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Hello, everybody. Welcome to my intermediate, reformer class. I call this the attainable class. In other words, we can all strive to do whether we’re a beginner, And maybe you’re in advanced. This is definitely going to challenge you one way or the other because I’m gonna modify it, but also intensify it too so you can work at your level.
So let’s take a seat. We’re gonna start with sideline working with the legs, 2 reds in the blue, or 2 reds. If you wanna bring it down a little bit, absolutely. You’re gonna get in the middle of your reformer, get your head rest up, go right into the center here. The front leg is bent, And then the underneath leg is reaching out, so it’s active.
Now lift up on the underneath oblique. You got that long waist, so you’re not hiking through that top hip. You’re ready. We’re gonna start to push out and bring you back. Now if you feel it’s a little too heavy, You’ve got time now to adjust it and take it down a half spring. Now you see, I’ve got my hands here. I’m resisting the shoulder rest to start myself on going all the way over there.
Now it’s full extension with the leg. Full extension. XL. Inhale, lengthen through that leg. Alrighty. We’re gonna do about 4 more here.
4, 3, 2. Now a little pulse in the mid range, so pulse. So say mid range is right in the middle. We don’t go to full extension. We don’t go all the way down. We’re working right in that sweet spot.
We call it the burn spot. Yes. Right in that middle. There we go. Push out and in. Oh, there we go. For 3 for 2. One more. Now fully extend that leg without hiking the hip.
And then we come back down again. He’ll turned out now. So we push out, go and back. Now be mindful that the underneath leg is still active. Those inner thighs are working. Yes.
Keep the hips stacked. You gotta feel the burn in those legs now. Absolutely. Your quads and your hamstrings. Keep that long waist here. Let’s do a few more.
Are you ready for mid range of motion, pulse. That’s the rhythm up and down and up and down, small little range of motion here, dada dada for 5. And for and 3, and 2, and 1 more. Now fully extend that leg without hiking the hip. And then we come back down again. Close the carriage, reach that top leg out.
And we’re just gonna go up and down that sideline position. Now if you feel comfortable, maybe you can lift that hand up there, test your balance. Remember, you’re balancing on your side hip. It’s not as easy as it may seem, but we’re lifting, working through the glue. Feel that burn there? Absolutely. We feel it right here. For 4 for 3 for 2. Now hold that leg up underneath legs.
Gonna go up and down. You might need to move your hand forwards for balance. You can just pop it here. Otherwise, just keep that hand lifted, and that’s give a little bit love to those in a size. Yes. And your core is bouncing. Ready for 5 for 4 for 3.
For 2. Hold it there. Put the hand down. Now that top leg is gonna come back onto the bar. And let’s bring the knees in. Let’s roll over to the other side.
Now make sure you’re in the center of your reformer. Hands on your shoulder rest. Top leg is bent right to the front. Underneath leg is lifted. It’s nice and active in that position.
Now push away. Be mindful. We got that nice, long length in the waist, and it’s equal. On the top side, as well as the underside. And we’re pushing the leg out lengthening through the quad. Here we go.
And breathe in. Yes. Those hamstrings and glutes are working here and your quads. Let’s do 2 more. Now ready for your little mid range of motion. That sweet spot where we feel the burn.
There we go. Tada. Tada. Feel that rhythm. Remember Pilates is all about rhythm too. Out and in.
Out and in. Keep the pelvis still. Ta da. And let’s do 4 more for and 3, and 2. Now one more. Now fully extend the leg. Watch the hips.
Watch she doesn’t hike. And then we bring it back down again. Keep that work on your thigh, not into your back. Now externally rotate it, toes are up, Excel push out and back. That was in a size of working there.
Scoop out through those apps. There we go. We really feel the burn in those legs, building strength, in your lower body. Now we’re ready to go to that mid range of motion d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, out in, out in, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d, d for 3. For 2. For one more now, fully extend, watch the hip, and then we bring you back down again. Now keep that leg actively underneath leg active and lift that top leg.
So you’re balancing here. Now that top leg goes up and down. Now we’re gonna go into the glute right here now. Now once again, if you can put your hand up, It’s not necessary. You can still keep your hand down if you need that little extra stability here.
