Class #4984

Leg, Arm, and Ab Circuit

40 min - Class
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Get ready to have fun in this circuit Reformer workout by Courtney Miller. She focuses on legs, glutes, arms, and abdominals in honor of Sara's birthday request. She also adds cardio elements to challenge your heart rate so that you get a whole-body experience.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box, Overball

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Hi, I am back again with my friend and fellow instructor, Sarah. Today's a very special day. Today is Sarah's a birthday. So I asked Sarah, what do you wanna do for your workout on your birthday? And she said, "A little bit of legs and butt, and lots of arms and core." So this is Sarah's birthday class.

Let's do it. Happy birthday to you. Thank you. Let's dive in. So whenever machines already set up to our footwork setting with the bar in the down position, put your boxes in the front.

One yellow spring is what we're starting on. And go ahead and grab a ball if you have one. We're gonna sit down towards the front of the machine. Place the ball behind your back, just below your shoulder blades. Keep your feet on the floor.

I like to be on my tip toes. Do you do that too? Yeah. Hands behind your head. And we're gonna take the shape of the ball and then on exhale, lift and curl to come up.

Inhale down. And exhale, lift and curl to come up. Inhale down. Exhale, lift and curl. (exhales sharply) All right, so let's add a left leg lift, you ready? Curl out towards the knee, for five, and inhale.

And four, good. And three, you can add a twist whenever you're ready. And two, it's your birthday. You can't do anything wrong. (Sarah laughs) One, now we're gonna twist and reach our hand to the outside of the thigh and then down.

So I do opposite hand to the outside, yeah. Two. Good, and that's three. That's four, support your head in your hand. That's five.

So other leg comes up, no twist or twist. Exhale, right leg up. Inhale down. Exhale, curl to the leg. Keep those elbows wide, big breath out.

Close the ribs. Two. And one, we add the twist and the reach. Here we go. Reach the outside, back down.

Reach, so the real challenge is to come up from that extended spine. Two more. (exhales sharply) And one more, all right. So stay up in your scoop. You can keep your hands behind your head. I like light hands down.

Take both legs up. You wanna feel a lightness with your spine on the ball. We're gonna do toe taps, one foot down, touch the ground. Good, and then switch, switch, switch, switch. Five, four, three, two, one.

Feet down and grab that ball. Meet me in a wide second position. We're gonna pulse, pulse, pulse down. Squeeze that ball, use it with purpose. Get those hips back in towards the carriage.

We've got eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, stay low. Let's hop it into first position, and then back out to low second, good. In, out. Remember, we're gonna repeat this flow three times. So if you don't wanna do the hop, take it out, and then add it in another time.

We've got five, four, three, get those booties back, two... Hold the wide second position, just reach that ball up, but stay low in that squat and go on a diagonal up. Here we go, reach up on a diagonal, back in. Yep, reach. Sit low.

Reach, good. Reach. Let's go for five, four, weight into the heels, three, two, and one, keep the ball on your hands. Take a seat on that carriage. Place the ball down.

Well, that's the kind of warmup that Sarah makes us do in class. So I'm excited to return the favor. So now we're standing and we're warm. Grab the long loop that's closest to you. Keep that yellow spring on.

We're gonna take a lunge position, left leg forward, right leg back. And I like to start with no tension in the strap and my hand just in line with my knee. That's the right amount of tension for me. Lap pull, so pull that arm straight back and forward. If the resistance is too heavy, step forward.

Exhale, pull. (exhales sharply) Inhale, straight arm, pull. (exhales sharply) Long spine. Last three. Nice. Bend deeply into that front leg. Two.

And here's one. (exhales sharply) From here, tricep, so turn your palm in, bring that elbow up, kick the arm back for five. No leg yet, we're gonna add it in a second. Four. (exhales sharply) Deep abdominals pulling in, three, two... And now, as you bend that elbow in, step your back foot in to meet your front, low squat, and kick everything back for five. Five.

