Creative Reformer Variations

Hi everyone, so it's really exciting to be back at Pilates Anytime, and I am here with the 2017 winner of the Pilates Anytime Next Instructor Competition, Jo, and I'm also here with this gorgeous woman Jackie, who I got to know last year at the Pilates Method Alliance conference when I won the Next Pilates Anytime Instructor last year. So we're all so excited it's almost silly. We're gonna get started with something kind of creative and new to start with, so that you can kind of change up your comfort zone when you're teaching a classical Pilates workout. So, ladies, you're going to go onto your hands and knees, and you're gonna put the balls of your feet against the shoulder rests, toes curled forward. And first thing I want you to do is just take a second and see if you can get the most rounded in your spine as possible.

Toes pulled forward, take a nice breath in. Hold in this position, draw your chin into your chest, and round out your spine. Just want you to get a little length in your lower back before we begin the workout today. Come forward with an inhale, bringing yourself forward over the foot bar, and then hold, draw the chin into the chest, round back again. Chin into neck, sacrifice your shoulders a little bit, let them round forward.

And then come forward with your upper body again. Inhale there, exhale, round back again. Pull the ribs back, the waist back, round, let the shoulders just reach up to your ears. Now stay there and set the shoulders in place. Lovely, beautiful, ladies.

From there, you're gonna keep your upper body where it is. Send the carriage back with your legs, almost to the feeling of Down Stretch, but not quite that far. Now try to take this into a Kneeling Mermaid. Bring your gaze out, lift your chest, lift your heart, the carriage rolls in, and you're just opening through the body. Chin into neck, round inside yourself.

Find a little glute work, send your carriage back. That's right, now come through a little Kneeling Swan. Open through the chest, lift up. Once again ladies, chin into neck, round out the spine, send the carriage back. And bring yourself up into that Kneeling Swan.

Now sit back into the same rounded position we started in. Identify which hand is your right hand. Leave it on top of the bar, take your left hand, put it on the side of your foot bar. Now you can sit back as much as you want, but you're just gonna push with that top hand, the one on the top of the foot bar, and that's gonna give you a really nice pull across your shoulder. Go ahead and go the other way.

The carriage could roll a little if you want to, it doesn't have to stay still, but it doesn't have to roll either, it's just supposed to feel really good and stretch out that side. Alright, now come back, and just put your hands on the bar. We have one spring on in the middle, I suggest that if you can do that, you're gonna push yourself up a little bit, and you're gonna put one of your feet down on the floor on the side of that spring. So be careful, don't hurt yourself. From here, send the carriage back to go into a nice hip flexor stretch.

You can feel free to stay lifted or you can kind of lean up and forward. Regardless of which position you choose, get a little pull of the belly and tuck of the tail. That's always going to give you a better stretch in the front of that hip. Now come forward, it's a similar feeling to the Kneeling Swan you just did. So you'll just let your arms stay straight, Jackie, that's it, and then just lift up, carriage rolls in.

And you'll come up to more standing on the leg that's on the floor. Yeah, then you can stay down there. Yeah, you might not come all the way in. Go back again, so just send it back. It should feel natural, but nothing in Pilates feels all that natural, so that's kind of a silly thing to say.

Come forward, so as you come up, just go to where it feels okay, and just lift your heart a little. And we'll do that one more time, send the carriage back, nice big stretch. And you come in to where you can, and easily lift your foot up and switch legs. Yeah, it's a little awkward, but the stretch is worth it. There you go, alright, nice big breath in, send the carriage back, exhale, feel free to lay the upper body forward or stay straight up and down, whatever feels best.

Bring the carriage in, inhale to do so. Feel a little lift of your chest, and send the carriage back, exhale. Lift the navel to the spine, tip the tailbone under, and come on up. One more time, take it back, stay back there for an extra moment, pull the belly to the back, tuck the pelvis. That's beautiful, that's a girl, there's that stretch.

Come on in, ladies, go to where you can, and easily bring your foot up, yeah. Alright, you can let the carriage come all the way in and we're gonna lie down to do Footwork next. We're gonna use the Magic Circle today to just change up the comfort zone of just simply going in to the foot work. So ladies you can hold your Circles in your hands. Go into Pilates V stance with your feet on the foot bar.

Very good, alright, so take the Circle, extend your arms straight up. Now what I want you to think of doing here is hugging the Circle more from your little finger and the outside edge of your hand, less from your thumbs. Okay, so as you stay there kind of embrace that feeling, let's extend the finger tips up straight, set the shoulders into the joint a little. Good, and again, it's like you're hugging the Circle with that pinky side of your hand. Now can you do the same thing with your legs?

