Unusual Wunda Chair

Hi, welcome to Pilates Anytime. I brought this just for you. We're gonna do a chair workout today. Hopefully not too long. We'll see what happens.

I like to call this sort of my unusual chair workout. I think we all have those usual chair exercises we do, and we get stuck in these like routines that we do. So I'm created a little workout where we just sort of put together all the things that we, I mean that I don't necessarily do. Maybe you do them all the time. But I don't so hopefully this is sort of fun and interesting for you.

So let's play around. So, when you're ready you're gonna have a seat on the floor in front of your pedal. So we're gonna be doing a little arm exercise. So you want a light spring. So on the Balanced Body Chair, Cynthia's doing two whites on the lowest setting.

If that's too much you could do one white on the top. Julie is on a Gratz chair. And she is going to do one spring in the middle. So here we go. So, we're going to begin by, with the fingers facing back I believe.

No actually let's face them in. I apologize. So press that pedal down. All the way down with the elbows bending. Press the pedal all the way down.

You're gonna have the fingertips face forward. Good. From here bend your knees, put your feet flat on the floor, and let's do a pelvic lift. Roll up, lift your hips up. This is not classical.

I'm just makin' this up by the way. That's it. Look straight ahead. Cynthia that's so not look, that's it. And really lift the hips up and give me that hamstring connection.

Stay right here. Take a breath. On the next exhale really sit back down for the chair. So send that butt backwards almost till it hits the pedal. Straighten those legs again.

Mm hmm. You might need to switch the hold of your hands, and let the pedal go up. So switch the hold of your hands. So fingertips are gonna face into the well. The arms will straighten and you're gonna just let the pedal go up and stretch.

That's all it is a couple more times. Switch the palms. Press the pedal down. Sit up tall as you do so. Bend the knees.

Lift the hips up. Hamstrings engaged. Lift the booty up. Look straight ahead. Thank you very much.

And really plant those feet. Make sure the feet are nice and hip width apart. Slowly come down. Send that butt back, back, back, back, back, back, back. The legs straighten.

The arms switch the hold. The pedal goes up. Take a moment to stretch. And for Cynthia, she's holding on to the side and after she gets to the top she can even bring her hands in to get an extra stretch. One more time.

Switch the palms. Eyes and chin come up. Pedal presses down. Bend those knees. Feet hip width apart.

Pelvic lift and stay up there. And staying up here, just do a few pulses of the booty up and down a few times small. Two. Three opening up the chest. Four.

Five. Have a seat. Really send the butt back. Switch the hands again. Hands go facing in with the fingertips and the let the pedal go up and take a stretch.

From here switch your hands. Press the pedal down. Take a nice upright seated position. Fingertips are facing in towards your hips. Hardest thing is just sitting up tall.

And it's not about a big range of motion here. Just do a small little pump of the pedal. And what I want to see is easy shoulders. So, you see how Cynthia's collar bones are nice and wide. No tension.

Long neck. And we're not going for like big pump, we're just going for lifting up. Keep, that's it, tall. Just a few more. Yes.

And that's enough. Rest. Slowly let the pedal come up any way you can. And now from this seated position can you come into some sort of squat? So, hands by your seat.

Bring your feet in. Just go into a nice squat, and hold there for a moment. Breathe. Let your head dangle. Use those quads as you come up to standing.

Use your belly. Come all the way up to standing. And now we're gonna frog. Turn in and face your chair. The spring should stay the same.

And now for me you're gonna stand in a nice little V. And I'll go really close to the chair. Almost toes touching. And let's have a stand. Now, if you want the pedal higher on this Balanced Body Chair you can criss cross the springies, or just the spring right?

So, but that's up to you. So here we go. So, V position of your feet. I'm gonna talk you through this. You're reaching for the spring.

I don't need you to reach up. Stay here. Inhale. As you exhale bend your knees till the, that's till the, no no no. Till the heels are almost having to lift off and just stay right here.

Right? Just that. Inhale. Keep that belly engaged. As you exhale continue to go lower till your hands can find the pedal, and you think oh great I'm done.

But instead you're gonna come right back up. Zip the belly. Heels go down and come up to standing. Two more please. Yeah adjust if you need to.