Good. Four, leaning into it. Three, elbow up. Good. And last two, and one, and rise to come up, well done.

Little bit of legs, lots of arms, lots of abs. That's the theory or the theme, I should say. Face towards your machine. I'm gonna use the short loop. You could choose the long or short, and I'm putting it in my outside foot, the leg furthest from the riser, cool.

We're going back into those squats, full range of motion, three times. Down and up, one, two, three. Now lean towards your riser. If you don't have a riser, use your box or something to hang on to. Lift that leg, square the hips, bend your knee in, kick it out.

Eight, standing legs soft, kick. You could have hand to hip. You could have hand to head, use those obliques, use those glutes. Three, two, and that's one. Try to land it into that second.

Oh, yeah, three, two, one, lean. Little bit harder this time, keep the leg straight. Extend it, straight out in line with your hip, back down eight times. Standing leg is soft. (exhales sharply) Definitely feeling it all the way up into those obliques. Keep going, Sarah. Whew!

Why am I doing the workout? It's her birthday, four. And three, did you know your glutes are part of your core so you can feel it up here. Two, and one, and then meet back into that squat. Last one.

So let's do our three full range, down and up. Two, down and up Three, laterally tilt. Now, the leg is gonna lift on a diagonal back. You're gonna feel that strap brush your thigh, tap it down, and swing it back eight times. Nice, inhale, down, and exhale.

Try to stay light in that supporting arm, square off, stack your hips, and stack your shoulders. Inhale down, exhale, sweep. You've got three more. See if you can go even back more diagonal, yes. Three, that's two, and that's one.

Go ahead and take that strap off the foot. Hold the long loop and then turn so now you're facing front. We're gonna take the leg that's closer to the machine forward. We're coming back into that same lunge, lean into it, both arms moving forward reach and bend. If it's not heavy enough, step forward.

So you're gonna wanna increase that tension to push yourself, shoulders down and back, back leg long and strong. We're gonna take it for four. No tension in the neck. Three, (exhales sharply) that's two, can you get a little deeper into that standing knee? Nice.

And one, bend both elbows as if you're doing salute. Elbows are wide, thumbs connected, push forward. Inhale, bend, and exhale, push. Good, keep going, Sarah. So your mantra in this one, shoulders down and back, neck long.

There is a sequence, before you power through with those arms, close the ribs, lean forward just a little bit more in your chest, good. Give two more. Energy through the back heel. Drive that front heel down one more time. Awesome job.

Good. Whew. Rise and turn to face the machine. You're gonna hold the short loop with both hands, and we're getting ready for an oblique twist. You might want some more tension.

I know how strong you are. Bend into a plie and then rotate towards the footbar. Come back to where you started and then rise. So we plie, twist, return, and rise. Plie, twist, return, set those shoulders.

Plie, twist, return, rise. Two more, plie, big exhale on that rotation. This time we stay down, five twists. One, stay low. Two, we're trying to get our thighs parallel to the ground.

Three. That's four. Keep that chin in line with your sternum. Now, hold the twist and little teeny pulses. One, two, three, four, and before you come up, return back through center, take it down.

One, two, three, four, and five, rise to come all the way up, nice. Okay, hold on to that long loop. We're gonna straddle the machine, face back. You're in a second position. The closer you sit to those shoulder blocks, the lighter it's gonna feel.

Meet me in a hover, like a hover, like one inch off the mat. There you go, grab both straps, long loops. We're gonna go to an I, which is a straight up reach, a T, which is directly out beside the shoulders, and then reach on a down diagonal like a letter V flipped upside down. Do it again, I, (exhales sharply) T, (exhales sharply) yeah. V, back to the shoulders, so important.

Two more times. Up and out. (exhales sharply) And back. (exhales sharply) Last time. Posterior delts up to the ceiling, out to that T, and down, hook up the straps. Sit towards the middle of the mat, make sure you have room behind you. So place your fingertips behind you so we can do a supported teaser.

