Basic Reformer Flow

Hi You guys. Um, you're going to be working on a basic reformer today and I teach classical bloody, so you're going to be doing a pretty traditional workout. Um, so to sit down on your equipment, well actually want to check your springs. You want to start with generally four springs or three springs depending on your body. Okay. Hopefully you'll know your springs because this is pretty challenging. Go ahead and sit down. You're going to go ahead and lie down on your back. Your feet will go up on the bar right into your position so you're in your nice wide plotty stance.

Heels up as high as you can and shoulders are nice and relaxed. Keep your gaze down towards your belly buttons and begin so he'll stay up. Go ahead and extend out a little bit wider if you can't end all the way out long and too, so pretty flowing. Three good four, lengthening the legs, wrapping the thighs. Five, not letting your knees go wider than your own hips. Things always working within your own frames. And eight, keep those heels up. Nine, zipping up the legs and 10 transitioning to your arches.

Take it back out. So continue to move and one to feel your powerhouses working so it's really lifting you up and three and then the legs just kind of go with you. You control the springs on the end. Four and a little bit faster. Five, that's it. Nice. Six oats, fairly quick. No noise. Seven, eight getting you warmed up. Nine and 10 you go to your heels. Both feet are flex this time and once again you're going to take that back out and control the springs to come back in. So you're in control of those springs.

Three keep pinching the inner thighs. Four, getting those roots to stay together and five really flex as you come back in. Six, keep your gaze down a little bit. Seven, rips rips ribs. Eight to more out long and in. Don't lose the energy and come back and stay and go to your toes. Going into your tendon stretched to heels together, toes apart, not as wide, a little bit more turned out. Go ahead and extend out.

You'll stay out there and it like three counts. You're gonna lower, lower, lower the heels, lift, lift, lift, and keep going. Lower, lower, lower lift, lift as you're removing, just continued to do 10 of these. You want to keep that wrap happening in the thighs and your navel pulling in and up. Four so your backs aren't popping up. And five lower, lower, lower lift, lift six, seven staying soft in your shoulders. And next eight, really rapping nine last time, 10. Now here's where you were transitioned to your a hundred so you're going to bring the carriage in. You'll stay since your Undergrad, so you're gonna stay on the same spring. So you'll take your bar down, grab your straps at the same time you'll need to set up and change springs. So if you have a balanced body, whatever it is, if it's not grouchy, you'll need to drop down a few springs.

So now she's gone down to two springs. You'll take your straps, you're ready to go into your a hundred so take your legs up to 90 degrees. Begin to reach your arms out, lifting your heads up. We'll start to lower your legs to a comfortable level. You may even have your knees bent depending on your abilities and exhale. So robot's energy. Deep breath in. Long breath out.

Five counts in five counts out through the nose. Two, three, four, five, up to three. But inhale to four. Five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. That's it. Keep breathing right above the hips if you can with those hands, right and exhale, soft feet. Take that MJ out of the feet and rotate in a little bit. Turn in and two, three. Exhale. Two, three, four, five. I would say two more. And exhale. Last one. I lost my count. Hopefully keep counting yourselves. Bend your knees, Bend your arms, rest your heads. You're going to now transition into lake circles. So Christie, you'll stand step off. And Meredith, you're actually ready to go.

So you can go ahead and put your straps on your feet. Right? And actually would have dropped a spring first. That's okay. I'm going to go ahead and do that. So now you're on two springs. I know you know how to drop the spring and then you get your straps. Where do you want to make sure the handle and the strap?

The black strap goes through both the handle and the leather strap there. They're secure. Exactly. And then you'll walk back. You're going to adjust them. You'll lie down on your back, Huh? And then just go slow. You'll put them on your feet. So one at a time. So bring your knees into your chest. Yeah, and exactly.

You want them and it kind of gets a little clunky. I'm going to take this one from you and you just want to make sure that metal pieces on the outside, so make sure you're not twisted. These can just practice. Oh sure. Yeah, look like it when you're standing. All right, so one foot in at a time. [inaudible] and Neff so that it's not on your ankle. There you go. All right, so your heels are together, toes are apart, and you want to start kind of more in a tabletop position so you're not crunching the knees. So much hands are at your side.

