Method Balls/Theraband Class

Hello, everyone, and welcome to this class in which we shall create pre, relaxed hip joints, mobile legs, elegant legs, felt legs, toned legs, but we're also gonna be working with bands to create more strength and flexibility. But first, let's go over the different options we have for these exercises that are coming up. You can, of course, always just use a tennis ball or anything you have at home. Just be careful. Tennis balls can be a little slidey on certain floors. And so they're gonna, like, move away from where you want them to be. So let's see what we have here.

This is the classic Franklin textured ball. And it has these little indentation. So that's gonna improve the proprioception and the stimulation, and they have a nice size you're gonna go fairly deep into the tissues and create release. Then, if you want something that's a little smoother on the body, the classic smooth ball here in orange air field. Then we have the mini roller, which can be used to release tension, but it also can be used to create shearing of this issue.

In other words, gliding of 2 adjacent muscles and fashes, which is very helpful for improving mobility and well-being in your body. We also have this here in the water filled version right over there. Yeah? Very nice. That's gonna give you a little more warmth. It's gonna go a little deeper into the tissue. It has a little more weight like that.

Then we have the classic spiky ball. So again, that's a larger version. One could say of a stimulating boss. So some people like like that because you just feel a little more because those balls are giving a little more sensation. But if you want a harder ball, then it's the blue textured ball. So they're gonna go deeper into the tissue, though, as a general rule, the larger the ball, the larger the movement, but the ball won't go very deep into your tissue.

And if the ball is smaller, then you can't move as much, but it'll go deeper into the tissue. And, obviously, also if the ball is harder, it's gonna go deeper. And if it's softer, it's gonna go less deep. So have all these variations, and there's no right or wrong. It's only what works for you. And then, of course, we have this one here, the orange ball. And that looks pretty harmless, but that's the hardest one we have.

So if you say none of this really works for me, I need something that's harder that goes deeper into the tissue, then that's gonna be your choice. You can find these, like, very specific little points something is called trigger points and really release them with the help of that ball if you feel like it. Okay. Let's get going. So the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna roll out the inside of our lakes. Yeah? So the way you do that is you're gonna start on the inside of the knee, not directly on the knee. I wouldn't roll directly on the knee, but you start on the inside of the knee on the inner thigh. So here you're gonna have your ad doctors, and you're gonna do three-dimensional movements.

So you're gonna move up and down and front and back and you're gonna also rotate your leg like that. So front, back, up down like this and some rotation, and you're gonna slowly move up towards your hip joint. And at any moment, you can go, okay. That was great. I'm gonna switch balls. So at any moment, if you feel, okay.

That I need a larger bulb and you switch. And the effect of this rolling is not just oh, I'm rolling on the tissue and releasing tension. That's really just a part of it. The other effect we're having is This is an unusual position. We're on the floor and rolling on a ball. That's gonna make you do movements you usually don't do in daily life, which is very refreshing for the tissues, but also for your nervous system.

So a lot of issues we have as we grow older is that we lose variability in our movement. Just watch children. They're moving with a lot of changes variability, different kinds of hops and steps. And then as we get older, we get more monotonous in our movement. So the balls are actually gonna help you to recreate some variety. And we know, for example, that lack of variety movement is associated with pain. So people who have back pain have less variety.

So this is also stimulating to you to have more variety. So at this point, you're slowly arriving at the hip joint. And, of course, you can go much slower than this if you want. So I'm now at my hip joint, and then I just move around in the hip joint a little bit like that. Again, so it should be a comfortable feeling. So if you have any kind of acute pain. Obviously, don't roll over that.

Accute injuries don't roll over that, obviously. Right? So it should be You know, you can sense it, but it should still be in the comfortable range. And at all times, you're breathing and you're using imagery to release that tension. So I'm actually now moving up the front of my thigh here for a moment. There we go.

And this would also be a good moment to use a mini roller. So if you wanna put a mini roller here, on the front of your thigh, and then you can kinda bend your knee and stretch your knee and move the mini roller up and down to different spots. And you can release tension in the muscles of the front of the thigh. So this is quadriceps. And this, of course, all is also improving your awareness of your body.

And more awareness means better movement. There we go. Also, if you have knee issues, this is absolutely fabulous. So regularly release all the tension here, in the thigh like that. So let's go to the other side.

Of the same leg, but now we're gonna take a mini roller, and we're gonna put it under the side of the leg like this, and we're gonna roll up and down, but even better, you're gonna do cross shearing. In other words, I'm moving my leg front and back and just feel that shear you're doing. So now you're moving the fascia of the leg called the fascia lata, which means big, wide fascia. Over the underlying muscles. For example, here, you have the quadriceps, the lateral quadriceps called the vastis lateralis.

