Mat Ball Flow

Hi everybody, Tracey Mallett here. Welcome to our Pilates Ball Flow. You need a ball and a mat and let's get going. So spread your feet hip width apart. Hold onto your ball here and we're gonna roll down towards the floor.

Take the ball on your mat, just reach out through the crown of the head, curl through those abs. Reach back out again. Send your hips back. And then curl through those abs. And then we're gonna bend our knees, sit down onto your mat and let's turn around and put the ball in between your knees.

Knees are bent, gonna reach the hands forwards and we're gonna slowly roll down. Keep squeezing the ball, taking the hands over your head. We're gonna start with a deep breath. Inhale here, exhale, just lift the head, neck and shoulders off the mat, squeeze the ball and then inhale and come back. Exhale, lift the head, neck and shoulders, tail bone down.

Squeeze that ball and then come back. Exhale, lift up, up, up. And then inhale, come back. Now, we're gonna go into our full roll up now. Inhale, look towards your thighs, curl up.

Keep that rounding through the spine, shoulders stacked over your hips, and we roll down. Inhale, slight pause, exhale scoop up those abs, reaching forwards as the abs are reaching back in our position. Keep squeezing that ball though, squeeze, squeeze inner thighs, pelvic floor into those abs. Inhale, slight pause, squeeze the ball, curl. Stack the shoulders over the hips and reach forwards.

Pull those abs in and then curl back down again. And inhale, slight pause. Curl all the way up into that C curve. Now, come back, keep coming back until we feel those abs like a little earthquake there. Squeeze the ball, hold it there.

And then continue that journey down. Let's try that again. We're slowing it down on the eccentric phase, that roll down phase, shoulders over your hips. Now, slow it down and just hold it there. Hold it.

Draw in those abs, squeeze the ball. Hold it here, little tremble going on. And then slowly roll back down. Inhale here, exhale, one more time. Slight pause, squeeze the ball.

Back into that C curve position. I just want you to hold it there, feel those abs. Let's take the right hand up and then the left hand up. And then the right hand up. And then the left hand up.

And four. And three. And two. And one, continue that roll down. Four, three, two, reach the hands over your head.

From here, bring the knees into your chest and take the ball just underneath your feet. From here, we're gonna roll all the way up into a little bridge position. Feel those hamstrings firing and then curling back down again. So pressing your feet into the ball, curl through the lower pelvis and lift all the way up into that lower back and then curl down slowly. Inhale here, your abs cause that pelvic tilt.

Draw the belly in, lift all the way up. Try and keep that ball still. Yes, those hamstrings are firing. Couple more. Find that bridge.

Curl down slowly. And let's do one more time. Curl all the way up into your bridge. Hold that bridge position. Let's see if we can lift that right hand over your head and then bring you back.

See if we can lift that left hand over your head and then bring it back and then curl down. Let's reach that right leg up. We're gonna go into some leg circles here, pressing the energy out through the heels just because you just worked those hamstrings, just to stretch it out and then reverse it. Flex the energy out through the heels. And then we're gonna hold it there.

Now point the toe, reach that leg out. Lift your head, neck and shoulders off the mat and let's just circle the hands around, and we're just gonna bring the leg in and out. In and out. Let's do four more of these. Four.

Three. Two. And one. Bend the knee, switch legs and lower your head, neck and shoulders down, hands by the side of the body. Extend that leg up, flex the foot.

And we're gonna do some leg circles here just to stretch out those hamstrings. And let's reverse it, the opposite direction. Energy goes out through the heel. And let's hold it here, point the toe. Lift your head, neck and shoulders.

Reach the hands behind the head and push that leg out and in. Keep that little top leg still and you in that little crunch, little chest lift. And a couple more. And then one more. And then bend that leg down.

Grab hold of your ball. Lift that ball up. Keep your head neck and shoulders in between your ankle joints. We're gonna lower your legs. Bend the knees and bring it into your chest and extend up.

Lower your legs, draw the knees into your chest, lift up. Lower the legs, draw into your chest, lift up. Now, ready, reverse. Bend your knees, shoot out, lift up, bend the knees. Now, looking at your thighs, inhale, reach.

