Day 3: Traditional Flow

Welcome back, day three. In this class, we're gonna be doing some traditional Pilates moves. There will be some maybe new variations you've never done before. Feel free to modify for your body and let's get started. So our other classes, we have a standing warmup.

In this class we'll begin with the warmup that Joseph Pilates himself loved, which is the 100. So stretch out, get long, squeeze your legs together. On an exhale, the arms come down, the chest will lift, and the legs will hover. How high? That's up to you.

You inhale through your nose, and you exhale through your mouth. Five pumps each. Big breath in. And big breath out. (Courtney exhaling) 10 sets.

Inhale through the nose, and exhale. That's 30. Inhaling and exhaling. 40. You'll notice some people breathe for the 100 in what's called a staccato breath.

There's 50. Staccato sounds like this. (Courtney inhaling and exhaling) I think just breathing is important, so breathe in the way that feels well for you. One more time. Big breath in.

And big breath out. (Courtney exhaling) And I always finish the 100 with a hold, maybe a deepening, maybe a scoop, maybe the legs can drop and the whole thing comes down. Next exercise is roll up. So flex the feet, roll up, create a C-shape with the spine. Roll yourself down.

Do your best to get your spine to connect to the mat. Exhale as you roll up and over. In this exercise, I push my big toes forward, pull my baby toes back. It helps me to stay connected into my legs. I'm trying to be heavy in my legs, and light in my spine to get that roll up.

Two more times. Exhale up and over. Inhale down. One more time. Exhale up and over.

And inhale down. Stay down for this next one, and take one leg up. I'm gonna have my leg in a bent position. You could be a straight leg, whatever feels natural and intuitive to you. The leg will cross across the midline without the pelvis moving.

And you'll draw a circle on the ceiling with your knee or your toe. Five in one direction. Inhale cross. (Courtney inhaling) Exhale circle. (Courtney exhaling) Make the circle as small or as big as you need to to keep your pelvis stable.

Now we're gonna reverse the direction, take it around. One. (Courtney inhaling and exhaling) Two. I'm definitely pressing into my arms to assist with my stability. (Courtney exhaling) One more time.

(Courtney exhaling) Send that leg down and the other leg up. Keeping the shape of the leg, you go across your midline, down and around, and up. Pelvis doesn't move very much. And down and around. (Courtney exhaling) Inhale, cross.

Exhale circle. Try to keep a lot of space between your hip and your shoulder on that side. Reverse. (Courtney exhaling) Drawing the circles on the ceiling. Really moving that thigh bone in the hip socket.

One more time. (Courtney exhaling) Bending the knees in and rocking to a balanced position. For this exercise, you're gonna wanna keep your spine as tight and small as you can. Shoulders down the back. Inhale as you roll to the shoulder blades.

Exhale to a balance. Inhale, roll. (Courtney exhaling) Exhale up. Keep the shape of the spine the same. Inhale, roll.

Exhale up. Think of this as a massage for your back. No momentum. Three, two, and one more time. One.

Now just lower the hips, extend one leg and hug the other knee in. You can either grab that shin and get real close to your body or keep the leg more in a tabletop position. Exhale to switch and switch. Stay lifted for this exercise. Switch, single leg stretch.

Big push, big pull. Three. You'll recognize this from our warmup. Two. This whole series.

And one. Next exercise, double leg. I use my arm strength to curl up real high. Shoot the arms away, the legs away. Hold the scoop just like I did for the 100.

Inhale, get big. Exhale, gets small. Think of a seed shape. Use your arm strength and assist that scoop. Four.

(Courtney exhaling) Three. (Courtney exhaling) Two. (Courtney exhaling) And one. Next, we go into a twist. Legs come to table.

Hands behind the head. Turn towards the bent knee and switch. Keep the pelvis as stable as you can just like you did in that single-leg circle. Switch. Switch.

Really lift the chest. (Courtney exhaling) Four and three. The lower the legs, the harder you work. Two and one. Grab an ankle, walk your hands up.