If you can, bring the hand up just to test your balance a little bit more. Gonna feel the hips working just to warm those legs up. Alright. We’re gonna do 4 more here. XL 4, and 3, and 2, hold it here. Now you might wanna bring your hand down.
Underneath leg is gonna lift up and down. Or you can keep your hand up. So now we’re gonna work into you in a size now. For more than magic number, 43, and 2. Hold it there. Beautiful job. Bend that knee.
Bring it back. Bend those knees, and then sit yourself up. Turn all the way around. Look down. We’re gonna take it down to a 1 red spring now. Come back. We’re gonna curl ourselves down, but hand forwards right here on your bar, draw the abs in, initiate with the lower abs, sit bones, a drawing forward.
So those lower abs are working, and we’re gonna slowly lower down one vertebra at the time. Grab your straps. Walk your feet up, and now I’m gonna take the smallest straps. Hands up. So take your weight into your hands press into your palms, up your hands, lift your legs up into chair position. We inhale here, exhale.
Reach the arms and legs out. Hold it here. We’re gonna open the arms and legs. We bring the legs and arms together. We bend and we bring the head and neck and shoulders down. Now keep the tension in the straps.
We open. We close. Draw the knees to the chest, and that love tabletop position, and reach. Open the arms and legs. Kinda not too much further than where the reformer finishes. It’s about the same width as your reformer, zipping up through those in the thighs and back. We got 3 more of those.
Reach the arms down. Look towards your feet. Little open close. And back. It’s kind of variation of a coordination here.
One more slow and controlled. Reach towards your toes. Open. Close, bend the knees, bring the arms back. Drop the feet down.
Put your straps. Now we’re gonna hold on right here to your shoulder rests here. So I’m gonna come around. I’m gonna hold my shoulder rests. I’m gonna reach the legs straight up.
We’re gonna lower the legs to as far as you can and then exhale bring them back up again. Lower down, exhale bring them back, inhale lower the legs and just hold it there. I’m gonna do some little flutter kicks here. You’re holding on. To your shoulder rest, just for a little extra comfort here, but those lower abs are firing for 87, 654321.
Bringing those legs up. Bend your knees. We’re gonna flip that head rest down. So you wanna get that head rest down. It is down now. Back on holding on.
Reach the legs. Now we’re gonna go into rollover. So you’re gonna inhale here, exhale rollover. Open flex. Curl down, little mini circle, and back around again. In hell 90, XL rollover.
Open Flex, reach the energy up through the heels circle. You got 2 more inhale 90. Palvic tilt. It’s all in the lower abs. Open flex. One more in our night, you know, all in the lower abs, they’re ready. Tilt, reach, open flax, reach the energy out through the heels circle and then bring the feet down.
Arms down. That’s gonna feel very light. You’re on 1 red spring. So if you need to get more, sit up, and add a half a spring. Otherwise, we’re gonna go for the burn in those hamstrings, and we roll all the way up. Feel your hamstrings as you come up. And your feet are on the arches of the bar. See where my feet are on my arches, and then I’m gonna curl back down again.
How did you feel? Do you feel you need more resistance? If you do, it’s time to go get your resistance. Put your feet on the arches. Are you ready? We’re gonna get going. In our here exhale roll all the way up into your bridge.
We’re gonna push it out and in. So you can see my knees are semi bent. I’m not going to full extension. My feet are on the arches, the in steps of my feet, and I’m looking towards the sky. And I’m drawing the heels towards your sit bones, super important, keep that hip, knee, and ankle alignment, and we’re pulling with the hamstrings.
And we’re gonna do a couple more. It’s very light. One more. Hold it here. Slowly articulate down. Feel those hamstrings.
And articulation through the spine, bring your knees into your chest, a nice little hug, and we’re gonna turn to the side, and we’re gonna get up. We’re gonna come to your side now. We’re gonna go to, one red and maybe one yellow or one red, one blue, or if you have a green is a good one too, but we’re going to work our legs. So we’re gonna come to here. One of my favorite flows, my go to flow here, My knees stabilize.
