Form a Strong Foundation

Hello everybody. It's Brett Howard here, and we are gonna build upwards today. I'm very happy to be working with you guys for the next five weeks and why don't we get started? So what we're gonna do is we're gonna start with a warmup. Before we start, what you might want to quickly do, especially if you have any sort of low back tightness, is to grab a towel.

Then what you can do is you can fold the towel to this type of shape, like little square. You might also want to have a towel that can also extend out a little bit. We might use that as well, just as a little prop it's not necessary to have, but sometimes it might be a little bit helpful for certain rolling exercises. Okay? So let's start with the warmup. You're gonna have your hands directly underneath your shoulders.

Knees are gonna be directly underneath the hips. Then from there, you're gonna round the back, like an angry cat, dropping your head, dropping your tail. Then from there, arch the back, head up, tailbone up. And again, round the back like an angry cat, dropping the head, dropping the tail. Then arch the back, head up, tailbone up.

And again, round the back, like an angry cat. And then, arch the back, head up, tailbone up. We're gonna go for two more. Inhale, round the back. And then, exhale, arch the back.

Last time inhale, round the back, head goes together, tail goes together and then arch head and tail, separating, making sure you're not hyperextending in the elbows. It's great. I'm gonna have you guys turn around and you're going to bring your soles of the feet flat on the mat. Feet are gonna be in line with the knees, knees are gonna be aligned with your hips. Thumbs with fingers, hold onto the back of your thighs.

And you're gonna start nice and tall. Initiate from the tailbone. You're gonna roll down one vertebra at a time, opening up the lower back. Nice successive sequencing. When the arms get to full extension, you're gonna hold there.

You're gonna lead with the crown of the head. You're gonna round forward, bring the nose to the knees. Then from there, roll up to your spine. Tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back neck and head. And again, tailbone initiate, curling under making sure that the lower back moves before the upper back moves.

Great, then from there lead with the crown of the head round forward, then imagine there's a wall behind you. Roll up against that wall. Tail bone, lower back, middle back, upper back neck and head will be last. One more, tailbone under, let the head and tail fold towards one another, nice successive sequencing. One vertebrae at a time, you're gonna roll down and then lead with the crown of the head, round forward, bring the nose to the knees. Then roll up to your spine.

Tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back neck, and the head. Reach the arms on a upward diagonal. Same thing. Start with the tail, let the head fold forward and slowly roll down to your spine. One vertebrae at a time, all the way down onto the mat.

And then you can bring the arms down by the sides. You're gonna bring the feet together, knees together. Hands can either be one hand on top of the other hand behind the base of the head, or if you're on the lower mat, it might be more comfortable for you to bring your arms directly out to the side in a T shape, your choice. A little bit of a spinal rotation, mini tick tock. Your knees are gonna go to the right as the head is gonna go to the left.

Then in the sequential sequencing, pull down ribcage, lower back, pelvis to come center, then knees to the left, head to the right, then from there, pull down rib cage, lower back, pelvis to come back to center. And again, knees to the right head to the left, and then roll rib cage, lower back pelvis from center. Knees to the left, head to the right. Good, and then pull ribcage lower back pelvis to go center. Last time.

Knees to the right, head to the left. And nice sequential sequencing, ribs first, lower back second, pelvis last and then knees to the left, head to the right and then pull ribcage, lower back, pelvis to come back to center. Bring the arms right down by the sides. You're gonna open the legs, parallel hip width. And we're gonna go for a little bit of bridging.

Initiate from the tailbone. You're gonna roll your spine up to a nice bridge. Then from there, soften at the sternum, melt down one vertebrae at a time, sternum all the way down to the tail. And again, tailbone initiates, roll the hips up. We're gonna try to pancake the feet, not allow the feet roll in or out, then soften at the sternum, melt down one vertebrae at a time, all the way down to the tail.

And again, tailbone initiate. Try not to let the knees roll in or out, this time, once your hips are up, keep the hips up. Now, lift the arms straight up to the ceiling. Then from there, reach the arms back, back, back. Then arms are gonna go forward.

Then arms are gonna go right down by your sides. And again, inhale, lift the arms up, still keeping the pelvis up and exhale. And you're gonna reach, reach, reach, inhale, arms go forward, exhale, arms go down. We're gonna do one more like that. Inhale. Lift the arms up, exhale and reach, reach, reach.

Now like a seesaw, you're going to roll the head neck and shoulders up as you round your body forward, fingertips forward. But in this position, try not to tuck your tailbone. Now lift the hips up with the head neck and shoulders. Go back. Arms are gonna go overhead. Then from there, arms gonna come down as you roll the head, neck and shoulders up, pelvis comes down, hold the position, keep that position.

You're gonna bring both knees into the chest. Then zipper up, extend the legs to your working level. Rotate to Pilates stance 100, pumping up and down above the waist as you breathe in. Then breathe out, two, three, four, five, inhale three, four, five, and, exhale, three, four, five, three, and exhale, three, four, five, four, exhale, three, four, five, five, exhale, three, four, five more in with the air. And exhale three, four, five, inhale three, four, five, exhale three, four or five, three more sets.

And, exhale, three, four, five in with the air. And, exhale, three, four, five, one more set, and exhale three, four, five, rotate the legs parallel, bend the knees. Take a nice hug of the legs. We're gonna go for a good morning roll up. You're gonna bring your feet flat down onto the mat.

