Athletic Reformer Flow

Hi, I'm Maria, and today, we're doing athletic reformer, which will require you to be standing on either side of the reformer at one time or another. And I just wanna take a minute and show you the length of my ropes. I'm working with a rope about that long. So, set yourself up for footwork. Headrest can be up or down.

I have three heavy springs and one light spring on the machine. Come onto your back. Bring your knees into your chest. Allow your body to ground, and begin by just circling the knees in the socket. Warming up the hip sockets.

And allowing your attention to come into your body and be aware of your body on the reformer. Okay, feet wide on the bar, hands are by your side. Engage the belly button. Take a breath in, and on an exhale, press the carriage out. Resist in, back out, two.

Heels Second External Rotation

You're still on your heels, pressing out and in. So the thighbone is gonna stay internally rotated throughout this. Toes point in, knees point in. I know this is a little bit weird for some of you, you're not used to doing this. But just move with me for right now.

Heels Second Internal Rotation

Pilates Stance

Heels

Listen for your breath. Find something you can let go of. Maybe the arm, maybe the neck, shoulder, maybe even just your face. Last time. And onto the ball of the foot.

Heels Parallel

Tendon Stretch

Running

Pelvic Lift

Pubic bone goes up, thighbone goes down. Last one here. All the way down, same thing in first position. Come to that low tuck, ribs thumb-tacked to the mat. Moving from the base of your glut.

Pilates Stance Pelvic Lift

All the way in, all the way down. Back to the heel position. Everything very tight together. Curl the tail up off the mat, pressing from here out and in. And you can see it's kinda short, right?

Pelvic Lift Heels Parallel

Come on up. We're going to our first spring change. I'd like you to go down to two heavy springs. Come back onto your backs. Feet in first position.

The carriage is light. Pull the carriage out. Really wrap the inner thighs in and up. From here, without shifting. The right leg comes to a beautiful passe.

Single Leg Developpe

Lower the leg to the bar. Reset, rewrap. Other leg comes to passe. Right side stays pasted to the machine. Extend that leg out.

Draw the leg in front of you, turn it out a little further. And lower it down. Back to the first side, passe. And extend out. Make sure you're not bracing with the shoulders.

Hold from the center of the body. Pull the leg in front of you. And lower down. Left leg to passe, really hold the right side still. Extend the leg out.

Turn the leg out. And lower down. Lower the heels. Lift the heels up, come parallel. Right leg into the chest.

Hamstring Stretch

The other knee comes in. Compress the knee into the chest to begin with. Extend the leg out. The opposite heel is sinking underneath the reformer. Deep breath in.

And exhale. Come on in. Reach behind you, put your headrest down. We're gonna go into some bridging. Set up parallel on your heels.

Carriage is absolutely still. Tuck and bridge your hips up, reaching the knees forward over the big toes, and then peel right back down. Inhale... and exhale. Curl, lead with the pubic bone.

Bridge

Hold it here, inhale... and exhale all the way down. We're gonna start moving the carriage. Flex the feet. Press the carriage out.

Bridge Variation

Pull in, drag those heels to the sit bones. And articulate down. Again, press out. And lift. Pull the carriage in.

And peel down. Take your feet wide to second position again. We're gonna go back to that internal rotation. So pull the knees and the toes in, and then swivel the legs out. One more time, really squeezing the knees.

Hip Rotation

Bridge Variation with Internal Rotation

Roll down. And swivel out. Back out. Lift, pull in. Open the front of the hips.

Roll down, swivel out. Last one. Lift, pull in, hold it. Roll all the way down. And hug the knees into the chest.

Moving into our abdominal series. I'm gonna put my headrest up. You may do whatever you like. Grab your ropes and set up with a tiny bit of space between the shoulders and the shoulder rest. Legs to tabletop.

Arm Circles

Open and exhale, down. The further legs are away from the center, the more you're gonna feel the center of the body working. Last one here. We're gonna add hundred position now. The arms come up.

