Quick Tower Combination

Hi, thank you for joining me at Pilates Anytime. This is Cynthia Bumoni. It can also be pronounced in other ways depending on where you're from. I will be creating other accents during this workout, you'll see. So we're gonna be doing a nice little quickie tower combination, little bit of twisting happening in there and hopefully a little bit of fun.

I mean a lot of fun. Laughing is breathing, just FYI. So, one thing I wanna talk about is we're gonna start with the rollback bar and something from my training with Kathy Grant is she always had two extra hooks just hanging out here. So if I had someone and I thought the spring was too heavy for her, you could just take the hook off and lengthen the spring to make it longer, which was always nice to have that option and for Cynthia because she's a tall, long drink of water, I'm gonna do that for her. Let's get ready and do the rollback.

Feet against the poles and we're gonna just get started. And the first thing I want her to do is just to sit up tall, which as you know is easier said than done and she's just gonna breathe here for a few breaths. And I like to do what I call good cheating where you actually get ... Use that bar a little bit, Cynthia, so kind of press down a little bit, sit up tall and just breathe. There, yes.

And I'm just watching a little bit. Yeah, that's better. And then while you're pressing down on the bar a little bit, can you internally rotate the upper arm bones a bit so the insides of the elbows face each other and maybe you're feeling a little more connection into the back. So give me a big inhale again and as you exhale, you're gonna start to curl and roll down and up a couple of times and don't think about it too hard. Just roll, yes.

I mean, we could overanalyze it and lift your head and roll back up, yeah. And just take stock and see how your body is feeling today, right and just a few more times, breathing, rolling down. And the big thing for me is when you go to come back to sitting up tall, really see if you can find sitting up tall and if you have a mirror then take a peek and see like oh, am I really where I think I'm supposed to be. Exactly and again roll that ... I like that mirror check, that was good.

And when your head rests down on this next one, stay with your head down and just do a few pulls, yes. Exactly and just breathe. Any breathing is good, just keep breathing, right. Now, a couple more pulls. Thank you.

And she's doing a really great job of keeping her wrists nice and flat and I suggest you do the same. When you're ready, lift your head up. Take a peek at that wooden bar and as you sit up, just keep looking at that bar to come up because sometimes there's a ... Keep lifting the chin, keep lifting the chin, exactly. This time, sitting up nice and tall, lean back a little bit.

So I'm gonna put my finger here so she can lift up into my finger leaning back. That's about it. And come back up. The hinge point of this is her sits bone. So as you lean back, you're gonna really think of leaning from here, not from your waste or pelvis, more low, right where she's sitting.

Take the belly with you, take the belly with you and come right back up again. Good, a couple more times. Each time as you go back, you get a little bit lower to the floor, hopefully. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And slowly up and maybe in the next couple or the next three, you go all the way down.

You'll see how it goes. Yes, yes, yes and slowly up. Told you this is the price she has to pay for her long spine. It's true. Go all the way down and this time when you get down there with straight arms, give me a nice press.

So inhale, exhale, press. Exactly and let the arms go up and same thing. She's doing a great job of keeping her wrists nice and flat, nice activation in the hands and for me, I like a little squeeze in that pinky side of the arm because I feel that connection all the way to my back armpit. It's a technical term, it's a technical term. Yes, from this position, she's going to go into a nice extension.

Go and arch your back. Sort of think of rocking onto the top of the head and let that bar pull you up, chin to the chest, roll back. Do that a few more times. If you could see the ocean which you know is near here, you could just think of flow, exactly and chin to the chest, roll back, whatever feels good, which is really a nice thing to think about every now and again since I feel like sometimes we're thinking we have to get into these shapes, why not just do what feels good? Reverse and arch your back and go forward.

That's gorgeous and when you're ready, lie down on your back, chin to the chest to roll up. So if you're not feeling so gorgeous at home, make sure you're doing the arch in the thoracic, that ribcage, not just the neck, not just the back. From here, lengthen that spine along the floor. Lift your head, find that belly to come up and just one more, please. Yes, top of the head touches the floor, you're gonna lengthen the spine and from here you're gonna come up just a little bit.

