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Well, hi everyone. Amy here. And we're reentering, we're transitioning back in to the studio as you can see. It's been several months since I've been in front of you this way. It's really good to be back. I'm grateful to be here with this energy around me.
Again, it feels really nice to be here. So I'm using this session, this reformer class to reenter. That's really what I wanted to do today. So refamiliarize and reenter into our relationship with our apparatus. Some of us haven't been on the equipment as much in the past three months.
So take this time for yourself. It won't be a fast, furious class. You can go deep, focus on what it feels like, and let's go ahead and get started. So I'm on footwork. I'm going three red.
You can do what you need to for your foot work. I'm going to start with that nice Pilates V position. So enjoy just settling in. I want you to feel your heels pull in firmly together and notice what that feels like in the connection into your legs, into your pelvis. Feel how nicely weighted your sacrum is, the back of the ribs, especially rib 12 and 11 here, the scapula and the back of your head.
Pilates Stance
And that support from this really firm apparatus, let's go ahead and begin moving, inhaling as we get long, filling that whole body up, exhale and come in. We'll do our 10 repetitions, breathing in and exhale. So for those of us that haven't been on our equipment as often in the last three months, I think I'd like to encourage us all to keep a self-judgment voice away and not let that in. It could sneak in pretty quickly and easily, I would imagine. We're just moving.We're getting back into the play of the springs and this machine, this riding motion here. Last two. Feel how those feet really press forward as you stand up away from that foot bar. And then we'll come in and go into that nice wrap of the arches. Inhale as we stretch, check that alignment, exhaling coming in.
Arches
I've got that feeling in my feet as if I'm actually trying to pull the foot bar up with the arch of my foot. Of course, I won't be able to pull the foot bar off of the track there, as if I'm trying to pull it off to deeply engage the bottom of the foot and that feeling pulling up, that strength all the way through the top of my body, I'm thinking this is seven maybe. And eight, I'll try to count correctly. And nine. And last one, 10.And come all the way in, let's lift the feet and then place the heels on the foot bar. I am now spacing a little bit of space between knees and ankles. Heels are somewhat pulling down the foot bar as I push away and coming in. Notice, if you're biasing one heel more than the other. If you notice that, try to correct it and push both heels evenly, making sure that breath comes fully through the ribs.
Heels
We've got five more here and four and three and two, and one more. Come all the way down. I want you to lift your feet, set your heels open on the corners of the foot bar and do what external rotation feels really good for you right now. I'm kind of craving going a little bit wider than normal. And really again, here we go for 10 extensions and two, maybe we all should check in on that length through the waistline right now.
Heels Wide Second
See if you can create more across this band of abdominal muscle all around the back of you, lot of space here. Same thing with the pressure of the heels, the openness across your chest and three, two and one. So here's the last one. I'm gonna stay out wide guys and go ahead and do balls of feet. Also there, now this is the position I'll probably limit the turnout a tiny bit so that I can get the inner thigh work just start to come in here.
Balls of Feet Wide Second
Baby toe should be up on the bar as well. So check that. Our heels aren't too high but they're not super low. You gotta choose that midway point with the heels, breathing in and out, stabilizing that midway lift of the heel, lengthen and bend, three more. I'm feeling that nice flow, energetic back and forth.Okay, so now to step closer together, take feet, centered on the bar, but again about the width of your sit bones, heels are moderately lifted. Let's go ahead and extend the carriage out. I want us to stand here for a moment and just stand. So connect your feet forward or down into the bar. Elongate up the other part of your top of your head.
Heels Lower Lift
And then let's just gently lower the heels and see if you can once again, pull yourself down. We know the springs help us, but if we also activate our shin muscle to flex the ankle more, we can pull ourselves down. And then it's the back of those calves, of course, that contract to lift us up. And we'll flow with that, inhaling down and exhaling up. Inhaling down, exhaling up, pelvis, nice and level.Check, if you need to. Check your rib cage that you're not arching up through the back of the low rib. Let's take the last five just a little faster: four, three, two and one. Rebend your knees to come in. I like to go right back out.
It's been a while. So I'm gonna go with some pattern. Take one heel down for eight pulses. One, two, three. In between each lower, I try to come up to that high heel each time, seven and eight to the other side.