You're going to go into your lake circles. So keeping those heels together, extend your legs out long, get a nice anchor in that spice. Your pecs are really flat. Shoulders your lacks. Um, I'm gonna have you lift your legs just a little bit higher to start right about there. And then you're going to go ahead and start. Just circle the legs so the legs open, you reach the legs out long and bringing back together. So you want to make sure those heels come together at the same time and that your backs aren't arching so those hips aren't moving around. They stay really still [inaudible] lots of, that's it. You want to make sure you're not locking your knees.

I can see you guys tensing your feet a little bit. Good. Three. And then once you get out of that, where your feet are tensing, you get deeper into that powerhouse. And tomorrow is it about five times? Not Quite. So hyper rotated. There you go. And one more time just about your polodia stands two fingers, right? And then reverse it about five times. Go down around and together.

One, the lower you go. The harder, this becomes more challenging. So eventually go as low as you can and then come back, got to around together, three in exactly. They'll kind of hit the shoulder pads and then they'll drop off four and last one and five. Okay. Bend your knees back into your chest and then go right into a frog. So you extend out at a level that you can control your spine so you're not arching.

So on that extension you get that flatness and all the way at the trailer length in the lake here and touch the opposite side of the room to really reach, reach, reach, reach even longer and then bring it back together. So again, you're in control of the springs. You control that movement in as well. Two more out long legs. We're wrapping and in zipping them up and last one out and in and that's enough. Then you'll take the straps off. I would for the garage, I want to make sure you've got the handles as well as the strap. And then you're going to drop them behind your head, both of you putting the shrimps in the well and you can place your feet on the black part of that.

You can't see [inaudible] and then you guys are going to step off. You'll need your sticky pads. Cause now you're going to set up for stomach massage. Yeah. All right, so you would go back to the same springs you started with in your footwork.

So you'll be on three and you would be on four. Um, and for this equipment you want to go onto the lower bar for sewing sash [inaudible]. All right, so the closer you are to the front of the, um, mat here, the harder this becomes. So sit where you're comfortable, Christie, you could challenge yourself a little bit, a little bit more there. All right? And you're going to around your back. So you're back in that bloody stance on your toes. Heels are up, knees are no wider than your hips. That's it. Your really rounded shoulders are down and begin to move. You'll squeeze your bottoms in his stretch up. Scoopin drop your heels, lift your heels, bend your knees and come in. And these are pretty flowing.

You'll go out lower lift and in out lift and accent is on the end. So when you lower those, he'll lift the heels. Come in, n n, that's it. Drop your head a little bit more. Five and six. Okay. Careful with those knees not going wider than your hips. Hard to do it. Really stretch up and over. Last one and stay in Christy. You stay on three springs, take your behind you. But Meredith, you're going to drop this spring on the outs or excuse me, on the inside.

So your hand would go inside the legs and then you're going to take your hands back. You want to sit as tall as you can. You can either put your knuckles in the Mat, both of your look. Okay, so your hands are on top of the shoulder pads and heels are up. Go out lower, lift the heels. And so again, the accent is on the n and n two usually are pretty advanced, so you can move three, four, not so advanced. Slow it down. Five, watch your knees. They want to go out here. Six [inaudible]. Squeeze your buttons so you're still wrapping the thighs and in and you want to try to control the slide. You want to slide backwards.

You don't wanna lose your pants here. Six and seven, make sure you come all the way in with no noise. Eight nine, stay tall. Last one and stay in you. Both are going to drop a spring. So hand inside the legs dropped the spring, going into your reaching so your arms are up, your heels. Stay up this time and you're going to go out. Stay out there, grow taller, come back in and lift your backs. Watch your knees. This is where your knees will really want to open and drop your shoulders and out and come back. And so careful not to reach with the shoulders.

