Apparatus on the Mat

Hi, I'm Julie driver. And today I'm with Christie and Meredith. And we're going to do a class for you that is using props to bring some of the operator's work into your mat work. So we've got some hand waves, we've got a circle, we've got some bands, and we're starting with the roller. So we're going to start with a hundred cause what better way start a philosophy class and get the 100 so we're going to lie down. And what I would like you to do is to put your back of your ankles on the roller. So this just gives us with slightly elevated place the hands by your sides.

We're going to inhale now without moving the roller, you're going to curl the upper body off the mat, see the legs, and start to pump the arms. [inaudible] so in this position here, we're using the roller to challenge us to actually keep it still so that we're reaching the arms and legs away whilst pulling the thoracic spine back and deepening our curl up. Who's counting? Okay, let's, let's do two more. So every time we press down with the arms, we're thinking of curling up a little more, reaching the legs away, a little more. Last one. And then in this position here, we're going to still the arms. We're going to roll the upper back down, take the arms overhead. Now really bring the inside thighs together because as we bring the arms full, we're going to go through that 100 position.

But this time we're going to roll up and I want you to try not to roll the roller, so you're gonna pull your spine backwards into that deep sea curve and then roll back. And now as you roll back, keep the roller still. So really use the insight Fise open the front of the hip [inaudible] and roll down. And again, we're going to bring the arms forward. So as we come up, think of almost pulling the thoracic spine backwards and up and over, lifting into the space, stretching and lengthening the front of the body, reaching forward through the legs, breathing in and rolling down. Keep the roll is still gives you a way. The minute it moves. Last one. [inaudible] stretch forward over the roller.

Really find that lift into the spine. Then lower the hands to your sides. And we're going to stay curved forward in this position. And what I want you to do is to bring the roller in and just to, just so that you're resting on your sole of your foot. So now we're in the seek of position. As we inhale, we're going to roll the roller away, stay in that seeker, roll the roll in, and I call a little stomach massage.

Roll it away, roll it in, roll it away. And what I love about this is if like me, you're really dominant on one side, the roller will start to twist and give you away. So make sure you're putting an evenly through left and right. Last one, roll the roller away. Lift the spine up. Now simply slide the hands behind you for a flat back stomach massage.

So press off the hand, make sure you're not leaning into your shoulder girdle. And now the same thing. We roll the roller in, we're lifted through the chest, straightening the legs. So when we do this on the reformer, the carriage moves, but now we have this moving of the roller to really reach the legs. Way two more. Roll away. Now bring the legs back in.

Just adjust if you need to. I need to bring my legs long nearer. Now bring your body forward, lift your arms up. So we're reaching up as tall as we can. Now the same thing. Now we've removed the support of the hands. We've really got to lift up through the spine.

Breathing in [inaudible]. So as we exhale, pull the roller in deep and the abdominal work. As you inhale, stretch the legs away. Bring the insight lies together. Exhale and lift a little more. One more. Your role has given you away, Christine. You know that, don't you think I'm not looking now, lower the arms a little.

So they've sort of aligned with the angle of leg, the thigh bone. Now we're going to rotate. Everyone's going to rotate to the see first of all. So we're going to twist. Stay up right through the spine. Pull back in, and then all way from the seat. Yeah, I'm back in. So as we twist, we reach the arms and the legs away. Pull back in one more each way. [inaudible] last one away from the sea and center.

Now roll down. We haven't finished with the stomach massage yet, but just let the legs come in for a second. And just rest the ankles on the roller. I'll just give you like a little bit of a shake. Then we're going to take the hands over the head. Roll back up again. Good. Now we're going to do one like stomach massage.

So round the spine. Bring the roller into your position. So we're going to start with the legs in and then we're going to straighten the legs. And now you're going to pick your right leg up. Roll the left leg in. One, two, three, four. Stay lifted through your waistband. Five. Lower the leg. Now if your roller is twisted, it's going to show you that leg is really, um, you need to really work both legs evenly.

So we're going to pick the other leg up. Now roll the roller and focus on keeping the roll at even three, four, five. Why did I put this in? Lower the legs stretch forward. Grab your ankles. Say thank you that it's now over. Lift back up, unrolled down. So again, just give the legs a little bit of a shake. Take the arms overhead, bring the arms forward.

And now we're going to roll through the spine again. Okay. Okay, so now we're going to go to the big daddy of stomach massage, which is the tendon stretch. So this time what we're going to do, I'm just gonna make sure I've got plenty of space. I don't want to fall off. So what we're going to do this time is bring the hands in front of us. You want them sort of be somewhere between your knee and your hip.

