Sync Reformer

Yeah, hey everyone, it's Erika Quest. Are you ready? It is time for sink. Let's link and sink in this full body reformer session together. We're gonna be playing with some functional moves, whole body ways to train your body.

I want you to think about unleashing your inner athlete, but you're gonna walk away feeling incredibly connected and synced to go and do your life. Now here's the deal team, I want you to get ready for your setup. So look at my reformer. I've got my foot bar down. You're gonna notice that I have my box on the floor next to the reformer.

I've got a little bit of space in between my reformer rails and the box. It doesn't need to be a ton, but enough to give me like some hand room 'cause we'll get over there momentarily. You'll notice that the edge of my box is set up right at the wooden edge of this studio reformer's carriage. And here's the deal. You might be working on a different reformer than myself, and that's okay.

I'm gonna try and give you some ideas on how to modify and change things as we go along through this session for you. Maybe your reformer's on the floor, maybe it's up a little bit higher, so I'll do my best as we go through this session. Now let's talk about spring tension before we actually get started with your warmup. We're gonna stay relatively light for this entire session, so start yourself on the lightest spring that you have on your reformer, and we're gonna move down to the foot bar side. I also have a towel handy.

I'm not gonna lie, this session might get a bit sweaty. But I'm not asking you to do my best, I'm asking you to do your best. So let's sink together. Have a seat on your foot bar if that feels good for you. Now again, I'm gonna start off with a modification or just something to think about.

If this doesn't work for you or your hips, maybe you could stand behind your reformer and you could put a long box on your reformer and do many, if not all of the things that we're gonna be doing in this warmup. But if you're coming with me, let's get started. So place your hands on the edges of your carriage and just see how you feel seated on your foot bar, right? Everyone's body is a little different. So you wanna find the best placement for your bottom.

From here we're gonna slide that carriage out. And then you're just gonna bring it back home. Just see how that tension feels. Again, I'm on a very light spring right now. I'm not doing anything necessarily big right now.

I'm just moving the carriage away with my arms and I'm bringing it back in. I'm opening my hips a little bit, but now we're gonna add some spine mobility. So I want you to nod the chin to the chest, roll down. Let that carriage go out, use that back extension, and that lifted off the chest to bring yourself back. So you're doing a nice body wave, right?

It feels like you're maybe headed towards a little bit of a Zumba class, if you do Zumba, a body wave. I don't know, I don't teach or do Zumba, but I think about that when I'm doing my spine mobility. Give me two more in this direction and then we'll reverse it. Just starting to wake up what's happening in your body, wake up what's happening through your spine, see how your arms feel. Good, and as you come back in, let's reverse it.

Lead with that chest and then round and bring yourself back up. It should feel good just loosening up those joints, seeing how you feel in your body right now. It's important to get a good warmup in. Just before we start to do some of the more inner athlete things that I have planned for you. You got two more here.

(Erika exhales sharply) Breathe how it feels natural for you. I will coach the breath at times, but I want you to do what feels good for you. So from here, one hand go center, we're gonna add rotation. Hello, and come back. Other side as you rotate reach.

Maybe turn that head from side to side as you're doing this. See your fingertips in your peripheral vision if you can. And twist that spine a bit, right? So we're just trying to get different planes of motion through that body as you're heating up your body and getting that nice warm warmth through all the way through to your distal joints if you can. Two more.

Distal joints, what do you mean, Erika? I'm talking fingertips and toes. We're not quite there yet, but we'll get there in just a moment. From here, let's add some propulsion. So give me a little hip hinge forward and start to press that carriage out and in.

So a little bit of jumping with your arms here, a little coordinated movement. Starting to feel maybe a little bit more something happening in your legs. Press through your legs on the floor because I am gonna ask you to come up into a little bit of an isometric squat in a moment. Three more. And then let's go straight into single arm.

Last one, catch it, then push. Catch just with one arm. Yes. Now you can see that I'm doing a little bit of an arm bend with the one that's not catching and there may wink, wink, be an exercise along down the line at the very end of this workout that is called a kneeling sprinter, that you'll be doing some of these movements with your arms. Four and three, good.

