Full-Body Reformer

Hi everybody, I'm Maria Leone, and we are going to be doing a challenging reformer workout right now, I have a box nearby, and also a sticky mat, come onto your machine, set up your machine for footwork, on this machine the bar's gonna go in the middle, and I'd like you set up with three or more springs, I'm gonna put three heavy springs on, and one medium spring, I'm gonna bring my headrest up, but if you prefer to have your headrest down, that's fine with me. Come onto your back, we are gonna start with the breath, bring your feet into prayer position, let your knees drop open, palms by your side, close your eyes, and let's take three deep breaths, one deep breath in through the nose, hold that breath at the top, long slow exhale out through the mouth, and repeat, inhale in, and exhale. Last one, deep breath in, and exhale, really allow your body and your mind to come together and be on the reformer. Open your eyes, flex your feet and bring your feet into second position, the knees are turned out and around the outside edges of your heel, pull the abdominals in and up, pull the heels towards each other before you even do anything, so you're already engaged before you moved, from here on an inhale or an exhale, press the carriage out, resist in, back out two, resist in, and three, creating length in the spine, feeling that action from the inner thigh, like a scissoring, pulling the inner thighs towards each other, and that moves the carriage, equal work out and in, out and in, last one, and stay in, put your toes exactly where your heels are, heels are lifted quite high, feel the length for the crown of the head, and press the carriage out, and in, and that scissoring action again is happening, the pelvis is staying neutral, the crown of the head is constantly pulling back, and you're integrating the breath, so throughout the workout, whether you're inhaling or exhaling be conscious of the breath, see if you can hear your breath, last one, come in halfway, pause here, carriage still, the heels go down, up, down, up, so we're just articulating through the fit, the thighs are working holding the carriage still, the ribs are tight to the mat, the shoulders are relaxed, and three and two and one, stay here pull the carriage out one more time, creating length through the spine, come all the way in, we are gonna go into internal rotation, bring your knees together, toe in and come to your arches, so yeah it's a little bit unusual, so really feel about that internal rotation at the hip socket, from here press up, the knees will separate, the knees come together, press out two, and in, all the rest of the form is the same here, the ribs stay tight, the pelvis is neutral, really feel those knees touch as you come in, and press away, and create length, two more here, last one, going into our traditional V stance or a Pilates first, knees the distance of the shoulders, the heels are elevated, again turn on the inner thigh before you move, and press out, and in, so you want to integrate the entire body in your footwork, footwork is a misnomer, it's full body integration, wrap the legs, be active, and pull the spine long each and every time, work on the out work on the in, so concentric and eccentric, concentric, eccentric, one more, and let's go to the heel position, that's where I put the knees and feet all the way together, heel pretty high on the foot bar, before you move wrap, engage those sit bones tight together, this is where the action originates, push the thigh bones down, and pull in, back out two, make sure you're not getting squeezed by the reformer, pull your body long, last one like that, and now we alternate legs, two feet stay on the bar, push out with one leg, and in, then predominately with the other leg, someone leg is never gonna make it completely straight, the pelvis stays still, one more each way, and come on in, we're gonna go to our first spring change, bring yourself up, I'm gonna take one heavy spring off the machine, come back onto your back, we're going to double the pace, so extend one leg out over the bar, the other foot is in the high heel, but the toe is on the bar, from here, bring that leg in and stretch it out, back to passe back over the bar, and again I really want you to use this as a stretch right now, in and through, and again in and stretch, keep that opposite hip down, two more here, stretch and in and through, last one, In and stretch and pause, make sure that hip on that leg is dropped down, from here both feet, flex and point, flex full range on that bottom foot, three and push, and four and push, two more, five, watch that top foot, six, in and back through, second side, the other leg extends out, and from here we devlopee in and we take a stretch, in and through, and again in, this waistline is long, so resist the temptation to hike a hip to get the leg higher. Our objective is just to feel a stretch in the back of the leg, and keep the spine neutral, nice easy breath, last one like that, devlopee in and up, and now from here both heels, flex and point, watch your top foot, make it perfect, inhale and exhale, ribs are still tight to the mat, last one here, and come back to your start.

