Day 26: Standing

All right, we are here today with class number 26 of your 30 session challenge. I hope you enjoyed class number 25 and the traditional workout Plati session where you did reformer mat and some wall and you did it efficiently and just felt like a well-tuned machine. So today I'd like you to do a lot of standing work. We're going to start off with magic circle on the Cadillac, on the mat. Then we're going to do some standing leg work with the magic circle and then we're going to finish with our standing arm springs. All right, so grab yourself a magic circle and lie down on your Cadillac or wall unit, whichever one you have. And we're going to start off with the, um, we're actually going to start with some awareness exercises today because your alignment, I'm going to put my magic circle. Let's put it between my inner thighs. Um, your alignment is key, absolutely key for your standing work.

So we're gonna make sure our pelvis is square and flat on the Mat. Your feet are parallel and in line with your hips. We're going to press our arms down into the mat. We're going to open those collarbones bones. Lengthen the neck out of your shoulders. Take a big breath, and as you exhale, draw your belly in and up and squeeze the air out of your lungs.

Now press the circle with your inner thighs and then hold it tight. Add your pelvic floor drawing in and up. Now add the back of the thigh and glute engaging. Tilt your pelvis with your powerhouse, not with your hip flexors, and then keep it tilting towards you as you lift the hips rolling up your spine like a strand of pearls. Lift your hips up to the ceiling so it's a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. 20 pumps, one, two, three, four, five.

Really feel that deep scoop and connection of your pelvic floor and inner thighs and powerhouse. It should be like, whew. That's what we'd call our scoop. Five, four, three, two, hold. Don't drop your bottom. Drop and breathe into each vertebra. Starting from behind your, between your shoulder blades, rolling through all the way down to your tailbone. I'm going to slide my feet in just a little bit more. We'll do that one more time.

So just an awareness exercise to know where we are in space with our pelvis and how much we're going to have to push forward as we lean into our springs. For our standing arms springs, and we're going to engage the inner thighs. Then draw that pelvic floor in and up. Engage the back, the fi in the seat. Start drawing your powerhouse into curl. Keep your chest open, rolling up like you're lifting a strand pearls, one bone at a time. One Pearl at a time. 21 to stretch out of your hip flexors.

Reach your thighs out of your hips. Stretch your knees over your ankles. 10 more, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Hold and melt the rips. Squeeze the air, pulling the belly in and up until your tailbone is square. Let's take the circle away for a second. Slide your knees together and start with your circle right there and press your arms down by your side. I want you to take a big breath and exhale. Draw the right knee in, hug it in, hug, hug, hug, straighten it up to the ceiling and put your hands behind that thigh and stretch, stretch, stretch. All right, maybe even behind the calf and stretch. Breathe, breathe, and breathe.

Now we're going to try to keep your tailbone down the pelvis square and the hip flexors out of the equation as we exhale the air out of our lungs, ground in the back of your ribs, reaching the right leg out of your hip, hold it where the thighs are at the same level. Keep this nice and grounded and find the connection of the back of the thigh and seat with the back of the ribs. And I want you to try to tighten the hamstrings, tighten the glute to on a scale of one to 10 let's make it a five and we're going to use that to press down our leg, reach it out of the hip and hold it right mid calf level of your left leg. Reach that fi out of your hip. Hold it there. As you get that to a seven, make sure your knees not hyperextending go almost to the mat, holding it just off the mat and we're going to have it at a 10 back to the find seat. You're squeezing it like you have legs, springs on your foot, and now lower it all the way and you're going to slide that foot into your, towards your bottom pelvis. Stay Square and flat. Slide it out, tightening or engaging. I should say the back of your thigh and seat to a 10 do more times dried and feel your belly pull in and up. Exhale the air out of your lungs. Ground the back of your ribs.

Find the connection of the back of the ribs of the back of the thigh and seat. One more time. The left leg is not working. It's relaxed. Exhale, hold that leg long. Hold that scoop. Keep reaching the leg long out of the hip and bended it and now we're going to do the left. Take a big breath and exhale. The leg floats into your body. Straighten the leg up, hold behind the thigh and pull and stretch, stretch, stretch, and now behind the calf. This is their time to let go of that right leg. It's not doing anything.

