Mind-Body Coordination

Hi, I'm Brett Howard, and this is class four of Building Upwards with Brett on the reformer. So we're gonna add on a little bit to what we did last time. We have Tetsu Yoshida with us once again. We're gonna start on four springs or three springs. And if you have it handy, you also might want a ball.

Not necessary, but if you have it, this is a good time to bring it out. Okay, so Tetsu, you're gonna start lying down and we're gonna once again start with our footwork. So heels together, toes apart, all 10 toes on the bar, tailbone heavy on the mat, zipper up, extending out, and in, and two, and in, out, three, and in, out, four, and in, out, five, more, out, and in and two, and three, out four. And one more, good. Let's go on to the arches of the feet, toes over, heels under, bird on a perch, same thing, zipper up, out, and two, out on three, and four, and five, and six, and seven, and eight, and nine, and 10, good.

Let's go on to the heels, flexing the feet, let's bring the little toe side of the foot back just as much as the big toe out and in. And two and in, three and in, and four and in and five. Let's go for five more, and two, and three, and four, and five, good. Okay, back onto the toes for the tendon stretch, all 10 toes, on, go out and hold that position, now lower for three counts and lift for three, two, one. Lower, lower, lower, lift, lift, lift.

Draw the inner thighs together two, three. Nice and heavy on the pelvis two three, and lower two three. Lifts, let's go for five more, lower and lift two three and two. And lift, lift, lift and three counts lower, three counts, lift two more, two, three, lift, two, three, and one more. And lift, two, three, bend the knees and coming in, great.

So both knees into the chest. I'll lower this for you for today. You can reach back, grab a hold of the handles, and then roll the head, neck and shoulders up, extend the arms and legs forward, Pilates stance, pumping. In with the air, and exhale three, four, five, inhale, and exhale three, four, five, in with the air, and exhale three, four, five, inhale, and exhale, three, four, five, in with the air, and exhale three, four, five more, inhale, and exhale three, four, five, two, and exhale three, four, five, three, and exhale three, four, five, two more, and exhale three, four, five, one more set, and exhale three, four, five. Bend the knees, bend the elbows, rest.

I'm gonna take us to choose springs, and then from there, let's have you lift your head, lower down and we're gonna thread that through for the short spine massage. Let's take the straps, place them on to the feet, great. Now we're gonna do two different variations today, zipper up, extend the legs out. Now fold at the hip joints, and then when you can't go anymore, curl the tailbone and roll the spine up one vertebrae at a time. Then from there when the carriage is closed, you're gonna bend the knees, pull the heels into the bottom.

Now, tight little ball, you're gonna roll down through your spine one vertebrae at a time. So we've done this previously. And again, zipper up, extend out, fold at the hip joints and peel off of that carriage. Then bend the knees, pull the heels into the bottom like a tight little ball, roll like a ball one vertebra at a time all the way down. One more, extend out, forward at the hip joints, and then peel going up and over.

Now bend the knees, then pull the heels into the bottom, roll down one vertebrae at a time all the way down. Okay, second variation, extend the legs out, now fold at the hip joints. Then when you can't go anymore, peel rolling up. Now, bend the knees, come to that tight ball again, this time, in one piece, roll down into the heels or over the shoulder blocks, then keep the heels there, roll the hips away from the heels opening the back, get as much of the back on the mat as you can. When you can't go further, pull the heels in, hold for one, two.

Let's repeat that, legs out and forward at the hip joints and peel rolling up one vertebrae at a time. Bend the knees and one piece roll until the heels are over the blocks, then roll the hips away from the heels, press that back onto the mat, and then pull the heels into the bottom, hold for one two. Last time, extend the legs out and fold at the hip joints, peeling up controlling the over, very nice. Then bend the knees, one tight little ball, roll in one piece, then roll the hips away from the heels, open up the back, hold the position, I'm gonna give you a little stretch. How's that?

Good. All right, pull the heels into the bottom, hold for one two. I'm gonna have you take those handles, you're gonna take those off the feet. Coordination, hold there. Push into the strap just a little bit, curve the upper body a little higher, simultaneously stretch arms and legs front, open, close the legs, pull the knees in, bend the elbows.

