Wunda Chair with a Twist

Hello, welcome to Pilates Anytime and my friend Julie Franks and Cynthia Bamani. We are gonna do a little wunda chair situation, not too long so hopefully you kinda get it in and get it out and get a little snacky in, at least that would be my motivation. What we're really gonna concentrate on today is adding a little bit of a twist to the chair, so just keep your ears open because I'm gonna sort of throw some stuff in there. Pilates in general gets very linear, so let's just add a few twists in there so that when you check in that rear view mirror you don't go, holy moly, okay at least that's what I do. Have a seat on top of the chair, let's do footwork to begin please.

Sit down, press the pedal all the way down with the balls of the feet and lets do v of the feet, and here's my little way I like to do it. Scoot forward so that your pubic bone is in line with the front edge of the chair, yep. Take a look at the sides of the chair, make sure you're centered, good. One hand on the tummy, one had on your lower back. Sit up as tall as you can and begin a pumping motion of the pedal and go as high up as you can, especially.

Mm hm. And let's talk feet, the heels are not too high and they're not too low, and really start to pump. As you pump what's between your two hands is nice and still. A little more vigorous, yep. Keep pumping, exactly.

When you feel like you got a good pumping motion going, cross your feet, these are not feet, these are arms, cross your arms in front of you, yes. A few more times, four, three, two, press the pedal down, hold. Keep the pedal down as you transition to arches, parallel, feet are not touching neither are the ankles. That's it, so you're grabbing, you're lowering the heels and one hand on your tummy, one hand on your lower back. Pump again, and as you pump you're thinking of keeping this part of your body nice and still, and when you've got it still, cross the arms in front of you again.

Five, good, four, good, three, two, one, press the pedal down, hold. Try not to shift in the hips, walk your right heel toward to the bar, no not slide, that's a slide, don't do that. Bring the other one forward too... Yeah, that's it, walk it baby, yes. And when you're ready start to pump, maybe hold on again if you want or if not, if you feel like you've got it, that you can sort of understand that right?

We're trying to keep this quiet, right, as you pump. And you know, ten is a lovely number. Yep, aw yeah that's it, it's the resisting on the way up that you're really trying to get to, good. Press the pedal down and hold, we're adding on, walking into heels into the corners as wide as they possibly can go, yes. And a little rotation in the legs, but little is the key term.

Sneak your hands behind your neck, elbows are slightly forward, let the pedal come up as high as it can, let the knees open and just stay here for a moment and breath. Here we go, press the pedal down, inhale to twist to the right, that's it. Keep pressing, keep pressing, keep pressing, keep pressing. Pedal comes up, come back to center and breathe. Press the pedal down, inhale, twist to the left, trying not to take the hips with the motion.

Yes, and pedal comes up, come back to center and breathe. A few more times, press and twist, mm hmm. Sometimes I like to think of almost torso rib cage twist back, right hip goes forward, pedal comes up. Come back to center, press the pedal down, twist, mm hmm. And back to center, what do you say, one more set please.

Keep breathing through it, exhaling, yes, belt waistline, yes and come back to center. Last one, pressing, keep those knees open, yes. Sometimes the knees like to move when the hip is trying to get help, and let the pedal come up and rest. Walk your feet back to toes on only. Press the pedal down one last time, put your hands on the tops of your thighs, right.

Keeping the pedal down, lift and lower the heels a few times to warm up those ankles, exactly. Resist the urge to learn forward, think of that back part of your body and filling up the back space, good. And then a little bit of running, right heel goes down, left heel up, changing side to side, yeah, Belly's concave, just one more breath. That's enough rest, let the pedal come up and get ready for swan, so lighten the load on your pedal. Let's go for swan, so if you need paddage,.

For those of you who don't know, sometimes the men like double pads here, man padding, okay. Do you want a pad.? Sometimes yeah. Okay, there you go, my pleasure Cynthia. Get on that chair, press the pedal down.