Swing your legs up. Find that position, reach the arms forward, extend the legs to amplify. There she is shining. Come back to your squat and hover here for pulsing, three, two, one. Take a seat.

Swing those legs up. Swing those arms up, hold. Extend the legs, extend the arms. Looks good. Whew! Take those legs back down and pulsing.

Three, two, one, take it down. Legs come up, reach the arms maybe, whatever feels right today. Take it back down. Whew! (speaking faintly) Three, me two. Two, and one.

Last time. Whew! You're up. Reach out. And now keep that teaser. Place your hands down.

Swing your legs to the right and rise to standing. Ooh wee, let's do it again. We're done. And we're done. Just rewind the video and do the other side.

Grab your long loop, All right. (laughs) and then face towards the back so the leg that's closer to the carriage is the one that's stepping back, you're leaning in. The setup that I like is if my hand in line with my knee, and then it's a straight arm pull for eight. Big, strong muscles in the back working. (exhales sharply) Close the ribs. (exhales sharply) Open the chest, (exhales sharply) and fight for it. Step forward if it's too heavy, step backwards if it's not hard enough. Two more.

And one. (exhales sharply). Turn the palm in, pull the elbow up. So your first set of five triceps, keep the lunge. Go for it. Five, leaning into it.

Four, energy through that back heel. Left side's always harder. Do we always demonstrate on our right? It's so hard. (laughs) Press it for a three, step forward if it's feeling too heavy. Two, and one, you ready to add that leg?

So bend the elbow and bring your back leg in and then kick it out for five. Five, elbow and leg moving together. Four, good. It's so normal to have differences on left to right sides, guys. Embrace it, it is what it is.

Last three, last two, and last one, rise up, awesome. You're gonna take the short loop into your left foot. So the one that's furthest from the riser and we're going to face front, knees and toes turned out. We have full range of motion, squat down rise, three, and two and one. You lean towards the riser, take that outside leg up, bend the knee in, good.

And then kick it for eight. You're kicking up and slightly back. Keeping those hips square and nice and light positioning on those risers. Bend it in and kick it up. Four, like a karate kick.

Three, two, Whew, ah! and one. See if you can land in your plie or in your squat and rise for three. Inhale down. Two, it's like a recovery squat, if there is such a thing. (both laughs) And then go over to the side.

So this is your straight leg reaching straight out. Think of the foot staying in line with the frame of your machine. Inhale down, exhale up. Energy out through the toes, out through the crown of the head. You got four, nice.

Notice how our standing leg is staying soft, that's gonna keep her stability in her glute on her standing leg, two to go. Awesome. One more, getting long, creating space, land into that squat and rise for three. And inhale down and exhale up. Two, great range of motion.

Get as low as you can. And one, take it over to the riser, hand behind the head or the hip. This time the leg is reaching back in a diagonal straight leg. Hold it straight, swing it down, swing it up. You're gonna feel those obliques.

So I want you to feel everything. When we talk about staying square in the front of the body, I'm referencing your hip bones with your rib cage or your hip bones with your shoulders. Try to make the shape of a square. You've got four. Nice.

Three. Good, we're going back into arms in a second. So gimme two, and finish strong, good. Using the long or the short loop, grab it in your right hand now. And we're gonna turn to face the footbar.

So now it's our inside leg, the one closer to the machine, stepping in. We're leaning into it and we're doing that forward reach. And I don't know about you, but I like leaning my calf into the frame of the machine. Makes me feel more stable. Okay, that's nice.

Here you go, that's Sarah's birthday present, the lean trick. Keep leaning forward, weight into your front heel. Three, two, and then we went into our shaving. So connect the thumbs, wide elbows, close the ribs, and fully extend, fully lengthen. Inhale, bend.