So it's that same kind of like feeling, and it gets your glutes a little. Now as you do that, the tendency's usually to open the knees a little bit, so let's reel the knees in just a bit, but keep that feeling going, which is tricky, I know. Alright, let's see if you can straighten your legs and do all of that at the same time. So inhale to the top, exhale, come in. Keep the hug of the Circle, the hug of the legs.

Inhale take it up, exhale bring it in. Inhale little moment at the top, reluctantly bend the knees. Inhale take it up four, and exhale it in. Now try not to lose anything in the upper body and the legs, and let's bring some awareness to the center. Feel the ribs soften down as you let that breath out.

Inhale, and the ribs soften down. Now a little more awareness from the waistline down to the pubic bone. On your exhale, deepen there as your ribs pull down, let's call this one ten, come in and take a moment. Alright, now we're gonna go to Bird Feet, knees and toes are gonna come together, and the toes just curl a little bit forward like a bird on a perch. Alright, so ladies, for this one, let's take the arms and bend them.

So not, yeah, you're perfect, not all the way down with the arms, a little hover in front of the chest. So now, we're just doing an easy little hug of the Circle. If you're hugging too much and your neck is feeling icky, don't hug that much. So, and you can always feel free to put the Circle down, that's a choice too. As you hug the Circle, I want you to think, hug the thighs, so it's the same thing.

Give me a little more inner thigh, and think about right where your bottom meets your inner thighs. Get a little more there. Now straighten, your eyebrows just raised. Straighten your legs, inhale to the top, exhale, regroup it. Again, inhale, so I find, as you keep going, I find that I have a tendency to lose the ability to keep that little butt inner thigh thing going at the very top.

So just regroup it, and then as you come in you try not to lose it. And it's possible that you might not want to come all the way in as well. You're welcome to, but if you feel like at the lowest point you're losing it, you might want to hover an inch or so above the stopper. Bring it in, let's inhale up, soften the sternum and the ribs and the low belly, deepens, two more ladies, up, exhale, bring it in, last time, up, exhale, bring it in. Okay, now we're going to the heels.

So for the heels, can't really think about anything else right now, can you? Can you see how you're clients would be, "Okay, yeah, I gotta concentrate here." It's kind of nice, your hands are gonna go through the Circle, and you're gonna press out against the little pads, yeah, which is kind of awkward, I'll let y'all figure it out. I'll just laugh at you. Alright, so I'd like the arms straight, if you can do that, alright, so as you're pressing out with the hands, send the shoulders down. Pull your toes back, and imagine that you've got a tiny Magic Circle around your feet.

So as you're pressing out with your hands, you're pressing out with your feet, but you're not moving them. Yeah, it takes the eyebrows really scrunched up on that one. Alright, you ready ladies? Straight to the top, inhale, exhale, come in. So you're pressing out with the hands and your imaginary Magic Circle around your feet, you're using that idea to get a little bit, maybe in your side butt.

And in, inhale, take it up. Now that you've got the feeling, let's bring some awareness to your center. Exhale, navel to spine, ribs down. Inhale, let's bring it in, let's do three more slightly slower on the in. Take it up, full breath out.

Take it up, full breath and hold. That's okay, you're beautiful, come in. You're just gonna be fitter than everyone else, that was good. Alright, so take the Circle now, and put it between your hands again. So we're going back to Pilates V, on the toes, on the balls of the feet.

We're gonna do the heel lower lift. You get to do arms bent again though, alright? And I like these really slow. Okay, so you can anticipate that. With an inhale, straighten your legs.

You'll slide up to the top. Now I want you to exhale and lower your heels only as low as you can without your heels separating. So let's lower them, let's hold, remember the Magic Circle thing we did where we kind of pushed out with the little toe? Can you heavy your little toe, and do that same wrapping, so you get this fun little hiney thing going? Now rise up, inhale, lower again, exhale.

So I want the lower body kind of set before I throw more things at you. Rise up, breathe in. Now, lower the heels, breathe out, and a little hug of the Circle and think of that coming from your side body. Rise up, inhale, little release. Again, exhale, the hug comes from the side body.

Inhale, rise up. Again, exhale, try to create an hourglass shape through your body so your sides suction in, in in in in, inhale, rise up. Again, exhale, little hug, we're gonna use this idea of the side body throughout the workout, so I just want to make sure you get it. Rise up, little release. How about two more?