The ideal sort of position is wrist right underneath the shoulders, it's gonna be different for everyone, 'cause we're all different, so stay here and just breathe. Let's take a peak, in this position, make sure the legs are just the height of your booty, not too high. Can you find the internal lift of your waist line and do a few pumps here? Here we go, pump, two, yes, three, good, four, and five. Keep the arms straight, up and down in the torso, inhale, exhale, lift the chin and chest and press back down.

When you come up really lift that chin up, stretch the jaw muscles, beautiful, and come back down. Just one more time, inhale exhale, lift the pedal up and stretch, and do the whole thing one more time. A few pumps please, so looking down at the floor. Pump pump pump. On this next one, we're gonna add a little bit of something.

It's a surprise, and up and down in the torso, inhale exhale, up, and go back down. A few more times, energizing those legs, yes, and come back down. On this next one you're gonna come up into extension and stay here, stay in the extension a few pumps here. Get up there Cynthia, lift that chest, yes. A couple more times, and when you go forward, really reach the chest forward, you straighten the arms and go all the way down.

Take a moment, breath, drop your head if you need to, round your back, yes, so it's like you drop your head and you lift your back up, it's internal, that's right. Keep lifting, drop your head, lift your back up, that's it. And come to a flat back please and hold, bend your knees please, yep the pedal stays down. Flex your feet, this is a little play borrow from Irene Dow. Let your knees open-ish, you're trying to lift that right thigh up and spiral the right thigh and hip up-ish, but look down at the floor, yes and take it down, that's it.

To the other side, lifting, yet rotate, good, yeah. Cynthia likes to turn her head, but it comes sort of easy to her, so I want her to keep this centered and really just isolate it to her lower body, to the other side, good. Lift, yes, that's it Julie, you look to your right, yes. And come on back down to the other side. Now, it's small but it's okay, it doesn't have to be very big, yes, but it's very challenging on the back.

Go to straight legs, take 'em a little moment and slowly let the pedal come up by bending the elbows. Put your hands at the top of the chair and slowly come up off the chair. Come around and stand to the front of the chair, get ready for the push down please, right. Stand with your toes almost at the front edge of the chair. You're gonna sort of know your position, if that's too close take a step back, I'm not sure.

Little v of the feet, give me a big inhale, without locking in the knees, chin to the chest, press that pedal down toward the floor. Really bring the chin to the chest and you kinda scraze that hair, so you really have to keep your head down. Just take a moment here and breathe. The legs are straight, the pedal is down-ish. If you need to adjust your springs, please do so.

Pump the pedal please a few times. Breathing, so just take a look at their spines and sort of feel your spine. I really want you to round that sort of low to middle back area, with straight arms you're gonna go up and down with straight arms. Try not to go back in the hips, right, but still also not lockin' the knees. It's like a catch 22.

Chin to the chest, Julie, maybe set back a little bit, that might be too close for you. Yeah, a couple more times, up and down, don't go too slow guys, breathe with it, yes. Push back down, yeah don't go too high. One more time, just up about half-way and press on down and hold, three pumps again please. Three, and two, one more, press down and hold.

From here, you're going to take a step back, go to parallel legs, big step back, good. You're gonna slowly let the pedal come up-ish. Yes, bed your knees and stick your butt out and come up into a flat back please. Just stay here and breathe. Now, Cynthia, for you come forward a little bit now that you know where you are, yeah, and just stay here, so the hard part is don't bend your knees too much, so that you're really in a table top.

I want you to engage the spring, I think this is too heavy for you sweetie, let's take that sucker down. Try that, yeah, I'm happy with that. Stay here, bend your knees more. We have the opposite problem, she needs to straighten her legs, you need to bend your knees more, lift this torso up. We're looking for the same goal, toro up, that's it, stay here, small pump of the arms.

Maintaining this position, lift up more Julie, yeah. Good, look down at the floor, yes. Stay here, bare with me, hold, reach your left arm out to the side and hold, don't look at the hand yet, good. Pump three times with that right arm, three, yes, two, you got one more, one, you're gonna press the pedal down with the right hand, twist and reach up to the ceiling. As you twist to the left, bend your left knee more.