Prancing Pattern
So it's down and up, down and up. And both balls of feet are pushing evenly into that foot bar. Six, seven, and eight. So then the first foot for four, down and up, down and lift, three. And for second foot; one, two, three and four.Two on each foot. How does this feel? Second foot. We'll repeat the twos. Down and press.
And down and press, 16 single alternating movements and two and three. So if you haven't been on the apparatus for a while, check in how is it feeling. Familiar? New? Fatiguing?
Prancing
(laughing) That's what I'm gonna say. My calves are feeling this one, and four, three but it feels really good. And bending both knees, come all the way in. Okay, just lift and shake for a second. So let's transition to some single leg and I'm just dropping one of the springs.
Heel - Single Leg
So I've got two red left down there. And then I think we'll go heels parallel. One leg rises up into your tabletop. Let's just do easy extension four times and then we'll change the patterning a little bit. So four, once you stay out there on four, take this leg straight up to the ceiling and then as you come to the foot bar, we'll lower this leg, Keep that working leg straight.
Heel - Single Leg Battment
We'll do four. I'm not trying to go past 90 degrees with this leg. I'm really working that leveling pelvis, that anchoring pelvis and then hold. Taking your leg that's up in the air, let's do just little bit of A-B-duction just to connect the feeling of that lateral hip line and then A-D-duction over the midline about four times. And you're just really anchoring that sacrum and seeing what kind of mobility you have in this lateral medial motion.
Heel - Single Leg Ab and Adduction
One more time. As we know, we go through those legs circles we wanna feel those connections. And then come all the way in and change heels. So we started with one leg table top, four basic presses. See if you can feel your heel pull down the foot bar slightly to contract those hamstrings.
Heel - Single Leg
Okay, here's four, staying out there. The tabletop leg, let's go through knee extension, just at 90 degrees at the hip. And then here we go, straight leg comes down and straight leg comes up, reconnecting to some details. Three. We'll stay up on the next one for that A-B/A-D-duction.
Heel - Single Leg Battment
So your pelvis remains level and then whatever you have here, A-B-duc to the leg, opposite hip stays anchored. Same with the A-D-duction. So just this nice mobility, out and in and across. See if you can pull those lower abdominals down in against your body a little bit deeper, one more round here, guys. Pulling out and leg across and then right up to 90 degrees and bend your knee to come in.
Heel - Single Leg Ab and Adduction
Okay, ball of the foot of one leg on I'd like you to start right again with the second leg straight out. It's a posse developay day. Here we go, we're coming in through a bent knee and then an extended knee. And then just reverse it coming down a bent and a straight. We'll go eight of those, total.
Ball of Foot - Single Leg Developpe Enveloppe
So we can inhale up and exhale down. Really luxuriate and fully feel that motion, the timing of both legs moving at the same time. Yeah, we got three more. Strong press into the foot bar, anchor your skeleton bones on that mat. Skeleton bones, your sacrum and your ribs and your head.Last two. Remember to include that waistline, thinking that elongation. Here's our last one. Okay, yeah. Eight on the other side. So step to the bar, make sure you're in line with your pelvis and your hip.
Here we go, bending the knee, straightening the leg to the ceiling and bend and return. Sacrum stays heavy. So you'll probably be able to go past 90 degrees at your hip as long as you keep that pelvis really anchored. And four, we're working also to make sure that outer hip doesn't hike, feeling that stretch of our hamstrings, connection of the standing leg. Okay, last two and our last one.
And then where we'll be headed next is both feet on the foot bar. We can do heels parallel, take your headrest down everybody. And we'll go for some articulation of our spine. So I want you to take your hands by your sides, your arms by your side. And today is the day for external rotation of the upper arm, all the way down to the hand.
Bridge Prep - Heels Hip Width
So you're starting to get that openness here if it wasn't already beautifully open. So let's take a breath through the nose, exhale, and we'll roll up to our, I'm gonna say halfway up our back position first. Okay, so you just feel that hammocking in of that curve and then unroll your spine all the way to neutral. One more plain one and then we'll make it our bigger bridge. Okay, so I've also had that slight sense of internally rotating my femurs just a little bit and unroll.Okay, so two full. So you're gonna go a little bit higher up your spine or feel free to stay down low if that's where you need to stay, reconnecting to this, I'm gonna see what it feels like to go up even more mobilizing that mid, upper back, really contracting those deep hip extensors here, inhale and exhale, rolling down, bringing the chest down away from the chin, thinking of reaching my sit bones toward that foot bar and down, one more, inhale, rolling that spine, mobilizing that spine, sternum reaching up toward the chest here. Okay or the chin, now as you unroll the sternum away from the chin, sit bones toward the foot bar and all the way down. Okay, guys, we're gonna roll back up again. Roll, roll, roll, get those hips up.
