Around the EXO Chair

Hi. I'm Misty Lynn, and I'm here with my friend Kimberly, and we are gonna go around the chair. Join us if you dare. This 30 minute ish workout is going to be taking us from the floor up to the top of the chair around it and back down again. So are you ready? Let's get started. Alright. Alright. So spring wise, I'm gonna start you on One from the bottom, position 2. Okay.

And then you're gonna lay back. We'll start off with bridging. So one of the ways I like to help the person figure out where they're gonna position their feet for bridge is I have them bring their feet to this crossbar here, And then I would say slide back a little bit. Even if you feel comfortable, remember the pedal is coming toward you. Just maybe a dash more.

And then we'll bring both of your feet up to the petal. Yep. And I'm just gonna give her a little bit of an encouragement to keep the pedal the chair still here. Now when you're ready, big breath. Exhale for nothing.

Tricked you. Now inhale again. And exhale, think of your thighs coming toward your face to bring the pedal toward you rather than thinking of pushing it down, stop, and let us come back up. And the idea is as the thighs draw towards you, you're gonna maintain all of your connections, and you're going to keep your spine centered. Elvis balanced east to west and front to back. Just two more. How's the weight? Great. Good.

And up, we'll do one more here. Pulling down and coming back up. Let's do a single leg here. Pick up your favorite leg. Yes.

And same idea. Give your toes a moment to breathe. Yes. And pull the pedal toward you. Yes. Beautiful. And, again, she's creasing at the hip.

We do this when we're going up and down the stairs and all the other places. Where we need to have good hip motion here. 2 more. And you'll just give me one more here. And switching legs. Yes.

And pull. As you pull on this leg, let's come back up for a second. Bring your right leg to the right just a little bit. So alignment wise, I'd like for her to be ankle. Let's bring it a little bit wider. Yeah. There we go. Ankle to knee to the center of the hip.

And that's going to minimize the torque and the excess forces in the places that we don't want them to be. And 3 more like this She's having a fine time. I see the joy on her face. 2 more. And here's your last one.

And 2 feet will come down to the pedal. And for this one, we're just gonna pull the pedal all the way down just get it there no matter what it takes. Good. Step your back foot toward your front foot just a little bit. That one. You've got it. Now we're bridging here and the ideas that will keep weight in the petal, and you'll see how that's challenging in a moment.

So your choice. You can articulate or you can go up in neutral. You're breathing. Yes. Now as she comes down, she's feeling the weight here to breast bone first. Her cheeks are staying elevated for as long as they can.

Now we're coming upon the tricky part here. She's going to release the pelvis into the mat without letting the pedal jump because she's a pro. She just nailed it. Again, scooping and rolling up into the bridge, Yep. And now as she comes down, she's staying lifted here as she starts to melt up higher. Yes.

Really sink here. Yes. Good. 3 more. 2 more. 1 more and release the pelvis into the mat. Last one.

Exhale scooping and rolling up. Hold. Inhale and exhale rolling back down. Think of sending your sits bones away and up And then once you get down to the bottom, you relax them back down. Excellent. Bring the pedal up.

That was very dramatic. I liked it. Bring your heels on top of the pedal. Yep. On, you don't have to really adjust. This is just your roll up to transition. Good.

Arms up to the ceiling, big breath in. And exhale scooping and curling up. Take your time. Yes. Go. Go. Yes. Hold it here.

Bring the backs of the hands to the forehead. And now we'll inhale to rotate to one side and then hinge back with a flat back stop and then come back up and center. And other way, As she's twisting, she's keeping good pressure into the feet here so that her hips aren't giving me any sass. One more each way hinge up and center. Last one. I know it's your favorite and to release down here.

Step off and let's stand. Naturally, let's kneel standing on your knees facing forward. This is a place where proportions matter. So if you have long limbs in a short trunk, You will be in a different position than someone who's got the opposite proportions. So Kimberly is going to bring her outside arm or right arm up to frame her head, inhale, and exhale. Think of pulling the pedal toward you as you side bend over toward the chair.

Over. Keep your right hip forward. The other forward. Yes. And then come back up. Inhaling. And as she goes over, she's curling up and over on this side. So let's go up. And over side bending, straightening this elbow. Yep.

And as she's reversing it, she's sending the energy down from this armpit into the hip. Coming back up, up, relax that shoulder wide in your clavicle. Just one more here, side bending over, Breathing. And now just come up just a little bit and shift your weight to the left a little bit. Yep. And now just open this knee up.

Let it float. You've got it. There you go. And I'll bring it back in. Yes. So the challenge is maintaining her position here. Do it again.

