Heat on the Mat

Hi guys, I'm Courtney Miller. And today I'm going to be bringing you one of my favorite classes. It's part of my Pilates With Heart series. And this class is called Heat for good reason. We're going to be doing some jumping.

We're going to be feeling a burn in our entire body, head to toe, and I'll give you a lot of options, if jumping is not something that you want to do. Either way, we're going to get an amazing workout and have a lot of fun. I'm using some medium weights in my class today, mine are eight pounds. You might choose to grab a set of weights or not use any at all. I'm going to get you started with a warmup.

So join me. Stand in front of your mat. We're going to start with some high knees to get the heart pumping. Take your hands into prayer and start driving a knee up. Exhale when you do.

So my Heat class is based off of my Pilates Jump Board class. That's why we're going to be doing some jumping. As you land on the floor, I want you to try to really articulate through your foot just the way you went on your jump board, toe, ball, heel, toe, ball, heel. Use the abdominals to draw the leg up and exhale when you do. We're doing about 45 seconds of these cardio drills.

You do you. You can pick up that tempo, slow it down, take breaks as you need to. Try not to lean back as you do this exercise. Instead, lean your chest a little bit forward. Open your collarbones and keep on going.

We've got ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. But wait, there's more. Get down into a low squat. Two options for this next one. Option one, jump out, stay in parallel, jump in and stay low.

Option two, tap the leg side to side about 45 seconds. Let's go. In out. Chest is lifted, shoulders are back. Finding that energy from the ground underneath you.

There's a light landing. In, out you go, in and out. Using your outer thighs to open, using your inner thighs to close, and keeping those knees traveling right over the mid feet. In, out, building bone density, getting the heart rate up. 10 seconds to go.

Almost there, guys. Stay with me. five, four, Three, two, and one. Nice job. You'll see these little pops of cardio throughout the whole class today.

Time to grab your weights. So the first exercise we're going to be doing is a low squat with an overhead press. I want you to take your feet a little wider than your hips and parallel. Weights, if you're going to use them, will come up to shoulder height, sit down into a deep squat. Leaning back, weight into your heels.

Chest is lifted, chin parallel to the ground. As you rise up, use the power of your legs and your glutes and press your arms up overhead. Let's go. 20 repetitions. Inhale down, exhale up.

I want you to work the deceleration. Inhale down, exhale up. Remember that your feet should be anchored into the ground. Four corners of your feet, big toe, baby toe, and then divide the heel of your foot into the inner and outer part of the heel. So you have four corners of your feet pressing down.

Five more here. That's five, four, three, two, one more. And bring it on home. Great job, guys. What I want you to feel during this exercise is that it's your legs and arms working together.

For the next exercise, let's draw our legs together in parallel position, bend into a squat, send those tail feathers back and close the ribs. Pull your elbows up and keep them squeezed right into your sides. Pressing back into a tricep extension three times. Control the bend. So no momentum here.

Bring the hands to the shoulders. One hop out and in, back into that low diagonal lean in the body. Three times we kick it back and then up and over we go. One, two. Crown of the head reaching forward, tail feathers back, three, and out, in.

We're doing 10 repetitions here. You should feel a lot of abdominals to stabilize the shape against those tricep kickbacks. Kick it. This diagonal lean forward is a great time to feel those deeper abdominals working. Out, in.

We have four more reps. Really trying to keep my collarbones wide. Out, in. Three, and slowing down that bend, out, in, two. Elbows nice and high.

Out, in, and one. Out, in. Nice job, guys. The next exercise is a bicep curl with a lunge back. So standing nice and tall.

I like to start with my feet hips width parallel. Turn your palms up and bring your elbows just in front of your body. The bicep curl position is here and control that deceleration down, adding your lunge back. Step one foot back. The knee comes close to the ground and rise to come up.

Let's do 10 on each leg. control the up. I'm trying to remind myself to keep my shoulders rolling down and back. It's a little muscle memory every time I step back finding that same position. And up.

Squeezing my elbows in towards my body helps me to keep my upper arm bones still. And when I keep my upper arm bones still, I'm able to really isolate the bicep movement. Let's do three more on this side, three, two, and one. Right into the other side. Step back, squeeze it in, rise.

Now very rarely do we feel the same left to right. It's normal to feel one side is stronger. For me maybe one side's more coordinated, sending it back, resisting the up, pressing down into my feet. Feel like you get your power from the Earth underneath you. Four more here.