Bridge - Heels Hip Width
Now we're gonna move this bridge. So as we start moving the bridge, let's work on committing. Hips, stay up, hips, stay up, hips, stay up, hip, stay up. They may want to drop a little bit but keep telling yourself to keep them up and then return. Okay, four total of these.
Bridge - Heels Hip Width - Out and In
So here's our second one. And our third, try to go a little further maybe and in, hips up and four. That's all we need to do. Rolling down. Sternum away from the shin.Okay. Breathe in. We're not quite done. Roll back up to the bridge again and now, without moving the carriage, can you take one knee to table top and then step back down. Other side, tabletop and back down. Exhale. Well, reconnect into that challenge.
Bridge - Heels Hip Width - Marching
And I'm gonna go four more times. Remember there could be a self judgment starting to come in of something, so don't let it. Just feel what you're going on. Last one on this leg. Last one in this leg and then inhale.Smile a little bit. Roll down. Just check in. How did it feel? (exhales) Okay. And then let's come all the way up. I'm gonna change the spring now for hands in straps. I'm gonna do a red and blue on this one.
Arm Press Down
So medium and a light if you're on another apparatus that you need that color-coding. Head rest can come back up. Grab those straps or lift them up into your hands. Take a moment to say hello to the straps if it's been awhile (chuckles) so that the whole palm of your hand is pressing evenly each side, you don't have to wrist-twist it or anything. Okay, knees to table top.Let's just begin moving the arms down and up. Simple. Remember, we're reconnecting. Transitioning back into these movements. I'm gonna take two more exhaling (exhaling) and breathing in, lift and exhaling down and inhaling, lift.
Now five times without moving the carriage, open out to a T and then bring your arms back up. I want you to focus on even the hands are in the straps. The pressure of your palms is consistent or if it's not, try to correct it and work your best to get it consistent. And then on the next one, we'll leave those arms open and we'll bring our arms in toward our hips five times. The exhale will probably feel great to do as we pull in.
Arms Open Close
Inhale wide ribs, exhale close. It's like that inner tricep meeting the lat right there at the side of the body. One more. Now I'm gonna go right into arm circles, palms face down, raise those arms up. I'm gonnna go out without moving the carriage and then exhaling in.
Lat Pulls
Let's go for five each direction. Check the back rib cage. Rib 11 and 12 like to get a little bit lazy in lift. We don't wanna get short in that part of our spine or that part of our back. Keep it long there.
Arm Circles
Okay, we have one more circle this direction. And then five the other way, exhaling down and open and lift. And lower, what does it feel like to press your knees a little more firmly together. Last two, palms are still evenly pressed. And that pressure is consistent.And that's our five circles in each direction. Okay, place your feet down on your foot bar. And then just for a moment, take your straps down, wiggle down away from the shoulder blocks a little bit, everybody. And put your hands on the shoulder rests and pull the shoulder rests out a little bit so that you actually activate more of the, think about activating the upper back but not grabbing the scapula together. And then let's bring the knees to tabletop.
Tick Tock Table Top
I'm gonna do a very little side to side action of the leg. So inhaling knees, supine side to side, choose either side. But when you get there, pause for a few moments and ask both your body, like are both sit bones still reaching to that foot bar? Is one side hiking up a little bit? Reconnect. Chances are, it is.And then come back to center and we'll go the other side. Remember, doesn't have to be big. You rock over to one hip. Both sit bones are reaching toward the foot bar side, inhaling to one hip and exhaling back to center. The waistline remains long, inhale to one and exhale to the other.
Let's take two more. Just one more each side. For two. Okay. Your last one.
Good. And then come back and place your feet for a moment on the bar. Wiggle in, if you need to. Grab the straps again. We should do some chest lift.
Chest Lift w/ Legs Table Top
Of course, we should. So bring your hands again. Arms above your shoulders, knees right up into that tabletop. Here we go. Breathing in. So it's the arms that start but we flex that spine.Trying to get up on the tips of the scapula and then lower ourself down, exhaling to come up. Around I think I'm rolling my ears forward a little bit. And then down, let's do three more for our five. And lower and press. Can you reach your arms a little longer?
