Strength & Restore Reformer

Hello, Tracey Mallett here with Pilates Anytime. Got a great class lined up for you today. It's called strengthen. Strengthen that means we're going for strength and restore. So we'll have some stretching in there to realign the spine.

So think of long lines and strength. All righty. To start off with the first portion of the class, we're gonna be using a foam roller. Now if you don't have a foam roller, don't turn off. You can still do this class without the foam roller.

Or if you've got a ball, you can replace the foam roller with a ball too. So, but the reason I'm using the foam roller is 'cause we're gonna work a little bit through extension, mobilizing that mid-thoracic spine that is very tight. Trust me, mine is super tight too. So this is why the foam roller is one of my best friends. And I kind of wanna show you how you can add it into your reformer workout to really get that benefit of opening up your chest and your midthoracic spine as well as building strength.

All righty, so grab that lovely foam roller. You're gonna place it right against your shoulder rests. We're gonna start with two red springs, two reds, that's two springs. And it's come down. Now what's gonna happen here, you're going to put your butt a little bit closer towards the edge of the reformer.

Feet hit with the part, hands underneath the knees. And we're just gonna roll into a little C-curve here and then curl back up again. Exhale, rolling down.(exhales sharply) Inhale, so let's get into that breathing pattern. Exhale as you exert and you draw the abs in. Inhale as you come back up to a straight spine.

Exhale. Now, hold it here. Release your hands so your abs are supporting you. Reach your fingertips forwards. Beautiful. And we're just gonna add a little rotation, back to center, rotation and keep repeating that as we rotate, we follow the arms. There we go. Are we breathing?(breathing deeply) Hold it there. We go up an inch.

Curl down an inch. Up an inch. Curling down for the lower abs. Up an inch. Draw the shoulder blades down.

Keep that C-curve in the spine. There we go. Rounding through that lumbar spine as much as we can. Lifting those abs in up and back. Okay, let's do four more.

Down and up and down and up and down and up. Last time. Hold it there. Continue the journey down. There we go. So you can feel the foam roller behind. Now, hold that position here.

We're is gonna go up and over and see if we can take our head up and over and then exhale and come back. Inhale (inhales deeply) and exhale. Ooh, doesn't that feel good? And then crawl back up again. And again, remember we start the class off a little slower, but it's gonna pick up pace.

We've gotta realign the spine before we start our workout. Inhale back. Exhale forwards. One more. Are we ready?

Inhale back, look back, look back, look back. And then curl all the way up. Wow, that feels so good. Put your feet on top. You're in your V position.

Now from here, I'm gonna make sure I'm comfy. Hands are behind your head into lace, the hands. Okay, now we're gonna exhale and push out. So remember, we're on two red springs, so you are not too heavy, but there's some resistance there. Now your heels are glue together.

You are drawing the inner thighs, the pelvic floor is pulling up. Now, we're gonna start to add. So from here we go up and over, little extension, curl back. Did you get there? A little extension.

So basically, your eye level is looking to the sky. And then we look forwards to our feet. There we go. So it's like a little mobilization. It's kind of like self massage.

That's why I love the foam roller so much, 'cause it kind of mobilizes the areas of your spine. They're a little tight and just need a little bit of a movement, a little bit of a adjustment and back, da, da-da. Two more. Reach one more and reach and back. Now, coming to parallel, right leg lifts in a chair position, push out and in.

So now it's gonna get a little bit more intense with the leg 'cause we're on a single leg. Now, keep it there.(breathing deeply) Four more. We're gonna increase the intensity. We're gonna extend the leg right now. So we go extend, bend it in.

Extend, so now we'll lengthen out that hamstring. We're feeding our abs 'cause we're on an incline. Those abs are working even harder 'cause with inflection. So we are mobilizing the back, working their abs and landing the hamstrings. Perfect, right?

Guess why we love Pilates so much. Four more. Four and three and two. Now, hold it straight. Oblique twist.

Okay, ready? Bend that knee. Oblique twist, rotate back. Oblique twist, rotate back.(breathing deeply) And back and back. Exhale. Oblique twist.

So it's your shoulder moving towards the knee, not the elbows. It's your shoulder. We always forget that. We think it's the elbow, but it's actually the shoulder. Good.(breathing deeply) One more.

