Traditional Circuit Flow

Hi, guys, Courtney here. And I'm here with my friend and fellow instructor, Abla. I'm gonna teach you a class, which is kind of inspired by Abla's teaching. We're gonna have a lot of classical or traditional sort of roots with a very strong focus on alignment and tempo and transition. I'm really, really stoked to be working out with a friend and fellow teacher.

So let's just dive in. Our first little warmup is just gonna be standing. So we're standing beside our machines, feet about hip distance apart. Reach your arms up, roll your wrists out. And on a breath out, dive down, touch your toes.

Find your way even between your toes and your heels, and then soften those knees. Pay attention to the arches of the feet. Rebuild your spine. Come all the way up. Reach out, take up a lot of space. And do that one more time.

So exhaling, dive down. Sometimes when we're moving quickly, we sort of forget about breath. So I always like to just take a moment, the calm before the storm. Reach up, take a lot of space. This time, widen your stance.

Interlace your hands behind you. Reach to the floor. Pinch those shoulder blades together. Bend your knees a lot. And the chest can come through the thighs, arms go overhead. No tension on the neck. That can be the theme of the day for the day.

Take your hands to your low back and then unclasp your hands. Reach down to the floor and then just rebuild your spine. One more time like that. So let's reach up. Interlace those hands, reach knuckles down.

Feel width through the collarbones. I like to bend my knees a lot. Then drop the chest through the thighs. Reach the arms up and back. The goal here is to stretch the front of the shoulders.

Release any tension from the neck or low back. Bend your elbows to the hands. Come to your low back, then the floor, and then rebuild your spine and come all the way up. We are connected. Let's dive into it. We're gonna start with our foot bar in our footwork setting.

And then our first springs, we're gonna have two reds and one blue. We are gonna be doing some single leg foot work. So always make sure you're setting up the springs for what you love to do. Head rest up if that makes you happy. Lie down on your back.

And before we dive in, let's go ahead and do some Reformer roll-ups You know I love them. Reach your arms up. Take a big breath in. Nod your chin and then exhale, roll over the thighs. I always think the first one is the hardest.

Relax your shoulders. Roll about half way back. Now, you can lift your arms up or not. That's up to you. Roll down. The real thing we're trying to focus on here is finding our connection to the mat with our spine. So roll up. That's an exhale.

Relax the shoulders. Roll halfway back. If you find that when you lift your arms, you skip your low back, it's better to do this with the arms low because this is the time to feel your spine connecting into the mat. How about one more? Nod your chin. Close the ribs. Roll all the way up.

Shoulders down, away from the ears. We go halfway back. Arms up, optional, and then roll it down. Circle your arms around and shoulders snug against the blocks. We're gonna go right into some single leg foot work. But before we do, let's set up that neutral pelvis.

Find that space between your low back and the mat. Toes on, heels high, feet hip distance. Let's take our left leg to table, Abla, and we're gonna keep the hips level as we press all the way out. Let's do five like this. So each inhale to come in, exhale to press out, trying to get those hip extensors to help you.

I usually kind of tap my glute or my hamstring with one of my hands to remind me. I think one more is five. You all know that I'm not very good counter. Okay. Now, we go into bicycles. The left leg goes over and bent to a sharp tabletop, and bend.

We're doing five of each variation here and we're adding on. So the next time you press out that leg straight, lift it up and swing it down. Five of them. That's four. Make sure you're pressing all the way out, straight leg.

Three. Keeping the hips level. Two. And then we're gonna hold it out for one. And that left leg could be straight or bent, whatever you like.

Lower your right heel under the bar. Five calf raises, one, two, three, four, and five. As you bring the carriage in, go ahead and put that left foot down and take your right leg to table. We'll do the same thing on the other side. Five presses, nothing fancy.

And well, I guess it's all kind of fancy 'cause it's Pilates. There's always a lot to think about, not overly complex yet though, focusing on hip stability. One more like this. Pull up through the kneecap. Let's add the bicycle, kick it long. Bended table.

Kick it long. Bring it in. Three, two, and one. Now, that leg, right leg gesture stays straight. Swing it up. Big kick, one and two, finding disassociation.