Set yourself up, we're gonna make the spring just a little bit lighter, so let's add a light spring and take that medium spring off. Come back onto your back, this time the legs are going to be turned out, so you're on the balls of the feet, the knees are the distance of the shoulders, and I call this fan cake series, extend one leg over the bar, moving to passe, press the carriage out and come to a passe, so that knee is rotated open, but that opposite side is staying down on the mat, come back to your start position, let's do that again, pull out to passe, the temptation is for this hip to come up, keep it down, back to your start, last one there, find your passe, from here we add a twist, pull the knee across the body, and then let the hip come off, really twist the spine, keep the opposing arm on the mat, and open up. And again the knee comes across, lift the hip and keep that top waistline long, and then open the knee back up, last time here, pull the knee across, move the hip come into a beautiful stretch it should feel good, come back into the passe back over the bar. Let's change legs, other leg over the bar, square of the hips, find that passe, hold that opposite side on the carriage, back to your start, pull out all the spine long, and back to your start, last time, stay here, from here adding the twist, the knee goes across the body, that hip pulls all the way across, the opposing arm stays down on the carriage, pull back to passe, and again the knee goes across, now the hip pulls off the net, pull the abdominals in, keep elongating through the crown of the head, come back to passe last time, pull the knee across, twist the hips, come back to passe, back to your start. So now we add the kick to that, come back to your start position, we're just adding one motion, come back to the passe, pull the knee across, twist the hips, stretch the leg straight, here it comes, fan cake open, back to passe, back to your start, and again pull out to passe, pull the knee across, twist the body, leg straight, and fan cake open, passe in and through, last time, pull out to a beautiful passe, twist the lower body, stretch the lower leg, open, back to your start, two feet on the bar, extend the opposite leg over, here we go out to passe, pull the knee across, twist the hips, the leg stretches open, that should feel really wonderful that the fan kick, come back to passe, knee across, pelvis moves, open, hold that opposite hip down, passe and back through, last time to passe, told the knee across, twist the lumbar spine, light stretches, fan kick open in and through.

Reach behind you put your head rest down, feet to first position, heels slightly lifted, knees reaching out over the big toes, hold the carriage still we're just going to breach, tuck, peel yourself up, slide the knees forward, and then peel right back down through your spine, and then back to neutral, inhale here, start the action here at the tail, peel yourself up, slide the knees out over the big toes, front of the hips are open, carriage still as you pull down the upper back, the mid back, the lower back, last thing is the pelvis releases, inhale here, exhale the pubic bone heals up, you peel yourself up off the mat, pull the heels into the sit bones to get that good hamstring engagement, and peel down, keep the hamstring engaged so the carriage doesn't move, and come neutral. From here slowly present the legs out straight, the carriage is very light right now, from here lift the hips up and hold it, spin your inner thighs, point the inner thighs to the ceiling, bend the knees, lift all the way to that high bridge position you had, come back out, and the hips are gonna lower, so you're in a straight line here from the shoulders to the toes, pull in and lift, drag their heels to the sit bones, get that hamstring engagement, press back out and lower down, and again, pull in and lift, heels to the sit bones, and press out, two more, lift pull tight in, and out, one more time, pull in and feel the carriage dock, and press out one extra, pull in and lift, hold it here, carriage still, peel slowly down, we are gonna move to a modified corkscrew, hands wide on the shoulder rest, extend the legs to the ceiling, yes that feels wonderful right now, keep your legs stacked, pelvis stacked, let's start with windshield wiper action, so twist to one side, make sure the top leg is the same length as the bottom one, and pull back center, rotate and take the legs the other side, the opposite elbow is pushing into the ground, and pullback center, again twist, and pullback center, deepen the contraction of the abdominal, and twist, pull yourself back from the spine, not your legs, moving on, twist, move the pelvis, circle the legs, twist onto the other hip, pull yourself back center, other side, hips are stacked, circle the legs, stack your hips again, pull back from the spine, and twist, circle, stack the hips, the spine pulls you back, and reverse, and circle the hips to move the legs, stack the hips, come back center, pull your knees in, sit yourself up, let's bring the footbars down all the way, and bring yourself to one heavy and one medium spring, or if you want to work a little lighter, one heavy and one light spring. We are gonna move into traditional hundred, I like the headrest up, come onto your back, and then if you're able you will start from here, this is an option only, always okay to come in and out of tabletop, so arms to the ceiling, pull the abdominals in and up, let's just set the position, take a breath in here, exhale lift to your hundred position, hold it, stay here and take a breath in, as you exhale point the pubic bone up, deepen your contraction, squeeze the legs, slowly lower down, take a breath in for nothing, exhale, lift the chest, push the ribs into the mat, long neck, long arms, squeeze the legs, inhale, exhale, try to curl that teal under without moving your legs at all, and slowly down, so that you just deepen your sensation inhale here, and exhale, lift up, stay here and inhale, exhale, deepen in your sensation and add the pumps, breathing in for five, and out two, three, four, five, in. (breathes rhythmically) belly button in, bellybutton out, let me hear your exhale, and last one, and all the way down. Take a breath in, exhale and move to your hundred position, hold it here, you can gauge the position of your legs, it can be here or they can be here, inhale, bend the elbows and pause, exhale, press the arms out, inhale in, exhale out, I'm taking my legs a little higher, inhale in, exhale out, lower everything down, so each time I'd like the carriage to move before your arms move, I'll show you what I mean, take a breath in, exhale lift a hundred, we're changing the arm position, inhale, open the arms like wings, pause, exhale, move the carriage then the arms, inhale, open and pause, exhale move the carriage then the arms, last time, inhale, exhale move the carriage then the arms, and lower down, so you can repeat any of those two variations if you'd like, or move to the third which is a little harder, I'm gonna show you also moving on the tabletop take a breath in here, exhale lift to your hundred position, hundred from here inhale and the arms go up, exhale and down, inhale up, keep the head and shoulders still, exhale down, inhale up, try to move the carriage then the arms, and lower down, and two feet down.

