Athletic Reformer Flow

Hi guys, Teresa here today. I'm going to do more of an athletic flow for you. I love fusing movements together that go kind of synergistically, it makes you feel that you're moving from one movement to the other and it feels good and it certainly definitely changes your body, so that's the inspiration why we do pilates. So I hope you enjoy and lets get going. Okay?

Alright, we're gonna start. We're going to grab your box. I'm gonna put the box at the end of the reformer here because it's perfect for filming right now. So I'm gonna be here. I'm gonna put the hands on the hips and I'm just gonna take a deep breath.

We are going to inhale, and exhale. Inhale through the nose, and exhale. Every time you exhale, you're gonna depress the hips and reach out through the crown of the head and pull those abs in nice and tight. Lets try that again. Inhale, exhale.

One more time. Inhale, exhale. Place the arms by the side of the body. We're just going to roll down slowly towards your box. Place your hands in the middle of the box, look out on to the horizon, reach out through the crown of the head, press the tailbone back, and then round through the spine and roll yourself all the way up.

And again, inhale, exhale, chin to chest round through the spine roll down, press the hands in the middle of the box and reach out through the crown of the head. And then round, til that feels really good on the spine. Now here, exhale. Place the hands in the middle of the box, reach out, look at that beautiful horizon, maybe I can see a dolphin jumping, actually I think I do actually, and then roll all the way up, slowly rolling through the spine. Step back just a tab, now we're gonna step up, we're gonna warm up, we're going to get that heartrate moving, we're going to warm that body up.

So let's place the hands on the hips, and we're just going to step up, and then step down. Pretty easy. Step up, step down. So you're stepping up with the right leg, and stepping down with the right leg. Stepping up, stepping down.

Good. Now while you're doing this, of course you wanna make sure the hips are pretty sturdy, in other words, stability, stability right? Because I'm placing the hands on the hips, I'm helping the stability there. Because most people don't have good stability so we're trying to help you attain that by being aware of pulling in those abdominals, focusing on your core, depressing and reaching out through the crown of your head. Good let's just do a few more.

And just one more. Now we're going to lead with the opposite leg, okay? So we're just going to lift up, just warming up that body, remember. I feel my heart rate elevating already, especially when you're just getting over a chest infection. Your heart rate goes up a little bit higher, but that's okay.

Clearing out my lungs. Good, lift up, and down, feels good to move. Get those legs moving, your quads, your hamstrings. Let's just do a few more, we're feeling good, we're feeling warmed up, okay one more. Beautiful.

Step down. Now, take the leg up, place it in the middle of your box. From here, we're going to releve, and lower down. Releve, and down. So you can see I'm releveing up onto the ball of the foot, I'm literally working through the calves, working those legs, working through the calves.

There we go. Let's just do four more to make it. Up, up, up, and up. Ready, from here, it's a little bit more challenging. We're going to step up, and then come back down again.

Bend that back leg, get a nice stretch to the soleus muscle, lift up, and bend. Now be mindful of where the hips are, you want the hips level. So we got those lovely sticks, lift up, keep the knee over the first and second toe, bend that back leg, lift up, and down, shoulders over the hips, shoulders over the hips, yes we always need to keep reminding ourselves. Otherwise we pitch the body forwards. Let's just do one more.

And then step down. Good. Let's go to the other side. Foot, ready for our calf raises? Releve, up and down.

Up and down, now breathe. Free-flowing breathing. There's no wrong or right way to breathe in, as long as we breathe and we don't hold our breath. That's what we always say. Just keep breathing.

Right? Awesome, let's just do a few more like that. Feel those calves working and articulating through the feet. Just a couple more. And come down, bend that knee, get ready, sticks here, ribs to hips, shoot right up, and transfer up.

Bend that back knee. Always for me, my left side's a little bit harder, neuromuscully it always takes me a little while just to get into it. Just be mindful of which is your more weaker side. Bend that back knee, stretch out through the soleus, shoulders over the hips, you should be getting a little bit warmer now, because I am, so you are. Two more.

One more. And then bend that back knee. Beautiful. Come back down. Reach the hands forwards.