Arms are gonna go straight up to the ceiling. Now you're going to simultaneously roll your spine up. As you slowly stretch the legs forward and then, in C curve. Then tailbone is gonna initiate, slide the feet in as you slowly roll down through your spine, and again, rolling forward as you extend the legs, simultaneous action of upper, lower body, then tailbone under, slide the feet in as you slowly roll backwards back onto the mat. One more, slide, the fingertips forward as your reach.

Now this time, hold the position, rowing into the sternum, rowing one. You're gonna curl the tailbone under, as you bring your fist into the sternum, you're going try to get that lower back on the mat. Then from there, you're gonna round forward into that starting position. Let's do that again. So it's a little bit of a prep, tail bone under as you roll under, bring the fist in to the sternum.

Then round forward, reach the arms forward. Last time, tailbone under, bringing the small of the back into the mat. Now keep the small of the back into the mat. Open the arms out to the side. Then from there, you're gonna press the arms back on one plane.

Then round forward as you reach your arms back. Now lift the arms up one higher, two higher three, circle the arms and reach front, tailbone initiates as you bring the fist into the sternum curling under, then from there, open the arms on one plane, press back then, rounding forward. Then from there, reach the fingertips shoulder blades down lift the arms up one higher, two higher, three. Then circle back to that starting position. Last time, tailbone under curling back, open the arms, press on one plane as you deepen through the powerhouse.

Then dive forward, fingertips back with one higher, two higher three and circle around. Now we're gonna go for the regular roll up. If you have a tight, lower back, you can always bring the towel, place it down on the mat. So when your small of the back comes down, you'll have a little bit support. You can also do the good morning roll up as well If you feel like you need it.

Now, roll down with straight legs or you can do the good morning roll up, all the way down, the arms are gonna go slightly back over the head. Then arms to ceiling, head goes through the arms, rolling up and, nice and controlled and then reach forward C curve. Tailbone under, roll down one vertebrae at a time, exhale all the way down arms go slightly back. Let's go for two more. Rolling up, inhale, and exhale. C curve, hands forward, stomach back, tailbone under round down one vertebrae at a time, try to hit every single vertebra.

Try not to skip over anything. One more. If the towel's underneath you push it into the towel here and then reaching forward and to C curve. Then from there, as you roll down, push into the towel, try to make contact with it. If you don't have a towel, make contact with the mat, arms gonna go overhead. I'm gonna move forward a little bit.

And we're going to go for a little bit of a summer leg circle prep. So soles of feet are gonna be flat on the mat and then take your hands, and you're gonna sit your pelvis on the hands, right on your fingertips. Then from there, you want to have equal weight on right and the left set of finger tips. So you imagine that, that is a scale, you're gonna keep the scale balanced. You're gonna open the right knee to the side, as you do that, try not to move anything on the left side of the body.

Then close the knee back to center. Let's go to the left leg, left leg is gonna open. Keep the scale balanced, keep equal weight on both sets of fingertips. Then bring the knee back to a close, and again, right knee opened. I'm gonna really wrap to the left side of my obliques to control my pelvis.

Then pull the knee back to center. Now, your left knee is gonna open, really wrap to the right side of the obliques to control the pelvis from tipping and then pull the leg to center, one last set, right knee opens. Try not to let the pelvis move, control it through the abdominals. Then bring the knee to a close and then left knee opens, making sure equal weight is on both sides of that pelvis. And then bring the knee to a close.

Now, what you're gonna do is, you're gonna remove the hands and you're going to lift the right leg up knee to knee. We're gonna still have that same idea of keeping the pelvis nice and even. You're gonna lower the leg down. Now, try not to let the pelvis or the scale tip, circle back to starting position, lower the leg down to the ankle, circle out, but no movement and center. Let's go for one more lower down to the ankle. Circle out.

Really wrap to the left side of the obliques that you circle back to center, reverse, open, circle down and come back up. So it's the body that's controlling the leg and circle down and come up, one more, as you open, really wrap through that left side, circle down and come up and then bend the knee and let's switch legs, left leg is gonna lift, go straight down. As you circle out to the left, really wrap to the right side of obliques. And again, circle down around and center. One more time down really wrap to the right side as from center, reverse, open, circle down, lift up to knee height, open two, circle down, lift up to knee height, nice stable pelvis, and then lift up to knee height.

Good, bend the knee. Now extend the left leg straight out onto the mat and flex the foot. Take the right leg and take a nice pull inward there. We're going to now move into the single leg circle. Nine points of pressure into the mat, hand, shoulders, head, stomach, hips, and the left leg, right leg extends up to the ceiling and rotate it.

Keep the balanced scale as you go across to the left circle, down, around, up, and stop, cross, down, around, up and stop. One more cross, down, around, up and stop, reverse outwardly wrap to the opposing side across up, and stop a little bit out, down a lot across up, and stop. One more time, a little bit out, a lot across up and stop, rotate the leg parallel. Bend the knee, take a good pull of the leg. Change legs. Extend the right leg.

