Power From Your Core

This workout, we're focused from moving from the center. We'll strip back the choreography to reveal the anchoring in the exercises that will help us reach our full movement potential. So we're gonna begin. Let's stand by our reformer. Stand nice and tall.

And I want us to connect with our powerhouse straight away. What is the powerhouse? Well it's the core plus more, so it's your deep abdominals plus your inner thighs, your seat. And let's not forget the shoulder girdle as well. So stand nice and tall.

Fold your arms, lengthening up through the spine. And with control, lower ourselves down to sit on the carriage. Now swing onto your backs and we're ready to begin. I'm gonna pick my head rest up. Arms by the side.

Now take a moment before we begin our footwork, just so that we can really connect from the center. So I've got my toes on the foot bar, I'm in Pilates stance, pressing my shoulders down, abs in and up, and I'm ready to begin. We're gonna press out, and draw the carriage back in. So the abs are taking us out, and then the abs and seat bring the carriage home. Let's do five more, press it out, draw it home.

Draw the abs in and up. Onto our arches. So lift your feet up like a bird on a perch. Once again, reconnect with the powerhouse and press out, draw it home. Working strong outs.

We're trying to reach our head away from the foot bar, and at the same time, keep that head reaching even as we're bringing the carriage back in. Just lengthening the body the whole time. Let's do five more. Two more. And then bring the carriage all the way in onto our heels.

Lift the feet up, pull the toes back as well. I want the little toes drawing back as well, so we're really pressing both heels into the foot bar with an even weight. And once again, even though it's the legs that are doing the work, it's my powerhouse that's driving the exercise. Do two more now. Keep pressing the shoulders down, abs in and up, and then all the way home.

All right onto the balls of the feet now, let's press out and stay out for tendon stretch. Let's lower, lower, lower, and lift, lift, lift. And don't throw this exercise away. It's all very easy to just relax on this one and enjoy the stretch, but let's get the most out of the stretch. Let stay connected.

And again, reaching up, lowering the heels through. Let's do two more. So really press the carriage away, and then resist to bring it back. And then this time let's bend the knees, bring the carriage home, we're ready for the hundred. So we're lower the foot bar.

I'm lowering them on my feet. If you have a foot bar that you have to sit up for, keep connected to your powerhouse, even as you do the transition of lowering the foot bar. So for this hundred, let's bring the elbows down by the ribs. Bring the chin to the chest, and I'm gonna start with my knees in. So I want to get the connection right before I begin.

Now, reaching my arms long, I can begin to pump my arms. And then once you feel connected, we can begin to stretch our legs out to wherever we feel our point of challenge is. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Big breaths in, big breaths out, scooping your abs back. Connect from the core out.

Let's do a few more of these, big inhale, full exhale. Okay, one more set. Breathe it in, breathe it out. And then bring my arms and legs up, lower my head down. Okay, place the handles into one hand.

I'm gonna transition up to take the springs down. So trying to do this with straight legs, but if it helps you stay more connected to the powerhouse, then bend the knees, but press the thighs together. Here we go, let's sit up. And I'm going down to just two springs now for short spine. So we lower the headrest.

Okay, for me, I'm just gonna loop my loops, thread them through. If you're working with ropes and loops, then maybe put in your feet into the short loops. So from here, see if you can get your feet into the loops. This is a powerhouse challenge without the carriage moving. So lift the seat up, place the feet in.

Can you keep the carriage quiet? And then bring the arms down by the sides, we're ready to begin. Let's start with one just to give the hamstrings a little stretch. Staying connected, press out from the center, bring the legs up. Feel the hamstrings just get a little stretch.

Then scoop the abs. Lift the hips up, bring the carriage in. Let's bring the knees down. I want you to keep lifting the seat up even as the knees come down. We come halfway down and then keep that shape as we roll our spine back to the mat.