Lift up, bend the knees. Inhale, reach. Lift up, bend the knees. Two more. Inhale, reach.

Lift up, bend the knees. One more. Inhale, reach up, lift up, bend the knees. Now, we're gonna tap the toes. Drop the head down.

Tap the toes, drop the head down. So you're alternating your toes and your head. Drop down. Exhale. Let's keep at that rhythm for four more here.

Tap it down. Head lift. Tap down. Head lift, two more. Tap down.

Head lift, last time. Tap down. Head lift. Wrap the hands around the back of the hamstrings, lift up. Now, from here we're gonna try and roll all the way up and balance in a V sit.

Roll up and balance and then curl back down again. Keep your head off of the mat, keep squeezing the ball. Exhale, curl up, find your balance here. And then curl down, keep your shins level to the sky. Exhale, roll up.

And then back. One more time. Exhale, roll up, balance. Reach the hands forwards, elbows come back. Incline back into your forearms, pull your shoulder blades down and back.

We're gonna go over to the right and then knees over to the left. Keep pressing the hands down into the mat. Knees over your hips. Good, let's do a few more to the right and then to the left. And then reach the legs up.

We're gonna go to the right, to the left in your pendulum, to the right. And your obliques are moving your legs. To the right and then one more to the left. Come back to center. Now, we're gonna drop the legs down, circle to the right, bring it back up to center.

Let's go the other direction. Drop down, circle to the left. Bring you back to the center. Drop down, draw those abs in, circle, look at your feet and your legs. Drop down, circle, follow and back, let's do two more.

Drop down, maybe you make it little bit bigger if you can. And drop down, around, lift up, hold it there. Bend the knees, push up onto your hands. Wrap around. We're gonna do a little rolling like a ball.

So we're gonna roll, balance. Keep the ball in between your ankle joints. Roll. Balance. Inhale, so you are in that C curve position, it doesn't move.

Inhale, back. Exhale, balance. Take the hands behind the back, so your calves here, we're gonna extend those legs as we roll back and extend, curl, balance. Inhale, extend, so you're in like a little pike here. So use your core, ready, pike.

Curl, balance. Curl, balance, just a few more. Two more. Reach the legs. Balance, last time.

Reach your legs and balance, hold it here. Extend those legs if you can. Hold it there for four, for three, for two and for one. Bend the knees. Grab your little ballie, bring your legs together.

Take it in between your shoulder blades, right in between your shoulder blades. Shimmy on down. There we go, so it's nice and comfortable, right in your mid thoracic spine. Circle the hands around, interlace the hands. Now, we're gonna go up onto your toes, your balls of your feet, your heels are off the mat.

We're gonna go all the way over and see if we can press the elbows down into the mat. That's an amazing stretch. Hold it there, 'cause we're not gonna stay here very long. We're gonna go up about two inches. So we go one, two, that's your start position.

We're gonna exhale, lift up and then back down. So think of the ball as mobilizing that mid-thoracic spine, that area that's really tight. And we are going up and down. We are working our abs from extension to flexion. Now, we're gonna add the legs now.

So we go up, open the legs. So now we're gonna get that openness through the chest. Lift up, but we're breathing and back. Your heels are together. It's like a little butterfly or a clam.

Four more. And back. And back. Last time. Open legs wide, now little pulses here.

Now looking in between your legs, little tiny pulses. Feel the burn in those abs for eight. Draw those abs in, seven. Six. Five.

Four. Three. Two and and hold it there. Inner thighs connect together. Circle the hands around, draw the knees into the chest.

Extend those legs in that great stretch. We're gonna go into our scissors here, so drop the left leg down, right leg comes to the chest. We do a pulse, pulse, switch. Pulse, pulse, so your ball is stabilizing and enabling you to lift a little bit higher. Now, we're pulling that leg towards the chest, chest.

Hands behind the head. Four more, four, four. Three, three. Two, two. One, one.

Chair position. Reach both legs up. Hold that position there. Bend the knees, drop the knees down. Circle the hands around.

