Traditional Wunda Chair

Today we're going to do one of my favorite apparatus, which is the Wonder Chair or the Wunda Chair. I'm going to start with foot work. And what I have them on is one top, one high middle. If I was working on the Gratz apparatus, I would probably put one on the top, one the bottom, or two on the top. If you're not working on Gratz or the Balanced Body, I would suggest to put it on a heavier spring setting.

So I'm going to have Amy, you're going to hold onto the sides of the chair. Marta, you're going to cross your arms like a genie. And I'm going to show you the two different variations. Marta's going to be doing a little bit more of an advanced variation while Amy will be doing a little bit more of a basic variation. Both of you, I want you to imagine that your head is touching the ceiling.

Make sure that your head remains touching the ceiling throughout the exercise. And we're going to pump down and up, down two and up, keep touching the ceiling, and four and up. Down five, and up, down six and up. So you lower the pedal as much as you can without losing the length in your spine. Two more.

And up. Down and up. So we do 10. And now we're going to go on to the arch of the foot. Feet together.

Knees together. And now same thing, down and up. So you feel like a bird on a perch. Two and up. Maintain the length and up.

Keep touching the ceiling and up. Make sure the ribs stay in. I don't want to get my barbecue sauce out. And up and down. And up and down.

And up, two more, down and up. And 10 and up. Let's move on to the heels. And now same thing. Pumping down and up.

And two and up. And three and up. Keep the ribcage dropped. Keep the spine lengthened. Down and up.

Two more. Down and up. One more time. Down and up. We're going to remain on the heels.

We're going to pump one leg. Amy, I'm going to have your leg extend out. Your right leg, in line with your sits bone. Cisco Marta, your leg is going to go out in line with the knee. So Marta's doing the more advanced variation.

Amy is doing the more basic variation. Same thing. Pump. Down and up. And two and up.

Three and up. Keep the elongation in the extended leg. Five more. And down and up. And two and up.

Keep lengthening through your spine. Keep touching the ceiling. One more down and up. Let's exchange legs. So other leg.

And pumping down and up. And two and up. Keep elongating the spine. And down and up. And five more times.

And down and up. Keep energy through the leg, but keep your foot relaxed on the extended leg. And two more. Up and one more and up. OK, let's go onto the ball of the foot.

So extend the leg out and pumping, down and up, and two and up. Keep elongating. Feel like you're suspended by string. And down and up. Pull it from the crown of the head, the temples, the occipital processes, hanging from five marionette strings.

And one more, another side. And pumping down and up, and two and up, three and up. And four and up, and five up. Keep the middle to lower back nice and lengthened. And up and down, and up, two more, down up.

Last time, and up. Great. I'm going to have you guys stand up. We're going to do the tendon stretch. So you're going to stand in front of the chair, Pilates stance.

Arms are going to go straight up to the ceiling. Pull in and up through your core around up and over. And bring the hands onto the back of the chair. Step one foot on, press the pedal down. And then step on with the other foot.

You're going to lower the heels for three, two, one, lift. Two, three, lower two, three. Lift two, three, three. And lift two, three. Lower two, three.

Lift two, three. Make sure that the head is hanging like a rag doll. And lower two, three. Lift two, three, three. Count lower.

Three counts, lift. Two more times. Lift two, three lower. And lift two, three and now step one foot onto the floor, ease the pedal up. Step the other foot next to the other.

And then roll up through your spine one vertebrae at a time, open the arms down by the sides. Great. So I'm going to give you guys a variation of Romana's. And this one she did to help strengthen her knees. It's also called the tendon stretch.

So you're going to bring both legs together in a parallel together position. Extend the arms straight up to the ceiling. Round over. This time, don't grab the back of the chair, but grab the side of the chair. Great.

Step your right foot onto the pedal, high lifted heel. Keep the heel high, press the pedal down in one. And life the pedal up. And press down, two. And you work within your working level.

Press down three. So if it goes all the way down, that's great. If it doesn't, that's OK as well. And come up. One more time, press down and come up.

Now we're going to add on. You're going to press down and hold at your working level. Lower the heel for three, two, one lift the heel. Two, three lift the pedal. And again, lower the pedal down and then lower the heel for three, two, one.

Lift two, three lift the pedal. And press the pedal down. Make sure you're not hyper-extending your elbows. Two, three lift, two, three lift the pedal up. Two more.

Pressing down and lower the heel. Two, three, lift two, three, lift the pedal. Last time, pressing down and lower two, three. Lift two, three, lift the pedal. Step the foot down next to the other, and let's change legs.

Bring the other leg up, high lifted heel. And press the pedal down one and lift up one. Head heavy like a rag doll. Lift up two and press three. And up.

Keep pulling in and up through your core as you press. And lift the pedal last time. Pressing down. Lift the pedal up. Adding on, pressing down, hold.

