Quick, One-Spring Reformer

Hi, everyone. We are gonna do a quick reformer flow. So what we're doing today is we're not gonna change any springs. We're gonna focus on unilateral work. So this is a great workout to do if you don't have much time in your day, or just a great add-on to any other workout that you might choose for yourself in that day.

So I have one red spring hooked up onto the reformer. It's gonna stay that way the whole time. Ready? Turn around. Make a diamond shape with your legs.

Give yourself a little bit of room behind you to move backwards onto the carriage and take your straps in your hands. I'm gonna hold on just above the buckles onto the actual ropes. Lift all the way up tall. We'll stop by bending the elbows and lifting the back. Take the arms forwards.

Take the spine down into flexion. Feel the knees reaching down. Heavy, heavy, just opening towards the floor. The collarbones remain open. We take an inhale.

We lift up out of that. Bringing the shoulders forward, bending the elbows and lifting the spine. Taking the arms forwards and roll down. Little spinal warmup. I don't ever really feel like I can do much without moving my spine first.

And up. Shoulders come over the pelvis, elbows bend, chest lifts up. You could even take back extension. I always love back extension. I think we all need it.

And forward and down. Just flowing from one movement into the next movement, and bend, and lift. Making a change. Starts the same. Go down.

Take your torso to your left. Roll up your left side. Come into the center and go down. Rotate your torso in the opposite direction. Roll up that side.

So as we're doing that spinal rotation, can we focus on keeping the stability in the pelvis straight down the center? I almost lost my way there. Let's go the other way to the right. Roll up. Sit up.

Go down the center. Rotate to the left. Roll up the left side. Return to the center. Take the arms a little higher.

Bend the right arm. Reach the left arm forward. This is a little heavy, but we can do it. And center. And rotate The other way.

The free arm that loses tension on the rope. You'll see the rope slack if you're just looking. But if you're moving with me, just feel the arm reaching. Allow the strap to loosen in the one arm while the opposite arm pulls. Rotate.

And center. WE'll just do one more. Rotate spiraling through the spine and center. And spiraling through the spine and center. That's enough of that.

Put the straps away. We're gonna come down onto our side. So I'll start facing you. Scoot the pelvis pretty far back to the edge of the reform. And what I like to do is reach through, rest my arm on the shoulder block, and rest my head on the arm.

You could do any variation of placement of your arm that feels good to you. And we're gonna bring the foot into the strap. Top foot that is. So if it feels like the straps is in the way of your knees, just move a little backwards. Find a long spine.

I'm gonna take my free hand, and put it on the shoulder block in front of me, and push on it like I'm doing a pushup. I'm gonna take that leg straight out and back in. Feel the leg, press the foot, press into the strap. So as you're taking your leg out straight, you feel the connection to the back of the leg. Feeling the back of the leg work before we even move the carriage three.

And bend. Reach out four. And bend. One more. Reach out five.

And bend. We're gonna have to straighten the leg one more time. I didn't lie. We're just changing shapes the straps in my way. So I'm gonna take my arm down to the carriage.

Take the leg front, and back, and front. So I'm moving my leg to the back so much so that I can feel the strap come and touch me in the arm. That's where I know that I've completed my range. Three of five, and forwards. And two of five, holding the spine stable and forwards.

And one of five. Take the leg up. Bring it around to the front and pull back. Take the leg up. Bring it around to the front.

So full circle stability in the spine and up. Are you having fun? I am. Last two. Up.

Controlling the movement of the carriage and back. Just one more. Up. Around to the front and back. We take it in the reverse.

Go forward. Go up. Pull up and around behind you. Down just in front of that arm. It'll graze the arm.

Up and around behind you. Not too far back or your body will be in the way. And down and forward. And three. And forwards.

And two And forwards. One more. Up and around and back. And bend the knee in. Take the foot out of the strap, bring the reformer, and hold that strap in your hand.

Position the arm just over the shoulder and pull straight down and up. Straight down, pulling from the side body. And up and straight down. And bend. Keep the elbow close and straighten.

And bend. And straighten helps me to make a fist on the strap just to control my wrist. And straighten. Now, combine the two up. And I'm gonna tuck my legs.

And I keep running into the frame. And bend and straighten. And up, and down, and bend. And last one. Up.

Three repetitions. Sure doesn't feel like a lot in theory. But in practice for me, it sure feels like enough. Come up with your arm. Let the carriage come all the way home.

Hook the strap up. Sit up. And change sides. Pardon me for a moment while I shift this back a little. And here we go.

Coming through. Positioning the pelvis at the very back end of the reformer. Taking the foot into the strap. I'd like to hold with my foot against the frame so I can step in. And then here we are.

So started with my hand on the shoulder block. And then we go straight out, just tracing the frame, and bend,. And straight out push with that arm and bend the leg tracks just hip height, hip distance. Three and bend. Pushing into the strap as you bend your knee.

