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Hi. I’m Misty Lynn, and this is fortifying the reformer. This time, we are augmenting the reformer. We are up leveling our skills It’s gonna be a little challenging. We’re doing some things that are familiar, but maybe with some different spring loads, maybe pursuing it from different angles. It’s going to be a great time.
Let’s get started. So to begin, we’re going to no bar, no springs. So I’m sitting down. I’m stepping in, and then I’m going to put my bar down here. You’ll see I have my friend in the ball, and it’s squishy.
I don’t want a lot of air in this ball. The ball’s only here to give me feedback. It’s not here to do the work for me or cause strain. So I’m coming forward to the forward edge of the carriage. And I wanna be about hands distance or so from the front edge.
I’m bringing the ball just inside of my knees. And my feet are going to be somewhere comfortably turned out lightly. And I’ll start here with my hands resting on my thighs and do some seated roll downs keeping the carriage still. As I’m curling down and over myself, I’m remembering that I have no springs on. So no sudden movements, nothing fancy, just to focus on the curl, starting from the crown of my head, letting my gaze take my head down and over while staying seated on my sits bones.
To reverse, I’m drawing in and up and stacking each vertebra one on one. And, again, the ball is just a reminder of my leg alignment. One more here. I’m curling over. I’m not causing myself any stress. This is just a warm up. I’m rolling back up and holding at the top from here, I’m gonna bring my arms into genie.
Press myself back a little bit so I’m opening the angle of my knee starting from my pubic bone working from the bottom up. Pubic bone curls toward my nose, and I start to roll back the carriages coming under me. And I inhale to return My feet are resting. They’re not curling. It is a nice, comfortable, yet alert action in my feet.
Exhale scooping and curling. And inhaling and rolling back up. And I’ll do one more here. Exhale to round. And I’ll hold this position.
Maybe I’ll come up a little. Now from here, I’m pressing back, thinking of my leg alignment, and I’m stopping when my heels want to lift, and then I’m pulling back in. Now if you’re on a slippery floor, And your feet slide away from where you have them planted, you may wanna put a sticky pad beneath your feet just to help them stick a little bit better. Sticky socks work as well. 4 more here really feel the connection between the abdominals, the inner thighs, and the underbud.
2 more here. And last one, I exhale I pull in first, and then I’m going to stack vertibre on vertebra to sit tall. You may keep the ball if you would like. I’m getting rid of mine because now I’m gonna lay down on my back. Remember I have no springs on.
If you want more safety and security, feel free to add a light spring. I’m sliding forward. I’m lifting my crossbar there, and I’m working already just to hold my carriage still. Just to feel what it feels like to be on the carriage line supine with my feet on the platform, let’s do a few presses here, 2 more and exhale. And I’m doing this because I really want to bring attention and alertness to my lower half, holding the carriage close, sliding my feet forward a little bit, and I’m going to scoop and roll up just halfway. And roll back down.
Can I stay on the bumper? 2 more times here, scooping and lifting. This is a lot of work. And rolling back down, keeping the carriage against the bumper, one last, exhale scooping and curling lifting up and rolling back down. You should be very aware of your hamstrings now, press back.
Arms go up. Take a big breath in. Naw the chin to the chest as you curl up and pull into your cannon ball shape. Really being aware of that articulation, being aware of which leg wants to do all of the work, which side of the trunk wants to twist and see if you can control that exhale curling, drawing up from the front body stretching over from the back body, scooping and rolling back? Two more, nodding and curling up and over, inhaling, rolling back, really letting the pelvis wheel under you to take you down. Last one.
Curling over, grab a hold of your frame, press back for a stretch here, and make sure that your sits bones are on the edge before you stretch. Come in, close your carriage, and we’ll turn sideways to take a hook sit. Now Remember, again, you have no spring, but if you’d like a little more safety and security, you can add a light spring, a yellow or a blue. I’m sliding toward the edge, and I’m rolling my hip forward. My hand’s gonna come behind my head.
I’m rotating my standing armpit forward. And I’m pressing out to the side with a flat back. And then I’m pulling back in and up to close the carriage to the bumper. Every time I wanna find that bumper so I know what’s safe what’s going to make sure that I’ve gotten the maximum contraction, and what feels good? 2 more like this, Get longer through the crown of the head. Sometimes you might wanna dump into your right side or outside Don’t allow it to happen.
Last one, out and in. Now rotating, scooping the press out, rotating pull in and square. Now you should feel a lot of work in this standing arm, but as I’m coming through, I’m maintaining that rotation. I’m using my grip. I’m scooping, so I’m getting a lot of work in my standing leg. Square and coming back up.