I can move my leg. I can keep everything else still. Hold it on the next one, can be straight, can be bent. Lower that left heel. Five, four, three, two, and one. Bring it on home. Good.

Drape your legs over the bar. Lift your arms. You know it. You love it. Reformer roll-up one time. Up you go. Forehead to the knees. Reach under your legs.

Take off one red, leave a red and a blue one. We're gonna roll down and grab our straps. So in my studio, we use these double loops. You can choose the short, the long. The short always feels a little bit harder, so do you.

And I like to scoot your way from those shoulder blocks. The hands come up over the chest, the legs float to table. Take a big breath in. As you exhale, curl up. We're gonna stay in that curl and lift the arms up and down for five.

Inhale, lift, pull, one. Each time you pull your arms, you're lifting a little higher, two and three. That's four. Try not to lift too high. That's five.

Take it down. Take a little mini break. Similar exercise, little different. Exhale. Lift up. Extend the legs. Turn your palms in. Open, close for five.

Find your back 'cause you're gonna need it for the hundred. I spoiled the surprise. We're here doing the hundred. Three, four, and five. Turn those palms down. Take a break. Triceps are next.

So bring your elbows towards your mat and close to your body, but find that sharp 90. Don't go beyond 90. Find that 90. Curl up, straighten the arms and legs. Bend them in. Legs could go over or under that bar, your choice.

Five is our goal. Squeezing your inner thighs together. And hold it. That is your a hundred position. Well, we're gonna go there after these messages. Take a little break.

Relax. Reset. And if you wanna change your springs or your loops, now is the time 'cause here's the big one. Float your legs up. Big breath in. Let's do it. Pilates V, low legs, begin to pump.

Abla's going under the bar. I love it. Pumping your arms with intention, big breathing. This is like an exercise for your insides, right? For your breath, diaphragm, deep abdominals. Squeeze those inner thighs.

The higher you can curl up, the less you're gonna feel your neck. So you have to work for it. You have to fight for it. Are we at a hundred yet? Okay. We'll do 20 more. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Last time. And you always finish the hundred with a hold. Show the exercise who is the boss. Bend the knees. Take a break. We have a reformer roll up. Hook up those straps.

Drape your legs over the bar. Lift your arms to the sky. A moment to breathe. Stretch your back. Do what feels good. Next up is bridging so roll down.

Make sure that headrest is down if you had it up for the last exercise. And let's do our bridge and Pilates V, sound good? Heels together, toes apart, heels of the feet onto the foot bar. Yeah, hands down. Remember that your arms are a big part of bridge.

Before we get started, find that neutral and then posterior pelvis, deep abdominals, low back into the mat. Roll up into your bridge. Really work to tighten those upper abs right into a combo. We're gonna press out. Pull in.

Dip the hips almost touching the mat. Return back up. Do it again. Press out, pull in, dip down. Find the lift. Find the squeeze.

Three more. Press, pull, lower, lift. Two to go. chin away from the chest. You wanna be able to breathe.

You wanna be able to scream for help if you need it. Just joking. It's only bridging. We'll scream later when we're doing snake. One more time. Press, pull, lower, hold.

Now, draw your knees and toes to touch. So you're adducted and in parallel. Let's take a March. One leg up, place it down. Other leg up, place it down.

Lift and lower. So you're working, anticipation, right? You're trying to anticipate whether or not the pelvis can stay level against the leg lifting. Good. Lift and lower one more time.

Right and down. Here we go. Left and down. Now, take your right leg up and kick it to the sky. Dorsiflex the foot. Swing the leg as low as you think that hip can stay stable.

Plant or flex the ankle. Lift the leg. Let's do five more. Here we go. One and up. Two and up. Three and up.

Four and up. Five and hold. Bend the knee, place it down. Pause. Reset, other leg. So take the leg up.

Dorsi, send it down. Find that hip stability. Plant or lift it up. Five at tempo. Down, up.

Two, up. Three, up. Four, up. Five, hold. Place the foot. Set the hips.

Find the bridge and then articulate the spine back to the mat. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Take your arms up. Reformer roll-up. Exhale. Good. Swing your legs off to one side.

