Cardio Interval Box Class

Hi guys, welcome to Pilates Anytime. I'm Tracey Mallett here, excited to be back in the studio. You don't realize how excited I am. It's been way, way too long. So to kick it off, we're gonna be doing a Pilates Cardio Interval class?

Yes, using my favorite box. Yeah, yeah, it's a Pilates box off the Reformer and we're also going to be getting our little light dumbbells to work those arms too. But for right now, we're just gonna put those light dumbbells just at the back of the box, somewhere out the way, okay. Just gonna pop them there. All right, So let's get going.

We're gonna get to the end of the box here. We're gonna take a nice seat. You're gonna get your butt all the way down to the edge here. We're gonna reach the hands behind the head, interlace the hands, lift up nice and tall, shoulders stacked over your hips. And I just want you to rotate and then back to center.

And then, just a little rotation back to center. Exhale as you rotate, keeping the shoulders stacked over your hips and rotate. Let's go a little bit faster. So we are right and left and right and left. Four more, and four, and three, and two, and one.

Bring it back to center, look up to the beautiful sky. Look up, hold it there. Open up your thoracic spine, and then come back to a straight spine. Now, just open your legs hip-width apart. From here, we're gonna hinge our body forwards, over the thighs, beautiful.

We're gonna reach the hands forward, palms facing inwards and we're just gonna move through the shoulder joint. Just want you to open up through your chest. Work that mid-thoracic spine, and let's do six more. Just like that, ready? Moving from your shoulder joint and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one.

Hold it there. That the hands back behind the head. Ready for that rotation again. Rotation, center, rotation, center. You got to warm up the body before we get into their workout.

Now a little bit faster for eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Back to center. Shoot the hands back forwards again. Palms facing inwards, and then hinge yourself right back, shoulders over hips. Bring the hands down onto the corners of your box.

We're gonna get ready to go into a little C-curve here. Rolling down one vertebrae at a time and lifting the knees up. So your knees are are in your chair position right here. Circle the hands around, interlace the hands behind the head. There we go.

Now, we're just gonna exhale, lift up just a little bit higher, inhale and come back. Exhale, lift up, (exhales) inhale and come back. So lifting up and back. Exhale, up. Inhale down.

Exhale up. Inhale down. Now we're gonna add the right leg. Exhale, right leg. Bring it back.

Exhale, left leg. Bring it back. So right leg, and back. Left leg and back. Right and left.

Two more. And right, and left. Bring it back to chair position, lift up just a little bit higher, dip the right toe down to the floor and then bring it back. Let's go with the other side. Just testing the water.

And we take it down to the floor and bring it back up again. So, with the box, what's so fabulous is that you're able to open up that hip flexor, challenge yourself a little bit more because we're dipping that toe a little bit further down to the floor. Let's do one more. Now, keep that head lifted. Look towards your thighs, and this go a little bit faster.

There we go. Now, keep your focus towards your thighs. Not the sky, towards your thighs. Good, let's do eight, seven, six, five, four, three, now, we're gonna add a little rotation. So we go rotation, rotation.

Keep your knees bent. Now shoulder, going towards the knees, the elbow is out. Shoulder, get that nice crisscross shoulder to knee in that lovely cross. (heavily exhales) Are you breathing? Have you forgetting to breathe? Because we all forget to breathe.

(chuckles) And four, and three, and two, and one, beautiful comeback. Reach those legs up. Circle the hands around. Give yourself a nice stretch. Lower the legs down to where you feel comfortable, putting the hands behind the head.

Exhale, lift the legs, circle the hands around. Bring the legs towards your head,. Okay, now, beautiful stretch, and then those abs. Let's do three more of those. Bring it in.

Let it go out, draw the belly, bring it in, (heavily exhales) breathe, lower the legs down. One more, bring it in. (heavily exhales) And lower the legs down. Bend the knees in; circle the hands around. Roll yourself all the way up. Bring your feet down.

Bring your butt a little bit for the back, for arms on the box. So, your forearms are here. Open up through your chest. Lift the legs up into chair position. We're gonna reach the legs out, bring them back in and into our little mermaid as we twist the legs to the floor, bring them back in.

