Mighty Mat

Hi. I'm Misty Lynn Kaufman, and I'm here with my friends, Kimberly, and Aaron, and we are doing the mighty mat today. This class is about channeling your inner buffitude, feeling your inner strength, working your Pilates principles, and we're focusing on strength and flow. So let's go ahead and lay down on your backs. I wanna wake up the neck I want you to find how your neck, head, and shoulders relate to each other. So briefly, just lie down here Bring your arms to their comfortable place, and I want you to think of freeing your neck as if your head is kind of floating independently of it.

We're not creasing at the front of the neck. We're relaxed here. Take a good swallow. Yes. And now here, Feel where your head and the floor connect, and we're just going to take little circles. Think of Drawing the tiniest o on the ceiling with your nose without creating tension.

And make your circle a hair smaller and make sure you're going evenly side to side. And reverse your circles here. And open your eyes. Let your eyeballs lead as they turn to the right and bring your head along to the right. And just see how that feels.

Really think of opening the opposite side of the chest and shoulder here, breathing into this side of your neck. 3 good breaths. No tension. Again, gravity is taking you there. You're not trying to smoosh your head into the floor. And return to the center by bringing your eyeballs along first, and they'll continue to the other side. Eyeballs turn the head, rotate, relax into the weight of the floor, stay and stretch, breathing into the side of your neck.

Think of inflating the upper lung all the way up into your ear. Two more breaths here. And now opening the eyes, let the eyeballs bring you back to the center. Let's begin. Hands will come behind your head and bring them right to the center of your skull.

Let your thumbs track down the sides of your neck and your little fingers track toward the crown of your head. Feel the weight of your head in your hands. Rotate your armpits forward so you can see your inner elbow and your peripheral vision. Inhale. Here. Exhale. Not the chin to lengthen and curl up to your shoulder points. The pelvis does not come to the party here.

We hold it here. Take a big breath in. And roll back down. We'll do 3 more like this as you inhale and exhale curl up. Let the weight of the head be in the hands.

Curl up a little higher for me, Kimberly. Yes. Hold inhale. And exhale rolling back down. Really feel the inhalation across your back as we in. Breathe in. And we exhale nod and curl.

Look at your knees, enjoy their shapeliness, hold, inhale, and lowering back down. And now we'll do one more here. Big breath in. Exhale, not in curl, we're going to stay. Be aware of the weight of your last rib and your tailbone into the mat, we're going to do some leg slides here. Ready? Right? Leg or the back leg, actually, leg closest to me.

Let's inhale slide it away. Think of pressing through the hamstring. Keep the heel on the mat. It's heavy. Drag the leg back in. Other leg. Same thing.

And as we're sliding here, we're really trying to be aware of the hips or the coming along? Are they staying neutral pulling back in? The weight of the leg is important sliding it away. If you were in the sand, you'd be making a groove in the sand. And as you're drawing back, you're deepening that groove and left. Let's not give up on our abdominal curl. Let's curl up a little bit more.

Exhale pull back in. One more each leg, please. Inhale. Slide it away. Hold it here. Now let's lift it to a low hover It's a very low hover. And then we lower the leg back down and we drag it back in, exhale deepening across the front of the pelvis last side.

Inhale reach and slide it out to that hover and hold, even lower. Even lower. Uh-huh. Inhale. Exhale drag it back in, lowering the head weight down. Leaving the hands where they are.

Let's just take a simple bridge here in articulating bridge because it feels good. Puma bone turns towards your nose, and we'll exhale start to roll up and lift. And as you're lifting, really let the pelvis go with you rather than leaving it behind, stay right here. Wait on all ten toes. Starting at the breast bone, weighting the breast bone, feel your heart get heavy as you roll down?

Feel the bottoms of your lungs get heavy. Feel your bladder, get heavy. Feel your tailbone release into the mat. Inhale. Exhale. Not the chin of the chest curl up to your shoulder. Points.