Flex the foot. Slide the left leg in, give yourself a nice pull of the leg there. Then nine points of pressure into the mat. Extend the left leg up. Turn the leg out, lead with the inner thigh as you go across, down around up and stop. We're only moving the leg as much as we can control the body.

So don't allow the leg to control the body, reverse. Make the body control the leg, up and center, a little bit out, down across and up. One more, a little bit out, down, across up, and stop. Rotate the leg parallel. Bend the knee.

Give yourself a good pull. Now legs out onto mat. Either a roll up or you can do a good morning roll up. You're gonna roll up to your spine for five, four, three, two, one. Good, bring the hands down. Scoot your bottom forward to your heels for rolling like a ball and you can either hold behind the back of the thighs.

If you want to challenge yourself more, hold the front of the shin bones. If you want to challenge yourself more, hold onto your ankles. Broad elbows, head and tail together. Tailbone under, navel back, rocked back. Come right back up in balance for three, two, one, rock back, come up in balance for three, two, one, rock three and up in balance. Two, three more, rock back, and up and balance, balance, balance.

Twice more rock. Then come up, as you come up, pull back through the ribs. Those are your breaks. Last time rock and come up in balance and hold there, right hand will stay where it is. Left hand we'll go right onto the right knee, left leg extends out to 45 degrees, slow and controlled.

You're gonna roll down one vertebrae at a time until you get to the base of the shoulder blades, then pull that right leg in for a single leg stretch change, pull the left leg in, change two and two, wide elbows, three pull and pull and five more times. And pull, and pull and inhale. Keep inhaling, exhale, exhale, two more, pull and pull and pull and pull both knees and double leg. Arms back, legs reach, circle the arms, bend the knees and pull. Inhale, reach out exhale circle and in pool, arms and legs out simultaneously.

Arm is first, knees second, right, together pull simultaneously out, arms first, knees second, right up together, pull, six more reaching out, exhale and pull. Now, as I reach out, I'm gonna try not to change the distance between my bottom, rib and hip. So I'm gonna really focus on maintaining that. So as I move away from my center, I'm not disturbing that stability. Let's go for one more, inhale, reach out, exhale, circle in, single straight leg, stretch, right leg up left leg out pull, pull, scissor pull, pull, wide elbows.

Now you don't have to grab onto the ankle if you can't reach there, you can always hold a little bit lower on the leg and five, five, five more pull pull, pull pull. It's more important to have the legs straight, then having a big range of motion. So it's always okay to hold lower and make the range of motion a little bit smaller. Pull one more pull pull, pull pull, both legs up, hands behind the head or underneath your hips. If you have a tight, lower back, hamstrings or hips, so you're gonna lower for three, two, one, lift to 90 degrees and lower, two three, up to 90, lower three two three, up to 90, control, control, control up to 90, five two three, lift, five more.

Remember last time we put our hands underneath and we try not to put extra weight in our hands. Here as you lower, try not to let the weight shift on your back. Lower two, three lift, so the bottom rib and hip. That distance stays the same up. Let's go for criss-cross, twist to the right and hold for three, two, one, change, hold two, three, twist, two two three, twist, two, two, three, twist, two, two, three and twist, two, three and three, two, three, twist, four two three and four two three, five, two, three, five, quick time, one and one, and two, two, three and three and four and four and five and five, ease in and relax, it's getting warm.

You're gonna scoot back that music that was playing "Summertime" in the beginning was very appropriate. Now either good morning roll up or regular roll up, roll up your spine for five, four, three, two, and one. Spine stretch forward. So you're gonna open the legs. I'm gonna pull up my pants and now you're gonna bring your fingertips down onto the mat.

And then what you're gonna do is you're gonna think of pulling backwards to the lower back as the hands slide forward, forward, forward. Then from there, roll up to your spine to a tall back. Now, spine church board, everything from the bottom rib up as going forward. But from the bottom or the back, we're pushing it backwards into an imaginary wall. Then rolling up to your spine to a tall back.

Let's do two more, but arms at shoulder width, shoulder height, loose your glutes. Lift the spine around up and over, hands forward, stomach backwards, heels forward, ball of the foot back. Crown of the head down, then roll up tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back neck. Head would be the very last thing to come up. Last time.

Lift, around up and over, hands forward, stomach back, heels forward. Ball of foot back, crown of the head down and exhale. Exhale, exhale, inhale. Rolling up to your spine to a nice tall, straight back. Good, bring the legs together.

Shake out the legs a little bit. Then from there, I want you to imagine you have a pillow right on your lap. You're just gonna rest your torso on that imaginary pillow and rest. Take a deep breath in and a big, exhale, exhale, exhale, and again, take a deep breath in and a big exhale. Exhale, exhale.

Last time, breathe in and breathe out out, out. Roll up to your spine. One vertebrae at a time to a nice, tall back and then you're going to hold onto the back of your thighs. You're gonna curb your lower back under. Now, try not to have any sort of movement in your pelvis.

You're gonna pull back to the navel, back to the ribs, float the legs up to a tabletop position. Wide elbows out to the side. Now, similar to rolling like a ball, tailbone under and navel back, rock back, come right back up and stick it by pulling back through your upper ribs. And again, curl back as I come back up, we're gonna try to stay behind this is thumbs, hold there. Now you can stick with this variation or you can extend the legs up and rotate them.