We shoot the legs out, bring it in. Little mermaids, like a Can-Can, and bring him back. So we go out, in, rotation, dip. And out, and in, rotation, dip. You guys have got that.

So we reach the legs out, bring it in, a little rotation, look toward your toes, bring it back in. Reach the legs out, in, a little dip. It's like a little mermaid's tail there as you switch it to the side. Little rotation, looking down to your feet, and then bring it out, a little rotation, bring it back to center. Hold it here.

Roll yourself all the way up, and bring the legs down. We're gonna stand all the way up. Turn to face your lovely box. We're gonna take the front legs. So, I've got my right leg here.

We're gonna go into a nice lunge. So we're lunging down and up. Now, bring that back-heel off of the mat. So, off the floor. And we're gonna go down and up.

So, everybody, get your shoulders stacked. We're gonna get ready to go. We're gonna do four more of these. This is your little, get your balance. (chuckles) Four, and three, and two. Now, hold it here.

We're gonna reach forwards, keep that supporting leg bend as you'll lift up. Take it back down, plié, ready? Transfer, keep that stabilizing leg bent. Take it down. Bend, transfer.

Not as easy as it looks, I know. Keep your pelvis square; down. Press forwards, lift with the glute and the hamstring. Your arms come to your ears. There we go.

And again, reach. (heavily exhales) And take it back. And reach, press that foot down, and back. Couple more. Reach, elongate that leg. Bring it back, one more.

Reach (heavily exhales) and take it back. Hold it here, hands on hip. Now, we pulse down and up. And let's do eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Come back.

Now, we're gonna step up with the other leg. So put that left leg forwards, back leg on a toe, on a relevé. We go down and up to start with. Get your balance. Stack the shoulders over your hips.

Your back heel is off of the floor. Your hips are facing forwards. And it's down and up. (heavily exhales) All right. Let's do a couple more.

And then, we're gonna go into my step up, okay. You're ready? So plié, ready, transfer. Lift that leg up. Ooh-woo, That first one's always the hardest.

And then come back down and squat. Ready, transfer, keep that leg bent, and then back. It's all about your proprioception, your balance, strength in those legs. So, go at your own pace, and go in at a pretty moderate pace here. Not too fast, not too slow.

Okay, we each forwards. Keep that stabilizing leg bent. Your arms are gonna go right by your ears. I'm focusing my eye-level forwards. So I balance, scoop through those abs.

Your abs are super important now, otherwise, you're gonna fall over. (chuckles) Reach, ooh-woo. Hands on your hips, ready for that little pulse, for that little burn there. We would like to feel those muscles working, right. Down, okay, let's do four, three, two, and one, lift up. Now, from here, bend your knee.

Take your hands down. Come back into your plank. Single knee is right, then left. So, you go right, left, right, left. Now, the added advantage of the box.

You're a little bit more elevated, and we're gonna go a little bit faster now. So, a little bit more of a spring. Spring, let's do eight of these. Go, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Into your pyramid.

Hips back. Now, from here, hold that position, take your back leg. I've got my right leg lifted. Now, you go into your cat position. So cat curl, jump, jump, jump.

Reach up. Curl, jump, jump, jump. Up, reach, ready for your curl. One, two, three, up, reach. Ready for your cat.

And three, two, one. Add in a little bit of a power there. Cat, round through those abs. Three, two, one. Reach, up, cat.

Three, two, one. Reach, cat, three, two, one. Last time, reach, cat, three, two, one. Back into your plank. Lift up into your little downward dog, or your pyramid.

Now, from here, you're gonna take your backhand into the center. Rotate your body into a side plank. Hold it here; you can separate the legs a little bit. Hold it. Beautiful.

From here, we're gonna go into a twist. So we rotate, twist, come back. Exhale, send your hips up high, and then come back. And lift up on the underneath oblique. Pull the scapula down, three more.

Exhale, up, inhale, side plank. Exhale, use your core, use your obliques, and back. (heavily exhales) One more. (heavily exhales) And back to here. Take the hand back behind the head here. Now, we're gonna lower your hips, lift up.

Lower your hips, lift up. Yes, this is your oblique burner here, ooh-woo. Feel those obliques lift up for four, for three, for two, and for one, hold it there. Reach the hand back up. Rotate it back around.

