4 Point Long Stretch

Hi. I'm Tracy Mallett. This setup will be a 4 point setup, and this inspiration obviously came from the original long stretch. So you can see I've taken it the opposite direction. And we're adding in 1 of my favorite exercises. I call it the flying cats or the flying arabesque.

So you can see I've put the bar down for this because we're actually going to be popping our feet right at the corner here of the platform. So from doing this in my studio with my students, they did complain. They were feeling a little bit on their feet. So to solve the problem, just play some anti slip right here. Gives a little bit anti slip there to stop you from your feet from moving so they feel a little bit more secure and also it's softer on the feet and everybody's happy.

So that's just a good little tip for you to pop some little anti slip there, and then we're all good. Alright. We're gonna start with a red spring because I need a little bit more support. For those that are very petite and stronger, you possibly could go down to a blue spring, but there's gonna be a lot of challenge within the core. You can always down to a half spring. However, that's gonna be very challenging within your core. So my suggestion is keep to 1 red spring or 1 spring.

Alright. We're gonna start on the top. Hands go on to the, shoulder rests. Place the right foot, right on the corner there, and then left foot on the corner. Of your platform here. Now reaching out to the crown of the head, so you're in that lovely plank position. Now the front leg is gonna lift and go all the way forwards into a stretch.

So I'm just gonna hold it here and break it down so in that slow stretch, Now as I'm in that stretch, I'm pressing my hips forward, and I'm reaching the arms forward. So getting that nice stretch, pubic bone down. So it's kinda nice to start slowly. Kind of they think they're in this stretch little combination. And then it gets more challenging. So we're gonna hold it here. Now bring the carriage back so the hands go underneath the shoulders as we come back into a plank. So try that again.

So we go down. Plank, down plank, down holder. Now we're gonna go into flying cat. So we're rounding through the spine, keep the back leg straight, and we round up cat. In how forward. So our goal is to close the carriage and back. Push that carriage forward.

Are you ready? Hands coming underneath your shoulders. Cats. Bring it back. It's like a cat flamingo. Take it back. Now option would be to go into a plank arrow desk.

Whoo. A lot more challenging. Hands go directly underneath your shoulders. Now bring it back into your plank position. Ready? Everybody into your plank.

Hold your plank. Now push the carriage forwards and back or hold the plank position. So you're moving at the shoulder joint. Everything staying stable. Just disassociating at the shoulder joint.

From here, step the front leg down, step the other leg down Tracey, Tracey the hands either side of your shoulder rest. Toes are against your platform, just like they were before. Now we're gonna go into a hover here. So a 4 point hover connect your arms to the back, hover, 2 inches off the floor, and we hold it there. That in itself is challenging, and now we're gonna push out and in.

So we add in that extra element here out and in. You imagine you're shooting forwards, crown of the head. You got that laser beam reaching out to the crown of the head. 1 more back to your 4 points, you hold it here, and drop the knees down. We could call that quits, or we could take it to the next level, which I'm going to show you.

From here, Ready hover, 2 inches, knees hover, connect the arms to the back, scoop out those abdominals, hover. From here, reach that leg out. Now from here, we're gonna bend the knee, push the carriage out, shoot back. Try and keep your hips in line with the shoulders. We're not bobbing up and down.

We're reaching forwards and back, and we're gonna do 1 more reach that leg back, drop it back down into your 4 point hover, look where your hands are that went underneath your shoulders, scoop out through those apps, and then drop the knees down and come back. Super important that you're always in alignment, hands underneath the shoulders, knees underneath the hips. Now we're gonna go to the other side now. You ready? So we're gonna push out into your plank position.

Knees elevated, lift up, hold it here, lift the opposite leg, come down into your stretch, reach the carriage forwards as hold it here, break it down, go a little slower into that stretch, hips are forwards. Remember those arms come back underneath your shoulders as we bring the foot back into plank position. Let's try it, plank position. Hold your plank, and then go back down again, stretch. Hold your plank. The hands come underneath your shoulders.

Back out again. Let's do a couple more so you get that feeling and blank. Come back down, where's your hands going, right underneath your shoulder joint, and back into that stretch. Now our flying cat. You ready?

Close the carriage, exhale. Bring it down. We're closing the carriage. So look at your shape of your spine. You're rounding, looking towards your stabilizing foot. Now I fly in arabesque.

Bring it back. So you're lengthening your leg. Plank with a leg lift. 1 more. Hold it there. Drew up. The feet now. If you wanna make it a little less challenging, bring your knees down, hold that position here.

Maybe you reach your hands forwards and back. So if your class is just dying and they can't do that lung stretch variation, Just have him hold here as an alternative. They're still working super hard. Hold it here. Bring the carriage in.

Take the hands down. Ready for our 4 point hover. So look, see how close the carriage, knees underneath the hips, hands underneath the shoulders, slide the scapula down, draw those abs in. You're ready? Hover. Hold that hover.

Now push out and in. This in itself is challenging for most of the population out there. Breathe and keep that connection with the arms to the back. Let's do 1 more. Hold the 4 point hover.

Drop the knees down. Now we're going for our last grand finale here. Like the rabbit. Alrighty. Let's try.

Press down into the floor into your reformer, slide your scapula down, lift up against gravity, reaching out to the crown of the head. We've got this. You're ready. 2 inches off the mat. We hover, bring the leg in, push the leg in and out. Imagine you've got that cup of tea on your hips, and we're hopefully balancing the cup of tea and reach that leg out, reach out to the crown of the head, And let's do a couple more in that rabbit variation.

Hold it here. Drop the knees down to the mat and enjoying that well deserved stretch. Hold it here. Slowly articulate up, walk your feet forwards, and roll up. So you can see I did lots of variations there. This is challenging.

A lot of work within their wrists, but remember, if they're connecting their arms to the back and they're really working the back, the weight will come out of their wrists. So lots of variations that you can do here, I hope you enjoy that. It definitely gets your heart rate off. Thank you so much. See you again.