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Hi. I’m Courtney Miller. And today, I have my friend and fellow Pilates Republic teacher with me Holly. We are gonna be taking you through a fusion class, which will have some athletic conditioning, some traditional reformer, but the entire class, we are using the reformer loops ball as a prop. So if you have a ball, go ahead and grab it. You’re gonna use it from beginning to end.
We’ll also use the short box for a small portion of this flow too. I’ve got Holly’s spring set up for bridging, but we’re not gonna do bridging yet. Come on up to standing. This class is gonna begin in a standing position beside your machine. You wanna position yourself.
So when you sit down, you’ll sit onto your care Okay. Let’s just do some squats. First, ball in the hands, nice wide legs, inhaled booty touches the mat, exhale as you rise up, easy peasy. So think of this as almost like your footwork, but standing. Press down through the Four corners of the feet, and as you rise up, straighten those legs all the way draw the abdominals in. We’ll do 5 more here. I’m not a huge counter. So if you are think about working in reps somewhere between 10:12.
Last three, and going into double leg stretch next too. And make sure you’re sitting towards the front edge of the carriage, lie down onto your back, knees into the chest, good. Reach arms and legs away. Just hold that position for a moment. This is your hollow body, lever, squeeze your legs.
Draw the knee in ball touches shins and extend those legs long. We’re doing about 10 here. So Holly’s doing an amazing job of staying up in the scoop. Do you see when she reaches the ball back and her arms behind her? She’s not dropping the chest or looking up? Looking down to the core and staying in the scoop is so important in this move, last two like this. Now I want you to go to that hollow body lever, hold it for a moment, coming up to standing, feet, meet the floor, rise, coming back down into that hollow body lever. Arms and legs reach away.
Hold it for a moment. Bend the knees. Come to your rise. We’ll do 2 more like this. The ball is helping to remind her that her upper body is staying active in this in this position, not just the arms, but the back as well. Let’s add a little jump at the top here.
Are you ready? Up and then back down. Yes. And then do it again. Up and back down. If you don’t like to jump at home, just try coming up onto your tiptoes. All, or none is not, not relevant here. Right? So you could do one jump and then one tiptoes and then one jump and then one. So if you don’t like the jumping, maybe do 1 or 2, start to build that endurance.
Let’s do 2 more like this. Reaching and rising. Last time like this, reaching and rising. Now go back down to your hollow body lever, your abdominal work, place the ball between your thighs. Hands go behind your head.
Legs are gonna stay as they are. Upper body drops down and then abdominal lift. So you wanna position yourself on the machine so you can drop past neutral into extension. Keep your head supported in your hand. And if you wanna kind of adjust where you are, go for it. The more of the backbend you get in this move, the harder you’re gonna work. Good.
Last three like this, inhale lengthen, exhale scoop, lower back is staying strong. Legs are staying stable. The next one I’m gonna have you stay up. Keep the elbows wide, and just the legs will move. So these are your toe taps and exhale.
Now the whole time she’s got a bit of a squeeze on the ball, You don’t have to try to pop it, but just hold it into place. The higher you are in your lift, the more you use your arms to support, the easier it is to stabilize in that low back. Let’s do 3 more like this and then remember those squat jumps. We’re gonna do those again. In 2, feet, meet the floor. Use your quarter rise up.
All the way up and do a little hop at the top. Yes. And then go back down hands behind the head. Just find that position. Let’s come back to our squat jump up at the top. And then back down.
Very good. Keep going, Holly. So the more you do these position changes, these level changes, these shape changes, the harder you’re working to find your stability quicker and rise. Last three. Nice job. 2.
We just literally jumped right into it today. And 1, and then come to a seated position, feet meet the floor. Awesome. You can keep the ball where it is, transition into bridge. So lay on your back, heels the feet onto the foot bar, head rest is down, hands are down. I always wrap my hands over the front edge of the carriage when I bridge.
Let’s do a flat back hinge. So squeeze the ball, lift the hips up, tap the booty down, and then lift back up. In a flat back hinge, you’re gonna feel your hips touching the mat, your glutes, but not your low back. So stabilize the shape of the spine, exhale up. She doesn’t have a lot of spring tension on here neither do you, so working hard to keep that carriage closed. I’ve got one red and one blue for Holly, If you want more tension on your springs, go ahead and add them on.
It’ll provide you more support in this position. The next time you lift hold, we’re gonna start squeezing the ball in in in in keep squeezing. Our inner thighs and our deep abdominals are working together. Ribs are closed. Keep squeezing, think of a heartbeat, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, last 4, 3, 2.
Now do a combo. Drop the hips. Lift the hips and do 3 squeezes at the top. 1, 2, 3. Down and up. 1, 2, 3. Good. Down and up. 1, 2, 3, 2 more, down and up. 1, 2, 3, last time, down and up.
3 squeezes hold. Pressing all the way back. And after that series, this feels really good. Bringing the carriage home. Do it again.
Pressing all the way back. So as you do this moving bridge, I want you to consider the alignment of your knees and your hips and your shoulders as the carriage presses back the knees and hips drop down as the carriage closes, the knees and hips lift up. And it’s really this lifting up of the knees and hips that’s gonna keep those glutes working. And the front of the thighs opening. Last three like this.
Awesome. Toes are relaxed. To Bring the carriage in. Keep the squeeze. Let’s do 4 articulating bridges. So roll the spine down slowly when you get to the bottom release and exhale roll back up.