Keep the shoulders down, lift and tumor out. So just about four times heals up above knees in and last one out. Going back in. Those knees will really want to fight you here, your hips, and that's enough. You guys can go ahead and bring the carriage in just four times and then step off. So not a lot of repetition. Thank goodness, Huh? Alright. Take your pet. Well actually you can leave your pets there. You're going to drop your bars, drop your head rest, and then you can go get your short box and you're in a bar because you'll need that for the next series. Your short buck series and depending on your height, Christie, you're going to have yours in front of the shoulder. Pats five, three and under, something like that. And Yeah, Meredith, you're going to go over the shoulder pads and right against the shoulder pads.

Your bar goes underneath your legs and then you'll grab your foot strap for safety. You want that foot strap around your feet, your feet are hip width apart and flex the whole time and your spacing is no more than a hands with front to back. So you want to make sure you have a hands with from the back behind you. And then you're going to wrap your arms around your waist, below your belly button and round into your seeker. Okay, so keep your feet flex. Does it matter where they end up? Landing? Careful not to tense your legs. Good. Squeeze your bottoms. You're going to go to round back. So you inhale, start to round backwards.

Hurling your hips under. So right here really Tuck, tuck type. Get those tail, that tail bone between your knees and exhale around backup all the way over. And inhale, start to take that backwards. Keep rapping. So you want to wrap here, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. There you go. And come back up. So you do squeeze your bottom on this one all the way over. All the way up, even more, Meredith. So you get a stretch in your lower back and two more. Take it back.

Three to five times. Curl your hip center. It's a tuck. Good. And now scoop. Come back up, pulling those rubes deep. Last one. And inhale the shoulders. Want to lift here? Try to push him down as you curl back into, use those arms and pull them in in, and that's what they're there for. To help remind you to get those rooms to come back in. All right, you'll take your bars, take them up, going to your flat back.

So now you're sitting tall, fader flexed, bottoms are squeezing, and then you're going to take that and start to hinge backwards as far as you can control it. Staying flat. When you feel a little shaky is when you start to come up, come back up, lift your back row taller, up, up about creating space between the hips and the ribs. So up through here, not so far forward. All right there and rest. And then re squeeze your bottom and hinge. The lifting state a little bit taller, Christie. There you go. And come back up. Careful not to tense your thighs too much and lift and rest.

And one more. Squeeze your bottom. Relax your arms as much as you can even though they're up there staying tall. Hinge good. Come on up. Pulling in, lift up, up tall. And that's enough. Go ahead and stretch over to your toes. Come back up, taking the arms back up. You're still in your flat back position, but you're going to lean over your hips so your shoulders are in front of you. You, um, you'll need to move backwards a little bit. Marietta. Yeah.

Easy to slide forward on some of those. All right, so you're tall and you're going to bend to the right as far as you can without arching those backs. You want to stay flat. So lift up through here. I'm gonna shift you a little bit. Your heads go with you and then you come back up growing tall, pulling those ribs together and to the left. Kind of like a waltz. One, two, three, up to three. Go to the right. One to three. Not so much work here and two, three, last one as far as you can over pull your ribs together and come back up. And that's enough.

You can put the bar back underneath your leg going into your tree. So take one leg out of the strap. Let's start with your right. Hold onto your side. And both of you, cause you're pretty advanced, are gonna wrap your arms. If you weren't as flexible, you'll just hold onto the leg. But really what you're trying to do here is sit as tall as you can and then you're going to try to glue your knee to your chest and try to give that like three stretches to go out as far as you can, and then come back and really talk to three times three. You walk up your tree, your leg hold onto your ankle, or wherever you can might be the cap and around your back. Now, before you actually go anywhere, check your box. In other words, check your shoulders and hips.

Make sure you're not twisting so the hips should be lined up. Alright, here you go. You're going to begin to rock backwards. You'll flex your left foot to catch you and you curl those hips under even more. Good. So squeeze your bottom. Walk down to your thigh as though you were going to lie down. And they were right there in center. Come back up.

So you're pulling in really deep through here. Nose to your knee. You rock forward. Here comes to the stretch. Sit as tall as you can. Lift your back, lift your leg a little bit more. Christy, you'll actually need to move forward and find your secrets. And now we're going to go a little bit quicker. So two more times. Heads down, hips under, walked down. So just in 90 degrees and come back up and roundups and Tuck your Chin as you come up. Rock forward. Sit as tall as you can.