Two and one, give it a rest. Now, if you're willing and you want to, I'm gonna amplify this a little bit. All I want you to do is give me a little isometric squat. Try that arm jumping here just to start to heat up the legs a little bit more and keep that coordinated effort with the arms. Five, four.

Can you go into single arms straight away? I'm gonna try it. Last one. It doesn't matter which one you start with, just push it, catch it with one. Push it, catch it with the other.

Good, press and catch. Legs are heating up. Core is nice and stable. Arms are working hard. You're doing coordination all at the same time.

You've got six, and five, and four, and three. Remember I said inner athlete? That means what's going on in your body today. Two more, and one, and rest. All right, so we're gonna move right on over to that box, seated next to the reformer.

But we're gonna start standing. So from here, what I want you to do is pick up the loop that's closest to you and I'm gonna ask you to put it on like you're wearing a backpack. Okay, so I'm gonna be careful because you can see that I have an armband on this side. So once I'm set, I'm gonna bring my fingers back behind my head. I'm gonna drop my tail down just a little.

I'm gonna pull my head into my hands and I'm simply gonna start to take a hip hinge. And how does this feel when I'm tethered with the rope coming from behind and a little bit off to the side. I'm taking a hip hinge here, right? Similar to what they call in fitness, a double leg deadlift. But we're in weight bearing doing some lower body work, some hip hinging, and starting to understand where our dynamic flexibility is on the backs of our legs so that we can just start to warm up and feel the lower body in a different way.

The core is nice and stable here. Two more. We're gonna get to the other side and you'll see how it feels when you get to the other side, I'll flow you there. But in between we've got a little bit more to do. We're gonna go into triple flexion.

So from here, what I'd like for you to do is take a little bit of a knee bend and a hip bend and an ankle bend into a squat. Now here's the deal. I already feel like I'm being pulled backwards, which is a good thing for me because I wanna be on my heels when I'm squatting. Okay and remember, your range of motion is your range of motion. Don't judge it.

Maybe you can get all the way down to the box today. And if that's for you, that's great. But if it's not, that's fine too. Good, give me three more. So thinking about what's happening in your ankles, what's happening at your knees, and what's happening at your hips, and trying to stay back on those heels.

Great job. From here, we're gonna stay, but we're gonna unhook. Excuse me, we're not gonna stay, we're gonna pivot. So my back is gonna face you, but you don't need to see what I'm doing. You're gonna place one foot up on the box.

And make sure that you're in a nice wide base of support, a nice big base of support. Bend those knees. I have my fingers back behind my head. Bend both knees into a biased frog squat. And as you rise up, you're gonna bend over towards the flip bar.

So inhale as you bend your knees. (Erika inhales deeply) Exhale as you press and side bend. Inhale, bend and exhale, press. Good. And give me four more.

So think about what's happening here. You've got lower body happening, you're tethered with your backpack strap. So you're moving the load of the carriage with your body and your side body. Last two. I think I'm on task with my counting, but I might give you a bonus repetition.

Last one, fantastic. Now we can take your backpack strap off. So I'm gonna take this off of my arm carefully and have a seat on my box. Now if your box moved a little bit like mine did, just readjust it. And you're gonna take this strap and load up your foot.

What? Erika, this is crazy. I know, but I got you. You're on a stable surface with the box, don't worry. And from here, place your hands on the back of your box, somewhere where it feels comfortable.

So you have your foot in a loop, you're now tethered at the foot from behind and off to the side. So that's gonna make your side body have to activate more and just start to test the waters and press out and in with that leg. So you're straightening your leg and you're bending that leg. Now can you push down into those arms a little bit more and lift your chest? I don't know.

Again, we're testing the waters because if you want to and you're willing, you're gonna come along the journey with me. So this is your seated leg press. And if you'd like to stay here with me, let's see how it feels to leave that leg straight. So now we were in the bent knee and now we're in the straight leg. So bent knee to a straight leg.

Now this requires a little bit more flexibility on the back of that leg. So your range of motion may go down and that's totally fine. Three more please. And two. Are we done yet, Erika?

Not quite yet. Come back to that bent knee. Now let's add in a little bit of a unilateral bridge. So what I want you to do is I want you to press up for one, push out for two, pull for three, have a seat for four. Can you do it? Here we go.

