Go-To Overball

Hi, I'm Gia. Today we're gonna do a mat class using a ball. We're gonna use it for almost every exercise, but if it doesn't feel right for you, you can always put it to the side and do the exercise on its own. So we're gonna start lying on your back. You're gonna put the ball underneath your sacrum.

Have your feet hip distance apart. Flat, parallel. Arms are just down by your sides and just settle your pelvis into the ball. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Let your pelvis feel heavy on that ball.

Inhale again (inhales deeply) and exhale. (exhales deeply) One more inhale for nothing. As you exhale, you're gonna tilt your pelvis under into a little curl. As you inhale, you're gonna arch your back over the ball. Exhale as you curl. Inhale, arch.

Trying to keep the feet flat. Arms are reaching long. Curl. Two more times. I'm focusing on moving my pelvis not really pushing into my feet.

One more. Keeping the spine long. And then we're gonna move into circles. So you're gonna go to one side, go into your curl, the other side and then arch. So I'm trying not to move my upper body and letting just my pelvis move around.

Just isolating that movement. Two more in this direction. Last one. And then reverse, other side. Curl, other side and arch.

To the side. Curl, trying to make it as smooth as I can. Two more. Still reaching the arms long, opening the chest. And then come back to neutral.

Shoulders are open. You're gonna bring one leg up to tabletop. Bring the other leg to tabletop. Find your balance. Toes are long.

You don't wanna point as hard as you can, but you wanna keep a little energy in your feet. You're gonna inhale as we bring one foot down to the mat. Exhale as you bring it back up to tabletop. Other leg. Bring it down and then back up.

So I'm trying to keep that 90 degree angle. If you don't touch the mat, that's okay. Just go where you can. Other side down and then back up. Just keep breathing.

Lower. So I'm trying not to change anything in my upper body. Other side. So if you feel that your head and neck are lifting up off the mat, you may be going too far trying to keep everything else still. One more on this last side.

Now I'm gonna keep both legs together. Keeping that 90 degree angle lower both feet down. Again, go as low as you can. Back up. So this time I'm not touching the mat, 'cause if I do my back will start to arch, my head will to lift.

Back up to tabletop. Lower it down. Think of the low abs pulling your legs back up to 90. Two more. And lift.

Last one. And then one foot at a time, you're gonna bring your feet down. Lift your hips up to bring the ball out from underneath your pelvis, lower your hips down. We're gonna put the ball between your thighs. So you're gonna squeeze gently, not as hard as you can.

Just enough to keep a little energy between your legs. Legs will come up to tabletop, arms up to the ceiling. Plug your shoulders in. Take a deep inhale. As you exhale, you're gonna push your arms down, curl, head up, hold, and we're gonna pump the arms for the hundred.

Inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Nice and strong with the arms. And exhale. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. If you wanna straighten your legs, you can. You can go up to the ceiling.

Exhale, keep squeezing that ball. Inhale. Exhale. If you wanna lower your legs to 45, go for it. And exhale.

We have two more sets. Inhale. Keeping that low back on the mat. Last one, inhale. And exhale.

And in. So you can hug your knees into your chest for a second. Keep the ball there. And then we're gonna bring your feet down onto the mat. You want your feet further out away from you, not all the way in by your sit bones.

Arms are gonna come all the way up to the ceiling again. We're gonna do a roll up. So again, you're slightly hugging that circle. So you have active inner thighs. Inhale with the arms up.

Exhale as you roll all the way up, all the way up to a sitting position. Inhale at the top. Exhale as you roll down one bone at a time. Arms up to the ceiling and then roll ups. Just squeeze up all, use those inner thighs to help you.

Pulling the abs in and up. Inhale, sit up tall. Exhale as you roll down. If you need a little bit of assistance, you can always grab on behind your knees, so you can hold on, use your arms to help you. And then once you're up, you can release the arms and then you can do the same thing on the way down if you need.

Two more like this. Rolling up, trying to keep the feet flat. Lift up and then roll back. One more full roll up. All the way up.

And then back down. So you're gonna roll all the way up to seated one more time. This time, we're gonna go halfway back. So you gonna go to a point where you feel like you feel a challenge. For me, that's about here.

And then you're gonna do a little pulse up an inch and then back down an inch. Up an inch and down. So you wanna find that challenging spot where you can really feel those abs working. Pulling the navel into the spine. Up and down.

Two more. Last one. Hold it here. Now you're gonna go down another inch. Same thing here.

We pulse up and down. Up and down. Three. Four. Pull those shoulders away from the ears.

Six. Two more, keep squeezing that ball. Seven. Last one. And then roll all the way down.

Take a breath. Hug your knees into your chest so you can remove the ball. So you're gonna spring your feet onto the mat. You're gonna sit up a little bit and then put the ball behind your upper back. You want it around your shoulder blades.

