't forget about them. They're really important. Spread your toes out. Stand on them.

Lift up. Release down. Last time. Okay. Ah.

Try the tree position. Do you know the tree position from yoga? Try it. It doesn't have to be perfect. And release.

Change. Hold it. Whoa. We're losing our balance here today. Okay, no more tree, but stand and lift.

Rotate. Whoa. Here we go, we're gonna take it around and try it find your balance and lose it. So rotate it around. Find your balance and lose it and back up.

It's okay. There's no right or wrong here. I want you to test your balance wherever it is. If you can get up and enjoy the movement, go right ahead, it's up to you. One more time.

Reach it around. Whoa. And come back up. Let's try the other side. Hold it here.

Reach it around. You may be better on this side than the other. Challenge you balance on one leg. Whoa and come back. Have you figured out which leg is your stronger leg yet?

Whoa. Whoa. Try it again. Reach it around. Try your balance.

Reach and stretch. One more time. Let's go. Reach, throw your balance off, get down. Get low.

And come back up. All right. All right. Reach and circle around. Reach and circle around.

Okay. Reach forward. Back to the beginning. Stretch and pull. Stretch and pull.

Hopefully you feel a little bit different. A little warmer maybe? Reach and pull. Now hold it here and open. Open.

Open. Open. Open. Open. And stop.

Release. Ah. Reach up. And come back down. Reach up.

Let your chest lift. Look up at the ceiling and come back down. And again, reach up. Stretch back. And come back down.

Listen up. Reach up. Stretch back. Take the right leg out to the side and do a curtsy and come down. And come back up.

Reach up. Stretch back. Take the left leg out to the side and do a curtsy. Come down and come back to the center and bring your arms together and you're finished. Thank you.

(women applaud)