22-Minute Aligning Reformer

Hi. I'm Christine Crooks, and today, I'd like to go through a nice, quick, efficient, reformer flow. So join me. We're starting with 3 red springs, and I want you to lie down on your back, feet on the bar, on the heels start arms beside you. Take a breath, sink into the carriage, and we're off. In hell press. Exhale down. So I'm feeling that stretch through the springs through the body.

We're gonna do about 8 repetitions in each position. K. Now let's go to our prehensile. So I want you to wrap the toes over the top. Heels are low, but we're not collapsing onto the arches. Still feel the arch lifting and right underneath the big toe is trying to draw up.

We press and in. Feeling that deep activation in the midfoot and throughout the arch with those toes stretching around over the top of the bar. One more. Sometimes I know I'm doing it right when I'm about to get a cramping my foot. Okay. Now on the toes, heels are lifted.

Press and hold the first one. Feel the stretch through the ankle. Through the knees, through the hips, through the spine, and then bend to control down. We're getting some rhythm. One more.

Hold at the top. Lower the heels. Lift the heels. 1. 2. 3. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 bend your knees, bring it back in.

Find your v position. Heels connected. Not too wide with the knees falling out into the hip but just that rotation, press drawing up. Notice I switched my breath. Sometimes when you wanna feel more connection and activation, you can find that exhale offers that.

And then in other times, when you want more length using that inhale, and down. Find your wide v position on the heels, feet are flexed. So we're lifting those toes. As you press out, hold the first one and feel like you're dragging your feet towards each other. So we feel that connection to the midline. Lower down, opening the hips, like you're pressing your heels out to the sides of the room, drawing in and up, down and out.

So this is our first little stretch into the hips. 3 more. Now bring yourself up to a seat. Let's make a quick change on the springs to go into our bridging. So just take one of the red springs off.

So you have 2 red springs remaining. Lie back down. Feed on the bar. I'm going to take my mid foot on the bar. Now arms are pressing, but not the only thing doing the work. Feel that connection to the backside as you roll through your pelvic curl.

Rising up into your articulated bridge. Inhale. Exhale. We roll it down. Inhale at the bottom. Exhale rolling up. Inhale.

Exhale down. One more. You hold at the top. Rolling up. Now hold, lower the hips and inch lift 1. Lower lift too.

So as I lower, I'm feeling of thinking of folding my hip creases as I lift I do a little spiral in my pelvis, so I find that long straight line at the top, lower lift, 3, for one more. Holding number 5, we press the carriage out. Pull the carriage in. Tap the stopper press. Pull in. Press.

Pull in. Press. Pull in and hold at the stopper rolling back down. Hands on the shoulder. Rest feet wide on the bar.

Find a little bit of what I call windshield wipers, swaying the knees from side to side. Get a little rotation in the hips too. And last one. Good. Now coming back up to a seat, finding another spring tension switching into supine arms and abdominal So one red spring, lying down, Make sure your shoulders have a little bit of wiggle room. Take your hands and your straps. Arms reaching up to the ceiling.

I have the small loops just to add a little more tension into the the spring as the starting position for the exercise. Legs up in tabletop, connected through the midline, knees and ankles, taken inhale, exhale, press forward, lift your head and shoulders. Inhale lie back down. So now we're finding that first bit of spinal movement for the thoracic up and forward and back down. And forward.

And down one more time. And forward hold. Now I'm pressing into the straps. I wanna take a little iron cross here just with the arms first. And 2. And 3.

And 4. And 5. Now as I lay back down, set my feet on the bar, I'm gonna switch to the long straps and give my shoulders a little more wiggle room. We're going to collaborate or coordinate, rather, with the legs and the arms. So feeling that connection into my shoulders, take a breath, exhale up and forward, lift the head, lift the shoulders. Here we are. Now as I go into my t position arms, they reach one leg over.

And exhale, draw it in, reach, and equal tension in both ropes. Square shoulders. 2 more sets. One more set. Trying to peel those shoulders off of the carriage with that c curve.

Hold. Lay back down. Set the feet on the bar, set your straps on the hook. Okay. Coming up. Now facing towards the risers, let's add 1 more spring so we have a red and a yellow.