This is your left, bend it more, both knees are bent though. Yes, and come back to center, whoo. Here we go, press the pedal down, twist, bend your left knee more, yes and come back to center. Energy through those finger tips, one more time. Both knees are bent, so the hips stay.

It's really just the torso that's twisting, go for it, twist, stay here, small pump of that right arm only, go. Three, yes, two, bend that left knee still, one, yes. And slowly put both hands on the pedal, drop your head, round your spine, straighten the legs, take a little moment, come back to your tabletop position. Unfortunately, we have the other side, here we go. Yes, maybe walk the feet a little closer in, good.

Here we go, without shifting in the torso, which you know is impossible, we're thinking that. You're gonna reach the right arm out to the side and hold, yes. Think for a moment, right knee, right, you're gonna pump a few times with that left arm. Three to five times depending how fast you wanna go, good. Keep that left arm straight and hold, you're gonna press the pedal down and twist, mm hmm.

Keep bending that right knee, yes. Come back to center, it's hard, two more times. Again, no keep that left arm straight and then twist again. Yeah, that it's, keep bending that right knee, beautiful. Come back to center, you got one more to go.

Keep that left arm straight as you press and twist, staying in this position, a few pumps please. Three, yep, keep breathing, look up at that hand if you can, complete the spiral all the way to the top of the head. Yes, and breathe, hand comes down, drop your head, round your spine, take stock of what just happened there. You can do it, rewind if you have to. Roll up, come back to standing you guys, let the pedal come up, nicely done.

You should of felt that one a little bit, right? Exactly, twist it out. When you guys are ready, just maybe leave the spring right as it is. Walk your feet a little closer together, let's work the legs a little bit, shall we? When you're ready, I lied, I wanna do teasers instead.

Come around, do teasers, she's like really, what's a teaser? By the way, now's a good time to bring balls in if you wanna rest your feet on balls. And, poof, the balls are here. I'm gonna put a ball between, so you're gonna have your balls, no, your heels on the balls, not your balls on the heels, that would be wrong. I just have this thing where Kathy Graham would always...

This is sort of the bottom of the ball, and she would always make sure you put your butt or feet on the top of the ball. She's on the ball. She was on the ball, nice very good. We're doing sort of a twist teaser sort of situation. I say teaser, but we're really not gonna lift the legs up.

The other thing I wanna say is, we're all gonna shift to the left. So, go as far left as this chair lets you, yes. Adjust your ball if you need to, and open the arms out to the sides and just take a moment to breathe, yes. Mm hmm, that's something, right. Now if you don't have a ball, put your feet on a chair, you could bend your knees as well, or just keep the legs straight and you know really work it.

Here we go, we're sitting up tall, lifting up nice and tall. Twist to the right, right hand reaches for the back corner of the chair, good, reach your left arm by the ear. Press the pedal down and up three times, curling in your spine, and come back up. Curl as you press away, press, yes, and come back up, two more times. Curl as you press, and come back up.

One more time, press and stay down there, mm hmm. Small pump of that right arm, so as you pump it's an isolation of just the arm, right. Keep that waistline moving, do that whole thing one more time, up and down three times. Use this arm, reach over as you go over, reach up-ish as you go up, reach over as you go over. Look at that hand, yes, reach up as you go up.

One more time, reach over as you go over. Stay there, really reach, small pump, reach reach reach, fingertips, yeah, yes that's it, yes, that's exactly it. Now stay down there and hold. Reach your left arm up to the ceiling and hold, flex that wrist, and look at that hand, that left hand, that's it, and when you're ready think of arching your back, come up, think "Staying Alive," Jane Fonda, yes, whatever jazz routine, yes. And slowly sit up tall, both arms open out to the sides.

Inhale, twist to the left, keep those arms out there. No, no stay there, twist to the left, right little finger saws off the left little toe, so it's a little saw action, right. Yeah, for you keep those feet this way, yes, and come back to sitting up tall. Turn to the right, right hand touches down, so we're putting it together, right. Reach over, press and twist, reach, yes reach.