We're holding here double leg slides. Inhale slide both legs away and then lift them into a low hover. Hold. And inhale, float them back down. We're having a fine time, aren't we? And drag them back in.

Feel that groove in the floor The hundred is next. So we're sliding those legs away. You're really securing this scoop curl up to your shoulder points. Hovering the legs, lower your legs a little bit, reach the arms long, pumping. Inhale. 2, 3, 4, 5, and exhale.

Now my friends are doing a beautiful job here, but standing into this low hundred position is a really tough endeavor. So if it doesn't feel great for you, feel free to take the leg straight up or wherever they need to be. Exhale. 50. And blow.

Exhale. 3 more sets. Making it look easy, my friends, curl up a little higher for me, Kimberly. And she's like, why? Excel 432, hold it on 1.

We're gonna let the legs float down and bring the arms back overhead, framing the ears, head goes down. So as we go into the roll up here, our arms are reaching back, and I'd like for both of you to dorsal flex your ankles. So the energy is coming from the sits bones through the heels. Inhale as your arms float up in your head nods, exhale. Curling up, and I want you to reach you for each other as if you just really wanna hold hands, but then you change your mind.

So you're gonna scoop your pelvis under and roll away. Pubic bone is curling toward the nose. The whole way down, you're really articulating through each bone. Arms go back. We inhale here. Not in curling, blowing up, and stretching, and stretch over and reach, reach, reach for each other, and hollowing back.

It's like a wonder twin situation. Use each other's energy to help draw you into one another. 2 more like this because I am a kind and generous soul. Nodding and curling up and taking your time. Remember, in your roll up, you don't wanna be cinching at the throat. There's a space between your throat and your chin rolling back, pubic bone towards your nose, hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow, release into the mat before we go into this next one. And curling up, nodding, curling up, stretching long over heels toward each other, Stay big breath in, exhale.

We're scooping down until we're just behind the tailbone and hold. Scoop back, Kimberly? Hollow more. Keep going more. Keep going more. Keep going more. And hold it right here. Inhale.

And exhale. Inhale twice and exhale twice and inhale three times. And blow three times. And now 4 keeps stretching through the backs of the legs. And inhale 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3 to release it down.

Arms will come down to the mats beside you. And then bend your knees, drag the heels along the mat, lift one leg, and then the other leg up into tabletop. Find the weight of your pelvis, and then we'll take the legs up to 90 degrees. Straight up. Before we go into short spine, I just like to do a few pelvic lifts here.

So exhale scoop and lift your hips lightly up and down 5. Yep. There we go. And then back down. And 4. And you'll notice that she's going straight up. She's not tossing her legs back, but when you have different proportions, if you're shorter at the waist, you might have to go back just a little, and that's okay.

Kimberly's got maximum control here. She's not slapping back and forth, so it's all still valid. We bring the tailbone down. We bend the knees into frog. Short spine is next, so we're opening the knees.

We'll inhale press toward the center of the room bring the leg straight up and over exhale curling, really finding that hollow shape round. Ben the knees over the eyebrows keeping the heels cinched and then articulating down bringing the heels as if they're tethered toward your seat. 3 more like this. Once the tails hit, we inhale stretch to the center, heavy ribs, exhale scoop and curl up and over, let the legs come over your face. Yep. Now bend your knees and hold here.

I like for both of you to really feel like you're opening your chest, like your clavicles are going to the opposite walls, and scoop and roll down again, think of your breastbone waiting first and then your heart waiting and then your ribs are coming down And once you get to the floor, your tail releases into the mat. 2 more. Inhale press to the 45 exhale scoop and curl. Up and over, legs over your face, bending the knees. How on your belly articulating down, Kimberly's really going to think of keeping her sits bones up as she descends through her spine, really breathing through the articulation. And then once you hit the floor, stretch the legs long, reach up and over, and then bending in And as Erin comes down, I'm just going to give her a little bit of something to press into.