Stay right here, Cynthia, and stay right here and breathe. Find that spot that might be a little hard for you and you're gonna pulse there a little bit. So you're gonna barely see Cynthia move, right, and she's gonna inhale for two, exhale for two. Inhale, exhale, now, for Cynthia I want her to go a little bit lower, tuck the booty a little bit right there and she's gonna pull very small. And if you barely see her moving, that's because she barely is and she's really moving on the inside.

Yes and from there sit all the way up, up, up, up, up, up, up. Let's give her a stretch. Left hand at the center of the bar, right hand at your tummy, inhale and as you exhale, easy roll back, yes. Lying all the way down on the back, put your right hand behind your neck. This is a borrow from my pal Alan Herdman.

We're gonna reach this elbow out to the side and across just a little bit, stay here, breathe. Right ankle goes across the left, go for a nice stretch and after you get that, then reach your arm to straight and behind you and go for a stretch. And I'm not gonna be mean. I'm actually gonna give her a little stretchy poo. I call this the cookie, food and Pilates, her little treat after doing that so well.

And reach, reach, reach. Pretend someone's giving you a nice yank. Circle the arm around, put the foot back, put the hand back at your tummy, square yourself off. This to me is the hardest moment here, correct. And lift your head and roll back up.

Other side, right hand at the center, left hand at the tummy, easy roll back. Thank you very much. Hand behind the neck, take a moment here. That's it and from here, really just move the ribcage. Leave the pelvis alone.

That's right. And then move the left ankle to the right. Hopefully, you're getting a nice stretch and now reach that arm behind you and stretch. And I like to play around with the rotation of the arm. So maybe palm facing out and then another breath with the palm facing in.

Breathe into that ribcage. Circle the arm around, put it back at your tummy. Yeah and I really like to use the hand at the tummy because that's the part that I have a hard time getting in after those babies, right, so lift your head back up. The foot went back and you're gonna curl on up. Now, right about here, take a look at that hand, lift the chin and focus up as you slowly sit up tall.

That's it, guys. So get rid of that rollback bar. We're gonna do a little bit of the push through bar. So you're gonna get rid of this and we're gonna get your push through bar and you're gonna spring it to the high spring at the top. So here we go.

So Cynthia, you're gonna lie down on your back, hold the phone, let me make sure I did this right. Safety first. Let me just get this out of our way. So, Cynthia, lie down on your back and you're gonna put your head where your feet just were. Okay, hi.

So grab onto the bar. I'm gonna make you do it yourself. And when you're ready ... Let me just take a peek. So here's a fun way to make sure that you're centered if you don't have someone looking at you.

Open up your legs to the width of your mat. Yeah, that's how you can be like, oh, that's where the side and then give yourself a little shimmy and feel like is that center and then you can even also take a peek. Lift your head up, yeah, and rest your head back down and slowly draw your legs into center. This works especially well when you're lying on your tummy and you can't quite lift your head up and look at yourself. Alright, so let me think about this.

Alright, so we're gonna do a little breathing, pelvic lift combo. So Cynthia, you're gonna bend the elbows and the knees at the same time. Plant the feet on the floor and stop right about here, inhale. Now, at this part we're often told to go really wide with the elbows. What if instead you went narrowish in the elbows, connected to the ribcage and push that bar behind you and stretch.

Great, give me a big inhale as you lift your pelvis up. Inhale to lift up. Great, so she's getting that nice reach back. You're gonna reach the knees forward and on the next exhale, breast away from the chin as you come down. Upper back comes down.

Yes, middle back, that little butt before the waistline. And then the tailbone goes down. As you extend the legs along the floor, you reach up to the ceiling, bend the elbows, yes, lift your head and roll up. Hello, inhale, stay here. Now, it's tempting to go here, but you're not gonna go into extension yet.

Yes, keep that internal curl, that's it. On the next exhale, roll down. After your head touches down when the arms bend and legs bend as well. And you're gonna repeat that a few times. Watch that, watch that.