Step back into your plank position, hold it there, push away from the floor, reach out from the crown of the head and try not to sink through the shoulder blades. Feel nice and strong as you push away, pull those abs in. We're going to bring the knee towards the box, and back again. Touch the box. You can tap that box.

Tap it, don't worry not gonna hurt yourself. It's a good point to know where your knee needs to be. Tap that box, tap the box, but keep the hips low, abs pulled in, and we're pushing away from the box. (exhales sharply) Four more. (exhales sharply) Hold it here, bend the knees, drop the knees, lift up.

Knees, and down, so you're reaching the knees to the floor. See if you can reach those knees. If you reach the knees to the floor, you gotta really press the scapula, reaching out through the crown of your head, those lower abs are fighting to stabilize. And four more. Four, and three, and two, and one.

Hold it there, come back, stretch it out in that lovely downward dog, and then slowly walk forwards, bend the knees, roll yourself all the way up. Feel a bit warmer now? I know I do, so you should. Let's move on. One and a half springs.

We're gonna do one red, one blue. We're gonna get down, and put my headrest up. We're gonna put our feet into the straps. So grab your straps, alright we're gonna put the feet in the straps, beautiful. Okay so your feet are turned out from your hips, you're in that neutral spine, hold it there.

We're going to inhale here, exhale reach towards your feet keeping your hadns where they are, palms reaching upwards. And then the palms come back flat again. And again, externally rotate, as if you're reaching, you're presenting forwards, and then back. Just lift your chest lift, you're working those abs, you're reaching towards your feet and back. Now we're going to lift the legs up.

We press down, reach forwards. And then come back. So a slight press down as you reach towards your feet, and then you come back. We're only going to do ankle over your hip. And reach as your abs reach, depress your scapula, pull out palms flat.

(inhales, exhales) Feel that openness through your shoulders, opening your chest, you're reaching forwards, still keeping the tailbone groudned into your mat, and then back. (inhales, exhales) One more. (inhales, exhales) hold it there. Reach the arms out to the side, open close, open close, open close, open close, and four, and three, and two, and one. Hold it there, bring the arms back, reach forwards, drop that tailbone down, and slowly place the hands back down.

Now from here I'm going to take away and I'm going to slightly go, we're still in our external rotation, okay? So what we're going to do is drop that leg down into a scissor and come back. So I'm only going down to the bar there, your hand bar, and then back. Inhale, exhale. So you're turned out at the hip, you're pressing down with the hamstring, and you're going to feel your adductors.

Lets do one more. Last time, hold it here. We're going to go up, hold that position, in that lovely stretch. Now while I'm in that stretch, I'm going to take the liberty of taking down my headrest, take your shoulders against your shoulder rest, head rest is down. Okay, from here, we're going to carry on, and we're going to roll over your head, from here, we're going to roll down, tailbone hits, we're going to come to 90 degrees, and then we're going to lower that leg down.

So lets try that again. We bring that leg to join that leg, adductors are squeezing together, we're going to try to take it over your head, try to hit that stopper, we're going to exhale, articulate over your head. Hold that position. Keep the legs straight. Keep squeezing those inner thighs, rolling down one vertebrae at a time, as you reach out through those toes, tailbone down, come back to 90 degrees, lower that leg.

Lets do one more. Come up, take it over to hit that stopper, relax the head, neck, and shoulder, now use your pelvic curl. Inhale here, exhale pelvic curl, roll over your head. Slowly roll down one vertebrae at a time. And then we're going to hit it here.

And then lower the leg. From here, we're going to bring that leg up and what we're going to do is bend this leg, bend the opposite leg, put your hand on your knee and press. That feels so good. Because you've got the resistance here, it's pulling you in external rotation of the hip joint. So you get an awesome stretch.

So the gluts, your booty, is a beautiful stretch there. Put your hand on your knee and voila, awesome hip opener. Alright, from here we're going to lift. Take it out, that feels so good. Now we're going to work on the other leg now so.

Alright, let's thread, okay reach that leg up in external rotation, and we're going to extend that opposite leg and it's going to join up. Okay what we're going to do is just take that leg down and up, down and up, okay? So you've got that feeling, the adductors are engaged. What you want to try and do is keep that leg still so this leg is not moving. So those hamstrings are isolating, they're stabilizing your leg, so you don't want your leg too far this way, you want to try and get your ankle joint over your pubic bone, okay?