Your choice. Now, rock back, come right back up and pull back to the upper ribs. Two, three, and one more, rock back. Come back up and hold for three, two, one. You can either stick with tabletop or this position, or you can start to walk up the legs eventually to your ankles.

Twice more. Rock back, come right back up and balance. As you pull back through your upper ribs, find that stability. One more time, rock back and come right back up and balance and hold there. Two, three.

Keep the weight behind the sits bones. Keep the ribs back. Keep the curve in your back. Bring the legs together. Reach the arms forward and hold for three hold it there, two, hold it there, one. There's your teaser, slowly roll down without the legs moving once you're all the way down, you can bend the knees into the chest and take a nice hug of the legs. Corkscrew, arms down by the sides or hands are gonna go underneath your hip, your choice, extend the leg straight up to the ceiling.

Turn out the legs. Now bring the legs to the right, down left center. Stop, reverse left, down, right, center, stop. Right, down, left, center, stop. As I go left, I really pulled through my right obliques and center.

One more right, down, always working opposing obliques. And that that last time left, down, right, center. Stop rotate the legs parallel, bend the knee and hug. Now I want you to lie down on your side and now if you're on a raised mat, come towards the middle of the mat. If you're on a flat mat it doesn't matter so much, but have your heels in line with your hips.

Hips are gonna be aligned with your shoulders. Hands gonna go behind the head. And we're gonna work on the book. You're gonna open up a book, follow the elbow with the eyes. Then from there, you're gonna close the book, follow the elbow with the eyes.

And again, open the book, follow the elbow with the eyes and then close the book, follow the elbow with the eyes. Let's go for one more. Open a book three, following the elbow with the eyes and then close the book follow the elbow with the eyes. Now hand on top of hand, try to rest your head here, try not to hold it. And then you're going to open a book.

Follow the fingertips with the eyes, you should have a little bit more range here, then from there, close the book, follow the fingertips with the eyes. And again, open the book, two, spiraling and then close the book, two, as you open, try not to let anything from the waist down move, just move from the waist up and then close the book, follow the fingertips with the eyes. Now you're gonna let your top shoulder blade slide forward and go back to center. Slide forward two, and back to center. Slide forward three, and back to center.

So you can either turn to the other side. I'm gonna actually flip for today and turn towards you and then hands are gonna go behind the head, feet in line with hips in line with your shoulders. You're gonna open the book, follow the elbow with the eyes and then close the book. Follow the elbow with the eyes. Open a book. Notice if you can twist a little further on one side to the other side, it's valuable information for you and close.

One more, this is definitely my more flexible side and open and then close them later. I might work a little bit more on my rotation on the other side. Now rest the head, one hand on top of the other hand, now open a book, follow the fingertips and then close the book, follow the fingertips with the eyes. And again, open the book. It's important to follow the fingertips with those eyes and then close the book.

It makes it a little bit more, a bit organic movement, open. We'll try to relax in your ribs and then close the book. Follow the fingertips with the eyes. From the top shoulder. You're gonna slide front and center forward, two and center.

One more forward, three and center. Now I'm gonna sit up and turn around. You can roll up if you were in the same position that you were initially, and we will go for the saw. Now with the saw, we're gonna focus on a couple things. We're gonna focus on the twist.

When I twist to the right, I'm gonna imagine I'm a helicopter propeller, and I'm gonna come back to center. Now let's twist to the left, but move from the base of the propeller, not from the blades of the propeller. Now twist to the right, but imagine you have two headlights of a car going forward as you're looking out the window, keep the headlights front and come back to center. As you twist to the left, keep the headlights front, don't let the pelvis twist with you and come back to center. Adding on, twist to the right hold, drop the arms.

It's all in reach. Keep equal weight on front heels, down the heels and the sitz bones. And then come back up to center. So imagine that your heel sitz bones are like four wheels of a car, keep all four wheels on the pavement and come back up to center, lift and twist to the right, drop the arm, saw and reach and exhale further, further, and inhale. Come back up to center, lift your spine, twist to the left, drop the arms saw and reach. As I'm reaching here.

I want you to pull back with that right hip in opposition and come back up to center. Rest your arms, keep the legs where they are. Shake them out. Now imagine that you have two pillows in front of you. You're gonna rest your torso forward onto those pillows and hold there.

Nice and relaxed don't force anything, take a deep breath in, and a big, exhale, exhale, exhale, nice passive stretch. Take a deep breath in and a big exhale. Exhale, exhale. Last time, breathing in and breathing out, out, out. You're gonna roll up to your spine one vertebrae at a time up to a nice tall, straight back.

Great. Okay, let's flip over onto the stomach and we will go for the neck roll. Now I'm on a high mat that has dowels. I'm gonna bring my hands above the dowels. If you're on a lower mat, bring your hands a little wider than the mat.

It's gonna allow for a greater extension. Now don't worry about the legs. they can either be together. Or if you feel like you need to, you can open them. Unassisted. Don't use your hands, elevate them in the air an inch. Lift your upper back up. Then from there, lower the body down one vertebrae at a time.

And again, lift the back up unassisted only using your back and then exhale, lower the body all the way down. Let's go for one more. Lift the upper back up. Now this time, hold the lift. Bring the hands down onto the floor or the dowels. If you have them, lift up to your full extension, then from there, lower the body, controlling the lower.

