EXO Chair Coordination

Hi, everybody. It's Amy havens again here at Pilates anytime. Another exo chair workout. We're integrating hand weights today. So I'm using two pound weights You can use 3 or heavier, but I don't think you need much heavier than 2 or £3. So men, you probably will, but, us gals maybe 2 to £3. Okay.

Full body. You're probably gonna sweat a little bit. Have some fun. We're gonna start on top with some abs. And then we'll get to leg pumps, and I'll tell you where your springs are here. I've got one on the lower arm of the cactus, and then one the other side on the 3rd arm up. So set that now, and then join me pretty quickly swiftly on pop for some abdominals.

I want you to sit on the corner of your chair. We're gonna lay back on the diagonal. Okay? You know the chairs back there. Don't worry. If this bothers you, you can go kind of on a different angle or on the floor, but you're here to work. We're fine. Tuck your knees in.

Get into the core. Let's do the 100. Oh my gosh, right away. In 2, 3, 4, 5, and next. You know the cues here, right, but always thinking about how can you pull those abdominals up the front of your body? The arm's reaching long. Heels pulled together, energy out the toes, not tension, but energy, Let's do 2 more cycles.

Last one. And then we're gonna go into one single leg stretch of each side. He align with sit bone and just make account 1, and 2. That's it. One double leg stretch. Give it a go stretch and in one scissor.

As much of that as you want. Get as much as you want, one straight leg, lower lift, and 1 crisscross. Okay. Let's flow and let's go. We're gonna have a seat.

And right away, let's get those hand weights, everybody. And I love to sit at the front of the chair seat. I'm a fan of that. I'm also short, so it's okay for me to be here. If you're taller body, you probably need a little more room to sit back to have your legs moving.

You probably know that about yourself on your chairs. If you didn't, now you might. So we're gonna start classically traditionally on the balls of the feet. So have a seat for a second, anchor into the sitting bones, catch your breath, and let your back feel tall, and the abdominals feel tall and long. Not tension, but connection.

Right? Everyone reach your arms forward. Bringing your pedal up, please. We're gonna pull into bicep curls as we pump the pedal, and we'll do 8 repetitions. So you've gotta work on your coordination in this class. Uh-oh.

Coordination. 3. Keep those arms shoulder height. 4. Sitting tall. The back of your head is if it's right up on a wall, 6.

7. We'll go to 10, actually. Alright. 2 more is not gonna be too much harder for us to do. So here's our 9. And hour 10. Okay?

Now everyone below the pedal will change the feet to arches down here, And with the arms, next, when you'll have your fist around your weight, your fist towards your shoulders, what the arms will do are gonna rotate and punch forward or reach forward. Okay. But we'll pull the pedal up first. Let's take a breath in. Push the pedal, reach the arms, one. And 2.

Alright. Four limbs in motion. Lots going on for the brain. Not too hard, though, because the the plane of movement we're working in is pretty sagittal, pretty functional. Yep. So think about every time you push the pedal, you can actually ratchet taller up out of the pelvis through the spine, even the neck.

Here's 3. Of course, our shoulders are low. 2 and one and in. Okay? Good. Change it down here. Set your heels on the pedal.

Bring your fist again in front of you, elbows pointing forward, shoulders are low. We're gonna do a little book opener, take a breath, lot of good upper back. So exhale, push the legs, open the arms, inhale, close. This is tricky. Those of us like like to push our ribs forward.

No. No. No. Let's try to keep those quiet here. Work your oblique muscles, and all those upper upper abs took hold the ribs pretty quiet. Meaning still. 5 more. If this is kinda getting your upper neck and shoulders a little bit. Iggy, just lower the shape or let go.

Try to use the legs evenly. 3 Feel that work around the shoulder blade and the upper back too. And one more and in and then set the weights down. And then everybody, we're gonna do one more position on the heels. Stand wide with your heels on your pedal.