Let's take one more. We'll stay up there this time. Curl, hold. Okay, I'm not feeling 100 but I am feeling some leg move in here. I'm just moving the legs.
Single Leg Stretch
I think single leg stretch from all of the mat work we've been doing and the arms are reaching toward the foot bar. Keep going, flex the feet this time. Let's take eight, seven, six, palms are even in the straps. Three, two and one, bring both knees in and lower all the way down. Okay. Wonderful, guys.
Roll Down
Just take the straps again back down. I want you to roll over onto your side to come on up and then let's take ourselves to face the back of the foot bar, headrest down. I'll let you choose. You can do a red spring or blue spring or medium or light. I'm not gonna tell you what I chose. (chuckles) you get to decide for some rollback here.So I want to hold the straps up on the tape. I've got my legs right through the headrest space and then just lift up into that beautiful sitting tall posture without a lot of tension anywhere. Let's just take a deep breath and expand the ribs and exhale and just roll that body back onto your sacrum. Some of your say the top of the sacrum closer to the lumbar. So you've got a little bit of ways to go there and you're just looking forward right down the runway at the ropes, breathing in.
And now as you deeply contract your tummy, let the ropes pull you forward a little bit. As you're going forward, keep the stomach pulling back away from the legs so that we get more of the lower lumbar, if we can. Mid-lumbar, upper-lumbar, inflection and then we'll restack. Let's do one more nice and slow. Again, reconnecting.
No need to hurry, rolling back. And checking that you're as even on your left half and your right half as possible. If not, try to make the adjustments which takes a second. Breathing in. That's why Pilates can be so corrective.
You get that time to really feel your way through. So I'm letting the ropes pull me, but I'm trying to hold back with my lower back and my lumbar. And I wanna make that lumbar lifted a little bit not such a small letter C, but a lifted letter C. And then restack. Two more, we can take these with a little more flow.
Inhaling and letting the ropes do some of the work, that spring below the reformer doing some work. And I'm resisting that spring. And I've gotta resist by lifting my back into a flexion shape and one more. Exhale. (exhales) Breathing in and breathing out. Hold back with the abdominals, hold back with the lumbar, lift and flex that spine, lift and flex.
And then let's restack all the way to sitting tall. Okay, crossing your legs. A pretty good series here. I want you to take your hands and your straps. And once again, let's make some fists in there.
Goal Post Open Close
I've got my legs cross. I will say I've got about four fingers or a palm width behind here, just so you can get your space and you're not right on the edge. And then you're upping some bicep curl shapes of your arms. It was 45 degrees. And then let's see what happens as you start to open your arms a little bit out to the side.Now you don't have to go that far to feel this exercise, depending on your spring. I'm only going five reps. Gonna exhale and open the elbows. I'm doing what I can not to thrust my ribs forward or elevate my shoulders. Try to press your knees down a bit and last one.
And then take your arms down. Palms face back five, straight arm presses with your palms this way. And then we'll do five with the palms facing the other way which is somewhat different. Lift up through that chest. And five.
Chest Expansion
It's really fun to see all the people in the water out here playing. Okay. Turn your arms the other way. So fist again, straps are up and out, away from the body. Let's see where our shoulders are today, the back of those shoulders. Really put some attention on the upper back and the back of the shoulders, minimize pushing your ribs in front of your pelvis though.
Posterior Deltoid Pull
Okay, two more. And last one. Okay. Last one I wanna do is go back to straight legs. Now I would like us to scoot all the way back so that we're right against the edge, palms again in the straps this time flex, hands back, go back into that flexion shape. Drift your arms forward and take a moment to press your legs together and try to, rise up in this back here in that flexion though.
Lat Pull in Flexion
So we're not sitting down in the flexion. We're trying to elevate and lift that lower back curve and then five presses of the arms. It should be a pretty nice abdominal and lat connection for you. There, last three. Two and one.So we've got two more reps. And press. Okay, I'd like to come up on the knees, facing the back of the reformer. So find a way up that works for you. Chariot, I love this exercise.