When you can take the hands off and control to descend the rest of the way down and again, unassisted, lift your upper back up, then bring the hands down, continue to rise as high as you can. Everyone will be different. Stay there. You're gonna look to the right, circle the head down. Look to the left. Look forward. Look left, circle down, to the right look front.

Look right, circle down, left and front. Last time left, circle down, to the right, front, may I ask you a couple questions? Are you pulling in with the navel? Does it bring up through the abdominals, rapping through the ribs, shoulder blades down? Are you looking up through the crown of the head?

I'm just asking. And then you're gonna lower down one vertebrae at a time when you can take the hands off, control the descent. Then from there, I want you to go onto your hands and knees, instead of doing child's pose today, you're gonna just round the back, like an angry cat again, arch the back, head up, tailbone up and again, inhale, round the back and then exhale. Arch the back, head up tailbone up, last time, inhale, round the back like an angry cat. And then exhale arch the back, head up, tailbone up.

You're gonna make a Sphinx position with your upper body. Fists down, elbows down, stomach up, ribs up, crown of the head up. We will go for the single leg kick. You're gonna bend your right leg and kick twice. Kick kick. Now the left leg kick kick, kick, kick, again kick kick.

Still imagine that your pelvis is on that scale. Don't let the scale tip side to side five, five, five, five more kick kick, keep the lift of the upper body. Don't allow the force of the kick to upset the stability of the upper body, two more kick, kick, kick kick. One more kick kick, kick kick. Now hold that position, but open the form so they're parallel with one another.

So I call this exercise RBG after Supreme court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, you're gonna curl the toes under and you're gonna lift up into your plank and hold for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one and lower, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, she's in her late 80s, she does this every day. Now lifting up and she holds for a half minute to a minute. Hold for 10, nine, Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and lower two, three. Last time. Curl the toes.

Lift up and hold for 10, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, nine, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, eight, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, seven, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, six, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, five, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, four, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, three, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, two Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of my favorite Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, lower down. All right, let's go for the double leg. Hands are gonna go behind the base of the head elbows wide, you're gonna kick both legs three times one, kick two, kick three. Now, slide the arms down the back. Lift and lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, lower down, lift, kicking one, two, three, lift and lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, lower down.

Right. Kick one, two, three, lift and lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, lower down left, kicking, one, two, three, and lift lift lift. Last time, right kicking. One, and two, and three, lift and lengthen, exhale, exhale, lower down left kick and kick and kick lift and lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, lower down. No child's pose today. Just go on to the hands and knees once again, round the back like an angry cat and then arch the back, head up, tailbone up and again, round the back like an anger cat and then arch the back, head up, tailbone up, last time, round the back like an angry cat and then arch the back, head up, tailbone up. Alright, flip around. And we're gonna go for the next pull.

Now I'm fortunate I have the strap here and I can use that for stability, but not everyone's gonna have the strap. So I'm gonna give you guys a few allowable cheats, kind of went over this last time, but just a little review. So the idea is to roll up nice and controlled. Now, if that's not available to you, you can always bring your elbows forward to help you up. If that's still too hard, elbows forward, you could take the hands off briefly.

If that's also a little bit too much, elbows forward, hands off, you can bend the knees slightly. And then on the way down, you can use the same allowable cheat that you had used previously, okay? All right. It's all about the control. You can also put something underneath your lower back as well. So, chin to the chest, inhale, round up and exhale nose forward to knees.

Inhale. Roll up your spine to a tall back, then from there. no hinge right now, curl the tailbone under, slowly roll down one vertebra at a time, all the way down onto the mat. And again, chin to the chest, inhale, rounding up and exhale nose forward to the knees. Inhale, roll up to your spine to a nice tall back, now tuck the tailbone under, let the head drop, slowly roll down one vertebra at a time, all the way down. And again, chin to the chest, inhale.

Rounding up exhale, nose to knees, inhale, roll up to your spine to a tall back. Now this time, without the ribs going, lift and hinge back, hold it, then from there, curl under tailbone, lower back, middle back. Use a little elbow cheat if you need to, all the way down to the head, one more time, chin to the chest, inhale, and exhale, nose to knees. Inhale, roll up your spine to a tall back. No, Mary Lou Retton, I don't want those ribs out lift and hinge back.

And then around, under, tailbone, lower back, middle back. I should say Simone Biles, no, upper back, neck and the head, it's gonna come all the way down. Good. All right. If you need to, scoot forward a little bit and you're gonna bring the soles of the feet flat onto the mat once again. Now what you're gonna do is gonna have feet together, oh, sorry, feet parallel in line with the knees, in line with the hips, arms down, initiate with the tailbone curling up.

Let's just warm up the hamstring muscles up again, and then roll down sternum all the way down to the tail. And again, tailbone initiates, rolling up and then roll down one vertebra at a time, all the way to the tail. Now, today I'm gonna do a variation of one of my friends, Kathy Corey, I'm gonna have you bring your legs together. You're gonna take your right leg, cross it over the left leg. Have a tight cross.

Try not to let your knee open. So you're really stacking femur on top of femur. Thigh on top of thigh, you're gonna lift up and as you lift up, you're gonna push down with the top leg. That will help open up that right hip, left hip rather, and then melt down one vertebra at a time, all the way down. And again, you're gonna initiate from the tail.