Keep going. I just wanna remind you, if you wanna adjust your springs while you’re in a bridge, so you feel more support, you want more tension. If you want this exercise to feel more challenging, you want less tension. So I want you to really make it your own. Holly’s got the 1 red, one blue, or spring and a half. Good. Do one more for me roll all the way up, and then all the way down. Good.
Grab the ball so it’s in your hands, reform a roll up, drape the legs over the bar, Now, again, the purpose of the ball is to remind you that your arms are part of this exercise and not just your arms, but also your back. When you’re ready, exhale roll all the way up, forehead to knees, reach the ball forward, drop the head down, find those arms parallel to the ground, shoulders down the back, deep abdominal scooping back. Now keep the shape, roll yourself about halfway back, pause. If you’re looking to make this exercise harder, you lift the ball up, and then roll the spine all the way back to the mat. Good. Do it again. Big roll up, exhale all the way up. You go. Finding that c scoop shape in the spine, energy through the fingers, nice job, roll halfway back, lift the ball up, and roll all the way back. Good.
3 more like this. Ex, heel up. Nice, roll halfway back. Lift the ball. If you’d like more intensity, try to keep the legs relaxed. 2 more like this.
Try to roll through that lower back on the way up and roll through that lower back on the way down. Last one like this. Good. And I’m gonna have you stay up. Place the ball behind your back. Where you put it matters.
So if you wanna feel more mobility, you want the ball to be lower, closer to your waist band. If you wanna feel more support, you want the ball higher, closer to your shoulder blades, and next, you can make that your own Hands can go behind your head, inhale, drop your chest back, take the shape of the ball, and then exhale come almost completely off the ball, almost, but not quite. Inhale as you lower and then exhale as you lift. Perfect. Keep on going here. So as you lower, you’re feeling an opening, right, lengthening through the front of the body. As you lift, not only are you feeling a contracting sensation of the ribs pulling towards the hips, But you’re feeling the sensation of your sides pulling towards middle or the left and the right sides coming towards each other.
Let’s add a leg lift as you lift up. One knee comes up. No twist yet, and then lower down. And then do the other leg. So we’ll just figure out the mic the mechanics here keeping the pelvis steady, kind of the choreography, and then we can add that twist after this next one, Holly.
And when you twist, I want you to reach opposite hand to the outside of the thigh and then come back down over the ball, drop the leg, and then do it again. Awesome. Inhale down. And exhale it. Try to completely surrender over the ball. So use that opportunity of extension before you come up through flexion. Let’s do one more to the right, Well done. And one more to the left.
Awesome. Drop over the ball. Reach your arms back if you’d like. Find that in Tabith. Nice length. An extension in the spine, tuck your chin, roll yourself up, and grab the ball before it rolls away. Good.
That’s a little professional trick there. And then swing your legs off to the other side. The whole thing is going to start again. So sitting towards the mat, rising up to squatting, good. As you sit, ball goes forward, as you rise, ball goes down.
You got it. You need to adjust where you are, go for it because you know you’re gonna go into that core series. So the booty should actually touch the carriage. Holly, I’d say come forward a little bit in your feet, yet inhale down. An exhale. You want lots of mat behind you when you roll back. 4 more. Knees over toes, driving those heels down. 3. 2. One more like this down up and then take it down and go back into that hollow body lever. Good.
And reach the arms back. Now this time, you’re gonna stay here. Scissor the legs, one leg up, good. I want you to, exchange the ball figure 8 style through the legs. Yes. Scissor and switch.
And switch. Good. And switch. When I teach this in a class and a group of people, I have a ball in my hand because everyone’s gonna drop a ball at least one point. And so I’ll just grab the ball, that’s on the floor, pass it back to them. So if you drop yours, no big deal. Holly’s doing a great job. 4, 3, 2, and 1. Let’s see. Go back into the hollow body lever first. Bend the knees.
Meet me. The floor. Rise. And then take it back down into the holly ho I almost said holly holly body, hollow body lever, reaching the arms and the legs, bending the knees. And on the next one, let’s add that vertical jump. So find the core, and then up, you go. Yes. And then find the core.
And, perfect. Just a reminder, I know I’ve already said it, but squeeze the shoulder blades down and back. The purpose of the prop is to help you integrate the upper body into the move. Lots and obliques working to keep that core strong. Last two like this.
Good. Last one. You can hold the hollow body lever, bend the knees, place the ball between the thighs. Hands go behind your head, extension, and then exhale curl. So where you are on the machine changes what you’re feeling, if you scooch off the machine, you get more extension, you get more back then and more work to come up. So adjust it so it feels right for you, and the hands are there to support the head as well.
Last three, even as you drop back, there’s still a heaviness in that low back last 2. Now stay up as high as you can. Here’s your toe touches, toes down, and legs come up. Good. Inhale down, exhale, up, see if you can widen your elbows, curl up a little bit more. Think about elastic bands pulling your ribs towards your hip. Tightening, tightening, tightening, 4, and 3, let’s add that squat coming up in 2, Nice.
And one feet meet the floor. Use your cord rise to stand and then come back down into tabletop abdominal active position, feet come down, rise to stand, good. Feel like you’re ready to jump, so let’s do it. Exhill feet meet the floor. Vertical rise, and then take it back. Good.