Chariot Pull
Lots of things get worked in one exercise. So take your hands on the grip again, knees right up against the shoulder rests. Arms are in front of us and reconnect to your upper back positioning and connection. Shoulders, collarbone, breathing in. So we're pulling the arms now back.Keep the fist behind the body. Sit downs so you have to flex at your hips. You're trying to get your sit bones just to the heels. Come right back up. This is really about the butt and the hamstrings, pushing that pelvis forward or pressing it, return the arms.
Five times, pull and almost touch the heels, lift right back up, press your pelvis toward the ropes and then return. Three, monitor the height of those shoulders. They may wanna start sneaking up. Our job is to keep them down. We've got two more, doing the best we can to keep those arms behind us as we sit.
Lifting tall, return. Last one, press. And sit and lift. And forward. And just take a pause for a moment everybody.
Alright, so let's keep moving. I want to now have us turn around to the front. So if you were on a red spring for all of that, like I was, change it down to a blue now. And if you were on blue that whole time, great also. I just know for myself, facing this way for what's coming, I need a little lighter spring.
Serve a Tray w/ Flexion
You can certainly stay on the red. Okay. So here we go. I would like us to start, we're back up on our knees. Feel your heels push back into the shoulder rest or get that nice hamstring connection. Pelvis is pressing forward.I have a little sense of adducting through my upper leg too. And then what I'd like to do is start with the arms in front of us about shoulder height. Feel the palms. You've even connection in the palms and the hands. From here, contract those abdominals and resist the spring.
I don't want it just to pop you down. I want you to work on trying to get your back round, especially the lower back. Now, as we come back up, I'm thinking heels, push back first, hamstrings, glutes contracting. My lats are working, Coming up, if you can raise your arms higher, it does feel pretty nice. And then come back down.
It's a contraction. Again, it's not a compressed flexion of your spine. You're trying to resist that spring and round your lumbar. And again, heels press, hamstrings contract. I'm tracking where I'm going with my eyes.
I'm looking forward and a little up to where the wall and the ceiling meet. And then coming down. Okay. We can do three more, little bit more pace. And down, last two. And find some breath that supports you. (inhale) Inhale, exhale, contract to come down.
Last time, guys. We're staying up, this next one. Gonna stay up. We're gonna stay up and flip our hands. We'll do our salute, five repetitions, one.
Salute
I want you to keep your heels pressing back into the shoulder pads, your pelvis pressing forward and your waistline up. Last two. And last one. From there, five in the hug a tree. So opening those arms, try not to move the carriage.
Hug A Tree
See what that connection. What do you need to do? Try not to move that carriage. Broaden your scapula. Let's breathe in first and exhale.Here we go. Inhaling, open. Exhale, close. And open like you're gathering the air in front of you, last two, (exhales) reconnecting to the strength in your upper body. Yes. From here, just settle on down.
Wonderful. Let's set these down. Come off our knees and let's get into the hips though a little bit more. So I'd like to do two red springs for myself, for feet and straps. You can take your foot bar down or two middle springs, two medium springs and let's keep the head rest down. That's fine. Oops.
Frog w/ Pelvic Curl
Okay, feed in straps. You know how I like to do this. Just remember, I like to pull the straps forward. Hold strong with your hands. This is a little awkward.Stick your feet at the same time, rather than push one foot on the foot bar. Yes. Hello, frog. Just settle into frog for a moment. (exhales) Feels good. Inhale, legs, extend.
Exhale and flex. Let's see if we could pull the heels closer to the groin, even if you unweight your sacrum a little bit, that's okay. Inhale. Extend. We need that little sacral lift anyway, just momentarily for short spine. So try it there.
I'm doing that little sacral lift and unweighting because I've got a good, strong abdominal connection pulling that up. Ready? Heels in, sacrum up. Last time and then we'll take legs circles. And lift, start your leg circles with your legs right out in front of you in parallel. Okay, I need just to come up to 90 degrees for just a moment.
Leg Circles
Unlocking our knees, sacrum is heavy, ribs are under control. And then here we go, leg circles down, externally, rotate at the bottom. Go where you need to, where you want to with your circles. Let it feel good. Reconnect to this. Same feeling though as I cue in the hands, I'll do with the feet.So you wanna have the pressure even right in the arches of the feet or the strap connection, what that feels like. If you feel like one is more firm, correct it the best you can. Here we go. Often my cues out loud or my self cues. So most times that helps you too.