Press up for one, push out two, bend for three, lower for four. And lift, and reach, and bend, and lower, good. Lift. So a little more work through that floor leg now. Yes or yes?

Good, two more. And reach and bend and lower. Last one here. Up and reach and bend and lower, great. Should we try maybe a few staying lifted with a straight leg?

I mean why not? Oh, my gosh, this inner thigh is starting to burn. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take that tricep press into your bridge, straighten the leg. Can you leave that leg straight and come up?

Five, whoo, and four. You got it team. And three. I got you, don't worry. Two, and last one, fantastic.

Have a seat. Now we're almost done on this side, but before we get there, I'm gonna say a word that might make you have a panic attack, but I got you. I'm gonna get you through this. We're gonna build a burpee, okay? If you don't know what a burpee is, it's a whole body integrated move.

You can see that I have moved my loop from my foot all the way up above my knee here. And again, we didn't talk specifically about loops, but if you're dealing with like double loops here, you might wanna switch into your shorter one. With your loaded leg, I want you to carefully and safely use the rails if you have to bring that foot or that set of toes up onto the box. Again, I love micro adjustments if you need to make them meaning shimmy shimmy be forward or back. No problem.

Reach your arms up. Find that space in your body where you're really lifted, right? That sense of internal suspension, that load is bringing your leg slightly back into hip extension, which feels actually really nice. Now here's the deal. Start to hinge from your hips and see how it feels to head towards the floor.

If you can only get to the rails, no problem, nobody's gonna judge you. And come back up. Try a few. Even though I feel like I really wanna look to camera, I'm going to stay away from that and avoid it right now, so that I can keep my focus and my balance. I made it to the floor, I'm super pumped.

Whew. And start to feel what's happening on that glute, now that's your floor leg should start to feel some activation. Good. So you're down at the floor and if you're there and you wanna fully build the burpee, come with me. We're coming down to the floor.

Place your hands down. It's like you're in a runner's start. Pick up the floor leg, put it on the box. Pick up the loaded leg, pull three times. Three and two and one.

You did it, toes go back down. Box leg goes to the floor and you, whoo, stand it back up. Not easy. You can do two more, I know you can. Let's go, come on.

Hands to the floor. Foot up. Pull three and two. This is crazy, Erika. I know, but it's so effective.

This is inner athlete time for you. You got one more team and then we get to take a little break before we go to the other side. Make it your best one if you can. Pull, watch those shoulders. Two, nice, strong, stable core.

One, good. Put that foot down, safely stand all the way up. You made it, let's safely dismount. Bring that foot that's loaded or the leg that's loaded down to the floor, have a seat 'cause the box is there for a reason, and unhook that loop. Place it on your peg.

Yes, we have the other side to get too. But this is called sink for a reason, I'm gonna flow you to the other side. So let's do a box change and a spring change. Bring your box onto the reformer in a long box setting. Okay, then come on down.

I'm on a very light spring right now, so I'm gonna actually come up to a medium spring and I'm gonna have a seat on my box. Facing the foot bar, I'm reaching back, I'll pick up my loops. And you guys know I love a backpack. So we're gonna do that here as well. I'm gonna safely again, take my moment so I don't ruin my armband and place this all the way up to my shoulders.

Okay, now from here, bring your fingers back behind your head. Use the head, pull it into the hands so you get that beautiful upper body activated right now. And take a nod of the chin to the chest, roll down in between the legs and then shoot the head through and lift. Ah, you're welcome. Good, do that again.

Nod the chin to the chest. So we're back into some nice body waves, similar to our warmup but different, right? We're loaded from behind us with these loops, which just feels actually really nice. Taps you into your back body. It feels lovely.

Give me one more in this direction. And you bet we're gonna lead with the chest as we go forward with the next one. So keep that chest in that heart center open as you lead. Yes. And then round and rebuild yourself as you come back up.

Feel that buoyancy through the body now, that lift of the spine and that beautiful spinal mobility that we all know and love in Pilates or Pilates based exercise. Good. And round and restack it. You've got two more and please enjoy these because what's coming next might not make you very happy. But just a reminder, we are channeling our inner athlete with this sink session.

And the good news is you don't have to do a hundred of them. I'm gonna say like maybe let's go for three to five of these. Here's the deal. I want you to move forward on your box, okay? You need a thoroughfare behind, behind you, excuse me, for a reason.