Now, come back, hold it. Give yourself a little bit of a stretch. Flex and point, flex and point, flex and point, flex and point and one more and then come back. All righty, take the hands back behind the head. Other side.

Push out and in. Keep that shin parallel to the sky. Now think of drawing your quad away from your kneecap. So you've got that lengthening of the leg. But be mindful, you're not moving at the ankle joint.

Your ankle joint is completely stable. So you are working your legs to extend those muscles. All righty. So keep going. I can feel my abs. My abs are starting to fatigue a little bit.

Now, they're feeling hot. Good. Whew. Just a couple more then we are gonna progress. Ready to add that little extension, kick and back. Think of lengthening those legs all the way up to the sky.

Lengthen and lengthen. Be mindful with that. We not moving that supporting ankle joint. Keep it super stable. Good. Lengthen.

Two more, everyone. One more. Hold it there. So it's nice and straight now. All righty. Okay, we go down, and straight up.

Down, straight up. Down. Straight up. Down. Straight up.

Good. So that lengthening, that leg comes up. Couple more. Now, we're gonna add the oblique twist. We go center, oblique twist, center, oblique twist. Center, rotation.

Remember, it's your shoulder towards the knee. Super important. We get that nice rotation. So the leg is coming to the midline of the body and your shoulder is moving towards the knee. Getting that nice crisscross there. Woo-hoo.

Exhale.(exhales sharply) Are we breathing? Super important to breathe. Work that transverse. Couple more, everyone. Give me one more.

Come back to center. Hold that leg. Here we go. Flex and point, flex and point, flex and point, flex and point. Bring it back. Now, reaching the hands forwards.

Just gonna extend back to now. Big circle around and come up. And again, big circle around and back. Big circle around. Now, reverse the circle.

Circle and back as far as you feel comfortable to go back. Watch your head, neck and shoulders. Da, da-da. One more. Da, da-da. Now, we're gonna adjust ourself a little bit more.

So we're gonna come up to here, just ourself a little bit further back. So we're sitting up a little bit higher now because you see I'm a little bit higher. I've moved the foam roller a little bit lower. So now we're gonna work a little bit into our abs 'cause we are here. Let's take the hands back behind the head.

We're gonna push away and we're gonna add like a little baby jump. I've not changed the springs, so I'm not going very far. It's like a little hop. And this is just to fire up your core. There we go.

Can you see my feet are barely moving off of the bar? But it's intense in that lower abs. There we go. Let's do 10 more. We ready?

Go! 10 and nine and eight and seven. Keep breathing. Six and five and four and three and two and one, woo-hoo. That was a nice little ab burn there. We're gonna turn around and go the other direction.

So now, we're gonna take it to, I'm gonna take it to a blue spring. You could do a blue or a red, half or one. I'm gonna go today with a half spring. So we're gonna come this direction here. So we're keeping the foam roller.

We're gonna keep that little guy right there. And we're gonna pick up our straps. Now, I'm choking them up a little bit and we're gonna roll down. So we're gonna hit the actual back, heel lumbar spine on that foam roller. Now from here, we're gonna lift the arms, circle them around and back, lift palms up and around.

Lift palms up. There we go. Lift and around and up. Circle around. Let's reverse it.

Around lift up so you've choked up, a little bit more. Just to give a little bit more intensity here, 'cause the straps are a little bit long. So that's why I'm holding on forwards a little bit more. Couple more. That nice circle with the arm joint.

One more. Now hold here. Go to the smallest straps and palms are up. This time again, we go straight up. Straight down. Open wide.

And straight up. Straight down. Open wide. Inhale up and then exhale out. Just breathing. There's no right or wrong to breathing. I suppose the wrong is not breathing right.(laughs) If we wanna look at it like that.

Up and down, keep looking towards your size and take it up and down. And that's the two more.(exhales sharply) Last time, everyone, ready? Lift up and then open. Now, it's gonna get a little bit more challenging. I'm gonna choke it up just a little bit more to hold on.

To give a little bit more resistance here. Are we in a chair position? Choke it up. Beautiful. From here, we're gonna lower the legs, curl, reach overhead, come back, lift those legs up, drop the legs down. Palms are going straight up to the sky.