Now, we're gonna take the opposite hand into the center of your box. Rotate around into your side plank, you're ready? Lift up underneath that underneath oblique. Exhale, send your hips up. Inhale, open, look to that top hand.

Exhale, use your abs to twist your hips up. Exhale, you gotta breathe, guys, otherwise, it's not gonna happen. Pull the scapula down, and your shoulder blades down, lift up underneath your obliques, exhale, lift. Inhale, look to that top hand. Two more. (heavily exhales) Lift up, one more. (heavily exhales) Hold it there, you look fantastic.

Think how strong you feel. Hands behind your head. Now, drop the hips down. Lift up with the underneath oblique. It's your waist.

Inhale. (heavily exhales) Exhale. Think strong, you will be strong. It's all in the mind. Lift up, you can do this.

Let's do four more. Inhale, down. (heavily exhales) Exhale up. Inhale, down. Exhale, up, two more.

Inhale, down. Exhale, up, one more. Inhale, down, exhale up, hold it there. Reach the hand back up again. Rotate back that arms wide into your plank.

Come all the way back into your pyramid, beautiful. From here, walk the feet forwards. Take your hands to the corner of your box. Relevé. Hands at the outside of your box.

Lower yourself down. Lift up into a star position. Open the legs; you're in that lovely star position. Hold it there. Put the hands to the corners of your box.

Lower your legs down as you lift your upper body up and then bring the hips up to join it. You got that? So, bend the elbows, lower down, star, hands back. Now, lift your upper body. First, lower the feet down.

Then, use your core to bring your hips up. Use your upper body to lower down. Star, hands to the corner, lower the legs down as you lift your upper body. Now, bring your abs up to join it. Very subtle as you're doing these moves.

A lot of core control here. Hands here, lift up, elbows behind. Lift up into your plank, control it down. This is your last time guys. Open it, just hold it here.

Bring your arms together and open. So you're in that superstar. Superstar! We all wanna be superstars. We are all superstars. (panting) Okay, let's do six more here. Six, five, four, three, two, one.

Hold here. Drop the hands down. So, the hands will be at the side of your box. Bend your knees, even that little prone position here. Now we're gonna lift up and down.

So, this is your diamond froggy. Now, you can either place your hands down on the floor. If you want, you can sit up your hands around to the back of your head. Now, press your pubic bone down into the box. Your feet together, ooh-woo, let's do four more.

Just like that, guys. Four, three, two, hold it there. Extend the legs. Bend back again. Extend the legs.

Bend back again. Extend, now out the arms. Reach to the head. Reach that posterior chain is on fire at your glutes, your hamstrings, your mid-thoracic spine is working super hard. And four, tap, three, tap, two, tap, one, tap, extend the legs.

Bring the legs together. Put the hands on the corner of your box. Lift all the way up. Curl back into your plank. Walk the hands back.

Curl all the way up. Turn to your side. You're in a side squat position here. Okay, parallel step touches. Step touches, step touches.

This reminds me, many years ago, I was teaching step aerobics, going back to the 80s and 90s, (laughs) and up. I know some of you are right there with me. That's why we're all smiling. Up and down. (panting) And up and down. Four more; four.

And three, (panting) and two, (panting) and one, slow it down. Step. Balance. Kick it out, bring it in. Take it back.

One, kick, in, take it back; did you get it? (panting) One, if that's too challenging, don't bring it to a knee, just bring it to a tap. See, there's always a solution. In, reach, in. Remember, your balance is everything. We don't test it.

It never gets stronger. Good. (panting) You guys are rocking it. One, out, in, pitch your body forwards, shoulders over your hips. Body goes forwards. One, boom.

Last time, but I want you to hold it here. (laughs) There we go. Are we there? If you're not, get there right now, I'm waiting for you. (chuckles) Now, lift up and down. There we go. (panting) This is the booty burner, the glutes.

But also balance. Look at the balance that's happening here. Let's think about it. Your glutes, your abs, your focus. See, I'm walking, and I'm wobbling.

There we go, can we do eight more? Good, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Bring it, ooh-whoo. There we go, give yourself a little shake. Curl like a cat, extend.