Open, exhale, into hundred. Whatever your hundred is. Come slowly down, open. Exhale, lift. So this might be what your hundred position looks like.

Arm Circles w/Chest Curl

Open, exhale, lift, pause. From here, the two legs come up. Open, circle. And lower down. Open, exhale, lift.

Arm Circles w/Leg Circles

Last time, open... and exhale, lift. The legs come up. Open, pull in. Lower down.

Two feet to the bar, let the knees drop to the right. (exhales) And let the legs drop to the left. (exhales) Come back center. Legs to tabletop. Inhale here, exhale back to hundred.

Hundred, we're going to jumping frog. The legs turn out. They come in, they open, close. In, keep the thighs still as you open, close. In, open.

Jumping Frog

We're going to go to an exercise called rowing front. Take your machine down to one heavy spring please. And get your foot bar out of the way. There are several versions of this. We're gonna use this movement again a little later.

Start without your ropes, sit up as tall as you can, hands are by your side. So here's our first shape. Inhale... exhale, come into a cat position. Biceps up, waistline is pulling back.

Rowing Front

And get longer. Really using the muscles in the upper back. Come a little higher and get longer. A little higher, yet longer. Then all the way up.

And press the arms down. So, the point at which you get flat's gonna depend on you and the flexibility. We're going to flow that now. You can use your ropes or not. It's a beautiful exercise without the ropes.

Hands here. Inhale. Exhale, dive forward, find that C shape. From here, change the whole shape. Get flat.

Over the legs. Take the shape all the way up. Palms are out. Press the arms down. And again, into cat.

Pull the waistline back, shoulders are down. Flatten out. Keep thinking of using your upper back. Come straight up, palms are out. Press down.

Last one. Exhale. Inhale. And exhale. And relax.

Come on out of there. Bring your machine down to a light setting. Whatever that is for you. Step to one side of your machine. And we're gonna go into a lunge position, which we're gonna use again later.

Bicep Curl w/Lunge

This is probably where you are. Back it up. Put some weight onto that back leg as well. If you're secure here, close your eyes. Listen for your breath.

(exhales) And step your two feet together. Now, reach for your rope, the one that's closest to you. Establish that lunge again, okay? Same shape. Deep shape.

Straight line through the front of the hip. Make sure you have no slack on the rope... and from here, bicep curl. And open. Exhale, up.

So, same form we'd do anywhere else, except this time, we're stabilizing this lunge position. (exhales) Try to keep your upper arm more or less still. Keep your awareness also on your spine. Last one here. Come all the way up and quarter turn.

Come into a wide second position. A little wider than we would do on the reformer. Set yourself up with your hands in front of you, so that your hand is right in front of your sternum and you have no slack. Be beautifully tall. and on exhale, rotate...

Single Arm w/Spinal Rotation

Work here, control the machine there. Hold the left knee back. The left knee is gonna wanna come in. Hold it where it is. Stand yourself up.

Inhale in... and exhale, back down. This time, hands behind your head. Again, set yourself up with no slack. Choose where the rope's gonna be: either in front or behind.

Single Arm Side Bend

(exhales) Last one here. I know those legs are burning already. And come all the way up. Bring your headrest down. And have a seat on your machine.

Arms Reaching Forward

Stay here and get vertical, vertical, vertical. And lower the arms down. And again, the shoulder blades slide down as the arm lifts up. The temptation is to do that. Don't don that.

Ribs tight, go up. And lower down. Again, back up. This time, let go of the gripping in the front of the hip. (exhales) And lower.

Last one. Straight up, getting tall, like you're getting pulled up through a straw. Narrow the waistline, really see it. All the way around to the backside of the body. And lower down.

Second side, everybody. Okay. This time the right foot will be forward. Left foot is back. Set up your position.