Get real height in the chest. Pull out with the arms. Two pulls, one switch (Courtney exhaling) Pull, pull. Reach for the ankle. Find that hamstring length.

Five, and four, and three, and two, and one. Help yourself rock up and take a wider stance. You can bend your knees if you feel like it's more comfortable to sit tall. You can even prop yourself up onto something. We're gonna turn to one side.

Sit as tall as you can. I'm reaching one arm forward, the opposite elbow back, come through center, pull and return. Big twist, seated twist. Finding that opposition, legs don't move. (Courtney exhaling) Every time I twist, I try to get a little bit more height in my spine.

Three. (Courtney exhaling) Two. (Courtney exhaling) And one. Okay, guys, coming into bridge. For this exercise, I want your feet about hip distance apart.

Heels under the knees. Hips lift nice and high. Use your glutes, close your ribs. Press into your arms. It's a whole-body exercise.

One leg goes up to the sky. Flex your foot as you drop the leg as low as you can keep the pelvis level and then point and kick. Ten. (Courtney exhaling) Nine. Eight.

Seven. Six, five, four, three, two, one. Plant the foot, toe, ball, heel, take a second, reset. Are those hips high? Are the knees over the toes?

Close the ribs. Strong arms, opposite leg comes up, lower and lift. Ten. Nine. Eight.

Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three.

Two. One. Plant the foot. Reset. Find that strong bridge and roll your spine down.

Take your legs up to table. Keep the spine into the mat. Abdominals closed. Extend the legs as low as you can stabilize. With a little bit of momentum and a lot of power, exhale, roll up so the legs are parallel to the ground.

Separate the legs and flex your feet. Push through your heels as you slowly roll your spine back to the mat. Now keeping the spine connected to the mat. Send the legs as low as you think you can. And repeat the scoop.

Look at your knees. Make sure the legs are straight, separate, and flex the feet. Roll slowly down. (Courtney exhaling) Drawing the legs low and together. (Courtney exhaling) Big exhale up, separate, and flex.

And roll yourself down. Now keep your legs apart, and feet flexed. And try rolling up like this. It's a lot harder to get up for most. Draw your legs together.

This time, heels together, toes apart. Legs parallel to the ground. Legs straight as you roll down, separate the legs, flex the feet. Push through the heels. Push down through the arms.

Find that inner thigh connection. Squeeze the inner thighs as you roll down. Last time like this. (Courtney exhaling) Exhale up. No weight or pressure onto my head or neck.

Slowly roll, coming all the way down. Nice job. Roll over onto your stomach For the next exercise, we're bending your spine and body back in the opposite direction. Keep your legs anchored and heavy for this one, pelvis into the mat. We're gonna do a couple of preparatory movements first.

So try hovering the chest and arms up and lowering the forehead to the mat. Do that a few more times. See if you can get this lift without lifting the legs. Keep the legs long, heavy and anchored. Lift.

(Courtney exhaling) Lower. One more time like this. Lift and lower. Adding on, we're gonna lift up, stay up, reach the arms forward. Circle the arms.

Lift a bit higher. Come back to the hover. Stay up, as you circle, you lift. (Courtney exhaling) Come back to the hover. Reach, long line, circle.

(Courtney exhaling) Come back to the hover. Most of the work happen in your mid-spine. (Courtney exhaling) One more time. Reach, hold, big squeeze. (Courtney exhaling) Back to the hover and press back.

So we've done flexion, we've done some rotation and extension. Let's keep moving the spine. It feels so good. So back to that seated position. Feel free to modify by bending your knees or sitting on something.

Reach your arms out. So your arms kind of mimic your legs. On an inhale, rotate to one side. That's a twist. On an exhale, reach opposite hand to foot.

We did this exercise in day two, so you likely remember it. Inhale to twist. Exhale to flex. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale to return.

When you twist, try to keep your shoulders right over your hips. Rebuild. Return. Inhale to twist. Legs don't move.

Exhale to flex. Pushing the opposite hip down into the mat. Focusing on getting a lot of stretch and length in those hamstrings. Return. Breath in.