This light can just relax as you're lifting your back up. And last one c curve hits down and rock backwards. Squeeze your bottom a little bit more over here. Good. Walk right through here. Scoop [inaudible]. Put your nose right here, all the way up. There you go. Rock forward. Now sit up tall, lift your back.

You can challenge that leg a little bit more. Flex and point your foot three times still to stay tall. One a little bit more forward so you're right on top of the hips. Two, three, take your right hand and pick an apple off the tree. Just throw it behind you. Very nice. And then you can cross that right leg over. Take your hands behind. You might have to move around a little bit to get your center again and then stretch just around. Stretch the hip out.

Okay. We won't hang in there too long though. Switch sides. Again, this is for beginner reformer. All right? So when you get more intermediate, you'll take that stretch out. So you want to sit right on top of your hips, right? Here's where you're really stretching. Might not feel it yet.

You're going to flip a, excuse me. You're going to straighten the leg three times one as far as it will go without collapsing your backs. Two and three walk up. Find that secret. So ideally your head should be on your leg. [inaudible] shoulders down. Boxes are square. Here you go. You're going to start to flex the opposite foot.

The one that's in the strap so it catches you and we don't want to watch your hips. Your left hip pulled back a little bit, and then you're going to come back up. Walk up that tree rounding by using that powerhouse, not by pooling with the hands. Hold. Sit up tall, right on top of your hips. So you're in one straight line from behind you. And find that c curve. Shoulders down. Good to do with the mirror at your side. Square your hips off. Yes. And walk down soft feet. No energy in those feet and around. Back Up.

Rock forward. Lift your backs really, really tall. Right on top of the lift that leg more. And last one secret. Make sure that when you go back those hips stay square. So you have to really curl that lower powerhouse under walked down nice and square shoulders with the hips and round. Back Up. Pretty good. Yeah, they should make you sweat. Sip Tall.

[inaudible] lift your leg. Stay on top of those hips. So Meredith, lift your leg a little bit more. There you go. And Flex and 0.3 times one, two, three. Pick an apple off the tree with your left hand. So the left hand, left leg, and then you can go into your stretch. So your cross the leg over. Get your box square and then stretch. Okay. Should feel pretty warmed up by now. Alright, you guys are going to go ahead and step off the box. Get rid of your box, get rid of your pole, get rid of your sticky mat or your mat. And next we'll be setting up for the elephant. Yeah, so there's a series of exercises that you kind of follow. It's a great way to start your day or end it. All right?

So your bars come back up, you'll go to the tall bar, you'll see your headdress comes up. So lift your head rest as well. And then you step onto the carriage by putting one hand on first. Then one foot, one hand, one foot for safety. Because that bar moves your hands. Make sure they're no wider than your shoulders, cause you're always working in your box, in your powerhouse, within your own frame. So you develop a body like that. All right? You're gonna begin not by pushing with the arm, but by using your hips and legs, go ahead and push the carriage back. Three counts to come in. One, two, three. Push out. Dig Your heels into the mat, dropping that tailbone, curling and underneath you.

And out three Kantz and ready? One toes up two all the way in three. Oh, nice and relaxed up here. And one, two, three, two more out. Try to get all 10 toes up. No workup here. Soft. Two, three, last one out. Work a little bit harder over here. One, two, three. Very good. Okay, go ahead.

And meal to your knees. Your feet will slide back. You're going into you're kneeling knee stretch series. Your springs are already ready. You're on two springs. You're in your c curve. Again. Check that box again. Shoulders should line up with your hips, your hips. You line up with your knees to make sure knees are no wider than your hips.

Good heels, or as close to that. You want to try to get your heels on the shoulder pads. That's a stretch to your rounded. Bringing those hands in a bit. And Meredith, head down. All right. Using your hips and your legs. And of course that powerhouse. You're gonna push the carriage back. Come back in and sit on your heels. So I want you to sit all the way back. Yeah.