Once again, front, open, close, pull the knees in, bend the elbows, rest the head. Now we're gonna do the same thing, this time you're gonna stretch front, not yet though, you'll just open close one leg three times, then we'll open close the other leg three times, then we'll repeat that on the other side. So roll the head, neck and shoulders up, simultaneously stretch front, hold there. Left leg stays still, right leg open closes once. Let's repeat that, open close two, open close three, and then bend the knees and bend the elbows.

And stretching front. Now we go to the left side, left leg open closes. So the goal was to not move this extended leg. And then bend the knees, bend the elbows once again stretching front. So left leg stays still, right like open closes.

Open close, sometimes I play operation here, open close, bend the knees, bend the elbows, last time stretching front and open close, don't touch, open, close, very good, open close, bend the knees, bend the elbows, and rest. We're gonna add on to that next week. Okay, let's put the handles on to the eye hooks there, you're gonna roll sitting up. Let's take it to one spring. I'm gonna lift this up, and then we're gonna place the long box on.

Now, for this next exercise, you might want to put a pad down to prevent yourself from sliding, okay? Especially if you have pants or shorts that are fairly slippery. So lie down onto your stomach. Hands are gonna go on to the bar there. Now, this I'm doing in place of swan on the barrel.

Now let's first just warm up by stretching the arms straight and bend the elbows and come back in. And stretching straight two, bend and come in, stretching straight three, hold that position. Now from here, one piece, you're gonna lift the upper body up pivoting on the thigh here. Then press to the heels of the hands, press all the way out, and now let's just bend the elbows and come back in. Once again, stretching out.

Now lifting up, pulling up through the pubic bone, integrating the pelvis in the ribs, and then press out and bend the elbows. One more time, stretch out and rise up, pubic bone up, sternum down and then press the heels of the hands to go out and bend the elbows coming in, good. Standing up onto the floor. Let's lower this, and then I'm gonna have you lie onto your stomach. And we will go for the pulling straps.

We're still gonna be on one spring, shoulders flush with the front edge. Nice long straight legs, and then pull back, as you pull back, lift the upper back and hold for three, hold it two, hold it one, lower the body down. And again, pull back lift and hold two, three, lower the body. One more time, pull back lift and hold that position, keep the upper arm still, bend the elbows, stretch the arms one for some triceps bend, stretch two bend, stretch three hold, and then lower the body all the way down, and slide the arms to the very back end of the leather. Arms up to the side to make a T, T-shape.

Pullback, lift the upper back and hold two three and lower. Pullback drawing the shoulder blades together, cracking a walnut, and then lower the body. Last time, pullback lift the upper body and hold two, three, lower the body all the way down. Take the straps in one hand standing up. For today, I'm gonna give you two pads for your upper back.

I'm gonna place the pads right at the back edge there and we're gonna go for the backstroke so step on one. I'm gonna add also a spring so we're on two springs. Step one hand, one foot, other hand, other foot, tailbone at the very front, knees in. So, the upper back is resting on the two pads. Simultaneously arms and legs straight up to the ceiling.

Simultaneously circle around and reach three, curve two, curve one, bend knees and elbows in. And again, arms and legs up, open circle, reach, two, three, and pulling in. And again up, open circle, and reach two three pulling in. Let's go for two more, stretch up, open circle reach. So the pads help to stay a little more lifted, and come back in one last time, extend the legs up, open circle, reach for three two one.

Bend knees and elbows in, stay there. I'm gonna remove these pads, then from there, I'm going to have you keep the knees into the chest. Let's go to one spring and I'm gonna lift this foot bar up. Extend one leg out onto the bar, then the other leg out onto the bar, then let your head just rest down, we're gonna go for a little bit of a teaser prep. So one of my clients calls this the crucifix.

Now what you're gonna do is you're gonna lift just the head up hold. Then from there, keep the legs resting, reach the arms forward, there we go. Now, hold there, curve over the fingers a little more, reach the feet so far forward that they float up two to three inches. Now, hold this position for three, hold it two, hold it one, lower all the way down so it's a very small hollow shape. Let's try that again, let's go right into the position this time, find that position and hold it there.

Now, just the legs are gonna open and close one, open close two, open close three, open close four, open close five, lower all the way down, rest the head two three. One more time, roll into that hollow small position there. Now, just the arms gonna lift two three, lower two three, lift two three, lower two three more, lift two three, upper body little higher, lift two three, lower two more and lift two three, lower last time and lift two three, lower all the way down till it's a strength builder. Okay, you can drop those straps into the well. And standing up.