This is a little cardio burst. We’re gonna slow things down again in 8. Awesome. 7. Good. You sick of using that ball yet? We’re just getting started. 5. Yes.
6. Almost there. 5. The great thing about the ball, not only are you kind of forced to activate through your inner thighs and abdominals, but it really helps with me tracking and foot placement here. You don’t have to think too much about the lower body. It’s just gonna end up where it ends up. Last two, And one. Good. Take a seat. We’re going back into another bridge series.
This time grab the ball in your hands and lie down onto your back. Keep the ball in your hands and reach the arms over your chest and feel your shoulder blades pull back into the carriage. Heels the feet on about hip distance, And then let’s exhale lift those hips up nice and high. Good. From here, let’s do a march. So right leg comes to table, right foot goes back down, left leg.
Just saying it again. If you need more support in the spring, sit up and add it. It’s more important that you feel stable and successful in this movement. She’s on a pretty light tension, so her hamstrings are working really hard. Hopefully, they’re not cramping so far so good. 3, just make sure you’re placing the foot down in line with your sit bones perhaps a little bit wider to one more each side. Right leg up.
Left leg up. Good. Now take the right leg up to table. And squeeze the ball behind the knee. Yep. That’s it. And then hold it in there. Hands down beside you.
Let’s practice the first part of this move, pushing back with your left leg. 5, bring the carriage in. Single leg press, tons of work. 4 knees in line with toes. 3. Arms are long and strong.
2. And one more press back. Adding on. So I want you to press back and pause while you’re out there. Dip your right foot down. Lift it back up, and then return the carriage in 5 of these. So adding this this leg lower, this toe touch, is really challenging Holly stability.
Also, she’s staying out there a little bit longer, so it challenging her endurance as well. Press, tap, lift, and pull one more time. Press, tap, lift, and pull. Good. You can put the foot down to the bar, roll your spine down, and then go ahead, curl up for a second, grab that ball, Yep. And then head can go back down.
Let’s repeat the flow. Keep the ball in your hands. Roll your hips up. Awesome. Keep that squeeze and go into your presses back. Nice.
As I do a bridge, I’m thinking to myself, instead of my hips moving forward, my hips are driving up. And instead of my knees moving forward, my knees are driving forward over my toes. Right? So not just up, but forward. Toes are relaxed. 3. Yeah. We wanna keep the work more into that back body.
21. Let’s do our toe touches again. So marching one leg comes up. Place it down and then the other. She has to anticipate that when one leg comes off that bar, one hip might drop down.
And the goal is to know that’s likely gonna happen and could happen, and so stabilizing prior to that rotation. 4, land with your feet a little bit wider apart. There it is. 3, you’ll feel more stable if you do. 2, and then draw that left leg up and place the ball behind the knee. Good. And then hands down by your sides.
Hips are level. This leg just stays pressing leg practices for 5. All the way out. And and and you can go out a little bit further next time. Big push out. Let the hips drop a bit and then lift for good. Arms are active. That’s great. 3 hips are level.
Shinn away from chest. 2, when I see the form is on point like this, gives me the green light to add on. And so adding on that toe tap, press hold, leg down, leg up, return in. That’s one. You’ve got 4 more to do. Press, tap, lift, and return. Good. Press down up, hips high, press down, up, bring it in last time, big push out.
The whole thigh drops, the whole thigh lifts bring it in. You can leave the ball, place the foot back down, hips up nice and high in level, and then roll your spine down, beautifully done. Curl up, grab the ball in your hands, drape your legs over the bar, arms to the sky. Let’s do a couple of reformer roll ups all the way up we go and then all the way down. After doing an exercise that requires a lot of stability, I love adding just a mobility move, something where you can feel fluid. You don’t have to overthink.
You’re just letting your body do its thing. One more time like this, big exhale roll up. And then roll yourself all the way down. Perfect. So next move is we’re using the ball underneath the pelvis. The best way to get into this is through a bridge. So heels over the foot bar, hips high, and then ball goes under the pelvis. Holly’s still on one red and one blue.
If you change your springs, make sure you find attention that you like for your hands and straps. Nice. Reach back behind you and grab your straps. You got them. And then place your hands into the short loops. If you have the option, if you don’t, go ahead and grab what you have. Short loops are gonna feel a little heavier. Bring the hands forward over the chest and then float the legs off the bar.
The purpose of this ball is to create a stability challenge. So you have to meet that challenge by activating core. Keep your head down and pull your hands straight down towards the carriage and then back up keeping tension into those straps again. Pull. Now every time your arms pull down, you’re breathing out fully and completely, and the ribs are dropping too. Good. We talked about the sensation of wrapping and pulling the two sides of the abdominals in towards each other and down. Let’s add a single leg extension, Holly.
So as the arms pull down, one leg extends long, and then bring the carriage in and then the other leg long. The challenge here is keeping everything stable. As long as you’re not falling off, I would consider that stable. So a little bit of wiggling and wobbling and finding that correction is a good thing. Right? Teaching your body, movement, and recovery.
One more time on the left. Awesome. And I’m gonna have you bend your elbows for triceps. Keep your elbows hovering off the mat to increase the challenge or put them down on the mat to feel more stable as your arms straighten so will your legs push out and bend in? And the lower you choose to send your legs, the harder you’re gonna work, One thing I think about when I do this move is as my legs move away, I’m trying to keep the sensation of down in my spine. Like magnetic energy pulling me towards the mat. Squeeze your legs together a little more if you can. 4. Good. We’re gonna do these mirrored arm circles, arms, and legs, and two and then keep your arms and legs straight.