Palms face up now. Bring the pedal up to start. We're gonna reach out on a diagonal, a very, like, a carrying angle. Called her scaption angle. Okay? So two things push and reach. Pull the elbows in.

Reach and pull the elbows in. 3. Hopefully, your arms are moving at the same rate. They're moving the same height when they get out there. You don't have one higher than lower.

Part of our proprioception that we know what we're doing here in space. Yeah. 5 more. Press and lift and lift the stomach. 3. And now two more.

It's fun to count and pump and all that stuff at the same time. Okay. All the way in and rest. Alright. So you have choices right now. You could keep this spring tension on the same for single leg pump or drop off one spring. What's Amy gonna do? You know? I'm gonna take one down.

I'm gonna take the low one down. And the reason why is it sets things up for other exercises where I know I want that one, so I'm gonna change it now. And it actually chan challenges the stability. Oh, yeah. In single leg pump because there's less support. Always nice.

And really nice when you're doing some arm work with it. So there's a lot of control that's gonna happen here in the ribs. Okay? So guys put one heel on. Choices, you could have your leg low with the other leg. You could have it bent or straight out a little higher. Start with your pedal up. Opposite arm is gonna do that same single arm reach we did before.

It reaches forward 1. And we're doing 5 with this leg only. 2 3, 4. You got it. And 5, bring it right up and make the change. Other arm punches forward 1.

And 2, try to keep those ribs right over the hips. 4, and 5. Okay. Come back in and do balls of feet on. Now opposite leg, opposite arm is gonna do a you can start with your hands here. It's gonna be easier to work is a bow and arrow movement or shooting one arm over the second leg as you push down. I like to look back over that arm and get some trunk rotation. Okay? Let's call that the 1. Here's 2.

Yeah. Spiral up, never down into your body. Spiral up. One more. 5.

Ready? Other side. And press. And 2, a little complex for the brain, 3, to just stay shoulders over hips, 4, And one more 5 and center. Last thing I want you to do is go back to balls a feet now in the corners and we're gonna try overhead reach, both legs pumping. Ready? It's like the raise the roof move.

And, 2, 3. Not a lot of leg, focus. It's more your trunk, rib, control, 6, we've got 4 more guys. 4, 3, and 2, There we go. 1 and in. Okay. Come on up just standing in front of your petal. Turn around to face it. So I've got the 1 spring now, just on the 3rd arm, if you kept it heavy a minute ago, please take it down.

You don't need that much for what we're doing now, ball of one foot on, long arms by your side. So we're pulling the pedal down We're pulling it toward us, and we're also pressing our arms back, and then arms come forward. So I like to think of this spring moving along toward my standing leg and short in front of the other leg. Those are just Amy's brain waves. Right? The arms are doing the same thing.

Pulling back, pulling forward, pulling back, standing leg stability. 3 more. When the arms come behind us, we don't push the ribs out. They're right where they need to be. Last one, And then you'll change legs.

Arms will do just something slightly different. The arms are gonna do the kickback move with the triceps. Right? So we press the pedal, same muscle focus, different action. Gonna stay tall on your standing leg. Look straight ahead.

There we go. 5 more. Feeling those arms working. Did it fill all five points of your foot or tripod parts of your foot on the floor? No cheating net foot stability, please, too, and one and rest.

Very functional kinds of movements. Climbing stairs, carrying things can get a little tricky. Right? So guys, you're gonna put your weights down And then let's just keep the springs as they are. Come her back around the back of the chair. And I want you to take a hamstring stretch the number 2 hamstring stretch. Right? So let's take a breath in, lift the arms a little bit, come forward round your back. Get your hands on your pedal.

And just for a moment, your hips stay right above your ankles. We're gonna try not to lean into the chair. What stretches is our spine in a longer curve over. Now watch for just a second how my shoulders kind of love to come up. It feels good, but let's keep them a little bit lower on the back ribs.

And then try to stretch in between that as the spine and then pedal back up. And spine elongates over the chair in a curve. Again, let's take 5 of these Here's 4. Pull up in the stomach and 5. Now we're gonna stay down here. Turn your fingertips face in a little bit.

