Empower & Tone

Hi. I'm Courtney Miller, and I'm here today with my friend Holly and fellow Pilates Republic instructor. And we have an athletic fusion class with some vertical training. So we're gonna be standing up. There'll be some cardio components and kind of like a little bit of ballet bar flair, but you don't need a ballet bar. You will need for this class is a ball, and we'll be bringing out the box at some point too.

You ready to get started? Right. So I've got the bar in high bar position, the Allegro who goes right up to this vertical alignment, move your bar up as high as you can. And if your foot bar is not working for you, use something around you, a chair, a wall, whatever works. I want you to straddle the frame of the machine facing towards the foot bar. In a wide second position, your feet are gonna be wider than your hips and your toes and knees are turned out.

Arms out into second position, bend deeply into a pli a and then rise all the way up, and that's your jam for now. Inhale down and exhale up, I love doing the vertical training because we do so much footwork on the reformer. Then we take you up into the standing position. And all of a sudden, for a lot of we have these moments. As far as repetitions go, we'll be around 15 to 20 of each of these bar inspired moves. So let's do 3 more.

Two more. Nice, Holly. One more. And then your outside leg will tendu. Tundu means to point. So you press point. That's it. Stay on that leg.

Down and up. Perfect. Down and up. Atundu is a bit of a weight transfer challenge. So when you're down in your pli, you feel your weight evenly into both feet. As you rise into the tendu or the point, your weight is shifted onto your standing leg. Last three? Nice. Last two.

Last one and other leg. So we go down and up. Now the arms are working here too, so you're not just holding them out without purpose. Slide your shoulders down your back, feel your back muscles, lift your elbows, and really root into your lats. You're gonna feel that kind of in your armpit.

Inhale down and exhale up. We've got 5. Nice. 4. That's 3.

That's 2 and 1. Okay. So rise up to standing. Come a little bit this way, Holly, so that your inside leg is closer to the frame. Bend deeply into a pli. And then as you rise, you'll win meal, rotate, and drop that outside knee. Come back into your second position, and repeat. And you wanna have a little bit of pep in your step on this one, so you can even add a teeny tiny hop if you want to.

Open and twist. That's perfect. Open and twist. So this move is a second position pli. Into a lunge combination. In that lunge, we're dropping the back knee down. Front knee is pointed right over the mid foot.

Arms are working purposefully. We've got 4. We've got 3, 2, And now I want you to hold the lunge and frees. Arms go up overhead. High 5th. Lift your front heel off the ground.

It's a bit of a balance instability challenge, pulses down. And down. Now anytime you're in a lunge, you wanna think about your inner thighs squeezing in, your hips tucking under, and your deep abdominals drawing in and up It'll help you with stability. Last 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. Starting to get the shakes. Good. 3. 2, and one, open it up and rise. And you can step both feet into the well.

That was awesome. So if you're getting those shakes, that's a good feeling that you're pushing your edge and you're getting down low. So for our next exercise, we've got the carriage pushed all the way back. There's no springs on, so be mindful. It's gonna move really easily. We'll use the ball and place the ball behind the back.

Wherever the ball sits, we'll change your experience. So if you want a lot of mobility and a lot more work, you keep the ball low. If you want more support, you move the ball high. Scooch forward a little bit so you're right at the very front edge of the mat. Good. And you can split the difference and just have the ball right in the middle and try it out.

Hands go behind the head. Inhale as you drop back, and then exhale as you curl up. Yep. If those shoulder blocks are in your way, scooch forward. You've got a lot of mat in front of you. The goal is to take the shape of the ball when you go down. So it's kind of a sensation of surrendering into that extension and then curling to come up. Perfect.

Feed are grounded. Carriage is pushed back. Inhale lower and exhale lift. The ribs are not only dropping down towards the hips on this one, but the rib cage is coming together. Let's add a single leg lift, and stay on the same leg.

So inhale one leg comes up and lower down. Good stay on that same side. Exhill big lift and scoop. Nice, Holly. It really helps to keep your lower leg grounded.

So push into that heel. You'll feel more stable if you do. Let's add a rotation towards the knee that comes up. Good. And if you're looking for just a little bit more spice, you could add a reach to the outside of the leg. And that leg that's coming up could extend straight up if you wanna go pause nice and take it down.

Very good. So as the leg extends and the lever becomes longer, it's gonna be more work on the abdominals, and it's gonna be more work to stabilize. Last 4. How are your abs doing? 3. That's 2. And then one more time. 1, feet go down, drop back over the ball, take a moment, take a break.

The whole thing's gonna start again. So start with your abdominal curls first. Anker the feet, inhale as you lower, exhale as you lift. Use your arms purposefully. So really hold up the weight of the head.

You don't have any tension in the neck here. Open the elbows, open the chest when you go down, and big and complete exhale as you lift up. Exhale to lift. Good. Okay. One more like this. And now let's add that opposite leg lift.

So as you curl, the leg comes up, that's awesome. Big scoop to lift up. Good. When you drop down, open the elbows, open the chest. When you curl up, feel those ribs glide down. Let's add the rotation to the leg that's coming up. Keep the elbows and wide.

Well done. Inhale lower, exhale lift. And then you do have that option to add the opposite arm reach the outside of the leg. Inhale lower, exhale lift. If you're looking to spice it up, the leg can also extend up. And since you did it on the other side, Holly, you kinda have to do it again on this side. Big lift up. It's fun to have these opportunities to progress within a single exercise because depending on how you're feeling today, you can choose whatever variation you want, When you continue to come back to these videos, you have opportunities to grow and evolve within the exercise. Let's do 2 more.