Exhale, heels go down, is your little hiney doing that thing? Okay good, and rise up, don't lose that. And go down, and come up, and bend your knees, come all the way up. Very nice work. I'm gonna take your Magic Circles for the next thing.

You can come up ladies, and go to two springs. So you're going to the springs you would use for Hundred beats, and we're gonna do it a little different today, just a little. So you kind of have to listen for the cues. Alright, so lie down. Create a little space between your shoulders and the shoulder rests.

Reach up for your straps, and bring them into your hands. I want you to use your legs to roll your carriage back, like two inches, and Jackie give me one more, right there. Okay girls, so give me a nice energy into those straps. Make sure that as you give me the energy into the straps your shoulders haven't crept up and jammed into the rests. Let's keep those armpits squeezing to the hips.

Now in this position, inhale prepare. As you breathe out, keep the carriage where it is, with your belly. So we're trying to connect the belly to the arms. Pick one leg up off the foot bar, bring the other leg up. Put your feet down, and now that you know what to expect we're going to do it again.

So there should be this little connection between holding the arms where they are from your center, okay? So inhale prepare, keep the carriage where it is, pick one knee up, let's get a little rib connection with that, ladies, beautiful, gorgeous, stay, breathe in, anticipate the second leg, it's harder, deepen through the belly. Alright girls, now you've got the feeling, you're connected in your center, inhale prepare, you now lower the straps all the way down and curl, but you do it from that connection. Hold the reach of the arms, go ahead and extend the legs to wherever you'd like them, and pump those arms. Inhale two, three, four, five and exhale two, three, four, five.

Inhale, and exhale. So let's not use the toes so much. On your next exhale, I want you to lift your legs about three feet up high, higher, deepen through the belly now that the legs are up high. Now feel free to return your legs to that low length that you had them, but don't lose that connection. How about one more breath, because it was so good.

And exhale two, three, four, five, plus the pumps. Draw your knees into your chest, think put your forehead on your knees and your knees on your forehead, stretch your springs by reaching with your arms. Arms up, head down, relax. Good, alright, so the next thing we're gonna do is bring your feet into your straps. Whatever springs you usually use for your Leg Circles, are you guys on them?

Okay great, so feet go into the straps. The Circle's coming back. So I'm gonna hand it to you, and I'm gonna have you put it on the outsides of your feet. Usually pretty low is a good strategy there, and go ahead, once you feel like you've got it in a good place, extend your legs out straight. Okay, so if you have any kind of dance background this is going to make you very grumpy.

Because, I'm going to ask you to go just a little pigeon-toed with your feet. So I want those big toes just to be turning in, I know, it's just not nice, it feels so yucky. But it's gonna be really fun because we're gonna find some side butt, okay? So in this position, deep breath in, exhale, press your legs out against that Magic Circle. Hold it there one, hold it there two, hold it there three, little release.

Don't drop it, though. Again, exhale, press it out, hold it there one, hold it there two, hold it three. I'm getting some smiles, are we feeling something there? Okay, cool, release. So while you guys do this three more times, I wanna say something.

The reason I like to do this is because Leg Circles and Frog can become, after someone's been doing it for a while, and release, one more time, can become a little bit of just a routine, a comfort zone, so this is a really fun way to inspire their legs to work a little bit differently so that you get more out of it. I know you got an extra one in, maybe seven. Let's hold on the out, and from there, re-pigeon-toe a little, oh it feels so good, and now pulse out, two, three, so almost feel like it's a Thera Band more than a Circle and you can really stretch it, seven, now hold, this is an eight-count hold. Two, three, four, I know, I'm sorry, five, sort of, six, seven, and eight. Girls, bend your knees, come out of that.

Poor Joanne, she's flown across the world (laughing) and she has been on a plane, I kind of feel bad, but-- No you don't. I don't really, you're right. So the Magic Circle's not done. We're now gonna put the Magic Circle between your ankles, okay? So we've inspired the outer thigh, let's inspire the inner thigh.

Legs extend out, again, if you'll bear with me and give me a little pigeon-toed you're gonna have more fun. Okay, so inhale prepare, exhale, hug the Circle, you've got it, Jackie. I didn't tell you to pulse. No, you can't help it, it's so fun to say that. Mind of its own.

Little release, you're absolutely right. So inhale again, exhale and hug. So you're trying to do a steady hug, you're not going to, you're gonna tremble and that's so much fun. Little release, inhale, exhale, hug the Circle. Now you might want to check in and see if your knees are locked, 'cause you'd have more fun if you didn't lock them.