It's not tightening at all. Slide your hands down into the mat. Open the chest, reach that left thigh out of the hip socket. Try to get the back of the find seat to engage to a level five when the thighs are even and the right side, not allowed to work. Pulling in the belly in and up. Let's squeeze it a little harder and so that we're working at at a seven letting go of your hip flexors back, the find seat track starting to take shape and now almost to the mat. Still reaching out further. Really feel this. See this stretch here, the five pulling out of the hip, releasing that hip flexor.

I'm turning off my right one that's trying to help scoop. And in here, lower it all the way down to the mat. Feels lower than it should be. Bending it, inner sliding it, slide it out from the back of the ribs, all the way to the heel. And two more. And exhale. So you're really just trying to nail this connection. This is your foot work and bending on the reformer that we did last class.

Hold that leg long and pushing that imaginary foot bar away from you. See that deep scoop. And we're going to lift that leg, reaching it long out of your hip, bending it in. All right, so now we're ready for our hundred. So we're going to grab our circle, place it between our ankles. You're going to draw both knees together and in place it between your ankles.

Have it. Um, let's put your feet down on the mat. Hand over hand behind your head, and we're going to take a big breath and we're going to exhale. Drawing the belly in to the mat in with the air. On this exhale, we're going to use our powerhouse to roll up our head and neck. Take another breath. If your belly puffed up, pull it in.

Come up higher. Take a breath. If your pelvis tilted towards you, undo it. And the next hale. Yeah, take another breath and exhale, come down, lengthening your neck, pushing your head into your hands again in with the air and exhale in with the air and exhale in with the year. And on this exhale roll down. Now we're going to be coming up for our hundred in with the air and exhale okay in with deer and exhaling, no pelvic tilting coming up and you're going to draw those knees in and you're going to reach your arms long by your side. And we're going to pump and exhale, press those inner thighs and with you and Jessica on the next exhale, we'll lengthen the legs. That's 50 70 really pull into your lower back. Think of rolling like a ball.

Connect the back of the ribs with the back of the thighs. Two more. Last one. Bend the knees in. We're going to put your magic circle between your inner thighs for the rollback and we'll go all the way into roll the roll up. Centering myself a little bit. Sitting up tall feet are hip with the part shoal and a in line. Little bit forward. Here we go.

We're going to round our lower back as we exhale and draw the belly in and up. [inaudible] great. Squeeze those inner thighs. Draw that pelvic floor. Stretch back your lower back and exhale forward again. Press draw that pelvic floor. Lower Valley. Excellent. Go down to the back of your shoulder blades. Squeeze. Drawn in.

Yeah, and you're going to be coming up. Pull your belly in. Pull it in, pull it in. Let's do that one more time. Press draw back. Stretch back at lower back. Stretch back and we're going to come forward. Keep your belly pulling into your lower back and now go all the way down.

Press drawback, no energy here. We're really working on perfect alignment and in with the air. Press dry coming up with length in your spine. One more Kress dry belly in pelvic floor. More, more, more, all the way back in with the air. Exhale, and now grab your magic circle. Slide your straight to a 10.

Reach with your belly, pulling back. Press your arms and draw back and stretch your arms back and arms lift. Head press. Excellent. Oh the way forward in with here. Pull back your waist. Pull back your waist, cad, the back of the thighs and seats working. We'll do one more. Here we go in with your head. Exhale, stretch, stretch, release any tension in the neck and shoulders in with your press the circle.

Draw those inner thighs towards your draw. Pelvic floor, lower belly, and finish your exhale here. Sweep that right leg up. Stretch it with your magic circle. So Nice. One of the only really delicious things about having a circle. We're going to hold it now between our hands. Press it together. Reach that right like down. Pull it back up to the circle and crass.

Reach around, up one cross. We're trying to engage the back of the ribs. That's why I have my circle. One more so that when we work our arms for reverse, I want you to be anchored with your arms from the back of the ribs, from the powerhouse to one more and the back of the thigh, right? And bring that leg down. Sweep that left one half stretch, stretch, sliding that right one straight on the mat, feeling the back of the, find the seat. Left leg is up. Press with your arms. Reach the right one out. Pull it back up, cross around, up, back the thighs.

It goes down powerhouse to pull it up in an exhale to an exhale. Last one, five might've been six. They're in with the air, reversing around him for three. Two. How are the back of the room? One mark. Oh right. And put that foot down in with there. Lift your head up and we're going to exhale. Roll up with the circle and we're just gonna put it right here as we lift our bottom up in forward balance with your feet up for rolling like a ball and massage your spine.