Exhale. Lift. Inhale lower one more time, exhale lift and twist, and lower, and enjoy that stretch, and then help yourself come all the way up. And you're gonna grab that ball and rise to standing. Before we do the second position play on the other side, squeeze the ball between your inner thighs a little bit higher than your knees and step really close to your foot bar, your toes are gonna be underneath it. So come on all the way forward. Even more. Tow's right underneath it. Good.

Lean back until your arms are straight. And then sit down into the chair. So you wanna really lean first and then sit. What Holly's coming into is what's called a chair position or a wall squad, if you're more familiar with that. The spine is vertical. Hips are right underneath the shoulders, and knees are right over those ankles.

The ball is squeezed. You're working. Just holding as part of the work. Let's add some pulsing. Post down an inch, pulse down an inch, pulse down.

One thing I like to do when I do this exercise is press down into my pinky fingers. So by pressing down, I really open my chest. Engage the back, and that's gonna help a lot here. Keep that squeezing the ball the whole time. You've got 87, 6, 5, nice, 4, 3.

There's a break coming up and 2, rise all the way up to standing. 1, that's your quick reset. Remember, you wanna lean back first. So just lean, lean, lean, and then sit down into the chair second. Find your position. So holding in this position is part of the exercise. So settle on in.

You're gonna be here for a while. Knees are right over those ankles, hips underneath the shoulders, from here hold and pulse the ball in and in and in. And as we squeeze that ball in, we're thinking of the pelvic floor, the lower abdominals drawing up. There's that connection of inner thighs and deep core. Try to untuck the tailbone.

Untuck. Yes. Good. Sit down a little deeper if you can. Nice. It's called chair pose because she is the chair. See those 90 degree bends. Last eight, seven, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, rise up for 1. You get a bit of a break while you're here. Now we're gonna put those moves together.

Combination. So lean back, sit down into the chair, find the position, squeeze your shoulder blades together, even more, even more good untuck the tail, 2 pulses down, 2 ball squeezes. So 2 and 2, down down in in. If you're looking to further amplify this series. You can do it on Relave. You don't have to do it if you don't want to.

Your heels would be lifted high. It would increase the challenge. Good. Down and down squeeze in and in. Good. Down and down squeeze in untuck the tail. Down and down squeeze in and in lean forward down and down. And in 2 to go down and down and squeeze one more set, lower, lower, and squeeze, and then rise to come all the way up. I can take that ball for you.

You're gonna straddle the machine on the other side, and we'll go into that second position series again, which feels like a break after doing what you just did. So we go into our plier then lift. Plier and lift. Good. I like doing the plier series in this straddle because the frame tells me where my body is in space. So as I rise up from my pli, I can feel the rail on my calf, on my inside leg. And I try to get down so low in my plie that I can feel my booty close to or tapping that frame.

Awesome. Last four like this. Beautiful job with the arms so they're purposeful. Back is strong. Let's add the tendu with the outside leg. So point and sit and lift and lower.

And it really helps if you've got some music happening that you love and lift. And lower. And it is that weight transfer challenge. So you've got single leg, both legs. Tondo foot stays on the ground. 4, and 3, That's 2 other leg. Here we go. Plea Tundu.

Plea Tundu. So tendu to point in lengthen plie to bend and sit. Plie, tendu. Good energy through that leg down and up. For more like this. That's 4. We've got those windmills coming up in 3. That's 2. And stay low for 1.

Make sure you're that away a little bit, Holly. Yeah. And a nice wide second position. So anytime we do a lunge, We want width in the leg. So open it up nice and wide. When you're ready, left arm windmills, drop the back knee, inhale to open, exhale to turn, open, and you can do a little hop and open and hop.

Good. Drop that back knee. Yeah. And pivot on your front foot too. So you're gonna change that front foot toes and knees point forward. And back to second.

Yeah. Try adding just a little bit of hop. Boom. Nice. Good. Get that front foot to turn Toast forward. There it is. Knees and toes forward. Yes.

Both feet are pivoting, rotating from the hips. We got 4. We got 3. Nice. We got 2.

And then find central 1. Arms go up high 5th. Close the ribs, lift the heels, pulses down, pulse, and pulse, and pulse. The challenge here is the alignment. See if you can lean back a little bit. Shoulders right over hip, knees over toes, 87, 65, 432 rise for 1, and you can come out of that well space and shake it off.

Well done. So now we're gonna use our reformer. Pull the carriage forward and add a blue spring on. And we'll be on a blue for quite a while. I'm gonna leave the footbar app, but if it's in your way, Move it down out of the way. Take a seat onto the carriage and face back.

Bend your knees and place your feet onto the headrest and scooch really far forward. Good. Go ahead and grab your straps. Short or long loops, if you choose a short loops, your upper body flow will be a little bit harder. And you can also adjust your tension to what works for you. We are gonna use the ball for this flow. So what I do is I hold both loops in one hand, with my free hand, I grab the ball, and then I place it under my back again.

Same rules apply. Low is more mobility. High is more support. Lean into it and hold on to your straps. Awesome. So even though you're leaning into the ball, you're not collapsed into the ball.

So just a little bit of lightness and lots of core activation. Arms go up to a letter I, and then arms come back down. And that's it. And we're so happy that we're working our arms and not our legs right now. Nice. The super setting. The wrist are staying straight.

And we're working right around 8 repetitions here. Inhale lower, exhale lift nicely done. Last two like this, if you get any neck tension, just go a bit wider with the arms and last one. Now taking the arms out like a letter t, big, open to the sides and close. Yeah. What an awesome series to fire up the back body.