Let's go to two springs and let's lower this foot bar and turn the box around. And then today let's start with the bar. All right, open wide. Now we're gonna go for short box round, arms around the waist curving back, round forward, nose towards the knees. And again, curving back two, curling forward two, curving back three, curving forward three, two more, and up, one more time, rounding back, rolling up, good.

Take the bar and then reach the arms straight up to the ceiling. Today instead of the cameo, we're gonna open the hands. Now, hold there, wrap through the ribs, squeeze your bottom, AB duct, lift and hinge backwards, then lift to center. And again, lift in hinge two, lift center. As you guys hinge, look straight forward, don't look up, don't look down, and up center.

Two more, lift in hinge and up to center, one more time, lift in hinge backwards and up to center. The side to side lift bend over and lengthen to that right lift to center. Now, we lift and reach over to the left and center. Lift and over equate on right and left sides of the pelvis. Lift try not to push outward with the ribs.

Once again, go over, we've reached away from the left side and as we go to the left, we reach away from the right side. Now, let's keep the arms here, lift your spine, twist to the right. Now, in one line, reach out and come up to center. Lift twist and reach out. Very good, up center.

Lift twist, as you reach, open outward through that left leg and up center. Lift twist, reach out, and up to center. Last time, lift twist, reach long stretching both sides equally. Last time, lift and twist and reach out out out. Up center round over and relax there.

Okay, I know it's getting lots of desserts. Now, let's go for the tree, you're gonna hold onto the back of that thigh right over the sits bones, extend the leg and bend, extend and bend, extend and hold it. Rotate the leg, walk up towards the ankle, fold the forehead towards the shin, relax the shoulders. One piece curved back. When the leg hits 90, hand by hand walking down.

Now, hand by hand walking up, lift your spine to a tall straight back, fold the forehead towards the shin bone, curving back in one piece when the leg gets 90, hand by hand, walking down. Hand by hand, walking up, lifting tall, lets have you shift just a little bit more forward. Let's do a third one today, bring forehead to shinbone and one piece curve back when the leg gets 90, hand by hand, walking down, and then hand by hand walking up, lift the spine, come forward just a little bit more, then from there, flex the foot and point the foot, flex two, point two, flex three, point three. Rotate the leg parallel, bend the knee, and then let's switch legs. Okay, take the left leg out, extend the leg up and down.

Two down, three hold, rotate, walking up. Fold the head forward, curve back in one piece when the leg gets 90. Hand by hand walk down, lets bring it a little forward. And then walking up and lift that spine nice and vertical. Fold the forehead to shin, relaxed in the shoulders, curve back, when the leg hits 90, hand by hand, walk down, hand by hand walk forward as that leg goes forward and head over shoulders over hips.

Last time, rolling backwards, when the leg gets 90, walk down making sure that bottom foot is actively flexed and walking forward lifting up to a tall back that shifts just a little bit more forward in flex and point two, and flex and point rotate like parallel, bend the knee, and then standing up. Okay, let's take this box and bar back. Then from there, I'm going to lift the headrest up. And thank you for lifting that foot bar up for me. And today, we're gonna take the ball, we're gonna put the ball and place it in between the shoulder blocks.

So hold this position. So the heels are touching the ball, the tension against the ball is gonna stay the same, you don't wanna push more into the ball or less into the ball. Now, shoulder blades down the back to go out. So here we make sure it's not heel initiation, very good, and come back in. Shoulder blades down, heels of the hands forward.

That's what brings us out. Now, pressing, making sure that the pressure against the ball is constant. And let's go for two more, pressing out and going in, so it's tactile feedback, letting you know where your heels are in space. And going in, good. I'll remove this ball, knees down, feet against the blocks, hips forward, lift through the heart, shoulder blades down the back up to the crown of the head, the down stretch, inhale, exhale, lift, lift, lift to come in, inhale so it's a coordination of breath and movement.

Lift, lift, lift. One more time, inhale, and exhale, lift, lift, lift, hold there, we're gonna repeat the roller coaster that we did last time, I'm gonna round the back, relax in the shoulders. Now press and then lift to come in, round the back, push through the heels as you go into that down stretch position, lift to come in. Let's go for two more of these, curb and back, lift through the crown of the head, and then back, and lift, lift, lift, lift, lift. Good, now standing up, and we're gonna go for the elephant.