That's it and pelvic lift again. Good and so the image is this, as you push back, you reach the knees forward and you're gonna exhale breast away from the chin as you come down. And men have breasts, too. They're just different. Yes, I know Kathy would say, that's not me.

I'm not that. I'm funny in a different way. Extend the legs along the floor, bend the elbows not too wide so you really ... That's better. Lift your head and roll up.

Let's add on this. So stay in that curl, Cyn, and you're gonna do a few pulls of the arms. That's about it and go back up. You're right, so you wanna keep the belt and lengthen your spine, yes. And this is also the reason why as you're pulling you don't wanna go too wide because you wanna stay connected and when you push up where's that belt lift up out of that waistline, yes, one more.

She's breathing now. Inhale and as you exhale, roll down. Yes, as you bend the elbows, the knees bend as well. Push the bar over your head. Good, now stay here.

Curve ball time, extend one leg along the floor. We're gonna extend the right leg. Ooh, that was good. And then from here, you're gonna push down. Now, she is, bear with me, your right hip stays on the floor, you're gonna do a one-leg pelvic lift.

She's gonna push down into this left leg and spiral. That's it so that right hip stays down and hopefully she feels really good. That's it. Now, staying here she's pushing back, both shoulder blades are down. Inhale and as you exhale, breast away from the chin, so I almost think of unfurling as you roll down.

That's right. Looks like what we did for our warm-up this morning, right? Yes, keep coming down. Keep coming down. Good, extend the leg along the floor, a little bit of a sit-up to come out of it.

So the left leg goes along the floor, bend the elbows, reach up to the ceiling, lift your head, roll up. Yep, that's right, keep that connection and roll down. Other side when you're ready. Push the bar over your head and this time just bend one knee, yes, the other side. So staying here, push down into that right leg and you're gonna spiral.

This left hip stays down. It's very tempting to lift that booty up. It's down. Yes, exactly. Inhale and as you exhale, reach and roll, babes.

Yeah, breast away, yeah. You wanna start all the way from the tippy top. Yes, yes, yes. I say one more time, right, really yummy. Extend the leg, reach up to the ceiling, enjoy.

Lift and roll, good. And roll on down, lengthen, lengthen, lengthen. Slide that left leg in as you bend the elbows again. I don't have a name for this. I call it a one-leg pelvic lift.

Yes, I used to call it a three-legged pelvic lift which is wrong. I know, roll down, and for a long time I was teaching a mat class, I was like, I don't understand why nobody understands what this is. I really meant, I guess, a three-point pelvic. I don't know, made total sense at the time. Yes! Then I realized it's a one-leg pelvic lift.

Yes, and roll down. As you roll down, make sure the head comes down, then bend the other leg, push the bar over your head, get that nice length in the waist. Lift on up and spiral. Now, stay there. As you're spiraling, both shoulders are down, right?

Ah-ha, inhale, exhale, ? Roll on down. ? Yes, upper, yeah, that's right. So you're really starting from the top of the spine, good. Extend both legs along the floor as you reach your arms up to the ceiling. Alright, she's gonna ... No, just reach the arms up to the ceiling, just rest your head back down.

Alright, so stay here. Another curve ball, bend the elbows, I'm sorry, those are not elbows. These are knees. Bend the knees, yes, now bend the elbows. Push the bar over your head one more time.

Let's just a simple pelvic lift, yes. Good, now this time instead of rolling, just come down in one piece. Almost stick the butt out, almost hinging down so to speak. That's exactly right. You're gonna bend the elbows, reach up to the ceiling and we're gonna do a funky Kathy Grant dismount.

So you're gonna do, bear with me, you're gonna yawn. As you open your mouth, let your head go back and inhale. So here we go. Ready, exhale. (exhales) You're gonna let your head go back and yawn, go (yawns).

Open the mouth, open the mouth. Good, chin to the chest. Stay right here. Put your right hand on your right knee. Oh yeah, oh yeah.