Maybe I'm getting choked up here too, because I'm a little nervous. Reach your arms forward, give me a little lift of one leg. See how you feel here. Are you good? I think I'm pretty good.

So I'm gonna then lift my other leg. And although I wanna look at you this whole entire time, I'm gonna resist my temptation 'cause I'm in full balance. And where am I headed? I am headed down. Down, down, down safely.

Good, I'm down to my lower back. I've brought my pelvis with me and now I'm coming where? Up, up, up, up, up. I made it. Did you make it?

I hope you did. Let's do it again, so here we go. Take it down. I don't know, I'm inhaling here because I really feel like I need that exhale to get me back up. Whoo.

(Erika exhales sharply) And I needed it on that one. Oh, the waves are beautiful today, I'm gonna focus on that. For this last repetition, you guys think about what's working for you as you get down with control. And then as you come all the way, whoo, back up with control. Nailed it.

Place those feet down. Let's safely take our backpack off and guess what, we're gonna rinse, repeat that whole long box on the floor section on the other side. So one loop comes down onto the peg and my other loop is gonna come up and over my armband. And as a reminder, I changed my spring. You may have, you may have not.

So I'm gonna go back down to my very light spring and I'm gonna set my box back up on this side of the reformer. As a reminder, I'm a little away from the edges of the rails and my edge of my box. The long or the short edge of my box is in line with the wooden edge of the carriage. All right, so it's backpack time again. So remember, if I didn't say it earlier, each side is gonna feel very different so don't judge yourself.

You're gonna, whoa, clearly. You can see it on me already and that's okay, right? There's no judgment. Perfect is overrated, team. Bring those fingers back behind the head.

My feet are a little bit wider than hip distance apart. Remember I dropped my tail a little bit to engage my lower abs, but I'm not tucking my pelvis. Pull your head into your hands and give me that hip hinge. Good. Shine those tail feathers backwards.

And I forgot to mention this on the other side, but my knees are not locked out. They're kind of like in this nice, little mini, softly bent position. And I'm really kind of just focusing in on what's happening on the side of my core and the back of my body because of the angle that the rope is coming in from as well as what's happening on my hamstrings. Give me two more. And then you know how we do team, we're headed into those squats or those knee bends if that's what's for you today, right?

And that box is there for feedback and information. So from here, see how it feels to start to squat down. Ooh, that's where I got to micro adjust again. Squat and stand on up. I'm taking my arms forward now.

It helps me create a bigger base of support. Squatting in this position is challenging because you're being tethered and pulled backwards, right? If I let this load do what it wants to do to me, or it did what it wanted to do with you right now, what would happen? You'd probably wanna like, ooh, twist your body. And I'm asking you to stay relatively facing forward and resist that temptation.

One more, please. Squat and standing on up. Great job. So we are headed into, oh sorry, I get to face you now. I wanna keep taking my backpack off, but you got to keep me honest, you guys.

We're gonna go into that sumo squat with the lateral flexion. So remember that nice, big wide base of support here. We're gonna take that knee bend and then that lateral flexion over. Yes, oops, see, there is micro adjustment number 14 on this session. Come down and go for it.

Yes, try to keep your chest relatively lifted here. You're not sticking your booty really back that far, 'cause we're focusing more on inner thigh here, outer thigh, definitely all lower body as well as side body. Two more, then we get to sit down for a sec. Good, last one, and over. Very nicely done.

Let's unhook that backpack. Whew, getting a little sticky that means I'm sweaty. And again, if you need to, just move your box a little bit and have a seat. We're loading up our foot. So as a reminder, I love to test the waters first.

So remember we're coming from the side on the load and behind. So you're biasing more to an inner thigh or you're using more of an inner thigh on your moving leg right now. So just press out and in. And if you're breathless like me right now, congratulations. So we're starting with that bent knee press on this side.

Whoo, feeling that inner thigh for sure. Now leave that leg out and let's go to that straight leg. Remember, range of motion might be smaller because we are going into a little bit more of a challenging lever length here as we lift and lower this leg. Good, you've got two more. Ooh, I can really feel this is a different side for me, and that's okay.