Curl like a cat, extend. Curl like a cat, extend, all right. We're gonna step over to the other side. (panting) All right, so in a squat. Okay, you ready? So we go up, step, touch.

Step touch. Simplistic is the best sometimes. Stepping up, stepping down. (panting) Good. (panting) Just keep a soft bend in your knees. So when you step up onto the box, you got a soft bend as it got your shock absorber. Step it up, choo, Danny down.

And four. Three. Two. One. Now, ready, step it up.

Balance, you got it. Reach it out, in, squat, yeah. In, reach it out. Remember, if this is too challenging, just bring it to a tap, out and bring it to a tap. Super simple, well, it's not super simple, but it's a solution. (panting) (chuckles) And back.

In, reach, in. And when we come in towards where we've already worked those legs, you could see my leg is a little bit wobbly, and in, use your core, in, and down, suck in those abs. (heavily exhales) In and down, (heavily panting) reach, one more. Hold it here. Can you hold that? I'm gonna wait for you.

Get up there; get that leg out. Bounce, okay, ready? Lift up, and up. There we go. Feel, it's like the icing on the cake.

The booty burn (heavily panting) and lifting up. Let's do eight more; we can do it. Go, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Bring it down, ooh, and arch, release. Arch, release.

Arch, release, okay. Step down to the box. Come all the way down. And we're gonna pick up those lovely dumbbells. Okay, so we've got these dumbbells here and reach the hands forwards.

We're gonna roll down, lift up into your chair position, hands go up, and we take the head back. Lift up, the head goes back. Lift up, inhale, exhale. You're lifting back of the box. Now, make sure your arms don't go too far.

You're always in the peripheral view. Now, we're gonna add toe dips. Inhale, exhale, toe dips. Ooh-whoo, there we go, ooh-whoo, there we go. Inhale, exhale, toe dips.

Inhale, exhale, toe dips. Inhale, exhale, toe dips. Three more. Down, up, toe dips. Two more, inhale, hug a tree, toe dips.

One more, inhale, exhale, toe dips. Hold it here. Now, take the hands behind the head, so you got your hands with those weights there. All right, we're gonna go into your scissors. Reach that leg out, and drop that leg all the way down to the floor in that beautiful stretch.

Ready, so we go. Pulse, pulse, switch. Pulse, pulse. So you got that extra weight on your hands. Working that core a little bit more.

Fingertips on your head. Beautiful, down, down, down, down, down. Down, down, eight more. Reach that leg down for that beautiful stretch. Down, down, down, down, four more.

Four-four, three-three, two-two, one-one. Bring the legs up, bend the knees. Circle the hands around. Roll yourself all the way up. Try and balance, and we're there.

Find it there. Palms lifted up. Rolling down, circle the hands, keep your head lifted. Circle the hands around, lift up, chair position. Curl down, palms go out, keep your head lifted.

Curl all the way up. Reach up, chair position. Two more, ready? Curl down, circle the hands over your head. Keep your head lifted in that crunch.

Curl all the way up, chair position. Should we do one more for good luck, we all there? Get your chair position, girls. I'm watching you, and, guys, come on. Ready, roll down.

Lift up, curl all the way up. Lift those legs up. Hold it there, and lift. Arms are lifting; arms are lifting; arms are lifting. If your legs are hurting and you can't hold that teaser position, bend your knees for six, for five, for four, for three, for two, for one, hold it there.

Bend your knees, lower down. Lift all the way up. Turn to your side, get into your middle of your box on lateral. Get your hands here. You know, Josie Pilates?

He did a boxing move, well, that's what we're gonna do. So we go, box, box, elbows high, elbows high, box. And if you don't wanna jump over your box, do it off the box. (panting) There we go. So, if you feel a little clumsy, or just not ready for the box, do it without. Now, rotation, rotation, elbows high.

You gonna do Joe's boxing here. Cross, cross, eight more. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, lift up. Beautiful work, take a break. (heavily panting) Turn to your friend. Go into your second position here.

Pitch your body forwards. You can come down off your box if you want. You're in second position here. Take the hands forwards. We're gonna fly to work that back.

Your abs are engaged. Your toes are going into the corners of the box. So, you're externally rotated. Now, we go one, two, center. Fly, center.

