Standing Balance Challenge

Hi guys. Tracey Mallet here. We're gonna do a short workout focusing on the lower and upper body. So we're gonna start with, get some nice light weights. Right now I'm using two pounds. You can use two to three pounds.

I'm just using a lighter weight. Okay, so we're gonna start with our feet together. We're gonna take a deep breath in. On the exhale we're gonna slowly roll down through the spine. Just let the weights reach down to the floor, and then we're gonna slowly roll all the way up.

And again, inhale, exhale roll down. Inhale here, exhale and roll all the way up. Let's start with the first position or v position. We're gonna start with a little plie here. We're gonna plie down and up.

So make sure you're knees go over the first and second toe and then we're gonna add some arms with this. So we're gonna take them out and in. Out and in. So you're leading with the elbows. Join those abs in.

Focus on joining the inner thighs together as you extend up. Let's do a few more. One more. Hold it here, releve, get the heels together. Not too high so the weight's over the five toes.

Ready, we're gonna repeat. Down and up. Now remember the weight is over the five toes so give the little baby toes some love. They get neglected. Remember little baby heels, no stiletto heels.

Let's do four more. Four... ...exhale three... ...exhale two... ...exhale one.

Lower down back into first position. We're gonna slowly bring the elbows in. We're gonna inhale, open the arms around and then come back. Inhale, open the arms, and then come back. Now we're gonna add a releve, down, and back.

Releve, around, and back. Reach up, ears by your biceps, around palms facing out. And reach and out and down. One more time. And reach and down.

So we try and reverse it. So we go up, elbows down, and out. Around and up, elbows down, and out. Let's add that releve. Lift, elbows come down, and open.

Keep your palms facing the front. Reach so your arms are in your peripheral view. So you should always be able to see your arms in front of the body. Reach out, elbows pointing to the sides of the room, and last time, and back. Let's go a little bit wider to second position.

Alright, we're gonna plie down, so you're in that plie position, and back. Plie, then we're add the beautiful present, and back. Present. So imagine your arms are going to the corners of the room. Your palms are facing upwards, working those biceps.

Guess what? You're working the legs at the same time. Breathing. Hold it here. Releve. If this is too challenging just keep your heels down on the floor and repeat.

Down and up. Remember, keep the weight over the five toes. Nice balance going on here. If you need to work up to it it's fine, just keep the heels down and repeat with me. A lot of balance challenge here.

A couple more. One more. Come down, lower down, reach the arms out, palms facing upwards, and we're gonna slowly rotate to the right side. So you rotate, back to center. Rotate, back to center.

Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Add a plie. Bring it up.

Back to center. Two more times. Back to center. Hold it here. Relax.

Press down ready to go again. Biceps, and in and out. If you feel comfortable we can try and go into a little releve here. If not, keep the heels down. Remember the elbows are in line with the shoulders.

Those beautiful biceps. Okay, four more. And four... ...and three, working those legs... ...and two...

...and one. Hold it here. Lower, come all the way down. Bring your feet together, now we're in a parallel position. Take the right leg forward, left leg back.

You're here in that beautiful lunge position. Make sure your knee is well underneath your hips. Okay, we're gonna take the arms in opposition, in opposition here. So it's almost like your walking in opposition with the arms in that lunge position. So those legs are isometrically working to stabilize and your arms, reaching forwards and back, good.

Let's do four more like that, ready? Four... ...and three... ...and two... ...and one.

Bring the arms forward, transfer over, and try and see if you can balance in that position. Hold it there. We're gonna try and hug a tree here. We're gonna hug a tree. If that's too challenging, bring your foot down onto a toe.

Okay, so you can be here or you can be here. Breathe. Four more. Four... ...and three...

...and two... ...and one. Hold it, come down, and slowly bring the legs together. Nice. Switch legs.

Okay, so I'm in that perfect position, knee underneath your hip. Ready in opposition and walk. Little bit lower, bend both knees. Left. Pull those abs in, shoulders over your hips, all these cues that we need to remind ourselves that we're actually doing.

Good, four more. And four... ...and three... ...and two.. ...and one.