And then left hand on the left knee. And slowly sit up. If you wanna try that again, I think there's a little button at the bottom of your screen that just says reverse 10 seconds. I'm pretty sure or I've been watching too much Game of Thrones. Alright, from here soles of the feet come together, hang over your legs, take a little stretch.

Nicely done, yeah. It feels really good. It's one of the weird Kathy Grant voodoo ones, but I like coming out of it that way. The thought for her was it was supposed to keep you from hitting something. I don't remember.

I just remember that that part felt good so that's what we're gonna do. Alright, so let's move on. You're gonna take off the spring from the push through bar and we're gonna do the monkey with no springs. So just fliparooni and here we go, monkey with no springs. So we have to all find our own position.

So Cynthia, you're gonna put both feet on the push through bar, hands on the outside and just hold on and see what happens. If you can't do this, you maybe you can't do this exercises because some people are so tight and so fast forward more. Okay, so here we go. First thing is, when she goes to straight, or when you go to straight, make sure that the bar doesn't go much farther than four fingers away from there because you don't want the bar to go much further than that. So Kathy would say four fingers away.

So staying here, Cyn, just take a moment and breathe. So, you are going to point the feet as you inhale and exhale as you flex the feet. (exhales) Both of them. (laughing) Point the feet as you inhale. Exhale as you flex.

So that's the outside motion. Let's try that again. Inhale as you point. Now, you're only gonna flex, Cynthia, because you're pulling in so ... No, no, no.

You're gonna pull in so much in the belly that the feet have to flex and oh, there's your stretch. And do that a few more times. Inhale to point. Now, take a peek at her knees here. So as she's flexing and pointing, her knees are not gonna go lower.

In fact, sometimes I sneak my hand here and if they hit them, press me down, I sort of give them a little, no. But sometimes it's like a don't do that. Yeah, one more time. Inhale and now, Cynthia, it looks like you keep driving with that right foot. Left foot, where's that lefty?

Good, now stay here and breathe. Keep the feet flexed. On the next exhale, you draw that belly back so much that you start to bend the knees. Yes, right, it happens from here and you keep rolling back and you keep rolling back and it feels like you're taking a long time. It's okay.

Keep rolling back, yep, and even here, this is the point where you're like, oh, I'd really like to lift my head up and you're not. You're gonna keep bringing that belly in and now she's a little stuck and you wanna get stuck because if you don't get stuck then you're not finding the belly. Now, hopefully from here, you can find a little more flexion in the ankles. Yes, because your belly's going in so much and then you keep rolling on back. I'm gonna pull her back with one finger, two fingers.

Yes, and then push that bar up to the ceiling. That is the monkey with no springs. So we're gonna do it a couple more times. Take a little breath, bring the bar down and through. Now, if this was too easy for you, kind of have to play around with where you're sitting.

Apparently, it was not so easy for my friend, Cynthia here. So do that one more time. Point and flex a couple of times and make sure the point and flex is really coming from the tummy because it's so easy to make it an ankle or knee or hamstring thing and it's really more about the belly and the more she concentrates on that, the more opening she gets back here, yes. Now, the story with monkey with no springs is that Kathy liked it because it made people go internal and you can kind of see and feel. I mean, I can feel it right now just from listening to her breath and hopefully you're just dropping in and ignoring my blabbing a little bit.

That's right and you really work from that moment when the belly keeps going out. You can use a little momentum. Don't be afraid, yeah. That's it and then at the hard spot maybe flex the feet, resist the urge to bring the head up. Yes, yes, we have lift off.

Oh, no, spoke too soon. Okay, and off, whoo! Maybe just one more. Down and through, so Cyn, don't be afraid of using momentum, so just one point and flex and right from there you can go right into it. Yeah see, she's finding her spot. That's right.

It's all about that belly going back. And from that deep exhale, that deep connection to the belly, that's what makes you bend and that keeps you going back. Yes, yes, yes. Aaah! She did it. Now, if you wanna play around, flex the feet, go for a little lift of the chest.