Okay, guys, that was five. We've got five the other way. But before we do, take your legs apart without moving the carriage and bring your legs back together without moving the carriage. Four more, apart. Together.
Legs Open Close Side
Sit bones and pelvis reaching to that foot bar. The pressure is even in the arches of the feet. It keeps you very present. Let's say this fifth one is also the first leg circle. Let's go, down, together, up.And open and down together and up. Three more. And we are definitely on our way to short spine. Okay, last one. And we're gonna start right from here, legs.
Leg Circles
Today, I am going to come right through that deep hip fold, deep hip fold, getting the carriage to come to that stopper. And then that set deep, lower abdominal connection. Rolling up, the strap should stay even in the arches of those feet, bending into the frog. So again, heels coming toward the groin. Inhale, I wanna leave my feet up there and start to roll down, breastbone away from chin.
Short Spine Massage
Let's see if we can get down to the base of the ribs. You really have to elongate, get to the base of the ribs before you say, okay, hamstrings help me bend my knees. Heels to the groin and start all over again. Deep hip fold, surrender into that stretch and roll up. The pressure stays even in the feet.Inhale into a frog. Here are the heels to the groin. Pull more, actually pull those heels to the groin. Leave your feet there, rolling down to the base of the ribs. And then carry on.
We'll do three more now with a little more flow. Don't leave out those details though. All those details. We've had so much time to ourselves in the last three months. Let's not forget that luxury, especially when we're in motion with our body.
We don't have to go fast. Sometimes it's better to go slow. Okay. (inhales then exhales) Two more. And the rolling down, I realized I was really luxuriating in those thoughts and taking my time. Let's take one more time, all the way through and peeling up.
Lift, lift, lift. Okay, frog, inhale and exhale. Come all the way down everybody. Once you're down in your frog, let's just take our legs, gonna push forward into the straps. I'm gonna use my hands on these ropes.
Straddle Stretch
I wanna lift the ropes a little bit and then just let the legs open. So the use of my hands pushing the ropes up, for me kind of helps regulate the hyperextension of my knees. But I do wanna let this stretch go wider and rock a little bit from side to side. I just don't wanna lock out those knees with this big wide stretch. So we have a little bit more to do in this reconnection session today.Take your straps off your feet the same time. We'll hook those up. Let's come on up and we'll get a box up on the reformer. Again, you get to choose your springs, either a light or a medium. Not gonna tell you what I chose.
Pulling Straps
I know some of you probably already know. Doesn't matter. On the box. Here we go. So where do we go? I want us to put our nipple line right at the edge of the box here.Grab a hold on the wrap. Let your heads come down. Nipple line or also the armpit right on the corner of the box. Take a moment. Reconnect, lift your stomach up off of the box as much as you can.
Connect the shoulders and let start that pulling straps. Now I don't want us to come so high that we lift off the base of the ribs. So I'm just gonna come right to there for myself on this first one and lower down. See if we can really continue to rise up in the navel (chuckles) and lift. And again, stomach in, scapula down, chest is reaching for the back of the reformer.
You don't have to lift your legs too high. Just one more for our fifth one. I'm gonna stay there and do five little tricep bends. One, and extend. Can you pull your navel up off the box a little bit?
Tricep Pull
Take care of your neck. You may wanna tuck your chin down and look toward the head rest slightly. Here's four and five and release the straps down, release your body down. Hook the ropes back up. But now this time everybody take your arms out to the T position.
T Pull No Straps
I want your chest down low. So we're not up in our extension here. Have your chest down. Arms are gonna come down into that T position. Make a soft fist with your hand and then roll your arms and your thumbs to face up to the ceiling and then try to move your arms back toward your back and return.So ideally, the head is in line with the spine, trying to get that nice sense of external rotation again up in the upper back and shoulders. Last two, you can lower your legs but try to lift that navel up and one more time, oh boy, and then all the way down. That's all I wanted to do on the box. Lucky us. We're bringing that box away.
Knee Stretch Round Back
Let's do knee stretch round and flat and then probably an up stretch. And then a side split, just so you know what's going on. So I would like to go back to the medium setting of the bar. I like my knee stretches on two springs, two pretty heavy springs. So I've got two red.We've done a lot to get that lumbar flexion. So let's feel that. We are in some thoracic flexion, but not only there. So here we go. Grip that bar, feel how it feels to hold that bar.
