Glute-Focused Circuit

Hi guys, Courtney here, and I'm here with my friend and fellow instructor, Rachel. She's an amazing teacher, but she's also the designer of Reformer Loops. So she's made the loops that we have on our machines. She's also come out with these amazing discs and also kick ass booty bands that come in three different resistance. We're gonna use the medium resistance.

So find your booty band. If you don't have a set of these, you should definitely pick some up or just use socks without grip. Perhaps a towel, make it work or use nothing at all and just join us. Okay guys, so you're gonna come over and grab your slider. You're just gonna use one for this flow.

This is our floor flow. You will be doing it three times, so you'll get real comfortable with it. The first movement is just gliding back and sending that back, like totally straight, hands to the hips, rising to come up. Five repetitions here, so that's two. Leaning the chest forward, closing the ribs, three, four, and then we're gonna add our arms into the mix.

That's five, so as you go low, swing your arms up and overhead and use that glute to rise. Four, hopefully warming up that booty. Three, lots of booty in today's class. Two, and then hold it. Pull the back leg in, pull the elbows in, kick it for five, four, use the abdominals to pull that back knee in, three, two, and rise to come up.

Twist, and we're gonna do a lateral lunge, which means the foot that's on the disc is gonna stay straight and your standing leg is gonna bend, you're gonna lean low, and then rise to come up. Let's add those arms right away. So swing 'em forward and rise. We did something like this in one of our earlier classes, I think it was with Megan. We were on the box, gliding that carriage out.

So it's so similar, and that's why I love these sliders, 'cause you can recreate some of your favorite Reformer moves. Let's hold the next one, Rach. Leave those arms, pull that foot in. Yep, and then glide it out. Five, four, three, two, one, rise to come up.

You feeling the burn yet? Insta-burn, face front. We're gonna do one more thing before we do the other side. Reach up, dive down, hands to the floor. Slide the disc back, cross the opposite ankle behind, and pull your knees in for eight.

Knee tucks, one, two. Keep pushing your chest bone up, three, four, five six, seven, and that's eight. Nice. Onto the other side, keep your hands on your hips. Make sure you've got space to go back and glide and rise.

Remember, the more you do, the more confident you become in the movement, right? You're making these connections real time. So try to get a little lower, try to push it, adding your arms, swing them up, swing them down. I think of chest expansion. Swing them up and swing them down.

Good, that's three and two, and hold it, pull the back knee in and the elbows two, kick it, kick it, three, two, one, rise, and we'll turn to face this way again, but we do have the opposite foot onto that disc. Swing the arms forward. Send that glider right out to the side, right beside you. Bend deeply into your standing knee, and then rise to come up. Yeah, so you want it to go out in line with your right foot, pull it all in, good.

Working those inner thighs. Notice as you swing your arms up and down, there's a lot of core involved, right? You have to pull in the arms and legs are an extension from our core. That's why we're feeling it. Let's hold the next one.

Pull that foot in and kick it. Five, four, three, two, one. Rise and twist. We have those pikes to do, then we're on our machine. So get big, reach out, find the stretch.

Dive down, spread your fingers, send it back. Cross the ankles, big exhale, pull. Eight times, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Nice, okay. So we will leave that for later 'cause we come back to it two more times.

Grab that booty band, take a seat, and place the band above your knees. What do you like for bridging? I like two red, or one red and a blue, I think. What do you like? Same.

Two reds is also a nice option. Two reds will be more supportive. Make sure that headrest is down, okay guys. Lie down onto your back, taking the heels of your feet onto that foot bar. Now I want that band to be taut throughout this whole series, so don't let the knees roll in.

Let's do four articulations, Rachel, rolling up, coming onto the shoulder blades, keeping that carriage closed and then rolling down. Inhale at the bottom, find neutral. Do it again, rolling up. (Courtney heavy exhaling) So if you don't feel tension in your band, just widen your feet a bit. Exhale, scoop, roll, and lift up, inhale at the top and then exhale, roll down.

Exhale, tuck, roll and lift, and roll down, and on the next one, we're gonna stay up for some fancy stuff. So hold the lift. Fancy stuff, what's that gonna be? We're gonna press the band out as wide as you think your inner thighs can take you, return the knees over toes, and then push the carriage back and then bring it in. Hips go high and do it again.