Slowly come up, sit up nice and tall, keep the ball still as you twist, mm hmm, think saw. Yes, drop your head, reach, yes the back palm goes up, let that left shoulder almost roll forward, go, yeah. Last one, sit up nice and tall, the ball stays still, which is a hard thing, twist, yes, and reach, yes. Use that right arm to twist, that's it, and slowly come up, yes, twist in the opposite direction, saw in the other directions, yes get down there. Sit up nice and tall and bring the arms down.

Other side, shift on over. That's it, balls are good, yes. See if you can keep that ball center-ish, open the arms out to the sides and hold. Twist to the left, yes, and left hand touches. Now, don't go for the center of the pedal, go for the corner so that you have lots of room to twist.

Reach over as you go over, curling and slowly come back up. Lets do that a few more times, active reach, go. Reach over as you go over, yes, and slowly come up. Make that twist happen through that whole spine, last one. Press and twist and stay there, small pump of that left arm.

Active, yes, good, yes, that's beautiful. One more set, up and down please, reach up as you go up, go over as you go over, good a few more times, mm hmm. Make a fist for me Julie, press, yeah. One more, stay down and that's it, and small pumps, you're gonna really isolate, right. Beautiful, you want it to be very small, it doesn't have to be a big pump.

Let's slowly reach up to the ceiling with your right hand, John Travolta, that's it, and then stay there, and arch your back to come up, yes that's it. Slowly sit up tall, twist to the right, left little finger saws off the right little toe, drop your head, spiral, yep (grunts). Slowly sit up tall, twist, you can see why spiraling is very hard for our spines, reach, and slowly come back up. Sit up nice and tall, twist in the other direction, saw, yes, hard not to move those feet, right? Yeah, last one coming up, good.

Twist, press and twist, curling in the pelvis as you go, and slowly come up for the last time. Twist in the other direzione, Italian, I don't speak other languages, I like to pretend I speak many. Slowly sit up nice and tall and rest, whoo. Get rid of the balls and let's move on. Now we're gonna do a little standing pumping situation.

Stand facing the pedal, the spring should be the same as you just did for that twisty bit, right? Standing forward and usually it's done with a straight leg, but we're gonna do it with a bent leg. Hands at your hips, even in the hips, without shifting your hips too much, bring that right leg up, put your right foot on top of the chair. Press that pedal all the way down and hold. Yeah, keep the heel lifted-ish and lift the heel up and down a few times, yeah.

It's not about getting real high or getting real low, it's about all those little micro-places in between, and finding steadiness in between each one. Yeah, a little more lift-y, find a kittle heel, right, not too high, not too low, yes. Goldilocks, is I think another term for it, yes. Not too high, not too low and pump the pedal, three to five times, mm hmm, good, great, keep the pedal down and hold. Sneak your hands behind your neck.

Keep your hands behind your neck, elbows slightly forward, look up toward the ceiling, lift the chin, lift the chest up, as you do this easy in the shoulders, look straight ahead, pumpity-pump, three to five times. Yes, breathe through it, try to find your own rhythm. Press the pedal down, hold, twist to your standing leg, spiral but don't move the hips, uh huh, yes, that's exactly, she's like what hips. Yes and slowly bring it back to center, three to five pumps here we go, yep you decide how many, see what kinda day you're having. Keep the pedal down, hold, turn to your standing leg and then stay here, you're gonna go into extension, which means lift your chin, lift your chest and look at that back left elbow.

Yes, look straight ahead as you come on back, whoa. Change sides, that's that moment when I'm like who needs drugs, you can just do like weird twisty things. At least that's how I feel. Okay other side, so when your ready, standing on two legs, two feet to one foot, trying not to shift the weight too much. Press that pedal all the way down, yes.

Heel up and down a few times, loves. Really get the whole foot on there, and when you go to lower the heel, almost think of like wrapping those toes around, especially if you have long toes like me, or even if you have short toes you can think of lengthening it and wrapping those suckers. Find that little mid-level heel, a little higher for you, yeah, pumpity-pump, three to five pumps, yeah. Find your own breath, your own rhythm, and after you do a little bit of a set, press down and hold, hands behind your neck, transition there, can you keep the hands there? Take up your chin and chest up, go for a little bit of a bounce, and it's not shoulders up, it's chin up, chest up, yes.

