Read Full Transcript
Hi. I’m Courtney Miller. Today’s class is a matte fusion class where we go through 3 circuit style hit workouts that are going to get your heart rate up. Work your lower body and really challenge your balance. Then we hit the mat for some traditional Pilates and fusion Pilates. And we repeat that cycle 3 times.
Let’s get started. I’m in a wide second position stance. My knees and toes are turned out. I’m sending my hips low, keeping my chest lifted down and up. We’ll do around 10 repetitions per variation. So if you’re a counter, 10 is a good place to start. Low and lift.
3, sending the hips back. 2, Now, as we come up, one knee comes to opposite elbow, and alternate. So I go low squat, knee up, and across. Low squat, knee up and across. The trick is to really get those hips down. I’m thinking about hips lower than my knees.
4, 3, 2, and make sure you feel evened out. So I’m gonna do one more. Now I’m gonna do a hop crossing my ankles, When I jumped back to a low squat, I reached down, touched the ground to make sure I’m getting low. Cross, tap. Alternating the leg and alternating the arm. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, set both feet together.
Get as low as you can. And then use your seat to power all the way out as far as you can to the other side of your mat. Side to side, we go. Instead of getting vertical height, I want you to think about getting lateral height, like horizontal far across as you can, 5, 43, 2, And one. Last move. Back to that second position.
Low swap position. Rotate your hips, knees, and toes. Drop the knee, come back to your center. Other side. Twist center.
Shoulders over hips. Center. We’ve got 5 4, 3, 2, and one. So that’s our cardio flow. You’re gonna see that pop up 2 more times.
Come to your mat with me and Neil towards the center. One leg extends long. Anchor that foot. Arms go overhead. Connect the thumbs and keep the hands overhead.
Inhale as you lean to one side, exhale as you lean to the opposite. Nice recovery opportunity. I want you to feel like you’re using your obliques to pull yourself up. So nice and slow here. Go as low as you think you can go, but keep that outside foot anchored.
4, 3, 2. And now hold it. Hand goes to the ground. Outside leg lifts, top hand behind the head. Tap and lift and lift.
Stay close to the core using that side seat Sack the hips. 5, 4, 3, 2, Hold the leg for circles 5 in one direction. Focus on the up, the up, the up, the, yep, reverse 5, 4, 3, 2, leave that leg high reach to the sky rotate so that you are in a quadruped position with one leg lifted. Opposite arm extends long. Find your stability.
Inhale windmill. So the arm and the leg open, exhale return. Inhale open. And exhale return. I’m trying to keep my back pretty stable and I’m trying to keep my leg pretty high. 5 4, that’s 3, 2.
And one more time like this. Now take that arm that’s reaching forward and place it down on the mat. Roll your hips open. Bring your back knee in. Think knee to knee.
Look for the foot as you kick back behind. In and kick. In and kick. Get a little momentum with that kick. 5, pull the abs up when you kick, 4, 3, 2, and place the foot down.
Come to both elbows and forearms elbows are shoulder width apart, send your opposite leg back, and meet me in a forearm plank. Hold the shape and just move at your ankles rocking forward and back. 10, 9, 8, keep pushing your chest up back of the head lifted. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Knees come down.
Let’s do the same flow again on the other side. So I extend my leg, and I think of this leg like an anchor. So keep it heavy. Hands come overhead, hands stay in line with the crown of the head, and I bend, bend, bend, exhale return. So in he’ll get low. Acts. He’ll use the obliques to lift.
Go slow. And feel the work. Inhale as far as you can go and stack the spine. 4, 3. The more I can anchor that foot, the more bend I can get.
2 and 1. Find the lean. Take the inside hand down to the mat, outside leg lifts, top hand behind the head, tap and kick up. Kick up. Kick. Get some power in that kick. Keep the hips stacked and keep the hips pressing forward.
4, 3, 2, circle around and up, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, reverse, up and around 5, 4, 3, to hold the leg. Rotate the body and find that shoulder over wrist position. Pull up through the center. Left the opposite arm and windmill. Inhale open and exhale close.
Inhale open. Try to keep that leg high and exhale close. Do it again. Stabilizing elbows nice and soft. Inhale stretch it, exhale swinging 3 more. 3, think of letter t, and reach. 2, Return.
One more time. 1. Return. Just take the elbow down. Left the leg. Look back for it. Bring the knee.
Little momentum as you kick up. Power, and hit mobility. Abs in when you kick. 5 to go, 4, 3, 2, and 1, send the leg down, come to both forms again, elbows under shoulders, send the opposite leg back. Here we are again, except this time it’s a knee tap.
Both knees come down to the mat just for a moment, lift. Tap and left, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 54321 and done. So that is your map flow. Let’s come back to our cardio. Meet me standing.