Lower the heel for three counts. Lift the heel for three counts, nice and smooth. And lift the pedal up. And again, pressing down as smooth as possible. Lower the heels, two, three.

Lift two, three and lift the pedal up. Very nice, guys. Pressing down and lower for three, two, one. Lift two, three. Lift the pedal up.

Two more, pressing down. And lower two, three. Lift two, three. Lift the pedal. Last time, pressing down and lower two, three.

Lift two, three. Lift the pedal. Great. Bring the feet together. Good parallel together stance.

Pull up through the core, roll up through your spine one vertebrae at a time. Arms are going to come by the ears and then circle the arms down. We're going to do the hundred. So you're going to lay on your back lengthwise across the chair. Great.

Knees in, legs out 45, maybe a little higher, maybe a little lower, your working level. Arms in line with your waist. Pilates stance with the feet and start pumping up and down as you breathe in with the air. And out with the air for five. In.

Make sure you're not hyper-extending your knees though. Exhale three, four, five. In with the air and exhale three, four, five. Keep pulling in and up through the abdominals. And exhale three, four, five.

Inhale three, four, five. Exhale five more times. And exhale three, four, five, two. And exhale three, four, five. Nice long feet.

And exhale three, four, five. Very nice, guys. And exhale three, four, five. Last time. And exhale three, four, five.

Knees into the chest. And standing up onto the floor. You're going to turn around on the spot. And we're going to do the reverse hundred, yes. And then you're going to lay down.

You're going to have your arms go back. And you're going to have a nice long line from head to heel pumping up two, three, four, five. Exhale three, four, five. Inhale three, four, five. Exhale three, four, five.

In with the air. And exhale three, four, five, four. And exhale three, four, five, five. And exhale five more times. Keep drawing the inner thighs together.

And exhale three, four, five. Energy out of the crown of the head. And exhale three, four, five. Make sure you're not breaking in your wrist. And exhale three, four, five.

Nice relaxed feet, long toes. Exhale three, four, five. Last set. Three, four, five. Exhale three, four, five.

Great. Standing up. We're going to do the Push Down. So we're going to change the springs. And I'm going to have you guys bring one on a high middle.

And the other spring will come off. If I was working on the Gratz, I would probably do one in the middle. Or I might do two on the bottom. So you want to have a fairly medium to light spring here. I'm going to spot with you, Marta.

You're going to bring the arms straight up to the ceiling and I want you to imagine that there's a wall behind you. You actually have a wall behind you. You're going to round up and over. Don't push into the wall, don't pull away from the wall, keep your sits bones directly over your heels and try not to tense in the toes. Keep pulling up through the core, shoulders nice and relaxed, head dropped.

You're going to press the pedal down, one. And then pull up through the power house, lift. And again, press the pedal down, two. Keeping equal weight on fore foot and rear foot and pulling up, two. And one more time, pressing down on three.

Hold there this time. Three pumps, bend, stretch, one. Bend, stretch, two. Bend, stretch, three. Now hold there.

Pull up to the power house. Bring the pedal all the way up. Simultaneously, both arms are going to come up off of the pedal. And then, let's round back over. We're going to do a variation with one arm.

Right arm will go directly out to the side. And then you're going to press the pedal down, one. Pull the pedal up, one. Press down, two. Pull up, two-- try not to transfer weight right or left.

Press down, hold this time. Pump three times, bend stretch, one. Bend, stretch, two. Bend, stretch, three. And pull up through the power house.

Then exchange arms. Right hand on, left arm out to the side. Hold there. Make sure, though, you're in the power house and make sure that the shoulders are not coming up by the ears. And pressing down on one.

Lift up one. Make sure that the arm is an extension of the back down. And then pull up, two. Press down three, hold there. Bend, stretch the elbow, one.

Bend, stretch, two. Bend, stretch, three. Hold. Pull all the way up. Bring both hands on and hold there.

Imagine that wall behind you. Don't push into it, don't pull away from it. Roll up through your spine keeping the arms by the ears. Ribcage dropped. Energy through the crown of the head and open the arms down by the sides.

Great. We're going to take the same position that we had for the hundred. We're going to do our Series of Five. Both knees into the chest. Right hand on ankle.

Left hand onto the knee. Left leg out 45 degrees. And you're going to pull in with the right leg change. And pull, change, two. Hit a target.

Change, two. Change, three. And three. Imagine you're hitting the same target each time. Five.

Five. So it's a bow and arrow. Six and seven and seven. And eight and eight. And nine, nine.

And 10. 10, both knees in. The Double Leg Stretch. Arms to the ears, legs out 45 degrees. Arms circle first, knees second.

Arrive together. Give yourself a good pull without the tailbone lifting. Simultaneously, arm's length out, hold. Circle arms first, knees second. Grab the ankles, give yourself a good pull.

And, again, inhale reaching out. And exhale coming in. Marta, be careful not to have the arms come too close together. And, again, inhale our, four. Very good.