Arms go over your head. Lift all the way up. And again, circle. Feel good exercise as we come up. Really open that chest, circle, look back and reverse it.

Over, palms up. Circle around, lift up. Inhale, palms lift up. Draw the shoulder blades down and lift the head, neck and shoulders off that ball. And inhale, this is your last time.

So enjoy it and lift up. Continue that roll up. Lift all the way up. Take the ball, put the ball underneath your feet. There we go.

Find that balance. Lift up nice and tall. It's a little challenging holding that ball there. Hold it here. Reach the hands straight up overhead.

Now, continue that roll down. Continue that roll down. Continue. Keep that control. Hold it there, we're not all the way down.

Listen to me and then we curl back up again. Now we go to a straight spine, shoulders stacked over your hips. Keep pressing your feet down into that ball and curl down back into that C curve. You are holding it there. And then curl back up into that stretch.

And let's curl down, curl down. Hold it there. It's gonna get a little bit more challenging. We're gonna lift that right leg up and then come back down again. Lift that left leg up and down again.

One more to the right. And down. Keep that hollowing in your abs. And then continue that roll all the way up. Stack your shoulders over your hips.

Ooh and release. Now from here, grab your ball. Let's turn to your side. Your ball is in the middle of your mat. We're gonna go into some sideline work.

Take the hand behind your head and we're gonna lift up and down. So in your sideline position, the hand is on the ball. Little bit instability there to work into your obliques and lats. And you're gonna lift that leg up. For four, for three, for two, for one, bend your knees.

Bring it in into that stretch and lift. A lot of instability work here and lift. Keep pressing your hand into the ball in that sideline position right in the middle of your mat. And down. And lift.

And down. And lift, two more. And down. And lift. Last time, down.

Hold it here in that leg lift. Transition, bring the knee in. Turn. Front leg lifts. And we press the elbows down and tap.

So you got that back hand underneath the ball, a little extra challenge here. Elbows are coming towards your chest. And press down, legs lift. Couple more. Last time.

Hold it there. Reach the hand with the ball out. Hold it there. Drop the ball down. Step back into your plank.

Bend the knee, reach back out. Come back. Plank. Take it back. Reach.

And in. Take it back. Two more times. Lengthen the arm and leg up into your plank. Push into that ball.

Core is activated. One more, reach and core. Draw in, turn around. Draw the knees together. Switch to the other side.

Leg goes out, hand behind the head. Lift up and down. Up and down, so you've got that sideline position here. So you're in the middle of your mat. You're in between two sheets of glass, it's very linear and the leg is going to the side.

Can you feel those obliques here and your lats lifting up out of the ball. Just a couple more. Now we're gonna bend in. Little stretch. Push out.

And bend. Lengthen that leg out. Keep facing forwards. Inhale. Exhale, just a couple more.

Last time. Hold it there. Transition, turn it around. Reach that right leg, that front leg up and we're gonna depress the scapula as we press down and tap. Elbows are coming underneath the body.

And tap Press down, so you got that unstability with that hand on that ball. Pressing down into that ball and lifting up, a lot of upper body work here. There we go. Just a couple more, everyone. Last time, one more.

Now, we're going to continue, reach the arm and leg out. Come back down. Now into your pushup. Take it back. Arm and leg reach out in two different directions.

Put the hand down, now push on that ball into your plank. And reach. And down into your plank. And back. Lengthen from the center of your body.

Into your plank and back. Ready, lengthen arm and leg from the midline of your body. Now push into your plank and back. One more. Lengthen.

Into your plank, hold that plank. Drop that knee down. Turn around to the side and bring the legs together and draw in. Grab your ball. Now, we're gonna turn this direction.

Gonna come all the way down onto your tummy. Hands are forwards. Now we're gonna rock. So we come up the upper body and then lower body. Upper body.

Lower body. Upper body. Lower body. Upper body. Lower body.

Lift. Lift. Upper body. Lower body. For three.

Two. And one. Now lift that upper body, hold it here in that lovely stretch. Hold it. And then come all the way down.