Wide second position, send the hips back, rise to come all the way up. Keep everything tight. You just did a series that activated your glutes, hamstrings, core shoulders. I want you to continue to feel those muscles working as we go through our cardio flow. Last four, That’s 3.
Straight in the legs all the way and think about squeezing the inner thighs too. And cross knee to elbow. So down, knee comes up and across, knee comes up and across, Think of this as standing core work. Down up, sit, left, finding that balance at the top. Almost there.
Last four, three, two, And even it out, we have our jump cross. So remember, one ankle comes in front, reach down to the ground, opposite. Reach down. Find a flow that works for you. Cross, tap. Cross, tap.
Cross tap. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and rise. Get off to one side of your mat. Sit low parallel legs, you’re not pushing up, you’re pushing over. Cover as much distance as you can, land toe ball heel, and keep that chest lifted.
We’ve got 5, 4, 3, 2, And one. Back to the wide stance for our rotation and lunge. Turn to one side, drop the knee, come through center. I love this one because you get a nice hip stretch, You wanna stay light in your feet and lifted through your chest. We’ve got 54, 3. How low can you get that back knee?
2, 1, and back to the mat b go. Lying down on your back. Legs extended long. We’re coming into a reformer roll up. I want you to try to connect your spine to the mat during the roll up.
Reach past the toes, And then try to connect your spine during the roll down too. Big exhale up. Shoulders, relax, and take your time as you go down. 3 more like this, bending your knees. If you have any trouble rolling up to the spine, Two more.
And one more like this, finding that complete breath out and rolling down. Separate your legs right around the width of your mat and keep your hands together. Not that different of an exercise, fix up when you roll up, both hands reach to one foot, roll down through center. Roll up. Off to the other side, you go and down through center.
Exhale. Same thing goes here. If you’re having any problems rolling up, bend your knees. It’ll make a huge difference. Finding that complete breath is also going to help.
Last three, Last two. And last one. Now I want you to stay down for this next one and take your arms out like a tee and legs even wider than before. You’re not lifting all the way up, just to a chest lift, one hand, an opposite leg lift and reach towards the ankle or to the foot. I am pushing down to help myself come up but I don’t want all the work to be in my arms.
5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Roll over so you’re onto your stomach and meet me in a high plank position. Shoulders are right over wrists, hold, squeeze, engage the core. Your glutes are part of this exercise, so feel them. Drop one knee down, lift the other leg up. One push up chest to mat.
Press back to your plank and hold. Squeeze the legs, push the chest up, head in line with spine. Opposite knee comes down. One shape down. Press and hold. That’s our jam.
Knee comes down. The only reason that back leg is coming up is because my chest is going low, and push Find it, leg comes up, leg comes down, knee comes down, low position, one more each side, low plank and up. Last time, and hold it. 5, 4, 3. I’m trying to rock more. Wait for it to my fingers. 2, Take the whole shape down for 1, and let’s go for a swim.
Lift the legs. Keep the legs straight. Reach the arms forward. Opposite arms a leg up, up, up, straighter legs. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, hold. Arms up. Chest up. And press it back.
We’ll bend you back in the opposite direction with the 100. So onto the back, we go again. Arms overhead, heels together toes apart. On an exhale, lift the head, neck, and shoulders. Hover the legs. And pump the arms with purpose.
10 sets of breath. That’s 1, in through the nose, out through the mouth. 2, 3, 4, longer legs. 5, keep the wrist straight. 6, 7, 8, 910.
That’s 100 arm pumps. Hold. Scoop a little higher. And take a break. We’re not done yet. We have an endurance challenge to go into.
Remember to use your arms. Remember to stay in the scoop. The higher you scoop, the less you’re gonna use your neck. First move, single leg stretch, and switch. Switch. Switch around 10 repetitions is a great place to be.
Shoulders down. Chest lifted. 3. 2, 1, double leg stretch, arms and legs reach, circle. The lower you send the legs and arms, the harder you work, 2, 3. Chin stays down.
Huck it in. Halfway there. Every time the knees hug in, it’s a little reset. 3, 2, hug and hold behind the knees for 1, both legs go to the sky. Use that arm strength to lift.
Grab one ankle with both hands. Shoot that other leg low. 2 pulls switch. When you pull pull, try to scoop, scoop, scoop, scoop, scoop, scoop, pull, pull, kick those legs high 5 4, 3, 2, 1, hands behind the head, crisscross, rotate, to the knee that’s bent. Keep the pelvis steady.
Keep the shoulders lifted. Final 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. It’s your lower lift. I prefer to have hands underneath the sacrum. Send the legs low. Lift.
Look down at the abdominals. I flex my feet low point to lift. Stay in that scoop. There’s a break coming up in 4. Bend your knees if that feels better. 3, 2, and 1, give herself a squeezey hug, use a little momentum, and meet me standing.