And again, pressing out, bring their legs up, feel the stretch, scoop and lift. Lower the knees to the shoulder blocks. I'm still reaching my hips up, coming halfway down. So we're nicely connected here, all the way back to the mat. Now let's add a little more to it.

Stretch the legs out. And we talked about the powerhouse including the seat. So switch the seat on as the legs come up, bend the knees. Now this time let's leave the feet behind as we lower down, get a nice stretch into the back of the body. Let's do two more with a little more flow this time.

Let the exercise happen. But at the same time, staying safely connected. All right, now we're gonna do one more with a transition. So reach out, lift the legs up, bend the knee to the shoulder blocks. Now, going into coordination.

So take a hold of your handles or your longer loops, and with control, can we come up into our position ready for coordination? Let's stay really strong and connected. Reach out, big inhale. Let's go wide together, and then bring it back in. And again, reach it out, wide together, bring the knees in, bring the nose to the knees, and then bend the elbows.

Let's do two more. Stay with me now. Reach out, in, nose to knees. Really feel that connection with the abs. One more time.

And then bring that in, ready to begin rowing. So I'm gonna shuffle back just on my carriage to get my seat on 'cause I want this transition to be smooth. Once again, keep that control as we spin around. I'm gonna take one spring off and spin the rest of the way. Okay, sitting nice and tall, ready for rowing into the sternum.

As we said, we're stripping back the choreography. So let's keep this very simple. Scooping your abs, draw your fists into the sternum, reach the legs away, scoop the abs, and let's just sit back up again. And again, scoop your abs, rounding back, and we're reaching the legs away. Let's do one more of these.

Scoop the abs, elbows wide. Sitting up nice and tall. Let's not forget the nice stretch that we can get from this exercise, take a fold, and now let's change the legs. So with control, once again, moving from the center, lift the legs up, and change them over. Arms come up to 90 degrees now.

I love this exercise, the way this really connects us with the torso. So make sure that your elbows aren't dropping down or folding in away from 90. Just go a little more than 90. Sit as tall as you can. Can you reach even a little higher, and we're hinge back, and then lift tall to return.

And again, let's repeat that. Lifting up, reaching back. It's almost like you're trying to push your arms, push the handles up overhead as we go. You'll feel that through the entire body. And then sit up nice and tall.

Let's take a second fold. Stretch it out. Reach the legs long and take a moment just to indulge in that stretch. Place the handles onto the pegs, and let's spin around. Okay, bring your seat back to the shoulder blocks, ready for the shave.

So once again, anchor down through the sit bones here, reach your arms forwards, upwards, and let's press the thumbs and fingers together. And I want a strong connection here. Hands come behind the back of the head and let's shave up, reach, pressing the knees out as much as you can as well. Elbows wide too, let's get the whole of the back working. I want you to imagine you're taking a shadow off of your back and just reaching it up and pressing it away.

Let's do two more. Reach it up, press your fingers and thumbs. Last one. Now stay up there as we take the arms wide, ready for hug a tree. And I'm gonna change my legs as well.

Sit up nice and tall, elbows high, and let's make fists. So we're showing some intention with this exercise. I want this to feel strong and connected. So bring the knuckles together, breathe it out. Inhale as we come back.

(Jamie inhaling) And again, exhale. (Jamie exhaling) Inhale it back, let's do one more with the exhale. (Jamie exhaling) Inhale it back. Now pause for a moment. Reconnect, take an inhale.

(Jamie inhaling) Exhale it out. (Jamie exhaling) And this time as we close the arms, we'll inhale. (Jamie inhaling) And feel that stretch and expansion across the back of the ribs, it feels great. Let's do two more. Stay strong through the arms.

Last one, and bring the arms back. Let's replace the handles onto the pegs. Okay, we're ready for our long box. So, we're gonna get the box. I want you to stay nicely connected to your powerhouse as you do this.