You're gonna lift the hip up, now stay there. You're gonna bring your right knee into the chest, right leg up to the ceiling, lower the leg down knee to knee, lift to 90 degrees, lower knee to me, lift to 90, lower knee to me, lift to 90. Now bend the knee, bring your right foot down. Then from there, cross your left leg right on top of the right leg. Roll down to your spine one vertebra at a time.

And again, roll up. Now we're on the other side, push down with that top leg, help open up that hip, and then from there, you're gonna melt down from the sternum all the way to the tail. And again, tailbone initiates, rolling up to the base of the shoulder blades. Then soften at the sternum, soften in the middle back, lower back and all the way down to the tail. Last time, you're gonna lift up.

As you pushed down on that leg, then bring left knee into the chest, lift leg up to the ceiling, lower knee to knee, lift to 90, lower knee to knee, lift to 90, lower knee to me, lift to 90. Bend the knee, bring the foot down. Then cross the right leg on top of the left again and melt down. Good. Bring the legs parallel hip width once again. Now we're going to roll up one more time, but this time you're gonna keep the hips up.

You're going to slide your right leg forward, but keep the right heel down onto the mat, gonna push down with the right heel, but up through your hips. Now don't confuse one centimeter with one foot. Lift your right heel up a centimeter and hold for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, don't panic, lower the heels. Slide the foot in, then from there, slide the left leg forward. But don't lift the leg up yet. Keep your heel down, lift up against it with your hips.

Then lift the heel up, but a downward push with your heel and upward push through your pelvis. Try to keep hips square. We're gonna hold for six more. Five, four, three, two, one, lower the heels. So that's a Kathy Grande exercise.

Then from there, soften at the sternum, melt down one vertebra at a time, all the way down to the tail. All right. Now what you're gonna do is you're going to lie down onto your side. Okay? Now you're going to have your hand, support your head. You're gonna have bent knees, feet are gonna be in line with your hips.

Hips are gonna be in line with your shoulders. Then from there, the hand that is supporting your head, you're gonna wrap it around your rib cage. The other hand will go right down in front of your shoulder. I want you to imagine there's a wall in front of you, a wall behind you. You're going to stay in between those two flat walls.

Then you're going to lift up and then lower down. Down, down. And again, lifting up tw,o try not to hit the front or the back wall and lower down down, down. One more time. Lifting up. No rotating and lower down, down, down.

Okay. Now what you're gonna do is you're gonna take the hand, support the head again. Now I want you to imagine you have a glass of champagne on your knee, there's another one under your heels. Then from there don't spill any. You're gonna lift your knees up, two three and lower.

And again, lift, so our goal is to not allow the knees to drop or the heels to drop and lower. We're gonna keep it in one line and lift, two, three, and lower, now what we're gonna do is we're gonna combine the two actions. You're gonna lift your upper back up, but you lift your legs. Two, three, lower down and again, lift and hold. Two, three, lower down, one more, lift and hold to stay there.

Stretch the legs. Flutter two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Again, two, three six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Again, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, lower down. Then from there, you're gonna bring the legs forward. You're gonna lift the top leg up hip height.

Use your core as your stability. You're gonna kick front, front, back back, two two. So our goal is to move only the swinging leg three, three, and stretch to the back four, four, stretch to the back, five, five and stretch. Five more kick, kick, and stretch. So it's the body that controls the leg, not the other way around and again, kick, kick, and stretch.

Two more kick, kick and stretch. One more kick, kick, and stretch back, back, back. Okay. Leg on top of leg, you're going to bend your knees once again. Then from there, lift both shinbones up into the air. Now top knee is gonna open, top leg is gonna close, open the knee two, and close two, open three, and close three, open four, close four open.

Open five, let's go for five more and open and close and two and close, open three and close, open four and close. One more, open five and close, lower down, and then extend the legs. Back to that 45 degree angle in front. We're gonna rotate the top leg. Slide the toe up to the knee, develop a knee to the shoulder.

Then extend the leg and lower down, toe to the knee. Knee to the shoulder, extend and lower down. One more toe to the knee. Knee to shoulder, extend lower let's reverse enveloppe, kick up, knee to shoulder, toe to knee, stretch down. Kick up two knee to shoulder, toe to knee, stretch.

One more. Kick up three, knee to shoulder, toe to knee, stretch down, let's go for the up and the down. Kick up, now resist, resist, resist down. And again, up two, resist resist resist down, up three. As you go down, go long, long, long, long, long, up, reach past that other heel. One more time up and stay up.

Turn the leg out. Small little circle, circle one, circle two circle three, circle four, circle five, reverse one and two and three and four and five, lower halfway down, rotate and reach circle one, circle two, circle three, circle four, circle five, reverse one and two and three and four and five, lower down, reach long and circle one, two shine, brush heel to heel brush, brush, reverse and brush one and two and three and four and five. Good, now lift the leg up hip height, at least I think it's good anyways. And you're gonna bring the leg back. You're gonna flex the foot.