So we press, resist, push, and lift those hips again. Press out, press back. Press out in the band, glide that carriage back. Do you feel the similarity between the Reformer gliding and the sliders? It's such a cool thing.

Okay, two more here, press out and press back. One more like this, press out. The hips will naturally drop when you push back. So lift them up. Check it out.

We're gonna do two presses out, Rach. They're kind of quick, one, two. Now drop the booty to a hover and press out again twice with the band, one, two. Lift the booty, band presses, presses, dip. Press, press, lift.

Out, out, dip, out, out, lift. Push, push, down, push, push, lift. One more time. Press out, lower to a hover, press out, and lift back up. Roll your spine down and drape your legs over the bar.

Lift your arms up to the sky. Keep your legs relaxed, but that band taut. Arms come up. Three Reformer roll-ups. Exhale, you roll up, forehead to the knees, and then roll it down.

I love the booty band during the Reformer roll-ups because it reminds you that your legs are part of the exercise. You are meant to think about them. You wanna relax them and roll up. Now, if you like to have your headrest up when you do your hands and strap series, now is your time to make that adjustment. You do what feels best for you.

Use a cushion or a pillow if you prefer that as well. Ready to grab those Reformer Loops? Now you can choose the short or the long loops. I'm gonna choose the short for this one. I might change halfway through and you can too.

Bring your hands right over your chest and float the legs up with the booty band. Take a big breath in. On an exhale, we're gonna do a lot. We're gonna curl up, pull the arms down, extend the legs. We're gonna press out with the band and on an inhale, we come back and through.

So let's put that together. Exhale, lift, press. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift, press. If those shoulder blocks are in your way, move down.

Lift, press, and back in, lift, press. Remember the lift is because the ribs are gliding towards the pelvis. Two to go. (Courtney heavy exhaling) Press, last time here and hold. Press is out for five, four, three, two, one.

Bend the knees and take a moment. If you wanna change your resistance, now it would be the time to do it. Triceps are next. So bring your elbows right into your sides. Hover them in float those legs back up big breath in.

The movement with the legs is not any different. So exhale, curl up, straighten the arms, press out. Bend the elbows lower, exhale, press. Now if you're wanting to intensify, stay up, don't lower the head. We've got four to go.

Four, three, two, and one, and we all take a break. We take a moment. I just wanna say that we are coming back up into this position, so just 'cause we don't do the 100 right now doesn't mean it's not coming up. Take your arms back to the sky. We've got one more exercise here to do.

Float your legs to table, a big breath in. Exhale, curl up, extend the legs, turn the palms in. Press the arms wide and draw the legs as wide as you can. Hold that A-B-duction, and then legs come in a little, arms come in a lot. Press, hold.

So you're holding that star for longer and then pulling in, but the legs do not connect. Three to go, hold it, squeeze it, two to go. Push, push more with the legs and the exhale. Last time and bring it in, bring it down. Rachel and I wanted to note that these are new bands.

So they're even harder because they've not been stretched yet, okay? Reach your arms up for a Reformer roll-up, hook up those straps and exhale. Meet me here. Swing your legs off to the one side. Before we come into another exercise, meet me in a hover squat position and we're gonna take some steps towards the back of the machine, but make the step open big and the step close small so you always have tension.

Let's go, big and small, so you always maximize that tension about four steps and then back the other direction. So you step open big, but you step in small. Keep going, Rachel. Let me show you what we're avoiding. So we're not coming here and in.

You wanna keep that tension as you do your side steps. Four to go. Awesome, knees and toes forward. You are low, three. Ribs are closed, 'cause everything we do is a core exercise.

Two, nice, and you're gonna do one more finishing just in front of your carriage and rise. Now Rachel taught this next exercise in one of our workshops and I just love the way it felt on the glutes to swim. So let's do it. We're using the mat, lay onto your stomach. You can keep your hands on the floor to start.

Send the legs up. We are A-B-ducted, we are slightly externally rotated, and we're pressing up, up. I love it. You can feel the booty and it reminds you to straighten the legs. If you wanna float the arms up, you can.