So even picking up and moving the apparatus around, it's still an opportunity to keep our connection to our powerhouse. So pick up the box. And for this, we're gonna do a little swan prep. So place my sticky pad on the end of my box. Bring the foot bar up, and I'm staying for the moment just on the one spring.

So with control, lower onto your tummy. And I wanna find length through this position. So press the heels, reach them away, hands come to the foot bar, and just press out and bring that back in. And again, press it out. Stay long, reaching long, bringing it back in.

We do a couple more of these, just working, just the arms, and the length and the opposition through the body. One more. Draw that back in. And let's challenge our stability. See if we can do this with just one arm.

So reach one arm out to the side, and really reach it. Don't let it drop, don't let it fall back. We're just gonna reach strong and see if we can match the work that's happening through the other arm by stabilizing equally through the entire body. Don't let the hips wiggle, don't let the feet part, just stay strong and straight. Let's do one more.

And then of course we gotta do the other side as well and balance things up. So let's lift the other arm out, reaching out to the side. Let's press out, and bring it back, Reach and draw it back. Two more. And back, and this is the last one, let's press it all the way out, all the way in.

And now we finally get to do some swan. So keep that length, 'cause we're now challenging our stability, but coming up into some extension. So press out long, look to the foot bar, lift the head, the chest, and the shoulders and lengthen 'em. And then press away, reaching away. And I've got my seat really active.

I want us to stay strong 'cause our glutes are very much a part of extension work. So make sure you're using them and pressing out. Let's do one more of these. Inhale as we come in, looking all the way up the wall. (Jamie inhaling) And keep the eyes lifted as we reach, press back, bend the elbows, come all the way in.

With control, stepping off of your box. We'll lower the foot bar. I'm gonna take my sticky pad off as well, and ready for pulling straps. Lowering onto my tummy on the other side, facing the other way. I'm on one spring, and we choke up onto my straps here.

Reaching my body along. Once again, reconnect with the center. So abs in and up, body reaching long, seat on, and then moving this from the shoulders. Keep the arms straight as we lengthen, reach for the hips, lift the head, the chest. The shoulders stay lifted as we bring the arms back, and then we can lower with length.

And again, inhaling as we come up. Reach, reach, reach, and then lengthen as we return, all the way back. Let's do three more. And return. Keep reaching with the head, pressing the heels together as well in opposition, reaching the legs away, and drawing the abs in and up of course.

Last one, stay lifted. Bring the arms back with control. Now, slide your hands down onto the lower end of the straps. And if you're on our ropes, maybe you wanna be grabbing the actual loop now. Take the arms wide, reach the body long.

So similar exercise, different work in the shoulder. Let's pull the arms to the small of the back. Lift the head, chest, and shoulders, fly up and over as we return. Keep the body long, here we go, and again. Arms pull, and then lift them up and over to return.

Let's do two more. Lift the arms up and over. Stay long in the body, abs drawing in and up. And then we return. We keep the control all the way in.

Now take the handles into one hand and step off to that side. Of course, staying connected as we do so. I'm gonna add another spring, so I'm onto two springs now, and I'm ready for my backstroke. Best way in, we're gonna take both these handles in each hand, step forward and I'm gonna try and sit as close to the front of the box as possible. If you need to adjust, you can do.

And then let's roll onto our backs, and make a strong, connected ball, fists touching, be really strong, deep abs, elbows pressing out. Let's lift up, out, around. Now reach into the handles, so we're working strong with the powerhouse, bring and resist the arms as they come back in. Let's go up again, out around and reach, reach, reach, and then bring it back in. I know it makes it harder, but it's much more fun.

Here we go, reach, abs drawing away, in and up away from the hands, bring it all the way in. Let's reverse that. Come down the center, reach out wide, up, and center. Reach out, press out wide, up, and center. Last one.

Now reach down the center, out wide, up, and reconnect in our ball shape. Okay, take the handles into one hand. Let's shimmy back a little, make sure I got room on the box to sit up. Stand nicely connected to my powerhouse so that I can change down to just one spring, ready for everyone's favorite, which is teaser. So let's lower onto our backs.