Everything coming from that powerhouse. The breath is beginning each movement. So start that strong exhalation, finish all the way through. Four, lean even more forward if you can. Good, three.

Yep, and then visibly drop those ribs down and in, two, well done, Whew! and one, rise and turn. Face the machine, short loop. Both hands, I kind of grab it a little bit more with my left and wrap the other one around. Nice, wide second. First, we come into that plie.

Then we rotate towards the footbar. Come back through and rise, good. So it's down, twist, untwist, straight legs. Down, rotate, and rise. Plie, rotate, through the center, and up, Plie, rotate, through the center.

Now, we stay down, here it is just the twist. Five, keeping the hands and the chin in line with that sternum. Three, two, and one. Hold that twist and pulse the twist, five, four, ooh, three, four, five, but wait, there's more. Hold the center, pulse it down for five, four, three, two, one.

Come all the way in, nice. Go ahead and grab those long loops. Meet me in the straddle and exercise. So nice, we're gonna do it twice. Little bit different this time.

So meet me in that straddle, knees turned out, squeeze the frame of the machine with your calves if you can. We're gonna go up into that letter I and see if we can hold it. Heel raises three times. One, Whoo! two, three. Take those arms back down.

Then we go out to the letter T, hold it. Heel raises. One, two, three. Take it forward, then to that V, posterior delts, hold it. Heel raises.

One, two, three. Let those arms come forward. Let's do one more round, I is the hardest, ready? Ooh, calf raises. One, two, three, take it down.

T. (Sarah laughs) One, two, three. Upside down V. One, two, three. Make sure that carriage's underneath you, take a seat towards the center.

Take your feet up onto the headrest. We're gonna lower down to almost like the hundred position and rise up to teaser. I'm gonna use the short loops because the secret is the more tension you have, the easier it is. You get support, but we're on a yellow. So not a lot of help happening, okay, ready?

We're gonna roll back. Make sure your shoulder blades are just hanging off the edge. Take your legs to table. Perfect, open your arms to a T, consider that your start position. Now, as you bring the arms in, lift the chest, extend the legs.

Oh, Sarah's lifting her arms. I better do it too. And then roll back into arms in a T, chest lifted. Do it again. Roll up.

Find it. Not a lot of help from the machine. Roll down, T. She said, "Arms and abs." Curl up, find it, and take it down. I think we can definitely do two more, but that's it, we're capping it at two.

Roll up, find it, and take it down. Last one, best one. Roll up. (exhales sharply) Let's hold. Five, four, three, two, one, and reset. Nice.

Whoo! Whew! Lot of shoulders, lots of abs. Swing your legs off the machine. We're going back to our circuit, which is more abdominals. Take the ball and place it behind you. By the way, let's see your ball.

The smaller your ball is the harder you work. I'm not switching though. (both laughs) All right, it's yours. We did rock paper scissors for it. Light toes, hands behind the head, down and up full range of motion.

No twist, no lift. Just up, five, (exhales sharply) four, feels good to extend, three, two, (exhales sharply) and one. Then come up and draw the left knee up with you. If you wanna add a twist, you can, straight leg up, whatever feels. Intuitive is the right thing to do.

Two, (exhales sharply) three, (exhales sharply) four, and five, now we are adding the twist, and then the opposite arm to leg reaches to the outside of the thigh for five, four, three, two... And into the other leg, no twist or no reach up for five. Oh, don't forget the other leg, four. This one, Oh, right. (laughs) Three, I'll do it for you, two, and one, into the twist and into the reach, arm goes to the outside. There you go, and back down.

And up and go all the way down and then come up through that extension. Two more, (exhales sharply) one more. (exhales sharply) And now, we're ready to hold the lift. Hands could be down or up. Yep, legs come up. Toe tops, down, up.

One foot then the other, down, up. Try to get lighter on the ball. Pull your chest towards your thighs. Neck away from the shoulders. Five, four, three, two, one.