And now out with the legs all the way out right there and then all the way in and out and in two. So I'm going to make these pretty quick. Three sharp on the end. So the accent is in for under five so let me see that table. I'm really working under six, seven a little bit sharper. Meredith and eight stay in. Lift your heads, open up your chest, more of an arch in your upper back so your chest is really open or a gazes forward. So your stay there with the arms, just the hips are going to move.

So legs push out with your legs and sit on those heels. One, open your chest even more. Yes. Two and in three you should feel this in your hips for a little wider hair. Five out. I know in o and n six seven last one and eight s that's enough. So no more than eight. 10 at the most. You're going to stand up on the carrot, going into the knees, off. You're on your toes back like that elephant position.

But now you're on your toes. Think of the crown of your head on top of that metal bar or on top of the black wire, so you're, your weight should be a little bit forward so you don't hurt your shoulders. You're back in the seeker. Very nice. You're going to start to lower your knees. The lower they are, the harder this becomes. Don't shift back. Make sure your heads are on top of that metal bar and now use your legs.

Push out and curl under. So it's all here. Two, three, a little bit more forward through weighed four and under five. That's it. Six. I'm going to shift it a little bit forward and all the way in. Now drop your knees a bit more. There you go. Eight all the way in in nine. Make sure the carriage comes all the way in and that's enough.

You'll rest once you did eight to 10 good. You guys can step off. Let me get out of your way. Go back to your foot work springs. So four springs, three for you or for you. You'll lie back down like you did for your foot. Work. Your feet. Go back on the bar. You're going into your running, so on your toes. Okay. Hands at your side or just move your feet just a little bit this way. Good. All right, so you want it. You should get it.

Have a really good sense of your powerhouse right now. So nice and flat. You're going to straighten your legs. You'll go out, your heels are up as high as they can. You want to drop one heel as low as you can and then shift to the other heel. Use your bottom to switch so you're really squeezing and still rapping. Good. And you're using the muscles in the feet to push you up.

So the carrot should actually move three, four and your hips should not move. They stay really still. Five, six [inaudible]. So those ribs stay together. Seven, eight, nine, 10 now you're going to run. So this is quick and one, two, even faster. Three, four, five. I'm going to make you go faster. Six, seven, eight, nine, 10 and come on in. Okay. Place your feet on your arches, on the corners of the bar for your pelvic lift. Going to curl your hips up. Just really the first four vertebra. So just the hips are up, your ribs, stay down on the mat, you're still kind of wrapping the thighs, little bit higher. Christie, you can even put your palms together underneath your hips.

So like a prayer position and that's where you should be. That'll tell you, go ahead and keep your hands there for just a moment and do about two with the hands there. So stretch out and you'll see your hips want to pop up and keep them on your hands all the way out so you get a nice stretch in the legs, still wrapping the thighs, keeping those ribs together, and then control the springs back in [inaudible] and again out. So here's your stretch. Keep going out and here's the strength. Okay? Put your hands at your side. Keep the hips right where they are.

That was six more. Have you do about eight anywhere from five to eight of these. Respond out. You want to do more than that? Huh? Take advantage of the stretch. It really does feel good. Oh, out control of backend. [inaudible] soft toes, soft shoulders assists when you want to.

You might not realize you're tensing your shoulder. Sometimes. Let's have you do two more. Oh Hm. And last time, make sure you come all the way in as well as go out all the way in. Stay in. Now here's where you take it.

Slow articulating one vertebra down in at a time. Last thing down is your tailbone. And then you guys are done with your reformer. And then we'll head over to the mat. So go ahead and step off. Okay, so you've just finished your reformer, you're going into your mat. You could reverse this. Do the mat first and then the reformer. But I'm gonna have you do basic math. So since you've already done reformer, you don't need to do hundreds. If you did reverse it, you do hundreds first.

Okay? Not to confuse everybody. All right, go ahead and go into your roll-ups. Your legs are going to be straight, heels together, toes apart. Bodies are nice and long. And then I just sent you up just a little bit. Okay? So your arms are up. You can even take them back a little bit, Christie, not too much. Anchor your spons though. Keep that wrap happening and begin to roll up. Nice deep breath in.