If you wanna incorporate the arms, you can. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one, and then push yourself back. Awesome. All righty, we're going right back into some bridging, so lie on down. If your headrest ended up from the supine core series, go ahead and put it down, okay guys.

So a little something different now. Bridging is such a great reset exercise. I mean, you can feel your spine onto the carriage. We're gonna not articulate. Instead, let's just lift up.

Find it. There's a diagonal line from your knee through your hip through your shoulder. Glutes are strong. We're gonna practice pressing back like this four times. Four, do you have tension in that band?

If you don't, widen your stance. Three, that's two, and that's one. Now that we have that, I want you to extend your right leg off the foot bar, but keep your knee level with your left. Now press back. Five, oh yeah.

The hips have to lower when you push back and then lift. Four, keep some tension in that band. Three, that's two, and then it gets harder, guys. Keep that carriage in and stay with me. Push out with your right leg for five, four, three, two, one, place the foot down.

You're not taking a break. Keep both feet on. Push back for five. This is just your reset. Even pressure through the inner and outer heel.

Use your arms. It will help. (Courtney heavy exhaling) Two to go, the calm before the storm, and then bring it in. Hold, hips up, hips level, extend your left leg, but keep the knees and thighs level. As you press out, the pelvis will drop.

Pick it up. Five, four, three, two. You ready to hold those hips up? Hold the carriage and push the band out, and five, four, three, two, one. Place the foot down.

Keep those hips up for a moment longer and take it down. Slow, great. Drape your legs over that foot bar. Lift your arms. Let's do three of our best Reformer roll-ups.

Up and over we go. Try to connect your back into the mat. Try to keep the legs relaxed. I don't know, I have a sneaky suspicion that we might do the 100 next, I don't know. I kind of planted the seed earlier.

It can't be that big of a surprise. Okay, so go on down. Do you like the headrest up? Listen, Rachel does. If you think that you are gonna be doing this series with your head down, like if you're not going to curl up into your supine abdominals, then you might wanna put the headrest up, right, and you can keep your head down the whole time.

Reach back and grab your straps. Choose from the long or short and know that you can switch in between. Float your legs up. Take a big breath in and then exhale. Curl up, stay up.

All right, check it. We're gonna extend the legs over the foot bar. Reach the arms up. Hold the legs. Open your arms to a T and pull everything back in.

So keep tension a little bit, not a lot. We go out, T, scoop. Arms up, legs out. T, scoop, two more this direction. Reach, T, scoop.

Last time like this, reach, T, scoop. Here's your reverse. Reach out, T, up. Ooh, that's hard to hold. Pull it in.

Reach out, T, up, pull it in. Reach out. Keep that carriage stable. Reach up. Pull it in one more time like this.

Reach out, reach up, pull it in. Take a little mini break. Move down away from those shoulder blocks if you're starting to slide or if you feel restricted in any way. Take your legs up. Big breath in, exhale.

Curl up, pull your arms down. Triceps, but a little different. Bend your elbows. Exhale, as you straighten your arms, you straighten your legs, you hold. Don't change your arms, Rach.

Bend your knees, go under the bar. Bend your knees, go over the bar, bend your elbows and rest. It's kind of like, it feels a little bit like coordination, right, but different. Okay, ready? Exhale, straighten the arms.

Hold your arms. Legs go under, legs go over, then the elbows rest. Again, exhale, push, and under and over and rest, and last time, push and dip and reach and rest. The hundred, I can't not do it now. Take, it would just be like what?

What happened to that one? Take your arms up, legs stable. Big breath in, on your exhales, you're gonna be pressing the band out, okay. Curl up, stay up, inhale. Five, exhale, press.

Inhale, resist, exhale, press. It's an easy way to keep count of your 100. So that's 30 pumping the arms, staying lifted. 40, (Courtney heavy exhaling) 50, 60, 70, almost there. 80, 90, 100, let's do 120.

Just joking, rest. Ooh, I mean you don't have to stop at the 100, but we will, okay. Take your legs over the bar. Lift your arms, just one roll-up, okay guys. Ugh, roll-up's a little bit hard after 100.