Little release, inhale, exhale, hug it in. How about where that butt met your inner thigh in Footwork? Can you make that do it? Little release, inhale, and exhale. Once again, hug.

Alright, we have to do the pulses, right? One, I mean, they're kind of already happening, three, you have to think about them, four, don't look for them, five. That's really good, Joanne, six, seven. Now hold, it's an eight-count, hold, two, maybe breathe and distract yourself by finding your core, five, gorgeous, six, seven, and eight, bend your knees. We get to take the Circle away.

Alright, so we did all of that, not just because it was mean, we did it because we want to make Leg Circles feel extra special today. So extend your legs out, do Pilates V stance with your feet. Actually, I lied, let's do Parallel stance, because we did the Circle Squeezes parallel. Think about squeezing the black straps between your feet, not just your legs together. Make sure the knees aren't locked, we're only doing eight Circles in this direction, come back to the head, breathe in.

Open the legs, press them down, exhale, bring them together. Okay, so both of you, we're gonna stay parallel throughout the whole thing. Ready, so let's come up, inner thigh, inner thigh, inner thigh, hold there. Pretend that Circle's around your feet. Press out against that imaginary Circle, press down, and now we squeeze the Magic Circle between the legs, and come up again.

Lift, press out thoughtfully, if you really think about it you'll feel that work. Press down, and come together. Now just in case you're not feeling your side butt, bring your legs up, this is just a little trick. You can take your hands, put them on the outsides of your legs with straight arms and just create some resistance, press out. That might help you find it, and then lower, and then you might not need that again.

But whatever you need to get the most out of the next two reps you do. Inhale, bring it up, exhale out, lower, together ribs, waist, low belly. One last rep, inhale up, and open. Exhale down and bring it in. Ladies, you can bend your knees into a Frog shape.

So here's where we're gonna combine regular Short Spine and reverse the Short Spine. So, first thing we do is extend the legs out, breathe in to do so. As you breathe out, move the feet but lift the bottom as soon as you can. Exhale, we roll over to the shoulders, just like normal Short Spine. From here, bend the knees down, ladies.

Think about rolling like a ball, you're gonna roll down. Now from there, stay in your Frog, now it's like a reverse roll like a ball. Go over to where the carriage finds the stopper. From here, extend your legs back. Now from there, we go back into bent knees.

Roll that like a ball to come down, send the navel to the spine, as a result the spine comes down. We go over again, lift over, extend the legs out, ladies stay there. I'm taking one spring off, this is gonna be harder. Love you, mean it, bend your knees into your chest. Roll your spine down, control it from your center.

Take it back again, from the belly, lift over, here's the tricky one. Good, extend the legs up and out. Bend the knees, bring it down. Last and best ladies, lift from your center, take it over, breathing in. Let's exhale, send the legs out, pull the ribs back, waist back, low tummy, tight.

Bend the knees, inhale, roll the spine down. It's not over 'til it's over, use your center to move your tailbone down to the mat, and enough is enough. We'll take the legs out of there, nice job. We're gonna go into a fun variation using the Magic Circle for kneeling arm work. And we're gonna use it as inspiration for Hug a Tree.

So ladies, come on up to kneeling. I'm gonna have you get your handles in your hands, and then I will hand these to you. So yeah, kneeling, feet against the shoulder blocks. Mmm-hmm, we're on one spring, so there, ooh, you kept getting away from me. (laughing) It's physics, I got confused.

Alright, so you're holding the Circle in the hands. Alright ladies, so let's take, Joanne, elbows just a little higher, perfect. Alright ladies, so breathe and prepare. As you breathe out, a little hug on the Circle to take it out. If you hug on this Circle too hard, it will not feel great in your neck or your shoulders, so you need to be really careful about that.

Exhale, press it out. Inhale, bring it in. Two more here, I want you to pull your ribs back, your waist back, draw your sides in like an hourglass shape to move that Circle out, bend the arms to come in, that was gorgeous. One more time like that, move it out. Breathe out, breathe out, breathe out.

Bend your arms, okay. Decide which hand is your left hand. You're gonna leave it in, you're gonna leave your left hand on the Circle and you're gonna take your right hand and put the strap just between your knees or something back there. Yeah, you can just drop it. Come back up to holding it, alright, whichever hand is still in a strap, you're gonna twist towards that side.