We come back. You ready to lift those legs up? There and again down. Palms up. Look over. Oh, it feels so amazing. Come back.

Lift those legs up. Two more. One drop back. Center. Lift up. Last time. One reach over, back.

Hold it here. Single leg stretch.(exhales sharply) Lower down. And a down. And a up. And a little lower and a high. Reach with those hands.

Da, da, da, da that rhythm them. And precise. Move and take it down, and up. Take it down, and up. I'm making you think about it and it down and up. Last time. And it down, and up and up and chair.

Now, we are going for it. We are gonna go up into a prep for a teaser and then we curl back down again. Let's just hope, it stays there.(laughs) It did. And roll all the way up. But if you are very quiet and controlled, the foam roller won't move, will it?

But if you are not controlled, it's gonna move. So you gotta keep that foam roller there. So there's your goal for today, okay? Roll all the way up, elongate, bend the knees. Shaky, shaky, come back, curl, slow and controlled.

It's harder to do it slow and controlled, 'cause I've gotta work. Work harder to control it. Can we do two more? Yes, we can. Don't listen to your mind.

Just do it. Just listen to me. One more. Curl all the way up. Hold it there. Can we move? Can we do like a little row?

Elbows high. Can we? Did that foam roller move? Yes, it did. Because I'm moving. Can we do it?

Come and do the challenge with me. We are all, none of us are perfect. We try every day to get a little bit stronger. Bend your knees if you need to. Woo-hoo. Two more.

My legs are shaking just like yours. One more. Hold it there. Hold it there. Hold it there. Bend the knees. Yes. Amazing.

I understand that was challenging, but that's why I'm here to challenge you a little bit further out your comfort zone. So let's get up. We know we love the foam roller, but I'm gonna put the foam roller away, just over here. We don't need it again, today. So what we're going to do now is some core work.

We're gonna take it to either a blue spring or a red spring. I'm actually gonna work at a blue, but if you need a little bit more support, then I would go to one red. So from here, we're gonna come forward, work up a little bit on our planking here. Four arms are down. Now, think of pressing the hands together.

So you're pressing against the shoulder rest. Now from here, we're gonna take your right leg, we're gonna push out, so that leg is straight and strong. Okay, so the leg is straight and strong. Now from here, the other leg is going to join it. So your legs are straight and strong.

We got that. Now from here, we're gonna lift up into a pike and we're going to inhale, come back into your plank. Exhale, lift all the way up. And inhale plank. Exhale, pyramid.(exhales sharply) And inhale plank.

Here we go. Look out. Exhale pyramid. Inhale plank. And then exhale pyramid. Hold it there. Let's see if we can lift that right leg up.

And that stretch. Bring it back. Keep that carriage in. As you lift the other leg, bring it back. Back into your plank here knees to chest.

Power through it. Four more. Four and three and two and one. Hold it there. Bend the knees in. Drop one leg down.

Bring the cavity in quietly and roll all the way up. Turn around onto your back. Changing the springs to two reds now. We're gonna put our feet in the strap. So two reds. I'm gonna keep the headrest down.

We're gonna roll down. Now, pick up your straps, up your feet in the straps. Okay, there we go. Now, you're in your V position here. From here, we're just gonna go up and down.

Gonna work on a little bit of flexibility through the spine and the legs. Now, let's do a couple more. We're all there together. Last time. Back to here. Going to parallel position. Bend the knees to the chest.

You're gonna go up in a little tuck ball. So I'm up on my shoulders and I'm gonna lift all the way up. From here, the legs are straight. We're gonna curl down one vertebrae at a time. Use your hamstrings and press down.

So draw the knees to the chest. Now, roll up onto your shoulders. That's it. Now, extend the legs up. Try and keep the legs straight as you can. Now, you're pressing with the hamstrings though.

If that feels a little bit too much on your back, then bend your knees on the way down as well as the way up. So lift all the way up. Here we go. Now, press down with the hamstrings. But rolling down through the back, just feels so yummy. For the back and again, kickball.

Lift all the way up, curl down. See if we can go a little bit faster, more flow. One more, curl flow. And then curl down. Slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly.