Exhale all the way over as far down as you can scooping your ribs and still rapping the size. Shoulders are down. Go ahead and lie back down. Articulating one vertebrae at a time centered. And as soon as your head statue come back up around over. Okay. And take that back down soft here. Fill this sentence, that right side a little bit more. [inaudible] and two, or excuse me, about three more in, up and over. So about five of these and Dan up all the way over.

So you want to try to get your nose between your knees and as you go down, shoulders down, really curl those hips underneath you. There it is and okay, last one up, scoop good over. So as you stretch forward, you still keep wrapping and then take that back down. You'll stay down, bring one nail into your chest, right leg. It's fine. Take your legs straight up, hands back at your side. Your left leg will stay long. So both legs are reaching out long and circle.

You're like five times. Do not let your hips move too. Okay, so I see a lot of leg action here. Let's see your hips stay still. Three. So lower back has to really anchor four and five. Reverse it. Feel this in good and won and accent it up too. Just five times. So once you get to five stops, three get accident up.

Four. One more time. Five, bend your knee. Hip flexor. Exercise to that hip flexors. The one that's working here, switch legs, left leg comes in. You can give it a quick stretch. Take it up. And again, five circles. One. So soft feet tight bottoms. Two hip stay. Really still end up.

Three around four and five reverse and one. So right in here. Boy Up there there's a stretch. Two and three. Good. Two more for one more. And Five, bend your knee. You can give that leg a stretch. Go ahead and sit up. Place your hands at your hips. Lift your bottoms to sit at your heels.

Going into rolling like a ball. Exactly. So you're always working. Hold onto the ankles. Your heads are down, you want, the goal is to be really rounded. So a nice tight basket head is close to inside the knees as you can. And you'll go ahead and begin to roll, come right back up and balance and back and all the way up in balance. And you only want to roll to the tips of the shoulder.

So control it going back and come right back up. So that was still a little bit too far to Moore and up. That's it. All the way up, Christie. And one more time back and right back up. All right, so to be worked on, place your feet down, hands back at your hips. Lift your bottoms and lie back down.

Bringing your right leg and going into your single leg stretch. So right hand, not in your ailing ankle, left hand on your knee, Sophie and at a level that your backs are nice and anchored. Squeeze your bottoms. There you go. And then switch legs. Stretch the leg out long and really get that powerhouse solid and switch to and switch to good. Pull the knee to your ear. Three, three. Both of you are pretty flexible so you can work on getting that leg all the way in and deep into your stomachs in four, five switch five always checking your alignment. Knee lines up with your shoulder.

Seven I'll have you do eight sets in and in double leg stretch, heels together, toes part. Nice deep breath and arms and legs. Reach out long and exhale, come back and lots of energy in this stretch and come back in. So rich for the back room and reach your legs out. Squeeze your bottom more. There you go. And come back in and out. And together. Three Oh and big circle with the arms. Four. So open them up. Slide your shoulders down. Five inhale, push the shoulders down.

So come lower with the arms. There you go. And one more deep breath in. Sorry. And exhale, rest your next. Go ahead and sit up. Go into your spine, stretch forward to feet, part flexed. Arms Up, deep breath in pincher bottoms. And exhale. Take that down. Push your heels out though the whole time. You can actually open your feet a little bit wider, both of you. That's it.

Lots of energy out of those hills and in articulate one vertebra up at a time, opening up the chest and head comes up. Now a little bit quicker. Deep breath in, up around, up and over. So try to lift those ribs away. Up off the hips. Exhale, exhale. Exhale all the way down. Both of you can go a lot lower and then come back up. Do more. Nice deep breath in, and exhale. It feels good. Once you're down there, if you have that flexibility to be able to go all the way down there and do it, push those heels out. Now. Keep squeezing good and come back up all the way a little bit quicker coming up. And last one, deep breath in.

Exhale. That's a really deep in here. Good. Still squeezing in here. There you go. There's the stretch. And then come up and shake yourselves out. That's it. That's your mat. So you should feel invigorated and ready to continue the day.