Swing your legs off to the other side. Rise to standing. Come around this way. We'll do our squat steps. So get real low, chest is lifted.

Big step in one direction, little recovery in. It should take you about four to get towards the end of the machine and then four steps to work your way back. Keep going. If the band starts to slide up your legs, just slide it down, but what I love about Rachel's bands is they have a non-slip so they're gonna stay right above the knee. You're just not gonna wanna put the band at the knee exactly, so a little bit higher.

Good, and then work that low, low squat. You got it. It's a really good time to focus on articulation through the foot, toe, ball, heel, toe, ball, heel. You've got one more to do, love, and then we're gonna finish in line with that carriage for a second set of swimming, an exercise so nice we do it twice. Lay down onto your abdomen.

Hands on the floor, legs lifted. Your pelvis is down. Your legs are doing those little swimmer kicks. Go for it, Rach. So the band brings us awareness to the stabilizing muscles of the pelvis.

It also reminds you to stay straight through your legs. Good, if you wanna incorporate the arms, by all means. Now's your time to shine. You got five, good. Four, little bit more stability in that pelvis.

Good, three, reaching out versus reaching up makes you feel more stable. One more set, and rest. Push yourself back. Take a breather and go ahead and throw that band onto the floor. It's not completely gone.

We're just taking a break from it. Back to the discs we go. So this is our floor series and this is our second set. So put your right foot onto that disc, stand nice and tall, and when you're ready, hands on hips. We glide for five.

So there's this directional shift back with the body. So that that stabilizing knee stays pretty over the heel. I mean, it can translate a little bit forward. Trying to get into the glutes, adding the arms when you're ready. They're down when your body's up and then your arms swing up when you go down.

Five, four, three. This is a good time to think about the arches of your feet staying lifted. Hold it. The leg comes in, the arms come in. Kick it for five, four, three, two, one, and rise to come up and take your twist.

So a lateral lunge, which means your standing leg is gonna bend, but your disc leg is gonna stay straight. Here we go, glide. I like to reach the arms forward. I feel like I can actually get lower in the squat. It's like a little oppositional thing.

Four, three. We're even coordinating, see. Two, and then stay low and then pull that disc in. Five, I like to keep the arms up. Four, three, two, one and up.

I mean, you really can't do it wrong. Have fun with it. We've got those knee tucks. That's a core series. When your hands are on the floor, try to press the chest up a little extra, 'cause you know gravity's pulling you down.

So reach up, get big, dive down. Send the disc back. Cross the ankles, push the chest up. Eight knee tucks, one, two. There you go, three.

That's what I'm talking about, just like that. Four, yes. Five, six, that's seven and that's eight, and rise to come up. Perfect. It's almost like you designed these.

Other leg. Okay, so here we go. Hands on hips. The reason I usually start a series with my hands on my hips is so I can remind myself to square off, and then I can also sort of touch my fingers onto my lower abdominals and remind myself to pull them in when I sink down. So I think this is excellent core work for everybody.

You don't have to lie on your back and do the 100. This is right here, guys. We're getting stronger everywhere. Add the arms. Reach and rise, reach and rise.

Hopefully a little cardio too. I definitely feel my heart rate up. On the next one, stay low. Slide and bend those elbows. Five, four, three, two, one.

Bring it in, we're gonna turn the same way, but we have the opposite foot onto that disc. The hips are gonna shift back, let's go. Down and up, put that leg right beside you, not behind you, and up. There, down, and up. We're trying to send the booty back.

We're trying to lift those arms high. Hold the next, leave the arms. Bring the knee in. Kick it, five, four, three, two, one. Rise, turn, set it up.

Big stretch. Ooh, hands, go down. Spread your fingers, cross, and pull. Eight of your best. Now, I'm not gonna lie.

You're gonna see these knee tucks coming up again a little bit later. Now is your time to really perfect them. Three, two, and one. Rise to standing. Woo-ee.

Okay, so you can just move those discs out of the way. You know you've got one more flow. Let's have one blue for the next. Now this next series could be done on a blue or a yellow and truth be told, we were chatting about this. We kind of switch the springs mid-flow depending on the exercise, so feel free to change your springs at anytime, okay?