Ugh, ah, come all the way up. We have our squats. So hang on to the ball. Meet me in a squat. We're pulsing, breathing.

It's like that recovery squat. Try to send your hips back. Squeeze the ball, move it with purpose. Use it with purpose. Five, four, three, two.

Stay low, hop it into first, in, out. In, out. In, out. Stay low. In, out.

Squeeze the ball, no neck tension. Five, four, three, two, one, stay low. Just the ball, reach long, pull it in. Reach, pull. Reach, pull,.

Reach, last three. Last two, get lower. One, and rise, cool. But do we miss anything? Maybe some pulses. Yeah. (laughs)

We'll do them next time, okay. So put the ball back. We're still on that yellow. Kneel on your machine facing front. And we will be using this front platform.

If you don't have one that's big enough to put your hands on, grab a platform extender or use your machine the way you're used to using it. Knees forward. Hands are gonna be onto the platform, ready? Ready. Curl your toes.

Come up to a little squat position with your elbows touching your forearms or your knees. Yes, knees touching the forearms. Okay, kick it back. To your plank, hold. Scoop the abs in and up.

Press the chest bone up, bend it in, knees touching those elbows or forearms. We're pushing for five, for four, three, two, and stay out for one. This time we pike so keep your shoulders directly over your wrists. Send the hips up and then lengthen out. And we're going for five, lengthen, hold, and lift, good.

Just soften your elbows the slightest amount... Sarah, good, lengthen out. Remember when you're doing a combination, there's two exclamation points. In this case, it's the pike. Boom, find it, hit it.

And then it's the plank, good. Two. Nice. And then press out and see if you can stay out. Walk your hands onto the box one at a time, that's hard to do, and then walk your toes to the front of the carriage and repeat that flow.

Knees tucking in and out. Five, Whew! four, we can't get the knees to touch the elbows this time, just getting close. Two, and hold, pike it up. Five, keep those shoulders right over your wrist. Four, three, remember to look towards your belly button when you left your hips.

Two, one, press out, stay out. Left foot steps forward onto the box. Take as much time as you need to to get there. And then I like to make sure my back foot's right at that edge of the carriage and then rise up. Ooh! Ooh, hello.

Hello, square off, keep your back legs straight. Lean into that lunge and rise to come up. Good, lean and rise. And when you're ready to incorporate the arms, reach them forward when you go low. And reach them back when you come up.

Inhale and exhale, keep going, Sarah. Inhale, if you feel like you need more support from your machine, you could always use more tension, right? Add in a blue, we're on a yellow, and rise. Two to go, front knee traveling right over that midfoot. Four points of pressure in that front foot.

Nice. Rise all the way up and on the next one, stay low. Good, turn your palms down. Bend your back knee in and bend your elbows and then push everything long. Eight, seven, good, six, she's got that isometric hold.

Can you get lower in that left leg? Awesome, press. Last three. Last two. And one, rise all the way up.

All right, guys. There's a big one coming up. Super fun, in my opinion. (chuckles) Reach up. Dive down, you want your hands to be on the inside of the foot. You're gonna take that left foot back around, finding your plank.

Gorgeous, okay. So tap one foot to the floor, back up. The other foot, up. Tap, up. Tap, up.

Four, hip stay level. Three, chest stays up. (exhales sharply) two, (exhales sharply) and one, before you take a break, you have to walk the carriage in, lower your knees down onto it, and press yourself back. Awesome. Let's do our squat and teaser facing front. So the squat is when the feet are on the floor and we're in that turnout, awesome. (breathing heavily) She's taken a break, that's okay.

Not me, back there. Three, two, one, sit. Remember, the arms can stay down the whole time. They don't have to come up. If you wanna find that V, that arm lift, you can.

Back into that straddle, three, two, one. Hands come down, legs come up. (exhales sharply) And two more. Pulsing, three, two, one. You could even lean against those shoulder blocks a little bit, a little bit. Cool.