Inhale again. Stop where the heels need to lift off. Let the heels lift off and continue opening the knees. The hands will touch the pedal. Stay there for a moment.

Press those heels together as you come up to standing. So we are not starting with lifting the heels first. Bend the knees again. The heels are down. The belly is lifted.

You hold. Continue going down. Find that pedal. A few pumps. I don't care if you have to bend the elbows.

Just a few. And as you pump find that belly connection. Yes. Yeah. So Cynthia maybe bending and straighten.

That's it. And press those heels together. Come on up, up, up, up, up. Holy quads Batman right? Flipperoni.

So turn around right? It's a lot of quads but that's kind of the point right? We actually need those quads sometimes. So, frog facing out. So, I sometimes cheat a little bit.

I won't lie. I actually even stand, I'll standing on the chair a little bit. Shh. It's up to you. You got to figure out what works.

So here we go. Same thing. Bend the knees a little bit. Find your spot. Now you think, oh that's where I want to lift my heels.

You're gonna hold it there. Now stay there for a moment. You can even let the palms face each other as you come down lower. See if you can find that pedal as you continue to lift the heels now. Find the pedal, come back up.

Press the heels together. Zip the belly. Come up to standing. Two more. That's it.

That's right. Yeah and with the palms facing each other I feel like you get a little bit more of a reach back. Exactly. And come back up. Whoo.

And if you want to criss cross that spring now to make the pedal higher do so. Okay. Come all the way down. Find that pedal. Mm hmm.

And if you can with yourself down there see if you can pump the pedal any way you can. Feel the belly connection too. Yes. Just one more. Press the heals together.

Come up to standing. Energy out of the top of the head. Yes. That's all you need. Okay.

Breathe. Don't panic 'cause we're gonna do the horseback. Grab onto some pads. The spring should stay the same. If you want a little more tension add some tension.

So you want to pad each side of the chair. Exactly. Pad however you wish. Now, let's talk about the mounting shall we say? You can come on from the back.

I, you know that whole fancy like, hot thing? (laughing) I don't need you to do that. I mean. So come around. And some people I think don't do that, have a seat facing, so facing me have a seat.

Some people I think don't do this because they don't want to do that part. Let's just get into position. So get into it however you wish. so Julie's gonna go backin' on up into it. Cynthia's going to go forward.

It's okay. Alright, so staying here. Now, here's my other dirty little secret. I actually sometimes start with my butt off the thingy. So hopefully you're gonna get a nice view.

Now so really bring your butt back, especially on these narrow chairs. Literally off the chair. Oh off. Yeah. Yeah.

Shh. Okay. Next bit. The legs are gonna straighten. Uh huh.

The legs are gonna internally rotate. Now, stay there. You want this part of the thigh right above the knee, to be against that front edge of the chair. That's the spot. Now from here, put your hands on the front edge of your chair.

Push down. Lift the butt up. Now stay here. Good. That's exactly it, but now can you think feet forward?

Belly in. Ribs back. So you're almost going here. More feet forward though. More feet, yeah.

And have a seat down. Do that one more time. Julie scoot to the left a little bit more. Mm hmm. And again press down.

Mm hmm. And curl it on up. That's it. So we press down. Think feet forward.

Stay here. Now if you can hover there put your hands on the pedal. Uh huh. Down and up a few times. Press that pedal down.

And come back up. Don't go too slow. And down. Drop the head. And come back up.

One more time. Feet forward. And come back up. I lied. One more time.

Go down and stay here. A small pump. Three times. Three. Two.

Whole thing one more time. Up and down a few times. I say a few which means three to five for me on this one. Yeah. Keep breathing through it.

And the more you go down the more you thing feet forward. Yes. And when you think oh that's enough, you go down there and you pump. Belly back. Belly back.

Feet forward. After that you slowly come up. Both hands leave the pedal at the same time hopefully. And you have a seat down. (exhaling) Woo.

You did it. Or maybe at least you tried to do it. Or you watched them do it. Now try it yourself right? So just go, once you sort of get into that position you kinda just got to go for it.

Alright let's move on. So, I do a lazy lady transition and I sort of will bring my legs forward. You actually need to add a spring. So I lied. Add a spring and we'll go to table top next.