Exhale come back in. One more like this. Inhale out. I'm having Marta do Pilates stance. I'm having Amy do parallel just to show the difference.

Hold there. We're going to add on Carola Trier's variation. So you're going to extend the spine as you extend the arms back. Do an extension of the upper back. Circle the arms and pull.

Collect everything together. And again, inhale, extending out. Nice. And exhale, come back in. Inhale, extend out.

You stay very grounded in your core, but free in the upper back. And exhale, come back in. And again, inhale out, anchor. And then exhale. Integrate the pelvis and the ribcage as you come back in.

Last time. Inhale extending out, very good. Exhale. Come back in. Single Straight Leg Stretch.

Right leg up, left leg out 45. Pull, pull, scissor. Pull, pull. And two, two. Two, two.

Three, three. Bring the leg to you. Don't have the hands go to the leg. Four, four. Five, five.

Five more with the hands behind the head. One, one. And two, two. And two, two. Three, three.

Make sure hand is on top of hand, don't interlace the fingers. Four, four. And five, five. Five, both legs to 90 degrees. Double Straight Leg Stretch.

Lower for three, two, one. Lift to 90 degrees. Lower. As you lower, integrate pelvis and ribcage. Don't let that space increase.

And lift up to 90. And lower two, three. Up to 90 five, two, three. Up to 90, hold there. We're going to add on.

Lower two, three, to 45 hold. Keep the integration. Lower for three, two, one. Lift to 45. Lower.

Don't let the space increase, 45. Sternum, pubic bone keep pulling towards one another. Lower two, three. Broad elbows. One more.

Lower two-- on the home stretch-- lift to 45 hold. Criss cross, twist to the right, as you extend the left leg and hold. Two, three. Twist to the left and think twist. Don't transfer weight.

Change. Twist to the right. Imagine you're balancing on your spine and twist to the left and hold. Two, three. Twist.

You're on a six foot balance beam. And change. You have to stay balanced on the spine on that balance beam. And twist. If you transfer weight, you're going to fall off.

And twist. And I might be forced to laugh. And twist. Five, two, three. Change.

Five, quick time, change. One, twist. One, twist. Two. From underneath the ribcage not the elbows.

And four and four and five. Five, both the knees in, grab your ankles. Let your head rest back for a second before release. Very nice. Chin to chest.

Standing up. I see a little bead of perspiration from each of you. [LAUGHTER] All right, so what we're going to do is I'm going to have you guys sit down on the floor. And you're going to straddle the chair. For the spine stretch.

First, we're going to do a couple preps. That's good, you're schvitzing. Pilates is a work-out. So you're going to have your hands go on top of the pedal. Make sure that you're not hyper-extending in your elbows.

Head directly over shoulders, shoulders directly over hips, ribcage dropped. Squeeze the bottom. As you squeeze the bottom, press down through your wings to elongate. And then release. Very nice.

And, again, squeeze, press, and lift. And Marta, be careful not to hyper-extend those knees. Yes and release. And again, energy forward through the heels, but not back through the knee. Nice.

Release. We're going to add a c-curve. Hold there. Imagine there is a wall right behind you. And you're about two inches away from the wall.

When you c-curve, keep your shoulders directly over your hips. Only touch the middle back to the wall so you find your stomach massage round position, OK? So let's perform the exercise now. Elongate the spine, squeeze the bottom. Press and curve.

Pull the middle back. Back to that imaginary wall. And then release. Lifting up through your spine as you inhale. Amy, keep the arms just a little bit more extended so then you can really pull through your wings.

Exhale, press, and curve. Think of making a capital C, less of a lowercase c. And then roll up through your spine as you inhale. Exhale, press, and curve. Imagine you're wringing air out of your lungs.

And then inhale rolling up to your spine. Very nice. Romana used to tell us, you have a wet dishcloth. Dip it in, you wring out the water. It's the same thing when you're exhaling.

You always want to think of wringing all the air out of the lungs as you would the water out of the wet dish cloth. Let's move on to teaser. So you're going to bring your legs on top of the chair. Same sort of concept. You don't want your shoulders to move forward back in space.

You pretty much want to keep them in their relationship to where they are right now. You're going to focus more through your core. Long relaxed feet. You're going to first keep the feet down for the first three variations. Press down and scoop.

Two, three. And release. Press and scoop. Try to keep the body more still. We're only through the lower back.

And release. And now exhale, press and scoop. Scoop, scoop. Relax those feet, Amy. And release.

All right. Good. Round over. Grab the side of the chair. Stretch out for the teaser stretch.

Make sure that the shoulders are not getting friendly with your ears. Very good. OK, you're going to roll up through your spine. You're going to turn around and lay onto your stomach for the Flying Eagle. So you're going to have your hands going to the pedal.

Now, I like to teach this variation with the cheek turned to the side to begin with. So we're going to start with the right cheek to the floor. Simultaneously, you're going to pull down to the wings to pull the pedal down as you center the head, roll up to your spine one vertebrae at a time. The head will be the very last thing to come up. Good.

