okay, welcome everybody. I'm Veronica and we are
For Pilates Sake. today we're going to do a level one chair routine and if you guys are ready...Footwork: on
your inhale, guys, we're in our Pilates V position. choose the arm position that works for you today.
and on your inhale, the paddle goes down and on the exhale the paddle rises up. inhale to go down and
exhale to rise up. so the things that we're looking for the feet do not change their position. a lot
of times we get the ankles moving about. we want to keep the ankle fairly stable. we want to feel
like we're inhaling so much that these ladies can see and feel their body rising up off the
chair and that we're moving more with the hip and the foot and the knee is very much a passenger.
we're going to do one more gals. come all the way to the top, change onto your bird on a perch
and away we go. we breathe in the paddle goes down, exhale the paddle goes up. and you can see
they're all doing a fabulous job of not allowing their spine or their pelvis to move. making sure
that we get breath right across the entire spine from sacrum all the way up to base of skull. and you
don't have to touch the floor with the paddle. if you have that range and that pelvis stability
then absolutely go for it. one more ladies, come all the way back in. come on to your heels, flex
your ankles so much that perhaps the bottoms of the feet could see - could be seen in the mirror
in front of you. you breathe in, keep those toes rising up towards the shins. and you're welcome
to go as low down and as high up as you can. we don't require a lot of hip flexor because
the spring becomes your hip flexor. we're looking more for hip extenders, which is the, a little
bit of glutes and hamstrings. we're going to do two more, inhaling down-exhaling up. come onto
the balls of your feet, keep your knees in line with your hip joint. place your hands on your
knees or behind your head if you prefer that. and now we're just going to flex and point the
ankle. now I have Center Line chairs, which means the spring is on the inside. I don't mind my
heels touching the springs. but for some people they want to put their legs slightly apart, so
the heels go past the springs. and if you have a different chair, where the springs are on the
outside, that would not be a problem to keep your legs together. then they're going to go for two.
you can see they're staying very stable through the femur. they're just moving their ankle bone. now
the paddle is going to stay stable and the femur head is going to roll up and down. to help lift
the arches up and you just breathe as need be. then just making sure that you're stay on all
the five toes. we're not tending to like roll from one side of the foot to the other. we're going
to do one more. stay in your high-heel position, either with legs together or slightly apart.
press your palms together, right, quite strongly. and we're going to pump for 20. breathe in for five
you're going to breathe out for five, quite quick. that's okay. and we'll say that's 20. everybody
take their right leg out. oh, good luck ladies! we're going for 5 to 10, we're going to pump
with one leg. you guys can pick your dosage. you can even bend your knee, if you want, and turn it
out a little bit .if that makes it easier for your hip socket. okay and then you would do the same
on the other side. so, as a variation, I was just showing. for some people it's way too difficult
to have their legs straight, by all means you can bend it. this is just, "hmmm, what leg has been working
harder than the other one in our footwork?" and then you guys can finish. step on off, turn around, face
me and we are going into our foot ankle. springs should stay the same. so I didn't mention, but we
had the springs on a two/three on these ones. and again the spring is just a suggestion. we're
keeping it the same, unless you know you need to change it. and we're going to place the hands on
the chair. pointing and flexing and maybe we'll say for five and then we're going to change
the hand position. I'm going to let you guys pick. so when I set them up, I'm looking for knee-hip and
ankle to be in alignment. watching out the legs are scissored. not like sort of straddled and they're
allowing the paddle to pick their toe up. so they can get that nice ankle range. now if you want to,
you can either put your hands behind your head or go into I Dream of Genie - Genie Arms. we still
are in that subtle flexion and maybe go for five more. inhaling it down and exhaling it up. and
then once you've done your quota, we're going to do the exact same number on the other side, cuz
we have to be even. so again when you set yourself up look down the middle of your body and ask
yourself are my legs scissored or do I feel like my standing legs too far off to the side.
so here again the hand on the chair has a job. it's pushing the vinyl forward, so I can get this
ricochet rebound back in my belly. like I said this is a flexion exercise and maybe it's a subtle
flexion. so for Mel, she's had a hip replacement, we're looking for it to help seat her femur in
her hip and then find that subtle curl with her tailbone. so get a little bit of belly action.