So, yeah. Put the pads out of the way if you need to. And I like to do this two in the middle. I was originally taught sort of one top one bottom. I kind of like to have my pedal equally weighted.

So, instead of one top one bottom try two in the middle instead. Alright so here we go. So, have a seat on the chair. Hands any position that you like. However, when you are holding back there, I'd like you to not twist in the elbow which is what I like to do alright?

So stay here. So, ball of the foot is on the pedal and kinda press down-ish. (train whistling) Choo choo. My sons favorite part. Heels together-ish.

Now here we go. Press the heels together. Try not to let the pedal go down too low. Lift the booty up into the air and send the hips forward. The heels are together.

The knees are open-ish. Pump the pedal. And a pump. Heels down is two. Yes.

Three. Yes. Four. Five. Six.

Eight's a great number. Seven. Eight. Now stay here. The pedal is up and hold it.

Look straight ahead. The pedal is up-ish. Bring your right leg out to the side. (grunting) Change sides. Left leg out to the side.

Don't go too far out to the side. It's harder. Yes. Bring it back down. And have a seat.

(sighing) Take a moment. What did we learn from that one? Some things. Humble (laughs). Humble, some people are humble.

Maybe you want to add more spring. Maybe you want less spring. Do that now. Let's do it one more time and maybe we'll add in the pump with the single leg. Let's see how it goes.

So, when you're ready, this is why you don't push the pedal down too soon. So when you're ready make sure your feet are at the center and lift your booty up. Send the hips forward. Pumping a few times. Three to eight.

You decide. Bend the elbows slightly if your feel like your locking. Yes. And now when you're pumping there's a desire to keep the heels too high. If you can bring your left leg out to the side and hold.

Yes. Maybe you pump maybe you don't. Three of 'em. (exhaling) Breathe. Yes.

Yes change sides. Mm hmm. Maybe your just holding there while we're pumping three times. Two. One, yes.

Bring both feet on. Have a seat. (exhaling) Rest. Let the pedal come up. Maybe give yourself a little bit of a wrist stretch because we got another doozy coming up.

Yeah. Alright so keep the springs as they are. Try to be calm when I say these words. We're gonna do tendon stretch on the wonder chair. Hmm.

Alright, so here we go. Hands on the pedal. I'm sorry. Hands on the top of the chair. Press the pedal down.

Let's arrange our feet. Just press the pedal down. With the pedal down, you're gonna walk to what I sort of think of the of as the front of the heel. Exactly. Good.

And then when you've got your position I think hands, you figure out where your hands are. But I like them forward-ish. Lift your butt up in the air. Drop your head and go into what I like to call a pike position and you're just gonna hold it there. Now don't move the machine yet Cynthia.

Keep the pedal down and just stay here and breathe. Now, let's chat for a moment. So here you are, thinking like I'm never gonna get the pedal up. And I kinda don't care. This is hard enough.

Just lightening the load on the pedal is good. So just stay here and breathe. And if you can you're gonna try to press down, lighten the load on the pedal and maybe the pedal lifts up maybe not. Yeah the goal is not pedal lifting. The goal is back rounding.

Yes. And go back down. Do a few. Mm hmm. The goal is dropping that head.

Good. The goal is flexing the feet and staying connected. Good. Really lifting up that spine. You got maybe a couple more of tries, or couple more lifts if you're being successful-ish.

Right? Yes. And then after you think okay that's enough, you have a seat and you take a moment and breathe. And maybe you're sweating like some of my friends. Yeah?

Shall we just try that one more time? Yeah? Push the pedal down. Lift the booty up. Now that you know it's coming really push the pedal down.

Just go for a few. And even if it's just exhaled it's a few breaths. Yeah. Mm hmm. Really drop the head as you lift that pedal.

Yeah. Mm hmm. Good. Breathe. Push down to lift that butt up.

Drop the head. Yes. That's right. You got one more. This is number three.

Yes, yes. Look those legs are straight-ish. Beautiful. And have a seat back down and take a moment. And breathe.

Excellent. So, the other one that I'm pretty sure none of us do on the regular is the tendon stretch with the single leg. Don't panic. We're gonna be okay. Here we go.

Press the pedal down. She's like oh my Gosh. Okay. Yeah (laughs). Lift that butt up.