Alright, you ready for a little roll over? Let's go up, inner thighs connected, come over your head, now keep the tension there. Roll all the way up, and then slowly roll down, hit and back again. And again, let's come up, we're going to be really strong here, take it over your head, press, and roll yourself all the way up, you've got to breathe. Roll down, back to 90, and we're going to do one more.

Back to 90 degrees, roll over your head, keep pressing into that weight there, and hold it there, keep pressing your foot into that strap, roll yourself down, back to 90, and then open. Stretch, bend it, bend it here, and push your hand on your knee. Challenging, but awesome. You can see where your asymmetries are, within your body, just got to work through it, okay? Hold that stretch.

And then slowly we're going to release, let's come out of that lovely strap there, bring your knees into your chest, give yourself a little stretch, wanna grab your toes, give yourself a stretch, alright we're going to move on, so we're going to roll over to your side, and sit up. Okay, let's grab the box now. Alright. So you're going to put the box right next to your shoulder rests, okay? Now first set of exercises, the bar will be up, we are going to be on one blue and one red spring right now, okay?

So we're going to come up and we're going to go down so your feet are hip width apart, now what we're going to do is some squats, very simple squats here. So I'm going to squat, I'm going to press the hips back, and then come back. So now when you're in the squat position, you want to try to focus on being in a bit of a more of an imprinted spine. So it's not so much neutral, it's imprinted spine. I'm just going to squat, we're just warming up those legs again before we go into that next series, lower leg work.

Good. And lets just do a few more just to warm up those legs. And then hold it here, little pulses here, four more, four, three, two, and one. Release, come up onto releve, and then do like a chair squat. We're going to go back, ears, by your biceps, once again imprinted spine, you want that little releve, the great thing about this box is that it helps to support you, gives you a little bit more stability.

Work in the legs a little differently, we're still focusing on our hamstring through that posterior chain, ears by your biceps we open up your chest, just give me two more, one more, and guess what, we get to hold it here, and pulse. Four, three, two, one, hold it, extend up, come down. Feet are flat. We're going to roll down, I'm going to take you to one red spring now. From here, we're going to come back, and what we're going to do is turn to the side, and reaching that leg out, so you're in that cross position.

So from here, we're going to go into a plank position, reaching out through the crown of the head, exhale round like a pipe. Bringing the carriage in. Inhale, rotating around the shoulder joints as you reach out exhale, oblique, oblique, oblique as you round in. Inhale, plank, exhale, and inhale plank, exhale. Inhale plank, reach out through the shoulders, reach out through the crown of the head, exhale draw those abs in one more time, rotate through the shoulder joint, abs pulled in as you roll all the way up, up hiking up to the sky.

And then from here, we're going to turn take the leg down forward into that lunge position, now we're going to reach that leg out. Now, I'm in a lunge, I'm pressed my leg in the middle of the reformer, my right spring is to the side, so the springs aren't in the way. I'm right in the center of your reformer. So in this position, the leg is straight. Abs pulled in, be careful you're not arching your back, draw those abs in, slightly go into a slight posterior tilt, you're ready.

Now athletically, we're going to come up into a little pike, so we're going to go pike, inhale look forwards, push away on that bar, round through that thoracic spine, pike, inhale look forwards. And again, yes, you're going to get hot, and forwards, and again, and forwards. Let's do four more. Two more. One more.

Beautiful, hold it here, bend that knee, and just push. There's your little glut, booty action going on there. Got to find it somewhere right? Work those hamstrings. Four, three, two, one.

Send your hips apart, get that short hamstring stretch, come back, bend the knee, gently put the other leg back to join it, inhale out, exhale knees come underneath your body. Inhale out, keep the hips in line with your shoulders as much as you can. Four more, four, three, two, one. Lift all the way up, into a nice stretch position, because guess what, we're going to go to the other side now, aren't we lucky? Pull it back in.

Turn. Turn so you're in that rotation position so now we're going to work those obliques. Ready, and inhale plank, exhale, really focus on the lowest rib, joining your hip bone in that rotation. Your torso is square, and inhale plank, exhale round, round, round up. Inhale plank reach out through the crown of the head, exhale round push away from that bar.