Look what you're looking for: 90 degrees at the knee. Straight line from the hip point to the opposite knee. Hands on the hips. Eyes closed if you can do it. Really feel where you are in your body.

Feel where your weight is on your feet. (exhales) And step your feet together. Reach for the rope closest to you. Establish that lunge again, and you're gonna be fairly close to your reformer. And on an exhale begin your bicep curl, up...

Bicep Curl w/Lunge

So, this is how we're getting the majority of our leg work today. (exhales) Two more here. Notice my wrist stays really stiff. So I don't wanna see this. Like that.

Don't wanna see that. Come on up and turn. Legs are wide. Set yourself up with the rope right in front of your sternum. And from here, rotate.

Single Arm w/Spinal Rotation

Pelvis is still. Control the return. Exhale... and inhale. Exhale...

and inhale. Last one. Stand yourself up. Give yourself a moment to take a breath. And then reset.

Single Arm Side Bend

Little pause... Little pause. Just to make sure I have full control of the machine. 'Cause we don't wanna just ride the carriage, right? That's when it starts to feel like your springs are maybe too light.

If they're too light, go for more control. Control. Last one. And all the way up. Okay, we're gonna use that position one more time.

Straddle your machine. You're gonna be pretty far back to the edge of the carriage. Up to you whether the ropes are crossed or not crossed. From here, stand yourself up. So we're back in that same stance.

Bicep Curl w/Wide Second

And inhale. So this becomes a flow. Exhale... and inhale. We're gonna add to it.

Exhale. The heels lift. They lower. And inhale. Exhale, hold the breath as the heels go up.

Down. Inhale forward. Exhale, pause. The heels lift. They lower.

And forward. Last time. You should have a burn in those legs again by now. Now, this is very important. Take a look down.

Make sure you have place to sit, okay? I've lost a lot of clients like that. They sit into the well. And we're coming up again. So come back up.

Reset, this time one arm at a time. So you're gonna rotate... and back center. Real simple. And rotate.

Single Arm w/Spinal Rotation

Last one. Always an option for those of you that want to lift your heels up on that. So, let's take a back stretch. Two reds, two heavies for short spine. And you can do this however you're used to doing it.

So, I'm gonna do it multiple ways. The first one I'm gonna do, I'm gonna enjoy that hamstring stretch. So I'm gonna keep my sacrum down. I'm gonna take that nice deep stretch in the hamstring. Get the carriage in, peel up to my shoulder stand.

Short Spine

So, from here, the legs go out. I'm gonna lift right away. The end position, this shoulder stand is the same position. It's just how we got there that is different. All the way in, pause here.

And we're done with that. Bring yourself up. And grand your box. And we're moving into swan. So, the box is going into the long position.

Set yourself up with one heavy spring. But truthfully, right now the tension is neither here nor there. Okay, you do that more gracefully than me. Lay down with your chest off the edge. Hands shoulder distance.

Swan

And lower down. And again, inhale. Grow tall and take yourself really far forward as you lift. Control as you lower. Last one here.

Draw down and lift out and up. And take it back down. So, if you have a shoulder issue, you might wanna go a little bit lighter for the next thing. I'm gonna keep where I am. Reach around and grab your left foot.

Modified Rocking

And from here, kick the foot back and lift into a modified rocking horse. And come all the way down. And again. Push down and lift. So, the machine is really assisting me quite a lot.

I would not look like this without this machine right now. It would not be nearly so pretty. Push down and lift. So, really allow the carriage to help you get that height. Push back with that back foot.

Come all the way in. And let's change sides. So, first enjoying that quad stretch. Really bend the elbow. Pull the heel into the glut.

Of course, if there's a knee issue, you're gonna be very mindful here. (exhales) Push the left arm straight. Drive the hips to the box. Push the foot back and lift. And lower down.

And again, and lift. Stay square with those shoulders. Last one. Big inhale. And lower all the way down.