Here we go. And exhale, and in with ear. [inaudible] draw the lower billion. Okay. Use your upper stomach to come up two more. Give me one more. Really pulling your beliefs back and head between your knees. Rest your feet, grab your circle, lift your bottom back, and we're going to roll down.

Let's go ahead and slide my leg straight. I'm going to go ahead and use this. Press dry everything in. Roll back my waist, roll back, my waist, roll back, my waist and stretch. Put my circle down for a second. We'll use it for double straight leg and a double leg stretch and want you to take a big breath and exhale. Draw both ankles into you. Grab onto reach, slide the left leg straight and switch. Slide the left leg, right leg straight, left leg stretches.

Then the left. Here we go. Stretch that thought out of the hip. Add of the hip. Engage the back of the find seat. Scoop your belly. Scoop one more set. Rest your neck down. As you grab your circle, place in between your ankles.

Lift the head and exhale to your ankles. Press that circle. Pull it in, press, pull it in, press, pull it, press, pull it in to one more. After this Belize in and up. Rest your head as you put your circle down for a second. Exhale as you slide up to your ankles, right leg goes up, back the left thigh squeezes to back to the right thigh.

Squeezes to left eye, right tempo, always engaged. Squeeze the air out. Stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch. Bend the knees. Lower the head. Grab your circle. The last two have a circle. Last two of the series of five between your ankles. Rest your feet down, hand over, hand behind your head. Big Breath.

Big. Exhale up. Taking my top off here. Up, up, up, and now draw the knees in. Extend them up and reach those dyes out of the hips. End Up reached until the circle touches the mat. And up. Five more. Four.

Okay. Correct the inner thighs. Two more. Last one. Bend the knees, lift up, twist to the right knee. Come Center. Stretch the legs to the left stretch center. One more set to the right. Stretch the legs. Pull it in, left. Stretch the legs, pull it in.

Rest for a second. Take your circle and you're going to sit up for spine. Stretch forward. Slide your legs straight. Inhale with control. Exhale, forward, forward, forward. Open the feet, sitting up tall. Take a big breath. Press the circle, lift the belly, lift the waist.

Ah, release a circle. Okay. Press the circle and exhale. Inhale, releasing the circle. Yeah. Press the circle. Exhale.

[inaudible] release it. And inhale. We're going to do the reverse breathing here. A reverse squeezing. I mean, exhale with the relaxed circle. [inaudible] lifting your belly, lifting, lifting, lifting process. Circle and draw it up as you inhale. How does that feel? Does it feel any different? Exhale down, notes, squeezing, just stretching. Present. Inhale, press, press. Draw your belly in more, more, more against the squeezing.

One more time to make it even exhaling. Lift off your seat as you squeeze, lift off your scene. Find the connection to the back of the thighs and the seat. Nice job. All right, we're going to grab our circle and do some standing work, so we'll stand right here. Let's start with your magic circle between your ankles. So you're just going to bend down, put it between your ankles and pay attention to your feet while you're down here. Ball the foot on the floor, side of the foot. Heel. No, I'm collapsing in the arch.

So try to lift your arch up like you have a little grape underneath there, but you still have to have the ball, the big toe. That's the tough part. Enjoy that stretch. Maybe turn your feet out actually a little bit while you're here. Alright. Bend the knees a little and now I want you to pull up your arch roll up, leaving the arch, but thinking about pulling it up, lifting your inner thighs, lifting your pelvic floor. Everything's like quip, pulling all together. We're going to shift our weight slightly to our left leg, cause we're going to do some s leg work where we're standing on our left leg.

So we want our left leg to be just like we did with our wall sits or squats last class where it's down the middle of your body. You don't want your hips pushing this way. Okay? You're going to shift your weight like that, and now the ball of the foot on your right foot is barely touching the floor. It's a little turned out. We're going to engage here. You can hold onto something if you do need more balance, but you're going to draw the belly in and up and we're going to pull that circle tight for five, four, three, two, one release and sly that foot to you.

Five, four, three, two, one. Love this work and one more scoop him. Slides so hard without having a teacher or a mirror in front of me. Here we go. Now we're going to carefully rotate the circle so that it's in front of my standing left leg. So Am I. Yeah, we're going to do that. There's many, many varieties here, but this is what we're going to do.