So the reason I say it’s mirrored is whatever the arms do, the legs are gonna do. Arms and legs lift up together. Good. Can you get those legs a little higher? Their arms and legs open doesn’t have to be too wide. Arms and legs circle and close. Good.
5 in one direction, and then 5 in the other. If you find you have tightness in your hips, bend your knees a little bit. The goal is just mobility in the hips. So if it feels tight, You wanna get out of that, right? Up and around.
When the hands are in the straps, you really are thinking about your back. And in this case, it’s your back and your sides. Time to reverse. Go out first. Go up. And then once the legs are together, go down. Good. 4.
Up and around. Nice. 3. Good. Try to get those legs a little bit higher. I know you’re working hard. Legs up up up, up, up. Good.
2. One more time. And one, legs and arms go down. Good. And then your arms can come up. Rest your feet. I’ll take these for you. Hook up your straps.
Grab that ball from underneath. Drape your legs over the bar. Let’s do a couple of former roll ups. Feel rolling all the way up and inhale down. I think 3 is a good number just to release any tension, reconnect with intuitive breathing, 2 And the next time you’re up, you’re gonna stay up.
So big roll up for 1. Perfect. And swing the legs off to one side. Your next series will be an upper body and lower body combination. So I’m gonna set Holly at one blue spring. If you wanna feel more work in your arms and into your hips and glue, you could certainly go heavier. Let’s start kneeling facing front, and the ball will go between your thighs, not unlike where it was during bridge. But stay in a low kneeling position to start.
Reach back and grab your straps. Because I’ve got her on a blue, I like the short loops. Good. And then bring your elbows to 90 degrees. Elbows into your sides. Stay in low kneeling as you kind of figure out what’s going on before you add in any balanced choreography.
Practice reaching your arms forward and then bringing your arms into your sides. Good. So there is this synergy. There’s this balance of work happening between the front of the body and the back. If there was more work happening in the front, shoulders would be rounding forward and maybe even leaning forward. So you wanna feel front and back working together. The next time your arms are forward, add your seated squat.
So rise up, squeeze the ball, and then you can sit down as you bend the elbows. Perfect. Any adjustments you wanna make, go ahead and make. If you don’t like the ball in this exercise, you can just take it out altogether. Reach and squeeze and then sit. Let’s do 2 more like this. Palms are up.
Pinkies are level, and collar bones are wide. On the next one, stay up and hold for offering. Open your arms wide as you bring your arms and squeeze the ball and then bend your elbows and sit back down. That’s it. Do it again. See you at squat. Reach. Big open, keep those pinkies up good, and then bring it in through center.
And another opportunity to feel that sensation of those abdominals wrapping here So they start in your back. They wrap around the front. Good. On the next one, stay up for salute. Hold. Bring the arms around and overhead. Thumbs connect behind you.
Bend your elbows, and then change your gaze to the foot bar. X Hills you straighten your arms, give that ball a bit of a squeeze, inhale as you bend. Good. So the thought process here, shoulders down, ribs closed, keeping the upper arm bone as stable as you can so you’re hinging out that elbow. Good. See if you can rise a little more vertical in your hips. Yes. Last four. Keeping that squeeze, reminding you that your abdominals are part of this work.
3, that’s the beauty of the ball. Kind of wherever the ball is, you’re keeping your attention and focus there as well. 2 and 1, circle your arms around and take a seat all the way down. Hook up one strap. I’ll take this one.
You keep that one and grab the ball so it doesn’t roll away. Coming into side lounge position. So roll onto your side, the side that how you have the strap place the ball underneath your ribs. And then that strap is gonna go around the arch of your top foot. Now you’re on a blue so you could do the short loop. Short or long. The short is gonna feel a little bit harder and heavier. Go ahead and extend your leg long.
And the first thing you wanna do is set up your foundation. So Holly looks amazing, but let’s just walk through it. You’ve got your elbow underneath your shoulder, your shoulder against the block. The ball is under your ribs to remind you to stay lifted. Your hips are square and your bottom is bent in. This foot that’s in the strap is gonna stay about the same height as the foot bar.
Big inhale to swing that leg forward. Don’t be afraid to really find mobility here and then exhale as you pull the leg back. Nice. Keep going. So even though the ball is there, it’s not really there to lean into. The idea with the ball is it’s a reminder to stay lifted up and off it.
So here’s what I like to do when I’m teaching classes. I like to test it and say, k. Can I take the ball? Yeah. And if I can’t take it, they might be leaning too much into it. Perfect. And then I can put it back.
That’s just being mean, though. You may not wanna go there. Okay. So we’re working somewhere around 10 finding those sweeps. What’ll typically happen is you’ll get tired in that bottom shoulder, and it’ll roll forward and up. So pull the shoulder down and back as a reminder, right, to work into that back.
Last two, And then one more time like this. 1, into circles, we go. And I like my circles more like an oval. So you go as far forward as you can, up about 6 inches down and around 5. And you do have a little bit of momentum and mobility here for good.
3. How’s your lower body? Working good too. Nice little flow up or lower and reverse the circles. So make them not too high, but really wide. 5.