Exhale. (Courtney exhaling) Inhale. One more time each direction. (Courtney exhaling) Up, all the way over, and up. All right, we're gonna find the glutes in the next exercise.

Lie down, keeping the abdominals engaged and arms strong and long. Extend the legs. On an inhale, come back into that rollover position you practiced. Now using your booty, roll up, up, up. Coming onto your shoulder blades.

Keep your toes over your nose and slowly control the down. Send the legs low and the whole thing starts again. Inhale to come up. Exhale to extend. Squeeze your inner thighs and your glutes.

Inhale, start to roll. Exhale. When you think you can't control it that exhale will help. And do it again. Inhale, up and over.

Exhale, big lift. (Courtney exhaling) Inhale, toes over nose. Exhale. Last time like this. Inhale.

Up. Exhale. Use your legs here to find that jack knife position. Inhale as you roll, exhale as you control. Take the legs all the way down and roll onto your side.

For more booty work. Support your head and neck. Scoot your hips back towards the edge of the mat and your feet forward. Creating a small L position that'll help with stability, try to stay lifted through the side. Top leg comes up with a flexed foot.

Top leg comes down with a pointed ankle. Up and down, up and down. So as I do this exercise I am trying to keep my hips stacked, right. Top hip over bottom. Four.

(Courtney exhaling) Three. (Courtney exhaling) Two. (Courtney exhaling) Stay up for one. Without moving the pelvis, just like we've practiced so many times, the leg will circle. The circle can be small, the circle can be slow, it can also be quick.

Whatever you wanna do to challenge the stability in your back. Eight in each direction, shoulders relaxed. It's more of a reminder for myself. Reverse those circles up and around. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one.

Now hold the leg up. You're gonna make an arc shape, tapping the foot in front and then arcing and tapping the foot behind. Try again to keep the pelvis stable. We'll go eight. (Courtney exhaling) Seven.

Each exercise is a core exercise. Even though I'm moving here and feeling my glutes, my abdominals, my back are working so hard to keep my spine stable. Four, three, two, and one. Draw your legs together and make one long line with your body. Send your bottom arm long.

Use your top arm to stabilize. Both legs lift together. There's a bit of a balance on the hip and both legs lower. Exhale, up. Feeling this in my obliques and my inner thighs.

Exhale, up. (Courtney exhaling) Shoulders down, easy breathing. Five, four, three, two, and one. Bend the knees. Swing those legs around coming right into your setup on the other side.

So the hips will be aligned with the back of the mat. You're either onto your forearm, down onto your head. Support your neck in a way that feels best for you. Take the top leg up and lower, lift and lower. Lift up, lower down.

Keeping the hips stacked. (Courtney exhaling) Side body long. (Courtney exhaling) And shoulders relaxed. Easy, right? The more you resist the leg on the down the more work you're gonna feel.

So find that resistance as if you're moving through water. Two to go. (Courtney exhaling) One more. Holding the leg up for your circles. Choose the speed and choose the size that challenges your stability in your spine.

Eight is your goal in each direction. My little secret when I circle is to always focus on the accent up. So I go up and around, up and around, up and around. The down's the easy part, the up is the challenge. Three, two, one, leg comes to the front, make that rainbow shape, leg to the back, to the front, to the back, lift and lower.

In addition to lifting my leg up I'm trying to stretch my leg away from my body. So I'm feeling like my leg is getting really long and I'm creating some space in my hip. Two to go. One more, good. Connect the legs, swing them back and find that long line with your body.

Yes, hips are stacked, shoulders are too. Lift from the lower leg up. Exhale, lift, and lift, lift. It's as if I'm pushing my bottom leg up and it's doing the majority of the work. So my lower legs doing most of the work.

My upper legs kind of along for the ride. Last two, last one. Flip onto your stomach. Take your hands to the small of your back. Stacking your hands.

Let your shoulders round forward and turn your head to one side, except it's not a break. Pull your abdominals up towards your hands. Squeeze your legs together and bend your knees in towards your seat three times, one, and two, and three. Now separate your legs and your arms. Reach to your toes and come into a big lift.