So rotate to your left, breathe in to do so. Now push with your left hand, exhale, come back to center, do it again. In a perfect world the thighs and pelvis don't move. Hug with that left hand, bring it back, beautiful. Do it again, twist with an inhale, now resist a little more with the right, so even though you're pushing with the left, resist with the right.

Okay, three more, little different idea. Inhale, rotate, now, move with your sides. Exhale, don't lose the arm stuff, but give me a little suction of the sides in. Again, inhale, exhale, suction the sides in. One more time, inhale, exhale, from right here, one bonus one.

Inhale, this is hard, ready? Breathe in, breathe out, send it out, strong abs, move it out. Move it in, and we switch. I kind of made you do more than that, but you just get one. At home, do more.

Alright, so we have to do the other arm. (laughing) Alright, so, take a moment, give a little energy of your feet into the shoulder blocks, so you get a little lower body. Ooh, what about where that butt met your inner thigh, find that? Okay, ready, twist towards the strap you're holding. Inhale, rotate the body.

Exhale, squeeze with the right hand, resist with the left. Inhale, rotate, exhale, bring it back. Once again, in a perfect world, thighs and pelvis don't move. Exhale, more focus on the side body on the next three. Inhale, rotate, exhale, side suction in.

Again, inhale, keep your hiney, exhale, bring it back. One more time, inhale, exhale, bring it in, power from your center, inhale prepare, exhale, send it out, inhale bring it in. Ooh, you're shaking. Okay, so here's what I have to do, I'm gonna take your Circle and we're gonna use what you just did as inspiration for Hug a Tree. You only have to do four.

Grab the handles, both in your hands. Oh and you are welcome to change your spring, that was a great idea. Alright, so ready, arms come out. Alright, just think about, like pretend you've got a gigantic Magic Circle in your hands. So it's that kind of feeling right away that you're in it.

Let's inhale prepare, today close your arms with an exhale. And it's the squeezing of the Circle and the drawing of the sides in, inhale, open the arms. Again, exhale, ribs back, waist back, sides suction in, inhale, open the arms. Two more, exhale, let's find some length and find some back of the leg. Inhale, open the arms, last and best.

Exhale, reach, inhale, you open, enough is enough. Go ahead and hook your straps on the poles, we're gonna get the boxes, we're gonna do a Swan next. So we're gonna do Swan on the box, and there's a sticky pad under their tummies so that they feel more stable, because we're gonna add a little Jumping Swan after regular Swan. So let's draw the legs a little closer together. You don't have to squeeze the heels together, but just a little bit.

Float the thighs slightly, now draw the navel to the spine. Press the pubic bone down, and here we go, ladies. Straighten your arms, allow your shoulders to raise up here, don't feel like you need to have them perfect. Now send the shoulders down and come up for your Swan. Just float the head and the chest, think, press down on the bar to lift the heart to come up.

Send the carriage back down again. Jackie, let's make sure you get all the way down so you're straight, good girl, like that. Send the shoulders down, come up again from there. Very nice, think about that little finger thing. Little finger presses, chest open, send the carriage back.

Good, once again, inhale come on up. Gorgeous, exhale, lower down. Now bend your elbows and come in. Alright, so we're gonna do this little jumping exercise here. Take your hands to the side of the foot bar, perfect.

Maybe a little lower, ladies. And I need you to just really recognize where the bar is, because if you're not paying attention there's just a little room for error there. You could lower a little bit though, yeah, just to get you out of that. Aright, you also need to keep in mind that you've got rails behind you, so your legs need to be close enough together that you don't hit your feet. That'll make you get your legs together.

Alright, so from here, if you will pause in this position, hug the bar a little like it's a Magic Circle, and then send the shoulders down the back to really feel strong and stable across your side back. Push with your arms, do a little hop, it does not need to be big, just jump off the bar, land on it, hold one, send the shoulders down, two, hold them there, three, again. Jump, yeah, land one, very good, two, and three, four more. So we're gonna use this feeling for Pulling Straps in a moment. I love this feeling when you land, of taking a second to plug the shoulders into the joint so that you know what that's gonna need to feel like when you start Pulling Straps.

Two more, jump, and land, hold one, hold two, good girl, hold three, again. Take it back, and land, hold one, get the feeling, and relax. Lower your foot bar down, we're gonna stand up and turn around to do Pulling Straps. Make sure your spring's the way you want it. So we're gonna do quite a bit of arm work here, might want to anticipate that, and here we go, lie down.