Let's pop off that blue. Leave a red on and continue to face back. Let's do some back rowing. So measure out a little bit of distance behind you. It's never fun to roll off the back of your carriage.

It's a little bit of space. Good. Let's take our hands in those short loops. We'll start with round back. Let's do three of each. So sit really tall.

Anchor the shoulders. Make that circle point at the ankles. Looks good. Okay, ready? We're gonna roll the pelvis back. Pull the fist just underneath the chin. Nice.

Now, keeping the carriage pretty still, reach your arms out to the side, palms back, pinkies up. Now, two things happen at once. You're gonna push back. Dive forward, reach behind you. Lift your arms nice and high. Circle over to your toes. Touch your toes.

Take that stretch and rebuild your spine. Two more. We roll it back. We opened like wings, pause. We press and dive.

Pull the abdominals and like that spine stretch forward. Big swimmer circles. I think of Michael Phelps and rebuild the spine. Last. Pull.

T. Press. And up, over and around. Let's do our flat back, three of them. So we'll lean back, do a bicep curl.

Pause. Turn the palms in. Sit really tall, reach up. Ooh. That's so hard. Lean into it.

And now, round your back full circle with the arms over to the toes. Sit tall. Repeat. Bend and lean. Close the ribs.

Reach up, sit tall. Lean into it. And then round your back. Circle it around. No tension in the neck. That was the theme of the day, wasn't it?

One more. Lean into it. Lift up. Lean forward. Send those sit bones back. Round your spine, big circle. Up and around and rebuild, sitting nice and tall.

Go ahead and hook up the straps. Let's straddle and meet kneeling. How are we doing? The warmup is working. We're feeling warm. We're gonna do a few different variations of this exercise.

Start on your elbows. It's your control front, your control balance front. Start in your elbows. Push out. Tuck the hips and find a real solid plank. That's perfect.

Back of the neck is long. You got it. Three presses forward. One, two, three. Now, keep going here if this was working for you. If you wanna add on, come up onto the hands.

Hands underneath the shoulders. Ribs closed. Three presses, one, two, three. But wait, there is more. If you want it, walk your hands up to the shoulder blocks. Make sure your wrists are long here, guys.

Use the hands. Wrap your fingers like little Eagle talons, and then step your feet up onto the foot bar. I like heels together, toes apart. Pull the abs in and up. Three presses, ready? One and two. Super woman, three.

And taking those knees down for chest expansion. Grab a hold of your ropes. The higher you hold, the heavier it's gonna be. It doesn't matter how many times you've done this. Be careful of balance, guys.

You wanna find synergy between the front and the back body. Let's do five presses back, Alba. Push behind the hips and return just past the hips. One. Knuckles reaching down to the ground. Two.

Spine is long. Three. That's four. And that's five. Let's do some progressive pulses. Let me tell you what I mean.

We're gonna pull back to our maximum amount. Return only to the thighs. Press back three times. One, two, three, and return to a break. Two more. Big pull back. Forward a little.

And one, two, three. Arms come forward. Last one, closed ribs. Power back just the thighs. And we go one and two and three, and sit the hips down.

Good. Hook up the straps. Let's come off our machine to our left. This series, guys, we're gonna be doing a floor series or a cardio series. And you'll see this exact flow or almost the exact. Repeat three times during this class.

Abla is a professional opera singer, which means she's got a lot of lung capacity. So we're gonna try to really make her work. Let's start in a wide second position stance and arms out to a T. We're gonna bend it into a plie. Bring your right foot to meet your left.

That's your first position, and we'll step it back out. 10, in and out. Nine, eight, seven, six, neck is long. Five, four, three, two, hold it open. Right arm windmills.

You pivot face towards your foot bar. Drop the back knee. Come on back through. 10 times, let's go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. Step that back leg in. Turn to face your machine.

Kneel onto the carriage. We're gonna do a little sidekick kneeling series. Place one hand onto the headrest. Take the opposite leg up. I like hand behind my head. Some people like hip. We're gonna do 10 pulses up.

One, two, three, four, stack the shoulders, stack the hips. Five circles each direction. One, two, three, four, five. Reverse. Five circles, stack those hips. And now, let's do 10 kicks.