Now the head is the first thing to come down as you roll down through your spine. At the last minute, you're going to turn the head to the other direction. Now, center the head as you pull down to the wings. Make it a nice successive spine sequencing to roll up head last. Nice.

Head down first. Curling down. Retrograding the movement. And turn the head to the other direction. Let's do that one more time.

Center the head as you pull down to the wings, lift and rise. Good. Head down first. Curling down, turn the head, and then last half. Pull down to the wings as you center the head.

Rise up making sure you're not hyper-extending the elbows. Keep drawing the inner thighs together. Head down first. Roll down through your spine and at the very last minute, turn the head to the other direction. Great.

Sit on the heel. Stretch out your back, child's pose. Just to release, counter stretch. And then Amy, I'm going to have you sit back, stand up, and then Marta, I'm going to have you step one foot forward. And stand up.

So this way you have more advanced version to get up and a more basic version. Let's come to the back of the chair for the swan and the swan dive. You're going to line your body so your ribcage is over the front edge. Again, have your inner thighs together, hands are going to go onto the pedal. Now let's start with the pedal all the way up.

And this will be our starting position. Now press the pedal down keeping the legs nice and stationary. Now lift the pedal up to your starting position. And again, press the pedal down, two. And lift up to your starting position.

Let's do one more. Press the pedal down, three. This time, you're going to hold there. Pump the pedal three times. Pump one, pump two, pump three with extended arms.

Rise all the way up. We're going to add on for the full swan. So legs initiate and you're going to go up and over. And then you're going to rise all the way up. Initiate through the legs and lift up and over.

Very good, drawing those inner thighs together. Bend the elbows, Marta And then stretch. The arms come up all the way up. And again, legs initiate. You go up and over.

Hold there. Try not to let the head drop because the weight of the head will make you slide forward. Pump three times. Bend, stretch, one. Bend, stretch, two.

Bend, stretch, three. Lead through the crown of the head. Come all the way up. Up, up, up, up, up. Hold there.

Marta, you're going to do the breast stroke. You're going to reach the arms forward. Lift the arms up and circle the arms around. Good. Hands come on, press the pedal to your working level.

Probably not all the way down because you want one straight line from head to heels. Bring the right arm directly out to this side. Now bend the elbow. Press the arm and hold for three, two, one. Bend, two.

Press and hold, try to keep equal weight in both hips. And bend, three. Try not to shift through the ribcage. Two, three. Let's switch sides.

Right hand on. Left arm out to the side. Hold. Make sure that that arm is an extension of the back. And now bend the elbow.

Press and hold. Two, three. Bend, two. Press and hold, two, three. Bend, three.

Press and hold. Try to keep one straight line and make sure that your body is making almost like a crescent. Now bring both hands on. And now we're going to do the Grasshopper. Lift all the way up to start.

Same position we started with the swan. Same thing. Initiate from the legs. Go up and over, maintaining that shape. Bend the knees, stretch the legs, clap 10 times.

10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four three, two, one and come all the way up. And what helps me is I think of five counts for my arms to extend. Five counts for the pedal to come up while I maintain the clap of the feet. So initiate from the legs, go up and over. Hold there.

Stay lifted in the chest, don't drop the head. Bend the knees, stretch the legs, clap 10 times. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, all the way up on one. One more time. Initiate from the legs.

Go up and over. Bend the knees, stretch the legs, and clap five counts for the arms to extend and five times for the pedal to come up. Very nice. Standing up onto the floor, let's do a little bit of a counter stretch. So you're going to round over.

Bring the hand onto the floor. If you can't get the hands to the floor, that's OK. You're going to bend the knees. Stretch the legs straight. And again, you're going to bend the knees and stretch the legs straight.

Bend the knees. Hold there. Keep the knees bent. Slowly roll up to your spine one vertebrae at a time. And then when your pelvis is upright, you can extend the legs, roll the rest of the way up.

Very nice. Great. OK let's do the Arm Frog. So Amy, I'm going to have you do the frog position with the legs. But Marta, I'm going to give you a variation.

Yes, so let's take two pads. I'm going to have you use the ball. I give this variation to one of my students because she had bad knees. And she was OK with flexion, but she couldn't bend too far. And so I call this Mitzi's Frog, so that variation.

And this is a really good prep you can use as well to get people to have the idea of how to do the arm frog as well. So you're going to start kneeling down, yes. I'm going to have you put the ball and sit on the ball. And you might want to come a little bit closer. The trick is the closer you come to the pedal, the easier it will be.

All right, so now, Amy, let's get you into position. Arms forward. You're going to lift through your spine, lift through your sits bone, pull up through your abdominals while your heels are weighted. And you're going to lower down and you're going to keep the heels dropped. Eventually they have to come up, they'll come up on their own.