Last one, pressing out, Turn and rolling back up. So now we’re gonna go to the other side. Come center. You can tap your toes down grab a hold of the frame and the carriage and swing yourself around. Once again, bring the carriage up to the bumpers, leg comes up, top hip is forward, standing armpit is turned on, and the hand is behind the head.
We’re just pressing out. And, again, take a few short ones to make sure that you can manage this without weight. If you’re really struggling or bending your elbow, toss on a light spring. There’s no judgment there. You’re building up strength here, and that takes time.
2 more, pulling up, and last one out And up up up get taller, get taller, get taller, get taller, and now will rotate scoop to press out. Rotate. Keep this elbow straight. Pull in and up. Again, Up 3 more like this. Turn your breastbone, curl your pelvis, turn your breast bone, pull in from the armpit, 2 more, scoop, It’s as if you are on a Pel and Quinn back in the day, someone’s feeding you grapes.
This isn’t any work for you. You’re just working hard in your mind, but you’re making it look sassy. Scoop. Rotate. Pull up, up, up, lift your breastbone, lift your breastbone, close the carriage.
And step down. Alright. So for our next trick, I would say go to 2 springs. And then from here, we’ll kneel facing the shoulder blocks. For safety, you may choose to be a little closer older blocks here, I’m gonna be a little bit farther back because I want the little bit of extra work that I can get from this. In terms of your grip, you’ve got options.
You can either grab a hold this way, or if you feel like you need a little extra, reach through and pull this way to seat yourself. So we’re gonna start with the knees, hip width, and just pull back and hold. Find your armpits, bend the elbows starting from here. We’re pressing back through the triceps, press and curl. And I’d like for you as you’re pressing to think of pressing through the pinky side of the hand.
So it’s not just about slapping the arms around. There’s intention as I’m extending the elbows. I’m holding here. Now I’m gonna choke up a little higher for sit to stand, finding my armpits as if I have a rod through my shirt it’s keeping my body straight as I come up, letting my hips come forward. And I have to balance here, which is tough. And then as I sit back down, same idea.
I’m not bending that rod that’s through my shirt. So I’m pressing and I’m lifting, bringing my hips through my hands, and I’m sitting back down. Now if you’re noticing any knee strain here, really think about your inner thighs and your inner sits bones and let them really work toward each other as you’re coming up and down rather than just relying on your knees and sit We’ll do one more press up and hold and sit back down. For the thigh stretch, I’m gonna bring my hands through my loops just to make them a little bit shorter. Finding that long neutral spine and coming up here.
Now I’m hinging back keeping that rod that I mentioned and then I’m coming back up. If you need a little bit of extra help, you can hinge back, let your arms come up, and then pull down to come up if that’s easier for you. I’m going to start again from here. Keeping my back flat and up really finding those inner thighs, using them for good and not for evil, to, and note my gaze is staying on the horizon. I’m not letting my head go up because it just makes it heavier in the back of me coming up, and let’s sit down on the heels, drop your loops on the pegs.
So next, we’re going to do the snake. A lot of people don’t like to do this exercise because it’s Challenging and people are also terrified to be up on top of this reformer while moving in a twisted position. Logical from a self preservation standpoint, but I have another way. So we’re gonna stand with the inside leg in line with the forward edge of the carriage, and it’s turned out My outside leg is going to come across and hook. For now, I’ll put my toes on the floor just for balance.
I’m gonna bring my outside hand to the shoulder block. And, listen, this is important. The heel of the hand goes on top, and then I’m pressing my fingertips and my thumb tip into the shoulder block. To give my my wrists some support. My other hand is gonna come to the forward edge of the carriage and I’m going to lift my standing heel. My weight is on both hands, and I’m not moving because my carriage is too heavy.
I’m gonna remove a spring. From here, I’m lifting up, and I’m pressing out Pressing my hips forward, not done till my head, my chest come up, then my gaze is going to come into my belly That allows me to round my spine and come back in. Now my leg that’s crossed over in front, my toes are not on the floor, I’m pressing up and away. I’m scooping and curling as if someone’s tickling me and I don’t want them to, I’m pulling away. I’m doing one more.
Press out and extend. And I scoop both arms are working evenly to keep me balanced. I lower my heel, I uncross, and I stand. We have two sides, fortunately or unfortunately. So let’s do that here.
Again, inside leg in line with the cross, forward edge, my outside leg crosses over, Hands come down. I lift my standing heel, and I’m also squeezing my upper inner thighs together like it’s my job. Wait is even. I’m scooping. I’m pressing. I’m extending up. I’m curling.
I’m hollowing. I’m dragging back in. 2 more like this. Scoop. Lenthin.