Take a moment just to get set. Find your position on the box and take a moment just to stretch. Now abs deep, but here we're gonna definitely need the recruitment of the seat as well, and the arms and the shoulder girdle to be nicely connected as well. Let's come up into our first teaser, chin to chest, reaching up, stretching forward, and just reach as hard as you can into the handles. Can you keep the handles horizontal as we resist to come back all the way back?

Let's go up again, don't spend too long down there. We're coming all the way up. This time as you reach, can we move our arms? Hold that teaser shape as we draw the arms back and forth. One more time.

Reach away, reach, and then lower with control. Let's come straight back up again. I know, so many teasers. Now here, if you feel you need to bend your knees, whatever helps you stay connected. I'm gonna keep mine straight, but we're gonna make circles, just working within a range that allows us to drive this from the powerhouse like we're staying stable through the center, let's reverse the arms.

Two more. Last one. And then reach into the handles as we lower ourselves all the way back. And we've earned it, so drop your handles and just take a stretch. And that feels great.

Okay, chin to chest, let's roll up in Pilates. We never get to rest that long, do we? It's always the best moments they get taken from us, but we enjoy them all the more for it. So horseback here, we can do without the handles. We can start just with our feet flexed, reaching our arms forward, press the toes.

Now keep your seat down for the first one, like a spine stretch forward, just scoop the abs, draw the abs back, and reach forward, and then coming back. This time, see if we can recruit the inner thighs and lift the seat up as we press forward. Reach your arms, point your toes, lift your seat, hug the box with your thighs, hug the box, and then return back down. One more to do. This is a great way of showing imbalance through both sides of the body.

So great way to even it out and reveal those imbalances so that we can work stronger in the future. Reach, reach, and then lower all the way back. Great work. Now we're going into our short box, but just for fun, you're gonna leave the long box right where it is. So just bring yourselves forward to the front of the box.

Now, make sure you've got space behind you, so if you do fall backwards, you're totally safe. But the challenge of this is we don't have a strap, so we can't rely on the legs. All this connection anchoring has gotta come from our deep abdominal muscles, our seat, our whole core. So here we go. Hug the arms around the waist, up and over for round back.

Scoop your abs around back to your sacrum. And let's see if we can come back up. And the goal here is just not to let the feet lift. Get to that point where you feel like they want to, but just don't let them leave the bar. Round and back, and coming back up again.

Let's do two more. Go a little further each time. Last one. And rounding up. Now for flat back, take your hands behind the back of the head.

And I want you to lengthen up as tall as you can. This one's gonna be a real challenge, 'cause you're gonna feel your feet want to leave as we hinge back, ooh, that's just about me. So we don't have to go very far back to feel this exercise right on that point of losing control. Let's do two more, lift it up, and reach. One more.

Lift up through the spine and return. Now stay seated, nice and tall. Just stretch side to side. And with the elbows as they are, this is a great way of opening up the side body. But make sure, even as we stretch here, that we're anchoring down through the opposite side.

So my right hip is pressing the sit bone down. One more to the other side, and to the center, ready for twist and reach. Scoop the abs a little, reach the elbow out, reach it to the back corner of the box. I want you to look to the outside elbow. Come back up through the center.

Let's go the other way, scoop the abs. Reach the elbow, and coming back up. And again, scoop and reach. Opening the body as much as you dare to the other side. We're gonna go one more in each direction.

That was very close to my legs coming off there, which is great, right on that point of control. That's where you want to be, just feeling those feet wanting to lift, and your whole body saying no, and stopping the feet from lifting up. Come up to sit nice and tall, ready for climb a tree. So drive one arm under the thigh and pull the thigh and the torso together. Really strong and tight.