Now make sure that the heel line is higher than the toe line so don't rotate. Keep the heel either the same or higher. We're gonna lift the leg up and lower down. Lift it up two and lower two. Doesn't have to be a big movement and lower and go to where you can lift and lower and lift and five more, and lift and lower, lift two and lower, lift three and lower, lift four and lower, lift five lower the head, but keep the leg up and hold it there.

Hold it there, hold it there. Hold it there. Hold it there. Five more hold it theres. Hold it there. Hold it there, hold it there.

Hold it there, hold it there. Lower the leg. Good. Leg on top of the leg, you're gonna flip over onto your stomach. One hand on top of the other hand, forehead and top of that, transitional leg between and reach the legs long, float them up. Open, close the legs, open, close 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five four three two one, squeeze.

Repeat, clap, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, squeeze. One more. And clap, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, squeeze. Lower the legs. Good. All right, you can flip to the other side.

I'm going actually turn and flip to face you again. Okay. One line. You're going to bend the knees feet in line with the hips. Hips aligned with the shoulders.

The hand that's supporting your head. You're gonna wrap it around the rib cage. Other hand by your shoulders. Imagine you're in between two flat walls, lift up in between those flat walls and then lower one, lower two lower three. And again. Lifting up two and lower one lower two lower three, one more time, lifting up one lower one lower to lower three.

Now support your head once again. Champagne flute on your knee. Another one on your ankle or heel, don't spill anything. No one likes to waste alcohol and lower down and again, lifting up and lower. One more, lifting up and hold it there and lower.

Let's combine the two actions now, upper body lifts as your legs lift and lower down. And again, lift up two and lower down. One more. Lift up three, stretch the legs and flutter. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 again, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Again, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, lower down.

Then from there, bring your feet forward. Sticking a little bit to mat. What you're gonna do is you're gonna lift the leg up hip height, try to engage the muscles. We just work for stability. And then kick front, front, back back two, two back back three, three, or you can think of that wall, image of a wall again, four, four, back back. There's a wall in front of you, a wall behind your torso.

So you can't hit either one of those walls. Let's go for four more kick, kick, and back, kick, kick, and twice more, kick kick and elongate, one more kick, kick and elongate, elongate, elongate. Good, leg on top of leg, bend the knees once again. And then you're going to lift the shin bones, a little bit of a clamshell. You're gonna open and you're gonna close, open two and close, open three and close, open four and close, open five and five more, and open, and close.

Open two and close, open three and close, open four, one more, open five and close, lower the shins. Extend the legs, turn out the leg. Work those muscles that we just worked then to to knee, developpe knee to shoulder, extend and reach out toe to the knee, knee to shoulder, extend, reach out one more to to the knee, knee to the shoulder, extend, reach. Let's reverse it all enveloppe, kick it up, knee to shoulder, toe to knee, brush down. Kick two, knee to shoulder, toe to knee, brush.

One more. Kick up knee to shoulder, toe to knee, brush down and then the up to mid-down, kick up and go out out, out, out out, quick up, sustain the down, light up, pressing down, two more, kick up, resist resist, resist resist. One more kick up, but this time stay up. Keep that rotation and circle one, circle two, circle three, circle four, circle five, reverse one and two and three and four and five. Reach out tinkle, halfway down.

Keep the rotation circle one, circle two, circle three, circle four, circle five, reverse and two and three and four and five, reach longer to go all the way down and now brush one, brush two, brush three, four, and five, reverse. Try to trace a golf ball, four and five. Okay. Lift the leg up. Then bring the leg back. Flex the foot. Make sure the heel line is either the same or above the toe line.

Lift it up and lower down lift it two and lower down, lift it three and lower down, lift it four, and lower, lift it five and five more lift it up and lower, up on two and lower up on three and lower, up on four and lower, up and hold it there. Rest your head and hold it there for 10 and nine, eight and seven and six and five and four and three and two and one, lower the leg. Bring the leg on top of the other. I'm gonna turn around. And we will go for the teaser. But instead of starting down today, we're actually gonna start up.

So I'm not sure who was with me a couple of weeks ago, but last time we did rowing into teaser, Kathy Grant, we're gonna do something similar today. Now you can also take that towel if you used it for the roll up and place it underneath. Roll up and teaser are very similar exercises. People get very afraid of teaser, but if I do a roll up and find my C curve, if I keep the shape and tip it, I'm actually in my teaser. Okay? So if you can do this shape, you can do teaser.

So what you're gonna do is you're going to roll down if you need that towel roll and push into the towel. Then imagine if you're pushing, you're pushing in the towel. If you don't have one push more into it, let the legs float up. And then you are in a good teaser position, bend the knees and sit up. So it's nice and curve. Try not to be too flat or too, or too much like a V.

So make it more like a U. So curl under, under, under, connect the back, the heel should be light at this moment. So just let them float up and there you have your teaser, then bend the knees and then lift back up, one more. Curling under, under, under when the heels get light, just let them float up. Then from there, keep them at where they are. Roll down.

If you can go all the way down, go all the way down. Otherwise stop halfway then from there, roll forward. And again, roll down. So imagine you're doing the roll up. So you lift your head up, shoulders, middle back, and roll up as if you're doing that, roll up, one more time.

Roll down, down, down. Then just roll up, up, up. Now, stay there. Keep your C curve without moving the upper body. Lower the legs to where you can, lift the legs up, lower the legs to where you can, lift the legs up.