Same thing. Slide it out. Yep. And then come back in. So what are we working on? We're working balance. We're working on coordination. We're working on determination, coming on up, leveling her shoulders.

Shake that out for a minute. That was well done. I mean, seriously, you can shake it out. And I'll turn to face the pedal, or we can go this way. Good. Now arm goes up.

Side bending without letting the ribs go forward. So feel like you are in between two panes of glass here. And coming back up. Again, let the head take you first The body will follow side bending up and over. Really nice. Send your weight this way just a little bit. Yes.

And coming back up, inhaling. What? No shrugging? Last one. Big breath. Up and over. Stay here. Now let's do the leg.

Open and out. Yes. And come back in and stay tall here. Side Bend. Bring the leg back in. Good.

Again, slide it out. Yes. Now as you come back in, think of getting taller on your standing side. And he comes in? There.

Lower the knee into the floor, come up, release your shoulders, and shake it out for real. Now you're going to sit with your back to the bar, and we'll start with legs extended. Now please realize Kimberly is super flexible in her shoulders. If she wasn't, I would give her a block to elevate her hips so this reach back wouldn't be so straining on her shoulders. And I would still say, can I have a wee snitch backward?

Just a pinch? Good. We're actually starting with bent elbows, so you may need to come in a little bit more Yes. And you're going to bend the elbows for your triceps and then press down and then pull up Again, to and up. And she does such a beautiful job of saying vertical without getting into the rib thrust. 2 more and come back up. And last one. Good.

And up Her upper arms look like the number 11, so I'm super happy. Bring the pedal up just to release it for a moment. Ben both knees, place the feet flat on the mat, and we'll do reverse bridge here. You may wanna bring your feet in a little closer. Pull the pedal in and down, take it to the floor.

Scoop and lift your hips up really, really being aware of the breadth of your chest. So open your chest here as you scoop. Rolling up, hold, and sitting back down. Yes. And she's working to keep her whole soul of her feet and her toes on the floor rolling up.

Shoulders over the wrists and rolling back down belly deep. Breathing big, and we'll do one more and stay on this one. Exhale scooping and rolling and lifting up hold. Now we'll march. Yes. If you're thinking about Making marching happen, you wanna think of each hip staying neutral and level each time. So if she was marching and she had great snacks balanced on her pelvis, we wouldn't want to lose the snacks in either direction, one more each leg. Lift?

And last one. Lift, hold. Now scoop really soft in the chest, rolling down. Releasing into the map, bring the pedal up. I'm just gonna give her a little bit of support here. Go ahead. I've got it.

And now just take a hamstring stretch forward, reach for the toes, let your shoulders release, well done, And when you're ready, slowly roll back up. And now it's time to stand. I'm gonna change the springs here. We'll do standing leg pumps, You'll start on this side, and we'll start with the inside leg on the pedal. Her outside leg is in line with the crossbar, as you see here, let's come back in. No.

We're not gonna do the tandem yet, so bring the foot back. Step this way. Good. Now your foot's just gonna go right here. Bring your arms wide. And just a hair in front. Good.

Strong arms press into me. Yes. Keeping the upper back activated. Now when you're ready, pull the pedal toward you. And notice I said pull toward you, not push down. It's a different activation. Bring the pedal back up.

Now this time, we're gonna pull it towards you and take it down without touching the floor and come back up. The amount of control this takes is considerable. So she's doing a beautiful job here. She's really working her standing foot her standing hamstring, and she's got this nice connection here. This energy is really working for her.

Let's do one more. Pull down and bring it back up. Now this time, we'll pull it all the way down and put your left hand on the top of the chair. Yes. Right foot's gonna come in front. If your feet are a little slippery, this may feel a little scary, so you may wanna put some shelf liner on your petal.

Kimberly is going to somehow some way find her balance. Arms wide. And this takes a minute. She's finding her middle back, and she's finding the strength in her arms here. Tada.

Now she gets to bend her knees. She's not going far because I don't want her mooning anybody behind her. She's sliding down the imaginary wall, and she's firing her hamstrings to slide back up that wall, and just one more here. Sliding down and sliding up. Good. Now from here, put the left hand back down on the top of the chair.

And now say here, we're going to take the right leg out to the side. Yep. Now lift it up to the 45. And now exhale pull the knee across the chest Yes. And let the hips rotate. Yes. It's a stretch, but it's also a good balance. So let's reach the leg out to parallel to the floor.

Same thing, exhale rotate and twist. We'll do one more. We'll do 2 more. Let's now bring this one up. Hold and turn it in, bend, and square up to dismount.