We're gonna be kneeling on our machine. Our left foot is gonna go through the long loop. Yeah, and you want that loop right at the arch of your foot and your right knee will need to be centered between the shoulder blocks and not too far off to the right. Hands on the shoulder blocks, rise to come up. I personally keep my standing knee bent.

You might straighten yours, that's up to you. Reach your strap leg to the floor and sweep it up for five. One. Keep that side body long, two. Three, four, and five.

Now place that foot on the floor with the strap in it. Take your hands off the shoulder blocks and then step your right foot behind into a curtsy lunge. We're gonna pull set lunge. Five, four, three, two, one. Hands to the shoulder blocks.

Foot comes up and you're right back into it. Five, four, three, two, and one, big sweep. Foot goes down. Step it back. Find that diamond shape with the legs and pull sit.

Five, four, three, two, you wanna do a third set? Rachel said sure. Okay, put your hands on the shoulder blocks, rise up. That was a trick question 'cause I didn't wanna do a third set, but she kinda. Okay, so one.

Side body stays long. Two, three, amazing. Shoulders are down and back. Four and then five, the foot goes down. The leg comes back, so the curtsy's like a diamond shape.

Five, four, three, two, and that is one. Rise up and hold the long loop with your hand. That was impressive. Three sets, it's hard. So step back, face your risers.

We're in a wide parallel squat position. Every time we squat, we row. Every time we come up, we switch arms. So squat and row, rise and switch. Squat and row.

If it is not heavy enough, by all means, take a step back. There you go. You kind of have to find that sweet spot where the machine helps to hold you up 'cause you are leaning back. Five, four, three, two, one, and rise. Now here's where things get a little tricky.

By all means, switch your springs. A yellow might feel more fun. If you're on a yellow, I suggest using the short loop if you have it. If you're on a blue, use the long loop. There's so many ways that you can really make this your own.

Okay, so we wanna step towards the foot bar side of our machine, lean into that leg and come into a squat, and then our right leg steps in. Knees are staying bent, and stretch. You wanna be able to fully lengthen your strap leg without the carriage crashing in. Stretch, pull. Three, two, one, and rise, that was awesome.

Now I'm gonna give two options for the next one. It's a weight transfer and a balance exercise. So come down into a squat. Option one is rise, two straight legs, step together, looks like this. Try that, Rach, and then open and squat.

Let's do that one more time. Two straight legs and down. Option two is rising to a balance and pulling that leg in. The more you do the better you get, so try it, even if you do a couple one way and a couple the other way. Let's finish with four, and three, and two, and one.

Yes, that was awesome. Okay, so hook up the strap. Before we do the flow again, we have one more piece to this one and that's our kneeling arms. We're gonna be facing this way, don't worry. We'll turn around on the next set.

This is a great time to really see our back. Yeah, good point. If you change your springs, you'll probably want a blue. So grab the strap that's closest to you and place your left hand in that small loop. In our case, it's our left, knees right under hips.

Let's go into a combo of hug a tree, hug a moon. So first, the tree, and then the moon, and you don't have to connect your hands overhead. You're just going in that direction. It's more important that the spine stay vertical, the neck stay long, and of course that you're making the right choices for your body. Good.

One more each. So we have hug a tree, elbows high, and hugging that moon. Now take your hand over the foot bar and flip your other palm down and we're gonna reach, twist and come back through. Little bicep reach, twist, come back through. There's other ways to make this exercise your own like sitting instead of kneeling.

Two and one. Now here is gonna get a little tricky with the setup, so make sure you're holding onto something. You're gonna take your knee that's closest to the foot bar and move it to the edge of the carriage, and then your other leg will come up onto the headrest, and guys just take a sec and settle in, and you're pressing your foot down into the headrest. Your arms will interlace. Your fingers, rather, will interlace, arms overhead, and then you're gonna let the strap pull you towards the risers, and then you use your obliques to come to vertical or a little side cinch.

Inhale, stretch, exhale, up. Five, keep those hands right over the crown of your head. Four, good. Ribs close, three, two, one more time. One, and open it and rest.

