hi everyone! welcome back to For Pilates Sake. today
we're going to run through all the level-one reformer exercises with flow and pace. you ready
ladies ? okay, take a deep breath in, on your exhale sit yourself down on the corner of the mat lay
yourself down, place your feet into your Pilates V position and on your inhale go away take it out
don't go away just inhale take it away and exhale to come back in. Stand nice and strongly on the
balls of the feet, keeping those heels nice and steady keeping your pelvis in a neutral position
and then just watching that you're resisting the straightening of the knees so that we don't
go into that hyper-extension. so big inhale to expand the spring and exhale to close the spring.
two more! breathe right up into those shoulder blocks. last one come all the way back in, use your
belly to pick both feet up come onto your arches and away you go so find the most painful part of
your foot make sure the forefoot is pouring over as much as the hind foot is going under and
that we don't want to really rock the feet forward and back but that you're trying to stay right on
the center of your arch as if you were a bird on a branch. I'm going to do three more ladies. nice
strong arms pressed into the mat so we can find a little bit of that tricep line. on your last one
when you come back in, use your belly to bring those legs up. come on to your heels pull your
feet towards your shins and away you go driving through the heel, and great job, so you're not
letting the toes stay get lagged behind they are coming with you. let your back really relax in
the direction that we're going this is only a level one exercise you don't want to work too hard
but you want your breath mechanism to get warmed up, you want your hips to get warmed up, and a
little bit of decompression of your spine. we're going to do three more inhaling all the way out
and exhale a brief moment before you come back in. breathe in a just a second before you go out and
a second before you come back in. last, last one come back in, come onto the balls of your feet.
inhale ,take it out, leaving those legs straight lower the heels for three, two, one. inhale, lift
up three, two, one. exhale lower two, three and inhale two, three breathe in to open up the springs
and breathe out to lower the springs so think about lifting from the sole of
the foot more so than just from the ankle as if you're bend bending the
foot as if it was a spine. let's do three more exhaling for three counts and
inhale rising up for three counts. nicely done. make this your last one, rise the heels up,
close the carriage. get ready for your 100, taking the foot bar down, grabbing your handles. maybe
moving a little bit away from your shoulder blocks, and you do your 100 however your body feels today.
so, take a deep breath in to open up the springs a little bit and on your exhale do a semi- roll up
looking towards your toes and away you go breathing in for five and breathing out for five. so now
just literally watch your abdominals expand and melt so you're really texturizing your organs
your abdominal tissue and your back tissue and see if you can stand on those handles as if you
can pour yourself up and a little bit over onto your towards your hips and if you're getting
tired you're welcome to pull a knee in or pull both knees in. nice done girls, three more sets. big
inhale, now see if you can exhale longer, maybe inhale for five and exhale for six or seven. this
is your last one and then get all that air out from 1999. when it's done you're going to
bend your knees, bend your elbows. so today we're going to add the extender straps on. so everybody
sit yourself up, come to the back of your reformer and grab your black extender straps. going to do
this for leg circles and frogs. you don't always have to do this and some equipment already has a
double loop then you won't have to get off your reformer and do this. so here we are putting the
strap through the handle and the loops, and the silver portion is facing on the outside .so that
the hooks don't come undone, that has happened and make sure that it's not twisted. you got it. okay,
your headrest can still stay up. you go down to two springs. girls lay yourself down, pick your
feet up into the straps, instead of pulling the straps to your feet, in the perfect world. so
you got to do a little tail curl and again, like I said, make sure the clip portion is facing
outward so they don't snag upon one another. and we're going to go into frogs first. so your knees
are bent, the straps are on the inside .and on your inhale you're going to move your femur in your
hip to send your legs away and on your exhale going to resist the knees bending, to come back in.