What I want you to find is that you can lift your bottom off the mat. So look for that position where the hand and the fly need to be good. So for tendon stretch, what's going to happen is we're going to lift our body off, we're going to round ourselves, or we're going to press the roller of forward. And then you're going to roll it through and bring it back through the arms. Press forward and then roll it back through as if the F the couch.

Why don't you join again? You just watching just the couch is your football. Okay, so now we're all going to do attendance stretch. Okay? So remember, we're not leaning into our shoulder girdle. We're lifting out of our shoulder girdle. You're going to pick your bum up off the mat and you're going to pull the roller. So the bump comes through the arms, and then you gonna take the road of through. Now really use those inside size.

Drag the world through. Press it away, pull the road through, push it forward. One more. Put it through, push it forward, lower the bottom, grab your ankles and have another little stretch forward. Good. Nice. Yeah. Okay, so now let's do some legwork to open out the hips. So we're going to roll down and you're going to bring your bum and just place it on top of the roller. So you're in a posterior tilt of the pelvis.

Hold onto the roller with your hands. And just being in this position for a moment in the posture. Retail will help us stretch. Well, we've just been flexing quite deeply in the hip. Then without shifting the bring left leg and then the right leg into the air. Then from here we're going to straighten the legs up.

So what I want you to think of here, we are going to do our legwork from the Cadillac. So I'm going to flex my feet. I'm going to lower them to about 45 degrees and I'm going to do my frog. So I'm going to bend my knees in and straighten and point the feet, add in the flex, the dorsi flex and then point stay posteriorly tilted in the pelvis, straighten. I'm Ben [inaudible] and straightened. Really zipped the legs together.

So as you straighten your leg, bring the insight FYS together. One more. Now leave the like straight and we're going to, as we inhale, you're going to lower the legs. Okay. Ideally we want to get them so they're in alignment with the hip and then lift.

So imagine your legs are in the leg Springs and we're reaching the legs out on an arc and lift three more. Anyone else? Cramping in the toes. Lower. So just the thing to look out for is that you're not putting tension into the neck and the upper body by holding onto the roller. If that's happening, just change your arm position. Now I'm going to lower the legs against you about 45 degrees and we're going to beat, we're going to open and close, so I'm beating not from just my ankles or my ankles flapping.

I'm opening and closing quickly from the inside thigh. I'm still in my posterior tilt. There's no tension or pressure in my upper back or neck. Hold the legs together. Now if you can't lower them down two more inches and do one more set here and hold. Lower them down.

One last time and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. I thought about account, nut set. Bring the arms back up. Bring your legs back up, lower them to half again, says I'll stop position and beat. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Hold lower, two more inches. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Hold last time. Really lengthen. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Lift the legs up. Bend the knees in. I just do have two little frogs just to release the legs off. Now we're going to do a scissor.

So I'm going to keep my left like still as I lower my right leg. So I'm opening in length in the front of the right leg. Then I lift my right leg up to vertical. Lower the left leg. Keep the left leg still over the right leg. My toes are going crazy. Last one. Now this time, think of the blades of a scissors, one that they must move equally apart.

Whereas that time before we were keeping one leg still. So now as you open your legs, think of the blades of a scissors, pair of scissors moving equally as much as the leg goes forward, the other leg must move towards your face and then switch [inaudible]. So we're really looking to keep the pelvis even as the legs move. One more each side. Oh, crazy toes. Bring the legs together, bend the mint again, do two little frogs just to release everything off.

And then the last thing we're going to do is walking. So with your left leg, bring the left, the arch of your left foot to your right heel. Keep your left leg still. Bring the arch of your right foot to your left heel. Keep your right leg still as you move the left leg. Keep the left legs delusion. Move the right leg walking down last walk down. Start walking up.

So really work on not moving one leg as the other one moves. Just to challenge the stability and to make it really specific where the movement's coming from. [inaudible] and down and then up [inaudible]. Ideally we're looking for between six to eight walks down, but go to where you feel your pelvis is stable. So if you've only done five walks down and your pelvis feels like it's going to move next time, make your steps smaller and keep the pelvis stable. Last ones.

I'm going to bring the legs up to vertical. Bend the knees in, lower the legs. Now to remove the foam roller, what I want you to do is just simply spine. Curl your body up, slide the roller away, unroll the spine back down. Let the spine settle for a minute because it's been up in the air, and then we're going to inhale and as you exhale, roll to one side and sit up. Now we're going to continue using the roller.