Lift your spine up tall. Don't allow these two to part as we straighten and bend. And again, one more time. Walk the hands up to the ankle. And here very carefully once again, making sure the foot doesn't leave the foot bar, let's scoop and round back, coming back up.

We don't have to go far back. Let's do this two more times. One more, now ready to climb the tree. This is the challenge. Can you keep your tree vertical as you climb down, and as we come back up?

So you have to really use the abs to come back up. Here we go. Reaching down, how vertical can I keep it? One more. And then take a stretch at the top.

All right, let's change legs, driving the other arm under the thigh. Hold the wrist. Pull the thigh and the torso together, and lift the torso as tall as you can, straighten and bend. Two more. Walk the hands up to the ankle.

We know the drill now, now scoop your abs. Can you keep that control as you go back? And return, it doesn't have to be a big range of movement. It has to be connected and secure. One more time.

And now climbing down my tree all the way down, and then using the abs to come back up, keeping my tree as straight up to the ceiling as I can to further challenge the powerhouse. One more time. And then lower the leg down. Great work. Okay, let's take the box off and move on to our long stretch series.

So staying connected as I push the, take the box to the end of the reformer, and I pick up my headrest and my foot bar. Now coming onto two springs, you're gonna need your sticky pad on the headrest as well. Now once again, we're stepping on, we're keeping that connection to the powerhouse. So can you step on into that long stretch position with control and connection? All right, keeping the carriage quiet, press your heels together.

And once again, this isn't about range of movement, this is about connection. Can you make your body long? Can you move this exercise from the center, press your heels, and we press out. It's not how far out you go, it's how long you can make your body. But definitely bring it all the way in.

A lot of the times we get hung up on how far out can I go? But really what the focus should be is how strong can I pull the carriage in? 'Cause that really gets the abs working. Let's do three more. Press out, draw it in.

Two more. One more. All the way in, now pull it all the way. I want to hear the carriage close. Okay, down to your knees with control, for down stretch.

Bring the hips forward, and draw the shoulders back and down. We wanna rediscover our swan position here. Do three of these, press it back, and then lift the sternum as we come back in. But once again, we're not compromising this extension work with working with the back. We're keeping connected to the powerhouse, to the abs, lifting up.

And now we're transitioning into our up stretch. For me, I'm gonna put the gear out. You might be happy with this. I'm six, two working on this reformer. So this is what works for me.

So if I gear out for my upstretch. And I'll explain why right now. So let's come up into our upstretch position. Round it over, so there's elements of elephant right here, press the carriage back. And then as we come home, the reason I gear out is 'cause I like to feel the carriage come home.

And that helps me pull a little more with my abs. Lifting my hips up, pressing out. And I'm resisting the carriage as I come all the way home, bringing the carriage in, abs lifting up, in and up, pressing out. So the whole body is working through this exercise. Press it back.

Three more. Last two. Last one. All the way in, bring it all the way in. And then we're ready for our elephant.

So once again, I'm just gonna gear back to where I was. And the elephant that I'm gonna share with you is one that I learned from my mentor, Lolita, it's great. It was a great way, and the reason I'm sharing it is I really feel how this really connects us with our abdominals. So come forward into Pilates stance onto the front of the carriage, and then scoop the abs, round the back, and see if you can find connection right here. Let's press the carriage back and then draw it back in.

And it doesn't take much range of movement again to find that connection. Let's do three more, and in. Strong abs to bring it all the way in. Last one. Now take your right foot, just reach it across, pointing it in line with the other toes, and we press out and back with one leg.

Can you keep your hips even? Changing legs. Press out and hold. Last one. And then step down straight onto the floor.

Ready for a version of long back stretch is a great way just to stay connected. So hands onto the foot bar, feet into the shoulder blocks. And for this, we're just gonna press our seat out a little ways. Now rediscover your connection to your powerhouse, and also pull your toes back, so you're pushing through your heels. From here, just press out a little way and hold.