Now short spine, inhale over your head. Roll all the way up. Bend the knees, let the hips come down first. And then the legs continue and push out. And again, we go up and over ahead.

We curl all the way up. Bend the knees. Now, lower your hips down first, then the feet continue that journey. One more. Relax your upper body.

Get your feet over your head first as you come all the way up, bending the knees. Now, lower through that lower body. Now, stop. Hold it there. Feel that amazing stretch through the hips. Hold it there for five, for four, for three, for two, for one.

Continue that journey down. Open your legs, nice and wide. Now, we're gonna slowly go into like a little internal rotation as you drop that leg down and reach the opposite leg out. Can you see I'm internally rotating? So you're getting that stretch through the quad and through the psoas and the adductor here.

Grab your straps, so you can kind of control it a little bit. So I've got my straps here. I'm gonna lift back up again and go back out into a straddle. Got it, so hold on. Now, internally rotate that leg, opposite leg and press it down.

So you can feel a stretch through the groin. Your adductors. Psoas into your quad, which trust me, we all need this. This's a really nice stretch. Hold on to your ropes though, to guide and then come out into your split.

Hold on. There we go. Now, bring the legs together, circle. I want you to try and find you big circles. See if you can get those big circles.

One more, reverse it. There's nothing like strap work on the reformer, just to release the total hip joint. I suffer a lot with hip issues over the years. So I'm so thankful for Pilates and strap work to really help me keep and maintain ability in my hips as I age. Okay, bend the knees, come out of those straps and then come back down.

Put your straps down. All right, we're gonna roll ourselves all the way up. Now if we can, if I can get those straps on. There we go. All right, let's turn around.

Now, we're gonna move on to some hamstringing burn here. So what we're gonna be using is the box. So for this, I want you to take this bar down. So I'm gonna take the bar down, like this. Perfect.

And then make sure that little guy's here, because I have two little bars here. I would go to either a yellow or a blue. I am going with a blue today. If you feel your hamstrings a weak, then you will need a yellow spring. So I'm just pre-warning you here.

Definitely gonna feel those hamstrings. So we're gonna get the box. Now, the box goes right here on the edge. So you can see your bar is supporting it. Okay, now I'm gonna push this out just a little bit here.

And I'm gonna get on top of the reformer. We all hear nice and sturdy. Now, I'm gonna sit, I'm gonna align my midthoracic spine with the box. And then I'm gonna put my head back and I'm gonna put my hands behind my head. Moving the heels towards the top of your shoulder rests.

Are we all there? Now, open your chest. Already, this is fantastic. I feel the chest opening, but guess what? Feel the burn now, were we ready?

So we're gonna pelvic tilt. Woo-hoo. Holy moly with those hamstrings as we lift up. All righty, are we ready to push out and in, out and in, out and in? So this is like a tabletop. We're trying to get our hips in line with the knees.

We're drawing the heels towards the buns, and we can feel those hamstrings. So try not to collapse through the bridge. Keep your bridge high. All right, now, we're gonna be adding on. One more.

Now, we drop the hips down. I want you to see if you can look towards your knees. Lift up and push out. Look down towards your knees. Push out and in and out and in.

It's kinda like semicircle. You got your hips going down towards the floor and you are mobilizing through that back. And those hamstrings are on fire. Three more. Three.

And obviously, if you wanted to make it a little bit more challenging, being on a lighter spring would make it harder. So get used to the movement first and then you can increase the intensity. One more. Hold it here. Bend the knees, bring it in.

Now, your choice. We're gonna try and do single leg, right leg lifts, push out an in. Woo-hoo. You are only going to a semi-bend. Not full extension.

Let's do a three more. Don't do too many. Fill that hamstrings and then bring it back. Are we still here? Hips up.

Okay, one more time. Five reps. Push all it in. Woo-hoo. Feel those hams. Pure hamstrings here and glutes.

So all that posterior chain working. Couple more. One more. Hold it here. Drop that foot down. Lift your buns all the way up.

Now, we're gonna rock out and in finish off. This is the icing on top of the cake. We're gonna work the glutes now. Hamstrings and glutes. You ready for eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

Hold it there. Curl, curl, curl, curl, curl down. Drop the tab on down and then come up. Doesn't that feel good? In a kind of good crazy way, lift all the way up.