Come on in... and take your foot bar down. Okay, so getting into the next exercise can be a little bit awkward. This is what I do. We're going into a hamstring curl.

You can get there however it works for you. The more grace, the better. Loops onto my feet. And my little circus trick. And there you are, okay?

So, start by bringing your hands onto the frame, and just push the carriage out. Turn out the legs and pull the heels tight to your behind. So, notice there's no slack on my machine. My goal is to keep my legs. I'm gonna take one hand off.

Double Leg Hamstring Curl

Four, three, two, one. Lower the legs. Reach behind you, interlace your hands. Pull the chest out, reach the whole shape off the box. So, this is the stretch from double leg kick.

Inhale, into the chest. Exhale, lower everything down. Hands to the frame, push the carriage out again. Same thing parallel. Knees together, feet together, heels close to the butt.

Don't let the butt do that. Pubic bone down. Release one hand, and then the other. Put your focus here. And then little pulses up.

So I'd really like you to experience your gluts with your hamstring. Not just screaming hamstring pain. Ah, I'm getting out of breath. Three, two, one. All the way down.

Double Leg Hamstring Curl Parallel

And let the ropes drop. Come on up and face the back. So, you scored points if you made it through without dropping those loops off your feet. Have a seat at the edge. We're going into rollback, which is gonna feel awesome on the lower back right about now.

Tuck the tail under, and peel yourself back. If it's available to you, going all the way up and over the box. Chin in first always. Peel up, compressing, pushing that back into the box. And all the way up.

Roll Back

Deep breath into the heart. Chin in. Enjoy that sensation in the abdominals as you come back up to vertical. You can continue that if you'd like. Tuck and peel back.

Roll Back Variations

You have the machine here to help you. I just used it to help me. I don't know if you saw it, but I did. From here, legs to tabletop. Control the descent.

Inhale. And exhale, right back up. Ooh, that one I did all on my own. Stay here. Inhale, lower one leg down.

Big exhale, up. (exhales) The other leg down. Let go of something in the neck, the shoulders, the face. Big exhale up. One more time.

Inhale down. Almost like it's the breath, the exhale that pulls that leg up. And float the leg. Inhale. And big exhale up.

Bend the knees. Two feet down and sit tall. We're moving on. We are going to short box. However you usually set up is fine for me.

And if you have a stick handy, grab it. But no need if you don't have it. Have a seat and anchor your two feet under your strap. And to start, I want you to set yourself up so that you're really using the strap. The hands go up overhead.

We're going to flat back, which I'm gonna rename the catch for right now. So get very vertical. Hinge straight back. Hold it there, that's your catching point. Come all the way up tall.

Flat Back

Do not sink. Tall as you come up. And lower down. So, we're gonna start building an exercise called fire baton. We're gonna use that catch.

Fire Baton

Change the shape from the tail. Curl under, take it back just a smidge. From here, dive forward. Now, we did this earlier in rowing, remember? Tail back.

Upper back flat. Straight up... into your catch. All the way up. One more time.

Chest up. Go way far forward, over the legs. Tuck the tail, roll back just part of the way. The waistline goes back. Get very flat here, low to your legs.

Straight up... into your catch. And all the way up. So, let's flow that now. This is where it gets fun.

So, the chest goes up. Reach forward, peel back. Go forward. Out and catch. And back to the start.

Last one. Heart goes up. Go forward. Peel back. Dive forward.

Out and catch. All the way up. And lower down. We're gonna move into side overs. Put your pole down.

(pole clatters) That was a bit noisy. Tuck your foot. This is how I want you to set up. Fingertips onto your headrest. Other leg parallel.

And then a straight line here. Both sides of the waist are long. Take one arm up over the head, the other one straight forward. So, from here. Full range down.

Side Sit Up

Pause and change. Come back over. And up. I know it doesn't look any different, but it is, right? You really wanna drop that left arm, I know you do.