Yes, thank you and go down and through. Nicely done, feel good? She's like, yes, I feel successful! So let's go back to that rollback bar again. So come up on your knees and just leave that bar alone and let's do zee zigh zretch. That's German for thigh stretch.

(laughing) Oh man, that's gotta be bad. One day I'm gonna go to Germany and now I have a German brother-in-law. You can't pretend to speak German, if you know what I mean. Alright, so we're in double hookland again. If this doesn't feel good then go back to single hooks.

If you want more hooks, do three hooks. I said you could. I said that right here. Alright, so simple thigh stretch. So let's just watch Cynthia go and let's see what feels good and the same for you, just do a thigh stretch, see how it feels.

So you engage the inner thighs, lean it on back and I'm gonna give Cynthia a little cue. Energy up out of the top of the head as you come up, up, up, up, up. Do that a couple more times. Hopefully that feels good. Yes, and right now, internally rotate those upper arm bones, yeah.

Now to go back, I'm just gonna get in here a little bit, she wants to lean back up here. Instead I want her to almost tuck the pubic bone and lean her thighs back, oh yeah. Hold on, yeah, pubic bone more forward, yes. Oh hi, there's the thighs. That's it, yes.

Now, stay here. How about a few pulls for fun. Three, yes, two ... We're having fun now. One, and you're gonna straighten the arm, slowly come up, up, up.

I think that's enough, don't you think? Okay, great, so when you're ready, turn around. Let's do leg springs. Lie on your back. So I have some big, fat leg springs on here and so just hook yourself up and you decide how high up you want those leg springs to go.

Remember, lower is easier, higher is harder, yes. Hold onto the poles behind you and find that spot. I'm not militant about having to be wide. I actually more prefer shoulder connection and ribcage connection. Feel good?

Looks pretty good, just stay here. How about going into a little more of a froggy position? So heels together, toes apart and what I really look at is her butt, right, so look at ... Don't change it, make me look good. So her butt is slightly lifted.

So I want you to push into the springs a little bit, yeah, not much more than that and almost go to sticking the booty out a touch more which is gonna feel hard for her. Yes, good, now I'm just looking and do you notice, are your knees really close in or are your knees really open? So Cynthia's knees are kind of open, so to challenge yourself go to where you don't normally like to be. So for Cynthia, that's gonna be innish, yes, technical term again. So inhale again, knees are slightly touching, ribcage is down, frog out and in a few times.

Inhale to reach out, exhale, tailbone is down, frog in, long spine. Do that a few times. Those are my froggies, yes. I like your Barbie foot. It's really cute, yeah.

Alright, so I'm gonna mess with Barbie foot. Again, this is her habit is to Barbie foot, so point the feet right now, yes, grab with the toes, frog in and ankles flex. I know it's not as fun, I know. A few more times. To quote my husband, "If you're helping me, why is it getting harder?" I know, needless to say, he doesn't do Pilates with me anymore.

(clears throat) Yeah, and then knees into the springs right there when they get to the outside, yes, a few more times. Frog out, inhale to reach out and as you frog in, knees right to the outside of the springs. Keep the heels low, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Frog out again. Let's go for some beats today, so stay a little lower.

Stick your booty out a little bit more, yes. Ooh, once she got that, now I want her legs a little higher so butt is down. We see a nice work happening here And open and close the legs a bunch of times Breathing, good, now I'll take Barbie foot. Yeah, because there's a lot of energy in those toes, yes. Good, parallel legs.

So stay here with the legs together, point the feet, now stay here. Parallel legs to me is really the big toe knuckles touching but not the heels. Beautiful, open and close a bunch of times here. She's working hard. It's the feet where the springs are attached, but really those legs are attached way up high.

So think upper, inner thighs, yes, good and when you're ready go back to the turn out. Open the legs, thank goodness, and go for a big leg circle. And you have to go big. Bring the legs together. That's like a triple click.

Okay, yeah, and bring the legs. Don't get stuck in pornstar. Bring those legs up to the ceiling. That's what happens, and press the legs down and together. I know, everyone's like, "That feels so good!" Open the legs out to the sides, up to the ceiling and keep moving through.