Bend the knee in and down, kick up and back. I like to flex my foot, reminds me to wake up those glutes. In and kick. In and kick. Four, three, two, one, step forward.

Come off your machine. The whole thing starts again. Big wide second. Enter first, open a second. 10 times. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Big wide, deep plies. Hold it open, left arm this time. Drop the knee. And we go. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Other leg, so nearly on that carriage.

I told her I was gonna make her work. Okay. And extend, hand behind the head. Let's kick it up. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, open chest, three, two, circling. Five, four, three, two, one. Reverse.

Five, four, three, two, 10 kicks. Bend. Kick up. Not only are you kicking up, you're kind of kicking back, opening the hip, finding that stability. In and kick. Five, four, three, two, and one.

You can step backwards to come up. Okay. Oh, we have to do that three times or two more, three in total. Let's bring it down a little bit with our elephant round back. We're good on one red spring.

Change it if that feels better for you. Hands on, feet on, walk it back. Round scoop, drop your head. Press the carriage back only as far as the heels can stay down, and then lift the ribs to bring the carriage in. Keep going.

I like to assist this one. So important to get those ribs up. Drop the head. As the carriage comes forward, the rib cage draws up. Give me two more, Abla.

Really working to round that upper spine. So it's not just an exercise, it's a stretch. Do one more. Bring that carriage in. And then we're gonna step both feet towards the left kind of bring those hands so they're in line with the shoulders. Lift your right heel up against the shoulder block and just hover your left foot underneath you.

So this is your round back elephant you were just in. You're gonna put your left foot on the floor. Land in a lunge. Spine is long, hips are square. Instead of coming forward like you might in a plank, you're only gonna lift the hips up, round the back and find that round back elephant again.

Land it and then exhale, lift it. Keep going. So my goal for you in doing these two exercises back to back is to connect the dots between the two. You are in a round back elephant. When those hips come up, ribs come up.

You're not using the springs. You're not using your hips. You're scooping to find the lift. Looks beautiful. Do one more. Land down on the floor. Here's where things get real fun.

Walk the hands towards the right. So my left hand is closer to the center of the bar. You'll see why. As I lift up, that leg comes across and I'm setting up for a side plank. When I'm ready, I take the top hand to the thigh.

So bring it down to your thigh first. You got it. Squeeze those inner thighs. Stay lifted in the pelvis. Now, press the carriage out as your top arm floats up. Yes. Finding that plank, side plank star, bring your shoulders over the bar, arm comes down by the thigh.

Five times. Inhale up, exhale down. Stay strong in the wrist. Stay strong in those inner thighs. Two more.

Inhale up, exhale down. Now, press out, stay out. Tuck hand behind the head. Bend the knees. Yeah, bend those knees. Bring the carriage and kick it out.

Five, four, stay lifting that side body. Three, two, one, twist both hands to the foot bar and back to that glorious round back elephant. Drop the head, round the spine. Go forward, Abla. Press and pull. Try to get the pull from the abdominals.

Good. Wide through the neck, wide through the shoulders. Take this as a bit of a reset 'cause you know what's to come, a lot of work. Two more here. Lifting those toes reminds us to keep the heels down. Last time.

And then walk your feet to the right, bringing your hands with you. Lift your left heel, put your right foot on the floor, and pause for a moment. I just wanna remind you that you're always landing your foot in that exact same spot. When you're ready, round your spine, hips lift up, find the pike and then land it. Do it again.

Exhale. Stay here for a second, Abla. The most common correction I make here is lean back more and then land it. Good. Again. You have to be solid in your hands. For those of you who do like handstands and things like that at home, it will remind you of that.

You're pushing down to lift up. And this is a jump it's just a vertical junk. Good. One more time. Nice. So land that foot onto the floor and pause.

Let's adjust our arms first. So walking our hands a bit to the left and then you have to have a little faith and a little momentum to get that opposite leg up and across. So there's your side plank. When I do this, I don't think about my hand and arm holding me. I think about my obliques, my hips, my inner thighs lifting me up.