We're going to come to kneeling, so again, we're going to be using the cardio work when it could be doing a kneeling cat stretch. So what I want you to do is make sure you have a straight line from the knee to the hip to the shoulder. We're going to bring the arms up, inhale, and as you exhale you're going to roll down and bring the hands to the roller. Now from here what I'm going to do is as I start to extend my spine, the roller will roll away. Now I'm going to tuck the head in and round the spine up and the rotor will come back in towards my knees. And then I go out again. So as I extend my spine from hip to head, the roller rolls forward as I flex from head to hip, the roller comes back in two more.

So we're passing through flection, neutral extension. And again, we're going to pull back in. Last one, roll out, roll back here. Now this time bring the rotor to the knees and roll all the way back up. Find that lovely vertical alignment. No, bring the Vola to your knees. So we're not on the knee caps.

So you want to think of the, again, if we're going to be specific with that tibial tuberosity. And we're going to bring the hands under the shoulders. So we're going to do some knee stretches from the reformer repertoire. So from here, lift the feet and as you exhale we're going to round the spine and you're going to roll the roll in towards you as you round the spine. And then we're going to press the roller away and you will roll it back in again.

So we're keeping the left through the spine as we roll the road or in staying grounded. One more with a rounded back. Keep pushing the floor away, then come back to that full put kneeling position and extend the spine. You can work with a neutral spine if you prefer or extend the spine. Now the same thing. Pull the roller in, push it away and away. And in a way to more in a weight loss time.

And in a way now lower the knees [inaudible] and just take yourself forward off the roller. Good. How that, so let's take the rollers to one side and we're going to grab the arm weights. So that was quite heavy on the lower body. We're going to do a little bit more upper body now. So our first sequence is our back rowing, which we're using arm weights for front room. We're going to use the bands. So first thing I want you to do is organize the legs.

We're going to put the left leg on top of the right leg. One of the best cues I ever learned for rowing and for boomerang is the positioning of the feet. So as you look down, I went to make sure you think of seeing just one big toe, two heels. So we're not linking the feed like this. This is cheating. Okay, so now from here, bring the arm weights up. As you exhale, we roll back. See if you can find your sake from now. From here, open the arms up, press the palms back, dive the spine forward and bring the arms back.

Reach the arms down and the rib cage forwards. Now lift the arms up as high as you can. Circle the arms round to the feet and roll the arm weights back up. And again, we roll back, open the arms, the spine moves forward as the arms go back and I bring the ribs forward, reach those arms up as high as they'll go and then circle the arms round and roll back up. Last one, rolling back. Lean back into the space. Really stretch the spine. Open the arms out, spine forward, arms back, circley, arms round, roll back up, change legs.

Bring the arms up to that 90 90 position. So now this time we're going to lean back. Now hold the lean, stretch the arms up. Come forward over the legs. Take the arms back again. Reach the arms in opposition to the spine, and then circle the round.

Keep squeezing those insight lies together. As you roll back up, bring them back to 1990 lean from the tailbone, stretch the arms up without extending the spine. Stretch forward over the legs. Reach the arms back and then circle them round and come back up. So the really important part, the vital part. Now we're going to lean back. Same as before. Stretch up the spine stays long. Now as you reach forward, take your arms back, but don't let the spine move the spine.

Stay still while the arms move. Roll back up. Good. Okay. We're going to change from the arm weights to the band. So grab yourselves a band. So the bands I use are all quite long. They're probably about five and a half, maybe six, five and a half foot.

So we're going to wrap the band around your ribs. I once had a client, I showed them how to do this and she put it around her neck and then started pulling. So yeah, please make sure they are around your ribs, not round your necks. Okay, so we're gonna think of front rowing. So what I want you to do now is flex the feet and you're going to reach the arms forwards. Unroll with the spine. Keep reaching the spine backwards as you reach forward into the band. Now roll the spine back up, but keep reaching the band forward.

And now lift the band up as you come to neutral vertical spine. Circle the arms and in. So we're going to roll forward. Reach the spine back into the band. Now roll the spine back up. Keep the arms with the ear so the arms lift up nice and tall.

Circle the arms round and back to the start. And again, stretch forward. Roll the spine back up, lift the arms and circle. Good. Now hug. So for this one, you can either have the band crossed at the front or you can simply have the band open, whichever you personally prefer. So from here, reach the band forwards. We're going to bring the legs to a cross leg position, so be as vertical as you can in your spine. And now as we inhale, think of drawing the shoulder blades together at the back, owning the front of the chest, open the shoulder blades at the back, and again, make sure your spine doesn't move. So as the arms come forward, we open the shoulder blades at the back one more and N now take the band off. Change legs. So for shave, what I like to do is fold the band and then again, so you get a nice small bit of band.