So we're working the backs of the shoulders, opening the chest, awesome postural move. Risks are straight, fist are strong. You got it. There's a little bit of lightness on that ball. Last two like this. Good. And then one more.

Last move like this is a diagonal. So as the arms open, one goes low. The other goes, hi. Look down at that lower arm. That's perfect.

And then other side, look down at that lower arm. Good. We are almost there. I want you to keep an even amount of tension in both hands. In both ropes, turn out pull harder with the low arm. Good. Diagonal reach and look.

4. 3, 2, One more time like this. 1 and rest. Straddle so your feet are on the floor. You'll either wanna put your ball on the floor or if your ball is big enough, it can fit in between the shoulder blocks. Whatever works for you.

We're gonna get it out of the way for a second, though. From here, come into a second position pli. So straddle and hover over the machine. Remember, knees are turned out feet are nice and wide. Turn your palms up and keep your elbows nice and low. Bicep curls curl in, and out. A few strategies in this exercise.

If you want it to be lighter step forward, if you want the exercise to feel more challenging, lift your elbows higher. Let's give it a try Holly. See how we do. Nice. Ax Hill as you curl. So here she is in that beautiful alignment we saw in the chair plies.

We've got head shoulders and hips all in one long line. The spine is vertical. Legs are in external rotation, calf muscles squeezing into the frame of the machine. Last three like this? Last two.

And then I want to do one more curl, 1, and straighten the arms all the way, turn your knuckles up. It's like you're not even using them. Postes down. And down and down. Lift your right heel up and pulse and pulse and pulse, switch your heels, pulse, and pulse. Now every time you pulse alternates, you go right heel, left heel, right heel, left heel. Right.

Left good course strong. You're almost there. That's 8. That's 6. Good. Last four.

3, 2, and 1, take a seat back onto the carriage, scooch towards the middle, and bring your feet back onto the headrest, If your ball is nearby, go ahead and grab it. We're gonna put it right back into that same position. Both straps in one hand, so you have a free hand for the ball. Place it, roll into it, and then grab a hold of those straps. Let's practice what we did last time before we add something new. So the overhead reach and lower down. Well done. Do that one more time.

If you don't wanna go into spinal extension, keep going here. Otherwise, do your overhead reach. Pause. Let your arms frame your face the entire time. Drop your chest, head, and neck over the ball. Good. Keep reaching your arms back towards the bar. Open, open, open, open, open your arms around like a circle as you tuck your chin into your chest and then come right back up to your start position. Nice. So the move is arms up first.

Nice. And then everything goes back together. The arms, the chest, the neck, open the arms like a letter t as you tuck your chin, look towards your belly button. Circle the arms around. Good. Relax those shoulders. Do it again. Arms go up overhead.

The whole body drops back drops back. Good. As you open your arms, tuck your chin, tuck your chin first, and then come back up to the scoop. So the first move is chin nod, then curl back up. Reach, extend, open, tuck your chin, yes, and come back up. Do you want more like this?

Up and over like a waterfall. Just going right over that ball. Open. Yep. Tuck your chin. Come all the way up. Well done. Okay. From here, come back to your straddle position.

I'm gonna get rid of that ball. So we'll use it later, but not now. Hook up your right loop, but keep your left one, and then meet me onto your hands and knees. Your left foot is gonna go into the long or short loop. This is a glute exercise.

The long loop will be a little bit lighter. Then walk your knees back so your shins are hanging off the back of the carriage. This next series is our rotated glute series. So you'll want your right forearm down onto the mat to the inside of those blocks. Nice, Holly. And your left hand high onto the shoulder block, then bring your left knee to your elbow.

Good. Can you bring it all the way in, knee to elbow? Yeah. Okay. From here, you're in this, like, side plank position. So engage through your back, body stay lifted through your side, and then kick that left leg towards the footbar and then bend it back in. Exactly. So the rotation is in the spine, the chest, the hips, and the gaze is facing side. Good. Try to stack your hips one over the other.

Try to stack your shoulders. And then maintain the length in the side bar. Is you bend that knee in and kick it out. We'll do about 8 reps here. So last two like this.

Good. That high bar gives you something to aim for right over that bar. One more time. Bend in. Extend the leg long. From here, really push your foot into the strap so find that length, pulses up, and up, and up, and up. Good. Keep pulsing 8. And 7, and 6, length through the crown of the head, length the toes, last 4, and 3.

That's 2 legs sweep. Sweep the leg down. Towards the floor and then sweep the leg up. See if you can do 8 of these. Good. Find that arc, right, down and then big sweep up.

Not only are we working into the glute, but we feel all those deep muscles in the back and posterior muscles working to hold the body essentially in this side plank position. And it's a good thing we're practicing our side plank, so we do have a whole side plank series coming up. Let's do 3 more here, and then we'll transition to a standing move. That's 3. Nice, Holly.

That's 2. And now that foot that's in the strap is gonna stay in the strap That's one foot comes all the way down to the floor, and you're gonna come off the machine onto that same side. So you're standing on the floor, and you've got your outside legs still in the loop. You haven't made any changes. Step forward a little bit, so it's a bit lighter.

Step forward. Bend deeply into a squat and kind of angle your body so you're angled with the rope and the riser. Good. Now the foot that has the loop is gonna extend backwards. So kick it and bring it in. And if you're having a hard time fully extending that leg, step forward. It'll reduce the tension. Remember, we are on a blue here. If you have an option to go lighter, like a yellow, you could certainly give it a try.

If you wanted heavier, you could try the short loop. Nice. Instead of sliding the foot, what does it feel like to hover the leg? Definitely harder. Definitely harder. And then you could further progress by adding some upper body integration, reaching long as you extend, and then circling and hugging the knee in, almost like you're doing double leg stretch.