Good, hook up the strap. Turn to face your shoulder blocks. We're ready for the other side. So place your right foot in the long loop and you want that strap nice and close to the arch so it'll stay on there. Hands to the shoulder blocks.

Good, stand onto your left foot. Your leg on this standing leg could be straight, could be bent, could be soft. Do what works, and then swing your strap leg back for five. Good, she does a beautiful job of staying long in the side body. Four, also to note, when the foot reaches down to the floor, her hip stays level with her opposite side.

So she's not twisting in the pelvis. Nice, the foot meets the floor. Good, you cross your left leg behind your right. You find your stability and we pulse. Five, four, three, two, one.

Hands go on, left foot steps up. Swing that leg back. Five, nice. Four, the opposition, guys is that the toes reach that way. Her head reaches that way.

She's getting longer, she's getting taller and stronger right here in real time. Nice. The foot goes down to the floor. Cross it, lift. Now remember I gave you guys the option to do two, but Rachel chose to do three sets.

So to even it out, we have to come back up. I love it though. I love it. Good, inhale down. This is circuit three.

Why not do it three times? Exhale, swing it up. Good. Two to go. Awesome breathing, and then one foot to the floor.

Cross it back. Get low, open those knees like a diamond. That's one, that's two, that's three, four, and rise for five. Gorgeous. Grab the long loop, step back.

We have our squat with that row. Make sure you got the right tension for you. So every time you squat, you do a row. Doesn't matter what side you start on, and then every time you rise, you switch. So we go down, up, switch.

Down, up, switch, and what I was saying before about the resistance. If it's too light, you can't lean back. So find what works for you. Keep going, Rach. Five, nice.

Four, good. Three, chest is wide, good. Two, and then one more, and you're up, and those will kind of remind you of what we did with the dumbbells with Les, okay. So now you might wanna change your spring, a yellow or a blue. I'm using a blue on the long.

You're gonna do a yellow on the short? Perfect, okay. So just make sure you're far enough away from the risers that you don't slam in each time. Stay low, chest lifted, leg steps in and taps out. So you definitely have more weight on your stabilizing leg.

Pull, stretch. If there's anything fancy you wanna do with the arms, you can. You can't do anything wrong here. Four, three, two, one. Rise.

So this is the one where we did two options for progressions. The first one was squat, two straight legs, step together, and then into a squat and down. Two straight legs together and into a squat and down. You don't have to go too wide with those legs. The other option was to rise up and try to bring that foot to connect to your knee, ankle, or inner thigh on your stabilizing leg.

Five, I like to do a lot 'cause the first few don't count. Four, because you're figuring it out, right? Three, two, and one and up. Sweet, okay, so hook up the strap. We've got our side kneeling arm series.

Rachel loves this one. Okay, so kneeling towards the center of the mat. I've got my blue, you're back to a blue. I've got my short loop. You could use long and we're gonna do one of each.

Hug a tree and hug a moon. I love them both. I love trees and I love the moon. Mavi's first word was moon. Isn't that cool?

Moon. So hips are forward, shoulders are open, neck is long. Your arms are an extension of your core, guys. You gotta feel it. Three, good.

Two, notice how Rachel keeps her elbows up when she hugs that tree. One, take your arm over the foot bar, turn your palm down, rotate, and come back to, and I don't get too particular about the pelvis. It's gonna twist a little bit. You know, you want most of the rotation coming from that mid-back. Three to go.

Three, it's better than doing pushups. Two, gotta look at the bright side. One and then take a second for that setup, guys. So you wanna be away from the shoulder blocks and then you're gonna have your foot up onto the headrest, and if there's a reason why this doesn't work for you, you can sit criss cross applesauce. You can sit in your mermaid legs.

You don't have to be up on your knees. So the hands come overhead. Interlace, stretch. Ooh, that side's a little tighter, rise. Inhale, stretch.

Rise, is that your tighter side or is it the same? Tighter. Well, we know what side we demonstrate on. Stretch. Pull.

Stretch. Pull, I think that's all I can do. Oh, hook up the straps, and let's go back to our last series using the discs. So I just love doing it three times, you know? Now it's like, okay, I got this.