It’s bent, and then other knee is just kind of parallel to it. You’re gonna put the inside hand forwards. Backhand behind, and we’re just gonna go into a scooter. Scooter. Some of you could be on a red spring and feel great with a red spring.
For me, I’ve got a red and a yellow. All depends on your strength and the reformer that you have. So you’re gonna push out an in. So you can feel your glutes and your hamstrings, quads and hamstrings are firing, You’re reaching out for the crown of the head. You’re gonna do a few more.
And let’s just do one more. And bring you back. Now we’re gonna test our balance. Once again, if you don’t wanna test your balance, just keep your hand forwards. Pitch the body forwards here.
And we start to push back and in. So if you feel you need to adjust your spring, you can take it down a little bit later. Because remember, your balance is there’s a lot of work on that stabilizing leg to balance because you’re pushing against resistance here. I’m backing in. There we go.
Let’s do 5 more here. 54 3, 2, and one more. Lift ourselves up. Drop the knee down. Now I’m going to take you down to one red.
So if you’re already at one red, you can just keep it there. If you feel that was too heavy, you can always bring it down to a blue, but I’m keeping it one red now. Now gonna reach the hands behind your head. We’re gonna push back so you see it’s lighter. I can get into a lunge position.
So there’s my lunge. My back leg is straight. And then we come up to an erect physician. So if your spring is too heavy that you’re not allowing yourself to be able to do that, then take your spring down a little bit later. So you can see I’m going into a full on lunge here.
Squeeze in the glutes as we come up work in that back body in how or each. Excel up. Reach out to the crown of the head. You got that beautiful long length and leg at the back. Let’s do a few more.
Last time. And then bring it back. Amazing. Lot of work on that stabilizing leg. Drop that leg down. Put both hands on to the top here.
Now we’re gonna push that back leg out. This leg is gonna pop around here, so you’re in that nice plank position, put the leg on top, And then from here, we’re gonna go into a nice little pike, and then we go into our plank. So adjust your feet. Into your pike, down into your plank. Now exhale up finish the plank calf and look out.
There’s your finished position there. Come back up again. And then back into your plank holder here. Now we’re gonna bend and extend the legs. Look, my focus is forwards.
The underneath oblique is working super hard. We can do 4 more of these. 3, 2, and one. Hold it there. Unwind that leg and then bring the carriage in. Beautiful series.
There are a lot of glue to hamstring work, and then we go into our obliques. So let’s go to the other side. Once again, I’m gonna load it up one red and one yellow just for the first two rounds, and then I bring it down. So your choice Alright. So get our knees level inside arm on the bar. Outside hand is behind the back. Here.
Draw your shoulder blades down. Resist your bar as you push back and in. So you’re in that lovely scooter position. Now as you bring the carot g and you’re resisting the spring, as you bring the carriage in, keeping that long waist. That’s it. Really resists that carriage as you come in.
Oh, feel those legs. Amazing. And we’re gonna do a few more. Dah. Dah. One more. And bring you back.
Drop the knee down. Lift up. Now remember, this is where we’re gonna test our balance, pitch your body forwards, You’re ready push back and in. Remember if this is too challenging, lighten the weight, or just pop your hand forwards and repeat again. So there’s always a modification if you just don’t feel quite ready, go into that next step. That’s it. Whoo. Yeah. Feel the hips, your glutes.
Looking out. I have an amazing view here in Santa Barbara. Very motivating. One more. And drop that knee down.
Let’s take it down to one red. So I’m taking mine down to one red. Maybe you’re already at one red, and that’s great. We’re gonna bring the other leg forwards and take it into a lunge position. So you’re in that lunge position here.
Alright. So from here, we’re gonna bring the carriage in, lift up, and then we push back So let’s just take the hands behind the head here. We pitch the body forward straight leg, and then we come back up again. That leg bends. So push as we elongate from the heel to the crown of the head, and then we lift up Working the glutes that posterior chain is working. Duh. No need to rush.
It’s about going slow and controlled and really connecting to the right muscles to do the work and not using momentum. Slowburn is sometimes the best. Start connecting to our body and seeing where we need to strengthen, where our weak spots are, and where our strong spots are. Can we do a couple more? This feels so good. Last time.