Yes. And that'll help her keep her belly hollow as well. Well done, guys. Really well done. Lowering your heels to the mat, bring your hands behind your head. Rotating your armpits forward again so that you can see your inner elbows in your peripheral vision, exhaling curling up to your shoulder points.

And stay right here. Feel the weight of the tailbone. We'll slide the right leg down along the mat. Here's another leg slide. And then we're going to draw it back in.

Just re centering the pelvis here. Slide left leg away. And exhale dragging it in, slide both legs away. And exhale in. By the way, you'll notice that as they're sliding the legs away, they're jumping because they've got friction on the mat. Friction is good. Makes you work harder.

I mean, I don't feel like they're slacking here at all. Last one. Slide the legs away. Push through your under butts and hold it here. Bring the legs to a hover, bring the back leg all the way up. Yes. There we go.

And now just keep the hands here for single leg circles. Maintain the hover. So when you're hovering and leg circling, your circle's gonna be small, because we don't need any shimmy business happening. One more and hold it at the top. Weight the femur into the mat and reverse.

Inhale? Yes. And 4, and 3, Two more. Last one and hold. Now we're actually gonna lower the free leg. Give it weight grab hold behind the floating leg, and we're gonna walk up the leg, climb a tree. So you're walking all the way up to sit up, hold it at the top.

Celebrate your win here. You made it. Scoop your pubic bone under and allow that to be the initiation for your back down, standing into both legs. You're not done till your head hits the mat because I want you to reset, make sure everything is weighted as it should be, nodding the chin to the chest. We're curling up, walking up the leg.

Really use your arms to get there. Hold it here. Stay inhale, exhale scooping and rolling back, stretching both legs away from each other as you go. Adding one more here, nodding the chin, curling up, make sure that when you get to the top, your chest is open here. You may need to take a little bit of a scoop back here because your free leg is now going to lift for the switch blade.

So it's coming up. And then it's going back down. And 2 and 1, bring it up and hold. Switch the hands to the other leg, float the leg down as you roll away. Nicely done.

2nd side. Hands come behind the head. We're curling up to the shoulder points. Yes. Look at that thigh. Keep the opposition, and now we're going to hover and circle. It's crossing the body. And 2, these are not little goldfish breaths.

We are not fish. We are humans, reverse your circle, So breathing deeply is a good thing, whether it's through your nose or through your mouth, whatever, just breathe. 2 and one And the free leg's gonna go down. We're grabbing behind the gesture leg, looking into the abdominals, and then walk. Gaze is going to go up the leg with us. Hold it at the top, chest, broad inhale, exhale scoop, pubic bone for the nose as you descend, Two more like this. Really nice ladies.

Scoeping and curling up, and this leg is You might not be able to see it on camera, but they are really stretching out as they're going up and down. So that, you know, you can't see, like, the forehead eyebrow situation one more because they've got that leg reaching so they don't need to recruit from other places. And we're holding up here. Stay. Legg is gonna come up and down and up. And down one more up and down. Now come up and hold, both arms are gonna go up legs are gonna split circle, and then you're going to scoop and roll down in a way.

Blegs come down to. Release. Alright. That was well done. Let's come up for kneeling side kicks. Just get up. And you have the option here to grab your yoga block or not. Just remember, it's a nice option because sometimes the kneeling side position is hard enough.

So why make it harder just by getting to the floor. If we add the block and lift ourselves up, it's cleaner. The standing leg is going to be directly underneath the hip, so it's perpendicular to the hip. And the standing heel will be in line with the standing knee. And the rib cage is gonna be closed I'm just gonna ask you to send this back a little and bring your top foot forward a little. Ah, there we go. And let's everyone start with the leg up.

Hip height for kicks will flex the ankle, double kick forward, exhale kick and kick, and inhale stretch back. And 4 more. Blow. And stretch. And they're really working to keep from, again, Hawaii 5, owing on the standing pelvis Didn't know that could be a verb, but, you know, we're trying all the new things here. Leg is gonna come back, and now bring it back to the start position out to the side.