Back, shoulders, (speaking in foreign language terms), shoulders, pitch your body forwards from your hips to focus on that mid-back. Three more. (heavily panting) Out, up, two more. Up, one more. (heavily panting) Up, bring it down. And let's go into our little row just to finish off with. And row back, now, sit your hips back.

Body forwards. (heavily panting) If you have a heavier weight, you can pick up heavier weights. I'm going for lightweights today. High reps, eight, like this. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Bring the hands down.

Lift yourself up. Step down, off your box. Put your lovely little weights away. Come back, reach the hands forwards. Bend your knees.

Sit down. Roll, little tip ball, like a little tuck ball here. Come back, lift up. Got that? Down, tuck, in, up.

One, tuck, in, lift that leg up. One, tuck, and lift the opposite leg. There we go. Watch you don't fall off that box now. (laughs) Down, control it. Up. (heavily panting) Slow and controlled.

Lift. (heavily exhales) Two more. (heavily panting) One more. Sit down, sit down, sit down. Now, right at the end of this box, there's a little, like a little, uh, what do you call it, like, handle? I couldn't think of the word then. (chuckles) A handle. You're gonna grab that handle.

If you don't have a handle, you can just put the hands at the end of the box, okay. But hopefully, you have a little handle here. All right. Rolling down, hands on the knees. Lifting up into like a little ball.

Curl down slowly, perfect. (heavily panting) Now, we're gonna reach back and try and find the handle. (giggles) Let's remember that word, the handle. Okay, so we're here, right. Now, we're gonna reach the legs out. Lift the knees and legs. We're gonna go up over your head.

Curl the hips down, lower the legs. So, what's happening is you're going into a diagonal. Your legs are going diagonally over and I'm pulling on the strap and then I'm pressing the hips down, and then lower the legs. So, it's inhale here, exhale diagonally over, pelvic tilt. Curl down, sets that lower abs pelvic tilt.

Inhale 90, ready, diagonally over, exhale, tilt. (heavily exhales) Curl down, lower those legs as low as you can with control. Let's do three more, ready? One, exhale, up. Down, lower, lower. Inhale, (heavily exhales) exhale up.

Lower, and down. And one, hold it here. Lower down, back up. Lower down, back up, three more. Three, hold onto that strap, lift.

Two, lift. One, exhale. (heavily exhales) Lower the legs. Circle the hands around. Put the hands behind the head, froggy to finish off with. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, four more.

Four. (heavily exhales) Three. (heavily exhales) Two. (heavily exhales) One. (heavily exhales) Beat eight, beat seven, beat six, beat five, and four, and three, and two, and one. Lift those legs up. Circle the hands around. Bring the knees to the chest. Roll yourself all the way up.

Make sure your butt is way off to the end. So, my tailbone is off. Lowering down, (heavily panting) head is on the box. Hands are at the end of the box. Take the back leg down to the floor.

Bring that right knee in. Hug that knee as hard as you can. You deserve a nice little hug here and that hip flexor deserves a nice stretch from that sweaty workout. (chuckles) Here we go, knees to chest. (deeply sighs) Take two seconds to give those legs a little stretch.

Okay, you ready, let's switch with the other leg. Give yourself a nice little hug. Take that leg all the way down. Open that hip flexor. Draw that knee to the chest, it feels so good.

Hold it there for four, three, two, and one. Just extend the legs out. Reach the arms over your head. Imagine someone's pulling your arms, someone's pulling your legs, and you just elongating, and you're just reaching. Just close your eyes for two seconds.

(deeply inhales) All right. Bend your knees. Roll yourself all the way up. Put your hands forward. Send your buns up to the sky.

Feet, hip-width apart, grab hold of your hands. Give yourself a nice shoulder stretch. Bend your knees to your chest. (deeply sighs) Release your hands to the floor. Curl yourself all the way up. One vertebrae at a time as the, as you unfold that beautiful spine.

Your shoulders are pulling down and back. (deeply sighs) Let's take a nice deep breath in. Inhale, up, (heavily exhales) exhale out. Let's do one more time. Inhale, up. (deeply inhales) And exhale, down.

Awesome work, you guys. You got a great mixture of everything there. Great sweaty workout. Look forward to seeing you again right here in Pilates Anytime. Buy guys.