Lift that lower body, heel click. (Tracey vocalizing) Heel click. Five. Four. Three.

Two. And one more, drop down. Lift yourself all the way up. Grab that ball before it disappears and come back into that stretch. Now from here, we're gonna move the ball and we're gonna put the ball on your shins.

So we're here. So this is your start position. So we're gonna lift the feet off. So we're here. Gonna walk the hands just a little bit further forwards.

Get your ball on your shins. Now, we're gonna push the ball out. Go into a lovely swan position here. Now, from here you're gonna go into a little tuck ball, like a little curve, like a little C curve here and you're gonna tuck the knees towards the chest. We inhale, reach out, look out.

You're in your swan position. Now curl and draw the knees towards the chest. And inhale, push out. Exhale. Try not to sink into the shoulder blades as we reach out.

And exhale, curl, curl, curl, curl, curl. One more, little bit of fun with the ball. Reach out. Exhale, use your abs to curl in. Drop the knees down.

Grab your ball and roll all the way up. Turn around onto your back. Inner thighs connected together. Continue that roll down. Roll down.

Roll down. Take the ball behind the back of the knee, grab onto that ball. Hold on and lift your head, neck, and shoulders off the mat. So in this position, you're in your chair position. You're holding onto the ball and pressing in.

Now from here, you're gonna take your left hand, your opposite hand to your ball and put the hand behind your head. Reach that leg out. We're gonna inhale, lift. Exhale, press down. Inhale, lift.

Exhale, press down. Couple more Hold it here, hold. Take the other hand behind your head. Dip the toe and back. So you got that little scissor there.

A little extra weight of that ball. Let's do four more here. Exhale, four. Exhale, three. Exhale, two.

And exhale, one. Drop that knee down. Lift up just a little bit higher. Feel those abs. And then curl down.

Switch your ball to the other side. Now, hold onto that ball. Lift the head, neck, and shoulders off the mat, so you're in that chair position, compress that ball. Lift up just a little bit higher. Feel those abs.

Now from here, the opposite hand to the ball is gonna go behind your head. And then we're gonna lengthen that opposite leg up. We're gonna drop that leg down and up. And we're gonna exhale as we bring the leg up towards our chest. We inhale, down.

Exhale, up. There we go, resisting that ball. Those abs are firing. Couple more. And then we're gonna progress to that next level.

Take the hand behind your head. Are we ready? So we go down and tap. Keep the head lifted and the legs reaching out. Keep it lifting up.

Try and get your shoulders clearing the mat. Let's do four more here. Four. Exhale, three. Exhale, two.

And exhale, one. Lift all the way up. Drop that knee down and then come all the way down. Grab your ball. Put the ball underneath your hips.

Bend your knees in and reach those legs straight up. We're gonna go into our scissors here just to finish off with those lovely legs. Long legs. And let's do eight more. Quick legs, eight.

Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three, two and one, bring the legs together, hands on to your ball.

Lower your legs just a tad. Inhale to your 90 degrees. Exhale and we're gonna roll all the way over, touch and then curl back again and lower your legs. Inhale, 90 degrees. Draw those abs in so you can roll over.

Touch and then curl back. If this is too challenging, just take your legs over your head as much as you can. Exhale, touch, up. One more for good luck. Inhale, 90.

Exhale, over. Touch. Curl back down again. Bend that right knee in, take that leg down. Give yourself a little bit of a stretch here.

And then bend the other knee in as we switch legs. Bend the other leg in. Ooh, it feels so nice to stretch out those hip flexors. And then bend both knees. Lift your hips up.

Grab your ball. Reach the arms over your head. Curl all the way up. Roll all the way up. Lift up nice and tall.

And release. Let's stand all the way up. We're gonna come into your center of your mat and we're gonna roll ourselves all the way up. Up, up we go. Gonna finish off with a roll down.

We're gonna take a deep breath in, inhale, exhale, touch your toes. Roll yourself all the way up nice and tall. Thank you so much for joining me. Great ball class today. Look forward to seeing you right here back on the mat.

Bye.