Now, you're going to squeeze your bottom as you elongate. Lengthen through your spine as you press down and release. Squeeze, press, and lengthen. And release. One more time.

Squeeze, press, and lengthen. And release. Amy, lift the arms shoulder height standing up. Very nice. And then, Marta, you can stand up.

Great. Let's remove those pads and I'll take the ball for you. And we're going to do the Reverse Arm Frog. So you're going to turn around. And you don't want to get too close to the pedal, but you also don't want to be too far away.

Reach the arms straight out in front of you, shoulder height. Same thing, think up to go down. Don't let the heels pop up. And lower down, weight through the heels. So you're nice and grounded.

You're going to thread the arms back. Hands are going to go onto the pedal. Great. Let me move this in for you a little bit. Great.

You're going to squeeze the bottom as you press down and hold, two, three, and release. Marta, let's have the fingertips face the other direction. And as you press down, think of lengthening your spine. And now lengthen as you press. Make sure that the body goes up not down.

And release. Good. One more time. You're going to press two, three, and release. And also we have to work on that hyperextension a little bit.

Let's try just one more. Press. Normally, I do three of these. And release. Circle the arms forward.

Head up, sits bone up, heels down. Up to the power house to rise. Very nice. OK. Let's adjust the chairs.

So now we're going-- I'm sorry, I should I start or was I-- all right, go ahead. OK. OK, so now we're going to reverse the movement. We're going to do our teaser. So you're going to sit down, bring your knees into the chest.

You extend the legs out to 45 degrees. Now extend the arms. Maintain a curve in your lower back. Bring your elbows back, hands onto to the pedal with the fingertips facing you. And then press down.

Initiate from the power house. Pull back up, one. And press down, two. We've got to do something about these toes, lady. [LAUGHTER] And again, press down, three, hold.

Pumping one, pumping two, pumping three. Rise all the way up. Now circle the arms around, reach for your feet. Do try to keep a curve in the lower back still. Now elbows come back.

Hands are going to come onto the pedal. We're going to have our right leg stay stationary, left leg is going to come down as the pedal goes down. Nice. And now pull up to the power house. And, again, press down, pull up, two.

Press down and hold. Three pumps. Bend, stretch, one. Bend, stretch, two. Bend, stretch, three.

Beautiful. And then leg will come up as your body comes up. And let's circle around and reach for the feet, but try to maintain that curve. Elbows come back, hands go on, and we exchange legs. Other leg pressing down as your body goes down.

And lifting up. And, again, press down, two. And lifting up, press down, hold, pump three times, bend, stretch, one. Bend, stretch, two. Very nice.

Bend, stretch, three. Extend the arms and come up all the way up. As the leg comes up, circle around and reach for your feet. Now elbows come back. A more advanced variation, hands on.

Legs will lower as your upper body lowers. Good. Now lift your upper body up only still keeping that chin to your chest. And, again, press down, two. Lift up, two.

Press down, three. Pumping, one. Pumping, two. Pumping, three. Hold there this time.

We're going to do the reverse swan. Arch your back. We say never to bring your ribs out, but this one, push your ribs out. And rise all the way up. Now press down keeping that poof in the chest.

Now come all the way up. And again, pressing down. Come all the way up. Press down one more time. Bring chin to your chest.

Connect to the power house, lift the legs up as your upper body comes up. Good. Circle and reach. Maintain that curve. Two, three, and standing up.

Very good. All right. So ideally though, when you guys are doing your teaser, in between every time you reach for your feet, try to maintain that lower curve. So I'm going to use this for a second, Marta. So what happens is you want to really keep this curve because if you lift here, it goes more into the hip flexors.

And then the legs get weighted. So if you maintain this curve, as this comes around, and then just lift through the upper back, it's going to give you much stronger teaser. So where have we seen this? We've seen it on the stomach massage, hands back, lower back curved. Hands back, upper back lifted.

So think of that when you do the teaser. It will help a lot. All right, not bad. So next we're going to do the Arm Frog. And I know we just did it, but I just wanted to.

All right. I'm just going to do it again. That's OK. [LAUGHTER] So now we do how they come out of the arm drop, how do they end that? We end up with the reverse arm frog and then they ended with their arms down.

OK. OK. Let's put some blue pads down. And we're going to do the Kneeling Mermaid. And if you don't have these pads, that's OK.

What you can do is use some sort of cushion just to cushion the knees. I'm going to have you guys bring feet and knees together. Cross your arms like a genie. And then you're going to bend the knees, lower the body down, and then, yes. Marta, I'm going to have you do a more basic version.

You're going to open the knees parallel hip-width. That open position allows for a broader base and it's going to give you more stability. Amy, I'm going to have you keep your knees together. I'm going to have you guys bring your inside arm onto the pedal. The outside arm will go next to the ear.

I want you to first engage through the lat. So that way the shoulder's not coming by the ear and it's already connected. I want you to bend over to the side trying to keep that strength. Hold there. Imagine you're in between two walls.