Use your belly to come back to center and hold a few pumps, breathe, yeah, yes, keep pumping away, yes, good. Once the pedal comes down after this set, turn to your standing leg, yes, that's right. It's hard to turn the torso, without the hips. Bring it on back to center, I like to talk out of the side of my mouth whenever I talk about that, and one more set of pumps, here we go. Easy shoulders, yeah, keep the heel a little more lifted some of you, yes, press the pedal down, hold, turn to your standing leg again.

That's your rotation, add a little extension, lift the chin, lift the chest and look to that back corner of the elbow, beautiful, bring it on back to center. (mechanical winding) Whoa, let the pedal come up with control and come down to two feet, thank goodness, yeah? Let's move on, I think just another couple more to go. Now, were gonna do sideline pumping, that's what I call it. You're gonna come round to the other side of the chair. We're gonna sorta be on the side of the hip, pressing the pedal down, so let's both lie on our left hip please.

On the chair? On the chair, yep, so coming around to the other side, correct, you're gonna left hip it down, yeah change your spring, correct Cynthia, and press the pedal down with your left hand. No, just one, yeah, and press the pedal all the way down, mm hmm. You have to kind of find your position, I think your shoulder's a little too far forward, bring it on back, yeah. This is hard enough, right?

Yes, find it, so see if you can get all the way down, you might have to change and play with your spring. Reach your right arm up to the ceiling, I like a fist sometimes too, reach up, that's it. Can you go to both legs straight, wooh, yes. Flex the feet and bring the legs in line with your hips. Aww, mm hmm, so my friend Cynthia's gonna press her legs back into me and bring her pubic bone forward, which is what she really doesn't wanna do.

Julie you got it. Now the hard thing here is to find spine alignment, so I think for both of these ladies and maybe for you too, top of the head toward the floor. Now look straight ahead still, but the crown of the head goes to the floor, yes. Staying there, right arm reaches to the ear, the waistline and ribcage arc up toward the ceiling, the pedal does not move, and the arm goes up to the ceiling. That's the beginning of the exercise, a couple more times.

Sometimes I like to joke that, it really isn't about the pedal moving, the position is hard enough when it comes to wunda chair especially, yeah exactly. Reach over one more bit, yes, reach up to the ceiling and take a moment and hold. Now if you want to go up and down a few times here, reaching up to the ceiling, looking at that reaching hand and come back down, yeah, just a couple more. Inner thighs like crazy, yes, press the pedal down, ironically as you come up. Now stay here, keep those legs together, twist to face the pedal, the left elbow bends a lot, so the right arm can get there.

Split the hands, that's it and just stay here and breathe. This hip forward, awww. If you can lift the chest up a little bit higher so you're in line with the spine. Stay right there, try to pump your right arm especially. The elbows are open, that's it, the left arm is kinda going along for the ride, the right arm is doing it.

Now, Cynthia, both of you lift up in the torso, yeah, because it makes you spiral, beautiful. Stay here for a moment, the arms are straight, especially that right one, that's enough, come out of it guys, that's enough. I don't really split the legs, I kinda do the other thing instead, other side. They're both like that was hot and hard. There was a lot of breathing going on, I promise.

Other side, so your on your right hip and it's a lot of kind of futzing to find the position, yeah, good. Pedal down, arm up, yes, some sides are easier than others. Yes, some are harder, this is easier, yay, congratulations. Okay so when you are ready, top of the head toward the floor a little bit more, pedal shoulders, not grounds, but gets in that socket, that's exactly it. I'm gonna just hold Julie ever so slightly.

Reach the left, nope don't lift the pedal unless you're changing, left arm goes over the head, lift the ribcage. Look straight ahead though Cynthia, lift that ribcage, lift the ribcage, that's it and reach back up to the ceiling, yeah, couple more times. Yeah, lift that ribcage, yes, more belly engagement, and bring the arm up, just one more really. Arc that ribcage up to the cei... Push the pedal down though Cynthia as you do it, yes.