Now, curve into that low back, and then press out and go under, under, under, out two, under, under, under, out three, under, under, under, out four under, under under, one more and under, under, under, good. And then stepping to the floor. Great, now I'm gonna bring us to four springs, but if you started on three, you're gonna work on three, and then we're gonna go for the stomach massage series. So sitting down, toes are gonna go on to the bar, hold the front of the carriage. Tight ball, use the arms to really round yourself forward.

Now push back to the low back, lower the heels, lift the heels in, back to the core lower, lifting in, three lower lift, four lower lift, five lower lift, five more. And four lower lift and in, three lower lift, two lower lift, one lower lift and hold in. Reach through the legs, take one spring off so we're on three springs, hands back, collarbone forward, crack a walnut and same thing, hands back. And two, lower lift. Lengthen through the crown of the head, four and five.

Let's go five more. Two, lower lift, and three, lower lift, two more, out, lower lift, one more, out, lower lift and come in. Reach through, take another spring off. Then reach up, lengthening through the spine, go out, and go in and lengthen, lengthen, lengthen. Out two, and lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, and out, and lengthen. lengthen, lengthen.

One more, and lengthen, lengthen, hold it there. Lower the arm, shoulder height, lift to the spine, the twist, exhale, twist and hold. Inhale, come back in. Exhale, twist, find that opposition. And inhale in, exhale, twist.

And inhale in, exhale, twist. And inhale in. One more set, exhale twist to the right, inhale, come in, exhale, twist and hold, inhale, come back in. And grab a hold of my wrist, I'm gonna give you a little stretch here, there we go. And then standing up onto the floor.

And then let's lower this. So last week, we did a little prep for the semi circle, today, we're going to go for the full version. Now, hold here. When I'm first getting people into this exercise, what I like to do is have them sit really close to the front edge. Now, bring your hands onto the front.

No, just sit into the springs there momentarily, then lie back. Then from there, bring your hands against the shoulder blocks, then from there, lift your hips up, stretch the arms and it's just an easier way to get into it. Now, let's come all the way in. There we go. Now, same concept as what we did last time, you're gonna drop and roll down one vertebrae at a time, hips nice and heavy.

Then from there, keep the hips dropped as you slowly go out. Now, we keep the carriage still as you lift the hips up. Now, you let your knee and ankle joints release to come in. So try not to lift the heels here. Kill the fish, gut the fish all the way down.

Then dust the springs to go out, carriage still to lift up, then from there, control it in all the way in, good. And again, break, rolling down. Now, I have Tetsu holding the very bottom of the shoulder blocks, and go up, but if it's too much on your shoulders, you can always hold a higher up on the blocks. Now, knee and ankle joints relax. As you come in, let's reverse it.

Go out one, carriage still as you melt from the sternum all the way down to the tailbone. Then just the springs as you come in. Then hips up, knees forward. Lets repeat it, go out, then melt sternum all the way down to the tailbone. Then dust the springs as you go in, hips up, knees go forward.

One more time, go out and hold, kill the fish, gut the fish all the way down the middle right to the tailbone. Then slowly drag it in, the knees forward, hold them and give you a little stretch. You're going to just release there, hips relaxed, hips high, and then scoot your body backwards. Great. So I'm gonna have you bend the knees into the chest rest there and we are gonna go for some leg circles.

I'm just gonna get us all set up. Now, you can always set this up prior to doing the semi circle as well if you're at home or you can do it afterwards. Okay, so let's bring that left foot in, right foot in. And then zipper up, extend out. Leg circles open lower, together lift.

Two down together and up, three, down together up, two more. And one more up and let's reverse it, down open up together, equal weight on pelvis and ribcage throughout the duration of the exercise, two more. So nothing moves but the legs circling in space, legs together. Then bend the knees, come back in. I'll take these from you and then let's go for the knee stretches.

So I'm gonna lift this foot bar up and today we're just gonna do the knees off. So you're going to step on one hand one knee, other hand, other knee. Relax in the shoulders. Then from there, sit a little closer towards the heels, lift both knees up in the air two inches. Then go out and in.