So we have a little more tension than what I might usually use for this particular sequence, kneeling in a low position, We will come up to high kneeling, so preferably the low kneeling if your ankles can tolerate it. K? Now I'm gonna take the straps. I'm holding inside the small loops. And as I hold, I'm not pressing my palms back, but I'm actually aiming my palms into each other. So as I take this first movement, I'm gonna press those straps and hold. Now that's my test of the tension, which is a little heavy, so I'm actually gonna go to the long loops.

Palms are facing into each other as I pull hold. Now that feels connected to my back body. Without shortening my front body. Right? Cause as I pull into this chest expansion, I'm not letting my shoulders roll forward in order to get my hands further back. So collarbone wide and pull.

And pull. Now let's cross the straps a little intermission from that exercise. So we're gonna bookend this. Crossing the straps, elbows to your sides with your ninety degree elbow bend. Now external rotation.

So we're gonna deepen that warm up for the shoulders here. I'm trying to keep this out of the upper back. I'm attempting not to squeeze those scapula together. Try to keep my back wide and just focus on the shoulders. Focus on that rotator cuff getting a bit of external rotation work.

I usually tell people this is a smaller movement than you want it to be. One more. Alright. Now uncrossing the straps, going back into our chest expansion, Let's take a test run and see what that feels like for the shoulder integration. Chest feels a little wider. Now adding on to this, as I pull on the straps, I'm gonna hold arms beside me, pressing down in the shins, coming up to my high kneeling, and then sit back down.

Arms are beside me the whole time pressing up. And sitting down. Notice I'm not tipping my torso forward or back. And down. One more time. Isometric work on those triceps and down.

Arms come forward. I think we need to do one more set. So last bit, holding those straps beside you collarbone wide. If anything, your hands are just beside your hips or behind if you've got it. Now pressing up and down.

Strap. Stay beside you. And down. 3 more. Press. And down last one, lengthen through the crown of your head, sitting back down and arms forward. Okay.

Thoroughly warmed up there or worked there, I should say. Going into a little standing work on the floor, let's take our knee stretches and flow them into a bit of full body work. So one red and one blue, have your left foot on the floor about at the level of what mid mid carriages, fingertips to the foot bar, put your right foot against the shoulder rest, and now sit the hips back. We also call this scooter in a lot of schools of Pilates. So the heel is actually reaching into that headrest more so than the toes and the ball of the foot.

Sit into the hip, we press and in. So I'm keeping my flat back. Lightweight on my hands anchored through the standing leg. 3 2, 1, and in. Now to transition to the other side, let's get a little fancy. We've got the hands coming onto the foot bar.

We go into our long stretch position. Or full plank. Right? We press out and come forward and press. And forward. 2 more. Now holding here.

Take your right foot to the floor. Bring your left foot to the shoulder block. Make sure you're standing in that middle of the carriage or so. Sit the hips back, anchor into that back heel to drive that carriage. So we're trying to isolate that movement at the hip crease.

2 and 1, bringing it in. Now let's take this into up stretch and down stretch but I would like to go a little lighter on the spring. So replace the yellow from the blue. So now I have a red and a yellow coming up to the carriage. Carriage is home. Heels and about the middle of the shoulder rests.

Now I'm trying to draw the carriage into home. Not with too much rounding in the spine, but definitely connection into the pelvis. So I press out, here's my plank. Coming forward. Now fold the hips and back.

Press gliding forward. Carriage hits home. Keep it home. Press. Now we're gonna reverse that.

We come forward, plank. Press out. Fold, find home. Shift forward. Press.

Fold and home. Last one, shift forward, press and fold. Come down to the knees. We bring the feet against the shoulder rest one more time, and we go into our down stretch. So starting off in that low seated or low kneeling with the heels towards hips towards heels, Now I'm hovered just a little bit up. I anchor through the shoulders and hands.

Press out kneeling plank. Now start to lift through the crown of the head, lift through the sternum, keep the pelvis coming forward. Press out. And in. Press inhale, exhale, inhale, Exhale.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Last one. All the way in and set the hips back.

