Back Extension Flow

Hi. I'm Maria, and we're gonna be building a back extension flow. Our focus here is gonna be all the muscles on the backside of the body and building extension in our spine. Your setup is gonna be with your foot bar in one of two places where it was for footwork or maybe one lower. The box, of course, is gonna be in the long box position, and we'll be working on 2 springs, 1 medium spring, and 1 lighter spring. Lay yourself down in a prone position with your chest jist off the edge of the box, hands shoulder distance, nice straight line from the crown of the head out to the toes. Press the arm straight and pause. We're gonna begin with a baby swan.

So lifting just the upper back into extension. Notice you don't move very much and lowering right back down. Very important here that your clients lift up through the upper back before extending into their lumbar spine. From here, let's lift into full swan, passing through the thoracic spine, lifting all the way up to the pubic bone, getting that carriage in as far as possible, keeping the pubic bone on the mat. Inhale to lift out and up big breath into the chest and exhale lower down. Notice how the head just follows the action of the spine.

And lower it down. Keep the legs hugging towards the midline of the body. And now bringing in some swimming. So the thigh bones start to flutter. You have good control in the scapulas.

The legs are hugging the midline. And I want you to focus on the swim is coming from the thigh Leone, not your feet. You're breathing in for 5. You're breathing out for 5. Nice Leone breath.

Without shifting it all, slowly release the right hand and reach it to the side. Now that's harder than you might think. Bring that hand back to the bar. Notice any adjustments in the pelvis. Staying as still as you can.

The other arm reaches out to the side and bring that hand back to the foot bar. Bring yourself in. And take a moment. Moving on. Press the arms out straight.

Stay here. Feel that nice straight Leone. 1 arm moves to the side. Pause there. And begin to bend and stretch the loaded arm. And the focus here is still on the trunk.

Do not get seduced by the movement of this arm. Notice the upward and the downward rotation of the scapula without any elevation. And now let's add the swimming to this. Breathing in and breathing out. Feel the planted pubic bone on the mat, two hands to the bar, bring yourself in.

Let's take a quick child's pose. I didn't even know I needed that. Let the sit bones compress to the heels. And this come right back down. Chest is off the edge.

Hand shoulder distance. Press the arm straight. Straight line. The other hand reaches off. And then beginning the action of the arm, remembering that this is about stability of the body and upward and downward rotation. If you wanna add more of a challenge begin swimming those legs.

Breathing in and breathing out, feeling the swimming as always from the thigh bones. Last one here Two hands to the bar, bring yourself in. We're gonna do a spring change. You're gonna go very light. I'm taking my machine down to a yellow, and we're gonna go into a superman toss.

So the arms go straight. You're neutral now. We're gonna lift just the upper back into a little bit of thoracic extension. We're gonna take a little bend on the elbows, and we're just gonna toss those arms forward. Now you're maintaining that thoracic extension, and this action is really about what you're doing in the air.

So I'm not looking for you to push off as hard as you can. I'm looking for you to stretch your arms as long and as high as you can and keep the lift of the chest. Now some of you are gonna add a swan dive position in the ear. The arms are gonna reach back. You're gonna lift a little higher and land. Try to get the backs of your hands to touch.

So the scapulas are drawing into the center of the spine. You're really feeling those rhomboids Look for a feeling of stretch in the front of the chest and the shoulder. Last time here, all the way down, and that's come into a child's pose again. Let the knees open if you need it. Let the forehead rest on the box. If you need it, really compress the sit bones down to the heels rounding out that lumbar spine.

Bring yourself back down. We're removing the spring. Slowly take the carriage back. It's kinda fun. I don't know why, but it is. And now wiggle yourself forward so that your ASAS is right at the edge of your box and start neutral.

From here, we're gonna do a little push up. So you're gonna lower your body down and exhale up. And the spine is staying neutral and you're hinging right from the hips, right from that ASIS. Last one here Stay here. Now we're going into a swan dive. Lift your legs up.

From here, lift your legs so much that you have no choice, but to dive forward. The box is supported against the back frame. Inhale to lift. The legs lift up. They keep lifting up. That takes you down into the well, and you inhale to come up.

2 more here. Inhale. And exhale to come up. Last time, little grand finale, maybe while you're here, you do a little swimming. The shoulders are out of the ears.

The abdominals are lifted. You're doing your five breaths in, five breaths out. Come on down and then walk yourself back into child's house. Take some deep breaths into the back and the sides of the rib cage. And that's the end of our back extension series.