Beautiful. So you may be feeling your standing leg more than the leg that's extending, and that's okay because both sides are working hard. Last three like this. Good. Do you see how she's fully extending and lengthening on that strap leg? Well done. 2. And one, rise to standing.

Awesome. Okay. So that strap can go, around your ankle. And then you're gonna turn your whole body. So you're seated onto the carriage facing side. The secret to this next series, it's your AB Duction and adduction is to scooch back. So you want your pelvis to be at the back edge of the carrot This is gonna make room for you to have your other leg up, knee bent.

You can hold the shoulder blocks, hold your knee, whatever feels comfortable for you. The leg that has the strap extends, foot is in door side flexion, press the carriage, excuse me, press the carriage out, but more so press the leg out. Yes. So this is your abduction, you're working high up into the hip. Now if you wanna feel more tension, all you have to do is scooch closer towards the foot bar. This is a challenge for posture.

So you're sitting up as tall as you can. Good. We're trying to keep the pelvis square, so no rotation, even if that's less mobility. Let's do 2 more here, left up and out of the low back. And I use my arms to keep my spine stable when I do this. Now slide the opposite foot in so the inside foot goes in, see if you can use the short loop. So we're working at Deckers next, and these muscles are pretty strong for a lot of us so that short loop will increase the challenge.

Scooch towards the foot bar even more Yeah. And then lift the leg, flex the foot. You're feeling hip flexors and you're feeling inner thighs, exhale as you hug in towards the midline. Good. Just try to sit as tall as you can, lift up and out of the low back. In open, and then exhale close.

So if you're feeling this a lot in the hip flexors, that's okay. Your hips are flexed. You're working really hard to keep that leg up. Right around 8 repetitions. Last 3, lean forward just a little bit if you can, go ahead fight for it. Last 2, you can scooch this foot forward.

It'll help you lean forward more. Yeah. And then one more time, pull all the way in and release. And you can hook that strap up. But before we go into the other side, meet me into a side plank position. So almost like we're back into the rotated glutes, you've got the right forearm down. Use your platform, feed against it, push all the way out, Good.

So the feet can either be staggered or they can be stacked. I always hold the shoulder block with my top hand until I feel ready to go. And some things that you're gonna wanna feel is hips lifted and hips stacked, bottom shoulder down and back, really important because that's what's holding you up. Legs strong and inner thighs squeeze together. Good. Now take your top arm straight up to the ceiling when you're ready. Hip dips down and up.

8. Feel like you're lifting from the underneath leg. 6. 5. Nice. 4. 3. Perfect. 2. We're gonna do a little thread the needle. 1. Rotate, take your left forearm down, pivot on your feet, find a plank first, rotate yourself all the way over to the other side, reach that arm up, Good.

10 hip dips when you're ready. Down and up. 10. 9. 8. Awesome. Down and up, lift from that underside, lift from the leg, stable in the shoulder blade.

Last three. Last two. Last one and take it all the way down and take a break. Awesome. Okay. We're gonna start the whole flow again, Holly. So when you're ready on to the knees, you've got the right strap. So right strap into your hand?

That's your left one. Yep. And come on to your knees, and then it's gonna go around the arch of your right foot. Walk your knees way back, and then take your left forearm down to the inside of the shoulder blocks, right hand nice and high, bring your right knee to your elbow and then pause, see if you can get that knee all the way in. So strong in the back body, hips, and shoulders are rotated towards me, kick the leg over the bar and then bring it all the way in knee to elbow. Good. Axill as you kick, and then inhale.

Nice. Axill as you kick, and inhale. And I do the same thing Holly's doing. When I do this exercise, I kind of look at that foot that I'm kicking. I look, and I make sure that I'm listening at nice and high. Good.

Spine is long. Last three. Get ready to hold that leg. Last two. And then leave the leg fully long pulses up, lift up, and up, and up, and think about the lift not coming from the foot, but coming from the hip lift and lift and lift. Last 4, last 3, last 2. Here's your sweep, sweep it down to the ground like that. Arc as low as you can and then lift it up nice and high. Good.

Inhale down and exhale up. And right about now, if you're starting to tired in your upper body. Remind yourself, shoulders down and back. Big sleeping lifts. Good. Feeling it nice and high. Not just in the glute in the back as well.

Last three. Doing great. We're about to come off the machine into our standing hip extension in 2. One more time, swing down. And swing up. Good. Keep your foot in the strap.

Foot goes down to the floor. Stand onto the floor. Both feet. On the floor. You haven't changed anything with those loops. You wanna step forward a little bit and then angle your body just a little bit to the opposite riser low squat position.

And then the foot that has this strap is the one that's extending back and in. That's it. And when I do this, I always keep it on the floor in the beginning. Sometimes I do like a double tap, end tap, end tap, or I slide, end slide. And then if I'm looking to add more balance and stability challenge, the leg can hover and push nice. The standing leg stays bent. And because that standing leg is bent, you're feeling a lot of glutes.

Holding you up. Adding the upper body, if you want to, the arms would extend as the leg extends, circle the arms, and hug that knee in. Beautiful. It's like standing double leg stretch, reach, and hug, 4 to go. 4 3. Almost there. You get to sit down, take a break, and 2.

And 1, and rise adjust the loop so it's around your ankle, sit on to the carriage facing side. And this is the one where you're gonna sit pretty close to the shoulder blocks, but way back. So you can see from this angle how close Holly is to the back of the carriage. Inside knee is bent up. Hold on to the shoulder blocks or to your leg. Outside leg is lifted, foot is flexed, exhale as you press out into your a b suction. So upper outer hips, The hips are not gonna rotate, shift, or move.