Yep. And come on off. We have to do the second side. Yep. Now from here, we'll just bring the right foot, the foot closest to the pedal up to the pedal closest to you. Find the arms. And, again, this weight here is going to help her find stability across her middle back and pulling the pedal down and in and up. Good. N 2.

Give me a little more cross. Yes. There we go. Come back up and hold. Can we send your weight back a little there? Push through the outer line of the leg. Oh, and then it gets hard and back up. One more. Press.

Go for it. Go for it. Go for it. Yes. And then hand goes down. Bring the foot in front.

Now the hand that's on the top of the chair here, note she's really planting her fingers, If she couldn't find her balance there, it's okay to put the hand down flat, but she's got that under control. She's here. She's Hawaii 5 owing. I'm right behind you. We're gonna find that weight in the armpits. There we go.

And she's flexing the knees. And then she's coming up. And she's breathing really big breaths. Right? There we go. I like that better and come up.

And, again, bend and come up and good. Let's bring the hand down, and we'll take the leg out to the side. Now bring the knee up and across. Well, let's keep this here. She's She's in jazz class.

Bring the knee up toward the shoulder. So try that again, up, up, up, and stretch and will come in deeper and press up higher. Oh, she's going for it. Legg's gonna be on the ceiling on the next two. Just kidding. One more. Exhale, bend and cross and stretch up hold stay lifted in this side stretch that elbow.

Oh, yeah. And good. Now we'll step off with grace and dignity. Good. And I just want you to take a short little stretch here. So bring the foot down, bring the hands to the top of the chair, and just round into a cat stretch. What I want you to really feel is this opening of the back Because in the next exercise that we do, maintaining the width of the back is going to make it easier to maintain the shape of the exercise, which will be similar to this, actually. So let's come on up, and we'll go into hamstring stretch 3. So both feet are gonna go on the pedal.

You'll be in pilates stance, and your toes are gonna be toward the edge closest to you. It's really important that we keep the toes back toward this back edge like this. The farther forward they are, the more likely it is that we'll take a little splatter inside of the chair which is not good for morale in these parts. Now from here, she's maintaining this lift all the way up into her seat and across her center. Keeping the back flat this time.

We're gonna go up. Yes. And then she going to come down, almost touch the floor, but change your mind and go back up. Her sit bones are sliding along that wall and come back down. Elbows are staying straight and engaged lift. 2 more again, lower and back up.

And let's do one more here up. Good and frogging. Yes. You knew where we were going. 3 1 more, 4, and 5. Now let's go up and push ups here. Yes. 3, keeping the tailbone up. 2, And here's your last one and float down, turn your feet parallel, drop the heels. Parallel feet.

And now while you're here, let's just flex the knees trying to keep the heels heavy. Yep. And then straighten, and one more. Press the heels down, step off, and release the pedal. Well done, but you're not done. So I'm taking off a spring.

And now you're gonna sit side sit here on your chair, hooking your leg in front of you, and this leg It's gonna stay turned out and down. So spring load, I have her on 1 spring 1 from the bottom where we started at the beginning of the session. Her hips are gonna be level here. Her pedal hand is reaching for the pedal. Her other arm is out to the side.

She's going to inhale to go up and then exhale side bending over without leaning forward. I know that trick, Kimberly. And now coming back up also without leaning forward. And then again, as she's side bending up and over, She's really thinking about giving each vertebra its moment to bend and arc and come back up. 2 more like this, up and over side bending, And of containing the ribs, bringing them back into yes.

Let's do one more. Up and over. Let's add on here. Rotate, think of your navel turning towards your thigh bring that hand to the pedal and slide your other hand back. Well done. Wrap your fingers. Squeeze the pedal, round your spine to go over.

Really round picking up through here. As she goes down, now she's going to come up flattening her back. Again, rounding over squeeze the pedal and then inhaling back up long, Again, rounding over, make this leg even longer. I want you to be 5, 10, and 3 quarters after this class. Come back up, up, up, And now let's do one more rounding, stretching up, and over.

Let the head go. And then coming back up to neutral. Stay right here. Your right arm, back arm will open. Keeping your back flat. Let's take the torso over flat and come back up.

So she's a bird at a bird feeder here. She's not letting the spine crunch or collapse. She's keeping the angle long. Hold it here. 3 arm pumps, keeping the elbow coming somewhat backward, keeping the shoulder stable, and now she brings her right hand back to the pedal. Now bring the other arm up side bend.

Drop your left hip into the chair. Sitting down here. Yes. And then unfurling to come back up, this hip is going down as she's rolling, rolling. Rolling. Take a counter stretch. Up and over to the left side, side bending.

