3 Ways to Use the Long Box

Hi. This is Ilya from Pilares Anytime, and today we'll do 3 creative setups to use the long box, to warm up, progress into extension, and challenge ourselves. So we'll always keep the long box this way, and we'll change the headpiece, the straps, and the springs. I'm working on a grads reformer. So for the first part, I'm gonna start on one spring, one full spring. So you can adapt according to the reformer you have, headpiece down because I'm sitting on the re on the box. First on the long box, and I'm facing the back.

So from here, you can drop the handle. So you get to work with the straps only and the just warming up in the very beginning. So from here, you can lace the hands inside the strap, and we start super easy. We need to prepare the joints. Right? So here, you're gonna go lift. And circle around.

Really picture your shoulders dragging the carriage. The arms, the straps are just the connection. The work comes from the shoulders that are very, very proximal in your body. Then you reverse. You go up and around.

And again up and around, and 2, and 1 more. Now from here, let's start working the arms and doing some work for the back of the body. So you're gonna go pull, hold, and release. And, again, pull back, hold, hold, hold, and release. Pull back hold and lengthen. Let's do one more. You pull back. You hold.

You mind. Your power sure you try to have ear, shoulder, and greater trochanter aligned and then lengthen out. Now same thing with straight arm. A little more demanding. Right? So from here, you pull down and back in chest expansion and then resist. And, again, you go pull back, hold, hold, hold, and resist the carriage home. And, again, you go pull hold, hold, and resist it one more time. You go pull back, hold it, and raises. Now let's do a combination.

You're gonna pull with bent arms here. Try to fully extend them. And then release. And again, pull with bent arms, lengthened to the back, and raises once more like a triangle. You go pull. You stretch back and home reverse straight arms, try not to move the carriage as you bend your elbows, and then you release it home.

You go pull back straight. Banned, lift, lift, lift, resist, and home, last one. Pull back, banned, and release. Now another very important variation, we're gonna cross the straps And we're going to wear the straps. So we bring the straps above the elbow. And from here, you're going to pull back and hold and then resist.

Pull back and hold. Try to keep those elbows higher than the shoulders and resist. If you can do that way, we're gonna target the rhomboids, which are really, really important for the posture and for the alignment when we sit and when we stand there, very good to offset the forward had posture that we all have nowadays, thanks to our devices. And it really is very nice. And now we can uncross the straps. And for the next next phase, I need a little more resistance.

So I'm going to add a spring I have a total of 2 full springs, and now we start articulating the spine. So from here, we're going to roll back a little bit and then come up almost like the rollback bar. Right? You roll back. You pair your poise, the lumbar spine, and come up. Let's do one more. You go back, back, back, back, And now here you stay and you pick up the legs in a tabletop position. And here you go. You go tap 1.

Tap the other one, and now small with both. Down. So this is to substitute our 100, right? The core work that always prepares us for a good Pilates class. Let's do one more. You go single tap, and switch and now together, together, together, in knees into your chest. And roll up for a little break. And now we go into single leg bands. So you roll down again, knees into your chest, And we go a little bit of abdominal series over here.

So first, single leg bent, Then you come in and you go a little bit of double. You reach and in in in you lengthen up and in and in. Let's do one more. Reach up, up, up, and band in. Perfect. Now we can release the straps.

And we can put them back on the hooks. You step down. The headpiece comes up, And now we get to one of my favorite exercises, the baby swan, or at least I call it that way. And from here, we're gonna put the pad in the very back edge of the box because sometimes it's easy to slide. So from here, one spring, So I'm gonna lower, and get back to only one spring. And I lie down with the knees just off the, box, hands on the bar and are going to shaving.

You go out and bend. You go reach. And bend. You shave out and, and now on the next one, you're going to shave out press into the bar, open the chest, and lift, lift, lift, and then drop your head and stretch it back. And bending. Let's do 2 more. You go out, press into the bar, open the chest, lift, lift, lift, head down, push back, and bend it in. Last one, out you go lift, lift, use the front of the body to lift, back, and bend in.

From here, hands on the box. You can step off if you want, or you can open the legs and straddle the reformer scoop, slide forward a little bit, and hover up and get into a little bit of horseback over here. Right? We are there. Now let's sit down, and we do a little more horseback. You scoop lift, find the bar, and here you go push and bend. Push and bend.

Push and bend. Scope lift. And sit down. We're gonna do one more time. Scope lift. Hands on the bar.

You go push. Band in, push, bend in, push, scoop all the way in. And sit. Wonderful. Now we go bar down. We shift this pad back, I mean, in front actually, towards the front of the reformer.

And the other one, it's either on the frame or on the bar according to where you're used to put the feet. And I'm keeping one lights, one spring, one full spring. We step on the frame. You go, and we work on some hiking, push ups and, snake. So from here, you're gonna push the carriage out hold the plank, and then come in. And again, you go push out, hold the plank, and then you come in.

Now we had one push up. You go plank, you bend, you extend and come in. Just one more time. You go plank, bend, extend and come in. Now this snake is a very tough exercise, and I like this way to prepare it. So from here, push the hips forward so that the hips push the shoulders and the carriage away. Lower the hip down.

You feel the box over there. And now from here, you reverse that snake head, shoulders, rib cage hips, and come back. Again, the pelvis is gonna start that snake, push forward, open, and reach up with the sternum, and then head down, scoop, and back. Now the last thing that we're gonna do today From here, we get into the real one. So you go push. You go into the full snake like before.

You feel the box over there. Soften the knees, and for a second, just think about the back body that we prepare before holding you there, and you lift your hands. Good. Reach forward again. Head and scoop back in.

And now on the neck one. We lift the arms a little higher. So you snake forward, you find the support, you bend, and if you can, you reach out to the side. If you can, you reach up to the city, down reach forward, head down, and snake it back. Very nice.

So hope you enjoy this, 3 different setups. And if you want to find out a little more, you can find a long box reformer class on Pilates anytime.