And then hands behind your head. You're just gonna go into a little bit of an arch. Find that position where it feels good. You might need to adjust as you're here. If you can, let your head go onto the mat.

If not, just use your hands to hold the weight of your head. Elbows are wide. Should feel a nice stretch across the chest, stretch in the upper back. Just breathe. Try not to arch the low back too much.

You wanna keep that as neutral as you can 'cause we are gonna curl up in a minute. Take one more breath here. (Gia breathing deeply) And then inhale. On the next exhale, you're gonna curl up. Keep the lower back neutral.

Inhale as you go back into that arch. Exhale as you curl up. Roll back. Curl up. Two more.

So I'm trying to keep my pelvis still. As I curl up, I'm not letting it roll forward into a curl. Good. Now from here, you're gonna stay in this curl. We're gonna bring one leg up to tabletop and then lower it down.

Other leg comes up to tabletop and lower it down. Just keep alternating. Trying to stay parallel with those legs and even on your hips. So if I was looking at your pelvis, I shouldn't be able to tell which leg you're gonna lift up next. It should be fairly even across both sides of the pelvis.

One more each side. Last one. Now we're gonna bring one leg up and hold. Other leg comes up. Legs glued together.

We're gonna curl up a little higher and we're gonna go into the series of five. So you're gonna grab one leg. You have your opposite hand on your knee. Same like on your ankle. The other leg reaches out and then you're gonna switch.

So you're gonna inhale for two and exhale for two. (Gia breathing heavily) Again, keeping that pelvis neutral. Still curling up off that ball, so I'm using it for support and to get me a little higher, but I'm not sinking into the ball. One more. Both knees into your chest.

Double leg stretch. Inhale, arms and legs reach away from each other. Exhale, circle the arms, hug your knees in. Inhale, reach. Exhale, circle and hug.

And three. Pulling the navel into the spine, trying to stay high up in that curl. Under around. Two more Under around. Last one.

Good. Scissors, one leg up, grab the ankle or the thigh. you're gonna pull twice and switch. Inhale twice. Exhale twice.

(Gia breathing heavily) Two more sets. Again, keeping that pelvis neutral and stable like we did before. Both legs up, hands behind your head. You can go into a little Pilates feet if you'd like. You're gonna reach both legs out as you inhale.

Exhale to lift them back up. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Really glue those heels together. Reach.

Exhale, lift. Two more. Reach. Again, you're trying to lift up off that ball, using it for support, but you're not sinking into it. And back up.

Criss-cross. One leg into your chest, other leg reaches out. You twist toward the bent leg and switch. So really think of the one side of the rib going to the opposite knee. Twist, twist.

Two more sets. Last set. And then hug your legs in. We're gonna rock up. Move the ball and just place it to the side for a minute.

Put it up here. Hug your legs in to your chest. We're gonna go into little circles. One hand on each knee, you're gonna bring the legs away from each other to circle. Really use your arms to move the legs so you can relax the hips, especially in the hip flexors.

Reverse. You can let the feet relax as well. No tension. Bring your feet down to the mat. You're gonna cross one leg over the other cross at the knees.

If you have the floor available, you can go into a T with your arms. And then you're just gonna bring both legs over to one side. Try to keep both shoulders on the mat. If you wanna turn your head to the opposite side, you can. Bring the legs back up, but keep them cross this way.

You're gonna twist to the other side with the legs. So this version of the twist feels a little bit different than the first. And then come back up with the legs. Switch to the other leg, criss-cross over the knee and then twist to one direction. If you wanna turn head the opposite way, you can.

Just try to keep full shoulders on the mat. And then coming back up, keep the legs crossed and twist to the other side. Just let the weight of your leg pull you into that twist. And then legs come on up, hug both knees into your chest, rock on up to a seated position. We're gonna go into spine stretch.

So we're gonna use the ball again. You're gonna have the ball just on the mat in front of you. Legs are a little bit wider than your shoulders and your feet are flex. Hands are gonna be one on top of the other, just on top of the ball. Inhale as you sit up nice and tall.

Exhale, you're gonna roll that ball forward and reach your head between your arms. Think of pulling your abdominals back as you reach your arms forward. Inhale, roll that ball toward you as you sit up tall. Exhale as you roll forward. Good.

Inhale, lift up. Keep pulling the toes back to the shins as you reach forward. Two more times. And then reach forward. Last one, sit up nice and tall.

You're getting a little bit taller each time. And then roll up, pick up the ball. We're gonna keep the feet here, keep flexing. One hand on each side of the ball, you're gonna twist to one side, reach your head between your arms as you reach forward toward that foot. Roll back up to the center, twist to the other side.