Bend the knee and bring the big toe to the inside of the calf, holding for clam as if your cheeks are against the wall, rotate your knee forward without leaning back into the wall, and then open the knee up. And 4 more, resist as you pull the knee down, resist to open it back up, and 3. And, again, remember your rib cage, the more you jot your ribs forward, the harder the balance will be here. And open and hold really, really Find that alignment check-in with your bottom elbow. And next, we're going to extend the leg out to the side for the bicycle.

So leg will go forward. Knee comes toward the chest. He'll comes toward the seat and reach back toward me. Yes. Again, sweep, knee, heel, and extend. Bicycles standing on one knee is a extremely challenging, guys. So if you're having difficulties with this, know that you're not alone and maybe slow it down.

So that you can really pay attention to the form. Last one, stretch back and swing the leg forward. And then just bring the knees together and sit down onto your hip for the mermaid. So we'll take our blocks just put it off to the side for now, and we'll be on the right hip. Rotate your armpits forward.

Slide your legs a little longer. Yep. Because I'm we're gonna go into the diagonal position here. So the top arm's gonna come up as we lift the hips And you can either stagger the feet as Aaron is or stack the feet, whatever's more comfortable. Hold this position. Turn your top hip a little bit more forward Kimberly Aaron collector ribs here. Now we're going to bring the top arm down and around thread the needle.

Reach beneath your ribs. Let your shoulders turn. Look out the window. And then you're gonna come back around, let the arm come up, let the gaze follow the hand. And then again, exhale.

Rotate and then inhale come up. Gaze comes back to me. Kimberly, Yeah. Again, dive under rotate and twist and come back up and find me here. Yes. Yes. Last one.

Dive under rotate look. And then we're going to unwind. Let the gaze follow the thumb. Rotate up. Up, up, squared up, and lower on your right hip. Next is side push ups.

So you're going to lay all the way down. Your bottom arm is going to wrap under you. Your legs are gonna be long and reaching for the wall. Flex the ankles as if you're standing on your feet. So she's gonna reach her bottom leg and her top leg into me to find that stability.

And then the top hand is gonna be pulled in anywhere from the bottom of the breastbone up to the chest depending on your proportions. Head is floating to begin. Lifting the head, and then pressing into the top hand to side bend up, trying to keep pressing the legs into the floor, and then lower back down. And we'll do it again. I'm just reminding Kimberly that there's a wall behind her.

I am that wall. And then she's gonna lower back down. The legs are just as important as what's happening at the top half. So as you're curling up, you have to give them a job to do. Up more, push, push, push, yes, there. That's it. That's it. And that down.

And I really like the way she's standing into her bra line here. She's pressing up. They're holding it here. They're going to come down maybe a little bit more Kimberly because we're gonna lift the top leg to hip height. And we're gonna add up. To bottom leg is going to come up.

Tap and down. And 2 and lower again. 3, look straight ahead. And 4, and down last one lift, lower the leg, and come all the way down. Feels okay, guys? Alright. Because now you're gonna come up. And we are going to grab your towel here, and you're going to bring your hand towel. Nope.

Stay there. Bring your hand towel down to this end. So the next exercise is going to be snake. Your block is fine, but I'm gonna move it back for symmetry and for my own mind. So if your hands are slippery as Kimberly just did, she wiped them down because we want all the traction we can get here. In this prep position, it's similar to the last one, but the bottom leg is hooked under the ankle or over the front of the ankle, and then the hands are staggered this way.

Now as they go to come up, the top hip is going to rotate toward the farthest hand. So up and twist there. And now we're gonna pull up into our pike rounding. The abs are gonna leave us there. Hold. And then we're pressing away.

The work is happening from the center of the body, and we're lifting our breast bones at the end. Think of them filing through the arms. And then again, exhale scooping up pulling up from the center, finding the round shape, and then reaching the legs and the crown away in opposition, find that position. Let's just do one more. Really hollow and turn here. Yep.