It's gonna be okay. Now let's agree to do the left leg first 'cause we always do right. So, you're gonna swing your left hand between your legs, and bring your left leg up and over. Or maybe we bring it to the top of the chair and back. Now just stay here.

It's okay. First thing is, look down at the hips and square off the hips. You're still on that same part of the heel as you were before. Now, here is my goal for the exercise. So you're looking at your hips.

You're dropping your head. Your back is rounded. Staying here. Without shifting in the pelvis, (clears throat) you're gonna lift the leg up a little bit and hold. That's it.

And take it down. And I mean, isn't that enough? Like why do I have to lift the pedal? Yes and take it down. One more.

Really round that back. Yes. And take it down. Now if they're feeling crazy, they're gonna try to lift up the leg and the pedal. I don't care if they lift, I really don't care if they lift up the pedal.

I really don't. That's good. There's like a little, got little lift off. Yeah. That's it.

That's enough. Other side. Just the act of getting into the position and lifting the leg, it activates sort of one side of the back a little bit more. It's a nice asymmetrical work and it's a really great tell tale sort of exercise for me as a teacher. Other side! Here we go.

Press that pedal down. Swing that right leg over. Or again tap, yeah. And the hardest part is to sort of square yourself off. Widen the hands.

Exactly. Drop the head. And when you go to lift we want to twist in the hips. But instead you're gonna, yeah, lift. Really drop the head.

Really, that's right Cynthia. Beautiful. Right. Internally spread your leg because some of us, especially with dancy training, we want to turn out that leg. And then maybe on this last lift of the leg you try to to lighten the load on the pedal and lift the pedal up and down-ish, in your mind or in the real world.

Yes. You got one more breath. Rest. That's it. I really mean it.

The goal isn't always to lift the pedal. Sometimes the goal is just the position of the exercise. Have a seat. And let's let the pedal come up. So now let's go and do the standing pumping.

It's usually done with a straight leg but we're gonna mess with it a little bit. You can switch your hair. Yeah exactly (laughs). A sweat break. Yeah you can have a sweat break.

Towel it up. Alright so when you're ready step off the chair. Go to a lighter spring. Again maybe the same spring that you worked on in that weird push up pelvic lift combo. So I would go down to just like the same springs that you did for that first exercise.

So one in the middle. One in the middle only right. So, you're gonna stand in front of your chair, and you're gonna press the pedal down and let's do the left foot on the top of the chair first. Mm hmm. So have a stand, actually don't lift up yet.

So here we go. Two legs right? Trying not to shift around. Let's put our hands on the hips. Trying not to shift you're gonna bring your left leg up.

That's always interesting. Ball of the foot on the pedal. Press that pedal all the way down. Don't panic. Yeah all the way down.

Thank you. Keep the pedal all the way down. Begin by lifting and lowering your heel a few times. Yep. Yeah that's work.

I know. Just yeah. Take your time. And I always like to see where people like to hang out more. Like I think my friend Julie here likes to hang out with her heel low.

Right? Yeah that's right (laughs). And so she really, right. I want her to take her time lifting the heel up. Actually I feel like it's the same for Cynthia here too.

Stay here with the heel lifted really high. Come half way down and hold. That's it. So again trying not to shift in the hips. Begin a pumping motion of the pedal.

The heel is somewhat more lifted than that Julie yeah. So you're doing three to five pumps. Trying not to move in the hips. Yep. Uh huh.

And after that you're gonna press the pedal down and hold. Good. Sneak your hands to the back of the neck. Again, elbows don't have to go wide. You can be bring them forward-ish and you kinda give yourself a little traction up and back.

Beautiful. Pump the pedal here. Three to five times. Lift the heel a little higher than you want to. (Cynthia laughs) Yeah.

Yes that's it. Yes. And after you've done your pumps you're gonna keep the pedal down. Hold. This is a balance challenge.

Can you bring the focus, chest, eyes up toward the ceiling? And the elbows can go forward with that just a little bit. Good. Breathe. Look straight ahead.

Three to five pumps. Got very quiet in here. They're really concentrating. It's very good. When you're done keep the pedal down and hold.

Turn towards your standing leg. No hips, no hips. By the way did I mention no hips? Yeah. Yeah.

That's it. That's it. Breathing. You don't need those shoulders either. Bring it back to center.