That's four. The beautiful thing about these movements, guys, is it really is whole body integration. I can feel all the muscles along my spine working to keep me stable. And all the way up. Great job.

10 on each side. Let's go into another cardio blast. So you'll need some room to move side to side. I'm going to start on this end of my mat. Get low into that parallel squat.

You've been here before. You're going to push off at the sides of your hips and move as far as you can, across your mat to the other side. Yeah, I swing my arms back to give myself a little bit more drive in that kick. If doing the jump isn't working for you, step, squat hold, step, squat holds, but keep on moving, swinging those arms, finding that breath. If you're someone who takes jump board classes, you're there.

You're mentally thinking about how challenging those jumps can be, but you know, they don't last forever. Five, four, feeling those glutes working to push me out, two, and one, nice work. Second cardio blast. We're going to be in a wide second position stance, coming down into a low squat. I want you to focus on the thighs rolling open.

So get low, roll the thighs open, rise, squeeze the glutes, make sure your legs are straight. Inhale down, exhale up. This would be a great option to stay in. If you want to add a jump, you're going to jump into first position. Into first, back into a low squat.

Into first, keep the chest lifted and send those hips low. Out, in, out, in. How you doing? Neck is long. 10 seconds to go.

Low squats. All right, guys, counting you down, five to go. Send the hips low. Keep that chest lifted Two, and one. Whew! We're going to take it to the mat and get into our abdominals.

So take a seat. We're gonna start with rolling up, feet hips width, laying all the way down, and keep those feet anchored. If you can, arms reach back, ribs are closed. Let's do 10 roll-ups, up and over the thighs you go. I like to really exaggerate my forehead dropping down towards my knees, getting that stretch in my back, pulling the shoulders down, keeping the shape as I go about halfway back, and then try my best to get the spine to connect into the mat during that roll down.

Exhale up and roll it down. Just check in with your body. Are those shoulders away from your ears? Another thing to think about is your abdominals like two halves, left and right, and as you breathe out, the two sides of the abdominal wall come together. All right, we'll do three more of these.

Actually it feels really nice on the spine. A little massage. One more and roll it down. So let's continue to build on that idea, the two halves of the abdominals. You can put your hands on your side body or just visualize it.

You'll exhale all of your air out, curl into an abdominal lift or in a chest lift, pulling the abdominals towards the midline and reaching the arms long. So sort of coming into that hundred position, staying here as you breathe. The arms, reach back. You're going to hold this position. This is a great place to stay.

You don't have to move. You could even take the hands behind the head, one or both. If you're looking to add a little bit more, flip one leg up. We're about to go into what's called a hollow body lever, keeping the abdominals compressed, the left and right halves together. Reach those legs, arms back.

You're holding here. So it's like that double leg stretch position. You feel connection with your back body into the mat. We're holding for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and take it down for one. Good.

Let's do some toe taps. Take those legs into table. Exhale, close knit and curl on up, hands behind the head, drop a leg. The shape of the leg doesn't change as the leg moves away from the body. This exercise is challenging stability in the pelvis, guys.

So the pelvis and the low back stays really strong, really stable. Good. If you're wanting to add a little something on here, go ahead and add a twist towards the knee that's coming up. Remember though, the elbow to knee connection is not your focus. Instead, get the whole side body up and off that mat and twist.

The focus is still on stability, so try to find that. We're going to take this down in five, four, three, two, and one. Stretch the legs long. This time we're rolling up with straight legs. If this is not working for your body or you find you're not rolling through your spine, bend those knees again.

10 roll-ups, guys. Exhale up over the thighs. Take that back stretch, find that hamstring stretch, roll halfway back, roll the rest of the way down. Complete exhales to roll yourself up and back down. No neck tension.

It's not going to help you. Exhale out. If you do find your shoulders coming up by your ears, try this, as you pull your arms down, imagine you're pulling against resistance, just like we would with our hands in the straps on the reformer. Find that back, that latissimus connection, and then lift the head, neck, and shoulders, keeping that back body strong. Yeah, you got it.

Exhale up. And down. Two more. Over and one more here. Up and over we go.

Good. Circle around, curl up nice and high. We're going to go into double leg stretch. So this is hollow body lever. You've already done it, easy.

What I want you to focus though, is making really distinct shapes. So become the smallest little ball you can, squeeze it in forehead to knees, find that hollow body lever again, and back to that small little ball, 10 times. Stretch, stretch, shoulders down and away from the ears. The challenge is keeping the lifts. So whenever you hug your knees in, you get to reset that lift.