I think we can go even more. Yeah. 4. 3 has that ball. Stay lifted off it. Good. 2, And then reach your leg towards the upper hold, find external rotation, reach your top arm overhead. In this position, you should be almost completely off the ball. Now bend your elbow and your knee in towards each other.
You feel into the ball a little bit. Push out, come off the ball as much as you can. Do it again. Bend in 5 in total. Yes. Push down into your forearm and into your elbow. That’ll give you that lift.
Good. One more time. And reach gorgeous. You can hook up that loop, and we’re gonna go into another upper body series with the ball. But this time, we’re facing back. So transition up.
Now if you like the sensation of the ball between the inner thighs, you could repeat that series here. I’m gonna teach you another variation, and let’s have the ball between the heels so you’re sitting onto it and stay seated low. I like this position just as much as I like the other one, but when the ball’s between the inner thighs, it’s inner thighs working to find that squeeze. When the ball’s behind the hips and you’re sitting on it, It’s more of a reminder to keep the pelvis in that neutral alignment and pull up through the lower abdominal. So you get something a bit different grab a hold of your straps, and then walk your hands up to your ropes. The higher you hold the heavier it’s gonna be, you’re only on a blue.
So this is not very heavy. So stay low. Find that diagonal lean forward and pull your elbows up by your sides. Good. Right into the triceps we go. Inhale, bend, and exhale extend. So what I was saying before about the ball underneath you is it often will help you if you are tucking your hips under. It’ll help you to find that wide pelvis position, low abdominal withdrawing up.
The bottom of the abdominal stain engaged, back stained strong. 4. Okay. 3, 2, loving the diagonal of the spine. Keeping the arms straight this time, lower the arms down, hands under shoulders, and then use your back to pull back. Good.
So very much like the long box arm pulling strap, series that hold back body working, all those spinal extensors getting stronger without even going into extensions. This is a great series if extension isn’t your thing or using the long box isn’t working for you. Good. Let’s add that seated squat. So as the arm straw back, hips come up, arms come behind the body, and then back to that diagonal. Perfect.
Notice that Holly’s wrists are staying straight and long. So I love the movements that we do where we’re holding the ropes. That’s gonna start to build the endurance and the strength needed for when you’re doing challenging choreography when you’re holding the foot bar. Think of long stretch, think of star and thread the needle. Last three? Cool. Chest is wide. 2.
And then one. Perfect. Sit back down. You can hook up your left. You’re about to do your sideline leg series on the other side. So hold the loop that you’re gonna use, grab the ball so it doesn’t roll away, lie on your side, and place the ball underneath your ribs as a reminder that you’re staying lifted. I honestly think the ball makes it feel harder.
It’s it’s not a it’s not a helper. It’s it’s intensifying it. Take your top foot into the loop. If you use the short lip on the other side, recreate that, send the leg long, find the height. And before you start moving, just find your foundation. You’re not in any rush to get started here.
Leg is stretching long. You’re pushing into the strap. Hips are stacked. Good. Not too much tension on that ball, and then elbow right under shoulder. And now that you have it, keep it and start to swing that leg. Big swing forward, and big swing back. Yep.
10 is your goal. As the foot stretches forward, the hip pulls back in opposition. So the beauty of a lot of these moves is you are creating length at the same time you’re focusing on building strength. Nice. Find the breath pattern that works for you. Shoulder’s staying down and back.
Let me try that test. Let me try to take the ball. Look at that form, and then I’ll give it back to her. Cool. Big stretch forward. Big pullback.
There’s an evolution within this exercise that you can see from repetition 1 to repetition 10. Towards the end of your reps, you have more mobility. You’re able to stretch more forward, and you can see and you can feel that. When you’re ready into into the circles, you go 5 in each direction. Up and around really focusing on the forward down sweep.
Yeah. So circles have a little energy in them, right? It’s not a bad thing to find that mobility and a little bit of momentum. This is how your hip was designed to move, feel empowered to move that way. Cool.
And when you’re ready, reverse into the other direction, up and around. Yes. Typically, the reverse direction is always the more challenging one because we intuitively start with what feels natural. And then we do the other side, and we’re like, oh, that feels weird. And then once you’ve done your 55 in each direction, you reach your foot towards the foot bar. Hold. Find your external rotation.
That comes from up here. So I’m touching all his foot, but the rotation is coming from up here. And then top hand goes overhead. This is where you’re the lightest on the ball. And then bring the knee to elbow 5 times, exhale push into the forearm, press away.
1. Good. Push into the 4 and press away. 2, 3, more external rotation at the hip if you can. 4. And then last time, press it all the way 5 and bring it all the way in Beautiful. You can hook up the loop. Before we go into the next move, meet me kneeling facing back, and ball is gonna go between the inner thighs. And you can scooch back a little bit so your feet meet the back platform.
Into a plank series, drop down onto your elbows and forearms, I wasn’t joking when I said we’re using the ball literally the entire time. Curl your toes on the wood, knees up, press all the way out, and hold. Okay. So a blue spring is what you’re currently on. It is not heavy. You are not getting a lot of support from the machine, so you’re gonna have to activate through your back back body and glutes, keep your chest lifted. Let’s start with the elbow pushes forward.
54. Don’t be afraid to push forward as far as you can yet because that’s gonna help you when we elbow taps later. 3 in another class later. 2. Big push forward. And one. Now keep your elbows right under your shoulders, bend your knees in.