And reach back up and stay, up and down a few times. Look at that reaching hand, come up, let's do that one more time, yes. Breathe with it, come up, stay up, turn to face the pedal, right arm bends, left arm stays straight, adjust your arms so that their wider on the pedal and stay here and breathe. Try to twist through the torso so that your body is square, and really work those legs, press back again, small pump of the arms please, the torso doesn't move, it's just the arms, lift up higher than you think in the torso, even higher still, yeah, there it is, good. One more breath, thank you, and you're gonna slowly let the pedal come up and come on off (growls).

At least that's how I feel, okay, have a stand. They're gonna give their arms a rest and add more springs. Okay, star time, I know, oh she's like oh yes, why yes boss I would love to, I know. In the middle? Yeah I would go, so I would go at least two in the middle, I mean honestly I try it on two on the top and I sometimes still can't lift up, it's okay.

We're not maybe even gonna lift up, yeah. You're gonna get ready to stand with your right foot on the pedal, so I do a side saddle mount. You're gonna stand at the side of the chair, just as you are, you're fine. You're gonna step your right foot on the pedal, and you want the foot as close to you as possible, right. Press that pedal all the way down and hold it there.

Yeah, good, oh yeah that's the hard part, yes, good. From there, you're gonna keep that right foot down, the pedal down, put your right hand where you want it, usually center of the chair or farther out, and you're gonna come up to standing and just keep that leg inline with the other leg. Let's just try to put the left hand behind your neck mm hmm. We're gonna lean our head back into the hand and lift the left leg up into the star position, yep. Just stay here, now lean your head back into the hand as you think pubic bone forward.

I'm gonna be here, Julie, press your leg back, yeah. Keep leaning your head back, this is the hard spot, right here, I know, now just stay there and breathe. Couple more breaths, keep leaning that head back, if you wanna make it harder you could do all kinds of leg things, I don't care, bicycle circles, but I think this is plenty. If you're feeling up to it you try to lighten low, but this is enough for me today. That's enough rest, slowly step down with that left leg, yeah step back with the left leg, yep.

Let the pedal come up, turn around (hums). Okay, getting sillier at the end of the work out. Step down, side saddle from the left, also probably an illegal maneuver in some worlds. Yes, Cynthia, maybe a little more for ya, 'cause your pedal's wide. When your ready, get on up into your star position, so you stand on that left leg, bring your right hand behind your neck, mm hmm, we're gonna deal with that torso first when you're ready.

You're gonna lift the leg up, good, and now stay there, send the hips away from the pedal and just stay there and breathe. Lean your head back and you're gonna think straighten my standing leg, and breathe there for a few breaths. Mm hmm, don't lift the crown of the head, trying to lift an internal spiral, just another breath, and still think head back, pubic bone forward, even more forward, just one more, breath, internal spiral that top leg, ahh. Maybe lift up if you're feeling up for it, yes, take it down, rest, slowly step down with the right leg, mm hmm, yes, and slowly let the pedal come up. Breathe, we're almost there, have a seat on top of the chair, facing the pedal, because we're just gonna do a little table top to end.

Sit down, arrange your hands how you wish. Now when you go to put your hands, try to find a place that doesn't accentuate hyperextension in the elbows, yeah. V of the feet, so you get to use the heels, pressing, maybe lift the heel slightly, without lowering the pedal too much, lift the pelvis up, lift the chest up, look straight ahead, small pump right here a few times. Five, four, lower the heels, three, yeah, two, one, keep the pedal up-ish and hold. Left leg goes off, that's left, yes, take it down.

Change sides, right leg goes off, ahh. Take it down, one more set of pumps and we're done. Go, pump, yes, it's not about the down, it's about the up, especially in the pelvis, yes the heavy part, right? Few more, yes, pedal comes down, hips come down, pedal comes up, you have your coffee now, cocktail, whatever, that's it you guys, thank you.