Moving on to a modified Mofo, which is something I learned from Mary Windsor, take your two legs to the ceiling, open the legs the distance of the machine, flex the feet, it's okay if there is a little bend in the knees, bring in the arms between the legs, keep the head and shoulders down for now, but shoulder blades open, from here on in exhale curl the tailbone up, exhale up, and ideally the feet are heading towards the ceiling, not your head, the arms don't do anything at all, use your exhale, and it's a small deep sensation, two more, exhale and knees in. We are going to add a twisted position to that, but you can also repeat what we just did it, the legs come back up, you're gonna twist towards one leg, curl your head and shoulders up, the hands are on either side of that leg, same action of the tale, reach vigorously through the arms, feel the tailbone headed straight to the sky, and on the exhale, last one, bend the knees lower down, second side take a breath in, take the legs up, exhale, rotate to the other leg, and exhale to lift the tail up, the carriage should not move, and you will feel tension more on one arm than the other, exhale, two more, last one and lower down, come on up. Let's do a spring change down to one heavy spring, bring your headrest down, turn and face the back for me, and the loops are going up over the knees. Your start position is important, I want your head and shoulders off the end of the carriage, so come on down, take the legs up, straight, make sure the loops are in the same place, bring your hands behind your thigh, and curl the upper body up so you are in a C-shaped, shoulders are open, now without moving anything, take the hands behind the head and on and exhale pull that tailbone up, so it's a feeling of the toes reaching to the ceiling, and then drawing a line across the ceiling, and you're doing it as you exhale, and exhale, so the pull is here, not here, last one, grab your knees and rock yourself up, bring the feet to prayer position, open the knees and bend forward, taking a much needed stretch in the lower back, drop the shoulders. Come back up, we're gonna do criss-cross over here, so come onto your back, head and shoulders are off, legs are at tabletop, lift in to your C-shaped, take your hands behind your head, rotate one direction, the other leg goes out, come center and left a little higher, rotate, come center and lift high, rotate, the hips don't move, come center, the rotation is from the rib cage, and center, and rotate, and center, last one rotate, come center, grab your knees, rock yourself up, and let's come back into that stretch.