Lenthin. Lenthin. Scoop come back. And let’s just do one more here pressing from the body, not from the arms, and exhale pulling back in. That’s a lot of work. And now we’re going to do long stretch facing the back.
So add a spring. This will bring you up to 2 springs. And, again, you don’t want it to be so heavy that you struggle to move it, you want it to be heavy enough that it’s challenging, but also makes you work safely. The feet are gonna come back to the platform, and your hands can either be up here on top or down in front, depending upon where you need to be for your comfort. From here, we’re going to lift the knees, and then we’ll press out to straight legs and exhale pull in. Really work to keep your elbows straight.
And if you start to feel this in your knees at all, I invite you to check-in with your under butt. Are you engaging your sits bones toward one another, or your cheeks flapping in the breeze? 2, and here’s your last one and press out and hold arms only. And 5, keeping the elbow pits rotated forward, keeping them straight and keeping your gaze long. Come in and close the carriage.
Now we’re gonna step off, grab our box, and we’re going to put it on in the short box position, depending upon your body length, you may want to put it over the shoulder blocks, I will not. I’m then gonna set up my foot bar on the low bar position. And spring wise, I’m going to go to a single spring, and then I’m going to kneel. So you’ll note that I’m kneeling far back. That’s because I want my foot to be in front of me, and I want my standing leg to be up against the platform.
I’m the box here. Hands can go on your hips. They can go to the Captain Morgan position or here in Jeannie. From my under butt on my bar leg, I’m pressing out, and then I’m pulling in. And ideally, as I’m pressing out and in, I’m not giving in to my standing leg.
I’m just using the box as a reminder of where I should not be going, but also as a reminder of where my femur is in relation to my hip bone. And one more coming in and closing, and now I’ll push out and hold. Checking my posture, my box leg is going to AB duct. And then it’s pulling in. And here’s the thing.
I’m thinking of there being a really heavy brick on my head, and I don’t wanna let that brick make me think. My standing leg is really engaged. I’m very aware of what’s happening, and my standing hamstring And so that way I’m gonna stay nice and balanced working both legs evenly. Speaking of evenly, both legs will work at the same time here. I’m pressing out. Think of this as being a straddle prep almost, and I’m pulling back in.
Get the knee under me, and then I’m pressing out again, and then I’m pulling in. And my inner thighs are screaming But, you know, I’m building character, guys. Lots of character. 2 more. Really get the knee under before you go out for that.
Stretch, pulling in like you’re being sucked up through a straw. Last one. Press hold and pull in, in, in, closing the carriage, and let’s turn to the other side. And, again, get your knees back so you have room to put your leg up without making your hips distort. Arms up, Find your middle back supporting you.
And here we go. We’re pressing out with the standing leg and pulling in. So for those of us who have a very, very dominant side, we might note that that dominant side is like, woah, sleepy time in the park. And the other side is like struggle bus central, and that’s okay. It’s just a good reminder of how we might need to be working the rest of our program in the future to try to work on that imbalance.
Now we’ll press out with the bar leg and press away and pull in. You may have just noticed my strong and weak sides, Thank you for watching. 3 more. Really reaching through the inner thigh. 2 more reaching through the back of the leg.
Understanding leg, don’t let that hamstring go to sleep. One more pulling in closing the carriage, and now it all works together. Here we go. Pressing wide, stretching, and pulling up and in, let the knee come under the hip, and then we go again, press ample in in in 3 more. Strong through the pulling up through your center, 2 more.
And in And last one. Press away. Get taller as you go. Taller as you go. Taller as you go. I’m pulling up and in in in and close the carriage.
And we’ll step off carefully, of course. Now we’re going to long box, and we’re going to practice the teaser here. So We’re going to keep the spring load the same, and you don’t have to use the springs here. We can go without ropes. And in fact, we’re gonna start this without ropes. We may add them on as we go.
So For the teaser, I’m laying back. My shoulder points are at the very edge of the box. And for this first teaser, I’m bringing my legs up I’m holding on behind them, and I’m pressing my inner heels together. I’m finding that hollow shape and taking a big breath And then I’m exhaling pressing my hands into my legs and my legs into my hands as I curl up. Now if you’re a person that’s afraid to do teaser on the box because you’re so high off the floor, it’s a great way to practice it here. Inhale, exhale scoop and roll back.
Because the carriage isn’t moving forward and back, you might feel more secure. One more like this, exhale, scoop and curl up, up, up, lift the breast bone. Lift the breast bone. Take the reach. Exhale scoop and roll back.
Let’s let the arms go wide. Let the head go back or not. One more here. Chin and the chest scoop down. Once you can see your toes, that’s when your nose and your toes come up together at the same time and exhale scoop and roll back, I feel like we should do one more of those. Big breath.