Bring it back. I’ve got a shaky leg here. Drop up the knee down. Now handfuls are gonna go into that lovely Pike to plank. So push the leg back. You’re in a lunge to start with. Now bring that leg.
Take it around. So there’s your plank. Look out. Now pike. Adjust your feet and plank.
Ex. I’ll close the carriage. Inhale rotate around your shoulder joint, elongate. Ex. I’ll use your core to lift up chest towards your thighs. Slow and controlled. I am your cadence.
So you’re following me, keep my cadence, shouldn’t be going any faster than me. Inhale, lengthen. X Help, period. Now one more Go into your length and face here. Already bend both knees. Bend. So now is your oblique going on fire in your oblique?
Duh. Now reach out to the crown of the head. Remember you got that laser beam reaching out for the crown of the head. Whoo. Just a few more.
One more Find your plank position. You hit it. You unwind that leg. You bring it down and you finish off the exercise. Beautifully.
Take you down to 1, blue spring, hot spring. I’m gonna sit down And we’re gonna go into a z position, like a Mermaid position. So here is your Mermaid position. Pick up your straps. Gonna go into some arm work now, and I’m gonna hold on, and I’m gonna go forward.
So there’s your start position here. We’re going to cross the midline of your body, and then we’re gonna go back to the beginning and get that nice stretch, cross, and back. So I’m gonna pick up that tempo a little bit here. We’re exhaling and back. Now if you feel this is too light, play with the springs, maybe add another spring or go to one red.
This is your base, a half spring works perfectly for me. So you find where your strengths and weaknesses are. Now we can do a couple more. There’s that rotation. Now we’re gonna add a circle.
So we go across, circle up, diagonal. Cross. My eyes are following my hands. I go across. It lift up, feeling your shoulders, and your arms. We’re also working rotation through your core.
Your obliques are on fire. And rotation. Pull your shoulder blades away from your ears as you lift your arms over your head. One more. Lift up.
Now go across. Hold it. We bend, and we push out. We’re gonna work into those triceps. The elbows are going straight to the sides of your body, and you’re pushing on a diagonal across your reformer, and you’re drawing your shoulder weights down towards your hips. Alrighty. Let’s do four more here.
4. Breathe. 3. And 2, one more. Return it back to center. Take hold of your biggest loop, hand down.
Tricep. So a gentle transition into your arms. Keep the rope in front of your head Your palm is facing the sky, and you’re keeping the top of your arm still. There’s your triceps. There we go.
3. Pull those abs in. 2. Now one more. Add your circle around.
Tricep, add your circle. Give me one more. Tricep, add your circle. Now bring that back leg forward. Fantastic. We’re all here.
Now when you sit forwards, Come all the way to the edge a little bit. Alrighty. We’re gonna take it around the loop around your thigh. I want you to come away a little bit because that’ll give you more resistance because we’re only on a half spring here. Fingertips, forwards, inclined back, And let’s just lift our legs up.
Got it? And we’re just gonna do a little butterfly. Feels pretty light. And it is light. So don’t worry. It’s gonna get a little harder. We are going to focus today on your core and balance.
Now we’re just gonna do a couple more just to get feeling comfortable where we’re at. Now bring the legs together. Beautiful. Hold it there. Now from here, we’re going to reach the legs out and then we exhale and draw the knees in. So the elbows are bending.
You’re going kind of into, like, a little pike position, but extended pike position and back. So it’s a lengthened body, XL come back up, but you gotta try and keep the carriage still. And let’s do a couple more inhale. XL. 1 more. Inhale.
Add exhale. Now drop the legs down. There you go. Just drop them to about there. Can we balance? How is our balance? Clasp the hands. Hold it there.
Can we bring our hands behind the head? Maybe not. Maybe just keep our hands in front. Maybe we can. We’re always testing ourself and our balance. Holding it there. Bring your legs up into chair position. Hold it for 4, for 3, for 2, and for 1. And then we bring it down.