Take it down, reach the hands forward as if someone's pulling you, transfer your weight. You can keep it here if you want, otherwise you can lift it back. Ready to hug a tree. We're gonna open and close. You're balancing that one leg.

Make sure, from your ribs, your lowest rib to your hip. You got those nice sticks there, open and stabilized. Bend your supporting knee. Four more, guys. Four...

...and three... ...and two... ...and one. Slowly come back. Take the hands in, bend your knees, pitch forward, pike through, forwards, bend, and open.

Let's try that again. In, forward, pike, lift, and open. One, reach, ready, piking. And lift and down. It's almost like you're trying to jump into a pool as you come over.

Lift, down. And up, reach. Now we're gonna try and do it on a releve. And one, two. Lift up.

A little bit more challenging, right? And one, right here, abs pulled in. Imagine you're scooping out those abdominals. It's almost like the abdominals are lifting up behind the back of the ribcage. Really reach over.

Really stabilize through the ankle joints. Little harder. One more. Lift up, down, and back. Beautiful.

Relax, roll down. Slowly roll all the way up. Come back into your second position. Reach your arms, palms flat, the same. We're gonna rotate, we're gonna dive, we're gonna rotate, and back.

So it's rotating, dive forwards, here, and back. You can see my palms are flat and what I'm gonna do is reach and then back. Rotate, reach, and back. Rotate, reach, and back. Last time.

Rotate, reach, back. Hold it here. And plie down, little circles. And four, and three, and two, circle back. And four, and three, and two, and one.

Come in, press the hands in. Releve, releve, keeping the feet, articulating the feet, should I say. Ankles are right underneath the knee joint. Three more. Three...

...two... ...one. Hold it there. Little pulses. Remember if this is too challenging, put your heels down into the floor.

Ready, we're gonna try and do two counts of eight. Alright we've already done one count of eight. Let's do another count of eight. And eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, hold it. Lower your heels.

Extend. Back down again, releve. Two more counts of eight. Eight, and seven, and six, five, and four, and three, two, and one, and hold. Lower the heels.

Extend, bring the legs together, parallel. Reach the hands down. And circle, and four, and three, and two, one, open, and back. And four, and three, and two, and one, up. And back.

Let's try that again. And little circles. Up and back. Now it's gonna get harder. We're gonna try it on a releve.

Up and down. You ready? And four, and three, and two, and one, lift. Open out. And four, palms flat.

Up, palms out. And four, and three, and two, and one, lift up. Palms out, palms flat. And four, and three, and two, and one. Palms out, palms flat.

One more. Four, and three, and two, and one, hold it. Find that balance. Bend your knees, over press. Elbows in line with your shoulders, and lift.

And four, and three, and two, and one. Hold it here. Take the right leg, pitch it back, bend both knees. Palms come in and out. So you want that beautiful extension.

If this is too challenging, put your toe onto the floor. Pitch your body forward in that hip extension. Four... ...three... ...two...

...and one. Back to center. Release. Back up. Ready?

Take the leg back, pitch your body forwards, bring it in and out. Elbows in line with your shoulders, depress your scapula. Focus with your mid upper back pulling down. Those hamstrings are burning, your supporting leg is bent. Two more.

Last time. Come down, release, press the arms back. We're gonna finish off with a little extension here. The arms are going back in that great extension, working the triceps. Let's do four more like this, if you wanna do a little releve, you can.

Four, three, two, hold it. Lower, reach up, and back just to free out the shoulder joint. Two more. One more. Roll up.

Bring your feet about hip width apart, pull the shoulder blades down. We're gonna finish off with a roll down, okay? So we're gonna take a deep breath in, roll down through the spine. Now you're in this position here, we're gonna do a little semi circles out and in, moving at the shoulder joint. And let's reverse it to the other direction.

And then back to center. Slide drawing those abdominals very very slowly, the head is the last to uncurl. Shoulder blades down. Do you not feel like 10 inches taller? Haha.

Good job guys. You worked your legs, your abs were continuously supporting you through the whole of that balance sequence and you were working that upper body. Remember I was working with two pounds, which I think for now is probably quite appropriate for you. As you get stronger, yes, you can go up to three pounds but if you're new, I would definitely start off with two pounds. Good job.

Let me know how you're going on. Bye, guys.