Reach forward for soft. And then come back up. So you have a nice pressure with your hands. Just keep going, reaching forward. Again, you're not squeezing as hard as you can, but you still have active arms here.

Twist, reach forward. As you're moving, your sit bones are staying nice and even on the mat. So you're not letting your hips shift. One more each side. Last one, twist and reach.

Then come up to the center, hold it here, sit up a little bit taller and you're gonna do little pulses with the arms. So you're gonna squeeze in, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Like the a hundred. Inhale, two, three, four, five.

Exhale. Keep shoulders down the back. Inhale and exhale. So you're not just using the hands. It's coming from the whole arm.

Exhale. One more set. Inhale. Exhale. Lower the ball down.

So we're gonna go into swan. So you're gonna lie on your stomach. You're gonna use the ball. If you don't want the ball, you can always just use your hands on the mat. We have some options too.

You can have your hands on the outside of the ball. You can have one hand on top of each other in front. So legs are either together or apart. Whatever feels better on your back. I'm gonna have mine a little bit apart.

Inhale as you lift up. You can push down into that ball a little bit, just to get a little bit more extension. Exhale as you lower down. So I'm reaching the legs long, pulling up in the abdominal, so it's not going into my lower back too much. I'm thinking more about my upper back arching .

Again, lifting up. Lower down. Two more. Lift. Lower.

Last one. Good. Bring the ball with you. We're gonna go into child's pose. We'll get a little bit of a shoulder opening with the hands on the ball.

Again, you can have the hands on the side or one on top of the other. Just let your head hang. Arms are long. You're sitting back toward your heels and just take a deep inhale and exhale. (breathing heavily) One more inhale. Exhale.

Slowly roll up. So we're gonna go into some sidelining exercises. So you can pick which side you wanna start on. You're gonna place the ball between your ankles. And then lie on your side.

You can lie all the way down on your arm. You can have your hand behind your head or you can prop yourself up on your forearm, whatever feels good to you. So again, you have a nice gentle hug on that ball. Abs are pulled in. Think of lifting your waist, bottom waist up off the mat.

You're gonna inhale as you lift both legs up. Exhale to come back down. So try not to use this top shoulder. You wanna keep that down the back as well. So ideally, you can do it without hands.

It'll just challenge your balance a little bit if you wanna do that. Lower and lift. Both legs are reaching long. Two more. Lower.

Last one. You're gonna hold this one up a little squeezes in with the ball. Three, four, five. Exhale, two. Three, four, five. Inhale.

Exhale. One more set. Inhale. Feel those inner thighs working. And then with control, lower both legs down.

Bend your knees, we're gonna move the ball out of the way. And then legs are gonna be long again. So I'm gonna bring my legs forward. So I'm in a bit of a obtuse angle. Top leg is gonna reach long, hip height and I'm gonna slightly turned that leg out.

So my goal is to keep the hips stacked one on top of the other and I'm gonna kick this top leg forward to. Two. And then back. Two. Forward.

To and back. To, forward. Back. Forward. Back.

Two more sets. Front. To, back. Remember that lift under your bottom waist. And then legs together.

You're gonna keep this top leg parallel, lifted up a little higher than your hip and lower. Lift and lower. Find that resistance in both directions. Lower and lift. All right, four more.

As we lift, keep the hips stacked, so you're not letting the top waste sink in. You wanna keep the waist long. Two more. Lower, last one. And then we lower halfway down into a circle.

Front, up, back together. Good. Keeping the hips stable. So I'm not letting them rock around. Again, I'm trying to keep that balance on that bottom hip.

Two more in this direction. Bring the legs together and we'll reverse. So you go back, up, forward together. Forward together. Three and four.

You have two more. Five, six. Legs together. Lie on your back. We're gonna do a figure four stretch.

Move this ball out of the way. So the leg you just worked are gonna cross that foot over the opposite knee and then pull that leg into your chest. Stretch out your hip that we just worked. Should feel nice. I like to use my elbow to push this knee out and then use my hands to pull this other leg in.

So I get a deeper stretch. One more breath here. And then we're gonna switch sides. So again, you're gonna have the ball between your ankles to start. So you're gonna squeeze that ball.

Lie down in your desired position. And then this top hand is just for balance again. Watch that shoulder, so it's not rolling forward. You wanna keep the chest open. Squeeze the ball slightly, pull up in your abdominals and you're gonna lift both legs up and lower.

So you'll notice one side feels easier than the other. This is my easier side to balance on. I don't know about you. Lift. So if you wanna try and test the top hand up, just to test your balance a little bit.

We have two more. Or you can even just do fingertips if you wanna work your way up. Hold this next one up. We have little pulses in with that ball squeeze. Two, three, four, five.

Exhale, two, three, four, five. Really lengthen the legs. Exhale, two, three, four, five. One more set. Exhale, two, three, four, five.