And three, two, one. Legs come up. (exhales sharply) Back onto the knees. Hopefully that was enough of a break you need cuz we get to do it all over again with the other leg stepping forward. So start with your hands on the platform. Here's a secret.

If you haven't done this before, spread your fingers really wide and try to distribute your weight through your whole hand. Curl your toes, lift your knees, and get your knees to touch your elbows. I'm in turnout, you don't have to be, or your forearms. Push it and find that plank, bend it in. Push it back for five, four, soften your elbows just a little bit, yeah.

Three, the reason I say that is if she can soften her elbow, she can hold herself up with her back versus her wrist. Go for your pikes, ready? Straight legs. Look down, hips up, one, lengthen all the way out. It's a hamstring stretch, too.

Lift up, two, and lengthen, three, good. Before the carriage moves, make sure you drop your head. Chin down then hips up, yes. Two. And then you're gonna do one more pike.

Walk it out to that box, Sarah. It's a weight transfer challenge. So one foot, one hand first, pardon me, onto the box. Okay. You got it, babe.

Then the other, yes. Make sure your toes are all the way forward. (claps) Give me five knee tucks in, out. One. Good.

So just that act of walking from the wooden platform to the box is hard work. Good. Alrighty, hold it out there. Hips up, give me five. One, lengthen out. Whoo!

Your wrists are gonna get a break after this. Two, you're about to go into that lunge. Three, that's four, and then we pike, we lengthen. You have to anticipate that that foot's gonna come up and around so make room for it and then rise to come up. And I always like to either keep my hands on my hips or close to my body as I kind of dial it in.

Incorporating the arms is more complex choreography, so I wait until I feel pretty solid with my stability before I add. If you're gonna add the arms, reach them forward every time you go down. And reach. She said, "A little bit of legs, lots of core, lots of arms." And reach. Good, and you can see how Sarah's getting so low in the lunge.

In your lunge, there's this kind of momentum or movement forward with that front knee and that's fine. You wanna feel like you're leaning into it, loading that glute with your body weight. Hold the next one, turn your palms down. Bend your back knees as you cactus, and then kick it out. Yep, it's not supposed to be heavy.

In fact, that's one of the things that makes it most challenging is it's all about stability. Four points of pressure in that front foot. You've got three more, Sarah, get lower and lean down if you can. Closing your ribs, three. Nice, two, I'm gonna meet you up here for those toe taps.

One, the hands go down. You have to swing the leg back around and then find that plank with soft elbows. Yep, here we go. Tap the ground, step it up. Tap, step, tap.

Doing it with the carriage, tap, step, tap. Four, three, (exhales sharply) two, and one. Remember to walk, walk, walk it in. And sit back Holy moly. and take a break.

She said, "Holy moly." I think that's an accurate way to describe that flow. All right, we're gonna change the springs, guys. Add a red and add a blue, and take off that yellow spring. We're actually gonna bump that footbar up to your footwork setting, and then we're gonna do our circuit again. So that's for later, take a seat.

Ball goes behind the back. This is the last time we're gonna do it. Place it back. Light tippy toes, nice wide elbows. (claps) Let's knock this out. Inhale down and exhale.

Curling for five, big lift, as if you're almost coming completely off that ball. Inhale down and exhale up. You ready to add that left leg lift? Pull it up, take it down. Five, light toes.

Four, three, two, and one. Now we twist towards the leg and reach the outside, down and up, twist and reach. All right, there's a hand strike. And other side, no reach just lift. Take it down and up. Whew.

Down and up, I know it starts to add up. When I first started doing it, I'm like, "I like this." And then by the time I'm done, I'm like, "This is hard." Twist to the outside of the leg and up, especially when you try to lift off the ball, like that extra little effort to almost release it is so tough, one more. And now we're ready to hold the lift. Hands could be down or up. Yep, legs come up.