The challenge is to lengthen up through the spine, sit up as tall as you can, and lift up through that low back. Moving your body closer to the foot bar is going to increase the challenge. So that's up to you. Working right around 8 to 10 repetitions here, finding your edge. Last three?

Last two. So if you can keep that leg nice and high. Good. And one, try to make the switch using just your feet. So the inside foot goes into the short loop, if you have it, and the outside foot comes out. Move your body towards the foot bar. Good. Use what's around you to help you stabilize.

Focus on your posture. Inside leg is lifted. Foot is flexed, exhale as you hug in. That's it. Inhale as you open. Axhale as you hug in. Nice.

And hug in. So the inner thighs a good connection to our lower abdominals. As we squeeze in, we're also thinking about lifting up. That's 4. See if you can lean forward just a little bit. Good. That's 3. Use your arms. Focus on your posture.

That's 2. And that's one. Good. Go ahead and hook up that strap coming into our side plank again. So just swivel those legs towards the platform. Come down onto your elbow and forearm, I always have my elbow on the inside of the blocks, and I kind of use that block to help stabilize.

Hold on as you press out and find a position you like with your feet. So options are stacked like this, staggered, or staggered. Whatever is intuitive to you is probably gonna be the right choice. Don't let go until you feel good about this. So the back is strong.

Hips are lifted, inner thighs are connected. When you're ready, top arm can go to the sky, dip and lift the hips. Here we go. Push down to lift up. 8 7. Nice holly. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Hold the hips up high. We're gonna thread by taking that right forearm down, rotating the feet, rotating the body, opening to the other side, voila, here we are. 10, let's go down and up.

Down and up. Lift from underneath, squeeze the inner thighs, last six, five keeping that carriage so stable. 4, 3, 2, and one, bend your knees come on in for a break. And then you can come off your machine either side. Well done. Alright. Let's give the core bit of a break. And come back into a bar series.

So I'm taking the spring off and pushing the carriage back so that I've got the space that I wanna use inside the well. Come on in when you're ready. Facing towards your foot bar, which is kind of your ballet bar in this flow. We're doing an exercise called fold over, so step back quite a lot. And then lean the chest forward, take the hands wide onto the bar.

Elbows can be a little bit bent. What we're trying to achieve is almost like a letter t shape with the body. Try not to kick the, machine. Take one leg up and extend it behind you. That's perfect. Okay.

So the standing leg is gonna stay bent. For the same reason we talked about earlier, lots of glutes, hips are square, toes pointed on that back leg, take it down an inch, and pulse that leg up and up and up. Now some people like to do this exercise with their forms on the bar like this and the forehead rested down. You can find whatever position you think is gonna for you. I don't want you to feel any attention, your neck, and shoulders. I want you to focus on this leg that's lifting. And then evenly, like, you're also as evenly focused on this leg that's stabilizing you. Right?

So 50% of your attention on one side and 50 on the other. Last four, last three, Last two, we're gonna do an arc. So I want you to tap to the outside and then lift the leg back behind you. That's it. Tap and lift. Good.

Tap and lift. Nice. You might get a little bit of movement in the hips. Totally okay. Right about now, you're starting to really feel how that stabilizing leg is working. Yeah. Good. Lots of glutes. Last four like this.

Last three. Last two. Now I want you to tap it to the side and hold it there. Good. I want you to bend your knee into your chest, Holly, and then kick out and off to the side. So don't kick me, kick in front of me.

Kick out to the side. Good. And out to the side. Nice. And out to the side, big kick, big bend, 5, 4. Get ready to hold that leg up. In 3, In 2. Now hold that leg up. Pivot your body so you're facing side.

You now have your left forearm on the belly bar. Hips are square leg is lifted. Top hand could be on the hip, the head, wherever it feels right for you, pulsing that leg up. And up. So this upper body position that you're in is really similar to that rotated glute exercise. So same muscles activating shoulders down the back.

Just pause here for a second. You want your hip to be an extension. So try to get that leg a little bit behind you. Keep pulsing up. And up. Your standing foot is probably gonna be an external rotation.

4, and 3, and 2 small circles. Here we go up and around. Up and around. In the circles, the magic happens in the up and the up, and the up reverse up and around. I feel like I'm being mean because I'm not laying her drop her leg. Up and around. Up and around. Last three.

2. Let's do those kicks again. You ready? So bend your knee in. I like to incorporate my arm here, so I rotate arm under, and then exhale lift the arm and kick. Yeah. This almost feels like a break after that last one because she gets to drop the leg and go into external rotation. And when you kick Holly, make sure you're kicking back to me so you're in hip extension.

So pause for a second. Hip extension is the leg is back behind you. The front of the hip is open. Bend in. Find that hip extension. Yeah. So if you wanna fire into those glutes, you wanna get that leg back behind you.

Let's do four more. 4. You're almost there. 3. 2, and I want you to hold it open for one final push. Just hold. Find that hip extension.

You're doing what's called an elevator. So this is your floor. Go up one. Go up 2, go up 3, back down. 1, 2, 3, back down. 2 more. 1, 2, 3 back down. 1 more, 1, 2, 3, and rest and place your feet down. So that elevator, that progressive lift is very challenging. I don't have to tell you.

Before we do the other leg, let's do a push up. So step back. Yep. Hands on to your Bar, find a long line or a plank alignment. Now I love doing push ups in this position because you can really finesse your form. Shoulders are rooted down the back, head in line with spine, bend your elbows.