And now you're creating shear between the fascia lata and the vast this lateral serial. So I have the IT band, and you're basically gliding that over the deeper layers. You can add little, you know, bending and stretching like that if you want. Of course, you could also take a ball with a little more warm and go to the outside of the knee here and find some tension points. Again, anyone with knee issues, this is definitely something to do.

Not ruling on the knee, but above the knee or even below the knee. You feel that? You're finding something? Definitely. Yes. A lot of nodding going on. Good.

So you see these works really well because the ball is small enough for you to be able to find little points and spots there. Yeah? Good. You could do this much longer, but we're now going to before we do the other side, We're gonna briefly compare sides. And the way you do that is for 1, you're gonna take the leg you just practice with. And you're gonna swing it up in the air and notice your hip flexibility, and especially also hamstring flexibility. And then compare it to the other side.

What do you notice? You probably notice more hip flexibility, more hamstring flexibility, what just happened. Right? What a surprise. So, actually, if the fascia, especially the side of the leg, the IT band, is kinda stuck to the underlying muscles that can limit your hip flexion more than tied hamstrings. So we just free that up. You just had that experience.

So it might even be good to stand up for just a moment and compare legs in standing. So if you stand on the leg, you just practiced like this and do a jump, the small one, and stand on the other side and do a jump, probably feel much more comfortable on the leg you just practice. The other thing you can compare is add doctors. So if you go like this, you have a little more freedom in your ad doctors. You might notice there's a difference there as well. So let's do the other side. So here we go.

First, you're gonna roll up the inside of the leg. So if you're doing this for the first time, it is quite surprising. You might have never actually realized you have all these small little tension spots in the area of the ad doctors and releasing them is really gonna help your knees and your hip joints. So at all times, we're breathing. And at any time, of course, you can switch balls.

Try something else. Very good. You found something there? Exactly. So if you find a spa, then work on it. Just stay with it and use imagery and small movements and just melt it away. Yeah?

And then you're slowly gonna go up towards the hip joints. Here we go. Do you finally arrive at the hip joint? Very good. And take your time. And it's an exploration.

And the variation in the movement is actually good. Let's do the outside of the lick. Let's see what we have there. So, again, try out different balls. And as you go along, you'll have less desire to talk because you're getting more and more proprioceptive.

So you're getting more and more in tune with your body, which is a good thing. If you want to do some sheree, then you are using the mini roller here, front and back. Feels really good. And then I just roll around into more prone position. And now the ball is under my thigh, and then I can start moving my knees and releasing different areas here.

Very nice. Very good. And let's finish up like this. So let's take 2 balls, any kind of balls, and put them under our calves like this. So a little bit of calf release like that. You'd be surprised that the tension spots you might have there.

And as we do that, we do a little foot flexion extension, foot rolling like this. How's that feel? Yes. There's something there. Especially if you if you're a runner or you're a dancer. Yeah.

Good. So a space around the front here is some of the, you know, strongest, fast of your body. Of course, the absolutely thickest is the plantar fascia, but very strong around here as well. And then a fun thing to do is to take 2 balls and put them in front of just in front of your seat bones to issue tuberosities. So be careful there.

There's an interesting experiment. You feel that? So this helps release the hamstrings, and then you can do your best reach forward. It's probably not gonna be a flattering reach, but your reach forward like that. And try to still keep moving.

So there we go. Of course, only do what is comfortable, but then when you take away the ball, You have this experience of like, woah. I'm so flexible back there. This is a great way to also help your flexibility in the back of the legs. So there we have it.

Very good. Slowly variation variability, seek out those points, release them, and you're going to have freer hips, have your knees, and more flexibility. So let's move to standing and switch to using our bands. So you can Move the balls to the side. So a long long time ago before they were banned, I thought it would be a good idea to have paints.

And, so I'm the first, you know, I may say that use or created using long bands like this. And the reason why I like the long bands is you can make whole body exercises. And the cool thing is you can do very dancy or exercise y movement with long bands. And one of the fun things you can do couser so long is work on your posture. This is like a fun little thing we can do.

Not ideal exercise if you just went to the hairdresser and have a very complex, you know, situation up there. My case, not so much, but what you're gonna do is you're going to stand on both ends of the band. And just comfortably, it has to be a comfortable length put the band over your head. Okay. Not too much pressure, though. So there.

Again, this is not the most flattering. But I think it visually probably interesting, so here we are. And then you can adjust the tension like this. So head over torso over pelvis over feet, just do a little like this. And this is stimulating the proprio safeties of your spine. So by doing this, Your spine is going, woah, what is this? And your spine is gonna be pushing back against the band.

Trying to lengthen. Right? And now if you take the band away, right afterwards, you have this feeling of your spine going up like a spring. You feel that? So lots of fun. Important, of course, is do this before you go to the hairdresser and not too much tension. So it'd just be a little bit tension on the top of it. Are we good with that? Good.