And bend your elbows. We're gonna pump that pedal 10. 9. 8. Lift your stomach before you pump. Lyft and pump. 5, 4, 3, 2, and then hold right there.

Okay. Change this to one arm. I'm gonna take one hand and just slightly move it closer to the center. The other arm out a little to the Notice your balance challenge maybe. 3 times spring down, spring up, or body over, body up. Just three is really all we need.

3 more pumps. 1, 2, 3. Single arm. Feel steady in those legs and pull up. Reach down. Trying to stay hips above ankles.

Best we can stretch long and pull up. Stretch long, 3 more pumps, and a 1, and a 2, and a 3, and roll all the way up. Now in between, we're gonna come into a swan here, but right now, let's just lift the chest. You can let your arms drift back Open up your collarbone, and then stay on nice and tall for a second. Let's go for swan. Alright? Springs are fine. Lie on the front.

Wipe on top. Try to bring your legs up at the same time with you. It's just kinda nice and clean. And then press your pedal down. Usually, that gets this set up also where your shoulder lands right on top of your hand correctly. If you feel like you need to shift a little bit, you may. Okay. Hey, guys.

Lift your stomach up. Try to hover the pedal for just a second. And then let your tummy spill out easier. Right? Let's not do that easy one. Pilates is not meant to be that easy. Right? So we wanna lift it up. Hold, hold, hold, lower yourself down. Do it again. So depending on the spring you have chosen, I'm on a really challenging setting for this body today and down.

One more like that. Now for this one, I'm gonna go bigger. I'm gonna let it bend, and I'm gonna let it come down. Little more full use of the back extensors, even all the way to the tail. 3 more full back expression, right, 2 more.

Wrapped his scapula back. Last one. Now we're gonna do a little single arm with rotation. So same thing. Put one hand near the center, not quite center. Lift your pedal a little bit and then set the other hand on the front of your forehead. Push the pedal and turn to the chest.

And then return. We'll do 5 and lift. Sometimes if pelvis gets wonky, meaning tips and tops around. Well, we work on practicing our Pilates where that pelvis levels and gets more stable and back muscles get stronger. Just know you might feel some wibble wobble.

It's okay. Right? Bodies are really never ever stable anyway. I could get in trouble for saying that, but we're always in motion. Even when we're sleeping, we're not quite stable. Right? But exercise, we're certainly not stable. Turn, turn, turn.

Okay. You got it. Come all the way up. I think you know what I mean. Round your back. When your little prancing here, rise up on your tiptoes and just prance.

Work your feet. Hands can come forward. 8 more, 1 5, 6, 7, and a both heels up, lower, roll your body up. Okay. Coming around the front. Bring your weights with you.

We're gonna do a kneeling side bend. I don't have a pad. I'm fine. We're all fine. Okay? Grab one hand wing. Get pretty close to the chair.

This inside hand, figures are facing forward. We're gonna lift this arm side bend and push down. Ready? Get all this organized. No ribs are pushing out. Read, we press, and we reach over the chair.

We come back in. Let's do 5 over the chair and in. Now I'd like to look over my shoulder Look over that shoulder. And in, exhale, reach over. And then one more, we'll add a little to it here coming up and over.

Now turn your palm face up, And then just let your fore your hand rest on your fore on your head. Feel the tricep stretch and the lat stretch. And then if you'd like to join me for 5 to 8, little more tricep work, why not? 3, Think I'm going straight up. Lower the top of the shoulder.

6 7, and 8, everybody wonderful, turn your hand face the normal way and come all the way to center. Turn yourself around. Got that other side. And on the pedal, fingertips are facing forward, knees pretty close together You could have your feet flat or stacked here on the toes. Ready. We're gonna reach the arm up and side bend toward the chair.

Over Return with control. And up and over, how long can each arm feel out from the trunk of the body. Alright? Feeling the stretch of the sides of you the contraction of the sides of your waist. Ready? Next, when we stay holding there, turn the palm face up, then the elbow and let the hand just rest on the head.