Let's do narrow elbows. Chest goes down to the bar and press up. Now it may not be the most challenging push up you've ever done, but it's not meant to This is a push up to really help you improve your form and alignment. Keep the collar bones wide. Keep the shoulder blades down. A push up is a plank that moves.

So the body stays very stable and the movements happening at the elbow. See if you can just drop your hips a little bit forward. Tuck your hips under a bit more. Yes. Like, you wouldn't have plank. Last 4. Inhale down, exhale up. Good.

That's 3. Nice. That's 2. And you get to take a break, one step your feet forward a little bit, and find that fold over position. That is the break.

The break is in the transitions. So you can choose in your fold over. Again, arms could be straight, elbows a bit bent, forearms down, forehead down. I want you to be comfortable because you're here for a little while. Try not to kick the machine, take the opposite leg back behind you, and bend into your standing knee. Before you get started, I want you to try to square off your hips in your own body.

It's very likely that that leg that's lifted behind you, that hip on that same side needs to drop and then start pulsing the back leg up. It's very likely that this leg that's pulsing up isn't straight. A lot of us will bend the knee a little bit. You have to really squeeze the muscles around the front of the knee to get that leg to extend and straight. Good. Holly's doing a great job. Pull the rib cage up from underneath, pull the shoulder blades down. Don't forget that we are definitely working into that standing leg too.

So if you're feeling it, you are doing it right. Last four? Last three. Last two. Here's your arch. So you go down to the side, tap, sweep it back. Good. So it goes down to the side, tap, sweep it back.

The mobility that's happening at the hips and in lower body is not that different than what we were doing when we had our foot in the strap. In our rotated glute series. So your body remembers it. Let your body do what it does. Good standing leg is bent and soft.

Weight into your heels. Last three. Last two. Then hold that leg to the side. Bend your knee in towards your chest and then kick side.

So not behind side. There you go. Yes. And it's okay if those hips rotate. I want you to have a little bit of pep in your step. I think I said that earlier.

A little bit of zest when you kick. Good. Your hips are strong. They're robust. They're meant to do big things. Kick off to the side.

Kick off to the side. Good. 4, 3, 2. Now hold that leg up nice and high, swing that leg behind you, and rotate your body so you're facing the side. Keep the leg lifted. Top hand could be to the hip, the head, something else.

If you want, just take a second and settle in. It's worth it to find your foundation before you begin. And then once you're in the move, you just keep flowing and and going. Okay. Leg is pulsing up and up. Leg is nice and straight.

See if you can rock your top hip back so your hips are open. On your standing leg holly, you're probably gonna wanna be a little bit more internic. That'll help help to keep your hips stacked. Good. Up and up and up, hold it high for circles up and around, up and around. Circules don't have to be very big. But you want them to come from here, from the hip, and not from the ankle.

Try to reverse, up and around, up and around. So if you can swing that leg back behind you a little bit more, that's forward. That's 3. She's working for it too. Hold that leg high for 1. Reach your top arm overhead.

Bend your knee. Reach under. Thread that needle. And then exhale big lift and extend up and then scoop it under. Yeah. So this move is internal rotation at the knee and hip, at the hip part of me, and then exhale open. So bend the knee, rotate the hip, and then open kick.

Good. Pressing down into the elbow, down into the forearm. You can block it out of your memory if you want, but we do have to do those elevators. I have remembered them When you kick, kick back towards me. Back towards me. Hip extension. Last 2.

One more time. Now kick and hold. Hold it here. Swing that leg back behind you. Create a floor of basement. Now go out from there. 1, 2, 3, back down. 1, 2, 3, back down again. 1, 2, three back down one more time. 1, 2, 3, and rest.

Well done. Let's do a second set of push ups. So step back feet onto the floor, hands onto the foot bar. Let's do a little something different. Try a couple push ups. Just make sure you're in the right alignment.

Inhale lower exhale lift. I like a narrow elbow push up here. Now I want you when you push up to reach one arm forward and then hand comes back to the bar and then opposite arm forward. Yeah. So it's a weight transfer challenge. Good. Really stabilizing into the back.

A little bit of choreography. Awesome. This add on is simply just an option. If it's not feeling right for you, don't do it. Good.

Last four. One shape down. One shape up. Last three. Last two. And one more. Make sure you feel even, well done, and take a break.

And that might mean leaning back or any break that feels right for you. When you're ready, you can come out of that well space. I'm gonna drop the footbar down for the first time today, so it's in its natural setting. Yours might already be there. Let's bring that carriage forward and add our blue spring back on the same spring we used before.

And grab your box. Place it on in a long box position. I've got good news and bad news. The good news is is we're doing a teaser. Right? That's good news if you really like doing teaser.

The bad news is we're doing the teaser. Okay. So take a seat onto the box and face towards your foot bar. I usually straddle my legs here. So feeder onto the carriage. Reach back behind you and grab your straps.

Because you're on a blue, I recommend using the short loops. You don't want the tension to be too light. In this series, too light is not your friend. Reach back behind you. Here's one. Here's 2. You'll sit towards the 1st third of the box.

You've got plenty of room. And then roll your hips back just a little bit. Arms straight by your sides. Take one leg up to table. Hold it there, take the other leg up to meet it.

Make sure that you have room to go backwards. Hold your teaser prep shape with bent knees, and practice lifting the arms to about shoulder height, pinkies lifted the same height as the thumbs, and then lower the arms down beside you. That's perfect, Holly. Exhale lift. Good. Inhale lower.