And exhale press out. And when you press out, squeeze that ball, the prop is there for a purpose. The purpose in this position is to unite the left and right sides pull out through the bottom of the abdominals, good, and create more sensation of power. There’s one more thing we’re gonna add on. Hold this tap your knees down, lift your knees up an inch, and push out five times.
So it’s the bend, tap, lift, and press. Good. 3 more. Bend, tap, lift, push, find that long line. Heels reaching away from the head last time here. Tap lift, press, and then bring it all the way in and take it down for a break. That was awesome. Okay.
Grab the ball in your hands, come off your machine, We’re still on our blue spring, and this is another spring tension change if you want. If you wanted to make this heavier, you certainly could. It’s gonna be harder in the beginning, more booty, but it’s gonna be supportive halfway through, supporting you in your core series. So when you come back to this video another time, perhaps you’ll do it on a red instead of a blue. Go ahead and turn around and face your foot part.
You’re gonna place the ball between the rail of your machine and the shin of your out side leg, and your inside leg is gonna go against the show knee down again foot against the shoulder block. Yeah. And then standing up nice and tall hands to hips. Perfect. So where you stand also makes a difference, you can always scooch back to increase tension. I want you to keep the calf and shin squeezing in towards the ball and then lift your carriage knee off the mat. Good. Let’s practice our lunges here.
So bend into your front knee lean forward, straighten your back leg, and then rise all the way up to standing. That’s it. Blue is not too heavy, but we do have a lot of reps and variations planned. I always start with hands on hips so that I can feel that my hips are square. And right now, the purpose of the ball is to act 8 inner thighs, which is really important in a lunge, but it helps with tracking of the knee as well.
Let’s add the overhead reach when you go down. So arms reach overhead as you go low into lunge and rise to come up. Good. Fully lengthening that back leg, pulling the kneecap up. Nice. Bend into the front knee. As much as you can, the knee’s gonna kinda travel forward towards the toes.
Good. On the next one, stay low. Leave the arms, leave the body, bend the back knee a little tap it to the mat, and kick it. Bend and kick. Doesn’t feel light anymore. Does it? Bend and kick. Good.
Last two and last one. Rise all the way up to standing and then grab the ball in your hands. We’re gonna move it So the ball is against the shoulder block, and we’ll repeat the same flow. Ball against the shoulder block heal against the ball. Okay. So there’s a couple of things that this does. One is it creates a stability challenge in this ankle. 2, you’ll notice that the foot is not against the shoulder block, so it’s actually increasing the tension a little bit.
And then there’s a thing that’s gonna do, but I’ll I’ll tell you that when we get to it. Okay. Hands go on to the hips. Let’s go into that same lunge exercise. Good. If you need to adjust or move things around, now’s your time. I want you to feel like you’re really connected into the ball. See if you can bend into your front knee more when you go down.
Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben. Good. When the hands are on the hips, you can also feel how your abdominals activate. So pull in when you’re low. Nice. Let’s add the overhead reach. We’ve been here before.
Get low, kick it, and then rise to come up. That’s it. If there’s something else you wanna do with your arms, cactus arms, single arm reach. Lots of opportunities to play. The next time you’re low, stay on down there. Leave the arms long because we’re gonna work that body by holding the arms nice and high higher than the ears. Go into your carriage kicks.
Kicks down. Kick it back. Kick through the heel. 5 4. How’s that standing leg good? 3. 2. Now keep the back leg straight. Put both hands onto the bar.
Pause for a second. Here’s where the next change happens. We’re gonna go into our cardio lunch pike series. The ball being there is gonna help you to lift up higher, a little bit easier. It’s gonna help you get into your inversion.
So when you’re ready, hips go up, head goes down, lean hips back over the ball, Look at that, and then lower all the way down toe ball. He’ll bend into the lunge. Do it again. We’re gonna do 10 of these because they’re so much fun. So if you’re somebody who has a hard time getting the carriage to close, if you are having a hard time feeling the sensation of leaning back, into your pike, this prop behind the ankle is really gonna help you to dial this movement in. Good. Let’s have you lean hips back, even more hips back, hips back. Good.
Doing this on a blue, lots of work. That’s what I was saying. You gotta pick. Right? So more work for the core right now on the lighter tension. Last three like this. Good. Last two like this, you’re almost there?
One more. I want hips back even more. Come on up into that scoop and land it. Nice. Bring the carriage all the way in and grab ahold of that ball so you’re holding it. I’d like you to add a spring on. Add a heavy spring. I’m gonna put a red.
This will keep the carriage a bit more stable as you go into your step ups. So Closest foot to the carriage comes up, knees and toes forward, squeeze the ball so that you feel more back activation. Don’t go up and over yet. Just go low. And just come up. First one’s always the hardest. Yes, exactly.
I wanna remind you that this entire series right here could be done on the floor or onto your box. So if coming onto your machine’s not working for you, you’re just right here with me, down onto the floor. This exercise is a cardiovascular move, and it also challenges your weight transfer, right, the challenge to go from bow flags to 1. So you don’t have to be up onto the machine to find that challenge. Let’s add the knee bend with the rotation when you’re ready, inhale low, and then exhale lift and twist.
Yeah. Good. There’s that little pause while you’re at the top, and that’s challenging. This is standing core work. You don’t have to lie down on your back and do a bunch of crunches to get strong core.