Feel those obliques burning, inhale pull the scapula down, exhale round. Awesome. Inhale plank, and yes you've got a sweat going on, you're getting your glow on, one more time, and round. Beautiful, turn around, and taking that leg down make sure that heel is on your box, bend your knee forwards, and take a little slight break. Deep breaths, hold that position, now from here, slightly pelvic tilt forwards, arms, give yourself a little break, ready, push away, ready for your little cat pike, ready, inhale, neutral.

The more you push away from that bar, the more you depress your scapula, the more you can really draw in those abdominals in up and back and get round into that thoracic spine. One more. Hold it there, beautiful. You ready for that little booty challenge? And we're going to press out, out, keep your shoulders pulling down back, pressing back in the hamstring, think of the booty lifting, such the inspiration, right?

(laughs) three, two, and give me one more for good luck, it won't hurt you. And then come back and stretch. Awesome. Moving on to where plank, from here, push your weight into the bar, transition back, you're ready to push out and in. Inhale, lot of ab work here ladies and gentlemen.

Four more. Beautiful. Segway forwards, and pull in. Just take your hands down, forehead on the bar, hold that stretch, your heartrate is high, bend and extend, bend and extend, bend and extend last time, bend and extend, take a seat, come back, just switch the hands behind the head, and I'm going to ask you to draw those abs, watch you're not hyperextending, just as I just was, I correct myself too, pull those abs in, rotate. I love putting a little rotation here, kind of gets your body back into sync, we will have bad habits, including myself, so it's exhale, exhale, two more, beautiful, come down.

So now we're going to put the bar down, so let's take it away, and I'm going to put the bar this way, so basically got that platform free, so you're going to be pushing away with your foot right here so it needs to be free from the other bar. And we're going to put it at one red and one blue because we're working the gluts. Alright, so we're going to stand up, now stand in the middle of your reformer, so your foot is against the box. The other foot is going to be kind of half on, half off. The reason for that is so it moves, and as we move, the knee stays in alignment with the first and second toes, so it's kind of half on and half off, alright?

So the hands are here, and what we're going to do is just to get used to the movement, we're going to push out, and in, very easy, out and in. So our focus is our glut medius, we're abducting the legs, okay? Just breathe, this is your little warmup. I never want to push you straight into an exercise before you feel comfortable, and then you move, and then we move into the exercise. Feel comfortable now?

Good, let's move on, let's put your palms facing downwards, and we're going to rotate with a bent leg, and then back, rotate with a bent leg. Can you see how one leg is bent, one leg is straight. Love this, because we're getting lovely rotation, working into the gluts, into the adductors. Good. Let's do one more.

Moving on, we're going to go reach, reach, and then reach. Palms are flat, and reach. See if you can look down, look down to your foot, look down to your foot, that's it. Rotate. And rotate, keep nice and tall.

One more. And back. Take the hands onto your hips. Now we're going to do a lovely squat. Fitness squats, so we're going to go out and in.

And we're going to go out and come in. Now both legs straight, both legs bend. Both legs extend, both legs bend. Now, this time, you are sitting your hips back, back, good, knees over your toes, now do triple pulls here, we go three, two, one, in. Three, two, one, bring it in.

Three, two, one, are you breathing? Three, two, one, bring it in. Bring it in. Bring it in, two more. Bring it in, last time.

Roll all the way up. Did you feel that? Feels good, doesn't it? Okay, moving down, in a perfect position, to set the knee against the box, elbow down, onto the edge of the box, your foot again, half on half off. Hands behind on your hip for a moment, we're just going to push out and in, very simple movement here, but love this because it teaches you how to really stabilize through your obliques here.

Good, and just push it out and in. Breathe. If you feel comfortable, you can always take the hand behind the head. Just a couple more. And one more, beautiful.

Take that leg to the side. Now for those that feel comfortable, you can take the hand behind the hip, or keep it on your hip. We're going to flex it forward, point, bend the knee, and see if we can touch and look back. Flex forwards, come back, and see if we can touch. And look back.