Press the carriage out and bring it in. Five and four. You don't have to do big movements. Three. Add more springs if this was feeling too intense.

Two. Hold it out. Hand comes behind the head. Bend it in, kick it out. Kick it out. Three, two, and one. Take your twist and take your knees down.

Nice. Let's sit crisscross applesauce for a little front rowing. I like to sit in front of the shoulder blocks quite a lot. I think a lot of people do, right? So you don't use them. And then reach back behind you.

Choose to use your long or your short loops. Remember, the short will feel a little bit heavier. So let's just start with some forward reach. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. Keep on going.

The sensation is that the tension wants to pull me back. So I have to not only route down through my legs and sit bones, but engage my front body to find that synergy just like chest expansion. The next time the arms come forward, leave them forward. Bend your elbows in. And let's do the full offering.

So we're gonna reach forward. Inhale open as wide as you feel like you'd like to go, well keeping the ribs closed, and keeping that posture vertical. Reach, open, close, bend. Reach, open, close, bend. Two more. Reach.

Neck is long. This feels like a little break. Know we have to do that floor series again. And salute is next so bring the hands behind. This one, you will lean forward just a little.

Don't round forward though. And keep your feet and your sit bones heavy. Bend the hands so they come behind the neck. Push and bend. My mantra, so what I say in my head as I do this exercise is, "Shoulders down, neck long." I just keep saying it, "Neck long, shoulders down." Four. I love this diagonal lean forward, especially in a seated position 'cause I can really feel my pelvic floor zipping up.

One more time and circle it around. Okay. Let's hook up our straps and come off our machine to grab our long boxes. Long boxes are gonna go on the machine. If you have an Allegro too like we do, just make sure if your have your straps here, that they're available before you squash that box into the shoulder box. We're gonna leave the foot bar up. You'll see why later.

And lie prone on the box. Head towards the risers. Your chest will be off the box. I like my legs separated. You like your legs together for this or apart? She said both, but today's separated. Pelvis is heavy. Hold the ropes, drop the chest down.

Make sure you've got some tension there in those ropers. And then on an inhale, chest comes up, arms come up, spine is long. Exhale, lower it down. Keep going. On an inhale, find the lift. On an exhale, find the lower.

Keep going, Abla. So what I love most about this series, guys, is you don't actually have to come into big thoracic extension to get those muscles in the back to get stronger. So just lifting to your maximum is the perfect place to be. Let's do two more here. The pelvis is gonna stay heavy on the box.

The legs are active. One more here. Awesome. Now, lower your chest so you're one long line and bend your elbows for triceps. But before you do triceps, cross your ankles and bend your knees like grasshopper.

Every time you straighten your arms, straighten your legs and try to lift your legs. So go for it. Yeah, and then crisscross the opposite ankle over and kick it back. Good. We didn't even practice this one and she just knew it.

So we've got hip extension, back extensors, triceps, but we can't forget about those abdominals pulling in and up and the pelvis staying anchor. Four to go and we're gonna go into our glute snacks. Three. Nice. That's two. Look down so your neck stays long.

And one. Well done. Hook up your right strap, but keep your left one. And let's do our legs pulling. So I love to use this little ledge.

I feel like it's there on purpose to help me get my foot in the strap. And you can use the long or short. We're on a red so I would definitely say use the long. And then once you're in position, just double-check that you're stabilizing knees under your pelvis, hands are under your shoulders. You are a tripod.

Let's do five kickbacks before we do the sweeps. So bend the knee in and fully extend the leg for five and four. I have to think about keeping my side really long on my left side, the one that's kicking, otherwise, I always cinch it in. Kick it back. Now, the next time you kick it back, hold it.

Alba's actually counting, I'm not. And then slowly lower your leg towards the floor. Go for that maximum hamstring stretch and then pull that leg back up. Good. You've got five. And exhale.

Good. When the leg goes down, keep the tail feathers lifted up so other direction, yes. So I can rest an egg on the low back. Give me two more even if that isn't actually five. One more.

Nice. And then the foot can rest or the knee can rest. The strap can go away. Sometimes they just throw it on the floor. I don't know if you guys do that.