And you don't want to have any sort of rotation in the spine or else you're going to hit one of the walls. And then you're going to come back up. And again. And then I'm going to also have you think of having a ball in between your head and your arm. And then come all the way up.

One more time. Go up and over. Hold there. Make sure you're still integrating your pelvis and your ribcage. Make sure you're not transferring weight to the right or to the left.

And then you're going to come all the way back up once again. Let's have feet and knees come together if they're not already together. And you're going to curl your toes under, cross your arms like a genie, and you're going to, yes, sit back, stand up. Beautiful. Let's do the other side.

You're going to lift to lower. You're going to lower your body down. And then bring your knees onto the pads. Let's have you open the knees again, Marta. And then have the outside hand go on next to the ears.

And then the inside hand will go onto the pedal. And then little word of advice, I'm going to have you, Amy, just scoot a little bit over to your outside. And you're going to go up and over, staying in between the two walls. Try not to rotate. And then come back up.

And again, you're going to go up and over. Keeping equal weight on both knees. And then come back up. One more time. Go up and over.

Making sure there's no rotation in the pelvis. No rotation in the ribcage. And then come all the way up. Let's have the legs go together. You're going to curl your toes under.

Cross your arms like a genie. And you're going to sit back, stand up. That's very good. No deductions. Perfect 10.

[LAUGHTER] So let's do the Low Frog. So let's remove those pads. I'm going to have you guys lay down onto your floor. Would you like a mat? OK.

You're going to have the soles of the feet come flat together. And then you don't want to be too close, you also don't want to be too far away either. Fingertips reaching forward towards the chair. You're going to expand and you're going to press the pedal down and hold two, three, and release. Very nice.

And again, pressing down. When you press down, do you have equal weight on both sides of the pelvis? And release. As you press down, notice that there's a rock that's happening in your pelvis. Try to stabilize.

And release. Good. And pressing down, make sure the tailbone is not curling up to the ceiling. Sits bone should be facing straight forward. Beam of light coming out of them.

And release. Let's do one more time. And press down and hold, two-- very nice-- three, and come back up. We're going to do the Leg Press then the Semicircle. So you might need to just a little bit.

Let's have the soles of the feet come onto the pedal and then you're going to lift the pedal all the way up. Yup. Now hold there. Yes, very good positioning. I find that if you are too far back, it's not going to be so successful.

So you kind of want to hook that heel over, that was perfect position though. You're going to press the pedal down and hold. And release. At this moment, you might feel you might need to move forward or back a little bit. So let's take that time to do that adjustment.

Great. And let's have that pedal release. great. And, again, press down and hold, two, three, and release. Let's do one more like that.

Press down and hold, two, three. Imagine there's a ball in between your knees. Don't lose it. And release. We're going to add on to this one.

You're going to press down and hold that position. The semicircle. You're Going to lift your pelvis up into the air. Hold there. Have you dropped the ball?

Stay lifted. Think of your knees going forward. Upper body weighted. And you're going to lift the pedal all the way up. Good.

Very nice. Sometimes you need that little extra. The first one's always the hardest. Now roll down to your spine in a nice spine articulation. Great.

And, again, press the pedal down and then make your upper body very, very heavy. And roll all the way up. And then make your legs light. And that's what's going to help the pedal to rise and lift the pedal up. Keep that pelvis lifted.

There we go. And now roll down to your spine. This is a very difficult exercise. Once you get it, though, it becomes a little more easy. And now you're going to press the pedal down, hold there.

Lift the pelvis up. The more you lift, the better. Imagine there's a little scoop here. And lift. See how easy you came up?

So there's a little hook here. Yeah, there we go. All I did was just make you engage here more. Make that a little lighter. And then roll down through your spine.

Good. When you guys are doing this exercise, try to make sure you're not rolling in or out on the feet. Great. And now you're going to roll your pelvis up. We're going to reverse the movement.

All right, I'm going to warn you guys, try not to let this come crashing down. That's the hard part. And you're going to lower the pedal down. That wasn't bad. Not bad.

And then roll down to your spine. And then lift the pedal up. Second one's going to be better though. You're going to rise up, lift the pelvis up. Control, control.

It's more than a Janet Jackson song. Now let that pedal come all the way down and then roll down through your spine one vertebrae at a time. It's a very good song though. And now lift the pedal all the way up. And one more time.

Pelvis up, hold there. We're going to do a variation. You're going to extend your right leg forward. Now it doesn't have to be a large movement. Press the pedal down a little bit and release.

And press down a little. Release, that's OK. Pressing down and release. Even if it doesn't move, it's just the effort. And now other leg.

And pressing down and release. Press two and release. That's OK, press three. And release. And now both feet come on.

Hold there. Send those knees forward. Lift underneath the bottom. Press the pedal down with both feet. And then roll down through your spine one vertebrae at a time.