Familiarity, confidence, and now you get to kind of push it a little bit. So five with the hands on the hips, down and up. One, ribs are closed. Two, three, four, and five, add the arms, and if you are working out with a buddy, by the time you get to the third set, you're perfectly synchronized like Rachel and I. (Courtney chuckling) Stay low and bend the back knee in.

Five, four, three, two, one. Turn and reach and send those hips back. Five, four, three. Lots of inner thighs, two, one. Oh, I did a bonus there, sorry, and then kick in.

Five, four, three, two, one. Rise, turn. You gotta fit in these stretches when you can. Dive, slide that disk back. Step it back, pull the knees in.

Guys, if this isn't working for you, maybe you're up on the machine, right? If you wanna be a little bit elevated, if the wrists are sensitive, make choices that work for your body. Nice, Rach, other leg. Here we go. First set.

Inhale as you go low, and then exhale up. Low and up. These things are truth tellers. They tell you if you're leaning or, you know, you can feel everything in the body. Okay, then the arms.

Five, four, three, two. Hold it, knee tucks. Five, four, three, two, rise and turn, lateral. Oh, in my head I'm like, I can't do it. Just let Rachel do it, but then I'm like, no, I will do it.

Ready, slide it out. Down and up. Woo. Down and out, knees pointing forward. Hips going back.

On the next one, hold. Pull that leg in. Five, four, three, two, one, and turn, big stretch up, big dive down. Let's see what you got, babe. Cross the ankle, pull the knees in.

When you do these, spread your fingers wide. Soften your elbows. It's your back holding you up. Push your chest bone up. Two to go, and we made it.

Woo woo. Okay, we made it to a really hard series. So one yellow is what I think you're gonna want, and we're using Rachel's Reformer Loops booty band in a different way. We're gonna take the band and wrap it over the shoulder blocks. You guys have seen me do this before.

Good, yep, and then come into that well space carefully. If you're worried, just take your time. Make sure you come up and over those ropes, okay. We're gonna do a lunge series that's a lot like what we did on the discs, but instead of pushing, we're pulling so it's very different. Even the setup feels the same.

Face back, I like to put my hands on the risers. You're gonna take a foot, hook it behind that booty band, and there's two bands, right, 'cause you've got two sides. So hook it behind the very back one. Good, and then hands to prayer. Rise to come up, hold that back knee forward so the shoulder block or excuse me, the headrest touches your calf and then bend into the front knee, lean into it.

So we're coming up for five. Nice. Four, three, two, one. Good, now send that carriage back for a second. There's two ways you could set up the next flow.

One is to push your box forward and to take that foot in front like this, and the other, if you wanna push it a bit, is to take your foot up on the box. So you pick whatever you wanna do. Good, and then from here we do same exercise. Rise and take it down. Five, four, three, two, one.

Place your hands on the box. If you wanna scooch your box in a little bit, feel free. You could also leave it out. Spread those fingers wide. Cross your ankle over.

Let's do two knee tucks, one pike. Ready, Rach? Oh, she's already started. I gotta hurry. One pike, do it again.

Two knee tucks. In, in, one pike. Do it one more time. Two knee tucks, in, in, one pike. Step foot down.

Oh, I feel like we were slightly on a quick temp over that, but that's okay. Rise onto the box and turn to face your Reformer. So let's grab a hold of one rope. How about just the right? Bend into your knees, send the hips back.

Weight into your heels. Keep your arms straight, rise to standing. It's not overly heavy, but try to recruit those glutes. Five flat back hinges. Two, three, four, five.

Okay, now send it down. Adjust your right foot so it's more centered and then send your left leg back. Good, and then as you rise up, pull your left knee with you and then send it down. Five, four. Nice, three.

This is our glute work. Two, and then go down and keep that T. You can hold on to something if you wanted to. When you pull your elbow up, lift your back leg a little higher and then swing it down. Five, four, three, two, one.

Ay yi yi, okay. Step in and turn around. Do you feel the muscles in your feet a lot on that? The muscles in the feet. Okay, cool.

We're gonna be the best step boarders ever. We started with the leg hooked behind. This is now the opposite side, and the foot on the floor and we're practicing our balance so we can take it to another step. Five times, one, pulling the carriage to meet your calf. Two, three, rising up to a fully straight leg on that side.