Then keep it and hug those knees in. Four to go. Three, two, and one. Hold behind the knees. Take a little break, roll the shoulders open, come right back up into it.

We're going to do a scissor touch. What I mean by that is the legs will do a scissor motion, so one down, one up. You'll reach opposite hand to foot, switch those legs. Now you don't have to have stick straight legs. Do what works for you.

We're finding that lift, that twist, up and over and up and over 10, nine, eight. Reaching like a saw towards the baby toes. Four, three, two, and one. Now I'm feeling a lot of work in the upper fibers of my abdominals to keep my chest lifted and my ribs closed. Let's switch it up a little bit so that we're feeling the deeper abdominals, lower fibers of rectus and those obliques.

They're going to pull me up into a reverse crunch. Chest is open, arms are active, palms could be up or down. You're going to find that lift, control it down. Let me show you what you're not doing on this exercise. You're not going knees to shoulders.

We're going to go up instead. And down slow. Let's do about five. We'll crisscross those ankles. We'll do five more.

And one more. Opposite ankle on the top. Find that diamond shape. Focus on the up. What's helping me to control the deceleration is my upper body pressing into the mat.

Two more, one more. Nice, guys. All right, so definitely feeling it. Let's go into bridging. It'll feel really nice.

It'll open everything up. So feet are hip distance, lift the hips up. I like to be in a 90 bend with my arms so I can dig my elbows down, drop the hips. I'm doing a hinge. Keep the sensation of ribs closed as the hip draw up using your glutes to do it.

Inhale down, exhale up. When I'm trying to do during this bridge is pause just for a microsecond at the top and wait for my glutes to kick in. I don't want to only work my hamstrings here. I want to work my glutes. I want to open up my front body.

Inhale down, exhale when I lift. To intensify the challenge, your arms could be off the mat. Remember to keep those collarbones wide though. Inhale down and exhale lift. Final four, three, two, and on one, I'm going to stay up.

I think your elbows at the very least should be down, or if you find a lot of instability, put your whole hand down, arm down, spread those fingers, find solid foundation and take it into a march. Just like when we were jumping, find that toe ball heel connection into the mat. My challenge is hip stability. So this is also a back exercise. Up, up.

Doesn't this remind you a little bit of those high knees? Three, two, and one. We're going to do an alternating hip dip. So one leg stays up, keeping the pelvis level dip and lift the hips, switch. Dip and lift, switch.

So make that switch when your hips are up. Dip and lift and foot goes down. Try to remind yourself that bridging is not just a hamstring exercise. So you want to really think about and concentrate on the glutes and the stabilizing muscles in the back in the core to work for you. Toe, ball, heel.

One more each side, guys. And then we're going to finish with both feet down. Keep the hips lifted. Now we've talked so much about keeping those hips level. We can also intentionally rotate in our pelvis, which is what we're going to do next.

We're going to call this bridge dancing. So dip a hip, let that hip drop low, and then exhale. Use the glute on that same side to recover back to level pelvis. Other side, and up, dip, up, hold, dip, up, hold. This is one where you could play with taking some of your arms off the mat or both arms up.

Think of this as working those deep muscles in the back. Sometimes when I talk about those muscles in the spine, I think about them like a braid, like a rope working all the way down my back from my sacrum up to the back of my neck. Dancing, dipping, finding those glutes. Three, two, and one more each side, roll it down and roll it up. We've got another cardio series.

Are you excited? Come on up with me. So our hamstrings are feeling maybe a little tight, maybe a little worked. We're going to do some high kicks. So standing is going to remind you of your high knees.

High knees would be an option to do if doing the kicks is not working for you. Reach those arms nice and long. One leg comes up. You reach your opposite hand to foot. Looks like this, up, up, up.

My knees are a little soft. I'm trying to use my abdominals to pull that leg up. The more I do, the easier it is to get that light to come up. My standing leg is solid. I feel good on that standing leg, connecting me to the ground.

Try not to lean back and go into those high knees if the kicks feel too intense today. Okay guys, 10 seconds, five more. four, three, two, and one. We have some squat jumps, going around the world. So I'm going to be in a parallel position for these.