With control, you're gonna lower the legs, bend your legs, take the ball out and just put it to the side. So find that long position. Legs are slightly forward. You're in the straight line from your head all the way down to your hips and then reach this top leg out. You're gonna lift it up hip height, turn it out slightly and you're gonna kick twice front.

To and back. To. Try to go as far as you can without changing the position of the spine. Back. Again, if you wanna test your balance, you can come onto your fingertips or you can bring your hand behind your head for a little more challenge.

Front, front. Back back. Two more sets. Back back. Last one.

Good, legs together. Parallel with the top leg, you're gonna lift up a little higher than your hip and lower. Find that resistance in both directions. So not letting the leg just fall down. Lift and lower.

Remember that house for your mouse. Lower. Two more. Lift and lower. Last one.

Halfway down, circle the leg. We go forward, up, back, together. Two and three. Keep pushing down with that top leg or sorry, the bottom leg, 'cause you're working both sides even while you're just moving the one leg. And then we reverse.

Back and around. Two. Keep pulling into your abdominals. Using that for control. Last two.

Five and six. Legs together. Lie on your back. We'll go into your figure four stretch. So again, the leg you just worked are gonna cross that foot over the opposite knee.

Pull that leg into your chest and you can use the elbow to push the knee out and then your hands to pull your leg in. Just make sure your hips stay square. You don't wanna hike one hip up as you're pulling. You wanna try to maintain your box in your torso. One more deep breath here.

Exhale. And then come on up. So you're gonna grab your ball. You're gonna put it between your thighs again, and then lie down on your back. Arms are reaching down.

This time, your feet are as close to your sit bones as you can get for some bridging. Inhale, the bottom. As you exhale, you're gonna roll up to your bridge one bone at a time, trying to find the straight line from your shoulders to your knee. Inhale at the top. Exhale as you roll down one bone at a time.

Once you're at the bottom, inhale. Exhale as you roll up. So you're hugging that ball slightly. Again, not as hard as you can. Try not to turn your head at all.

You wanna keep looking up to the ceiling. Inhale. Exhale as you roll down. Think of reaching your knees away from you as you're moving. So you roll up.

Weight even on all parts of the feet. Knees are reaching past the toes. Inhale at the top. Exhale as you roll down. One more like this.

Roll up Articulating through the spine, inhale. Exhale as you roll down. Now, you're gonna roll and hold. Find that nice long position. You're gonna squeeze that ball in and then release.

Squeeze, release. Try to keep the hips nice and high without arching the back. Squeeze, release. We have four more slow. Three, two, one.

Little pulses faster for eight, down. Four, three, two, one. Roll down. And then hug your legs into your chest. Take the ball out and just give your legs a little squeeze.

So you gonna keep the ball between your hands. We're gonna bring your legs to tabletop or you can bring them out to a 45 degree angle for teaser. You're gonna bring your ball onto your legs and then straighten your arms. So we're gonna take a deep inhale at the bottom here. As you exhale, you're gonna roll the ball up your legs.

Find that teaser position. Inhale at the top. Exhale as you roll down. Keeping the legs there. Inhale at the bottom.

Exhale as you roll up, roll up. Two, three. Inhale. Exhale as you roll down. We have two more.

Inhale. Exhale. Let that ball help you. It's guiding you up. Inhale.

Exhale as you roll down. Last time. Rolling up. Hold. And then roll back.

Hug your knees into your chest one more time. We're gonna put the ball away for the rest of the class. So you gonna rock side to side. Flip over onto your stomach and we're gonna go into some swimming. So you're gonna have your legs out behind you, hip distance apart.

Arms out in front of you, a little bit wider than your shoulders. You're gonna lift your arms and your chest. Lift your legs up, reach them long, and we're gonna alternate one leg and the opposite arm up and then switch. Up, up, up. Good.

So you can go into your a hundred breathing again if you'd like. So you're gonna inhale, two, three, four, five. Exhale, two, three, four, five. Try to keep the back of the neck long. I just caught myself up.

I'm trying to look up. Inhale. Shoulders away from the ears. Exhale. Inhale and exhale.

Two more sets. Inhale. Shoulders away from the ears. Last set. Exhale.

Hold it up. Lower down with control. Push back into child's pose and just take a breath. One more time, inhale and exhale. And then come on to your hands and knees.

We're gonna go into push-ups to finish. So you're gonna find your plank. You can stay on your knees or you can come to a full plank if you'd like. Hands are right under your shoulders. Elbows are pointing back.

Find that plank position, squeeze your legs together or keep them hip distance apart and just gonna bend your arms and then push up. So the elbows are going straight back by your ribs. Up. Go as low as you can. Push and lift.

Two more. Last one. And then come back to all fours. Shake out your wrists and you're all finished. Thanks for taking class with me.