Our goal is to try and touch, not all of us are going to get there, but we have to have a goal. No goals, we don't get anywhere in life. We all have to aspire to get somewhere, and then keep the leg the same height. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, and look back, really open up that chest.

Inhale, and exhale beautiful. Inhale, and exhale, one more. Inhale, exhale, come back to the side, hold it there, point the toe, bend the knee, yes. That lovely stretch. Stretch out that hip, and then we're slowly going to come up, guess what, we get to do that the other side now, so you get to watch me from behind.

Alright, so let's stand up, alright. Foot against your box, other foot half on half off. Ready, we're going to open and close. Remember, we're going to get used to the open and close position like we did the other side, and this time we want to really focus on working through the gluts here, you're pushing out. The toes are pointing forwards.

This is just your little warmup here, you're ready to go for the other exercise where you bend your knee, keep those abs pulled in, let's do a few more, and one more. Are you ready? And we go rotate, and rotate, breathe, four more, four, three, exhale two, exhale one. Ready for the other side? We're going to rotate, rotate, and rotate, got to really push that leg out, good.

Four more slowly, four, three, two, and one. And then slowly put your hands on your thighs, get your hips back, ready, we're going to go out, and then bend your knees in. And out, bend your knees in. Try and keep on the same plane. Your body is pitching back, from the hips, your torso is forwards, you're in a slightly imprinted spine.

Two more. One more. Are you ready for the triple pulses? Let's go. Three, two, one, in.

Three, two, one, and in. Three, two, one, and in. Three, two, one, good four more. Three, two, one, bring it in. (exhales sharply) two more.

(exhales sharply) Last time. (exhales sharply) And in, bring it in. And slowly roll all the way up. Oh I definitely felt that. Alright, let's come down, knee against your box, hand down, get everything in alignment, shoulder, elbow and we're going to do our push out and in, so we push out and in, think of those obliques, you can wrap your hand around here.

And pull up, focus on the obliques stabilizing, keep breathing, hand on hip if you like, and four, and three, and two, and one beautiful, come down. Reach that leg out, lift up, push away, obliques. If you want to put your hand here or here it's your choice, we're going to flex, flex, point, tap. Flex, flex, point, and tap. Flex, flex, our goal is to try and wrap around and look, and flex flex, and tap.

(exhales sharply) Two more. Last time. Bring it to the side. Flex, point, bring it down, beautiful, and you get that well deserved stretch. From here, just turn around , we're going to stretch out those gluts because you guys deserve it.

Just put your foot down, for a full stretch. Hold that stretch. You need that stretch, so take it. And then switch, other side. Okay now we're going to move onto some lovely extension now.

So we're going to change your spring to one red spring. Now before it was on one red one blue, it was a challenging block, as you can tell, so if you want to take it down to one red, you could've also been on one red before. Remember if it gets too challenging, take it down half a spring. We're all at different different strengths here so you have to work to your own capabilities. So we're going to go forwards here.

Alright, so, you're going to put your toes right here, you know I didn't even change my spring. There you go. See, I was too bothered talking to you. (laughs) Alright, put your toes right here, and we're going to just jump up and we're going to scoop forwards so you have your chest off of the box. I'm going to put my hands forwards, and I'm going to lift up a little bit further forwards.

Depending on your back extension, your hands are forwards so here. Now all we're going to do is very simply is pull your scapula down. Reach out through the crown of the head, and lift up. And then come back again. And again, depress, reach out through the crown of the head, and then slowly come back to the stopper.

Deep breaths, get that depress action first, and then lift, and then come back down to the stopper and stop. And again, depress, reach out, get that upper thoracic extension, and down and back. Lets do one more. Feel those triceps working. Deep breaths, reach out through the crown of the head, and lift, and then back.

Okay now we're going to walk forwards, and then hold onto those lovely straps. On one side of the straps there are little poles at the end here, your arms, your hands are on the outside of the poles, your ears are by your biceps. All we're going to do is pull. So the elbows are going down, in to the well, down to the reformer, and once again you're thinking the same as what we did. Pull your scapula down, now breathe.

Working those biceps, working the lats. Just do one more. And now we're going to replace the hand grip on top. So now in a row the elbows are going more to the side of the room. So think of the elbows going to the side of the room.