Thank you, I'm sorry, I can't help it. Yes, and when she goes up and especially if you're a person who likes to lift your butt up, you gotta keep that booty down especially as the legs go up. So take your time here, stick the butt out, stick the butt out, stick the butt out, stick the butt out. Thank you. One more like that because I feel like we touched into something there.

So really anchor the pelvis as you open, thank you very much, reverse the circles, please. Now, I'm gonna mess with Cynthia. Because she likes to go wide, on this next set, I'm gonna ask her to go narrower because wide is her ... Right there and down and together, yeah. Almost to the width of these poles, that's about it and give me matching feet whatever that is, yes.

Two more times, that's it. Hard to stay, that's it. Yep, it's different, that's right. And still when you let those legs go up, anchor the tailbone, lengthen the hamstrings. Yes, after this you're gonna take a little moment after you go down and together, frog in.

And just take a moment to rest because I gotta few more tricks up my sleeve. I'm gonna give her a little bit of a squish. If you want to, grab onto your shins and pull in tight. So for my classical training and the next thing would be walking in beats, but after I had my babies, that was a little rough. So we're gonna do this other thing and I believe it's from Corolla.

Hold onto the poles behind you, give me straight legs up to the ceiling and hold. So again, let's go parallel legs. So that means heels apart, big toes touching which is hard and sometimes I get my fist in there and hold or you can put a ball in there if you want to. So let's point the feet, Cynthia. Good, so from here press the legs togetherish as you press the legs away.

So double parallel bicycle. Slowly bend the knees like I'm going into a squat. Yeah, stick the butt out, stick the butt out, stick the butt out. Extend both legs up to the ceiling. That's the exercise.

Isn't it killer? Yeah, if you're not use to doing this one, it's a little funky but I like it. Yes, now slowly bend the knees, knees stay together. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes that's great. And so it's really nice for Cynthia.

She gets that idea of lengthening the tailbone away as she bends her knees. That's it, stick the butt out, stick the butt out. Good, do you have one more of those in you? Yeah. Up to the ceiling, please.

Point both feet, press away, straighten those legs. Come on, you can do it, yeah. Slowly bend the knees and before your brain explodes, reverse is coming. Here we go, push away, push. You gotta stick that butt out as you let the legs go up.

That's for isolation of the legs. Now stay here. Here's the tricky part. Keeping your knees right where they are, pull the heels down toward the mat. Yes, push the legs away.

? Fire in the inner thighs ? I know. Bend, she's like, did I agree to do this? And push away. So it's a little bicycle but ... Yes, holy hamstrings, Batman! So that's why we get to stretch now.

Go to straight legs and stay there and if you want to do scissors and bicycle now, I'm gonna fast forward and we're just gonna go right to Peter Pan. One heel to the center of your pubic bone, the other leg goes out to the side. And you get an inner thigh stretch. Well deserved, yes. Both legs go long and low to the other side, please.

And so at this moment, I do a hip check to make sure that we're not twisted. Let's do another set. So I'm watching Cynthia and she can really bring her heel out to the side. Bring this heel right to the pubic bone. That's okay, I sit here on purpose.

Yeah, now even here stick the butt out a little bit more. There you go, so you don't go to that flexibility as much as you like, which is mean actually. But it's my job. It's my job to be that. That's it, both legs go up to the ceiling and if you want to you can grab onto the loops or grab onto the outer edges of your feet.

Flex those feet and you can give yourself a stretch. So pull on those loops and just give yourself a nice hamstring stretch and for Cynthia, she's gonna keep her booty down. Yeah, butt down and try to straighten those legs. Yeah, take a breath there. Alright, so now we're gonna go back to the rollback bar again and do a little extensions here.

Just a little funky so you might wanna watch it the first time and then play around or you can just sort of pause as you go along. Okay, so onto your tummy, flipping around right where you are and you're gonna go for the rollback bar, Cynthia. So thread it back through, alright, exactly and I'm gonna leave her on two hooks again because like I said, she's tall. I don't want her to use it to go into her extension because I know she's got some flexibility in there. So you lie on your tummy.