So it's like you're digging down to reach forward. If you need to, in this exercise, if it's intuitive and more comfortable, cross your ankles, and open your knees, sometimes that gets us out of our hips, and we feel more of our abdominals. Good. Last two like this, and we'll take a little break in between these movements. Last one. Just pause for a moment while you're here. Lower the arms, and you can rest the feet onto the platform, onto the rails, whatever feels good for you.

Just take a moment, take a breather. So that's kind of piece 1 of the teaser. Next step, roll the hips back again. So you're not sitting on your sit bones. You're sitting off of them.

Chest is wide, float one leg up, and then the other leg meets it. Lift the arms like we just practiced, and now hold the arms in this lifted shape. Good. Nice job keeping the palms lifted. The only thing that's gonna move is the spine. So roll your spine to the box until you're in what I would call your hundred position Yeah.

You don't have to straighten your legs, but if you want to, you can. And then exhale, push through your hands and come back up to your teaser. Legs can be straight or bent. That's amazing. Inhale, roll back, lower back, lower back, lower back, leave the arms active and long, exhale, roll through it. You're making it look so easy.

It is not easy. Roll back. And then exhale roll up one more time like this if you can. Roll back, lower back touches the box, chest is still wide, exhale roll up, bend your knees, feet can come down onto anything stable. Arms can come down.

Sometimes our do a forward fold, whatever feels right for your body. Let's go into the neck level 3 kind of version of this. So lots of box behind you, arms by your sides, a little bit of tension, flip those legs up to table, Awesome. Lifting your arms up like we practiced. Now this time, I want you to lower your chest down, extend your legs, rest your legs onto the footbar. Drop your chest into extension and open your arms. Yes.

There it is. Okay. So consider this sort of your start position. No real work here. You can tell she's enjoying it. I don't think I've ever seen you just go into extension like this ever. Okay.

So just surrendering. To get up from this position, tuck your chin, like how you practice with the ball earlier, bring your hands beside you, and just hover your legs. Boom. So she's kind of where she just was a moment ago. Now lift your legs and chest in your arms and find that v position. Nice. Hold your legs and arms.

Roll your lower back down to the box. Lower back, lower back, lower back, lower back. Good. A little bit more. A little bit more if you're coming to the hundreds, start to lower the legs, lower the chest, lower the arms, and the bar gives her something to rest on. Do it again, Holly, tuck your chin towards your chest, Find that hundred position, that scoop, then close the book, cover to cover chest to thighs, good collar bones wide, legs nice and lifted roll only the low back down, low back, low back, low back, lower the arms, lower the legs, one more time. Nicely done. Tuck your chin. Finding that hundred position, kind of like that hollow body, lever position.

We've been here a ton before. Exhale. Lift through it. You can do it. Find that breath. Even higher, even higher chest to thighs, turn your palms up, hold and breathe, breathe and hold, 3. You're not gonna go down.

You're gonna stay up. 2. And one, bend your knees. Stay up and rest your feet on anything that's comfortable. Forward fold. Take a moment. Take a break. I can take your straps at home.

Just throw them on the ground like a mic drop. You've earned it. Okay. Come on off to either side. Well done. We're gonna turn this box from a long box into a short box 90 degree turn, keep it in front of the shoulder blocks, meet me kneeling on the box facing back. Good. Make sure you, if you're sweaty, wipe those elbows off and forearms off, you're gonna be putting your arms onto the box.

I don't want you to slide off. Cool. So you've got your feet onto that back platform. Cur your toes underneath you, lift your knees, and press out to a plank. Make any adjustments you need to here. Maybe walking your elbows back, whatever feels right for you.

Holly's got our palms together in prayer. That's an option. So is keeping your arms separated like the number 11. Let's start by bending the knees in and then pushing the carriage all the way out. Good. In this move can continue to think about pushing up against gravity. So your chest pushes up, the back of the head pushes up, leg squeeze together.

Good. Bend in and press out. Now we're gonna add a mountain climber. So bend in and hold. Take your right knee, touch the box, and push all the way up with your left leg. As the carriage comes in, the right foot goes back down, take your left knee against the box, push it with the right leg. Very good. So you're pushing with one leg, knee against the box as you come in you alternate.

Yes. But there is more. If you're looking for just a little extra push, push out one knee against the box hold. Drop the hips. Drop the knee. Lift the hips. Lift the knee.

Come back in. Switch the legs. Press out other leg hold. Drop the hips. Drop the knee. Lift the hips. Lift the knee. Come in. See if you can do one more each side Holly, press drop, lift, come in last time. Press, drop, lift, come in and rest the knees down.

Very good. I want you to come into a prone position on the box. So abdominals on the box, hands onto the frame of the machine, legs will be over the foot bar. Nice. So let's do swan first. Scoop forward quite a lot.

In Swan, you're gonna want the box to hit you somewhere between your hip bones and your belly button. So right around here, legs are apart. Quite a lot. You can separate them even more, like, almost like your second position, and legs are externally rotated. Hands are on the rails underneath the shoulders. Chest is lifted. Now I want you to find a relationship between the upper body and lower body.

The only reason the upper body can move is because the lower body is engaged and vice versa. Okay? So as you start to bend your elbows and the chest drops down, the legs lift up, up, up, up, good. And then as the chest comes up, the legs go down. Down, down. So you're thinking of a boomerang shape with the body. Chast goes down, legs go up, run hip extension, more glutes, more glutes, and straighter legs. There you go. And then chest comes up, legs reach long in a way. Good.

Do it again. When the chest comes up and the legs drop down, try to resist against letting your thighs rest onto the box. You're still very active into that back body. Well done. And it should feel like you're pushing your body back and into that box when the chest is down. On the next one, keep the chest down the legs up, You're gonna beat the legs together. 1 and 2 and 3 legs apart.