Three to five pumps. Uh huh. Last variation. Three. Two.

One. Press the pedal down and hold. Turn towards your standing leg and look at that right elbow like you're like is there something in that back corner of the room? Look up. Chin up.

Lift the chest. That's right. Extension and rotation. Come back to center. Looking straight ahead.

Let the pedal come up all the way, and stand on two legs. (exhaling) Other side. Here we go. Hands at the hips. Right?

Holding it. Trying not to shift. Bring the right leg up. Foot on the pedal. When you get the pedal down lower and lift the heel a few times.

So get that pedal down. Right. And use that down of the pedal to really lift up the heel. So it's almost like ground the ball of the foot. Mm hmm.

And really work through every part on the way up. And like, yeah. High heel, high heel. Really high heel, yeah. Manolos.

Get up there, get up there. Yes. Yeah. Alright here we go. Pump the pedal please with the heel slightly lifted.

Two. One. Press the pedal down. Hold. Keep it there.

Sneak your hands behind your neck. Keeping our hands there. Three to five pumps. (exhaling) Breathing. Don't forget to breathe.

Yes. Good. Keep the pedal down. Look up. Take the elbows forward-ish and lift the chest.

Lift the chest. Arch that rib cage. Yes. That's hard to do. Look straight ahead.

Three to five pumps. Adding rotation next. Three. Yep. Two.

One. Keep the pedal down. Hold. Look toward the standing leg. No hips.

That's a hard one. That's it, that's it, that's it, that's it. Look straight ahead. Find those pumps again. Three to five.

Yep yep. You got to get that heel higher. Don't you hang out in that foot. Yes. Keep the pedal down and hold.

Turn toward the standing leg again. And then when you can you're gonna, that's your rotation and you're gonna go into extension. Look up at that back corner. What's up there? Yes.

Look straight ahead. Let the pedal come up. Take the foot off and rest. Cool. Okay.

Alright through the magic of TV, we get to now have, so put a mat on the floor just because you want a little padding down for this next bit. We're gonna do side, I call it side lying on the floor. I'm sure it has a fancier name. So, you're on a light spring. The same one you just did the pumping on.

And so let's all lie on our left hip. Yep. And the right leg is gonna be on the pedal. So, the bottom leg is gonna be behind the chair, and the part of your foot that hits the pedal is above the ankle bone kinda right here-ish. So, press the pedal down.

Go ahead. Yeah. And kinda, you have to fidget a little bit. Yes. We okay?

That's okay. Yep. And now when you go to, so the leg should be straight. The pedal should be down-ish and the foot should be flexed. So Julie I'm gonna help you a little.

I'm gonna push this down. Scoot away from the chair honey. Yeah. A little bit more. There.

Yeah just a touch. There. And now rest down. 'Cause as you lie down you go even farther away. Good.

Straighten the bottom leg. The foot is flexed. Now just stay here and now, the bottom leg gently press it into any part of the chair that you can. And I use that to find a little pubic bone tucking. Julie I'm gonna let go.

Flex your foot even more. And I would bring it back so it doesn't touch the spring. Good. Stay right there and breathe. Yes.

The tiniest lift of the waist line internally. And then the tiniest pump of the pedal. Mm hmm. Don't leave your big toe on there. Just the ankle-ish.

And as you're pumping, the leg is straight. Smaller. The belly is connected more up of the pedal. Yeah. That's it.

Keep that parallel leg miss Cynthia especially. Yes. So you're really in. That's kinda it. For me, if I feel my obliques kicking in, I'm kinda there.

If you want to make it harder you could come up on the elbow but this is plenty for me. Breathe there. Let's transition. You're gonna put both feet in the well. Lie on your tummy.

Both hands go underneath your face. Take a moment. You're like really? Yes. You can do it.

Yes stay right there. Breathe. The legs are straight. Oo that's pretty straight Cynthia. That's good.

You could go a touch to the left. Yeah that's a hard one. But that's pretty darn good. Now staying here. So let's try this.

Pubic bone is tucking ever so slightly. Belly is lifting. Can you keep the pelvis on the ground? Do a small pump of the legs. Teeny.

So you should be feeling hamstrings. And really keep the leg straight. You could reach this leg a little bit more. Yeah. Now.