Bend that knee again. Remember let's do three of those tricep presses to bridges. Push out, bend, and lower. There's one, you got two more. Press up and reach.

Bend and lower. And last one here, press up, and reach it. Bend and lower. Little mini break. It's big kahuna time, are you ready?

Leave that leg straight and press up. And can you lower and lift that leg? For five, good. And four, whoo. Three.

That's the fancy term for, I'm sweating here. Two, good. And one. You made it team. So it's build a burpee time on this side.

And then we're gonna move to a short box on the reformer. All right. No, we don't get to do the body waves on the long box again. That was your, that was your nice little active recovery in our flow through. From here, we're building our burpee.

So remember, use your rails, safely bring your loaded leg up onto your box. Hop your floor leg forward. First, just notice, right? You're coming up, you've got a little bit more hip extension here. Notice where your pelvis and your body's at in space.

We're in weight bearing, meaning our body's in gravity, it's super important 'cause this is how we live life. Arms reach to the ceiling and test the waters. Come down. Did you make it all the way to the floor the first time? Awesome.

If you're just working in to where you can make it, and this is as far as you go, it's great. Find that floor leg. Really find that heel on the floor leg. Touch down and bring it up. And if this is where you stay today, that's totally fine.

If you wanna build the burpee, we've got three of them ahead right now. So you come down, you plant your hands, you take your floor leg up to the box, you pull for three. Yes, and two, loaded leg stays bent. And one, good. Tuck the toes.

Leg comes back to the floor. Whoo, stand it up. That standup part is the hard. But life is about getting what, up and down, so let's do it again. Two more, team.

Come down, boom. Hit it for three, and two, and one. Good, tuck the toes, floor leg lands. Stand it up. Oh, yes. Inner athlete is on.

Last one, we got this. Come down, plant the hands. Hit the box with the other leg. Bend for three, bend for two, bend for one. Good.

And then box leg comes to the floor and we are back home. Yeah, baby. All right, so let's remove this loop. I sat down on the other side. I'm feeling pretty confident that I wanna ditch that loop at this point in time.

So I did it safely. And I'm gonna move my box now onto the reformer in the short box position. So short box position, right up against the shoulder rests. And I say that because that means something. So for this position, we're gonna be right up against the shoulder rest.

I'm going back to a medium spring, okay? So I've gone some from very light to medium. You may need to make some micro adjustments on your weight, but that's where I'm headed and I'm gonna have a seat. So as we get into this position, we're gonna load up our legs. So these loops are gonna come over your knees and we'll talk about your hand placement.

I happen to have the reach with my arms that I can get back onto the carriage without a problem. If you happen to have a little bit of a shorter lever, totally fine. You may wanna have a couple of yoga blocks handy so that you can place your hands down on a couple of yoga blocks. It just makes your reach a little bit easier for you, but not easier in a bad way. We want you to be successful at this.

So do what feels good for you. Pause me for a second if you need to get situated, that's totally fine. And once you're situated, bring your legs up into a tabletop position. Push into the carriage or your yoga blocks, whatever you're working with., and just come into a lower and a lift of the legs. Down and up.

Yes, big time abs here, right? Try and keep your pelvis relatively stable. Stable, okay? So you're not rocking and rolling your pelvis here a ton. You're really trying to keep your trunk as stable as possible.

Good, we're gonna get to five on these, so you've got one more. (Erika inhales deeply) Exhaling as you pull up now go to a diamond. So just open the knees and do the same thing. Diamond shape, pull it up. You are gonna feel different muscles activate of your core as you do this.

And pull. Maybe those obliques, right? Those muscles that are closer to the sides of your waistline. I think this is three, yes. Last two and then we're gonna circumduct, meaning make circular patterns.

Last one here, nice and controlled. Hold that diamond. Now close it up, lower, open and lift. Ooh, fancy, right? Right, so we're just getting a little hip mobility here as we go through this series along with abs on fire.

Good, let's do four in each direction. So I think this is number four here, let's reverse it. So open, drop the diamond, pick it up. (Erika exhales sharply) I mean, don't really drop the diamond. If you have a diamond on your body, don't drop it and pick it up.

You got two more, make them your best. Where's your inner athlete right now? Focus in on that. Last one, good, and squeeze and lift. You made it.