That was a good exhalation. And you're going to lift the pedal all the way up. Hold there for a second. Marta, I'm going to have you go up. I'm going to show-- you guys did beautiful-- but I'm going to show you guys the cheat that everyone does.

So you're going to rise all the way up. Now extend one leg. This is good. Most people like to do this, which makes it a lot easier. So this will be more challenging.

So you could bring your foot down and roll down through your spine. Good. All right. And we're going to do the twist. OK, so let's do the twist.

So you're going to bend the knees in and you're going to extend the legs out. Cross the inside leg on top of the outside. And then you're going to reach both hands to the feet. Maintain the curve in your lower back. So you might feel like you want to be a little further back than you might want to be.

Let's first bring this arm to the ear. And then bring the other arm down. I'm going to show the spot. You're going to simultaneously reach out through the head and the tailbone as you reach out through the heel and the fingertips. Good.

And then you're going to initiate from the power house. You're going to curve back. Good. And again, with the arm to the ear. And now reach away as you make this very strong here.

Try not to hyper-extend in that right elbow though. And then initiate from the power house. And you're going to come all the way up. Good, let's do one more arm to ear. And you're going to lift and reach out.

And I'm just going to stabilize you here. And then, good, reach for the wall more. Nice. And then curve to come up. And then reach for your feet for three.

Curve the lower back a little more, two. Very nice. Keep the chest and sternum lifted. Good. Let's do the other side.

Good. And then do a little less of a sharp angle and a little more shallow. Great. And you're going to extend the legs, cross the inside leg on top, reach for the feet, and good. Right arm to your left elbow, threads down.

And you're going to reach away. Stretch. Reach out and touch someone. Good. And then curve.

And come all the way up. Reach for the feet. Bring the arm to the ear. And now lift and reach out. Try not to go so low with that pedal.

Just reach out through the heel. Reach out through the fingertips in opposition. Now initiate from the power house, come all the way up. Good. And one more time.

Arm to ear. And you're going to reach out and stretch. Try to bring your hip forward a little bit, the top one. Good. And now initiate from the power house, come back up.

That was good. And then reach for your feet for three, two, one. Very nice. OK, standing up. All right, let's go into the swimming.

So you're going to lay onto your stomach. You're going to reach the arms forward. Great. And big strokes as you swim, two, three, four, five. Exhale, three, four, five.

Try not to soften the knees. Exhale. Swim from the top of the leg, the top of the arm, exhale. Three, four, five. Standing up.

Great. Let's switch the spring setting. So I'm going to put you guys on one high middle and one top. If I was on the Gratz, I'd probably actually put it one on the top, one on the bottom. And if I wasn't working on either, it would be a heavy spring setting again.

All right. And then Marta, you're going to go get your [INAUDIBLE]. And we're going to place it at the very bottom. This is something you would give the client or you would give yourself just to make it a little easier. All right, so you're going to sit down on the chair.

Great. You're going to bring the arch of the foot onto the pedal. Pilates stance. There's no reason why you cannot do it in parallel stance though either. You're going to grab the front of the chair.

And you're going to extend the legs as you round over. The pedal will come all the way down. Great. And then I'm going to have you bring your feet more forward, Amy, great. And then what I want you to do guys, and you too, Marta, you're going to have your arch of the foot onto the pedal.

Great. This way, you can lift the ball of the foot and press your heels down. That way, you get your tendons stretched. Now try to make sure that your legs don't touch the chair. And pull the pedal up.

If you feel your legs touching the chair, then you know that you're going too far back. And lower. You might not be able to do today, and lift all the way up, all the way down, but that's your goal. It puts you more in the power house. Pulling up and lower down.

Then you rely less on the springs and sit down onto the chair. And then ease the pedal up. We're in a good position to start the next exercise which is the Table. Amy, I'm going to keep you in Pilates stance and you're going to go onto the toes. As a variation, I'm going to have you go parallel, hip-width, Marta.

You're also going to be on your toes. If you have a knee issue though, there's no reason why you can't do this exercise parallel hip-width on the heels. So that's another variation. So let's go onto the toes though. You're going to grab the very back of the chair.

Your goal is to try not to let the pedal lower as you lift your pelvis up into the air. Very nice. Can you lift a little higher? A little more. Keep the navel pulling in.

I'm going to put a Martini glass on your stomach. And now pumping. Down, up, one, down, up, two, down, up, three, down, up, four, down, up, five. Don't hyper-extend the elbows. Up, and up, and up, hold there.

Don't let the pedal move. Lower the pelvis down onto the chair. Very nice. Standing up. And we're going to do the pull-up.

So you're going to spring the arms overhead, round up and over, and grab the back of the chair. You can keep the [INAUDIBLE] on this one, as well. You're going to step one foot onto the pedal. Press the pedal down. Other foot is going to go onto the pedal.

I'm going to have you guys go into Pilates stance. And now you're going to pull the pedal all the way up. Good. And now lower the pedal halfway down as a variation and come all the way up. Halfway down, all the way up, and all the way down.