Elbows to the side of the room. Breathe. The arms are going to get a lovely workout, your mid-upper back. And then slowly come down, gently walk the hands back, slowly walk back, try not to crash the reformer, going to adjust myself a little bit to go back and you're going to grab ahold of the ankle joints and we're just going to come back gently and hold it there in that lovely stretch. And then come down.

Reach the hands out, and then slowly we're going to come back down, try and grab your toes, onto the board, and then come back, and then gently round forwards in that stretch. Slowly roll all the way up. Step back, we're going to pick up your box. How you guys feeling? Good?

Alright, nearly there. Are we sweating? Good, because we're going to sweat some more. Ready, back to the beginning. Hands on hips, ready, up and down.

Now this time, we're going to use the arms, because guess what, you're stronger, you're warmer now, you've got a nice sweat going on. Switch legs. Remember step aerobics? Many years ago. (laughs) Some of you may have taught it.

It's still very big in Europe. There's a lot of you out there still do step aerobics. It's more like dance on a box, right but it's awesome. One more. Tap it, ready?

We're going to go up and down just like we did earlier on. So we go up, and lunge. This time we're going to be on our toe. Up, and toe. Ready, you're going to add those arms.

Up, and down, up, and down. (exhales sharply) four, three, two, one, hold it here. Place the body forwards, pulse. Four, three, two, one. Come up, and down ready for the other side?

Breathe, hands down. Up, up, bend that back knee on a releve, knee over the first and second toe, shoulders over your hips, keep those hips square. And come back down, hold it there, and pulse. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, hold, lift up, come down, press down into your plank position, feet hip width apart. Ready for your knees?

Bang, bang, tap that knee, tap, tap, tap, tap, four, three, two, one, hold it here, now ready for your rotation. Rotation. Rotation. Work those obliques, four more, four, three, exhale two, and one. And come back, nice stretch, roll yourself all the way up, good job okay.

Finishing off your class, now your heart rate's up a lot, my heart rate is up, it's time now to do some nice stretching right? I think you deserved it. If you've done this class with me, you deserve this at the end. Alright, I'm treating myself to a nice stretch. You guys are coming along with me.

Alright, one red spring, we all know this one hopefully by now. We're going to jump onto your reformer, very simple, toe in the middle of the bar, we're going to press the pelvis forward, shoulder blades pulled back, hold it there and knee over your ankle joint. I can't even sing now. La Do you hear me, it doesn't come out, my voice. La.

Oh see it's coming back. Alright, we go all the way back into that lovely stretch. At least that sounds somewhat sexy right? That sexy voice. But the next time you hear me, it will be back to normal.

The high-pitched Brit voice, I'm sorry. But, and hold that stretch, pull your shoulder blades down. And come back, and we're going to open the hands, the opposite hand to your knee, and stretch. And then come back down, let's quickly switch to the other side. Alright.

Shoulder blades down, pelvis forwards, hold that stretch, quads, your hip flexor, enjoy it. Alright, you're ready for that hamstring? And we'll have to go La See it comes back. Hold that stretch. And that beautiful stretch.

Alrighty let's come back. Let's see if we can opposite arm to knee, and that lovely stretch. And then come back. Last stretch. Another favorite one of mine.

Scooting forwards, it's kind of like the monkey stretch, on the reformer, we're going to go all the way forwards, from here, push out, press the heels underneath the bar. Now look out on that beautiful horizon, releve, put your head down, bend your knees. Reach out, flex, look out onto the horizon, bend and come back. And reach, flex up, and back. Reach, flex, let's do one more.

And down, beautiful. Slowly take your feet over to the side, we're going to sit up, take a nice deep breath in. We're going to inhale through the nose, exhale. And again, close your eyes, inhale, and exhale. One more time, close your eyes.

Inhale, and exhale. And open your eyes. So how do you feel? Do you feel pretty good? That was a good workout.

I think you will enjoy that, I think tomorrow you will have my name on your brain, that's a good thing. Because that means you've worked your total body. We actually worked your core, we worked a lot of your legs, we also worked upper body too in stabilization. So you did a great workout, hope to see you in some of my other workouts. Thanks for joining me, and I'll see you again.

Bye.