(breathes heavily) come all the way up, loops come off your feet. we're going to go into some kneeling arm work, come onto your knees, have your feet back off the edge of the carriage, it's a little unstable setting up these positions, so be careful, bring one foot forward, and to one side of your headrest, and then find a nice vertical position from the crown of the head to the knee, grab hold of the loops, the higher you choke up the more tension you have, from here the chest opens, and we pull the arms straight back behind you, and then slowly in, and so what I'd like you to think about here, is moving the upper arm faster than the hands, and of course maintaining that nice vertical position, crown of the head to the knee, keep growing tall, last one like that, bring your hands to the shoulder rest, bring your knees together. Come up onto two knees, and the hands come into the loops, from here we're coming in to five stretch, hinge back from the knee and stop, ribs are tight, and bicep curl and open, bicep curl, try to keep the upper arm still, make sure you are not breaking in your lower back, so the front of the rib cage is closed, the glutes are working, the bicep is working, and of course you're feeling that stretch in the front of the thigh, right, I am, exhale and inhale, use your breath come all the way up, put your hands back down, bring the other foot up onto the headrest, set up for your second side, nice and vertical, and from here pull those arms back. Okay and it's normal for one side to feel a little bit more awkward than the other, keep growing tall, exhale and inhale, or at least make sure you can hear your breath, top of the head is pushing the ceiling away, last one like that. Hands to the shoulder rest, two knees together, stay here and get your upper back flat, pull your elbows in by your side, ribs are closed, neck is long, from here the arms press out, careful with the balance slowly in, find the concentric work, and then here the eccentric work, press out, and in, keep your emphasis on the straightness of your spine, and the back of your shoulder, the triceps are gonna work no matter what, but we really don't want to be in this rounded shoulder position, two more, last one like that, in the hands come down, careful with this transition, turn yourself around, the machine is unstable, bring your feet against the shoulder rests, and if you need a little bit more challenge, you move a little forward, and if you need a little less you'll back yourself up, from here stretch the arms straight back, make sure you're not arched, ribs are closed pelvis is neutral, feel that stretch on the front of the shoulder, from here we do a bicep curl straight up, and slowly open, and again, so it takes a second to find, but I want the front of the shoulder on stretch the entire time, this is very fussy, and out, and press, keep the front of the ribs closed, really stretch the arm back, and come in and pause, stay here, from here we go to server tray, press the arms straight out, spin the biceps up thumbs out, control the pulling in, so I really want to see you push, and now energetically pull, so make this mean something, exhale push, inhale pull, get tall, open the chest, exhale push, now as much work as you pull, and again exhale push, and pull, get tall, exhale push, and pull, one more time, exhale, push, biceps up, stay here, tiny arm circles, tiny, so I want the carriage to barely move, take a moment, spin the biceps up, the thumbs are pointed out the whole time, two more here.

And all the way down, carefully off your machine, grab your box. We are gonna use the box to prep for some advanced stuff coming later, so we're going to go to forearm plank first, come down to your forearms, elbows go right under the shoulders, push the forearms right into the box, step one foot back on the other foot back, feet are together, chest is open, shoulder blades East and wide, East and West and wide, stay there, and breath, you should feel like an arrow is going out through the crown of the head, and then out through your heels, one more breath here, now put your hands where your elbows are and lift your hips up, open your feet the distance of your hand, so there's a feeling here of downward dog or a large elephant, from here twist through and spin your armpit to the ceiling, both hips are reaching back, so there's a feeling of an upside down saw. And come back with two hands on, and twist the other direction, really use your arms to create leverage, drop your head, take the armpit to the sky, two hips reaching back, and come back to your plank position, that feeling of an arrow, crown of head through the heels, bring one hand right in front of your nose, pivot on your feet and come to a side plank, from here step on your front foot, dive forward, and come into twist, really feeling that twist from the upper back. Come all the way back to your side position, hold here, come back to plank. Second side, the other hand comes under your nose, pivot on your feet, make sure you're using your bottom waste and your bottom lat, step forward onto your front foot, twist the upper body, reach all the way through, take that armpit to the sky.