And then slide and stretch away. Find the length, opening the back, and then lowering down with grace and dignity. Oh, holding for the extra a. She was in it. Wasn't she?

So now we're gonna go to the second side. Nealing side series. Yep. So in this position, again, I really want to make sure that your shoulders over your wrist there Good. And this heel is in line with the knee.

Yep. And they're really doing a good job as they work through this of keeping the hips square rather than allowing the top hip to twist back. It makes the balance impossible that way. Holding, we're gonna start with the leg hip height. And the ankle flexed, double pick forward, exhale pulse, pulse, inhale sweep. 4 more. And inhale.

When I'm coming back, I'm thinking of the activation happening from my under butt through my heel. It's not momentum to the bottom part of my leg and bring it back and hold. Now bring it out to the side, bring the toe to the inside of half, and clam is next. We're closing your clam, and then we're opening. And this is rotation in the hip joint, my friend, It's not turning the pelvis.

It's turning the thigh bone, leaving everything else stationary. 2 more. I see you. I see what you're up to. These shenanigans and hold it right open and extend the leg long for the bicycle. And we exhale bring the leg forward, bring the knee to the chest, bring the heel to the seat and stretch back 3 more and reach.

And flex and heal to the seat and stretch 2 more forward. Let's stay together because if not I look like I've lost my marble's last one, heel to the seat, stretch back, and bring it forward, bend the knee in, and come down and you lower down on your bottom hip. Got a snake. I'll take your block. Yep. And remember, so the towel is off the back edge of the mat, or else you're not gonna go anywhere.

The bottom leg is wrapped under you, and this inner thigh connection is so important. Let's really find that wrap, stagger the hands, That's it. Start with your knees closed. Yeah. There you go. Good. And your right handle turned toward Aaron.

There we go. Now push the legs back so you're in your twisted side plank ish. Hold. And now from your center, we're gonna pull up, up, up, keeping your hips rotating the other way. Just a little bit more. Turn that way. Yep.

And now slide away. Let the chest open. Find the wrapping of the scaps. Opening of the breast bone and then again, pulling in from the belly to lift this the seat up and then stretching long and away. PS, if you're trying this on carpet, you might wanna have some furniture sliders or those sliding discs.

The towel's not gonna do you any good there. But you're gonna feel super buff more. Come up more. Come up more. Bring your cheeks under you. Yeah. There we go. And then when she's gonna come down She's gonna rotate.

She's gonna lower her left hip to the mat. And now come on down, but let's bring the bottom hip under you, bend the knees, and release that. Excelente. I'm gonna take your towels just so there's no towel accidents. And now you will lay prone on your bellies. Please, we're doing the flying squirrel next.

I like to start this with arms and cactus. And when I say cactus, it's not here. This is more like a chicken wing. We're going to have the elbows and the shoulders in a straight line with each other, and we'll start with the foreheads to the mat. Let's come just a little bit more wide there. Perfect.

Now the first step in flying squirrel, we're going to inhale and lift the upper body. Let the gays lead the And then we're going to exhale arms come with you, exhale and reach forward toward each other, and inhale circle the arms around to the sides, lift legs lengthen. Think of lifting from your under butt, not your low back, and we'll lower back down into the cactus to begin again. Again, inhale lift. And exhale reach.

Legs are down. Now we circle the arms, lift the legs, lengthen through the front body, and we come back down. One more adding on here. We're going to inhale and lift and exhale and reach. Hold it here. Now pull from your middle back. Lat pulls pull, and then we reach, get a little higher in your chest. And, again, pull.

And reach. One more. Pull again. Open your chest and reach. Now circle the arms, lift the legs, lengthen through the spine. Bring the arms back around to the front. Hold.

I had to put swimming in. Let's go. I couldn't stop myself. Let's swim. And what they're doing beautifully so beautifully is they're staying stable.