And we're gonna put our little butt right onto the box. Perfect. For our next movement, we're gonna put our feet against the shoulder rest. Hands are down, right on the edge and we're gonna push all the way out. So your hips are back.

Your tailbone is somewhat touching the box. Now, we're gonna bend down, push out. Now, draw the abs in a curl, curl, curl back, neutral position. Inhale bend, push the carriage out. Now, curl underneath you.

Neutral spine. Inhale bend, push all the way out. Feel that back of the posterior chain. And then come back up. Neutral. One more time.

Bend. Push out, curl back. Neutral. Four little tricep dips. Four, three, two, and one.

Bring it in. Walk back. Walk back. Sit down. Reach the hands over your head. Give yourself a little twist.

Pretty intense. And that upper body build strength. And then come back. Now, we're gonna move to the side here. This time, we're going to put one knee on here.

And this leg is gonna be right on the edge. We're gonna come all the way up. Can you see how my leg is right on the edge? My foot, we're gonna take the hands behind your head. We go contract, push out, in, push out, down.

So we're working into the glutes, hip mobility here. Heart rate is up, in, out, in, out. Five, four, three, two, one. Hold here. Power.

Power, arms push. Come on. You've got power with those arms. Power and strength. It's not that heavy. So you guys can do this. Good.

And six and five and four and three and two and one. Come all the way up. From here, push out. Side bend over into a stretch, bring it back. And all the way in. One more for good luck.

Reach out, side stretch. Bring it back. Pull it in. Now from here, we are going to turn. And now, we're gonna go the other side.

So first of all, put your knee on the box, grab. We are gonna take your foot on the edge of the reformer here, right on the edge. Lift up hands behind your head. We contract in, push out. Your butt is aiming towards the heel.

And then we extend high. Good. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.

Exhale. Good.(breathing deeply) Four more. Hips back, hips extended. Hips back, extended. Last time.

Power arms and leg used like a skating. Skating, skating. Out and in. Out and in. Five, four, three.

Woo. Two and one. Come back. Arms out. Mermaid over. And that side stretch. Come back. One more. Mermaid over side stretch.

And then come back and release. Turning around. Gonna continue. From here, we're gonna come down, you're in forearm balance here. Now just gonna go forwards and back.

Feel this movement here. You're in a pelvic tilt. Feel those abs moving forwards and back. That's kind of where we wanna feel the lower abs. This is your precursor for the next move that we're going to be doing. Couple more. Exhale.

One more. Now, we're gonna come up and exhale, press. Same movement, lower abs, pubic bone to belly button and pressing the carriage forwards. So there's your prep for your pikes here. It's all coming from your lower abs.

Get out your shoulders, press the carriage towards the box. Keep breathing. Five more.(breathing deeply) Last time. Drop the feet down. Come up onto your hands.

Hold that stretch. 'Cause we're gonna move on to side now. So turn your toes towards me. There we go. And then curl back down onto your forearm.

And reach out. I'm gonna put my hand here for good luck. And we're gonna bend and push out. Bend and push it like get it out your shoulder joint, out your shoulder joint. Okay, lift up and out.

Once you feel, you can do this, then you can take your hand behind your head. Push out and in for four, three. Keep lifting up. Two and one. Hold it here, hold it. Find that power movement here. You can hold it.

You don't always have to keep moving. Hold it. Feel strong. Lift the obliques up. Get out your shoulder. Reach to the sky and hold that side plank for five, for four, for three, for two, and for one. Bend your knees in.

Put that hand down first, drop. The knees down, turn around, hinge back. Give yourself a nice stretch. We're gonna go again with the other side. Curl through the lower abs.

Turn around. Turn around. Find yourself secure first in your shoulder joint before you lift your hips up, bring it in and out. In and out. When you're ready and maybe you don't feel ready, you wanna keep your hand forwards on the box.

Absolutely. And get those hips lifted underneath. Those obliques, lifted. Get out your shoulder, pull your shoulder blades down. Hand behind the head if you can.

Or bring it forwards to your box. All right, we've got this. For four. Breathe. Three and two and one. Hold it there.

Reach the hand up. You find that gorgeous balance. Lift up on those obliques. Come on, lift up. Pull, pull, pull. Draw your scapular down away from your ears.