You can stay here or join me for the triceps, lower your shoulder blade, and then we press and 2. It's a nice place to pull the tail down under a little bit. Four more here. We've got it. 4 Keep pushing that spring down. 2, lovely. 1, and return to a stretch, how about one more breast stretch a little farther, and then everybody come all the way up.

Wow. How you feeling? Good? I'm feeling great. I'm gonna have a seat. We're fine on the spring tension.

We actually can just move the weights out of our way. Like here. Spine stretch forward with a little variation to it. So, again, hands on pedal, We don't really have to use our arms much for what I want us to do. I do want us to feel like we're working and moving our our abdominals to our spine to make the spring move. Right? Cause this is just arms and or we can do trunk, stomach to move the spine. Right? And then as you release that, use your arms now to pull down and lift the chest. We'll give the arms a break.

We'll go back to the abs. Pull that back and lift. Pulled the spring and lift the chest and lower. 3 more times. Contract Center.

Use your back right underneath the armpits and up. Last two, contract center, lift the high part of your upper spine, and center one more. My feet are cramping them and then lift lift lift And perfect. Now, guys, lean forward a little bit. Fingers face in.

Once again, we're gonna pump for 10. Make it more arms now. 2. From the side of your back, 3. Pull the stomach back 4. Get some muscles going. 5. 5 more pull.

2. And 34, and 5, and then release. Okay. I hope your worms have strength for the next one. I'm sure they do. We're gonna do a little bit of tricep dipping again.

Turn yourself around. Now to get the hands on the pedal, I usually go kind of a side sit to it, and I have my fingers facing this way. This is my preference. To get that down. That way my shoulder feels safe to pull the spring.

Turn yourself around. Bend your knees put your feet flat. I like to have your hands right at the edges of the pedal. Lift yourself up. Go into a little bit of curl of the tail and the pelvis, push the arms down, and let's just do three or 4 just little dips. Right?

We've done these many, many times. Little dips. Now we'll make it a little more exciting with a layout. And as the leg comes up, we dip, and we stretch. How about 5. Dip. Stretch.

DIP. Stretch. Yep. Last time, poor little arms are shaking. It's so good for us, isn't it? Yes.

Leg and triceps. 1. And 2, we're nearly there guys. We're almost done with this class. We're gonna do 2 more things after these.

Little leg kicks. You've got it last time. Slide that leg in contract. Sit on the pedal. Have you ever done that? You sat on the pedal.

Open the feet a little bit. Got my feet in line with my hips. Feet flat and just feel yourself on your sit bones. Take your arms out to the sides. See this vine twist.

Pretty easy. Let's turn and do our little 3 pulses. 1, 2, 3. And 1, 2, 3. And You could do this with hand weights. I just didn't pick them back up. I think we had enough after the triceps.

Some of you are going to I know you will, and you'll tell me about it. Last one here, And the last one. And I love all that, by the way. Always share what you do because it's exciting, and it's fun how we communicate. Okay. Lastly, Come off that pedal, turn to it, be safe, bring it up.

Stand yourself up. Stand tall. List to a hamstring stretch with a squat. Okay. So take yourself forward, step back a tiny bit, stretch your body, hips above ankles, lift that stomach, And then I want everyone to squat down. If you can, some of you are not loving squats. I know that in your your knees and your ankles, but try to get down kind of low.

Dive up. Lift the pedal. Push it down. We'll do one more. Little squat. Let it be a stretch for your low back.

Whatever that means for you. Lift, lift, left, up with the pedal. And I just have been enjoying finishing the classes here, in my own practice as well as I stand back up. I don't feel finished until I do this. There's just something really nice about lifting the chest and the lungs back up after all that forward bending. And now I feel like I'm finished.

Hey. Thanks so much for joining me. I hope you feel really good. I'm a sweaty mess. I hope you feel good. Let me know how it goes, guys. See you next time.