Bosom on the box, reach up for your straps, and I like to have the hands as high up on the straps as they can go while still having your hands on the outside of the frame. That looks great, alright, let's get a little inner thigh there, miss Jackie, a little float of the legs, yeah, you don't have to squeeze all the way together. Give me a navel to spine connection. So in this position, I want you to take your little finger and turn it in against the frame, and feel like you're almost gonna turn your thumb away from the frame. So remember how we started with the Magic Circle that way.

That helps you externally rotate your upper arm. Now plug the shoulders into the joint, the carriage might roll an inch or two, but no more than that. So can you give me a little more, Jackie? Send the shoulders back and down, the carriage might roll, you've got a little more, baby, right there, a little bit more, yeah. Okay ladies, this is start and stop.

Pull the straps, inhale, take it to a small extension, head chest float, now begin to lower your arms, but anticipate that you're gonna go down without a full release today. Stable shoulders, let's go again. Send the shoulders back in, down, float, you can give me a little more extension, I know you thought I was gonna tell you you couldn't. Lower down, exhale, you never know what I might say. One more time, send the shoulders back in, down, reach. Lower the arms, exhale.

Beautiful, ladies, now that's enough, you don't even have to do any more. You can do T next. So you can take the hands for me today all the way to the ends of the black straps. I want, yeah, I want you to go down like that, exactly. So I like for the hands to be right in alignment with the shoulder.

So like this instead of like this. We're gonna do the same little finger down thing. So you think, turn the little finger down, turn the thumb up, not quite so much, though. Yeah, turn it down a little, yeah, just a little. Okay, ladies, from here, move the little finger back towards the hips.

Inhale to do so, little float of the head and chest, exhale, return to start. So we're parallel to the floor here, when the arms go back, you lift your head and your chest a little extension, not a real big deal. Exhale, return to start. We do it one more time, send the arms back, inhale. Exhale, return to start.

Now, take your hands back up to where they were for Pulling Straps. We're gonna do a combination of a Tricep Kickback, so you can rest, I'm sorry Joanne, rest and walk back like I'm gonna make you do Pulling Straps again. So the next thing that's gonna happen is, the girls are gonna pull from here, pull their elbows in, up into their sides, extend their arms back, you're in like a Pulling Straps extension. Float the arms around as if you're going through T, shoulders anchor off the ears, you go back to where you start Pulling Straps, head down. Little finger to the frame, pull again, elbows in.

And back extended out, yes, circle out, around, take it down. One last rep, pull it through, extend, lift, beautiful, around, everyone rest and relax. Hook your straps on the poles and stand up. Now, the next thing we're gonna do is a really fun prep for Horseback. We're not gonna make them do Horseback, but it's gonna be really doable and really fun. Aren't you excited?

Okay, so, for Horseback, you're gonna start on the box, just like you normally would, but your feet are actually gonna stay on the side of the carriage. So just have a seat and I'll talk you through it. You're gonna take your feet and move them back so that they're back to about the back of the box, and you have two options. You can leave your foot pointed and go like this, or you can curl your toes like this. If you tend to get foot cramps, stay curled, if you don't, then you can point.

So maybe a little further back still. We need the straps also, so we're gonna get them, and I'll help you if you can't quite get to them. Alright, now, for finding the Horseback position, you're gonna use the tops of your feet as leverage to find this shape here. From here, inhale prepare. As you exhale, send your arms forward, push down against the tops of your feet, lift your bottom so that you're hovering off the box.

You get to sacrifice your shoulders on this first one. Let's bring the hands up higher, Joanne, reach and reach and reach and reach and reach and reach. Sit down, pull the elbows back, breathe in, exhale, send the arms out, pull the ribs back, pull the waist back, hover one, hover two, hover three, bring it right back in. Inhale, last and best, exhale, send it out, hover hold one, now let's correct the shoulders, since I let you not use them, hold, give me more, sit down and rest. Excellent job, see, it's not so bad.

If you can do that (laughing) I promise I'm not gonna make you extend your legs. You get to hook the handles on the silver poles and we'll go on to Side Ups on the short box. Four Side Ups today, we're gonna use the Magic Circles, so you get them back. No surprises, you have to think about everything we've done with the Magic Circle already. We're gonna start with it, though, over your head like a little halo.

Yeah, just like that. Whenever the arms come up over the head, we have a tendency to flare the ribs and lose the pelvis, so let's fix all of that, draw the ribs in, draw the waist in, a little tip of the tailbone, that was really good, ladies. I want you both to lean over two more inches. That's it, that is start and stop today. Inhale prepare, as you breathe out, go down, slight hug of the Circle but it's not a big deal.