Okay. We're getting some flow. Now taking a little play on mermaid and draw a sword. So let's go down to one blue spring. With your mermaid position, left leg is in front, right leg is against the shoulder rest take the front strap into your outside hand. So left hand has the strap.

Right hand can be on the shoulder rest. I want you to start with that draw sword. So we're taking that draw sword elbow, forearm, hand, straight line, straight line. We come back across to that opposite hip. So just take 2 more of the draw sword, and then return.

And this one, let's hold it. Now reaching out into that strap, you press as you start to arc up and over, looking at the headrest, taking a nice side stretch over. Now turn the corner, square the shoulders, lift the spine. You're at the start again. Let's do a couple more.

Elbow forearm hand. Press. You're not collapsing to the strap. You control that strap up and over length and length and length and resist with this right hand in the shoulder rest. And then turn the corner at the bottom.

One more time. Elbow forearm hand. Reach up and over. Turn the corner. Okay. Other side.

Set that strap up. Left shin against the shoulder rests. Right shin running parallel to the carriage. Right hand has the strap holding at the left hip. So we start just with that draw sword.

Right elbow forearm hand. Hold the first one. Feel that connection into the shoulder and that postural lift through that vertical spine come back across. Elbow forearm hand hold and back across. One more like that.

And across. Adding in the side bent, elbow forearm, hand hold, press into the strap up and over. Look at the headrest, find that side stretch with the shoulder square, and then turn the corner hand to opposite hip. Again, draw a sword, elbow forearm, wrist, up and over, who will look at the headrest, feel that right shoulder stays back and then around. One more time.

Elbow forearm hand. Press. Keep reaching. Keep reaching. Keep reaching. That shoulder stays drawn in and then turn the corner.

Okay. Now let's take some prone work. So with the box, long box position on the carriage. I'm putting the box over the shoulder rest, so it's totally supported here. And I'm just going to move the footbar down a click.

Now I have a blue spring on. Let's keep that blue spring. This could range anywhere between, yellow up to a red. So lying prone on the box. I want you to have your chest on the edge.

Hands on the rails, legs are reaching back. So let's start with some pull ups. Bring yourself up to the top of the reformer near the risers. And I'm holding on to the risers here. Ideally, they're just below the shoulders or at shoulder height, not too low. But work with what you've got.

You know? This here feels really good to have that slightly lower position. So I maintain that link through my spine, and I feel that connection and control of my shoulders. We're gonna combine a hamstring curl and a pull up. So I want you to start with a little traction stretch. Fill that length through the lats.

Now start to glide the shoulders down, lift the crown of your head, lift your sternum, bend your elbows, and pull. And then lengthened back down. Again. And notice the legs are just reaching out. We'll combine those in a moment.

And lift. And down. And lift. And down. Now hold this stretched position without the shoulders shrugging too much, but feel the length in the lots. Legs close together, knees are hovering, heels to glutes. 1 and reach. Heels to glutes.

2. Try to keep the knees hovering off the box. 3. And 4. 1 more. And 5. Now I'm going to pull into a pull up here. As soon as I'm coming out of my pull up, my heels to glutes, connect, start the pull up, stretch the legs.

Control the pull up down. Bring the hamstring curl in. And if any of that caught, too too much, too confusing, then one at a time. Do the hamstring curls, or do the pull up and then coordinate them later. One more time.

And lengthen. Now let's find a little hang time. The legs drop down. Arms stretch long. Take your hands on the rails.

Bring yourself all the way back to home. Hands on the corners of the box, come up to standing. Okay. Let's finish with little vertical mindfulness. So we have our feet a little wider than hips.

Arms beside you. Taking in hell. And exhale. You can let the head nod. You lift the eyes up with the hands.

You lower the eyes with the hands. Inhale. And exhale. Last one, let's take a roll down. Inhale up. Now with the fingertips reach forward, crown of the head follows all the way over.

Let the crown of your head drop. Shake it out. Let your body fall over your legs. Deep breath in, exhale, push the floor away. Rolling back up.

Thanks for joining me today.