Sometimes it's not allowed. I do it all the time. Let's do the other side. So grab your other strap. Foot goes in. Five kickbacks, five sweeps. So before you get there, let's find our tripod.

Good. So shoulders stacks. So what I was talking about, don't lift your knee yet, is that in this 4-point kneeling position, I do want the curve in the back to be present. So neutral spine lordotic curve, ribs are closed, but neutral spine. Let's kick that leg back and bring it in.

Good. Keep going. What I was referencing is that for me, I have to really work on keeping my side body long 'cause when I bend my knee, sometimes they cinch my hip. Working on it. Okay. So keep the leg straight. Swing it down, swing it up for five.

Exhale. Inhale. Yes. And try to lean your pelvis towards the leg that's sweeping. That's gonna fire up those obliques. And good. One more time.

And nice. Very good. You can hook the strap or let it fall. And then from this position, just straddle your box so you're facing back. Nice. And we're gonna go into a core series. You know it, you love it.

Scooch forward so you've got a lot of room behind you and then lie back. Hug your knees into your chest, press your forehead to your knees. How about single leg stretch to start? So one leg is straight, the other knees bent in. Exhale to switch and switch and switch.

Use the arms to help you curl up a little bit higher. And switch and switch and double leg stretches next. So we hug both, reach, circle around, hug them in. Yeah. Reach, circle, hug. Use your arm strength to get up higher in the hug, stretch, big and complete exhale.

Three more. Three. Stretch, two. Stretch. Hold behind the knees for scissors. Stretch those legs up.

Grab an ankle with both hands and the other leg low. Two pulls, one switch, let's go. Pull, pull, switch. She got it really nice. Scissor switch.

The pelvis stays level, the chest lifts a little higher with each breath out. We've got five. Nice. Pull, pull, switch. Use those arms, guys. Pull. Four.

Awesome Three. That's two. Last time. Feet can go to the headrest. You can do a forward fold.

Stretch your back. Time to get our heart rates up again. So come off your machine. Meet me in a wide second. Feeling good?

Ten second to first. So we go down to step it in. 10, nine, eight, there we go. Seven, six. You don't have to be coordinated, but why not? Two more.

Good. And let's open hold. Right arm windmills, here we go. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, almost there, four, three, two, and one. Step it in now. Here's where things get a little different and a little more intense.

So if you don't like doing this series with the box on, take the box off and do it the way we did it originally, kneeling on the box. And this time, we'll be laterally flexing towards the foot bar. So one hand on the foot bar in line with the shoulder, the other leg comes up, stack those hips and 10 presses up. Up and up. Now, make this a core exercise, not just a leg exercise.

Once you get to 10, hold the leg up, five little circles. Here's what I mean by that. First of all, your glutes are part of your core. So you're working them. Secondly, this line goes all the way up into your obliques.

Bend the knee in and kick it back. You got this. Kick. As you kick your leg back, you have to be aware to pull your ribs back in. Nice. Reminder, it's not your hand holding you up.

So pull your shoulders down and back. Find those obliques. Last two. And last one. And step forward so we can do our cardio blast on the floor.

Wide stance, arms out, sit low, step it in for 10. 10, nine, eight, seven. Make your arms move with intention. Six, five, four, three, two, hold it open and windmill. Big breath in and open.

Let's go. Big breath. It's like your arm is your breath, takes up a lot of space. Big inhales. Good. Last three. Gorgeous. Two. Rotate that pelvis.

One step in. On the box, we go. Just be careful when you get on. It's a little bit wobbly. Good. So you're gonna take your hand to the foot bar. Opposite leg up, hand to the head or the hip. You do you.

Lift the leg up. Notice if that leg is in front of you, if it is, bring it beside you. Focus on working that side body, that back body. Time to circle up and around. Five, four.

Circles make it really hard to stay stable in the ribs. Reverse the circles. You're creating momentum. You're stabilizing against the momentum, just like the hundred. Good. Bend and kick 10 times.

Good. So reach up and back. Nice. Reach up and back. Yes. In and kick. A friendly reminder to pull the shoulder down and back.

This exercise will make you stronger for when you do your side planks, when you do your thread the needle and your star. Inhale, bend. Exhale, kick. Two to go. Awesome job. One and done.