Then the next thing is we're gonna put the band behind our back. Like so. So you can either have the band singly like this or if you want a little more resistance, you can also double up the vent. So you can double it up and put it behind the back. Yeah? So we're just gonna say in single mode.

So if you ban principles, it's not like a dumbbell that always has the same weight. The more you pull on it, the board resist. In fact, if I pull this much and then I double that length, you've just doubled the resistance. So you have to decide how much resistance you want, depending on how strong you pull on the bank. So let's take this behind our back.

Like this, and then we're gonna go like that to the front, and we're just going to be flexing our spine, tail forward, head forward, and extending our spine. Tail back, head back. That's it. And you just kind of lean into the band as if the band were a hammock. So you go back and front. And I'm doing a little bit of internal rotation with our arms, external rotation, great warm up exercise, getting your back going.

This is like a early in the day exercise to wake up your back. You can do this with a little rotation, So we're doing a little rotation, exactly, affliction and extension. And we're breathing at all times. Very nice. That's excellent.

Good. Then let's move the band up to the rib cage. You just cross around like that a little bit. Good. So this is gonna be great for your breathing diaphragm, but also for the mobility of your rib cage. So the area of the rib cage, thoracic spine is the least mobile part of our spine. And that's why it's so important to keep it flexible because If that becomes very immobile, then you're gonna compensate your lumbar spine and your neck, and then you have issues there.

And you think, oh, you have an issue there, but, really, you shouldn't create more mobility in the thorax. So it's gonna work like this, and just we're gonna push a little bit against the band to the side. Exactly. I'm just pushing sideways against the band, And when I go to the left, I pull a little bit here towards the right with the band. If I go to the right, I pull a little to the left. Do you see that? A bit of resistance.

Good job. Exactly. That's great. Then let's go a little front and back. So, again, when I go back, I push forward. When I go forward, I reach back.

That's it. And now we're gonna hit all four corners. So let's go to the front, to the right, to the back, and the left, front, right, back, left, front, right back, left, front, right, back, left, other direction, front, left, back, right, front, left, back, right, front, left, back. Right. Excellent. Take band away. Notice breathing.

Notice posture. Shoulders have dropped. Breathing is for you. You feel that fabless exercise, mobilize the rib cage, the thoracic spine, which we all need regularly. Okay.

Let's move right on. In the next exercise, we're going to put the bands around the thighs. Like so. Good. And then we show Do a squat. Right? When you do a squat in the Franco method, we recommend imagining the pelvic outlet, the seat bones, widening going to the side. Yeah.

It's one of the bold rhythms of the Franco method. So sit bones out as you go down as you flex your hip. And you're gonna push up against the bed. There we go. Looks easy, but, yeah, it's decently challenging. Okay?

We're gonna do that. Very good. So you're turning the squat into a full body exercise. And you can do it nice and slow, or you can also do it as a bouncy version. And you're kind of bouncing against the band like that.

Very good. You feeling it? Yeah. Good. I'm glad. Then we're gonna shift our weight, side to side. We're gonna add spinal rotation and arm rotation. Exactly.

Good. So elbows come up. That's gonna give you a little more stretch into your back. Very nice. That's wonderful. Very good.

Excellent. So activating those oblique abdominals. They love spinal rotation, but you also activate the oblique abdominals by doing the lateral So we're gonna do lateral friction and pulling out against the band. So you're probably surprised how much this activates the abdominals. Yes. Exactly. Just do what you can, and then we're gonna add some rotation.

So I bend my legs and stretch, and then I push up against the band with rotation. Can you feel that? Yes. I can feel that. Yes. Very good. Good. Then let's do a little internal rotation of the arms with spinal function, external rotation of the arm with spinal extension.

Internal external, internal, external, with some protraction of the shoulders, retraction shoulders, protraction, retraction, protraction, retraction, protraction. Retraction. Very good. And then let's just rest for a moment. There we go.

Now we're gonna make a loop in the end of the band because we're gonna tie the band to our foot. So you're gonna make a loop This is actually the most challenging part of the exercise is making the loop. So I recommend making a nice, large loop like that and just folding it over the thumb. Then you go, underneath the wrist between the lower arm and the band like that. Then you direct the band towards your thumb. You see the thumb poking out and the thumb and the pointy finger grab the band, and then you just pull it through.

And then you have an elegant loop. That's the way to make a loop. Maybe give it another try. Yeah, I said this is the most challenging part. Yeah? But this way, we can create a loop that snugly fits on our foot without too much compression.

So fairly large loop to start with. You pull it to the back between your lower arm and the band. You push it through. Guide it directed to your thumb, my thumb grabs band, then I snatch that end of the band, pull it through, Dada, and it's magic. You have a nice loop, and this is about the right size. So let's all put the band on our left foot. Let's start with the left like this, and I'll just show you how you do it.