Do you feel one leg more than the other? Let's play around and see. So keep the pedal down. Hold. Keep only your left leg in the well.

Bend your right knee and let the right knee come to the floor. Pump your left leg only. Small. So, Cynthia really bend your right leg a lot so the, that's it the whole foot comes off. Yeah.

Yeah. Holy hamstrings, right? Yeah. And it's tiny. You are barely seeing her move because she's barely moving and that's fine.

That's what she needs. Change sides. Mm hmm. Press the pedal down. Hold.

Straighten the legs. Bend the left leg. That's it. That's it. So the left leg is, the left lower leg is perpendicular to the floor.

And do a gentle pump. Yeah. Yeah she wants to bend that more to hold it. Good. Put both feet in and hold.

And when you're ready you're gonna roll to the other side. (sniffs) Just, so if you are feeling awkward so are they. Right? It's not easy. Yes.

That's it. So, bottom leg is straight. Come down to lying on your sides. The bottom leg is straight and kinda holding on to the chair behind you. And you're gonna flex that foot.

Take a moment. Okay so here we go. Second side. So, you're gonna straighten that bottom leg behind you. And use this bottom leg to find the tuck of the pubic bone.

Reach the top leg into the well and lift the waist line. That's great and do a tiny pump of the pedal. I think of kind of zipping tight jeans on and it's tiny. And if you see a little bit of, this happening, that's for later. Sorry.

Yeah no hip yeah. Less hip. It's more sort of control of the inner thigh, waist line. Yeah. And it would, the other thing that would help with that is if you put your hand on that hip and press that hip away, you can kinda help, that's it.

Yeah. That's right. That's enough. When you're ready slowly let the pedal come up. It's awkward I know.

Yes. And when you're ready go into sort of like, a cat position facing away from the chair. Yeah. So on your hands and knees facing away from the chair. Do a couple of cat cows.

Just to roll it out a little bit. Yes. Alright you guys. From here go to a sort of pike position. So tuck your toes underneath you and lift your booties up in the air.

Oh you know what? I forgot. Add more springs on. So come around. You might want to add on the same springs that you did maybe tendon stretch for.

Maybe just a shade lighter. So, Julie's gonna go two in the middle. Cynthia you're doing two black on number two? Okay great. Alright.

And if your chair is slidey you want to sort of have it against the wall. Or put something sticky underneath it. So when you're ready pike position, with your butt facing the chair, and you're gonna just hold it there for a moment. Breathe. The first thing is, think of kind of pressing the pedal toward the chair as you stand with your toes on the foot bar.

Yeah. Yes and really thing butt up in the air 'cause you're gonna need the strength. That's exactly it. And maybe adjust, maybe walk forward a little bit more 'cause you're gonna be pressing the pedal down slightly. Good.

Heels together. Toes apart. Heels together toes apart and think of, press the heels together. Curl the pubic bone and press the pedal down a little bit. That's perfect.

And bring it back up-ish. Ah! Yes so it's really small. Yeah. Do that a couple more. Yeah it's really small.

That's it Cynthia. Yeah. And so you're really doing it from the rib cage, coming in the pubic bone curling. That's it. Three looks good to me doesn't it?

Walk yourself out into a pushup position please. The hardest part is getting your head as the highest thing, but not by lifting the chin but by tucking it. Good. In this position lower the butt but lift the head. Yes and press the pedal down a few times.

Heels together toes apart still Cyn. Yeah. Whoo! Yeah. That's the hard thing. Once you get down it's like darn it.

Yeah nice one. She willed that one. That was great. Yes. Small.

Beautiful Julia that was great. One more. I love how straight those legs are. That's good. Now if you can, three push ups.

If you can. Yeah teeny. Teeny. (laughs) In Cynthia's mind she's like yes. (laughing) Next time.

Next time. Walk your hands back to your feet. Breathe. That's a lot of arm work for us ladies. Yes.

But not for the men usually. Now stay here. Breathe. Step one foot down. Bring the other foot down to meet it.

And slowly roll up to standing. (gasps) Yeah and hopefully you did a couple of things that you don't normally like to do. Nice job girls. (clapping) High fives. Thank you.

Low fives. Thank you. Nice. (laughing)