Hold it in close to your ear please. Pause. Full range, remember. Pause, not too many of these, if you can. Over.

And to the straight line. Over, two. Yes, I am quivering. You know why? Pilates is hard.

We make it look easy, but it's really hard. Pause, hold it. Get longer. Relax. Beautiful stretch.

Twist and crawl your hands up the rails (exhales) Okay, second side. Again, listen to the start position. I'm over on the side of my hip. Foot can be tucked or in front, but I'm looking for this stacking. Fingertips only, and a nice straight line.

Left arm goes up, right arm in front of you. Here we go. Full range. And up. Full range, two.

And up. Keep flowing. (exhales) Listen for your breath. Change arms. Take it over.

Reach through that bottom arm to come up. Take it over. And get longer as you come up. (exhales) Last one. Inhale.

And exhale, two hands if you can. Keep those arms hugging into the midline of the body. Ooh, maybe go smaller if you're dying. (grunts) Two more. Inhale.

And exhale. Last one. Inhale. And exhale. Ah, and finally, time for that stretch.

Crawl the hands along the rails. Drop the head. (exhales) Come on off. Pick up your box for me. And notice how I place the box.

Right in line with the carriage and in close to the machine. Change your machine to one heavy spring. And we did this shape earlier. We're going back to those lunges. Watch how I place myself.

One foot against the shoulder rest. Ball of the foot. The other foot a little bit forward. But my thighbones are more or less in the same plane. Hands on your hips.

Take a breath in, and go straight down and backwards. And pause. Find that same alignment we did earlier. And step yourself up. Inhale here.

Lunge w/Long Box

And you bring yourself up. Don't rely just on the machine. Back down, pause. And up, and notice I even syncopated a little bit, right? So, it's down...

and up. Last one like that. Straight down. Look for that straight line. And up.

Okay, we're gonna change the shape. Come back down again. Straight down. Pitch yourself forward from your hips. And the back leg goes straight.

From here, the back knee comes in, and then straight back out, pushing through the heel. Inhale in, and exhale out. So I really wanna feel like you're propelling yourself from the back of that left thighbone. The right knee isn't changing at all, and the upper back is super straight. This kinda reminds me of mountain climber on the chair.

Single Leg Press

So pop yourself off. Take it around. Place your box. And up we go. So, one foot against the shoulder rest, the other foot a little forward.

My thighbone's relatively in the same plane, vertical. From here. Straight down. And up. Whoo! (laughs) And again, straight down and pause.

Lunge w/Long Box

Feel where the crown of your head is going. And up. And again, I don't want you struggling with that weight, so if you are, make note of it and go a little lighter next time. Pause. And up.

Two more, I think. Hold. And up. And last time. Straight down.

And all the way up. Moving on. So, take it back down. Watch this transition. From the hip, the tail goes out.

Single Leg Press

And that's correct. That's what it's gonna be, alright? Glut med as well as quad. Keep your upper back straight. Try not to move your head around the way I'm doing it because you will lose your balance.

Upper back, nice and straight. Really focused in the body. Taking those two hips straight back. The tendency is also to start to sit in that hip. And in.

Last one. And in, and bring yourself up to your box. Onto the floor. Okay, we're moving on. Clear your...

the frame of your machine here. And we're gonna work on one heavy spring. We're going into a forearm plank. You might need some sticky pads on your machine. One forearm down, the other forearm down.

One foot to the frame. Push yourself out. Set up with your shoulder... just maybe a skosh forward of your shoulder. Then take the other leg back to join it.

Glue the legs and pause. And just feel your shape. Feel your body. Have a full body sensation here. And from here the hips begin to do a little twist.

Forearm Plank w/Hip Twists

Tail to the heels. Now, to come out, bring a knee to the machine and ride it in. So you can repeat that again if you'd like, or move on to something I called handstand. And, it actually looks super impressive, but... I don't think it's that difficult.