So stand square, keeping my right hip down, scooping in. Don't lock the knees, lifting up still and now pull the circle to you. Slide it in for five. Grow Taller. Four, three, two, one. Really's pulling it in. Your left hip goes forward. Your right one. Squeeze in back for five. Release. One more time. Lifting everything that you have, feeling that like you can just soar through the ceiling.

And now we're going to slowly rotate it to behind your left leg so we're side square off your body. Slowly going behind you. Here we go. Good right hip, square powerhouse. Left leg is lifted. Standing leg is lifted. Common theme in Politesse. Here we go. We're going to work our bottom now like crazy as we slide that left leg towards us to the right. Sorry, four, five and release and squeeze that right hip forward. Pull this right hip bone up. Three, four, five release one more time scooping it and pull it.

Two, three, four, five and release. Rotate it to this side and I'm going to just adjust it a little, little and we're going to do the other side, so feed a little turned out while I'm down here lifting up my arch, pulling up my inner thighs, scooping it up, up, up. Now again, we're going to shift our weight a little bit so that our weight, our right is going to be down the center of our body, not pushing our hips out. And we're going to squeeze the left leg in and we're going to pull up as we slide it, one, two, three, four and five and release and draw everything in and squeeze two, three, lifting five releasing. One more time, drawing it in. Two, three, four, five and release. We're going to rotate that circle towards the front of your right leg. So we're going to keep lifted.

It's even better that I can't look down because when you look down, you lose all of your feeling. So we're going to square off those hips. Have to rely on true good polities form and pull an up in the standing right leg and pull that left leg towards you for five, four, three, two, one release again. Pull it in and it's five, four, three, two, one release. Push that right hip forward. As you pull that left one back, lift up your belly to your chest bone and release. And we're going to slowly take it over to the side. And now we're going to take it behind us. There we go.

Keeping my belly in and up. I feel like my circle is going to slip, so I'm going to pull it up. There we go again. Better when I'm lifting up. Then bending over, square off my hips. Here we go. Pulling up in my right arch. Solid, right hip powerhouse. Slide that left leg towards you. Three, two, one. Really pull that left hip towards you, right hip. Lift this bone for five. Release. One more lip, both bones, both four, three, two, one. Take the circle to the side and go ahead and reach down and grab it. Roll up your body and we're ready for our standing arms springs.

All right, so we're gonna put everything we have together for our standing arms springs. We're gonna do chest expansion first with our legs, springs on the Cadillac, or a wall unit. You're gonna Align yourself up nice and dead center. And you're gonna have your springs hooked up about where the leg springs would be for your legs. Spring series a on the balanced body. We have a bar that slides up and down on the grads. You would just hook it to the outside springs. All right, so align yourself up to the center and you're gonna want to have your feet and Pele's stance your weight forward on the ball of your foot.

You're gonna want to press your hips forward from the back of the find seat. Connect the ribs. We did those awareness exercises on the mat. You know what it feels like to lie on your belly and press your pelvis into the mat and create a little mouse hole underneath your belly. Open the chest to start. And this is all powerhouse exercises. So let's test our powerhouse and we're going to pull our belly in and up as we inhale. Pull the springs behind you.

Okay. And then we're going to look right, look left, look [inaudible] forward and release and we're going to pull and then start looking left. Hips forward, powerhouse in and out. Look left. Look right, look forward. Weight stays forward over the ball of your foot. Again, press your hips forward. Pull those springs look right, look left, look for it. And release one more to the left.

We'll go and powerhouse in and up. Back to those ribs. Look left powerhouse, right forward and release. Good job. Now we're going to take a little step back for our squats. Yes. So we're going to take a little step back and we'll start with our breathing part of it. So we're gonna take a big breath. Press those hips forward weights on the ball of your foot.

Lift up through the crown of your head and roll forward often. Imaginary Wall Rolling. Keeping your weight over your ball of your foot over your heels. Do not think of the, um, I'd like you to think of the push down on the one to chair and you're going to pull back those arms as you keep your weight as forward as you can. Release those arms. Roll up, starting with those inner thigh arches and her thighs, pelvic floor and La.

Oh the things I repeat over and over again. Turn your hands to lifting the elbows. I want you to pull your belly in and up as you lift the elbows. Sit as close to your heels as you can. Lift the points of your elbows up as you come forward.