Stay strong, stay really connected. Those deep abdominals working, and we'll go for three tricep presses just from here. So press down, and up, and again. One more time. Bring the carriage in, and then simply step back down to the side.

Okay, bring in the sticky pad forward, and add in a spring. So I'm gonna do my stomach massage on three springs. That helps me keep the quality of the movement. And I'm putting my sticky pad where it allows me to get the best out of this exercise. So if you can move yours further forward, great.

Otherwise work with me here, wherever we find our seat, being able to stay connected and keep a good spine position. So gonna lift up and over. Press out. Let's lower the heels. Lift the heels, bring it home.

And again. And this whole exercise, we wanna reduce the movement through the upper body. Stay nicely connected. Moving from the center, even though the legs are working, the arms are working. Press it out.

Reach the heels away as we lower them through the foot bar. Two more. And all the way home. Now take your hands back onto the shoulder blocks, and lift the chest and shoulders for a flat back. Let's press it out.

Lower lifts, the same exercise, but working long through the spine. And the goal here is to stay soft in the elbows. So I'm not locking out the arms. I'm doing as much of the work with the muscles of my torso as possible. See if we can do five more.

Four more, lifting tall. Three, last two. And this is preparing us for the next exercise as we come in and take off one spring. So down to just two springs for reach in front. So lift your arms forward.

How much can you lift your spine up as we just press out and come home? Press out, and home. One more like this. And then we'll add the twist. Reach from fingertip to fingertip, stretch tall through the spine, and return and reach.

Other side, and back. One more each way. And back. Reach and return. Bring the carriage in, step off to the side.

We bring our sticky pad now to the end of the carriage for our tendon stretch. So let's step on, hands onto the foot bar, feet together with the heels off the edge of the carriage. And just once again, rediscover that enclosed sort of shortened elephant that we did earlier. Press in with the heels, push the carriage away just a little ways, and then scoop the abs, bring it back. And again, press it out.

Draw it back with the abs one more time. And then step down, well done, onto the floor. Great. Lowering the foot bar for semicircle. So I'm still on two springs.

It's easier if they're the two outside springs as well, gives you space to fall in between the gap with your seat. So stay connected as we lower down to sit on the carriage, onto the back, toes on the foot bar. Now in one connected strong, powerful movement, let's see if we can push the carriage out, here we go. Pressing out and lifting the hips up. Now this is not one of my favorite body positions or ranges of movement, but that's why I'm doing it.

It's 'cause I need it to keep the heels lifted. Let's lower the spine, press out, lift the hips, bring the carriage home all the way in if you can. Lower it down through the spine. And it's a great way of cleaning the springs as well, getting your seat to brush those springs. Let's do one more in that direction.

Lift the hips up, draw it in. Let's reverse the movement. Press out and lower it all the way in, lifting the hips up. Keep pressing with the arms as well. You should be working in all directions.

Last one, let's press all the way out, lower the spine, and then bring the seat back in. Lift the hips. I'm gonna come halfway back up the carriage, take a hold of my ankles, and just enjoy a little bit more of a stretch here before I take hold of the shoulder blocks and just draw myself all the way back on. Bring my knees in for a moment just to reconnect with a counter stretch. Stepping off to the side.

So from here, moving on to our chest expansion. So two springs still, taking hold of our handles, making sure that they're available to us and we haven't thrown them too far away. Hook your feet over the edge of the carriage and take hold of your straps. Now this is a good challenging exercise for the whole of the stability of the body. As much as we're moving the arms and working the shoulders, if we don't stay connected, we're gonna take a dive down the middle.

So making sure that we're strong from the abs, the seat, the inner thigh, really strong connection to stabilize this movement. Let's take an inhale. (Jamie inhaling) Let's center and back. Inhale again. (Jamie inhaling) Hold that breath in as we look, and we look, and return back with an exhale.

