Seated Arm Work Series

Hi, Tracey. The setup is seated. Our focus is our upper body. Our hands are in the straps. We're working our upper body, but we're also focusing on our postural muscles, posterior, Deltoids, the rhomboids, the middle of the back, really understanding how the arms really connect to the back, super important to encourage your clients, how to sit up, right, shoulders over hips, and really focusing on strengthening that mid upper back. Now I'm going with 1 red spring.

That's 1 spring. Obviously, if you've got, people that need to work a little bit lighter, we can always bring it down to a half spring. But 1 spring is kind of a universal language that works for everybody. And we're in a group atmosphere here. It's definitely better to work what everybody can work with.

So let's go into a little crisscross here. Now, obviously, you can do these exercises with your feet forward Tracey. The only problem with this is that people got short hamstrings sometimes feel a little uncomfortable. So this is a great way of everybody being able to do it or even with a little bolster underneath the Alright. I'm gonna position myself a little bit further away from my, shoulder rests here, pick up my straps. I'm gonna start with the classic bicep curl, elbows in line with shoulders, shoulders stacked over hips, and we start with our bicep curl.

Now I've got the double loops here. So, obviously, if I wanna make it a little bit more challenging, I'll just go for the smaller loops, and we're keeping our elbows in line. With our shoulders. So we usually do about 8 reps of this. Now, we're gonna hold the bicep curl, hold it there nice and tall.

And from here, we're gonna open the elbows to the side. And then bring it back again. So now we're incorporating the mid upper back, posterior deltas, elbows going to the side. Keep the elbows slightly underneath the shoulder joint. And let's do 1 more, hold it here, and then bring the elbows back.

Palms facing down. Now we're gonna abduct the arms out to the side. So now you've got your arms astray. This is a little bit more challenging. The palms are flat.

And our cue is that we're drawing your shoulder blades together at the back. Let's do a couple more 1 more, we're gonna hold it here. Now, I call this like a little airplane. We're gonna go to the right, keep the arms wide, to the left, look down in your bottom hands. So now we're incorporating the obliques, the back, is working super duper hard, and then we go to the side. We come back, and then we bring the arms back.

Now we're gonna progress here, switch with the legs over, cross the straps and definitely come into the smaller loops here. Elbows come in. We're gonna go into the external rotation of your shoulder joint. So working into the rotator cuffs here, keep the elbows snug against your rib cage, palms are facing the sky. You're supernating. And we're in that external rotation.

So keep your palms facing the sky, draw your shoulder blades together, and keep your elbows close to your rib cage. Let's do 1 more. Now from here, palms flat to the floor. We go into our row, we row, and then we come back again. So now we're in that row.

It's pretty lightweight, but our focus is on teaching our class that your back is moving your arms. So the shoulder blades are pulling together, and the arms are secondary. So we can really focus on walking that mid back. Now I'm gonna progress and take the straps, the longer strap, Now, we go into that row again. We do external rotation.

Palms are flat, and then we go forwards, and we close the carriage. Albows come back Now in that external rotation, think of a little hot lift here, like a little lift that mid thoracic spine is working. And elbows to the side palms flat mid thoracic. It might be a little lift, a little hot center going up to the sky. Be slow with the movement. If we speed through it, you're not gonna get the desired result.

It's slow and controlled. 1 more squeeze the shoulder blades together. Now, external rotation, a little lift with that mid thoracic spine, and then we come back down again. Unwind them, take it around the elbows, similar to the exercise we just did. We go into our little open book.

So we open book. I always think I always tell my clients this looks like a little book and you're opening the pages of a book. Your arms stay in the same shape. And once again, it's your back that's moving your arms. Now we're gonna add on to this.

We're gonna bring the palms together in like a prayer position, and we go up and down. So it's like a little lift, so now you're definitely gonna feel your shoulders now. Our balls lift up and down. Let's do a couple more, then we're gonna alternate between the book and the prayer. Let's do 1 more. And we're ready.

So now palms in, facing forwards, there's your book, lift up and down. Got that. So you're alternating. And trust me, this is definitely a burner for the mid upper back and your shoulders. The simplistic move goes a long way. It's 1 of my favorite moves.

My students love it, and it's attainable for everybody. 1 more time and bring it back. Beautiful. Give yourself a little stretch for us before you move on to the other side. We're gonna roll all the way up, and now we're gonna turn around.

This time, we're gonna try and reach the legs for as if that's not attainable. Once again, go back into crisscross. Okay. So I'm gonna reach, lift up nice and tall. I'm going for the longer straps, the elbows, a snug, towards your rib cage. We reach forwards.

We circle diagonal. Elbows come into your body and then forwards. So it's kinda little mini circle. Albums in, so you're in the external rotation of your shoulder joint, and then they present forward. So it goes forwards, hit the diagonal, elbows come in, go forwards.

So you gotta hit those points in now reverse external rotation diagonally forwards, hit that front, and then you come back. There's our external rotation. Most important for shoulder stability there, external rotation, reach, dah, now hold the external rotation, and we go into, like, a little pulse. Might be a little bit faster, a little bit of burn here, a little spicing it up, and we're in that external rotation. 1 more.

Hold it here. Classic hogatory. Now in your classic hogatory, let's think of. You're hugging a beach ball your hands stay in your peripheral view, and you're reaching forwards. This is a great exercise.

Don't forget to do it. It's teaching you how to work from your core is teaching you your arms are connected to your back, and let's do 1 more. We're gonna go into a little hug. Now open your arms slightly. We're gonna go up to the sky.

We open back out to the side. We hug a Tracey go up, keep the scapula down away from your ears, around and back, now reverse it, peripheral view. I can see my arms. I lift up. There's my abs working, and I come back again. We go out diagonally out. There is where it's all happening right there is my apps, and we come back, and we open, and we bring it down.

Beautiful work. Some of the most simple exercises are the most challenging. Enjoy to dig a little bit deeper. Really focus on the simplistic motion of the movements. It's that mind connection that takes you further with Pilates. Thank you. Let's do all this again.

It's so much fun. See you again. Bye.