Let’s do 4. Nice, Holly. 3. The lower you land, the easier it is to come up. 2. Do one more, all the way up you go, and then stay down. Place the ball onto the foot bar and place your hands onto it. Now this is not gonna give you stability and support.
That needs to come from your body and your core. This is actually gonna be wobbly and challenging. So when you’re ready for that challenge, up and over care tops. Good. She’s pressing into the ball, but not a lot. Right? It’s a ball. It’s not really helping her a whole lot.
But it is reminding her to slide her shoulders down and stay strong into the back. About 30 seconds here, if you can manage it, land light, toe ball heal, toe ball heal, Good. It’s agility. So pick up the tempo if you can for your final 5, 4, 3, 2, and land on the other side. Let’s do our step ups before we do our whole lunch series. So we have the heavy spring on, kind of reversing the order here, get low, exhale to rise to come up. Nice.
In order to feel more confident at something, you have to do the thing. Right? So if the first couple times feel wobbly, keep coming back to it. Again, you can progress by being on the floor, being on the box and eventually being onto the machine, lots of options. Let’s add the rotation when you’re ready, turning towards the bent knee, Good. I love seeing the ankle mobility in this exercise when I see the ankle kinda wiggle and wobble and then cover, that’s so functional. Cause in everyday life, hiking, just walk around the streets, it’s not as that’s not a flat surface. Right? Your ankle will wiggle and wobble, and you wanna find that covery. Good.
Last three. Last two. And now we don’t have to do a second set of care tops, but I think we will because you’re doing the class today, and I’m not. So take the ball onto the bar, and light hands up and over you go. Yeah. About 30 seconds. So pay attention to what’s happening in the foot, toe ball heel, toe ball heel, This is so similar to our jump board biomechanics. Right? The reason we challenge ourself on that jump board is so when we’re vertical, when we’re up doing the movements, we have more mobility. So get the toe ball heel alignment. 5, 4, 3, get ready to land onto the other side of the machine so you can do the other leg lunge series in 2.
And one, you did it. Now remember, we did add the extra spring. So take that off. And you’re back down to where on the blue. So you can take your inside foot against the shoulder block knee down. The ball goes between the shin, or the calf and the frame of the machine.
Good. And then rise up to standing and float your knee off. Cool. This is a nice little breather after doing that last series. Okay. So keep the ball connected to the rail of the machine, go into your low lunge, and then hold the position, push into the heel, lift the knee, square the hips, and rise. We’re doing 5 of these. What I was saying earlier is when you have your hands on your hips, not only can you guide your hips into the right position, but you can feel if your abdominals are working. One way to feel if they’re working, if you’re not sure, is to completely relax them.
So just go down into your lunge and just completely relax to your core. Now stay here for a second. Now breathe out. Activate your core. That’s what it feels like to activate them.
Rise to come up. Let’s add the arms when you’re ready. So anytime you’re not sure if a muscle’s working, relax it, and then the opposite is contracted. And that’s what you wanna feel in this particular exercise. Good. She’s keeping the squeeze.
The knees traveling right over the toes. And when we get to number 5, we stay in that low position. Arms are high because I want the backs of the shoulders working, bend and extend the back knee, tap, and kick. Tap and kick. 4, 3, 2, 1, rise all the way up. Great. Let’s move the ball so it’s between the foot and the shoulder block. Nice.
You’ll also notice, look how far forward the knee is now. So Just the lunge itself is a greater range of motion. Hands on hips, first set of 5. Totally normal to have to readjust once you get started. And then eventually you’ll find that position where the ball is just feels connected. It feels very stable.
You feel very strong. Good. Doing a great job straightening this leg all the way. Don’t usually see that kneecap up. Push to the heel. Yeah.
And press. Good. And then adding the arm reach. Find that long diagonal stretch and then swing those arms back. Changing the arms will change the exercise, so be creative and play with it. The arms reach back behind the ears so the backs of the shoulders can activate.
Good. Hold this next one low. Square off the hips. Arms don’t move. Just the back knee.
Tap and push through the heel. 5, 4, 3, to keep the back leg straight. Hands go down, and now we’re going into the pike. Just pause for a second. Take a look at your hands. See how the thumbs are over the foot bar, hands are shoulder width.
That’s your foundation. Find that support. You ready? Hips go up. Good. Lean back. Try to close that carriage, land, toe ball, heel, into the lunge 10 times. Big exhale up, and down.
Nice. Ak seal up. And when you’re in the lunge, keep the back long. Yeah. There you go. Lift. Good. I like doing about 10 here because it does take a couple just to dial it in just to kind of find your flow.
Big exhale lift and land. For 3. Almost there. Almost there. 2. Drop the head completely. Let’s find that pike.
Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it head down. Rives up. This is your round back elephant shape, and then land it. And take a break. Great job. Okay.
Let’s pull that short box on. Holly, will you add a couple of springs? The carriage stays stable. Shortbox is gonna come in front of the shoulder blocks for this machine. And then don’t forget about the ball. Take a seat onto the box and face your footbar.
Address your machine for your short box abdominal series, feet go under. Good. Knees are bent. So you can scooch for just a little bit. Alright. Reach the ball forward so as tall as you can. First things first, round back.
So the pelvis rolls under pause, gaze at the toes, ball goes up and down for 5. 1, no shoulders lifting. 2, looking at the toes makes a big difference. 3, 4. Now leave the ball up for 5 up higher, higher still. Oh, drop the chin, and then exhale dive over the thighs. And then rebuild the spine, setting up as tall as you can.