Earlier we were in turnout. Now I'm going to be in parallel. Here's your option if jumping isn't something you want to do. Sit deep, sit low, keep the back lifted, and rise up to your toes, coming right back down. If you're looking to add those jumps in, we're going to do what I call around the world.

Maybe you have another name for it, but you jump land facing the other side. You want to land in your squat. Notice that arm swing really helps me to get that momentum. Let's do 10 seconds, guys. This is going to be our last little cardio blast.

Four, three, two, nice job. We're going to grab our weights again. If you're choosing to use your weights, join me. So we're going to go into a single leg deadlift, bit of a balance exercise with a row. So there's our parallel stance again, hip's width, one leg goes back, arms are down.

I have my palms turned towards my body. What I want to do for this exercise is fix my shoulders down and back and keep the shape of my spine the same as I move. So I'm hinging from my hip. My standing leg is a little soft. I'm finding like this letter T position.

And then I pull up, release the arms with control and rise to come up. Let's do 10 on each leg. So doing the best to keep my spine stable, rise to come up. Send it down, pull up. Now, you'll see when you take the empower class, another version of this.

Today, and in Heat, we tend to focus on heavyweights, lots of reps. We want to bring those muscles to fatigue. Another way to say that as hypertrophy, that's that sensation of heat in the muscle. So for this variation, just keep it slow and steady. Work on decelerating.

You feeling your hamstring and glute on your standing leg? Me too. And down. Good. Kick it out, pull it up, one more on this side, lift and rise.

We've got that other leg to do, so plant your foot, send it back, fix the spine as you hinge forward. It's like the weights are magnetically drawing you down towards the ground, a little softness in your standing leg. I feel more weight in my heel on my standing leg than I do my toes. I forgot to row that time. So that one didn't count.

We're doing 10. One shape down and up. Good. So more weight in my heel. It really helps to have a visual focus when it comes to balance.

Another thing that helps with balance is kind of this idea of anticipating the movement. I'll tell you what I mean. So right before I start to hinge forward, I start to fire into my glutes, pull my ribs in. Now I know the arms are going to move. It's going to throw me off balance.

So I started deepen my abdominals, bracing for the stability challenge of that row. Hinge, pull, lengthen, rise. Two more. Hinge and rise. One more.

And up we go. That was great. So standing with the feet together, if you feel like your balance is a little off, take a wider stance instead, soften into your knees, close your ribs. We're going to do a forward reach one arm at a time. Up and up.

And then the arms would go out to a T at the same time and down. 10 times. As I go up I'm trying not to let my body sway. Let me show you from the side, up. Sometimes it was when I do this exercise, I will stand against a wall and feel how connected my thoracic spine or my mid back is as I move my arms.

And up, good, lift, lift, up, almost there, lift, lift, up. Three more guys. It would be a great idea, if you're doing this exercise on a heavy weight and you started to feel maybe some tension to then reduce the weight. So you could do a few reps on eight pounds and then a couple on four, and then you could finish the flow using no weights at all. So be playful.

Last rep. And we take it to the side. Nice. There's one more exercise we're going to use our weights for it. We're going to go into a plank, hop up into a squat.

It's going to be great. You're going to love it. So take the weights down. Again, you could do this with no weights as well. Take the weights down, find your plank position.

This is nice and easy on the wrists, by the way, if you like doing pushups here. There's our plank. I'm going to hop or step into that low squat. I feel like we've been here already. We kind of know this position, wide knees.

As I do, I'm going to bring the weights to my chest, rise to come up, back down. Little bit quicker, out, in, rise to come out. Rise. Let me show you what the step would look like. Bring them in, press it up.

This is a little tricky one because it is cardio too. Oh, how are your arms feeling? Take it down, out, in, up. Two more. Last time.

Nice. Let's put those weights down and do some extension work. We talked about the spine, like a braid, like a rope. Lie down onto your stomach. We're going to start with a slow swim.

So separate your legs a little wider than your hips I like to be an external rotation at my hip, pubic bone, hip bones anchored, send the arms long. My chest will be lifted, press into the arms, opposite arm and leg lifts. Take it down, up, down, up, down. So as I do this exercise, I am trying to keep my pelvis and back stable, but I'm also trying to keep this sensation of pulling up from the ground, versus pushing down into it. And for me, that helps me to feel longer in my spine.

Three, more. Two, one. Nice. We're now going to go into sort of the reverse of that hollow body lever. We're going to go into our star hold.