So now we're going to find that lean position that we had when we were doing on 1990 we lent back and then we came forward. So now from here it reached the band up and we want a long line from the fingers through the shoulder to the hip. Now pull the band apart and as you inhale, bend the arms. Exhale, straighten the arms. Really think that as you bend, you maintain the length of your spine. So I straightened my arms as I bend.

I keep sending the crown of my head up towards the band and again, we're going to reach the arms up bend one more. Yeah, keep the spine nice and long. Stretch the arms up, lower the band down and just turn the head left and right. We're going to kneel up for a little chest expansion, so if you need a little bit more resistance, again you can double the band up. So we want that same knee hip, shoulder alignment. Take the bandwidth and lift lifted up. As you inhale, pull the band behind you, turn the head and look left.

Look right, look center and lift up. And again, as we inhale, we're going to pull back. Now look right, left center and up. One more. Each side, press down as we turn. Really keep the lengthening at the front of the hip. Press the hips into the band up and the last one.

Press the hips into the band, abandoned to the hips as we look right, left center and up. Good. Now grab your circles. So now we're going to use the circle like chair. So we're going to bring the circle in between the legs and we're going to put one hand on either side of the pad on top. So what I want you to think of is that as you press down onto the circle, it's going to be to help you sit up really vertically through the spine and release. This is like a little arm pressed down on the chair.

As you press down on the ring, contracts your spine lengthens and lifts. Almost like you can hover your bum off the mat and again, press down. Find that lift. Now press the right hand on top of the gray pad. We're going to challenge the obliques. Open your left arm out to the side. So now this time as I press down with my right arm, I've got to really work to make sure I don't twist my spine.

[inaudible] it looks really simple. On one side it probably will be two more. And on the other side, you'll feel more challenged. Keep the feet flexed, keep lengthening up, bring the left hand back, take a moment just to assess your alignment and then take the right time out in the same thing. So I'm pressing down from the back of the arm pit, not just from the hand. So we really finding that connection into the body and we're working to remain square two more as we press down the spine lifts and decompresses last one. [inaudible] good. Bring the ring, place it over the feet. And now I'm just going to do a little round and bending.

So I want you to just round the spine and then lift the chest and extend and around the spine again and lift the chest and round the spine and lift the good. Take the ring off. I'm going to finish standing. So again, we're going to use the ring like the chair. So every time we press into the ring I want you think of lifting your spine. So we're going to bring the ring up, but let's have our feet hit with the port and parallel. Bring the ring up. Now as you exhale, you're going to roll down and price the ring in front of you.

Then bring the hands. This is when my nose starts running onto the edges of the circle. Now from here, as I press down into the circle, I'm going to think of lifting my spine up towards the ceiling. I compressing the pedal on the chair. Inhale, release an inch. Exhale from the spine, progress down an inch. So every time I press onto the ring, I focus on lifting and curving my spine to the ceiling.

One more lift. One more press than wrap the fingers around the circle. And as you exhale, start to roll back. Bring the ring back up again. Now this time keep the ring in line with the ears. We're going to nod the head down like you're diving into a swimming pool and place it on the floor.

It's like your hands to the edges of the ring. And again, as you exhale, press the pedal down and lift the spine up. As you inhale, you lift off the circle an inch, and as you exhale, you scoot the tummy and you deepen that curve. As you press forward and lift and lower. One more. Wrap the fingers around and then prepare. As you exhale to roll back up. I can feel I'm locking my knees. Don't lock your knees.

Unreal. Back up last time. Not the head. Reach up, forwards and over. [inaudible] plant the circle down. Place the hands either side and again, as you exhale, press down. Inhale as you exhale. One more.

Then wrap the fingers around. Roll back up. Bring the circle up. Lower the circle down. Give the shoulders a row. Just hold the circle out in front of you. Breathe in, lower the circle down. I'll just give the circle three little squeezes. One, two, three. Relax the neck. Relax the shoulders.

Good. How are you feeling? Okay, so that was a real whistle. Stop through appraisers to Matt, just to give you some ideas of how to take the props that you have in your studio. Take them and make them portable so you can bring the operators into your client's homes, into your client's stables, which is what I do anyway. You can take the operators with you anywhere if you have a simple prop. Thank you very much.