And drop the heels for three counts in a nice tendon stretch. Now I'm going to be mean, but only to one of you. Even though you both did it. So you're going to lift your heels up. I'm a wall, don't touch me.

So you don't know who I'm working with. And now pulling up, good. Now lower halfway-- [BUZZING] --halfway down and all the way up. And halfway down, all the way up. I think there's some buzzing going over there too.

Now lower all the way down. All right, drop the heels. So imagine you're doing Operation. Do you remember that game when you were younger? You cannot touch the side of the wall, or the buzzer goes off and the nose lights up red.

So rise up, and then pull the pedal up, don't touch the wall, don't buzz. And lower halfway down, all the way up. Head heavy like a rag doll. All the way up. And all the way down and 10 and stretch.

That was much better. Very nice guys. Always good to have a little bit of incentive. Let's lift the heels. And we're going to do the Mountain Climb.

So bring the right foot on top of the chair. Good. And then, Amy, I'm going to have your foot come a little bit more front. That way the knee doesn't come over the heel. You're going to drop the head, drop the tailbone, lift the pedal up in the back.

Think of your head and tailbone coming towards one another. And now keep this position pumping. Down, up, one. Down, up, two. Down, up, three.

Down, up, four. Down, up, five. Six, up. Seven, up. Eight, up.

Now rise up, keep the level of your pelvis. Five, six, seven, eight. Hold. I'm here if you need me. Three, as you pump.

Four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight counts to go over. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Good. Now let's switch legs.

So the standing leg is very important and the one that's on the chair. The pumping leg is there to destabilize us. So really try to spread your foot like a pancake on the top of that chair. Bend the back knee, let the pedal come all the way up. And now keep control by engaging the muscles around the pelvis.

Pumping down, up, one. Two, up. Three, up. Drop the head. Five, up.

Six, up. Seven, up. Eight, up. Rise. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

Hold as you pump. Two, three, four, five, reach, seven, eight. And over, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and 8. OK, stepping down onto the floor. Step one foot onto the floor.

And ease the pedal up. Great. Roll up through your spine. So one thing that's going to help when you're doing that exercise is when you're rolling up and rolling over, think of energy reaching out. So as I roll up, what I want to do is I want to reach forward.

Forward, forward, forward, forward, forward, forward. Same thing as I go over. I'm reaching for someone as I go over. And I'm finding opposition of my navel pulling one way, my hands pulling the other way. So I always have that oppositional pull.

That's going to help you guys. I know you guys are a little tired though. [LAUGHTER] So we're going to move on. And we're going to do the Front Balance Control. Amy, I'm going to have you get in on a more basic variation.

So you're just to round over, step one foot onto the chair. Onto the pedal, sorry. I guess technically that is part of the chair. And then you're going to bring the other foot onto the top of the chair. Let's have that foot come just a little bit more forward.

A more advanced variation, arms are going to go out to the side. You're going to step one foot onto the pedal. You're going to press the pedal down and then you're going to bring the other foot on top of the chair. Nice. Good.

Perfect. So what you're going to do is you're going to have your body on a slight diagonal. Great. And then you're going to rise up. Here, you may also use the [INAUDIBLE] if you need to.

Especially for height. And then you're going to lower down. Amy, bring the collarbone just a little bit more forward. And again, rise up as you press down with your heel. And lower down.

One more time. Lift up through your sits bone as the heel presses down. And lower down. So, Marta, I'm going to have you step down with your right foot. Keeping the collarbone forward.

Don't stick the bottom out though. And let's ease that up. Great. You're going to round over, Amy. And you're going to step one foot onto the pedal.

Now let's bring the other foot onto the chair. Marta, arms out to the side. Let's bring the opposite foot on, press the pedal down, now keep the pedal down and step up with the other leg. Sorry. No problem, I'm here to help.

[LAUGHTER] Now what you're going to do is you're going to rise up. Good. Think of a starfish. Up through the head, down through the tail, out to the fingertips, and lower. So if you think distal will help you get more into your core.

And lower down. Up through the head, down through the tail, down through the heel out, through the fingertips. And lower down. And now, let's get you off first, Marta. So you're going to-- that's OK, Amy, you can step off too.

There we go. And ease that pedal up. Yes. Great. Let's end with the Running.

So you're going to bring the arms up, you're going to round up and over, grab the back of the chair. And then-- you look like little oompa loompas. You're going to press the chair down. The pedal down. And you're going to lift the heels very high.

Let's going into parallel together position. And you're going to drop one heel as you bend one knee, change. One, change. Two, change, two. Change, three, and three.

Make sure the shoulders are not coming by the ears. They're not invited to the party. And two more. Last time. Both heels up.

Step one foot onto the floor. And ease the pedal up. And you're going to step the other foot down. Roll up to your spine. Arms are going to come down by the sides.

Thank you guys so much. [APPLAUSE]