And now lift your chest up. Legs will drop. Do that two more times. Chest goes down, legs come up, and a 1, and a 2, and a 3 legs long, chest comes up, legs go down one more time. Legs up and a squeeze and a 2 and a 3 legs up and press yourself up and start to press yourself back just a little bit. That was amazing.

For this next one, for swimming, you wanna find a balance point. So come back quite a lot. You'll feel like your belly button is more towards the middle of the box And if you start to kind of lean forward or tip forward in your chest, just scooch back even more. When you're ready, lift your legs. Good. Toes are pointed, legs are long, and then stretch your arms forward and try to keep your arms the height of your ears or higher.

Opposite arm to leg lift, and then switch switch switch switch switch. This quick reciprocal movement makes it really hard to stay stable in the middle, but you can do it You're activating your core. You're staying strong. Look down at the floor. Keep the spine long.

Keep those hips working. You've got 5. 4, 3, 2, and rest. Well done. Okay. So we've got a nice little reward, a little bit of work, and then you're out of here. So come on off the machine.

I'll place the box back, and, we'll set up for your 100 and feet and strap setting. So I'm gonna do one red and 1 blue for Holly. You might choose to go a little bit lighter, heavier for your 100, lie down onto the carriage. I always move my shoulders away from those shoulder blocks a little bit, reach back behind you, grab your straps, short loops, if you can. Start with the legs and table and the hands right up over the chest, find that tension, take a big breath in to get ready, exhale arms pull down, chest comes up, and legs extend.

Find your Pilates V heels together toes apart and start to pump the arms, inhaling through the nose, nice wide collar bones, exhaling through the mouth. That's 10. In 2, 3, 4, 5, exhale. That's 20. In 2, 3, 4, 5, exhale wide in the chest, 30. In 2, 3, 4, 5, exhale, 40, find that external rotation from the upper hip 50. That's your halfway mark. Inhale. Fill it up. Acts, he'll let it go.

That's 60. Inhale. And act still 70. Whenever I get to 70, I consider that the home stretch 80 pump with a little bit more intention, challenger stability, 90, one more set of 10, in through the nose, out through the mouth, 100, hold everything steady, curl up just a little bit higher, and rest the head down. But place your feet into the long loops.

Good. If you have that ball handy, let's grab it now. You might need to pause, reset, grab that ball. You've got, you might have an assistant like me. If you've got me hanging around, I can just grab the ball for you. Let's place the ball between the ankles and work those ad vectors just a little bit more.

So you've got feet and straps, ball between the ankles, legs on a nice low diagonal hands onto the mat beside you. Legs lift up on a breath in only as high as the tailbone can stay down, legs lower. When I do this exercise, I just think about keeping a constant squeeze in ball. So I'm not necessarily trying to squeeze it more when I go down, unless when I come up, I'm just trying not to drop it. I just wanna hold on to it the whole time.

And that gives me plenty of work on my inner thighs. This exercise is all about disassociation, which means legs are moving, but the spine is not and the carriage is helping you, but your abdominals are really working as well. One more time like this, big lift up, and then exhale lower. From here, we'll do bend and extend. So bend your knees into your chest.

Knees will be right underneath your ropes. Ex heel press straight out. Good. All often when I'm working out by myself, I'll use my own hands to help with stability. So possibly placing my hands on my hips, putting one hand between my lower back and the carriage, one hand on my abdominals, using my hands to help me find my rib cage connection, So I encourage you to do the same. Find that core stability within this work.

The next time your legs are straight, leave them straight, and we're gonna sort of put those moves together. So straight legs will go up to the ceiling. Good. Without moving the carriage, bend your knees, keep that carriage as steady as you can, and then push forward. So it goes up first. Use your hamstrings to bend.

There it is. And then press out. Nice. Up down and out. And it should feel almost like a circular movement, but the energy is coming in, down, and out versus out and around the sides. Good. Try reversing this direction. So knees come in. Keep that carriage pretty steady as legs go up, then press down. So knees bend in.

It's the quadriceps working to extend and then back to the legs working to push in and stretch and down. In and stretch and down one more time. Bend in. Reach up. Press down. Now keep your legs straight find your Pilates V in turnout.

If you need to adjust the ball, adjust it. It's more between your heels now. Hover your hands and turn your palms up. I want you to come into an abdominal curl without curling your tailbone under. So keep your pelvis anchored into the mat, bend your knees for your frogs, knees go wide, and exhale press out. This is an exercise I love doing because I find it really helps to calibrate my brain.

I'm can feel if I'm pushing more through one side I can see if I'm pushing more through one side, and I'm really focused on moving from my center. The ball is a nice reminder that the abdominals work in this exercise. Inhale bend, and exhale press. Last three like this. Last two.

Send the legs all the way long for 1 and rest. Head can go down. Ball can go down beside you. Take your feet out of the loops. You can either hook them up, or you can drop them on the floor.

You're not gonna use them again. Drape your legs over the bar, lift your arms up to the ceiling, We'll finish today's class with 3 reformer roll ups all the way up, you go, forehead to knees, breathe, relax, roll about halfway back, lift the arms, and roll down. This is an opportunity to reset, return to a very calm breath. It's possible you had somebody yelling at you for 45 minutes. Do employees jumping around, turning and twisting, doing teasers. Now is the time to just breathe. On the next one, stay up.

Hud your shins. Drop your head. Give yourself a big squeezey hug. You worked really hard today. You worked really hard today. Thank you for joining me.

I hope you had fun, and I'll see you again soon. Bye.