You make sure you're centered. You can do that leg trick again. And then when you can, you're gonna grab onto the bar and just give yourself a little bit of a pull. You wanna have straightish arms. And Cynthia, scoot back because I hate the noise it makes when it's banging up against there.

And if your toes have to come off the Cadillac or mat blocks, it's okay. Just go to straight arms and just restish your head and this actually should feel good. And I like to go hands pretty wide, yeah, and she's just gonna hang out there and breathe. (breathes) Just one more breath because that's a nice stretch, but now it's time for some work. So here we go.

I call this my baby swan series, which is a signet apparently. So this is a little signet, sure. Press down into your hands. You're gonna do a little baby swan. So push down into your hands, lift your head, lift your chin, lift your chest and I want her to get extension in here so keep pressing down low and extend, yeah, keep those arms straight, yeah.

Yes, beautiful now right here, jaw muscles. Open up that ... Yeah, that's it, look back down at the floor and reach back down. Oh, that's good for my friend here. A couple more because she likes to extend here not here so much.

A couple more times. I know this. This is what I think my back likes to do, just in a smaller version. Yeah, that's right, that's right. And it's really nice to use that bar to get that mobility going in the thoracic spine.

One more time, please. How's it going? Great. You can do it! Alright, so from this extension, find what I like to call, spine alignment also known as angry turtle. Staying right here, exactly, yeah.

I just take a moment here just staying here, let your head touch down and let your head lift up. Knowing where spine alignment is is good because she wants to come up almost too high. Tuck the chin a little bit more and really lifting the back of the head, and rest it back down. You've got one more to go. This is really just a little vamping because there's more coming up.

Here we go, from here, pressing down, go into your baby swan again and think sphinx position, bend the elbows. I don't care how high you come up ... (laughing) We're having a moment, breathing, we're hooked. Okay, I'm gonna make them stop vibrating because that makes me feel better. Right leg kicks and go kick, kick, extend.

Other side, keep lifting the chest and chin. Press down in the palms, yes. And a kick, kick, just one more set, please. Opening up the front of the hip and working the hamstrings. That's enough, reach forward, drop your head, take a little moment and breathe.

You okay, Cynthia? Pushing down into your hands, keep pressing down. Lift the thighs uppish, do a little flutter kick of the legs. Inhale as you look down. Go a little slower, yeah.

Exhale as you look up, jaw muscles. Work this leg, inhale looking down. So it's really just the head. Exhale, look up. Yeah, that's right, jaw muscles.

One more rep, inhale looking down, take your time. This leg's a little slower, yeah, so it likes to bend. Don't let it, yes. And rest for a moment. Again, and breathe.

Everything can rest. From here, baby swan coming up again. Here we go. Variations on a theme, the 100 ways. So baby swan, you're gonna come up and we're gonna do a little funky thing.

So staying there, bend your right elbow only. If you're tall, you might have to thread that left side through. Keep bending, keep bending, get a nice spiral and twist to that ribcage, yes, and come back to center. To the other side, bend and spiral the ribcage. So you can think of it as two ways.

You can think of it as really lengthening one side or really twisting. I don't care, do what feels good or maybe try both and see. One more set, Cyn. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, ooh, you're doing the other one now, I like. And to the other side, twist.

Yeah, and you just wanna make sure the hips are not wriggling around. Ooh, that's your harder one. Reach for it, reach for it, yeah. Yes, come back to center. We're okay.

That's it and when you're ready, rest. Here comes her cookie, her reward for doing such a good job. Pull this bar behind you a few times, elbows go wide. Yep, this looks a little scary, but it actually feels really good, I think. Does it feel good? Yeah.

So do it a few times. And now, Cynthia's doing it with her head down. You can also pick your head up a little bit if that makes you feel better. Whatever feels good but people usually love it for the pecs. Yeah, just a couple more.