And roll all the way up. Let’s go to the other side. Don’t always be in a rush. Enjoy the moment. I love that. One of my clients says to me, smell the roses.
It’s like, yeah. It’s so true. Smell the roses. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy your process. Let’s go to the other side.
We’re gonna pop the the leg in front. So we’re in, like, a mermaid position here. Pick up your strap. Hold on to it. Now starting right here at front, we’re gonna cross the midline of your body and then go back the opposite direction.
So your arms are straight. And the focus is your shoulders. The focus is your obliques. Think of your obliques moving your torso and your arms as secondary. To your torso. So we’re not kinda muscling our way through it.
Think of working from your core outwards. Your arms are the last bit we want to be focusing on. Now let’s do one more. Now we’re gonna be adding this circle. Alrighty. So we go across.
Follow across. Look up. Keep the shoulders away from your ears. Kind of hard to keep the shoulders depressed as we’re lifting the arms over your head, but that’s how goal is to keep that shoulder stabilization there. Ah, no cross lift up. And let’s do one more.
Feel the work in those shoulders. Now across diagonally, bend the elbows to the side and push out. So you’re going across diagonally to the corner of your reformer, The elbows are wide. Beautiful. Can we do about 4 more? Of course, we can.
4, 3, 2, Amwan, bring you back to center, grab hold of the big strap, hand down, tricep extension. Now look down to that bottom hand. That’s it. The rope is in front of your heads. You shouldn’t be getting mixed up with a rope. Just make sure your hand is right in front of your head.
There’s the tricep. Alright. Let’s do one more then we’re gonna add the circle for 3 times. So we go up, circle around, catch it. Try set up. Circle around.
One more time. Extend, circle around, and catch. Bring the arms down at school all the way forwards. Pop the strap around your thigh. Alright. Make sure you’re kind of in the middle of your reformer.
Finger tips facing your hips. We’re in an inclined position, knees up, ready for your little butterfly, or we could call it the clam. This really is just to kinda get yourself used to, In future, if you wanna do this exercise, really, for the inner thigh, then you obviously need a heavier spring, but we’re going for the core balance for this particular flow. Alright. As to one more, now we’re here. We’re all balanced.
We’re all feeling fantastic. Lower your toes a little bit. Now we’re gonna elongate the body and then exhale the knees come towards the chest. So elbows bent, so you go down a little bit lower, and then you lift up. In how reach chin towards your chest, inhale elongate.
Look at those toes back up again. Let’s do about 3 more. Try and keep the carriage still. That’s the challenging part. Can you give me one more inhale down Excel lift up. Hold it there. Now we’re gonna try and balance.
Let’s see if we can balance, bring the hands up. And then maybe we can bring the hands behind the head. Are we all there? Can we do it being go up into chair position? And let’s just hold it for the count of 8765432. And we come back down.
And then release the strap. Bring it down. Beautiful work here. Alrighty. We’re gonna come to here Let’s take our bar and take our bar down.
Now I’m going to bring this up to either a blue or a red spring, the hands are gonna go forward onto the bar here, and we’re gonna step up onto it here And this leg is going to be here. Now depending on your reformer, you can put your hands forward or your hand right here on the platform. And you’re pushing your leg out and in. So I’m gonna go for the red spring here. Look where my hands are.
Hand is on the bar. One hand is on the railing here. Just watch where your reformer finishes. Now we’re our toes are on the top of corner here of your reformer, and we’re starting to push out. So you’re in like a quadruped position and you’re pushing out.
So it’s a lot of glute and hamstring work as you can feel. Push out a name. Reach out to the crown of the head. Good. Let’s do 5 more here. 54 3, 2, one more, bend the knees, come in, Now hips back, hands behind, start to push out and in.
So now we’re in a bit more balanced now. Keep below though. I’m staying low. I’m reaching out to the crown of the head. And I’m gonna do 4 more here, 4. Keep the stabilizing leg still. 3.
2. And one more. Drop the hands down. Now bring the knee. Now you’re gonna need a pad.
So if you haven’t got a pad, I would suggest you go in a pad right here. I’m gonna take it down to a light spring, blue, or a yellow, and the knees are gonna go on the top to here. Hands on your hips, we’re gonna slide. So now I’m working my inner thighs. So right now I have a blue spring on.