(Jamie exhaling) Two more. (Jamie inhaling) (Jamie exhaling) Last one. (Jamie inhaling) And return. (Jamie exhaling) Ready for thigh stretch. So for me, I'm adding a spring on here, making it three springs.

And that gives me a little bit of support into this challenging stretch. So bringing my knees forward to the shoulder blocks, still looking to make sure that my legs are traintracking back. And I'm gonna challenge myself by keeping the same hand position connected, abs in and up, seat on its lengthen. I wanna get some real height through this exercise as we hinge back at the knees. Now can you lift the arms and let the body bring itself back up?

And again, hinging back, scooping the abs, find that length, reach the arms, body returns. Let's do one more. And lift, and return. Place the handles onto the pegs. And let's turn around for some arm circles.

So kneeling arms. Once again, we're gonna challenge the stability. It's not just the arms working. So I'm coming down to just one spring, taking hold of my handles. Once again, this is a very light setting.

So be sure that you're stable and connected so that we don't dive down into the spring well. So reaching forward, lift the seat. Let's go up and down. Can you keep the body quiet and just the arms moving, pressing into the handles. Do two more for me.

Reach your arms up. How high can you go? Keeping that body integrity, keeping that powerhouse connected. This time, stopping at the top for arm circles. They don't have to be big circles.

Three in each direction. Strong connection. And reverse. One more to do. And then bring the elbow in, bring the seat back down to the heels.

And let's place the handles on the pegs for the moment. We're moving on tick tocks. So step off to the side. I'm gonna add to make it two springs. And then I'm setting up for preview first, some following exercises by adding my extenders on.

If you're on a contemporary reformer, you'll just be using your legs in the long loops, but for us on the classical reformers, loop both the handle into the strap, and this will be ready for when we get to frogs and leg circles that'll come in later. All right, place those on the pegs. I'm gonna lower the headrest down. Once again, sitting with control, lowering onto my back. And I'll reach up for your pegs or the back of your shoulder blocks and bring the legs straight up.

So that tick tock is a great way to really work on that stability. So for these ones, I want us to keep our hips down. Let's just take our feet out to the right, keeping the hips drawing back, come back through the center. The same to the left. So I'm really trying to anchor down to the opposite side of the body.

And yeah, my arms are working as well. Press the elbows out, pull into those handles, or pegs, or whatever you have hold of here into the center. Now let's take that into a full corkscrew, but working on a smaller range of movements so that we can keep that connection to the right, down around, left and center, reverse it. And center, one more each way. And center, to the left, and to the right, and center.

Now bring the headrest up, and take the feet, place them into the loops. Now once again, let's do this without moving the carriage. Heels together, arms by your side. Now I figured we'd have a little play with this to challenge our stability. So let's begin just by discovering our frogs.

Pressing out. Once again, it's a nice feeling exercise, but don't throw the movement away. Stay strong, stay connected. Let's stay out there this time, ready for leg circles. Let's do a few leg circles, keep them small, keep them tight.

And this is gonna challenge us to stay connected. How low can your legs go in fact? Let's reverse them back the other way. Small range of movement, but very big on the challenge to the powerhouse. Last one, bring it in, bend your knees.

Now, let's have some fun. I'm gonna take my left foot out, and place that back onto the peg, ready to do my frogs again. One-legged frogs. Okay, so press out and back. And the challenge is immediate.

One side is certainly easier to anchor than the other. Can you make it look as though you've got two straps on? Do one more, and then let's do leg circles here. Go as big as you dare, but be aware that you've only got one leg in the strap, one foot in the strap, so it's gonna be a little more work. Let's reverse them back the other way.

Last one. Bend the knees. Keep this one in as we put the other leg back into the straps before we take the other one off. There we go, let's put that onto the pegs. See if we can mirror on the other side what we just did.

Can you stay stable and even through both sides of the body, even with that challenge to our stability. It's similar to what we did with our swan prep on the box. Do one more. And then leg circles. It may have to reduce your range of movement to keep control.