Arms forward and down ish. There you go. Right about there. Okay. Now we’ll go into our flat back. So Think of your abdominals working as a brace before your abdominals are working to move you. Now they’re working to hold you.
So hinge at the hips lean, lean, lean. You still wanna look at the toes. Good. Hold this position. Lift the arms up. Hold this position.
Come back to your vertical. Nice. Lower the arms parallel to the ground. Maybe sit a little more forward. Good. And then repeat that flow. Lean. Lift, rise, lower. Good.
Lien, lift, rise up, lower. Do it again. Lean. I think the round the flat back is so challenging and lower. Okay. Into the round back, we go roll back. Draw one knee towards your chest, bend your elbows, and rotate towards that bent knee. So this is kind of a position we’ve been in before with those step ups.
Rotate through center and extend the leg. Let’s do 5. Big twist. 1. Keep squeezing that ball. 2. Yeah. Remember, it’s all about this whole body integrative opportunity with that prop. 4, and then take a twist so you’re sitting onto your hip for your side bends with the ball.
Bend your knee. Good. Stack the hips. Squeeze the ball over the chest. And let’s do a little arm choreographer So I want you to lower your upper body down as you stretch the ball overhead, see if you can get even more into a bow shape, even more. Oh, even more. Okay. And then rise to that arrow shape as the ball pulls in. Good. Do it again.
So there is the bow. Stay here. Bow. Right? Drop down like a rainbow. Now rise up to one long line. Pull the ball towards your chest. You’re up a little too high.
Drop down a bit. There. That’s the arrow shape. Do it again. Bow is when you drop down think of a rainbow, and then arrows one long line. Yes. Do it again. Inhale stretch, exhale lift and scoop, 3 more, you’re almost there.
Big stretch. Big lift. 2 more. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. One more time.
Take it down and rise to come all the way up. I’m gonna help her out because that was a lot of work. Okay. Turn around so you’re facing front. We’re gonna do it again. We’ll start with the round back. So reaching the ball forward, sitting up nice and tall, So the upper body doesn’t really move a whole lot.
The lower body initiates scoop the pelvis back roll as low as you think you can keep everything nice and tight, gaze at your pose, just the arms up and down for 5. Good. 4. Nice. 3. To leave the ball up, drop the chin to the chest. Yes. And then dive over the thighs, pulling the rib cage up.
And then rebuild the spine, low back, mid back, upper back. Perfect. Okay. Flat back. So you’re bracing the shape of your body, leaning and hinging from your hips, hold it, lift the arms, hold it, rise back up to vertical, drop the arms. That’s one for more to go. I feel a lot more obliques. Muscles in my side when I do the flat back.
I get a lot more quivery when I do the flat back, especially if I’m looking towards my toes. Good. Make sure those feet stay anchored. Maybe bend your knees and just scooch forward just a little bit. There you go. Lean lift. Does that feel better? So the lower body should feel anchored.
You don’t wanna feel like you’re floating, and you could possibly fall off the back. Lengthen and lift. Okay. Into the c scoop again, we go roll back hold. Draw the opposite knee out, bring the ball close to your chest, and rotate towards that knee that’s bent. As you come through center, leg extends straight 5 times. Big twist. 1 2, wringing out the spine, 3, 4, and then on this one, you can use the momentum to go right into side bend, 5. Great. You’ve got the ball close to the chest.
As you start to lean, reach the ball overhead, and find the bow shape so you gotta drop. I’m not pushing her down. I’m just reminding her that that’s the direction. See the bow And then as you come up, you’re one long line. Bring the ball towards the chest.
Score off the shoulders. That’s the arrow. So head and hips, one long line. Okay. Go into the bow, drop it down, and then exhale up. Good. Open your chest even more. Good. Keep going. Inhale down.
Exhale up. Around 10 is a great goal to have. Do more if you can. Do less if you want. Inhale down, exhale up. It’s all about finding your edge, and sometimes I play this little mental game with myself.
I pick a number in my head. I’m like, I think I can do ten. And then I always add 1 or 2 to that end. Right? So if I’m going for 10, I’m gonna really push myself to do 11 or 12. You don’t have to do 11 or 12.
Here it was, sir. 2 more. Inhale down. Exhale up. One more time. Big stretch, big bow. X. He’ll come all the way up to your seated position.
Awesome. Go ahead and rotate. Let’s come off the machine. We’ll finish this one with a standing roll down. So facing let’s face this way. Good. Reach the ball up overhead.
Take a big breath in, exhale. Dive down. Reach the ball down to the ground. Stay here and hang for a sec. Shift a little bit more weight towards your toes. Did you know you could use the ball for all those things?
There’s even more. We didn’t even do feet and straps with the ball. Soften your knees. And then slowly rebelled to come all the way up. Good. We didn’t even do the hundred with the ball, reach the ball up.
We’ll have to come back into Holly have to do another video using the ball, exhale dive down, good, softening the knees, and then rebuild coming all the way up. Good. One more time. Find that length, reach up, forward fold, Good, knees soft, stacking the spine, lower spine first, middle spine second, shoulders last, and voila. You’ve made it. What a tough class. That was fun.
She crushed it. We did a lot of really hard exercises with the vault. If you’d like to put your feet and straws and use the vault, go for it. Thank you so much for joining me. We’ll see you guys again soon. Bye.