Come back and off your machine. Yee-haw. Rotate the box for short box. We're gonna keep ours in front of the shoulder blocks. If you are taller or normally adjust your short box, please do that now.

Let's bump the foot bars down. Cool. And if you would like to add extra springs on, go for it. I'm a rule breaker. Okay.

Your toes are gonna go underneath your foot strap and you're sitting on the box. Knees are bent. The pelvis can't roll as it needs to if the legs are stick straight. So start with them bent. Reach your arms forward. Sit up nice and tall.

On your exhale, roll the hips under. Find the C-curve that works for you. Remember, we're going for compression. Remember the windmills we just did? Let's do them again. So reach and close.

Reach and close. Reach and close. Good. Big in, big out. We've got four.

Nice. Three. As the arm comes back in, close the ribs. That's two. And make sure you feel even. Stay here for a second. Lift both of your arms. Drop your chin.

And then exhale, dive over the toes. And that'll remind you of your reformer roll up. Rebuild your spine. Find your best posture. Round two. Little bit different. Tuck the hips. Start to roll back.

This time, take your right knee out and hold behind the knee and then press your forehead towards the knee. And then maybe roll back a little bit more. Good. And then hold the spine there for a version of double leg stretch. Again.

Reach the arms back and the leg long, circle and hug. We're gonna do eight. And swinging around. Good. Stretch and swing. Try to keep the spine in its shape.

So even when the arms reached back, yeah, don't change the spine. Three. Gorgeous. Chin is tucked. Two and one. And we're gonna take that right into our side bend.

So face towards the camera and just take a break. Take your elbow onto the head rest, stretch overhead. So do what you need to do here. You got to find those recovery moments in these types of classes. Your leg on the box can be in any position that works best for you.

I like knee bent the way Abla's done. Okay. So let's, from here, take our bottom hand and wrap it around the front of the body so you feel where you wanna work. Keep our top hand overhead, reach if you can, and then go down and up for 10. Inhale and exhale. One. Remember to roll your top shoulder back.

It's really easy to rock forward here. Good. The work is in both directions, guys. So you don't collapse and then lift and cinch. You arch down, you cinch up.

Good. Three more. Inhale down. Exhale, she's doing a great job keeping that foot steady. And last one. Take your twist and put your hands on the white frame.

Enjoy a break. You can unclasp your foot from that strap. Rest onto your pelvis on the box and find your balance point. We're gonna do swimming. So just right onto the tummy, scooch back, and this is gonna be a different position for everybody because it just has to do with lengths of torso on the box.

So find the spot you can be in where you can balance. Try lifting your arms. That looks good to me. For swimming, opposite arm to leg, switch, switch, switch. I call this the golden exercise like the star.

If there's something you really wanna do at home, you don't have a lot of time, you wanna strengthen your core, you wanna strengthen your back body, this is the one to do. I love it on the machine though. 'cause you don't have to be on the floor and you don't have to lift your chest up very high to get the benefit. It's all about stability. We're gonna go for five. That's 4, three, two, and one.

Take a moment, take a break. Rest, recover. Let's do the core series again. So seated facing, we'll do something different. Keep it interesting.

So toes are hooked under and I'll give you two options 'cause not everybody likes to go upside down. So sitting nice and tall, tucking the hips, the sensations that your sit bones are being pulled towards your feet. So option one is a lift and circle around, five in each direction. Option two is taking it into your extension. Arms could go to the inside or outside of the frame, whatever you like.

But here's what's important, lift your arms, then tuck your chin, looking for your belly button and then make sure you round to come over and up. If you're doing the extension, do two more times. If you're doing your arm circles, keep going. So you drop it back. So the sequence is arms, then chin. Then look for your belly button and roll through the spine.

Kind of like those reformer roll-ups. I'm telling you, they're really good exercises. Last time. So roll through the spine, reach the arms, the chin, the ribs. You go over. Take a breath. You've earned it.

And then sit up nice and tall. You know you're gonna do the single leg on the other side, but don't take your foot out yet. I kind of like to get set up in my C-scoop 'cause I feel like really rooted. Then the opposite leg. I hold the knee. I press my forehead to the knee.