Come up with an inhale to that little moment, go down again. Exhale, down, breathe out, stretch down, inhale, bring it up, again. Take it down, one, keep going, two, keep going, three, inhale, bring it up. Exhale down one, and two, now come up halfway only, inhale, hold there. Exhale, extend your arms straight, inhale, bend your arms.

Extend the arms straight, suction the sides in, hold, bend the arms, inhale. Last one, take it out, from here, go down, down, down, come up, up, up, and rest. That was amazing. (Jackie and Joanne laughing) I don't know if they could have done it if they weren't on camera, there was like, the camera energy there. That was really hard, I am so impressed, it was so beautifully done.

So other side, I'll make sure you're good. You're good girls, sorry about that, okay. Alright ladies, you bring the Circle over the head like a little halo. Take a deep breath in, exhale, take it down, one, it's not a big deal but a little hug can help you find the side body. Bring it up, one, and two, to that little two inch hang, uh-huh, take it down again, that's okay, I didn't remind you, two, three, so come up and hover just two inches before you think you should.

Again, take it down, three, and two, and three, inhale, come up. Let's check the ribs, waist, low belly. Here's your fourth one, take it down, two, three, halfway up only, breathe in, breathe out, extend the arms, suction the sides in, breathe in, bend them. Breathe out, extend the arms out, breathe in, bend the arms. Again, extend the arms out, hold, side body goes all the way down to the floor, then comes all the way up, and you rest.

Good, that was beautiful. I'll take your Circles for you, you can put your boxes away, and we're gonna go into Bottom Lift next. So to inspire Bottom Lift a little differently today, we're gonna use a similar theme that we did for Leg Circles. So ladies, take your legs, put them through the Magic Circle, and then put it up close to where your knee meets your thigh. Okay, and as close to that as you can get without it ending up on the other side of the knee.

Now, you get to decide where you put your feet. I tend to like my heels on the bar, some people like arches, some people like balls of the feet. Really, it's just what feels best, and if you kind of get up into this bridge we're about to do and decide you don't like where you are, please feel free to change your feet. So your arms are reaching down long. For the presses out, we're gonna come up into a straight back bridge.

So inhale prepare, girls. As you breathe out, lift your hips and find your high bridge. Beautiful, now as we stay in this position, ooh, let's open your feet wider, like a lot wider, there you go. Okay, find a little rib connection, waist connection, and low belly. Inhale prepare, we're gonna press against the Circle.

Now the trick here is to stay parallel with the feet. They really want to turn out, so you're gonna do that icky feeling of pigeon-toed. Release the effort, again, press out, exhale, hold it one, hold it two, hold it three, little release. One more time, press it out, hold it one, if you're not sure you're feeling your side butt enough, open your feet wider and go more pigeon-toed. They didn't take me up on it.

Pulse out, two, three, y'all look amazing, four, five, six, seven, now hold, just check in, you might have more ribs, waist, and low belly. Steady eight-count press, just hold, no pulses, just pressing. It's like a Thera Band, make it longer. Six, seven, and eight, roll down. Circle goes between the knees now.

We're gonna do feet in Pilates V. Mmm-hmm. (laughing) That seems awfully close together, doesn't it? Okay, so for this one, I want to put you in more of a traditional Bottom Lift position. Okay, so to me, what that means is bottom and low back lifted, back ribs are still on the mat, okay, so let's maybe, well let's first do this.

Find your heel squeeze, find the pressure of your little toe down, as you hug the Circle. So we're pulling it back full circle to the way we started. Inhale prepare, exhale navel to spine, do a pelvic tilt, and come up to about, I think that looks great, I wouldn't go any higher. Now make sure you're using your glutes to support this. Lots of booty, breathe in.

As you breathe out, hug that Circle but hug your cheeks together as well. Hold, little release, inhale. Again, squeeze, so it's not just the inner thighs, it's like you're squeezing cheek to cheek. Little release, inhale, again, exhale, do that little toe thing, pulse, in, two, three. Seven, hold eight, it's an eight-count steady squeeze.

Just, just holding, Jackie. (laughing) Roll down, ladies, that was good. That shows you were working the right stuff. Alright, so now we put the Circle down, and we're gonna go into Bottom Lift, traditional, feet out to the corners of the bar, usually the heel goes right in the little nook of the bar for me, yeah, that's perfect. Alright, here we go, girls, arms reaching long, we're putting it all together.