Toe taps, down, up. One foot and then the other, down, up. Try to get lighter on the ball. Pull your chest towards your thighs. Neck away from the shoulders.

Five, four, three, two, one. And grab that ball. Meet me in your pulses. Second position, squeeze the ball, shoulders down, send those hips back. Pulsing and pulsing and pulsing.

Isn't there a song? (laughs) Yeah. And then stay low, hop it in. Get that heart rate up. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two... Stay low in the squat.

Just reach the ball in the arms on an up diagonal, pull it in towards your chest, and then back down. Reach and pulse it, lower. Reach, there you go. (panting) I was talking with them at home, not you. Good job, four and three and two. Usually I say those cues to myself, I'm like, "Sit lower." And one, and then take a seat.

But this time we are gonna keep that ball. So lie down, your springs are set for bridge. Make sure that headrest is in the down position. Squeeze the ball between your inner thighs and take the heels of your feet onto that bar. Cool, give that ball a super squeeze.

Roll up, awesome. We're gonna squeeze the ball into the midline. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, hold, flat back hinge. Tap the hips and lift 10 times. Try to keep the carriage close, ribs close.

Use your glutes. Use those inner thighs. Inhale down. Don't worry. We're gonna get to the core part and we'll get to the arm part in four, three, (laughs) and two, and one.

Now keep the squeeze, push all the way back. Send those hips a bit low and now squeeze to lift them up. Bridging feels really great after all those teasers, right? After all of that hip flexion, feels so good to extend and to open. Inhale back and exhale up.

Three more, push down through the inner edges of the heels. Two, and one. Now here's a fun little combo. Stay at the top and squeeze the ball three times, one, two, three. Hover the hips and squeeze three times, one, two, three.

Top, one two, three. One, two, three. Lift and squeeze, hover and squeeze, feeling it yet? Whoo! Lift and squeeze, hover and squeeze. Lift and squeeze, hover and squeeze.

Two more, lift and squeeze, hover and squeeze. One more, one, two, three. And down, two, three. Lift and hold and roll it all the way down. Take the ball and place it between your ankles and grab your straps.

If you like to do the hundred on your short loops, go to short. If you like the long, go to long. Reach your arms straight up over your chest and get ready. We're gonna do it a little bit differently. In some ways, it's easier, but in most ways, it's not.

Take your legs to table. Take a big breath in, exhale, extend the legs long and low. We're gonna do 40 beats, here we go. One. (breathing heavily) Two. (breathing heavily) Three. (breathing heavily) Four. (breathing heavily) Leave the arms, leave the legs, drop the head. Roll overhead, (exhales sharply) flex your feet, roll down.

Do that three more times. (laughs) Roll overhead, (exhales sharply) flex the feet, roll down. Keep the collarbones wide. Two, roll overhead, roll down. (exhales sharply) One, overhead, roll down. Now, start to lift your head, neck, and shoulders, curl up, 40 beats in two, three, four, and five, exhale. I feel the need to come over and assist Sarah, and not do the exercise myself. (laughs) This is the great thing about having somebody in your class with you.

Lower the arms, lower the head, roll up and over. Good, try to get those legs parallel to the ground. Flex the feet, push through your heels. Roll down slow. You're trying to get your sit bones to reach towards that footbar.

Do it again, roll up. Flex the feet, heels keep reaching back towards me as you roll right down the center of your spine. Good, two more. Keeping the collarbones open, pressing down into the arms. Rolling, good.

If you need to, bend your knees. If it feels better in your back, bend your knees. Last time, one more, one more. Was that four? That was four.

Oh, that was four, my bad. Curl up, stay up, 40 beats. (Sarah screams) So Pilates teachers, aren't great at math, but I can definitely tell you that she's doing more than the hundred, in two, three, four, five. Exhale in two, three, four, five. Send those like a bit lower if you can.