Now here's the deal. We're coming back down into that position. All we're gonna do is take one loop out of the equation. So the loops are coming off of the knees and only one arm is gonna start this. I'm gonna start with my left arm.

So choose the arm that's closest to me. I'm coming back into that position that I was in before but only with one arm. And I'm lifting my opposite leg to my loaded arm. From here, you're gonna punch the sky, and extend the leg and pull it back in. Maybe you do that on an inhale.

(Erika inhales deeply) Boom. And exhale, you bring it back home. Yeah, make it strong, team. And reach, you just got five. Last two and reach.

I'm still smiling, I can't believe it. Right, we're moving with joy in this whole entire series of flow. Great job. So give yourself a moment, because, yes, we have double leg coming and then we're turning onto the side. Ooh, and I do believe that that's a sweat.

So hopefully, or a sweat drip, so hopefully that makes you feel better. Come back down, bring both legs up. Let's go for three to five of these. We'll see how I do. And reach, pull it back home.

I'm slightly off center with my legs now, team. You can see there's a little bit of a different angle and that's okay. Here's three. Boom, my legs are shaking and that is okay. Two, good, make it strong.

Last one and boom. And bring it back home, fantastic. Turn and face me please. We're moving to the side. Yes, you got to do the other side, but I'll give you a little break.

Bring your hand down onto the edge of the carriage. Your hip is up on that reformer. Test the waters. Give me a bicep curl to a punch. Whoop.

And activate that bicep, bring in the shoulder. Boom. Push the carriage away. Strong arm on that carriage arm. Great, let's add a leg extension on this one, please.

So you're gonna give me the bicep and hit that line, right? Nice big long energy line here. Feel that sense of opposition from the leg to the arm. Let's get five of these banged out. So I think this is three.

Good. And last two, come on. And then we're gonna go prone, meaning on your belly. And one. Yeah, just a technical term, right?

Not always the easiest way to switch into, but don't let go of your loop. We can do it together. So come on down to your pelvis. You're gonna switch to a forearm here on the carriage if that feels good for you. So I'm down on my forearm, I'm pressing the carriage away.

My free arm is out back behind me on my side. I'm just gonna bicep curl, overhead press. Unilateral, right? What does that mean, Erika? We're just using one rope.

So you're gonna feel things in your body have to stabilize to keep you facing down towards the floor. You got two more. Bend down, reach. Boom, boom, boom. And last one.

Bend down, reach. Awesome job. Now here's the deal, team. We have to rinse, repeat all of that. And to do that, let's start back at sitting, okay?

We're getting close, close to the grand finale. But I'm not gonna spoil it for you. Let's get through the other side first. So as I wipe my sweat away, you're gonna pick up that other loop. Remember, you're gonna reach back, find that carriage, opposite leg to the loaded arm and you hit it.

Hit and bring it back home. Bicep curl, and hit, and bring it back home. I'm still smiling. I got you. I told you this whole series was gonna be challenging at times.

It's all about flow. But my philosophy is why are you gonna move if you can't move with joy? So even through the challenge, let's have a good time. All right, you ready? You've got three to five with double legs.

So now you're gonna see how my legs are slightly angled here. Boom, okay, and bring it back. And reach it. Strong through those legs, right? Find that moment at the end.

Boom, arm to leg is reaching. Two more, you got it. We're building. And then unfortunately I got to turn and face away from you for a bit. But you guys know where you're headed with me now.

So we're switching to the other arm. I'm turning to the side. I'm placing my hand down on the carriage and I'm in a little perched clam position with my legs. Push the carriage away, bicep curl the reach. Go straight into it.

Remember we're working out right now. Bicep curl and reach. Whoo. Bicep curl and reach. On this next one, can you extend the top leg?

Bicep curl, punch. Yeah, nice work through the shoulders. Also nice work through the lateral system of the leg. So those abductors a little bit. Two more.

We're gonna make to five of these. That'll get us to about eight or so total in this side series. Good. And then from here, make that nice little pivot down onto your pelvis on the short box. Sorry that one's taken me a little bit.

Place your forearm down onto the carriage. My legs are long and straight back behind me. And I'm taking that bicep curl to the overhead press. We made it to five. And then guess what, team?