Yes. Good. Good. Good. Feels okay? Alright. Good. Now I'm gonna grab the box for you for our next trick. Okay?

It's amazing how boxes just magically appear. I know. We'll come to it. Stapping your feet up. Should I get up? Off is even better. Yep. There we go.

So this is torso press sit. And for safety, I'd like to put her feet up here on this box Can it be done without the box? Yes. But is this better for now, for her, for her proportions? Great. So start with both arms forward. Open them wide as if you're skimming across the water, find the pedal behind you, and we'll let the fingertips point away.

Now from here, she's going to press back with a flat back, keeping the spine angle long, resisting the urge to pop the ribs and then she twists, hold it, and then come back up keeping the spine angle long. Same side. Again, over, and then back up. Maybe a little less far, less back bending here. So think of this as a hinge.

Bring your naval back with you. Yes. Better. Better. And come back up. And we'll do the second side here. So both arms will reset in center, turning this way. Yep. Cutting back, pressing back, keeping both hips square. Beautiful.

Hold it. Stay there. Send your ribs away from my fingers a little more. And then come back up. And, again, press through this armpit, without bringing the ribs forward. Pull the ribs back more. Yes, ma'am.

And then coming back up. Do you have one more? Good. Let's do it. Twist. Hinge, keeping the ribs collected, squeeze that armpit forward as you come up, squared up, Yes. And release. Alright. Let's step down.

How to feel? That's awesome. Good. Because now you get to do the second side of our seated side bins. Now remember my friend, none of this rib cage business keep the ribs organized over the pelvis. The petal hand is going to go For the pedal, the free handle come up and side bending over trying to keep both sits bones heavy. Here we go.

Up and over side bend, staying square, bring your left shoulder toward me. Yes. And then coming back up. Ribs back? Yes.

And as you come back up, really think of getting longer on the bottom side. Ribs back. And, again, side bending up and over, standing into the bottom armpit, Go ahead. Rotating around, find your pedal, slip the hand wide, and now round over like a rounding in cat. And come up to a flat back, wide back. And then again, yes.

So she's draping up and over here. It's not that it's a tense position from the arms. The weight of her spine is what's taking the pedal coming over, and then she comes up to a flat back and hold. And go over one more time, pull up to a flat back, slide your right hand in, your left hand's gonna go out to a tee. Keep the neck long, turn your gaze a little bit more down.

Wide collar bones the whole time. Stretching up and over and holding it up here. Single arm pump. Hold on. Let's bring this arm a little bit more in front of you so you can see thumb in your periphery and then bend without the shrug. So bend the elbow a little bit.

There we go. 21, press and hold. Bring the left hand in, come back to your side bend here, and then unfurl to come up. Sit the hip down and now take a counter stretch that way. Yeah. Breathe into it. Let this open.

And then come back up and stepping off. K. You're gonna lay on your belly here on the mat, and we'll do the swan So come all the way down. Hands will come. Yes. And it's really important to me that your head starts on the level.

So open your hands just to hair wider. And so her head, even though she's flexible, she can let the head go all the way down if she wants, I want her to bring her head up to my hand just right there. Perfect. Now for your Swan, let the gaze inform the direction of the head. Gaze goes up, head comes up, arms pull down from the armpits, and then she's going to reverse it, come back down. As she's lowering, she's thinking of getting longer through these legs and she'll do it again.

Gaze and then back down. Really find the length. Now let the head go first, head first, head first, eyeballs, Yes. Up. She's widening her back as she's coming up, and then she's reversing it as she goes down. She's starting low.

The head is the last thing to get there, and it's just going to the level. And I'm gonna grab her petal, and she's gonna step out. And for our last trick, she's gonna sit straddling the chair She's gonna have to get really close to the chair because once she gets into her straddle position, her forearms will go on to the chair. And I'm keeping the spring here at 1 on position 2. Slide your hips back just a little, so you'll be in a hip hinge forward already.

So this is a mini spine stretch here. She's keeping her sits bones down. She'll nod her chin to her chest, and the curling of the spine is what's taking the pedal down. Not her shoulders pressing. And then the unfurling comes from the bottom and walks its way up. She's super flexible.

I'm gonna ask her to keep her sits bones down here. And then coming back up energy into my hand this way, keeping that hinge, keep the hinge. Yes. One more. Up and over, rounding. How does this feel? Good. And then unfurling to come back up.

And release the pedal. Fabulous job, my friend. I loved every bit of it. Thank you so much. Thank you. And thanks to all of you for watching this video.