Come back to your side position, everything's stacked, use the bottom waist, head is in line with the body, come back to plank, step yourself in, bring your box up and onto the machine, in the long box position, the bar is gonna go up where you had it for footwork, and we are gonna be on a medium tension spring, bring yourself down so that your head and shoulders are off the front edge of your machine, and the hands are gonna be shoulder distance, press the arms straight, so when you're set up, there's energy through the legs, the front of the ribs are closed, and the head is in line with the spine. We are going to start with a baby swan. So just the upper back lifts, notice the carriage moves in, press the carriage back out, so we always start our extension exercises in this manner, so the upper back must lift first, the lower spine has not done anything yet, and come back right back down, let's move through that now, move through baby Swan, come up to your first Swan, pubic bone is on the mat, and take it back down. So we are gonna challenge this now, without shifting at all, so really pay attention to your right and left hip bone, take one off to the side, many of you have probably already felt the shift from here, from here push down on the bar and lift to Swan, two shoulders in the same plane, and take it right back out, keep reaching vigorously through the other hand, push down and lift up, the breastbone comes through, long neck, come all the way back down, reset, two hands on the bar, the other hand comes off, one side is gonna be better than the other, push down and lift yourself up, okay this is my bad side, and take it right back out, I feel very twisted, push down and lift, fight not to twist, open the chest, shoulders at the ears, take it back down, two hands down, let's bring the carriage in for a moment. We are going to move into arm jumps, and for me I like the emphasis on the position in the air, not how high your jumping, so take the arms out straight, you might need to nudge a little bit more forward, take the arms out straight, send energy through the legs, take just a soft bend on the elbows, from here spring off the bar, so the arms reaching forward, and up, and the legs are staying up, it's just a soft bending on the elbow when you land, but really shoot those arms up, look for the work in the upper back, last one, come on in, and put your foot lower down.

And you might want to change your spring to heavy spring, come on up and face the back, it just depends on how much assistance you need in a rollback. Turnaround, we are gonna start with a modified hip twist, so you're gonna come down onto your forearms, elbows right under the shoulders, make sure that you feel your forearm pushed into the box to open the chest, one leg up, the other leg comes up, then straighten the legs to the ceiling, from here, twist the legs to one side, both legs are stacked, exhale, pull your spine center, that brings the legs center. Other side, keep that top waistline long, exhale pullback center, let's do that again, and if you go too far you'll fall off, don't do that, exhale back center, up and over the other side, this right waist is long right now, pullback center, adding the circle, onto one hip, the legs circle through, twist the hips to get to the other side, come back center, keep pushing that box away, and twist the hips, come to the other side, stack the legs and the hips, come center push the box away, it's not easy, take it over, big exhale, pull from the belly not the hip socket, last one over, stay long, don't slouch, all the way up, bend the knees in and come up. Okay we're gonna see that again in a moment, grab your ropes, sit at the age of your box, we're gonna do a basic roll down, sit beautifully tall to begin with, start from the base of your spine, pull the tail under, and slowly peel yourself back, let's go into full extension, so the shoulder blades open, go over your box, nod your chin, push the ribcage into the box to lift, collarbones open, peel all the way up, and then sit beautifully tall, let's do that again, pull the tailbone under, it makes you feel really nice, collarbones open, keep moving the head back, go up and over the box. The chin comes in, push the ribs down into the mat to lift you up.

And sit all the way up, we are gonna add a little challenge, hands come by your side this time, so the challenge is to keep the box still, and if that doesn't work for you today don't do it, hopefully my box stays still, tuck and roll back, to the bra line, take a breath in, and exhale, come back up, try to keep that box still, all the way vertical, moving on, tuck and roll back one more time, box still if you can do it, stop at the bra line, right leg up, left leg up, take a breath in here, exhale, peel up to perfect teaser position, in and up, and then guess what happens here? We're back to hip twist, go to one hip, propel the circle as it moves the legs, and come back center, other direction, circle the hips, the opposite hip lifts, comeback center, and again keep growing tall, circle the hips, and center, last one, take the legs over, upper body is still, comeback center, bend the knees, and come back up. Moving on, the box comes off the machine. I'm getting kind of slow and biding myself some time, you move faster than me, finger bar back to where it was for foot work, we're going to Russian split series, headrest comes up. I'm going to work on one heavy spring and one medium spring, but you might want to go a tad down, careful getting into this, hands to the shoulder rest, step into the middle of your machine, step one foot back onto the bar on the ball of the foot, I'd like the leg to be parallel, scoot the other leg up onto the headrest, it should feel like your toes are going uphill, and now establish your lunge position, which means the carriage is going to adjust out for the length of your body, we are looking for 90 degrees on the front knee, back leg super straight, and both hips pointed to the back of the room, from here, the front leg only moves, my hands are barely doing anything, my front leg presses out and back in, back to 90, and press out, and back to 90, the body is still, keep your emphasis on keeping the top of your back straight.