Take the hands to the small of the back. Relax the shoulders and bend in. One, two, three. Stretch the leg. Stretch the arms.

Find the lift. Other side. One, two. This is a hamstring curl. Three.

Try not to let your body turn, rock, twist, shake. Instead, find the stability in the squeeze. One, two, three. Lift up. One more time each direction, big squeeze, two, three, and lift.

And One, two, three, and up. Press yourself up. Take a seat for a very challenging exercise. Some people love it, some people hate it. Let's find out.

The exercise is called teaser. You're coming up like a letter V shape. First things first, bring the arms up to the sky. Find that abdominal lift. Squeeze your legs together.

Wrap your thighs, it'll help. From here, you're gonna lift your arms and legs finding a balanced position onto your butt. You're trying to get your legs and chest as close together as you can. Finding a stable shape. Roll your lower back to the mat.

Reach the arms back. Do it again. (Courtney exhaling) Exhale up. Shoulders plugged into the back. Inhale down.

Again. Exhale up and inhale down. Two more. Big lift. How are you doing?

Oh, you gotta fight for it. And down. One more. (Courtney exhaling) Good. And take it all the way down.

All right. Rolling back onto the stomach. Bending yourself back in the opposite direction. Take a wide position with the legs. Keep your pubic bone heavy.

Roll your shoulders down and back. On an inhale, lift your chest and really widen your collarbone. On an exhale, lower. On an inhale, lift, and exhale. So we're stretching the muscles.

We just worked in teaser, on an inhale lift, and on exhale lower. We're gonna add what's called rock and catch. So I think of my body like a boomerang. When my chest goes down, my legs come up. (Courtney exhaling) Catch.

(Courtney exhaling) Catch. Four. (Courtney exhaling) Three. (Courtney exhaling) Two. (Courtney exhaling) One.

(Courtney exhaling) And rest. But not really. There are no breaks here. We're going to do an exercise called swimming. Find the lift again, pubic bone heavy, reach the arms forward, and hover.

Opposite arm to leg comes up. Switch, switch, switch, switch, switch, switch. Really find the lift, up, up, up. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Stay up and take it back.

Push yourself into a stretch and take a seat. So our back body's feeling strong and long. Let's do an exercise that really challenges the sides of the body. Taking your elbows and forearms onto the mat. Close the ribs, legs come up.

We're gonna tick-tock the legs to one side, circle them down and around, and come up to the other side, meeting in center again. We go down, and around, and up. I'm allowing my legs to draw a circle, similar to our one-leg circle exercise but I'm trying my best to keep my ribs closed, my abdominals in and engaged. Twist and around. This is a great exercise to prepare us for the next one coming up too which is corkscrew, and down and around.

Last time here, and down and around. All righty, feet come down. We come down. Corkscrew is another inversion. So find that connection through the front body and strong arms.

Trust me, it'll help. Shoot the legs long and roll yourself up. Coming into that same position we know and we love. For this exercise, try not to let the hips come off to one side. Instead, turn your toes to one side of your mat.

Roll down your spine, sending your legs low and finding that place where the legs are in line with the sternum. Roll up the opposite side. Come through center. Roll down, making a horseshoe shape with the legs. Roll down.

(Courtney exhaling) Swing up. (Courtney exhaling) Roll down. Some people say it's a massage for the spine. I don't know. It does feel good, but it's definitely a challenge.

You wanna finish the exercise by rolling straight down center, hugging your knees in, and helping yourself come up to a seated position. We're gonna really massage the spine in the next exercise called seal. It's hard to do this one without laughing. (Courtney exhaling) But if you laugh you end up engaging more muscles anyways. So we'll just go with it.

I'm holding under my ankles, feet together, finding that scoop. This is harder than rolling like a ball because you can't cheat. You have to use your abdominal muscles to find the lift. There is no momentum here. (Courtney exhaling) Only core connection.