They're not sinking their boat. They're swimming on top of the water. You don't swim in a boat, but you know what I mean? And come off the way down. Yes. Let's push through a child's pose here, and then we have our side sit ups on the second side to do.

In this child's pose, let's keep it active. Really let the shoulders press you away from your palms. Wag your tails side to side because you've earned it. Okay. That's enough. Now let's lay down on your sides.

For yes, please. If you have a little spits, you need a towel, give yourself a little dab, you know. And then when you're ready, lie down on your side, for side push ups. Now remember, in this side push up position, We're not piking the legs forward. People love to pike the legs forward, but it's not a good balance position.

And you're going to get your best strength if you're really thinking of standing into the feet. So she's reaching long into me, Let's just bring these forward just and her ankle bones are stacked on top of each other. Same thing for you, my friend. We're gonna bring the legs back hips forward just a little bit. Yep. There. And now reach into me.

Bring the top leg into me. Yes. Good head floats, and we go into our side set up lifting up and back down. Bring your shoulders back a little bit. Again, upside bending and down. Really think of making a rainbow to come up so you're arcing up and over. You're not just pressing up and down and come back down. On this next one, we're gonna come up and hold and lift the top leg.

Stay. Lower your torso just a little bit more there. So now you can lift the bottom leg. Unencumbered by things like gravity. 2, and 3 and 2 and one hold, and let's lower all the way back down.

Very nice. Just roll onto your bellies here. Cro your toes under We're just getting up, really. I was just trying to make it fancy. Go. Your toes under you. Press up into plank into your down dog stretching the heels back and hold.

And in this position, I really want you to feel the opposition. So the tails going up as the energy is going down to the heels of the hands and the heels of the feet. And then you're going to walk your hands backwards. Let the heels sink, find your balance over your mid foot, and you're scooping the curl up pubic bone towards your nose. Let your arms dangle. Let your head dangle. You're not done until your vertical.

And we're not done. We're not done. Because for our last trick, we're doing plank around the world. I know you've been looking forward to this moment, so let's get on to the mat All the way in. Yep. Good. And, you know, Kimberly starts in Pilates's stance and Aaron starts parallel.

Wherever your balance is best, that's where I want you to be. Arms will go up. We inhale. Let the gays take the head down. Rounding up and over water, falling no tension in the neck chest and shoulders. Find the floor, walk out into your plank.

Plank one here. We're nice and square. Kimberly is really working this role down. Thank you. And then in this position, we're gonna take 3 breaths.

So in through the nose and out through the mouth, and 2 more like this, really finding the ribs connected in the front body, the energy down through the seat. The under butt is awake and alive. One more breath. And exhale. You're on a side plank facing me. So your hand goes up.

They've chosen to keep their legs staggered, but stacking is fine too. Whatever feels best, and the heels are hips are lifted. The feet are reaching away in opposition. Now here's the tough one. They may end up stepping off of their mats, and I'm okay with it.

They're going to spin backwards. Top hand comes behind. This is the hard one. So if you have a little fumble, that's okay. We're in reverse plank. The hips are up The neck is long.

The breath is not compromised because it's hard. We're still breathing. And now we get to come up and around. Backhand comes up and we go into the side plank. Really well done, guys, because this is the really hard part.

Let's bring that a little bit more forward. Yep. And now last one, we're gonna cut that hand behind you so that you can end up back on your mat somehow and hold it to and stay right here. We're going to do a single push up down to 3, up to one crack to the sky, your butt crack to the sky that is. There we go. Hold. Let the heels drop down really stretch.

Widen your chest. Widen your shoulders. Watch your ribs, pull your ribs up into my palm. Yes. There we go. And now walk your feet forward towards your hands this time. Let this stretch happen.

Let the shoulders just go where they go. Let it be yummy here. Scoeping and rolling back up. They're super stars. Nice job, my friends. Excellent.

Very well done. Thank you for joining us on this workout today.