and if you want to change your arms girls, go for it! if you're like, no I like it this way, I'm happy
there you go. so making sure that the hips are squared. I think from the back, I'm hoping everybody
looks good and a very heavy tailbone towards the floor. and then ladies when you finished, no rush,
you can step off the back of the chair. and we're going into our forward push down. so depending
on the flexibility of your hamstrings, or your spine, you can be closer. but if you feel like
your hips are going back, maybe back your feet up a little bit. so anyways lift, inhale lift
your arms and on your exhale, float forward. place your hands, wide on the paddle with the heel of
the hand on the paddle and the fingertips on the wood. and on your inhale, you bend you to push the
paddle towards the floor .maybe soften your knees a little bit to make sure that you don't fall
into your hyper-extension and then you rise back up. inhale, flex your spine towards the floor and
then exhale, let the spring pick up. but resist. so if you could think of yourself like a pulley
system. so this is the rope, your head is taking you down and then your tailbone is heavily
taking you back up. legs can be together, legs can be in Pilates V. and one of the cues I use, is to
pull the hands and feet towards each other. so you're sort of creating this panini effect. which
really gives you the front line or alternatively you could push the feet and hands away from each
other. which would give you a different product, more the back line, more stabilizing the arms in
the sockets. so they've got some, they both have great value. and then let's just stay down there
and do some tricep presses, some elbow presses. so just inhaling and exhaling and letting that
rebound of the spring again affect your center. last one, keep your arms really straight. let
yourself be rolled back up, continue to stack your spine to your head. the very last thing you can
rise your arms up and then take them down to the side. we're going to do straight leg press. so the
spring can be anywhere from a one two or a three a single, I think I do it on a two. and we're going
to stand in front of the chair with our right foot on the paddle sort of on the outside of your
foot. so, again, check that you're in alignment. and if anybody needs a balancing stick... does
anybody want one? okay, so this sort of mimics... this was also called the home reformer,
so it mimics front splits. so on your inhale, you're going to pull the paddle towards you.
not necessarily touching the ground and then whatever you contracted you're going to allow the
paddle to pull your leg forward to stretch it. so it's kind of the scissoring action. so it's not
so much pulling it to the floor. it's sort of like the even the leg that's standing it's
moving relative to the front leg so try to go for that scissoring motion. and of course your
standing leg gets just as much workout as the other one. and the other thing I think about is
if I'm like sort of like suction cupping my arch into the back of my hip. yeah and then making
sure that you're not using your back. find a little bit more lift through here, right. we'll
just do one more gals and let's just change legs. yes, you have to find the spring that will support
your leg, but not challenge you so much that you can't move it. so this is quite of a balancing
act for some people. so for a level one I think it's quite difficult. so big inhale, you don't have
to take it to the floor. just keep scissoring your legs. the other thing that might help is, put your
hands on your hips and then before. yeah, invite that femur a little bit more back. there you go,
yes, so here again you're finding a little bit of your glute-hamstring. that's okay and then once
you've done your five of those we are going to face that direction and we're going to do the side
one. so you're on your arches, your feet are turned out, you're going to put your arch on the paddle.
you want to watch here, and I didn't say it in the other one, but what happens quite commonly is
people hyperextend their knee. and I didn't really, you know, say it because you guys are doing such
a great job. so maybe unlock your knee a hair, so the movement comes from spinning the ball in the
hip as well as the inner thigh. so you're drawing your inner thighs towards each other. and now the
thighs get pulled apart because the spring picks you up. and even this leg has to have a sense of
spreading, as well have a nice heavy tailbone so your hips are square. and then again watch not
pushing with your calf. yeah, make it move from the proximal end, from the joint, from the
girdle. there you go, well done ladies, you made it look so easy! this is not easy for a level one,
I promise you. and then let's switch sides. good job. okay, drop that tailbone and lift your heart.
breathing in. you know we have hands-on hips. I use that to get people to sort of figure out
where their hips are in space. and then can we move the leg and the joint and not move
the joint. but you're welcome to put your, you know, hands behind your head like Mel's
doing. give yourself more of a lift. the other thing the paddle allows is that external
rotation. so as the paddle is picking your leg up, allow the leg to organically
rotate out. so for those who struggle with rotation, deep six, this actually does it
for you. it puts it in your nervous system. so that, maybe, when you don't have a spring
to assist your body's already practiced that action. okay, girls, last one. we're
going to go into prone arm press so we're all going to have to move
our chair a little bit away from the wall. pick it up and bring it forward a little
bit. the spring can be a two, a one or a one /two it's basically a push-up and we're going to
get ourselves on top of the chair. their hands on the paddle and the shoulders somewhat over
your wrists. you still okay to do this ?okay, she is okay. so that's where we're going to start. have
yourself in a straight line, so from head to heel you're a piece of steel. you're looking down, you're
going to exhale, bend your elbows. you're going to inhale, straighten them. so let the spring do its
job which is to pick the humeral bone up into the socket. so you're more here, right. and then the
forearm goes down as the humeral bone goes up. so you're having to use a lot more muscle to hold
your back line and somewhat of an extension so some people feel this in their glutes and hamstrings,
maybe even their low back. if that's the case, take your tailbone and stretch it towards your
heels to give you a little bit more low belly. and these guys are doing a fantastic job of keeping
their shoulder girdle nice and stable. so quite often we'll see people moving and shrugging and
moving about. and that's a great way to start your push-ups primed. and then last one ladies.