Energy through the crown of the head, it's okay if this is small, it might be just like that, and in, one more time, press out, and in, stay here, from here the back heel moves, the lunge stays constant, the back heel will lift as it moves the carriage, the back heel goes down, Odd way to do a calf exercise, but it works. Again push-up, and the heel lowers get that stretch to more up, and the heel goes back, last time, lift the heel up and stay here, the heel stays here, now the back leg propels us, then the back leg, bring the carriage in, shoot the carriage out with the back leg, and in, and press out, make sure you're not starting to lay down on this thighbone, the hip point should be lifted up off the thighbone, upper back is straight, last one, in and press out from here, lift the hips, bring the carriage in, drop your head down to your foot front. Make sure the hip is sucking back, from here we split, push the carriage out, the hip stays square to the ground, as the carriage comes in, the top of your head gets closer to the foot front, and again split, bring the carriage in, the head gets closer to the front foot, and last time, and the head gets closer to the front foot, come back to your lunge, bend at the front knee, reset, back is flat, from here one arm up over your head, if and only if you're stable, the other hand comes up over your head, the front of the ribs are closed, the head is in line with the spine, the biceps are spinning back palms facing each other, two hands down, twist, push down to the bottom hand, open the chest, the pelvis stays square, two hands back to the shoulder rests, from here bring the carriage in, take the front foot all the way back to the head rest, lift the hips up, round the back, pull the carriage in tight, heels are down, pull the carriage in tight, the other foot comes forward, and we get to repeat all that, so establish your lunge, again the front leg is at 90, your two hips are pointed back, so really don't let this hip swing around right, pull that hip back, upper back is flat from here, the front leg presses out, and back to your lunge, hands are light, push out, back to your lunge, back heel is reaching back right now, and the rest of the body is absolutely still, so it's only one thing moving right now, and it's your front knee, can you hear your breath? Find it, one more there, and freeze, now the back ankle moves, the back heel lifts and lowers, everything else is quiet, working but quiet, really isolate that action. One more here, lift the back heel and keep it up, now the back leg propels us, the knee bends, the carriage comes in and push out, make sure the hips are not bobbing up and down, pull the carriage all the way in, all the way out, back heel stays lifted, all the way in, be light with your hands, all the way in, where is your breath, can you hear it?

One more time, stay here, the heel goes back, stretch the front leg straight, drop your head to your foot, some of you might be more comfortable bringing the hands all the way to the carriage, from their push out into a split, come in the head goes further to your foot as you go in, carriage in the hips all the way square, and again, come into a split, and come in head to your foot, last one, head to your foot, come back to your lunge again, front leg is at 90, the back is flat, the front of the ribs are closed, one hand up over the head, if you're wobbly keep your hand down, if you're secure take the hand off, shoulders are driving down, be quiet with your breath, can you hear your breath? Effortless effort, the hands go down, and now rotate, pushed down through the bottom hand, open the rib cage, bring that hand down, bring the carriage in, take the front foot back to the bar, come into cat position, heels are down, pull the carriage in tight, tight, tight, all the way to the bumper, and step out, and step down. That was a little thigh burn wasn't it? Let's move on, the footbar comes down, and I'm gonna need you to know where your sticky mat is, we're going to be using it in a moment, we're gonna go to for arm plank, and I recommend one heavy spring for this. So watch how I get in and out, come down to your forearms, and really I anchor my thumbs right around the shoulder rests, and now from here, one foot goes back to this ledge, We are gonna be working on the ledge of the machine here, put the carriage out, and set your distance, so if anything the elbow will be just a little higher than the shoulder, from here take the other foot back, and just find your plank position, and again that feeling of an arrow, going out through the crown of the head, out through the heels, make sure your tail is not here, so the tailbone is reaching back to the heels.