It is time for the grand finale before I cool you down and we wrap this session. Two more. And press. Big bold shoulder movement at the end here, and reach. I might be giving you a bonus repetition right now.

I don't know, but congratulations if I just did. All right. So I'm gonna slide off my box to the side and put my peg down on my reformer for a moment. Now here's the deal. Remember I said short box up against the shoulder rest, we've got a little bit of movement and I'll explain why.

This is gonna come away from the shoulder rests like about that much. Here's the deal. You need room for a foot to be on your headrest and a foot to be on your carriage. Now, come with me, let's change your springs. I'm going back to a very light, but don't let that make you feel nervous about this.

You need a lighter spring. So go on your lightest spring and hop on up. You're gonna have a seat on your reformer short box. You need to be kind of towards the back, but don't go all the way back, right? We wanna be safe about this, but I need you to have a good base of support here.

Everything I'm going to do right now can be done seated on this box, okay? So just know that, if you wanna start there, you're gonna start there. If you're willing and you want to, you're gonna grab your forward loop. You're gonna stand up and come with me. Alakazam, I told you it's a grand finale.

Let's lateral raise here. Feel that connection of your inner thighs with the box so you get that beautiful feedback. And you feel safe, right? You're like, yeah, I got this Erika. It feels so much better 'cause I can feel the box.

You've got two more and then we're gonna go straight in to some rotation. The sweat is dripping, I love it. Come on, rotate with me. Good, bring it back home. I'm okay if you take your hips with you here, right?

I don't, it does not bother me if you're gonna let this whole rotation go through the whole body, right? Maybe you're a golfer, maybe you're a tennis player, I don't know. But you would want this to go through your hips. So you're gonna take that rotation, you're gonna bring it back and lower down. Now let's take one all the way above the head.

Okay, get here and allow that to give you a nice side stretch. (Erika exhales sharply) Good, bring it back up and all the way down. Now switch hands. Say a prayer. Don't worry, I got you, okay?

So from here, you are gonna give me a little bit of a sumo squat and you're gonna take your prayer all the way to the ceiling. Are you with me? Good. So start to feel those sides of your body, right? Say a prayer and reach. Keep those hands pressing together to really get you some good feedback.

And now we're gonna side bend it, you ready? Grand finale, up. And then side bend over. Whoo. Bring it back to the ceiling, lower down.

Good, give me two more. We'll just do three, 'cause remember we got to do the other side. Good. And that will culminate with all of our repetitions that we need. And one, great, come up and over.

Fabulous, let's roll it around for a couple repetitions. What do you mean? Come all the way up, hit it, clasp your hands. Strong mind, strong body, team. Let's tip to the side and roll it.

Come all the way around. Boom, boom, boom. Such a good technical coaching cue, right? And then back. Great, let's do one more.

Boom, hit it, strong team. Up and over, roll it around. Get that spine to lubricate. Should feel nice and juicy now. And then all the way down.

Before we do the other side, we got a little bit of a kneeling lunge, sprinter, and some rotation, and then we go to the other side. So bring one knee down onto the edge of your box. My toes are tucked on my headrest, my other foot's just facing forward. Let's sprint. Boom.

You see it? Hips are facing forward right now and we're running on the reformer. It should feel really nice and relatively secure with that box placement. That's the whole point. Two more.

(Erika exhales sharply) And exhale as you sprint. Now hold this sprinter. Can you rotate it? Yeah, bring it back around. I saw you.

You think that I don't see you, I see you. And two, good. We're gonna do three of these, okay? And then we'll rinse it and repeat it all the way on the other side, and then it's time for a cool down. So you got about maybe three to five more minutes of inner athlete on you.

And then we'll finish you up. Great job. So stay up on your box, drop this loop. If you're seated, just turn right around, and stay seated on the other side. If you're gonna come with me, now's the time to pick up that forward loop for all of us.

But if you're coming with me, you're gonna find that position in standing. Okay, feel the feedback of the box here. Grab with the foot bar side arm, lateral raise strong. Boom, gosh. Your view is my view right now.

You're looking at those beautiful waves out in front of me. Good, we did like three to five of these on the other side. So I'm gonna stay safe at four. Hold it, rotate, twist, let the hips go. Yeah.

Twist back, whoo, different side. Feel the back of that shoulder really have to work. Boom, hit. We'll get to three of these. Yes, before we do that one little side bend.