Two, one, and now you get to choose. You wanna push the box forward and use the floor, or do you wanna use the box? Same exercise. Ooh, she's going for it. Okay, ready?

Five times, go low. Finish strong. One, she said finish strong. Two, three, four, five. Good, I think we started strong and the middle was strong and then we finished strong.

Okay, oh, I almost forgot about those. Ay yi yi. Spread the fingers, foot is back. Two and two, okay, or two and one. In and in, and then one pike, and then in, in, one pike.

Last set. Knees, knees, hips. Yes. I feel like the sliders really prepare you for that though. Yeah, up we go.

Okay, so now we have the other arm. Wide stance, parallel, hinge, and then I'm holding pretty close to the riser and I'm not trying to pull with my arm. I'm trying to use my whole body, but a lot of back and hamstring, abdominals. Two more. One more and bring it in and then step your left foot in a bit and your right leg back, and then as you rise, the knee comes up, and back.

Five, four, three, two, and then stay here. When your elbow's up, your back leg's high and then everything kind of drops together. Five. Ooh, this side's so hard for me. Four, three, two, one, and rise.

Nice, let's come off the machine this way and let's ditch that booty band for another time for another class. Okay, so there's an exercise that Rachel always teaches in her classes. We haven't done it yet. Do you know which one it is? Okay, we're gonna do. Is it mermaid?

No, she says mermaid. We should save time for, let's save time for mermaid, but I'm thinking one red, bicep curl in to lunge with some presses back. We'll do both sides and then we'll do the best mermaid of our life. So kneel, and let's take our left foot on the headrest. Curl your toes underneath you.

Grab your short loops. Guys, if you don't wanna rise up onto your feet, just stay on your knees. You still get an amazing bicep exercise. You ready, Rach? We're gonna rise to standing as we do a bicep curl.

Good, the higher your elbows, the more tension you feel. Let's go halfway down and up for five. Five, four, three. Ooh, she's going really high with her arms. Good, two, and then hold your hover.

Lean a little forward and reach your hands back behind your hips. Presses back, five, four, three, two. Turn your palms in and give me little tricep presses. Make fist, five, four, three, two, and one, hands can go down. Knee can come down.

Take a moment for a cat stretch. It's karma. She makes me do it in her classes, and we're not gonna do anything fancy in between because we have to save time for mermaid. Turn your palms up. Rise.

Cool, and then big moves down and up. First set of five. Five, four, three, two, one. Halfway down you lean a little forward. Palms open, presses back behind that booty.

Five, four, three, two, one. Turn the palms in, bend and extend. Five, four, three, two, one. Knee down, hands down. Ooh, what a great workout.

Hook up your loops. Set up for your mermaid. Shin against the shoulder blocks. Good, take one hand onto the foot bar. Slightly in front of the shoulder.

Let's stretch. We still have our red on. I think that's good. Rise and reach your left hand overhead. We'll add the twist in next, Rachel.

So stretch, pressing the carriage out. First, look up and point your chest to the ceiling. Then look down and point your chest to the floor. Take both hands on to the bar, level out your shoulders. Pull your ribs and abdominals in like you're doing cat.

Bend your elbows wide, forehead to the bar, push out. Three, two, and one. Then you've got your swan here, lift up. Three, two, one, and you always wanna come out of the exercise the same way you got in. So slide your left arm forward.

Find the side, rise, left hand overhead. Good, and you know, you can just kind of swivel your legs to get into the other direction. Watch, you just go like this. I know, I don't know where I learned that from, but okay. So hand is on, sitting tall.

We'll just stretch to the side, and then rise, and then we'll add our twist. Look up first, look down, take a wide grip. Pull the ribs up, try to get that stretch in the T-spine. Bend your elbows, push three. Try to push evenly in both arms, two and one.

Into the swan, three, two, and lift, press out. Bring your right arm to the center. Come off to the side. Rise to come up. Ooh, that was such a fun class.

Well done, guys. (Rachel clapping) Thank you. That was so fun. I love using her props. She's such an inspiration.

Definitely have to check out Rachel's classes and her equipment. Thanks for joining me, guys, and we'll see you soon. Bye.