Keep breathing here for me, to come out, bring one knee back to the carriage, and ride the carriage in, okay we're going to repeat that, come back down to the forearms, push the carriage out, take the other foot back to join it, so we're gonna add an ab curl to this, the hips do not move at all, from here close up the upper rib cage, the carriage comes in as you bend the thoracic spine, the hips don't move, go back flat, and again pull the carriage in like an inch worm, squeeze the legs tight, it's gonna be small, go back to the plank, and again moving just at the bra line, come back to the plank, one knee comes back to the carriage, write the carriage in. Okay so we are gonna pass through that position, and bring the spine up into a cat shape now, back to the forearms, establish that beautiful perfect plank position, here we go, so the ab curl first, now pull the carriage in, we did these ones today ready, and back to the plank, and again, ab curl first, now round the lower back, make sure your hips aren't coming here, pull your hip points up, and back to plank, and again, ab curl, so I don't want your sit bones there, pull them under, pull the carriage in tight, tight, tight, come back to plank, make it perfect, knee to carriage and write it in, and find your sticky mat. So the sticky mat is going to go into the center, some of you might want to take your tension down a smidgen, because we're coming to one hand. I'm going to try doing that. So I'm going to a medium spring instead of a heavy spring, hands are going to straddle your sticky mat, take one foot back to the carriage, push the carriage out, the other foot comes back, this time I want your feet a little bit apart okay, bring one hand right in front of your nose, pivot on your feet, we did this earlier and find your side plank, so the bottom waistline is really lifted, head is in line with the spine, step forward onto the front foot and twist and pull the carriage in, come back to side plank, and again, twist the upper body, reach all the way through armpit to the ceiling, and back to side plank, and one more time, pull the carriage in, and all the way back to side plank, come back to plank, knee to the carriage and come out for a moment.

So make sure when you twist, the armpit just like we did earlier, is reaching to the sky, but the head is dropping down, back to your hands, one foot back, the other foot back, be comfortable here, on your feet, the other hand comes center, pivot on the feet, so it's important that you're comfortable there, beautiful side plank, if this feels heavy on your shoulder make the tension a little lighter, dive through, lift the hips, drop the head, back to side plank, can you hear your breath? Dive through, use it to help you, come all the way back, nice and long on both sides of the trunk, pull in, back to side plank, hold that there, come back to plank, one knee to the carriage, and bring the carriage in. Come off your machine. Okay time to do a little side bending, get your foot bar out of the way so that you can stand on your platform, and we are gonna work with one heavy spring. And go ahead and step up onto the frame of your machine, so we never want to step to the carriage, because that side can bounce around, all the way up, get your feet right on the edges, take your hands behind your back, we're gonna begin with a squat, so your hips goes straight back, the back is flat, and I want right here the hip points to be pulled up, just a tiny bit away from your thigh bones, put all the emphasis on your upper back, field where your collarbones are, feel where your shoulder blades are, now bend the knees a little bit deeper without changing anything, circle the arms up over your head and hold it.

The palms are facing each other, the biceps are spinning back, make sure here that you're not spilling the ribs open, the ribs are closed, without shifting anything, circle the arms back to your lower back, and then stand, shift your weight to the leg, I should barely see that shift, onto the leg that's on the frame, from here, the opposite leg comes in two skate, pressing out and recoiling in, and again, there's the concentric work, you make the eccentric work happen, so we're not riding the carriage, control that carriage in. The kneecaps are pointed straight ahead the entire time. Pushing from the hip, this Knees stays right over that toe, this leg does not move, in fact you're gonna feel quite a bit of work over here on this side. Last one, bring yourself up, a little adjustment on the foot that's on the carriage, heel toe out just a few inches, take the arms all the way up over the head, the carriage is in, the ribs are closed, drop the shoulders, from here push the carriage open and get tall, now bend to the back of the machine all the way over, bring the carriage in all the way, keep bending, then bring the shape straight up, let's do that again, push open, bend to the back of the machine, let the carriage come in, keep bending, bending, bending, going deeper into that side bend, all the way up, open the arms, reach through those fingertips, push open, tail points down, side bend, bring the carriage in and keep bending, two arms up, we're gonna reverse the bend now, push the carriage open, bend to the front of the machine, bring the carriage in, keep bending, come all the way up, push the carriage open, bend to the front of the machine, bring the carriage in, the tail points straight down, and up, last time, push open, bend, keep reaching getting longer armpits to the sky, all the way up, stay here, and lower the arms, and step off your machine. Step behind you come around to the other side, second side everybody.