And two, and bend, and one. Here's where I need to move my arm closer to my body. We take the leg back and forwards. Work from the back of the leg. And if you don't feel the back of your leg working, it probably will help you find more sensation if you think about softening your knees slightly.

And back, and forwards. Keeping the spine stable. And back, and forwards. Last one Back. This time, we come up and around.

Oh did you hear the cracks? And back, and up. There's another one. And around, and back. Have they made WD-40 for humans yet?

I need that. And center. And two Around, and center. And one more. Up.

Float, control, stabilize. Find the center. Take the reverse. Go forwards. Take it up.

Take it around the back, reaching behind you. And forward, and up, and around to the back. Stirring that femur bone in the hip joint. Forward, and up, and around. Just two more, my friends.

And forwards, and up and around, and forwards. And last one. Up and around, and forwards and bend. Remove your foot from the strap. You can stand on the frame if you need.

I was running into the frame on the other side. So I'm tucking my legs in a little closer, set the arm just over the shoulder joint and pull straight down. So tracking that arm up and straight down to the body. Two, and number three. And bend and straighten.

Holding the shoulder in alignment. And bend and straighten, and bend and straighten. Now, we make a combination. Go up. Resist that spring.

And down, and bend, and straighten. Number two. Up. And from the shoulder blade, down. And bend, and straighten.

One more. Up. Control and down, and bend, and straighten. And bring the carriage in. Hang up the strap.

Make your way up to sitting. How we doing? We are going to... I'm gonna face you first. So a little spin on the carriage.

Come into the mermaid shape. Take the hand onto the foot bar, the other arm down towards the shoulder block, sitting upright first. And then reach out on the inhale. Take your rotation. Come back around.

Hand in, anchoring that sitting bone down as best as you can. And out, and into rotation. And out, and in. And last one. Out.

We're gonna make a change. And around, putting that arm down. Take the other hand to the other end of the foot bar so the two sides of the foot bar. And now come through spinal extension. Pressing that back shin against the shoulder blocks, lifting up and back.

Oh, feels so good. And push out, and come in. Pulling in up and back. Arm that's closest to the front can pull, the other arm can push. And one more.

And back or up, rather in, whatever word, descriptor works best for you. Back down. Hand goes back to the middle. We unwind. Bring the carriage in.

Take the hand to the shoulder. Block holder, shoulder loop holder. Hold onto the reformer somewhere. Lift this arm up. I like the shoulder block, and side bend.

Okay Other side. So the shin is up against the shoulder blocks. The hand is on the bar, the other arm is down. We're up right. And now, we go out, taking the body out straight.

We take rotation, rotating around the stability of that shoulder blade. Come back around. I love this. It feels so good to me. And center.

And out, and around. Letting the head come with the spine. And back, and up. Both sitting bones down as best as you can. Sometimes, it helps to tuck your pelvis a little bit to get that far away sitting bone connected.

And our rounds, and back. Oh, nope, nope, nope, nope. We stay, we stay, we stay. We separate the hands. We come up.

I started looking at the sparkly sparkles in the ocean. I got a little distracted, sorry about that. But I'm back. And out. Using both arms.

One arm pushes, one arm pulls. You'll know which one works the best for you. Oh, feels good. Lean into it. Always thinking about supporting from the front of the body, of course.

And up, and down. And take the arm back. And unwind, and come up. Let the arm come to the shoulder block, or wherever else suits you. And side bend this way.

And then come up. We are doing one more thing. We're gonna turn ourselves around, kneeling at the very front of the reformer. Starting in an upright spinal shape with the hands on the bar. Press out, lengthen the spine down.

Bend your elbows wide. Feel you're stretching the bar apart. Feel the shoulders draw down the back as you straighten your arms again. And then stand up. Not stand up.

Lift the spine. What about that feels like standing up, Meredith? None of it. Sorry about that. So lift the spine is a better way to describe that action.

Bend your arms. Feel the shoulder blades initiate by drawing down as we take the arms back to straight. Slide the scapula down the back, lift up back into the stopper with the spine. And push out, and bend, and reach, and in. We'll just do one more.

And back, down, and bend. And reach the arms back to straight. And lift the body up. And reach the arms up, and take the right arm around. Find the shoulder block.

Where is it? Look back. Find the shoulder block. And side bend, up, and back, reaching into that stretch. And come up both arms up overhead.

And maybe take your eyes with you so as you reach down for the shoulder block, you can see where you're going. Only have to make that mistake once. Bend and reach, and come up. Let's do that one more time through. Reach around, find the shoulder block, bend and stretch.

Use the arm that you're leaning on to lift you back up into space. So you just float up, and reach around behind you. Bend that arm, and reach up and back. And then both arms come up as you come to center. And can you feel that your arms widen out to the side, but softly?

Softly taking up a little bit of space, feeling the stretch across the chest, feeling that stretch all the way out through the arms into the fingertips. And then bring the arms all the way down to the sides of the body. And that's it. Thank you for joining me.