Chin to the chest now reach from your middle back. Look at your toes. Reach for your toes. Curling articulating through your spine. Find your toes.
And we’re rolling down and away, stretching through your sits bones, through your toes, rolling back, opening the arms wide. And I guess since we’re here with grace and dignity, reach back so much for grace, grab your straps, and open your arms wide to a tee. So keep your thumbs in your peripheral vision. Take a big breath in. Not the shinier chest.
Once your head starts to pass your shoulders, find your arms. Once you can see your toes, start to curl and lift up, hollow your abdominals, take your time, stand into your loops, hold the stretch here, Wiggle your toes, take a big breath in, and exhale scoop, rounding your spine, roll back, open to a tee, Can you still see your thumbs? Good. Drop your ropes back and sit up. Now we’ll remove our boxes and get back on the carriage.
The foot bar will come down. Again, move the crossbar up and out of your way if you have one. Get on the carriage first, and then we can remove the springs. We we’ll be on all fours facing the foot bar. You have the option to go to a light spring here if you’d prefer if that would be more comfortable, but if not, let’s try it.
With none. And I’m just gonna move my crossbar out of the way because it’s in my way. And we’ll just do a few double arm pressbacks here with a nice flat back. Rotate your armpits forward, pinch your platform and find your flat back. And press back. 5, arms only.
And 4, 3, feel like your back is getting wider with each repetition, like you’re breaking the platform with your arms and with your middle back. Now hold it here. Shoulders over the wrists, legs only. Press out. And exhale pull in. As you press out, make the choice to keep your spine flat rather than arching into your low back.
3 more, and 2, and you get 1 more here, Now let’s put it all together. We’re gonna press back with our arms first. We’ll add legs. Pull in with our legs, pull with our arms, find the bumpers, 3 more, arms, legs, legs and arms. 2 more.
Now I can go farther back with my arms, but can I control my spine? Probably not. And so that’s why I’m limiting my range of motion and being sensible about what I can handle. Especially at the end of the workout. Throwing all sense to the wind, I’m going to bring my left hand a little bit more to the middle of the platform, and my right hand is going to come across my chest or to my hip. From here, single arm pressbacks, really working to maintain the square shape of my shoulders and my hips.
Notice my range is even smaller here, because I’ve got a lot more than I’m asking my arm to do since it’s working alone or without the other arm. That is one more. Close the carriage, place the hand down toward the center, and we’ll bring the other arm up here. Pinch your platform, flatten your back, 5 more. And, again, I’m thinking about how much can I manage safely on this arm without overdoing?
Two more, exhale pull in, and one last. Come down, stoop back, press back into a child’s pose, and hold this position. Let your head stretch forward. If that’s comfortable, if not, you can keep your head at the level here. And now as you start to roll up, really think about pulling the pubic bone forward, I’m pulling my pubic bone under me.
I’m in a nice round shape. I’m working towards symmetry, and I’m not done until I’m back in a full quadru pet with the carriage against the bumpers here. So let’s finish this off. Shall we? We’re gonna step out and step back into your well here. From here, we’re gonna cross the right leg over and hinge forward, walking the hands forward.
This is a just a basic four stretch. Your probably all familiar with this. As we’re holding this hinged position, press back with the standing leg and try to keep the hands where they are. And come back in. And if this is too much of a stretch for you, feel free to bring the leg either down to cross in front of the ankle, or just put it forward onto the crossbar.
One more. Press hold this position. 2 big breaths. And one more, step the foot down, lift the chest up, grab your shoulder blocks, and lift the chest, pressing the heels of the hands into the blocks, lifting the fingertips into the back edge, opening your chest for two breaths, or 3 or 7, whatever feels good. Slowly gently come out of that crossover with the other leg.
Let the knee open. Reach forward and find your hinge. Oh, boy. This is not my favorite hinging side. I will admit. And then pressing back and pulling in. And the back and in allows you to get a little bit deeper into the hip.
It gives you a little bit more of a massage sensation and your hip rotators. And it’s also just a different way to do this stretch that we’re so familiar with. Can we do one more here? Press back and hold it for a second or 2 or 3 or 7. And let’s come out of there.
One other thing I’d like to do since we’re here, anchor the hand, bring the other hand behind the head, side bending over to the anchored side breathing into your side ribs, rotates squaring toward the floor looking over your back shoulder and come up. Squared off other side. Same idea. Anchor the hand first. Make sure you can see your elbow in your periphery.
Side bending over, staying square to the wall in front of you, and keeping both sits bones weighted into the mat. Rotate square. Really feel like this rotation is happening through your center. Look over the back shoulder. Unwind and come up. And thank you for joining me in this workout.