One more lower the legs. Imagine you're leaning against something. Don't push into it. Don't come off of it. Then hold there without your ribs going, no Mary Lou Retton or Simone Biles with the arms, everything goes down head and feet will arrive at the same time. Now everything comes up.

You're gonna reach for the toes if you can get 'em, lift the arms to ears, everything comes down. The last one, I didn't arrive at the same time, so I will this time, and so will you, there we go. And everything comes up and you're gonna reach for the toes. Lift the arms, everything's gonna go down, down, down. And everything goes up, reach for the toes.

And then we're going to not roll down. You're just gonna bend your knees and you're gonna sit up. Good. If you have the towel, take the towel, place it underneath your lower back. If you don't, imagine there's one there, you're gonna make your parallel hip width distance with the legs again, feet in line with knees, knees aligned with hips.

You're gonna hold onto the back of your thighs. Then from there, you're going to push the lower back into that towel and then come forward. One more time. Push the lower back into the towel. This time, stay there. Bring your forearms on the mat behind you.

Walk your feet and knees together. Then from there, it's a small movement. You're gonna push your lower back into the towel and release. You're gonna draw the pubic bone to your belly button, push and release. If you don't have the towel you do the same thing with the mat, pull the pubic bone to the belly button.

You push, now stay there. Don't change the pressure of your lower back against the mat. Keep the pubic bone pulling in and up towards the belly button, slide the feet up to your toes. Then from there, you're gonna have a little lift in your upper back, but don't lose the lower back connection. Bring the knees to the right for a mini CanCan, knees left, knees right, kick both legs to the right down knees left, right.

I'm just keeping the same amount of pressure with my lower back on the mat throughout, knees right. Left right, kick, right, knees left, right, left, kick, left. Now let's go a little quicker, knees right, and left then right, kick right, left and right and left, kick left, right, left. Right, kick right, left. Right, left kick hold, legs up to the ceiling.

Push the lower back into the mat. Slight lift in the upper back. Rotate to Pilates stance. Circle the legs right around left center. This is corkscrew. Just in a different position and center. As you circle, don't lose the pressure of the lower back into the mat.

We wanna keep it in the core. We don't want it to go to the hip flexors and circle right down left and up and circle left down right and up. Bend the knees round forward and stretch for three, stretch two, stretch one, roll up. Let's reverse the position and let's do a little bit of swimming to open the hips now. Hopefully you weren't using them, but just in case, reach the arms out in front, gonna lift the upper body up, right arm up, left leg up and then start swimming and swim, two, three, four, five, and exhale, three, four, five, inhale, three, four, five, and exhale, three, four, five, in with the air and exhale three, four, five, lower down and then hands and knees again.

And we will go for the cat cow. One more time, round the back like an angry cat, and then arch the back, head up, tailbone up, and again, inhale, round the back like an angry cat and then exhale, arch, head up, tailbone up and again, inhale, round the back like an angry cat and exhale arch, head up, tailbone up. Good. Alright. You're going to kneel facing towards me. I'm working out.

So what you're gonna do is, you're gonna lift your right arm up. I'm gonna mirror you. I'm gonna lift my left arm up, and then you're gonna bend over and stretch, stretch, stretch, and lift and exchange. Up, go over and reach. Reach and notice if one side goes further than the other.

And then let's switch and go up over and reach, reach, reach, and come up and switch, go over and stretch, stretch, stretch, and come up, let's go for one more. As you bend over, try to bend above the waistline, move nothing from below the waist and come up. And as you bend over, try not to look ahead, come away from the arm, let the arm go with you. Good and come up. And now you're gonna sit down.

This time I won't mirror you. You're going to have your right heel go right in front of your pubic bone. Then you're gonna bring the arms out to the side. Then bring the left hand against the heel, right arm up to here. You're gonna go over and stretch, stretch, stretch, and come to center over and stretch, stretch, stretch, and center.

One more over and stretch, stretch, stretch. Hold there. Bend the elbow, stretch the arm. Bend and stretch, bend and stretch, lift up and then go over to the other side and pull down with that opposing hip and come up and then both arms side and switch legs. Okay? Arm up and go over and stretch, stretch, stretch, and lift, over and stretch two, three and lift, one more over and stretch, stretch, stretch, and lift, both arms side. We're gonna add onto this next week.

And reach, reach and really work a little bit more on sidedness and then come up. Good. Now you're going to turn to the front and let's end with this heel. You're gonna reach through. Grab underneath, have a nice curbed lower back, then from there, you're going to clap your feet three times.

Clap one, two, three, and back clap, two, three, and up, clap, two, three. Remember what we talked about last time, to really keep that underlying waltz tempo and up clap two, three and one, two, three, one, two, three, one, clap, clap, clap, one, clap, clap, clap, one clap, clap, clap, up and stick it. Park it, glue it. And then you can rest over. Just relax here. Take a deep breath in.

And a big, exhale, exhale, exhale. And again, breathe in. Breathing out, out out. One more time. Breathe in, breathing out, out, out.

Slowly roll up your spine one vertebrae at a time, and that's all we have time for, for today. It was wonderful working with you guys. Hope to see you guys next Monday and everyone enjoy your day. It's a beautiful summer day. (blowing kisses) Take care. Bye everybody.