Breathe in prepare, breathe out, send the navel to the spine, pelvic tilt, roll up. Your back ribs are down, your bottom and low back are lifted. Hug the imaginary Magic Circle, and press out on the imaginary Magic Circle. Now roll your carriage back, breathe in. Breathe out, come in.

Again, breathe out, go back. Breathe out, come in. Now, one of the things I notice in my own body, ladies, y'all get to keep going as I run my mouth here. So one of the things I notice in my own body is if I get too close into the bar, or into the stopper, I kind of lose some of the fun of being able to keep my inner thighs and my outer thighs working, and my side butt. So maybe play with on these next three, not coming all the way in.

Take it out, let's actually hold the out, Jackie, come up and hold, stay there, Joanne, hug the bar, hug it more, now come in, let's hover about an inch or two before the stopper, hold, open the knees another inch. Two more like that, take it back. There's a little fun at the top. Get it. (snapping) Then come in, hug the bar with the little toe.

Last repetition, inhale, take it back. Exhale, drag it in ladies, draw the waist in, the ribs in, the low tummy tight. Open the knees, lift the bottom up, come all the way down, good girl. Nice, ladies, that was so good, nice job. Alright ladies, the next thing we're gonna do is finish with a little power finish for the upper body.

Come on up to standing. So for this, you're on one light spring. I'd stay pretty light. You need to bring your foot bar down, and you want to make sure that it's positioned where you can place your hand on the outside of your frame. Okay, they're gonna find a plank position with the hands on the front of the equipment.

So Jackie, you'll face the windows, and ladies, in this position, take a moment to just put some energy down into the balls of the feet, and pull up through the low belly, the waist, and give me a little rib connection. I'm gonna pull you up one more inch, Joanne, with your pelvis, good. Ladies, in this position, roll the carriage out about two to three inches, no more than that. Then bring it back in, so the torso and the head, none of that moves. It's just the arm rolling, or the carriage rolling, rather, and then bring it in.

Good, so we're gonna hold this still, and you just roll the carriage, that's it. Now bring it in, alright, ladies, that was beautiful. Part two, pick up your left foot. Roll the carriage out, and put that foot down as you roll, yeah, keep rolling, keep rolling, so now you get to move this, Jackie. Now from there, pick the leg up again, roll it back in again, and put the foot down.

Just right, now everybody regroup, ribs, waist, low belly. Alright, ready? A little more dynamic, let's have some power. Pick the leg up one, roll the carriage out, move it with your upper body, put the foot down and stabilize that carriage. Pick the foot up, bring it in, put the foot down, we're ready for a third one.

Pick the leg up, power it out, strong upper body. Put the foot down, stay there. This is gonna be a one to two inch push up without the carriage rolling, it's got to be little, go. Little bend, straighten, one, little bend, exhale from the center to push up. Little bend, stable carriage, hold.

Now pick that foot up, roll the carriage in, put the foot down, walk the feet forward a little so you can stand up. Very nicely done, isn't that fun? Yeah. Yeah, it's so fun. Okay, so let's do the other side.

And Jackie, you're not gonna lock your elbows on this side, are you? No. No, I didn't think so. I just wanted to make sure. (laughing) Listen, when I don't lock my elbows, it literally feels like they're bent two inches, you know, and what's nice though is you get the bicep, I think you'll feel stronger without locking them, okay?

Alright, so here we go ladies, find that nice start position. Alright, so ribs pull up, waist pulls up, and there's no elbow locking. Use your belly to unlock your elbows. Alright, ready, carriage goes, but the body and the head don't. Take it out, bring it in, beautiful.

Let's lift a little here, that's gorgeous, bring it in. Again, take it out, we bring it in. Now hold, girls, pick up one leg. Roll the carriage out, power, push it out, put the foot down and hold it. Pick the foot up, roll the carriage in.

Regroup up through here, good girl, put the foot down. Again, pick the leg up, roll it out, power from the upper body, girls, put the foot down, hold it. Pick the leg up, control it in, move from your middle. Last and best, roll it out. Oops, lift it, then roll it out, y'all are better, yep, bring the foot down, now hold.

These are little, don't let that white carriage roll underneath your shoulder. Little bend, push it up, that's it, keep the carriage still. Bend, push it up, y'all are beautiful. Bend, push it up, hold, pick the foot up, roll it in intentionally, put the foot down, step forward, and stand up. Good! (Jackie and Joanne laughing) So you girls are cooked. Thank you, that was fun.

You're welcome, that was so much fun. So thank you so much for watching, I hope you guys got a good workout, and we will see you next time.