We’re going back into our cardio flow. Here’s the good news. The last one, unless you’re enjoying the most bad news, down and up. Remember, as you come up, you’ve got inner thighs, quadriceps and glutes. Inhale down, exhale up.
Avoid just tilting the chest forward like this. I want you sitting deep into that squad, hip mobility, glute strength, 3, 2, and 1, squad to opposite knee tuck. Down and up. Standing core work, sit low, and rise. Good.
It’s nice to know what to expect. Right? You’ve done this before. You know, you can do it. 5, 4, 3, 2, and even it out. 1, do a little hop, cross ankles, do a little hop, reach down. Count with me 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, lateral jumps, get real low in your squad, power off to the side, off to the side.
Stay low. Imagine at a booty band around your legs, work that Big press out. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go back to your wide position. This is where we started. Rotate in one direction, drop a knee, feel the stretch, back to your center.
Almost there. We’ve got 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and rise. Back to the mat, we go. Lie down. This time we’re doing an inversion, send the legs long, press into your arms, You’re gonna exhale to roll your legs and hips off the mat overhead. Try to straighten your legs.
You can look at your knees and see if they’re straight. Separate your legs, flex your feet, and then control your spine as it goes down. Once you get low, draw the legs together, and repeat the lift. I’m trying to roll down the center of my spine, not lifting my head, not lifting my shoulders, one more like this. Separate and roll down.
And now I’m gonna leave my legs apart a little bit harder, roll up with the legs apart, legs together, and turned out on the down. 1, up and apart, down and together. 2 Last time, 3 Now this time, I want you to roll up and hold. Make sure your shoulders are narrow underneath you. Place your hands onto your hips, keep your hips lifted, and send your legs up to the sky.
Elbow should feel right underneath your shoulders. Slit the legs and bend the knee that’s lower. Try to get that leg low to the ground. Switch switch. This exercise is called bicycle switch switch. Switch.
We’ve got 3 3221 hold. Now whichever leg is closest to the ground, we’ll touch down on the ground. I’m gonna take my hands off my hips, swing my leg. 1, 2, 3. Kick it up. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, hold that leg up pulse at 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and take it down. Now to get into the position, I’m gonna roll up again. Find those narrow shoulders, support your hips, and then lift from the hips No weight on the neck, strong in the arms. Split the legs, and whichever leg is low, bends.
Reach down to the floor, down to the floor. 5 4 should feel good. Opening the hips. 3. 2.
Now just make sure it’s the opposite leg that’s low. So when you come into your bridge, you’re not doing the same side. Flex and kick. 8. 76543 to hold it up and pulse it 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, One hips go down, leg goes down. Roll all the way over onto your stomach.
This next exercise feels so good. Swan and Swan dive. Keep the legs apart. Pelvis heavy, hands under shoulders. On a breath in, I’m thinking of 2 things, lifting up and pulling my chest forward.
And then on a breath out, I’m thinking of 2 things. Pulling my chest forward and lowering down. Inhale up and forward. Exhale, down and forward. You’ll notice that my hip bones are coming off the mat, but my pubic bone is staying down, down and forward.
2 more, finding length and opposition, One more. Up and forward, and down. Now things get a little bit more fun. I want you to engage the glutes, lift the legs off the mat. When the chest comes up, the legs will go down. When the chest comes down, the legs will come up.
Like a little seesaw, 10, 9, 8, focusing on the legs driving the move. 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Chest goes down. Now you can stack your arms or rest in any position that works for you. Legs will come up. Legs together. These are called beats.
So I’m trying to keep my thighs off the mat and get my inner thighs to connect. 1098 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 little circles up and around. 2, 3, 45, 6, 7, 8, 9 reverse. This is a glued exercise. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 789, 10, and rest. Try your hands under your shoulders. Press yourself up into a push up.
Wok your hands to your feet and rebuild the spine. Nodge your chin towards your chest. Roll down. Try to keep your hips right over your feet. Walk yourself back out into a plank. Lower the shape down.
Repeat. So press up as one unit. Walk back. Hip stay over heels as you rebuild. Feels really good. Tuck the chin.
Roll it forward. Lock it out. See if you can drop as one shape, then see if you can lift as one shape, walk it back, and rebuilt two more times, not the chin, like you’re peeling your back off of a wall, about four steps with the arms, one shape down, back up, Take the knees down to help you if you’re having a hard time getting back up. And this will be the last time nodding the shin, Lengthening the spine, walking it out. Pushing one shape up, locking it back, and rebuilding.
That was a fun one. Definitely made me sweaty. I love the combination of doing the high intensity hit workouts with the traditional Pilates. I think it blends together so well. Make sure you join me back here again soon. Thanks.
Bye.