and then you can carefully come off the back of the chair. we're going to take it to the floor. so
move your chair back a little bit, grab your mat put it in front. and perhaps put your spring on a single one cuz we're going to do the spine stretch. to start now if someone doesn't
have the hamstring length to do spine stretch then we could prop them up on a little seat. so
does anybody need that for their hammies ? no? we're all good. okay you can put them on a yoga block
or rolled up mat. so your legs are apart, feet are pointed. I start with the paddle down. so get the
paddle down the floor, elbows are bent and you're leaning on to the spring right now. so get your
shoulders on that and make sure that you feel your arm being snuggled into the back of
your socket. so you got a nice stable shoulder girdle. on your inhale, allow the paddle to rise up
keeping that circle of energy. to sit to tallish and then on your exhale, you don't just move the
hands. you move the entire unit, palm armpit and belly, to take it down. inhale allow the paddle
to bring you up to tall. and on your exhale, curl a paddle to you as you move towards the paddle.
you're trying to get more on top of it. right, not changing the elbows. so a lot of times it becomes
an arm exercise which we're, you know, we're trying to avoid. if you're like a doll and those arms are
completely hooked to your center, so everything moves. one or two more and then from here we can
go into our low frog. so you could keep the spring on a one which I think is a little too light. perhaps a
three or a two and we're going to take it onto the back. so we'll do a couple of variations,
there's probably more out there than what I'm going to show you today. so you're you've got
your feet in sort of a prayer foot position. and everyone's going to... actually bring your legs
together-ish girls and let's just do this. instead of just dropping the knees out. use your deep six,
use your muscles, your rotator muscles in your hips to rotate your femurs out to kiss the bottoms of
your feet together. so you're in the muscle of your hip. right? on your inhale, we're going to pull the
paddle towards your center. trying to continue to find that rotation. and then on the exhale, let the
paddle pick the legs back up. but do not force the rotation, that will just put a lot of tension in
the hip and that's not the natural bone rhythm. it will somewhat un-spiral. so we breathe in, to
turn those inner thighs. spread those inner thighs and find that rotation in the hip. and then
the paddle picks up your leg and you can resist a little bit. resist a little bit with your knees
coming down. resist a little bit with your knees coming up. just, again, to put the work in the girdle.
one more and then ladies bring the paddle down. hold it there, pick one leg up, but lift your head
up for a brief moment and make sure that that foot is in line with your pubic bone. and you can
have it straight, you can have it bent and we're just going to do five of each. so what's really
great here is we get to see which leg was the driver, when you at both legs and then make sure
your hips are square. find your neutral position and then maybe bend this knee a little bit there
and let the leg that's in the air, let it settle into your hip joint. so there's no destabilizing
the pelvis its nice and square. and then you do five on the other side. and can it be less from the
foot and more from the femur head moving somewhat in the joint. and the I will say it's
hip, foot and the knees kind of like a passenger. and where you are situated on
the floor. if you're close is going to give you a different
product than if you're further away. okay. and then another one that I do is
you're going to bring your arches of your feet on top of the paddle. now how much can your arch
stay connected to the paddle, but then how much can you turn out without losing the arch. which is
going to be quite small. so you kind of got this internal inner thigh external rotation happening.
so it's a very narrow one. it's a little bit more hamstring, the other one's a little bit more
rotator. and now on your inhale, you're going to pull the paddle towards your sitting bones. so
it's not so frog like. I think you're too close, hun. so back up a whole lot more. cuz you don't
want your knee coming into your chest. so you have to be able to pull the paddle. yes, so the knee
stays over your hip joint, shouldn't go past the hip joint. there you go and it's like I'm trying
to rotate out but no my feet are crazy glued to the paddle. so even here how much can you turn out
without losing your arches, so before you roll it on your side. so it's kind of like that, yeah, cuz
some people just to see. yeah, see you can turn out quite far, but you're just a little bit losing
the arch there. you go there, so if I crazy glued the inner part of your foot. last one, girls and then
we're going to come up. to leave the spring as is, but we're going to do seated tricep press. or
you can put it up to a four,nwhatever you want to do spring tension wise. higher is definitely
going be harder, okay do you want me to..? you got yours at a three. yeah, so this could be a tricep
strengthening exercise or it could be a shoulder mobility exercise. fingertips are forward, you're
sitting back at the edge of, close to your chair and if you can't sit on your sitting bones bend your
knees. so the paddle rises up, that's your exhale. now we're going to inhale, the paddle goes down,
you lift up. could you straighten your arms? maybe not, but try to see how straight you can get your
arms to lift your center and then when you bend your elbows, don't lose your center. oh holy belly
Batman, right? and then inhale, the paddle down, on the exhale the paddle rises up. now you guys all
have a mirror in front of you. so this is a great opportunity to see, "am I moving my arm bone without
shifting my girdle". and that's what we're looking for, we're looking for the range of the armbone in the socket without shrugging. yeah. nicely done! last one, inhale it down, heart rises up. exhale,
float it up and then everybody twist towards the camera so you can get yourself out of it,
that way. and thanks! if you guys have any questions or comments, please put it in the
box below and we'll answer it. thanks you guys!!!