And up, boom, rotate. You got it, this is your last one, make it your best one. Good team. And then we got that one where we come all the way above the head, catch it, and let the load help you side bend for a moment. Yes.

Before we switch hands. So now you're gonna find your prayer position. Press into your hands, feel those chest muscles activate. You're gonna take that sumo squat or that knee bend, and as you stand up, you reach above the head. It's bend the knees, say a prayer and reach, or a sumo squat to a reach, whatever you wanna call it.

Now stay up here with me, hold it, bend over to the foot bar side. Good, come back up and down. Good, stand it up. Up and over with that side bend. Good and lower.

Last one, reach up, and over. Good, and to the ceiling and back down. Now on this last one here, best one, reach up to the ceiling, here's where we go rolling it around. So you're gonna take your side bend. We don't come back down in the sumo squat, we roll our spine out and standing.

Enjoy that and bring it back up. Not that it's easy. Here's where you can take your sumo. I have my hands clasped as a reminder now for more feedback and more stability and a little more strength and power in my arms. I think we did a total of three so give me one more please.

And boom, make it big and bold. We oftentimes don't live so big and bold in our bodies. Make this a bold movement for you because it is, right? And all the way back up, fantastic. Now we've got a sprint.

We sprinted for five and we rotated for three. So remember, keep me honest, my knee is hooked. I'm feeling good, I'm ready to sprint. Boom. (Erika exhales sharply) And two, great job team, you're almost done.

Stay with me. Three. (Erika breathing deeply) And two. My breathing has definitely intensified. This is a good workout, hold it, rotate your sprinter.

Hello. And back around and under. Two more. Yes, sprint, twist it. Find that middle back rotation, we need it.

That major area of rotation of the spine. Last one. Whoo, you got it. This is your last one team, and then it's cool down time. Great, and bring it back home.

Awesome job. Safely have a seat. You do not need your loop or your ropes anymore. Thank God, Erika. But come off of your reformer safely, take your box off, place it to the side, you don't need it anymore.

It's time to step to the end of our reformer and cool down. So I'm just gonna simply place one foot on the floor and my back leg or my foot bar legs are gonna be pretty close 'cause I wanna place my hands on the carriage. And in fact, my thigh is touching the foot bar. So as you're bringing your nervous system back down, take some nice deep breaths here, and just slide that carriage out. Come into a nice lunge.

And whenever I hear my teachers or my instructors say lunge, I always think they're saying lunch. It's not lunchtime yet, at least not yet. It might be in a moment for you. But just come in and out of that knee bend and start to open up the back of that floor leg hip that's closest to the foot bar. And bring your breathing back deep into your body.

(Erika breathing deeply) Good, one more time here on this side. And before we get to the other side, we're just going to step right behind our foot bar with both feet about hip distance. Bring your hands onto the widest part of your carriage and just slide your carriage out and in. See if you could maybe get a little deeper now in your hamstringing flexibility. Wow, it's magic, this Pilates stuff, right?

Or this Pilates based stuff. So just dropping that chest and that head between the shoulders if you can, and bringing yourself back up. Two more. You can softly bend your knees here if that feels good for you. And last one.

Moving in and out of these dynamic stretches. And then again, switching over to that other side, bringing my hands a little bit closer to one another. And I'm just gonna slide that carriage out and in with that lunge, as I wipe the sweat off of my nose. Yes, we do work out in real time with you. It's a real thing.

So thanks for working out with me today. I hope that you'll come back and take sink with me again, or that you'll use pieces and parts of it in other sessions if that feels good for you. That's the whole part and point of this whole playlist and series of flow. Last one here, team, bring your carriage all the way back into the stopper. Stand up with me.

Feel your body on the floor in weight bearing and in gravity. Whoo. Take a look down at those feet. I want you to make the number 11 with your feet so your toes are forward, your heels are back. I'll stand proper and face you.

Inhale, lift those arms up. Yeah, feel that nice, big, bold energy of your fingers reaching to the ceiling. Feel the opposition of your feet grounding into the floor. Flex your wrist. Think about the possibility for the rest of your day.

And open your heart center to me. And thank you for linking and sinking and flowing. I'll see you next time.