So you see how the knot is underneath. So the knot is gonna be underneath like that. Yeah. Good. And then you're gonna make another loop like this and put it over the foot. And you see. Exactly.

And the first thing we're gonna do is you're gonna do a lateral flexion. So you do a squat and then you ladder flex like that. The band should be at the side of your body. So here we go. That way. And this way.

So the band comes here. Over the side of the body like that. So here we go. And a 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a 5. And is 6 looking good? 7. Yeah. It's a workout.

And 8. Okay. Before we go on, though, let just drop the band and compare sides, see if you feel a difference. Wow. More flexible. So this is called dynamic stretching.

So when you're strengthening and lengthening at the same time, and that's what you're doing in all these band exercises. So you're building strength and flexibility at the same time. So let's do 2 more exercises in this configuration. Take the band behind. Your legs and in front like that. So one more time, you go behind.

You go in front. And then hold the bat. Yeah. So slightly turned out legs, and then we're gonna go out to the side. You're gonna move the leg that isn't doesn't have the loop. So here we go. And out and out and out.

And out. Do you feel that? And out and out and out exactly and out? And out and out. To make it a little more challenging, we're gonna go out and up and down and back. Out and up and down and back. Out and up and down and back, out and up and down and back, out and up and down and back. Out and up and down and back, out and up and down and back, out and up and down and back.

Come back, take the loop slightly over your knee like this, then take that leg forward, the one with the loop, and let's bounce it up against Ben. Bounce. Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce to the side, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, to back, and bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce exercise, bounce, bounce, the bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce one more time, and 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 2, 3, 4 fives. You can do it in the back to 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Decide 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Let's switch legs, and disco prints up and down. Her no finish it up and down and 5 and 6. And 7, and 8 to the side up and down, and 4, and 5, and 6, and 7, and 8 to the back up and down, and 3, and 4, and 5, and 6, and 7, and 8, and 1, and 2 and 34, and 5, and 6, and 78. As you're noticing, it's quite a workout. That is quite a workout if you wanna tow your legs, and you can do it all with one loop of events.

So there's so many possibilities if you have such a long Bant. Franklin met the band. Let's do the other side. So we're gonna loop it around the foot. And the first thing we're gonna do is our lateral flexions. So it's a squat and a lateral fiction.

Your obliques love ladder flexion rotation. So we go and to the side and back. Good. Excellent. So 8 repetitions.

And then after a week, 16, and then you can even add another 8. Now we're gonna put the band behind our legs under the knees in front, under the knees, and behind. And now you have this wonderful loop, and you can slide out. Come back. There we go.

So all these exercises can be done with one band attached to your foot, so many variations. And then let's go down and up and down and back, down and up and down and back, down and up and down and back. Down and up and down and back, down and up and down and back, down and up and down and back. Now all you're gonna do is take the band over your knee, and then you're gonna take the leg forward like this We're gonna bounce up against the band. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 from your hip joint. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. This is a balanced child. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1 more time, and 1.

3, 4, 5, 6. And 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and back, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Other put and up and down, up and down, up, and down. Up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up. And up and up and up and back and up and up. You're nearly there and up and up. And up and side and up. Really good? Okay.

Well, toned legs, strong legs. And now the elegant way to take the band off your foot, step on the band, pull your foot out. Then we open the loop. Yeah. So it's good not to let the loop just kind of stay there. It's gonna get tighter and tighter and probably never gonna be open able to open it again.

So just do it right after exercise. Easy. Fine exercise. Here we go. This is so much fun.

This is the shoulder wrap we call it. So there's all kinds of wraps you can get for lunch, but this is actually the this is the shoulder wrap with the band. So we take the band behind the upper back and then we toss it over our shoulders. And then you're gonna cross it over the back. You see? Cross it.

And then you take it back to the front like such. Make sure it stays over your shoulders. Ta da. Looking good. How's that feel? Yeah? Then we're gonna roll our shoulders.

And you can tighten, you know, if you wanna have a little more resistance towards the movement. Good. And then roll in the other direction. How's that feeling? Good. Let's roll one shoulder than the other.

There we go. Excellent. Then it's push forward and side and forward and side. And forward and side and forward and side. And we go up and up and up and up and up and up and up and some bladder flexion side and side and side and side and side and side and side.

One more time. And 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 22 and front and front and front and front and front and front and front and front and front and front and front and side and side and side and side and side and side and side and side. So now comes the grand finale, All you do is you take the band, peel it off your shoulder, peel off your shoulder, drop the band very theatrically, and then you notice how your shoulders feel. In one feels liberated. Yeah. So notice your posture.

Notice your breathing. Notice your mind. Probably very free up here. Very free posture. So we've released and toned and strengthened with Franklin Boles and Franklin Bands, and we feel great.

And Thank you very much. Thank you very much for participating and see you in the next class.