One more on both legs, reaching forward, stretching from the back of the ribs and powerhouse pool. Stretch away. Roll it up. Press the hips for release those hip flexors. Draw your belly in and up. Lift the elbows one more with two legs, pulling the belly in and up, in and up.

Sitting as close to your heels as you can and lift the points of your elbows up and stretching forward and you're going to pull those arms when you're at a flat back. Keep those nice open shoulders. Roll Up. Squeeze those inner thighs. Pull up that pelvic floor, and now we're going to shift your weight to that left leg. Lifting the powerhouse. You're going to shift. Lift up the right leg and we're going to scoop the belly.

And as you sit down as much as you can and then come back up and we're going to do the other leg reaching forward, pulling behind you, stretching forward. Roll it up. [inaudible] arms lift, and now I'll shift the weight slightly to your right. Hold those hips long and we're going to sit down as far as we can. Some legs are stronger. Keep your energy up. There we go. And down. All right, we're going to turn our back to our Cadillac or wall unit and we're going to go for boxing.

You must know that Joseph [inaudible] was came over as a professional trainer for boxers. For a boxer. It was wonderful at connecting the hips. Powerhouse ribs, right, and we're going to do eight times for each side, right? Keep your chest open from the back of the rib directly down the middle. Don't shift your politesse box at two.

Let's do two more. Keep leaning into those springs. This is setting the stage for your next exercises. Hold it here. Open the arms to the side, open the chest, open the collarbones in with the air. Exhale and with the ear.

Exhale and with the ear. Exhale, reverse the breathing. Exhale in with here. Power House in with the air. One more exhale in with the air. Take a tiny break. Shaving might look more like a salute for me today, but you're going to try to get to where you shave all the way to the base of the neck. All right, so I'm going to get back into my shaving position. I'm going to press my hips forward. I'm going to draw everything in and out.

I'm going to go forward with my arms and I'm going to stay here and then I'm going to stretch forward, opening the elbows behind my head, pressing my hips forward. Let's do four more. Stretching back to the ribs, back of the seat, two more. Last one. And then I'm gonna take a little break. And now I'm going to do a little butterfly.

So I'm going to hold my arms here again and I'm going to press my hips forward, pulling up in the powerhouse, and I'm going to keep my hips as square as they can and I'm going to twist, twist, twist, reaching my right arm really far over in front of me. Left arm goes behind the bottom and switching energy in those springs. Lifting the sternum, lifting, keeping your hips where they are, taking yourself, your upper body back, back, back, and switching hips forward, twisting from your ribs, not from your hips and from the waist. One more lift, lift, lift as you twist and coming forward. And really nice work on that.

And now we're gonna end with fencing. Used to be one of my favorites. I haven't done it in forever. I'm working up towards it again. So standing a little bit closer to the roof to the Cadillac than you did last time. Let's have your, the leg furthest from the Cadillac. That heel is going to go into the arch of your standing leg. I think they call it a belay third, but I don't do ballet. So, um, we're gonna just call it that way.

We're going to hold the bottom arm is gonna grab the spring from behind you. The top arm grabs the spring from in front of you. You're going to hold really strong in stature. You're gonna Punch out your arms. The top arm will be from your chest bone, from your sternum.

The bottom arm is like sliding past your hips. And what gives the most energy is of course your powerhouse, especially your right glute in this exercise. So here we go. We're gonna do this three times this way and then we'll switch and I'll have my back to you as we do three times the other way on really briskly. You're going to stretch out onto the left bent leg out of kind of a 45 degree angle. Ready? Here we go. And stretch. Hold right hip. Hold. Now think of your sides. Splits as you come back to more stretch, right hip, right hip leaning. Pull, sliding back.

One more. Stretch to three. Now really do your side splits. Lift, lift. Oh, that was good. Let's switch sides. Okay, so, but we're going to have the top arm is holding the spring in front of you. Back arm, back. Spring goes to the bottom arm. You're going to have your right foot in the heel of your left arch. Nice strong stature.

And you're going to go out at a 45 degree angle with a bent forward knee. It's going to be your right knee is going to be forward. Shoulders in, hips up. Here we go. And stretch two, three. Push that left hip and side. Split in and stretch two, three inside. Split in one more. Make this your best one.

Stretch two, three n lift, lift, lift in your powerhouse and your already for the day. Thanks for joining me.