And then I see if I can go back a little bit more and then you got to keep the spine like that. Reach your arms, reach your leg eight times. Let's go. Inhale big. Exhale Scoop. Good.

I love these exercises where you're grabbing the leg 'cause it really helps to incorporate that whole body integrative nature, which is Pilates. Use your arms to deepen the scoop. Three. Nice. That's two. And that's one. Rise up. Take your twist side bends, stacking the hips, stacking the shoulders, sneaking in a break.

Reaching your arm overhead. Pause for a moment. I believe this is the best time to breathe, right? When the lungs and ribs are open up. So good. If only we could stay there longer, but it's only a 45-minute class.

So wrap your hand and let's lift up. Good. We did 10 of them. Inhale down, exhale up. I wanna make sure the leg doesn't move because the work's not coming from the hip. The pelvis is still.

The work is coming from those obliques. Inhale down, exhale up. Four to go. Rock forward just a little bit in that hip. Yeah. Three. Awesome.

That's two. And that's one. Take your twist. Hands go down, take your breath. We don't need to swim again, but you can do it at home later if you like. Let's come off the machine.

We'll put our boxes back. Now, full disclosure, I wasn't gonna put this exercise in, but Abla likes it so you can blame her for snake. Oh my goodness. Make sure you just have the one red, one red spring on if you've changed your springs. And we are doing this exercise with our foot bars down.

I'm gonna use the platform. I just like it. Some people like the foot bar, some people bump their foot bars up. You got options so you do you. Hand placement, one hand against the shoulder block, one hand to the front of the carriage. Then I take my leg closest to that platform and I put it up.

And then whether you cross your leg behind or in front, I'm just gonna give you the option. We're not gonna argue about it. Just do what feels more stable, safe and good. Okay. Let's lengthen out three times, just do a plank. So just do a plank. Gorgeous.

Tuck your chin, round your spine into a pike. And then two more. Inhale. Inner thighs are strong and tuck your chin. And one more. Lengthen.

And then exhale, tuck and lift. Now, we're gonna go into thoracic extension. So don't drop the hips too much. Focus more on lifting the chest up. Tucking the chin. It's more spinal mobility.

Three times. One. Lengthen. Tuck the chin, scoop. Two Lengthen. And that's three. Now, check it out. Things are gonna get wild.

Press to the plank. Hold. Take your top arm up. Maybe if you wanna go into that single leg or a single arm, take the hand down, round the spine and pike. Again. So we press hold, taking the arm up maybe.

And I've taken a bunch of breaks, Abla hasn't. Press out and up. Good. Take it down and step off your machine. Ooh la la, lie down on your back. You know we have to do the other side, but don't stress.

We're gonna do something before we do. Hands down by your thighs. Headrest is down, right? Extend those legs long and exhale. Roll the hips overhead, nice straight legs.

Separate the legs. Flex your feet. And then a roll down, strong arms, strong legs. Draw those legs to touch. Do it again. So you go overhead. Yeah. And I like this 'cause you can see your knees.

You can see if your legs are straight. Separate, flex your feet and then roll down. Cool. One more like this. It's okay to use some momentum to get that lift, guys.

Don't sweat it. We're all slow. Now, keep your legs apart. Point at your feet and roll up with the legs apart. Draw your legs together. Flex and externally rotate. Yeah, roll down that way.

So come up with the legs apart, parallel planter. Yeah. Come down with the legs together, dorsi laterally turned down, just to stretch the hamstrings in a different way and just to make things complicated and lovely just like me. Okay. Bend your knees in. Give yourself a hug. Roll off your machine that way. Snake. Other side.

So set up. Hands first. Then one foot and then up and over you go. Try to keep that carriage close. Use your abs to do it. First three. Just a long line. Tuck, scoop, lift.

Just a plank will not just as hard. And one more. Press. And then we're gonna add in thoracic extension so you're gonna beam your chest forward. Lift your chin, tuck your chin, round your spine to come up.

The thoracic extension not only moves your spine more in extension, but you it's a little harder to roll through it back into flection. