Reformer Strength Training

Hello everybody, welcome to Pilates Anytime. Tracey Mallett here with Pilates and strength training. I know personally doing Pilates all through my life that I've really had to add strength training, more strength training to my program. When I hit 50, muscle mass was decreasing. So I had no alternative but to really hit the weights.

And I'm so blessed that I feel the benefits, the scientific reasoning behind it is why I am doing this class today. Because a lot of us just love Pilates like I do. But I had to step out the box a little bit more and add something that to be honest, I've never really truly loved strength training as far as with weights. I've always been more partial to Pilates. But actually combining the two together has been actually a game changer for me.

One for osteoporosis, two to gain muscle mass to keep my body strong and healthy as I age. And also obviously to keep me from getting more injured in my hips and my shoulders. So I truly hope that you will have an open eye and an open mind to trying this workout because it will really be a game changer for you. So with that, let's go. We're gonna have five pound weights today.

You're probably used to having your twos and your threes, but we're gonna kind of jump out a little bit and go into the five pound realm. If you feel that this is just too much today, of course, go back to your three pounds. And then as you feel comfortable, then you can add the heavier weights. There's no reason why you can't go up to eight pounds, maybe even 10 in the future. However, always be mindful that you're working within your own strength zone and we build up to that intensity.

Alrighty, so let's have some fun together. We're gonna start with on the little box here. You can see where I put my box. I put my box right at the edge here, right by the foot of the reformer. Alrighty, we're gonna come back.

We do a nice little warmup to start with. We're gonna put our feet hip width apart, prayer position. And we're gonna go into your little C curve position. And I just want you to add a little rotation. It's like a little rotation.

Remember, we're just warming up to start with, little rotation through the body. And we're gonna do eight more. And eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. Back to center, reach the hands forward, curl back down a little deeper. Now take the hands behind the head, hold it here, lift the right leg up, lift the left leg up, lift the right leg up.

So your knee is coming towards your chest, those abs are on fire. And we're gonna do about four more of these. Four, and three, and two, and one. Hold it here, rotation, and then rotation. You're still in that C curve, rotation.

Four more, four, three, two, and one. Back to center, curl down about an inch, lift back up an inch, curl back down an inch, reach through the fingertips, draw those abs in, go a little bit lower, just to warm up the core. Remember, everything comes from the center. The stronger your core is, the stronger your whole of your body, and you'll be able to do some of the balance moves that we're gonna be doing today, all comes from your center. So let's zone in to our center, nice and strong.

Three more, two more. Last time, hold it out here, right hand lifts up, then left hand, and then we're gonna repeat it. And we go eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Forwards, imagine someone's pulling you up, we lift up, we stand up. Turn around, you've got your box ready to go.

We're just gonna step up and step down. We're just warming up the lower body now. We need to warm up that body gradually before we go into the workout. We can't just go straight for it. So we're just stepping up, up and up, and down and down.

Let's do four more, three, two. Let's switch the other leg, left leg lead, up, up, and just march with those hands, power arms. Back to my step aerobic days right here. And again, up, up, down, down, four more, four, and three, and two, and one. Fantastic, come back into your squat here.

We're gonna reach forwards into your squat, get your hips back, now tilt the pelvis underneath. Hold it there, and we're gonna do a pulsing just to warm up here. We're gonna do eight pulses. Tilt the pelvis underneath, the arms are forwards. Eight, seven, toes are lifted, six, five, four, three, two, one, put the hands down.

We prep into what we're gonna be doing into our plank. Step back, tilt the pelvis underneath. One, step back long, take it back. Right leg is leading, down, plank, plank. Right leg leaves, tilt the pelvis underneath.

One, right leg leaves, there we go. Now switch, left leg leads, da, da, up, one, da, da, da, two more, one, da, da, tilt the pelvis underneath. One, da, da, da, da, hold it there, and release. Give yourself a bit of a shake. Okay, we're gonna get going now.

We're gonna pick up one dumbbell. Now we've got our five pound dumbbell. I'm gonna go for one blue spring here. Now we're gonna grab the strap. I am going to work with a smaller strap, entirely up to you.

And we're gonna wrap it around here so you've got your weight pulley. Now we're gonna step up, put your inside leg on the bottom here, and we're gonna bend. So it's on the platform. So from here, I just want you to pull. How are you feeling?

Just pull. There we go, your knees are bent, you're just pulling. So now we are actually working our mid-upper back, pulling the scapula together, and our biceps too. Now the knees are bent. All right, you've got four more here, four, then we're gonna add on to it, three, two more.

Okay, one more, that's it for good luck. Now we're gonna lift up. So we pull, squat, lift up, squat. So now that underneath leg, the leg that you're standing on, your box, is working super hard, your hamstring and glutes. And you're adding the intensity with that extra five pound weight.

All right, still not so heavy, but this is good enough to actually make changes in your body, strong enough to make changes in your body, build muscle mass. Let's do four more here, four, exhale, three, woo-hoo two, and one more, hold it here. Grab hold of that weight, release, drop that leg down. Now we're gonna try and go down to the floor and lift up. So I'm tapping the toe down to the floor.

Can you see I'm doing a single leg squat? And what's so fantastic about this is that you're being supported with a reformer. You've got that extra five pound weight and you'll challenge yourself by keeping your pelvis super stable. Let's do three more, feel the glute, on fire. One more, hold it here, put it back.

Bend your knees, repeat it again. (exhales) There we go, you've got four more, ready? Pull the scapula down, go, four, and three, and two, and one, bend, push up. Woo-hoo, down, really working those legs and arms. (exhales) That glute that you're standing on, you've been super challenged right now, your glute medius, down and up. (exhales) Keep breathing, keep smiling, always helps. Good, two more, one more, (exhales) hold it here, and release, find your balance, woo-hoo. Find your core first, pull those abs in, there's no rush.

Don't rush to it, find your balance, got it? All right, down, lift up. Woo, woo, woo, there we go. Now lift underneath your buns, hamstring and glutes are working really hard to balance. Fantastic balance work here.

You can always put your foot on a toe here if you really have little balance. Still getting the work done, still working that glute med. All right, can we do four more? Absolutely, four, three, two, and one more. Oh, wowza, come forward, give yourself a little stretch, give yourself a little shake.

Let's take that weight away, we're gonna step down. Pick up your little dumbbell here. We're gonna reach forward, inside leg, closest towards your reformer. We're gonna do a little knee repeater here, and we're gonna reach the hands up, and then from here we go in, down. Little knee repeater here.

Now you're reaching your hands towards your ears. We're adding that little cardio element. Remember your heart needs to work out too. (laughs) Not just your body, your heart's kind of important. All right, let's do four more. And four, and three, and two, and one.

Step back, put the weights down, back into your plank here, and we're gonna do a little open, a little close, a little open. That's too challenging, step it out and step it in. You can step it out, step it in. Let's do eight more here, eight. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one.

Downward dog in that little stretch. And get ready, roll all the way up. Pick up your weights, outside leg. Hands ready, knee repeater. (exhales) Good, keep breathing. (exhales) Four more, four, three, two, one. Step down, hands to the side of the weights.

Bend your knees, go out and in. (exhales) Or step it out and step it in. Out and in. Good, let's do eight more here. Keep smiling, eight, exhale, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Step up, downward dog.

And slowly, we're gonna roll ourself all the way up. All right, we're gonna take this little bar here, and we're gonna make sure the bar is down. We're gonna have it at one green spring. Pick up your weights. We're gonna step up.

Make sure your foot is on the actual platform here. Step up, step up, bend your knees. Now we're gonna push that leg out. Now your knees bent and you're pushing out, elbows high. We're gonna add the rotation forwards.

There we go. So the elbows are working nice and high, your shoulders and your legs. Out and in, push. (exhales) Eight more, ready? Eight, (exhales) seven, (exhales) six, (exhales) five, (exhales) four, (exhales) three, (exhales) two, (exhales) one. (exhales) And in, elbows. We go out, bring it in, lift it up.

Squat, out, bring it in, punch it forwards. Out, bring it in, punch. Out, bring it in, punch. Out, bring it in, punch. Shoulders, there we go.

(exhales) Breathe, that intensity is high. Gotta push through it. (exhales) Good, a couple more. (exhales) One more. (exhales) And up, hands in and just push it out. Go on, speed, speed, power, power. Eight, come on, seven, power, six, five, good. Four, three, two, and one.

Lift all the way up. Come back down. Put the weights right here. Grab your box. We're gonna put your box the other side.

All right, we're gonna set ourself up again. One weight down. We're gonna go back to that one blue spring. We set ourself up, we pop it around the strap here. There we go.

And we're gonna stand up, stand up, get ourself in right position. Put that toe against the platform. All right, are we ready? Go, we're gonna pull. So back to our row now.

Bend your knees, everybody. Now focus on drawing your shoulder blades together. That's it, pull your shoulder blades away from your ears down, and then you pull. The classic row here, fantastic for the posterior chain, posterior deltoids. Good, keep moving.

Good, let's do four more. Four, three, two. Now we're gonna add a squat, lift up, down. Squat and lunge. Woo-hoo, now we really feel that glute medius firing up.

We got it, my heart rate is up just with you. I'm panting a little bit into your mic. Keep it going, let's do four more. Four and three and two, bend those knees. And one, find your balance.

Lift up, release that back leg. You're on one leg, if you need to put on a tap, you can. Now we're gonna do our single leg squat. Tap down to the floor and lift up. You're gonna find one side stronger than the other, and you're tapping down and lifting up.

So try and be mindful to keep your hips square and you're really lifting underneath the glute and the hamstring on that stabilizing leg. Trying to keep your shoulders over your hips. Not as easy as it looks, I know. A lot of balance here, a couple more. Woo-hoo, one more.

Shaky, shaky, take that leg back. All right, guess what? We're gonna do that again. Ready, bend your knees. If you need to take a stretch, take a stretch.

Otherwise, let's go. Pull, elbows back, pull your scapula down. And we're pulling in. (exhales) Your knees bent, both knees, you're down. A little bit lower if you can in that squat. Good, feel the back working.

Love this exercise with your toes, the arms and back. All right, you ready? Bend and extend. I'm all for that, working the arms. Get a little bit more tone in the upper arm, the triceps and the biceps.

Down and up. Squat and squat. Good, everyone, you're doing amazing. Keep smiling. Good, let's do four more.

Four and three and two and one. And hold it there, don't give up. We got that single leg now. Find your balance. Are we ready?

Down and up. See if we can tap the floor. But we gotta keep our hips square, so we're not hiking the hip. That's the hard part. We wanna hike the hip and we're not allowed to hike the hip.

You gotta keep that long waist from your lowest rib to your hip. You got two big sticks there, opening it up and keeping it stable. So no hiking. Woo-hoo, can we do two more? I'm focusing on my balance here and lift it up.

Oh my, come back, give yourself a little stretch. Beautiful, let's take it out. Put the straps down and let's come back. Now we're gonna put the little weights down here. We're gonna come back and we're gonna do a little running in place.

Super simple, a little running in place. Just getting that heart rate up just a little bit to keep the heart rate going and keep that intensity. All right, let's do eight more here. Go, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Hinge back, hold that position.

One more little round, back in again, go. Come on, I know you're saying one more. Yes, that's it, one more round. I'm counting down for eight. Go, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one.

Downward dog, woo-hoo. All right, come back. Roll all the way up, load it up. One green, we're gonna work the glutes now and shoulders. So we're gonna stand up.

We're gonna come this way, get ourselves situated, foot on the edge, elbows high, push out and in. And we go rotation forwards. (exhales) Good, cross and cross and cross. (exhales) Keep it going. Those elbows are nice and high. Feel those arms, woo-hoo, that's for sure. And four and three and two and one more.

Bring it back and just push it out. Power in that leg, all righty. Keep going for eight, seven, six, power, five, four, three, two, and one. Lift up, all righty, you ready? We go down, shoulders, bring it up.

Squat, shoulders, bring it, punch it forwards. Remember, down, push out, punch forwards. Shoulders, forwards, squat. Shoulders, forwards, out. You got it, power, strength here.

(exhales) Good, out. Can we do two more? Power out, one more, go out, in and punch. Amazing work. We're gonna sit down.

I'm gonna use my little box to get down here. All righty, I'm gonna put those weights down and I'm gonna move my box here. I'm gonna bring it back to the end here for now. All right, we're gonna take it to a half a spring, a blue spring, and we're gonna straddle. Here we go, so we're gonna work the back.

So we're gonna come up, hands are forwards. We're gonna come up, we're gonna squat. Now, we're gonna push forwards, forwards and back. So it feels pretty light, so we don't wanna crash. Let's go a little bit further forwards, there we go.

Now, push, push, push, push. Now, the elbows are going down towards the floor or towards the reformer to work a little bit more triceps. Push, push. (exhales) Four, three, two, one, hold it here. Bring your carriage back and lift, right, left. Heel lift, heel lift, pop the heel up, pop the heel up, pop the heel up, or just squat, squat.

Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, lower down. Now, hands behind, we're gonna push with one, switch, push, switch, push, switch, push. Now, the elbow is going out, can you see that? Go, (exhales) challenge it, I know, come on. (exhales) Not easy for me either. (exhales) Come on, guys, (exhales) four more, three, two, one more, and back. Woo-hoo, breathe, hands up, come up, pulse.

Try not to stop, little active recovery here. Individual heel lifts, (exhales) eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, bring it back down, take a seat. Sit back just a little bit, pick up your straps. I'm gonna go for the smaller ones, and we're gonna come up. All right, we're gonna open and back.

So you wanna open the arms, kind of like a reverse fly here, open. If this is too challenging, you can go for the bigger straps, and back. Squat a little bit deeper, and let's work the back. You're working with intensity, we're building muscle here. Let's do a couple more, one more, (exhales) and relax, come down.

You can see from my face, I'm exerting a lot of energy. This is not easy, and it's not supposed to be easy. If it's too easy, you're not building muscle mass. So let's do that again, ramp up the intensity. It's okay to be challenged, all right?

Lift up, come up, there you go, bend your knees. All right, let's challenge ourselves, go. (exhales) There we go, breathe. (exhales) All right, get ready, four more, we've got this. Pull the shoulder blades together. (exhales) Two more, (exhales) one more, (exhales) and bring it back down. Hold it there, now from here, we're gonna scoot all the way back, da, da, da. Find a sturdy platform now, lift up.

I'm gonna go into a row here. Now I've got the bigger straps, just because I'm further back. I'm nice and seated, so I'm more stable. So right here in our row, working the back, working those postural muscles. (exhales) Four more, four, three, two, and one. Reach forward, let it go, let it go, let it go into that stretch.

Soon as you get to it, guess what? We're coming right back again, and we go again. Pull, (exhales) pull your shoulder blades down, lift up nice and tall. You should be challenged here. If you're not being challenged, take your resistance up a half a spring or a third of a spring. (exhales) Four more, four, three, (exhales) One more, and just let the carriage pull you forward in that fantastic stretch, but don't get too comfortable.

You're coming right out of it, yes, roll all the way up. Let's get up. And now we're gonna move the box forwards, just like right here. And then we're gonna pick up our weights. Okay, let's step up onto the box, make sure it's square against the reformer, elbows high.

Now we're gonna step up and bring it down. Step up and down, and we're gonna, of course, add the weights up and down. Now, if you feel really comfortable, we go straight up. That's kind of where our end point is. Good.

So shoulders, legs. (exhales) Up we go. Keep breathing. All right, you got this. Four more, four, three, two, one. Come in, fly, (exhales) fly. Your body's pitched forwards.

You're leading with the elbows, you're rounded. It's kind of like hugging a tree, but your body's pitched forwards, and that focuses our back again. All right, keep smiling, keep breathing. That's a good thing. Four more, four, three, two.

Last time, bring it in. Step it down, elbows up. Remember, tap it up. Now we add the arms, and then we can add the leg when we feel comfortable. Woo-hoo! Down and up.

Breathe. (exhales) Four more. Come on, all the effort you've got. Got to finish off strong, just how you started, strong. One more. (exhales) Step it up. Now we're going to roll. (exhales) This feels very easy now after the weight we've just pumped, but that's okay.

We're still here. Get down a little deeper, then let's work those legs. All right, so we got four more, super easy. Three, two, and one. Drop the weights down, lift up.

We're going to go to the side, to the side. Take the hands to a prayer. I'm going slow. This may not be for everyone. Maybe just go to step up, step down like we did at the beginning.

Or you just march in place. Just keep moving. And then when we're ready, be mindful where your weights are. Stay back and pick the intensity up as you feel comfortable. Okay.

Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Step up. (exhales) Step down. Just a little walk. Exhale, bring your heart rate down a little bit. You're going to go back up again.

Remember, it comes in twos. We can do that again. All right. Don't run away from me. We've got to finish this off.

Pick up those weights. All right, elbows high. Let's do it. You ready? Eight reps. Let's go.

Go. Up and down. Let's lift that leg. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Fly.

Good. Get down a little bit deeper. Working those arms. Simplistic is always the best. Just work those muscle groups.

Good, three more. Three, two, one. Step down. Let's go. Go.

Lift that leg up. Eight, seven, lift it up. Five, four, three, two, one. Come on. And in. Row.

Oh my gosh, I know you're tired. Just to say I'm really tired, but we're going to keep going. We've got to break through that comfort zone. Four more here. Four and three and two and one.

Drop those weights down. Step down. Deep breath. And just walk in place. Amazing work.

Walk in place and then release. All right. Let's put the weights down here. Just pop them down here. Now, I'm going to move this a little bit further forward.

Still on the blue spring. Hands forwards. And you're just going to push that carriage forwards. So my knees are right on the edge. And when you're ready, you don't crash, obviously, you push and pull back.

Just kind of like what we just did when we were straddling in. And we're doing single arm. There we go. Push backwards and forwards. Four more.

Four, three, elbow back. Two and one. Turn. And now we're going to come all the way over to here. And we're going to push it out.

Come back into an incline. Push up. Bring the carriage in. Push out. Push up.

Bring the carriage in. Now, for those that are super strong, of course you can go into a plank here and do your push up. The queuing is you go out, you push up, you bend your elbows, you extend it and the carriage comes back. So we go out, bend, push up, carriage comes in using your core. Go out, bend, push up.

One more. One, bend, push up, bring it in. Come all the way back into a little stretch and slowly come all the way up. Turn this direction. We're going to work the legs just a little bit.

We're going to put the foot forwards. Come all the way down. And I'm going to bring it down to a green spring here just because I need a little bit more resistance. I'm going to come up, bring that leg back. And we're going to go in and balance.

Lift it all the way up. We press and lift up. Press, lift up, press. So I've got like a mini little squat here, just a little mini one. You can see my leg shaking.

There we go. Take the hands behind the head. It's like a little mini squat. I'm not going too far back. And the reason behind this is because I'm fatiguing that front leg.

Can you see it shaking? Yeah, it's working really hard. Three more. Three, two, one more. One.

Yes, I do fatigue just like you guys. And come back. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stretch, stretch, stretch. Oh my gosh, there we go.

And then bring it back. Amazing work. Coming in, coming in. Grab that box quickly. And we got to go the other side.

All right, to finish off. Okay, get yourself on a blue spring. All righty. Come forwards. You're in your quadruped.

Push forwards and back. Get yourself situated and then start to push. This is a lot of core work here because you've got to keep your core stable as you're jumping with a hand. Good. (exhales) Four more. Four, three, two more.

Last time. One more. Upper body work has always been my nemesis. It's from my weakest part of my body. So I'm with you here.

That's why we've got to really focus not just on where we're strong, on the parts where we need a little extra help. So we're going to come forwards here, right at the edge. Push up position, hands forwards. Get yourself into an incline here. Open, bend, push up, bring it in.

I am modified here. For those out there that want to go into a plank, go ahead, get into a plank. (exhales) One. I've been really trying to do at least 20 pushups a day recently to build some more upper body strength. (exhales) Open out, bend, extend, pull in. So the queuing is out, bend, extend, pull in.

Out, press, up and bring it in. One more. Out, press, up and bring it in. Come back into a little stretch. Last but not least, that leg shaky.

Come down, green spring. Let's put that green spring on first. Lift up, lift up. (exhales) Alrighty. Are we ready? Okay, get that leg down.

Your foot is away from your shoulder rest. Are we ready? Lift up, lift up, lift up (exhales) and back. (exhales) And back, it's very small. That's it, can you see it's tiny? All right, can we put our hands behind your head?

And keeping the workload on your quads and your hamstrings. There's a lot of balance here, but I'm keeping it small. So we're not working through full range of motion here. I'm just going forwards and back. (exhales) Keep going. I'm a little stronger on this leg, so you don't see as many shakes. (laughs) That's where we work the right and left unilaterally because there's always one side stronger than the other.

Are we ready guys? Come on, you're finishing off super strong. Four more, four and three and two. One more. Hold it here, shaky, shaky.

Take the hands down. Give yourself a nice stretch. Oh, that's that hamstring stretch. There we go. Awesome work you guys.

Great class, great energy. I know you're bouncing around at home. Think how amazing you feel right now. Come back, bring that leg in. Step down, step down.

Pop two red springs on for me. Lie down. Now I know you're already on your next thing of your life today. You're already like, okay, I'm checking out right now, but I'm not gonna let you check out because you've got to stretch. So just give me two more minutes of your time.

Put your feet in the straps. That's why you've got this beautiful reformer and open your legs and go, la! ? There's your stretch ? ? Open your feet, get your tailbone down ? Put your hands on your thighs and open those legs and enjoy that stretch. You have totally deserved it.

After that class, come on, give yourself a little bit of two minutes. Close your eyes and take deep breaths. Inhale and exhale. (exhales) Ah. Bend your knees, bring your feet together so you're in like a little diamond position.

Now draw the knees towards your chest. Your hips are gonna lift up just a little bit, which is great. And then you're gonna take your hands, place your elbows in the inside of your knees, grab hold of the straps and just press on those knees. So you're opening your knees up. Even like that little butterfly stretch here.

And now see if you can drop your tailbone down a little bit more. And let's just hold it for a little bit longer, not too long. Take three deep breaths. That's all I'm asking, three deep breaths. Inhale.

Exhale. (exhales) Inhale. (inhales) Exhale. (exhales) One more. Inhale, feel that heart rate coming back to a normal pace and exhale. One last stretch. Legs are long, hold onto your ropes. Pull towards your chest and see if you can pull a little bit more.

That's it, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull. (exhales) Five, four, three, two, and one. Take those straps away. And pop them down. We're gonna extend the legs, knees bent.

Put your feet on the platform here. Reach the arms over your head. And we're gonna slowly roll all the way up. Bring your knees in. You can do a little help to get yourself up.

Roll forwards. One last stretch. Put that leg, your right leg in front in your figure four. Hang yourself down. And then lift up, switch to the other side.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you had fun and had a good workout and don't be frightened to move and challenge yourself a little bit more. It's very rewarding when you start getting stronger, rolling all the way up and you feel and look better and you feel strong. It's so rewarding. So please take the time to push yourself out your comfort zone and give yourself a pat on the back.

All right, guys, see you back here again. Take care.