Okay step to the frame, bring the other foot up, work the edges of the machine, hands behind the back, and find your squat. And again the knees are pointed right over the toes, you're gonna feel a little bit more work on your heel, keep the upper back really flat, circle the arms around and up over your head, can you bend your knees one inch deeper without sacrificing the position of your spine, be perfectly still, circle the arms back behind you, subtle shift onto the standing leg, and now press that carriage out and control it in, with control push out, and in, and can you hear your breath? And push, and control, so you're working continuously, there's never a time when you're not fully engaged thinking about something, feeling the work. Two more here, stay focused, last one, stand yourself up, heel, toe, heel, toe you're out, just your foot out just a few inches, the arms go out over your head, set your position, the tailbone points straight down, the biceps spin back, palms face each other, from here push the carriage open and open the arms, pause, bend to the back of the reformer, bring the carriage in all the way, lift the whole shape up, again push open, but you get tall, the carriage comes in, bend at the waist, go away for over, all the way up, I messed up I think, push open, stay here, bend to the back of the machine, bring the carriage in all the way, all the way up, stay here, we reverse it now, push the carriage open tail points down, bend to the front of the reformer, the carriage comes in all the way, keep getting tall, all the way up, push and open, bend to the front of the machine, bring the carriage in all the way, you keep bending over, over, over, over, until you come up, last one, push open, bend to the front of the machine, bring the carriage in, keep lengthening, keep bending, all the way up, and relax, step off your machine. And let's bring the footbar up, it's gonna go back what it was for footwork, and you can keep your machine with one heavy spring on it, we are going to mermaid, one leg in front, the other leg back with your shin against the shoulder rest, this hand just a little bit forward of your shoulder, the other arm is up, from here side bend up and over, and now rotate, open the hands and get your weight equal on both hands, really use your arms to steer your trunk to the center, I have a center spring on so I can line myself up right with that center spring, from there, push down with both arms, and come into a feeling of Swan, lift the chest, carriage comes in all the way, and then take it back out, and again, push it down and lift the chest out and up, shoulders out of the ears, and take it out.

Again, push down and lift the chest up, and all the way down, let's come back to your side position, rotate side, come all the way up, other hand goes down, that hand comes up, now just with a feeling of pulling the ribs up off the pelvis, and then side bend the other direction. All the way up, second side. The hand is a little in front of the shoulder, and from here sideband towards the footpath, really feel the work on that bottom side, and let's come up, and let's add on side bend up and over, and now rotate, use your arms, push through both arms, try to feel equal weight on both arms, push down on the bar, lift yourself up, it's a feeling of Swan, the chest comes through, and press back out. And again inhale, Bring the breastbone through, shoulders out of your ears, and take it back out. And last time, push down through the armpits, and take it back out, stay here, come center, come all the way up, reach that arm up to the ceiling, get tall first, pull the ribs up out of the pelvis, side bend to the back of the reformer, keep lengthening, feeling life on both sides of the body even though we are inside bending position, come all the way up, place your two feet down on the ground right in front of you, palms up on your knees, close your eyes.

Just take a moment to really feel your foot rounded into the earth, feel where you're seated on your sit bones, feel the front and the back of your sit bones equally, and let's take three deep breaths, breathing in through the nose, slow exhale. (breathes heavily) Inhale in. pause at the top, slow exhale, And one more time, deep breath in through the nose, and slow exhale out through the mouth, and slowly allow your eyes to open. Thank you very much for joining me today, and I hope you learned something new, I hope you are challenged, and I hope you got a good workout, see you again soon.