Reverse. One more to do. And then bend the knees. Take the foot out of the loop, and let's drop those. We don't need those anymore, so let's drop them into the well and step off, ready for knee stretches.

So foot bar up, into kneeling. Now for round back, stay nicely connected. Press your seat back a little further than you normally would, because when your seat is back, you draw the carriage in, you really will feel that nice connection through the abdominals. So let's press out, and home, and home, deep abs, powering it from the center. Two more.

Now arch the back up. Same exercise, different spine position, press out and home. Driving this from the abs. Three more. Bring it in.

Now for knees off, let's bring the left foot forward. Lift the heels, scoop the abs and lift your back knee just up. Let's see if we can make it happen here for five, four, three, two, one, bring the knees to the center. Let's hover the knees off, and then bring the right foot forward. Same exercise.

And in, using the abs. Three, four, one more, five, kneeling down, and then knees off for five. Abs deep, and in, step down. Now, I'm keeping it on two springs for my running. We get less of a stretch this way, but it challenges us to find the stability there.

There's less spring support, so let's press out, reach it long. Body reaches long, abs in and up. And don't throw this movement away. Make sure that you stay nicely connected with the whole body. Last one on each side.

Bend the knees, bring the carriage home for pelvic lift. Feet wide on the arches, let's scoot the abs up. We get the whole back chain of the body working there as we press all the way out. Keep the hips lifted as we come in. All the way out, all the way home.

That's it, keep scooping your abs, lifting your seat. One more. Now, pull the carriage all the way in, keep it all the way in as we lower down through the spine and step off with control to the side, ready for some splits and some lunges. So lowering the foot bar, I'm gonna take my sticky pads to make sure I'm nice and safe. And for me, I'm gonna lower down to just one spring.

That challenges my range of movement. So step up very carefully onto your reformer carriage. Step onto the frame, and then heel toe the foot out. It's tempting to jump, but make that hip do some work. Now, holding the carriage in arms wide, let's lift as tall as we can, it's like we're zipping the body up, pressing out.

Hold, draw it in, hold. And again, out and hold, zipping up to draw it back in and hold. Last time, press out, hold it out there, draw it in, and hold. I'm gonna heel toe back halfway in, step onto the carriage with control to turn around and do the other side. Same again, get your stable planted foot that's on the actual reformer placed first.

Then the carriage foot goes second, holding the carriage in. We press out, hold, draw it in, and hold. Out, hold it out, zip it up to bring it in, hold. Last time, press out, hold, and then zip it up, up, up, hold it in, heel toe back in, step to the carriage, and step down, placing the sticky pad now on the headrest, and the foot bar up, ready for our final splits and lunges. Hands on the foot bar, step up onto the carriage.

I'm gonna add an extra spring, so I'm on two springs. Let's heel toe back. And here we should heel toe, don't be tempted to jump. You gotta show that control 'cause that's also showing that you're staying connected. Press the carriage back, and resist as it comes back in.

And again, press, draw it back in. So we're resisting it from coming back in that increases the stretch, and then lowering the back knee. Stay round, looking down, hip knee in alignment. Draw that back in and I'm resisting this back leg. I'm trying to keep it straight for as long as I can so that front one bends, the back one gets all that delightful stretch.

Let's bring that all the way in, lifting my right arm, lifting my left arm. Just take a connected stretch up, hands back to the bar. Last side, step the other foot up, heel toe back, keeping the carriage as quiet as possible, pressing out. And pressing out through the back blade of my back foot. Press it out and resist to come in.

You should look down your body, see your hip, your knee, your ankle, all in alignment. And then lowering my back knee. Staying around, staying connected. Here we go, pushing back. Resist the return.

And again, press out, resist to come back. One more time. And then looking up, stretch one arm, stretch the other. Big breath in, arms by the side. Let's step off the reformer, finish standing tall, strong, and deeply connected.

Thank you for moving with me and thank you for moving from the center.