Inhale down. Exhale up. Notice that I'm not rolling onto my neck. I'm trying to control the down just to my shoulder blades. Rolling right through the center.

We've got four. (Courtney exhaling) We've got three. (Courtney exhaling) Two. (Courtney exhaling) And one more. (Courtney exhaling) Come right up onto your knees.

So far so good. Back into the booty we go. Little bit harder this time. Take your arms out to a T. Roll those shoulders down and back.

Tilt to one side and take the opposite leg out and extend. Tap the mat and lift it up. So not unlike our sideline leg series just a little bit harder to keep that spine stable and lifted, and the alignment of the body being much more intense in the glutes. One more time. Hold the leg up.

Flex the foot, swing the leg forward. Kicking twice. Pull the leg back. Try not to lean forward when you pull back. So we go kick, kick.

(Courtney exhaling) Kick, kick. (Courtney exhaling) I'm trying my best to keep the height of the leg up the whole time. Kick, kick. (Courtney exhaling) Two more. Kick, kick.

(Courtney exhaling) One more, kick, kick. (Courtney exhaling) Knee comes down. You come up. We're gonna do it again other side. So take the hand down, extend the leg.

Find that height. Find that lift. Find that length. Down and up, and up. Lift and lift.

Four. Challenge yourself. Kick higher. Three, two. Hold the leg up.

Flex the foot. Forward twice back without losing the core. One, two, back. One, two. (Courtney exhaling) One, two.

(Courtney exhaling) Kick, kick, pull. Two more. Kick, kick, pull. One more. Kick, kick, pull.

Take it down and rise to come up. All righty. Meet me for side bending. So ankles are crossed. The closer your hands are to your hips the more of a bend that you'll get.

So adjust it for your body. Shoulders, back and down. Take a big breath in. And then as you exhale the hips come up and you're making this rainbow shape. So your spine is arched.

On an inhale, let's take it down. The important part here is pull that shoulder down and back. Lift and sit. We'll do three more like this. Set the shoulder, create that arch, and take it down.

One more, lift and sit. But there's more, little more intensity here. This one is your twist. So lift, reach your arm up to the sky, send your hips up, reach back, touching an ankle if you can. Back to the sky you go.

Take it down. We've done exercises like this in day one and two. You'll definitely see the similarities. Lift up, you're piking, hips up. There's your side plank.

And take it down. Just two more. We can do this. Lift up, hips up, and back. (Courtney exhaling) Reach up and sit down.

Last time this side. Lift up, hips up, side plank, and take it down. Swing those legs around. We're gonna give this arm a break. And get into the opposite side.

Pull the shoulders down and back. Start by making that rainbow shape. Lift up and sit down, on an exhale. Lift up. Feels good, and take it down.

Neck stays long. Lift up. Squeeze your inner thighs together here. Take it down. Two more, and big lift, and lower.

Last time. Lift up and lower. Into the twist we go. So reach the sky when you lift, pike those hips high, stretch. Reach to the sky side plank.

Sit and take a little break. Reach to the sky up, back to the ankle, reach. Up to the ceiling, hold. Taking it down again. Reach.

Hips up. (Courtney exhaling) Lengthen. And sit, almost there. Reach. Pike up.

(Courtney exhaling) Reach up. (Courtney exhaling) And sit. We've got one more exercise to do. I'm gonna meet you standing at the back of your mat. Feet hips with apart.

Big reach up. Feel everything you just worked. Dive down. Walk out to a plank position. One, two, three, four, one push-up.

Walk yourself back and rebuild your spine. Let's do it again. Get big, dive down. Center your weight between your toes and your heels. One, two, three, four, one push-up and walk it back.

Two more to go. Enjoy the stretch. (Courtney exhaling) Find that C scoop. Walk, walk, walk. Narrow elbows.

(Courtney exhaling) Walk it back, and rebuild. And I always like to finish with a bang. I'm gonna try to get down as low as I can in this push-up. Knees down if you need to. Walk it back and rebuild to come up.

Ooh, Pilates is hard work. I hope you feel great. I can't wait to see you for day four. See you tomorrow.