She is breathing, please do so as well. You got one more to go. Pull, good now straighten the arms. Now slowly come on up. I'm gonna help her come out of it a little bit.

Yes, you got that. You're gonna let go of that bar slowly, good. And if you can, a little yoga pose of the child would feel good, yes. Alright, when you're ready chest extension please. So come up to kneeling.

Use that same robot bar again. Here it is again, people. Chest extension, so just simple. You know this one, right? With straight arms and the thing we've been working on with Cynthia today is to keep the insides of the elbows facing each other.

Alright, nice and tight out of the top of the head, hands pressed down. Inhale to press down and hold. Looking to the right is an isolation of the head and center. Exhale as you look to the other side. Inhale, center, slowly release.

Lengthen out of the top of the head, two or three more times. Again, inhale to press. That's about it, looking to the left this time. Yes, and center to the other side, beautiful. And center and release.

I'm gonna play around a little bit. Because Cynthia's so tall and she usually like to do what I like to do which is really lift up. It's our old dance training creeping back in. So this is just one I've been playing with. So bend the elbows so the elbows are close to you and you might even need to walk in a smidgee.

Yeah, and the goal here is not to straighten the arms meaning you don't have to straighten the arms and you don't have to get your hands all the way to the thigh. So from here, Cynthia, can you press the hands down just slightly? Yeah, yeah and I'm hoping you feel a little more connection to your ribcage. Look side to side now. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, and then you see a little ... And like you're breathing more three dimensionally into that back especially. Let the elbows bend. Yes, (foreign language) French. (foreign language) I mean, the accent's probably terrible but that's okay.

Yeah, that's it and release. So we're building back up to standing, so when you're ready come up to standing. Let's go for a little squat, push down combo and for this let's go to this single spring because I know you have lots of help. You take off a hook and you really just hook it back on. I leave the other hook dangling here.

Okay, you ready for me, Freddy? So let's start with a little squat business. So just come up to a 90 degree angle with the arms. You'd have to play around. I'm gonna stand away from where the springs are because that's safer.

And then from here, you're gonna go into a little bit of a squat. Play around, parallel legs. You pretend there's a chair behind you and you have a seat, you feel those legs and you slowly come up to standing, beautiful. And when you're ready, you're gonna go to a V position of your feet, the little heels together. Switch your hand so that you're over handed, thumbs are on the other side and you're gonna round your spine, push the bar down toward the floor.

I really want this stretch and rounding of the back pushing down to the floor. Use your booty as you come up, zip, belly button, butt and transition again. Parallel legs, hold under handed, bicep curl squat. Yes, how low can you go? Yes, good and slowly come up.

Yes, and when you're ready, you're gonna switch the hand hold, switch the feet to the V and push on down. I'm gonna mess with Cynthia just a little bit. She's gonna stay here and she's gonna bend the knees. Give me an internal curl of the pubic bone. Oh, just stay here, breathe.

Push down a little bit more. Not toward you but down to the ... Yeah, I want this to keep going down a little bit more. Yes, use your booty to slowly come up to standing. Thank you very much.

Now, let's go for a few faster. Parallel, parallel, elbows bend and come into a squat, slowly come up. Change the feet and hands and push on down and roll up. A few more times. Find your own flow.

It might take a little while. Yeah, that's it and slowly up. I go sing-song, switch the hands and push down and come up. Last set, when you're ready, hold on underhanded, bicep curl, squat, parallel legs, yes, push into the feet and heels to come up. Switch the hands.

For the last time, rounded spine, push down, yes. From here, you're gonna roll up to standing. Walk yourself in and let go of that bar so it doesn't bang on down and just let it go. Take another step back and stand for a moment because it's good just to have a moment standing. Now, see if you can feel your head.

This is like our modern dance classes from the '90s for us, right? You just stand there and breathe, remember, head over the shoulders, over the hips, over the ankles and just stay here and breathe. Yeah, lift all 10 toes up just a little bit and kind of sends her back a little bit because we forgot about the back space a little bit. That's exactly it. Good job.

We did it. Have a great day, everybody.