Plank w/Inverted V

And then set yourself up, okay? Shoulders a little bit in front... Hands a little in front of the shoulders. Come to your plank. And now from here, lift the tail straight up and get the hands under the shoulders.

Really extend the tail up, up, up. Come back to that position. Back to your plank. From there. One leg lifts.

Allow the carriage to come in. Extend that leg up. Spin the biceps forward. Back to your plank. And again, the other leg lifts.

(exhales) And back to plank. And knee. (laughs) One more if you want to, I don't. Go ahead, finish that up, that was beautiful. And come on in.

Okay, we're gonna move on to tendon stretch. Also, not an easy exercise. Have a seat on your foot bar. And we've kept the tension throughout all of this on one heavy spring. So, this is a light tendon stretch.

Notice the position of my wrists. Nice and straight. Stand yourself up. Drop your head down. Hold it here.

Tendon Stretch

Again, tuck and push. This moment right here should feel like chest expansion. Pull in and all the way up. Try to lead with the pubic bone. Pubic bone points up.

Come in. And up. Last one. Tuck. In and up.

And have a seat. Add a spring to your machine. This is just for fun. No, it is not Pilates, but it's fun, so who cares? Okay, so we're going into crow.

From here, the hands come down. Relatively close to your hands. Bend the elbows, and set up your upper arms to be a little shelf for your knees. From here, play around with just shifting forward. Maybe that's it.

Crow

See, wasn't that fun? Okay, moving on to front lunges. Spin yourself around. One heavy spring, or maybe a heavy and a light. We're near the end, everybody.

One foot to the foot bar. Scoot the other foot back to the heel. Establish your lunge, okay? I like to set up with 90 degrees. Minimal weight here.

Front Splits

Back just to the 90 degrees. And again, the back leg pushes the back leg. Don't worry about this knee, okay? Don't worry about that leg. (exhales) And come in.

Some of you might want to opt for the balance. (exhales) And all the way in. Hands to the bar, stretch both legs straight. And step out. Other foot to the bar.

Scoot the other foot back, anchor the back foot. Set your position, 90 degrees on the front leg. Okay. Stay there. Push back with the back legs.

Straight back, back, back, back, back. Listen for your breath. And come on in. Again. Back leg pushes back.

Always remembering, the key to stretching is the breath. So you have to make that brain part happen, right? Doesn't matter how big your shape is. Take it back. So, you could be in a very big, beautiful split right now, but if you're pulling away from it, you're not really doing yourself any good.

Alright, we're doing one extra on this side, 'cause I did not do the balance. (exhales) Really focused if you're doing that balance. (exhales) Hands down, step out. Okay, back to just one heavy spring. Come into the well of your machine for me.

Up and Down

This is up dog. Take the tail back. This is close to a down dog. Keep lifting that tail up, get the spine really long. Now from here, bend the knees.

The knees come forward and the back comes into a C shape. So my body weight is moving the carriage. I'm really just kinda hanging here and enjoying that stretch in my lower back. That should feel really nice. Go back to that down dog sensation.

Tail is up. And the end. Notice the change in my hands. Tuck and peel back. Drop the shoulders.

Now suction the belly button into the lower back a little bit more. And come back to your down dog. Last one, tuck and roll back, drop the shoulders. (exhales) Take the carriage all the way back. Take your hands down to the floor right in front of you.

Get your hands all the way flat, even if that means bending your knees. Push the ground away. Pull the abdominals up. Spin the biceps forward. Inhale, in through the nose.

Exhale. Grab opposite elbows. Let the body hang. Have the knees at least a little bent. Bring your attention back to your body, to your feet, to your spine, let your head be heavy.

Release the arms. Without changing the legs, begin to roll up from the very base of your spine. Look for that transition when gravity just pulls the shoulder blades down. The heart lifts. The head lifts.

Inhale, in through the nose. And long, slow exhale, out through the mouth. We are done. Thank you so much for joining me.