So what I like to do is set up the legs first, send them really long, really straight, lift them up. My goal was to get my thighs off the mat and my legs as straight as possible. I reach my arms forward. Sometimes if you're feeling tight in the shoulders, a T feels better. What we're trying to do is that kind of star shape, lots of energy out through the fingers, out through the toes, lifting as high as you can and holding, just holding.

Sometimes we get the most work out of the movements that kind of seem like they're the least amount of movement. A lot of work to hold. Neck is long. Working the backs of the shoulders, the backs of the legs. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and rest.

Our last exercise is going to be push-ups, because we didn't do it yet, so I think we should. Push-ups can be done on the knees or you can lift up those knees. You can also use your weights, if your wrists are feeling like you need to. Spread your fingers wide, or you want to, lean the chest forward, send the hips under, pulling the ribs up, inhale, take it down, exhale up. So going up and down as I'm showing you, option number one.

If you're looking to add a little bit more, whether you're doing a full pushup, a modified pushup, we'll do three, and then one hold in that star position. Come back up. Three, one, hold in that star position. Two more rounds, three, one hold. And last one.

Three, one, hold. Stretch your legs long and straight and press yourself back. Nice job. We've got one more circuit to do. We're going to do some cardio movement, some weight movements, and we'll call it a day.

Meet me in a wide second position stance, feet wider than your hips, drop into a low squat. As you rise, you're going to turn everything, your shoulders, your hips, your feet to one side, come back into second, go the other direction. And that's your jam, side to side you go. If you're looking to add a little bit more, you can jump it through center into that lunge. Nice.

Pointing your knees right over those mid feet. Five, four, three, two, one. Definitely feeling it. We have some lunge ups, so make sure you have some room to step backwards. Step one, leg back.

Find that lunge position. As you rise, you want opposite elbow to knee. It's kind of reminding you of those high knees again. Using the abdominals to draw that leg up and then step it back. Down, up.

There's like a little hit at the top. Adding a jump to increase the intensity, up to you. We'll do about 15 each leg. Five more, one more. Same thing other side.

Send your other leg back. Square off those hips. Find that low lunge, as you rise up opposite elbow to knee. I always have to pause here the first one, otherwise I do the wrong side. Step back and rise up, back, rise.

Find that power from your standing leg. If you're adding your jumps, now's the time. We got this. Coming back to our weights in five, four, three, two, and one. Finished the last one with a jump.

It doesn't have to be all or none. You can sprinkle it in. We're going to use one weight for the next exercise, adding some rotation into our work at today. One weight, hang onto it. Wide stance, parallel legs.

Send the hips back, get low. Bring the weight down to one side. Keep your chest lifted, your back flat with power. You're going to rotate, lifting your back heel off the ground. Come back into a squat.

15 each side. Still a little bit of cardio and lots of obliques. So I'm focusing on that rotation coming from my mid back, sending my hips down, sending my hips back. Almost there. Five, four, three, two, and one.

Other side. Take a second, set it up, wide legs. Find the squat. Weight comes down to one side. As you rise, you'll pivot.

So the body's going on that diagonal, come back through. There's some power in that lift. Inhale down. Exhale up. Low squat, rise up.

It's those level changes, getting low, rising up that really gets that heart working. Five, four, three, two, and one. Great job. Grab both weights for the next one. Let's slow it down a little bit.

Roll your shoulders down and back. Come into that plie or squat, legs together. Find your 90. Rolling the arms open, finding that shoulder movement, reaching the arms out, bringing it back in, hugging the elbows in, shoulders back. Roll, reach, pull, return, roll, reach, pull, return.

Take your time. Pull, return. Five. This is a great exercise to be done with no weights at all or a resistance band. Four, three, good, two more, two, one more, one, and bring it in.

All right, guys. One more exercise to do. We're going to use one weight for this. This is fun. Find a squat.

You're in a wide second position. This is going to remind you a little bit of a kettlebell swing. Your back is going to stay flat. I'll show you from the side. So when you go down your back is in a flat hinge.

You're sending those sit bones back, flat back hinge, yeah. And then you're going to switch the weight hand-to-hand. Looks like this. Grab it, grab it, grab it. Talk about a fancy way to finish class.

Sending those hips back. Alternating arms. Five, four, three, two, one, Done. Guys, we nailed it. What an amazing class.

Talk about heat, right? You're feeling it. Legs, arms, core, booty. Remember, this is a series of five classes, so I will see you for the next class in the series. Bye.