In two, three, four, five, exhale. Press down through your pinky fingers, widen the chest. Keep going in two, three, four, five and exhale. Take a break, take a rest, recover. Keep the ball.

Do you wanna do your long loops or your short loops? She's rolling her eyes at me. (Sarah laughs) She wants to do the long loops, got it. Take your legs to table. Good, take a big breath in, exhale, curl up, pull your arms down.

So keep your knees bent in table. Turn your palms in towards your body, open and close your arms three times. One, use your back. This is the back exercise. Remember, supine hands in straps is about, yes, the abdominals keeping you up in flexion, but your back.

Now, send the legs over and under. One, good. Two, and three, keep your legs in table. Do your arms again, open, close. So you can send your legs over or under the bar.

Open, close, two. Open, close, three, hold your arms. Legs could go over or just one, show them what under looks like. And that's it. It's under legs in table, open, close the arms.

Three, this is your last step. Two. And just the legs over or under, one, and two, and three and rest and recover. Rest the feet, hook up the straps. We're gonna do corkscrew, I'll do it with you.

I like this one, so I'll do it. Keep the ball at your ankles. I like them all. Okay, So let's do it. Yay, okay.

So corkscrew, a tough one to get. Let's do a easy peasy, nice and slow. Extend the legs long, press down through the pinky fingers of the hand, the whole hand, but especially the pinky finger. And then on an inhale, up you go, right? Now from here, we're gonna take that ball and bring it over the right shoulder block.

But the hips just slightly tilted, you're not leaning your butt to one side, roll down the center of your spine. You're drawing like a U or a horseshoe with your legs, pass center and pause in center, and then roll yourself up the other side, so now the ball's over the left shoulder block. Come back down, left side of the spine, swing and back up. Come back down, right side of the spine, and swing. And come back up, we got left side, down slow.

Again, soften those knees if that feels better, roll up. Last time, down to the right, send the legs low. Sweep and lift as if it's one movement down to the left. Come straight up through center again (exhales sharply) and straight down through center. Easy, easy, easy.

Bend the knees, grab the ball, drap your legs over the bar. Our big finish for today. Five reformer roll ups with the ball in your hand. Exhale, roll up and over, forehead to the knees. Inhale as you roll back. (inhales deeply) Try to roll through that low back. (exhales sharply) Don't skip it (inhales deeply) and take it back down. (exhales sharply) It almost feels like the beginning of class cuz we do this at the beginning so often.

One more. (exhales sharply) And up and done. Whew! Arms, abs, a little bit of legs, (claps) we did it. So much fun. Thank you for joining me. Yay, that was so much fun.

Happy birthday. I'll be, thank you. Thanks for joining me at home. Have a good one. Bye, guys.

Comments

WOW! This class is fun, challenging, creative, and invigorating.  I had to modify some of the moves and could not quite do all the reps for some as well. This is now added to my favorites and I will have to work up to doing all the exercises as well as Courtney! 
Wow I loved it! I really enjoy doing your classes, thank you!
Unfortunately the resistance was too much for me in this class. 
Well it’s super humid here in Spain and now I’m double glowing! Amazing workout Courtney THANKYOU! 
1 person likes this.
Wow.  I’m dead now.  Hope you’re happy.   😂. I totally loved/hated this 
Always love ALL you classes and this one was epic!!  Thank you so much!!
Stellar class as always! Suggestion for group class modification for people who can not straddle reformer if leg length won’t support ? I love the straddle squat, it just doesn’t work for everyone they have to go to the mat it’s not so smooth. Suggestions appreciated. Thank you.
Super challenging balance work and so much fun!  Very creative and out of the box thinking!  Quickly jumped into my favs! Thank you Courtney and Sara!:D 
Super challenging - definitely an advanced class BUT I will repeat it.  Thanks Courtney!! 
I like the pace pace and enthusiasm - I wonder what your strategy is for choreographing 
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