Two, three, four, in, five, six, in seven, in eight, in nine in 10 more, 10, nine in, eight in, seven in, six in, five in, four in, three in, two in, one all the way in, and gently bend the knees down. And we're done with the knees stretches for today. Now, let's go to three or four springs, and then I'm gonna have you lie down, lie onto the side and onto the back, feet together, knees together, and then stretch out and run one, two, two, three, three, four up, four up, five up, five more up, and up, and two, and two, and three, three, and four, four, and five, and five, bend the knees, come in. Now, let's bring the feet into the corners. Now, just for a little variation, I'm gonna have you lift the hips up and take the ball, place it underneath your hips.

So previously, we've been very curved, today, we're gonna do something slightly different, we're gonna let the hips release, instead of curling the tailbone up, we're gonna release in the hip joints so then it's a fairly flat position in the front of the pelvis. Then from there, out through the sits bones, and drag the carriage all the way in for that pelvic lift and stretch two, and bending back in, stretch three. And the ball, you can use it as a tool to make sure you have equal weight and you're not rotating to the right or the left. And out and come back in. Let's go for five more stretch, and bending and stretch two, make sure the flexion is happening at the ankle joint, not from the toes.

Let's go for two more stretch. And bending in, last time, stretch, and bending in, in in. You can remove the ball, lower the hips down, and then bend the knees into the chest. Good, roll to one side sitting up, standing up. And then what I'm gonna do is I'm going to take us to two springs, I'm gonna lower this foot bar.

Now we're gonna get a pad just so we don't slip and we're going to take this box and place it on. I don't need to worry about the headrest 'cause I'm gonna put the box in front of the shoulder blocks there. So it's gonna be a very, very narrow stance here. Now, I'm gonna have you step on to the back here so I'm gonna put the pad closest to where he's gonna step on to. Now, you're gonna step, actually, let's step the right foot on first onto the carriage than the left, right foot onto the pad, left foot goes over.

So we're in a very, very narrow stance here. Now, bring the arms out to the sides in your peripheral vision, energy out through the fingertips, energy up to the crown of the head, dropped to the tailbone. Then from there, press down on two table tops. And you're just going to go out on one count. Come in on one count.

Out in one count, in on one count, out one count, we're gonna do 10 of these today, in on one, and out, and in, out five, and five more. We're working on keeping the pelvis nice and square, and out and in. So no rotation, no hip hiking, two more, out and in, one more time, out and in good. I'm gonna have you bring the foot just a little bit in, not too much, and then you're gonna step that foot done. Now, we're going to turn towards the springs and then you're gonna bring your left foot on to the pad, right foot goes over.

So, hold there, energy out, zipper up through the abdominals, and then going out and in. One count out, one count in, out three and in, up through the crown of the head and out. Let's go for five more and out and in, out two, wrapping the ribs, and out, wrapping to the seat, and out, and in, last time, and in. Now, bring the left foot a little in, right foot down, then step backwards onto the floor. Good, all right, I'm gonna keep us on two springs.

I'm going to take the box back. Then from there, we're going to lift this foot bar up and we are gonna go for the front split. So stepping on, let me stabilize that, right foot on, left heel it's gonna go back so we're in a slight rotation here. Strong in the back leg, the right foot is next to the right hand. We imagine we're on a level surface here so drop your heel a little bit, there we go.

So nice and square, you're going to press out once and come in one time, pressing out two. So the idea here is to move from the front leg. So back from the sits bone, forward through the knee, and then the foot stays on that flat surface. Now, hold there, rotate this leg to parallel position, bend the knee down, bring your foot against the block, and then go forward through the hips. Lift through the heart, and then go out.

Now, lift through the heart, up to the crown of the head. So it's like a one legged down stretch. Inhale, exhale, lift, lift, lift, one more, and lift, lift, lift, hold that position. Then from there, let's switch sides. So we're gonna bring the right foot down, stand up on top of that.

Now, left foot goes on to the bar, so we always bring it on the stable point first, then we bring that foot back. Now, nice and square in the hips. Now, front leg is doing the work, you go back through the hip, then forward through the knee, back through the hip, forward through the knee. One more time, back through the hip, forward through the knee, hold that position, rotate the back leg to parallel, very important, just don't bend the knee down, always rotate it parallel first, then bend the knee down. All right, this heel is pressed back, hips are pressed forward, lift through the heart, and then go out.

Lift through the heart and lengthen up, up, up, out two. Imagine hanging from a hook. And one more time, out and up through the crown of the head, up, up, up, up, up, and you can step the left foot down and step to the floor. And that is class four for Building Upwards with Brett. We're gonna keep building up and hope to see you guys next time.