Support that and inhale and exhale. The hand position should feel solid, safe. Heels, against the pads. Lift that stomach, keep your lumbar back if you can. Here is seven, eight, nine and 10.
And then into flat back. So sit back a little bit. Scapula on our back. Here we go. And we press.
Knee Stretch Flat Back
I want you to feel your heels push. Try not do too much protraction of the scapula if at all. Five, four, three, two, that nice clean hip disassociation and go back to round. Okay, let's come up on our mid tippy-toe. Hands are solid on the bar.
Up Stretch Prep
Again, I want us to feel like we're reaching those hips, back and up. And the pit of the stomach is really lifted also. Hands are even. Back is in elongation. Head is slightly above the arm line, maybe right between the arm line.Okay, five hip extension, just unfolding that pike position. Again, the contact of each hand is the same. Here's four, and then we'll stay out on number five. From here, lower the hips, lift the chest. You're rising up into a plank line and then refold at the hips to bring the springs all the way closed.
Modified Up Stretch
Four more there. So you start by opening that hip line. Hamstrings like crazy, lats are joining in, the glutes, the adductors, of course, the obliques, the whole body. Three more times, press, reconnect. So I've gotta lift of my upper back as I let my pelvis lower a tiny bit.(exhales) Two more. Lift that chest, roll the collarbone back. And in. Okay guys, one more. That's it. Hold, oh boy and come on down.
Okay, oh boy. I'm gonna take my springs down by one. So just one red spring. Foot bar down. Let's do some lateral hip.
Standing Side Splits
I'm gonna move this, this way. Stepping up on the solid side first and then take your carriage foot, I don't know, about halfway out. Find a place out there that, for a moment, as you're standing, there's a little effort in your adductors just to be here. That's probably it. And then we can go open.Oh, yeah. And closed. We can also add the arm lift and press, just five times. Your ankles are doing a little bit of glide, medial lateral, not a lot. Okay. Last one.
Please do, we're right here. Pitch forward at your hips. Place your hands down on that railing of the reformer and pause for just a second. Can you bend your elbows to come a little bit lower which will stretch those hamstrings and see if you can do that with more of an extended upper back rather than flexed. And straighten.
Hamstring Stretch
I'm just like a little mini pushup down there. Just one more. Stay down low. Bring the carriage in. Here's what's fun, keep the carriage in as you roll up all the way up. And then as we step backward, it's the carriage foot, you know that; we'll walk around the front.
Standing Side Splits
And do the other side. Reconnecting. Hope you're feeling good about your reconnection. I am. There's some interesting things I'm feeling.Yes, four more, arms moving up and arms pressing down. Nice solid feet. Making sure to open those sit bones. No grip there. And then our last one.
Okay. Now it's up to you. You can go ahead and tip forward and do that. I'm gonna do that with you and you're walking your hands on the frame and you're just holding that carriage open and bending those elbows to come a little lower and straighten. So a few goals, try to keep the carriage still and keep that upper back in extension. We did three of those.
Hamstring Stretch
So here's our third, we'll stay low. We drop that head. Bring the carriage in, roll up through flexion, lot of abduction right there. Come all the way up the foot, that's on the padded part of the carriage. You know that, step that one back.
Lunges
Okay, we should hip flexor stretch. So last thing today. Foot bar up. Eve's lunge. Knee is down gently, spine is in extension here.Let the arch of your back be the arch of your back. I don't want you to over-correct it by tucking or overarching. Just let it be. Just move. Just feel what this is.
The goal here is to get that hip open. If you wanna let go, you don't have to hold the foot bar, just three to four times. It should feel pretty nice. I'm gonna say four. This is four, and we're gonna hold it there and then maybe just do a soft circle of your arms and then we'll bring the carriage in and go to the other side.
Lunge w/ Arm Circle
Okay. Second leg. Your Eve's lunge. So I'm on that one red spring, that beautiful connection of the foot against the pad. You really don't need to hold on. And then just pressing this springs open and closed.
Lunges
And open and close, three, four. As Ron Fletcher said, I guess was known to say, "We work with our apparatus, not at it." So I really feel like I worked with my apparatus today. Reconnected. It helped me reconnect. It felt really nice to be back in the room with you all too. And till our next time together, thank you all so very much.
Lunge w/ Arm Circle
Bye bye.Pilates with Amy Havens: Intermediate Reformer Workouts
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