so we're keeping the pelvis neutral and then just moving the femurs in the hips. so why could this
be difficult for someone ? maybe they have a hard time finding their heel squeeze, they push with one
leg more than the other. so then that will show up in this exercise and that they are learning
to not drive the reformer from the knee joint but really from the ball in the socket. okay guys,
last one, the next time you straighten your legs out keep them straight and then just lift them
up to 90° to do some small leg circles. so we're going to open up the legs on your inhale and
down you're going to exhale. bring them together and return and the circles are not as big as
you would do on the cadillac, obviously, because the strap will hit the shoulder blocks or the
chest. and then you're looking for your hamstring length and only go as much as you don't feel your
booty coming off the mat. so no back coming off maybe ease off a little bit more Mel. so you guys
really stand on your hamstrings and then we're going to reverse it. you're going to inhale to open
up the hips, take the legs out as wide as they can and then close the legs at the top without
moving the reformer. well done ladies! let's do two more, inhale it out, exhale it around come
back in. so generally you would do three in each direction and then come all the
way back in. good job. you can take those off your feet, just throw them
into the well, and get ready for your stomach massage. so bar is up, two
springs and we're going into round back so set yourself to the very front edge of the
reformer, two, oh sorry, four springs. sorry not two springs, no I was being nice. you can do two springs
if you want. but, generally, you want four springs for the round back and three springs for the arch
back. so thanks ladies, I was just testing you. you all passed. on your inhale take the reformer back
lower and lift the heels and exhale to return. so you want those arms pressing strongly into the
reformer so that it helps you stabilize your shoulder girdle. you inhale, keep the reformer
back even as you lower and lift. as difficult as that is and then this is a great opportunity
to look at your knees. are you lowering your heels by dropping your knee joint or you're keeping those
shins nice and high. we're going for eight, maybe, we can do two more and then once you've done your
eighth one you come back in. you take a spring off, if you haven't already, and we generally do
that three springs. bring your arms back onto the shoulder blocks. don't lock those elbows and
on your inhale pick your heart up as those hips go back, lower and lifting. and here, just like in
footwork, you want to resist the straightening and the bending of the knees. so you really know that
you're powering from the stance in your foot. and then Mel, see if you can keep those heels a little
higher longer, until your legs have straightened. right, then to lower and lift. yeah and see if you
can keep your heels not so high. but keep them. your, yeah- don't mush them together so you keep
this up you keep it there now it goes down, now it comes up. I guess heavier springs ? and then
last one, come all the way in ladies you can step off to the right and we're doing
short box. so you take your box on. your headrest comes down, your box generally goes over your
shoulder blocks, against your post. your foot bar is down and two springs just to keep the carriage
from wiggling about. then grab your bar from the well, put it in front of the box and you can
have a seat and hook your feet under the strap in front. so we're going to go for two round back and
then two extended, but you don't have to go into extension, if your body is not ready for that just
stick to the round back version. so your knees are bent pull the strap strongly and the legs are
apart and then on your inhale you start to roll your pelvis back, just go halfway, stay in your
curl and on your exhale, sink your guts to roll yourself forward. so with Amy having her arm here,
that's sort of traditionally how it's done she's going to inhale feel her belly expand into her
forearms and then exhale let her forearms melt into her belly. now you can continue doing it that way, or you can go all the way back into extension and you can see the three different
arm versions Tracy has her hands behind the box. Amy has hers on her belly and then Mel
has hers under her thighs. making sure your legs don't change they don't straighten or bend.
if they're bent, that's the way they stay but don't lock out your knees to take you down. it's a
little bit of a cheat and then inhale and exhale to rise all the way back up. reach forward, grab
your bar we're going to do flat back now. lift those arms up nice and high to the roof, keep
that pinky line nice and snuggled in those little side pockets of your shirt. and on your
inhale, we're going to open up the hips and on your exhale you're going to return. and again, see
if you can bend your knees a little bit more Amy, driving your, yeah, the shin or the ankle into
the box. you don't have to go far on this one, keep your tail curl. right? only the pelvis is
what takes you back. if the pelvis stops moving the and the upper body goes more then you
know you've lost your nice little C-curve or your little mini C-curve. you got it, guys one more
time. inhale go up and tip back and exhale to return. and then we're going to take the box put
it back and now we're going to get ready for our elephant. so as you come forward your
headrest will come up, don't rehook the handles. this time your foot bar is
to the top and you have two springs on. so depending on your height you can
get your heels right back to the shoulder blocks. if you're tiny you can bring them a
little more forward, and if you're a super-tucker you can bring your heels back and of
course the opposite if you're in lordosis. on your inhale, you open up a few inches
and exhale you come back in and we're going for eight. it's quite brisk, try not
to rock from heel to ball of foot. so ladies look at your toes and then stay
very anchored on your heel, right, one or two more. come all the way back in, come down onto your
knees for knee stretches. put your heels up against the shoulder blocks find your round back and we're
going for eight here we go inhale to take it out exhale to come back in. right, looking down towards
your center and you're only taking those legs as far as you're not going to lose your tail curl. two
more, come all the way back in. change your spine into extension and away you go. so your heart is
reaching in one direction your tail is reaching in the other. and the same thing goes here we're not
allowing the hips to drop towards the mat. last two, come all the way in. let's go down to four springs
for running. good job you guys. balls of the feet on the bar take yourself out on your inhale and then
away you go. so you're going to do four cycles of breathing. you're going to inhale for as many as
you can and exhale for as many as you can. so three cycles of breathing. stand nice and strong on both
feet, don't just shift from one foot to the other. but both balls of the feet have equal pressure
so that there's no movement through the hips. let's make this our last cycle of breathing, pick
your heels up nice and high. close the carriage into bottom lift. you either have the arches on
the corner or the heels on the corner of the bar. we stay neutral and we pick the pelvis up just
an inch or just enough that your hand can kind of swoop under. right, and on your inhale you're
going to resist the straightening of the knees and resist the bending of the knees. now watch
the pelvis does not rise up and down, it stays on the same plane. so you're moving your femur in your
sockets, particularly on the way in. right, so we're looking for more rotation coming in. don't force
that on the way out, because that's not a natural bone rhythm. nicely done. feel that breath go right
up into those shoulder blocks. you guys, last one, come all the way in and then allow your spine to
roll down. and you lovely ladies are done! thanks everybody, don't forget to like and subscribe
to our Channel and we'll see you in the next video!