I could be at a yellow. And if you wanna really daring, or some people go to no spring, I like to keep it safe. So I’ll always have some kind of spring on. So a yellow would be your lightest on this particular machine. Now we’re gonna add a little lift. So it goes down, lift, down, Left. So there we go.
Watch as you close it. Inhale down. XL lift. Inhale down. Exhale lift, inhale down, exhale lift. Let’s do 4 more here for 3, 2. 1. Now hold it wide.
Take the hands behind your head if you can. Press out. Press out. Press out. Now if you have knee issues, you can always stand and do this, which obviously a little bit more challenging, but there’s always that option.
You can do this standing. Good for 5. For 4, for 3, for 2, and for 1. Zip. Zip. Zip. Bring it in. And then take the hands down, come back. So we’re gonna go to the other side now.
So I’m gonna take it up to one red spring, And we’re in our quad repaired position, but on a toe. So place the foot on the platform first, hands are forwards. Tow is right on the edge, one hand on my bar, one hand on the railing right by your platform, and you start to push that leg out. I feel like Spider Woman here. Spider Man, push it out and in.
There we go. Now watch your head, reach out to the crown of the head as I always say. Everyone have a tendency to drop in the chin towards your chest instead elongating the spine from the top of your spine to the tailbone. Your abs are lifted up off your thigh against gravity, so pulling those abs. You know what I’m talking about? Pull those apps in.
Alrighty. Let’s do a few more. One more. Now stay low. Find your balance.
Hands and low start to push out again. Now remember if you don’t feel good on your balance today, just repeat what we just did with the hands forward. So you’ve always got some support there. Out and in. Get your hips low.
Those thighs are burning. Reach out to the crown of the head. Dah dah dah. Woo. Okay. You got 5. You got 4.
You got 3. You got 2, and you got 1, and you come down, hands down, drop the knee down on your stabilizing side here, and bring it down to a light spring and draw the knees together and out hands on hips. We go out and in. Inhale out, exhale in. I actually dropped down to a yellow spring right now.
And, yes, it’s considerably harder. So really focus on lifting up. So your adductors, your pelvic floor are lifting up, as the abdominals pull in. Once again, if this doesn’t feel good on your knees, just stand up and do, which is obviously a little bit more challenging. This is a nice modification for it.
It just works. Now we’re gonna add a little down and a little hip lift. So now you’re gonna work into your quads a little bit more. Oh, there we go. Hips back, lift, in the thighs, and up and in. Let’s do a few more It’s working those thighs.
And last time, out we go, hands behind the head, and we go out, pulse, out, pulse. Here we go. It’s always good to work those in a size because we always work the outer hips, We continuously forget we need strong inner thighs too for stabilization of your hips and also to really access the pelvic floor and get stronger apps. Couple more. 1 more.
Slowly zip up, up, up, up, Beautiful. Turn around. Put your hands forwards to here. Feet against your shoulder rests. We’re gonna keep it at I’m gonna go to a blue spring here. You may need a red spring, a blue or a red, press your hips forward.
It’s just gonna finish off with an extension. So you’re gonna look up into your Swan Push away, bring it back in your sworn. Just to open up the back, connecting your arms to the back. Let’s do a couple more inhale. Last time, Left all the way up, hinge back, lift your hips up, so you’re in a push up position, 8 push ups to finish, 8 7, sh, 6, sh, 5, sh, 4, sh, 3, sh, 2, 1, hold it there, bring the knees in underneath the hips when you’re quadruped position, feet come together, and we hinge back, and we reach awards.
Awesome work, as always. Remember, we’re keeping the work attainable. Roll all the way up. That stand off to the side feet hit with the part, roll down. A lot of the work you did today is a lot of work that I put into my own practice.
Remember, it’s all about learning how to control our own bodies. One more time. Some days, we feel like doing a little bit more than others. It’s all about listening to your body and what your body needs. And every day is different. That’s the beauty of life. Thank you so much for joining me.
I hope you had a great class, and I’ll see you back here again. Goodbye.