Lift up and reach your fingertips up to the sky and hold with power and strength for eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Bring the hand down first, bend the knees in and come back. Hands forwards. Chest in between your arms and enjoy that stretch. Hold it there.

From here, curl through the spine. Lift all the way up. Come up into your swan. All right, we're all here. Pull back, and then lift up.

Inhale into that swan. Exhale lift up, up, up, up, up, up. So your heart center is lifting up to the sky. Turn out to drop into your shoulders. Lift out of your shoulders.

Couple more. Inhale. Exhale. One more. Inhale. Exhale. Hold it there.

Hold it. Come back on an incline. Shift your focus forwards. Tricep dip, tricep dip. Your elbows are going back towards me.

Good. Super simple, but not as easy as it may look. Hooking those arms again for five, for four, for three, for two, and for one. Arms are straight. Finish it off in your swan, in your swan, in your swan, and back.

Take your right leg forwards. You're in a pigeon pose. The opposite leg is against the shoulder rest. Take your leg forwards into your pigeon pose. Hold it there. Bring your hands forward.

Lift up nice and tall. Now, let's see if we can reach that leg out to take the weight forwards over your hips and see if we can walk down. Maybe we can, maybe we can't. We've got that nice bar there to hold. That position does not feel good.

So try and get your hip square to the box now. Now, we're gonna try and rotate towards that front knee there. That's just too challenging. Don't do it. Just stay forwards. Bring it back.

Hold it there for five, for four, for three, two, one. Bring the carriage in, drop the knee down. Yes, your legs are shaking. Come up, nice and tall. And then bring that leg back, foot against your shoulder rest for us before we move into the other side.

Pigeon, externally rotate that leg. Are we all there? Now, try and get that hip forwards. Hands towards the front of the box. Lift up nice and tall. Now, hinge forwards a little bit and see if you can reach that leg back.

See my legs a bit shaky here. Bring the hand down and then see if you can stretch. See your legs start to shake. And you wonder why that is. Well, obviously, we're stretching out those muscle fibers and sometimes, they haven't been stretched for a while.

That's why we do Pilates because it's such dynamic strength and flexibility all combined together, which is what this program was about today. How you mix strength, flexibility, dynamic movement, and slow and controlled movement too. And that's what Pilates is all about. Get that leg extended. There we go.

Now, let's see if we can rotate. Woo-hoo. There we go. In that rotation, hold it there. Don't come out.(breathing deeply) Bring that leg down to the floor. Bend that knee. Lift up, one last stretch. Amazing work. Hold it there.

Breathe. And let's come off. We are gonna gracefully come off.(laughs) Let's put our box down. Just pop it down out the way. One last stretch to finish off.

Come all the way down into your little mermaid position. Put the hand down right here on the platform. Reach out, rotate around, push back. Oh my. I love that stretch. Ql, your back, your arms, your shoulders, everything.

And open that hand around. And then bring the carriage in. Hold onto your shoulder rest and make that pretty picture. Might be pretty, but it certainly feels good. Hand behind your head. Rotate around.

Look to the back corner of the room. Back to center. Quickly switch to the other side. Hand down. Draw the shoulder blades down before we even move in that diagonal position, curl around.

Draw those abs in. Press the chest down towards the springs. Come back, rotate around on that diagonal. Bring the carriage in with those obliques. Hold onto your shoulder rest.

Reach over in your mermaid, hand behind the head. Now, try and look back, look back, look back in that rotation and then back to center. We're gonna step up and off of the reformer. Turn around. Let's finish off realign the spine with a perfect roll down.

Inhale here. Exhale, curl down. Roll all the way up. And then a deep breath in.(inhales deeply) Exhale out. One last time. Deep breath in.(inhales deeply) Exhale out.

This is why we do Pilates. Think of that feeling right now. Bottle it up and remember it. Tomorrow or the next day when you just don't feel like working out. Remember this feeling and that's what will keep making you come back and back and back and back.

And that's why I'm still doing Pilates 30 years onwards. And I still do it every day. So hopefully that motivate you to keep coming back and coming back 'cause you're gonna feel a better person. I promise you. Have a great day.

Goodbye!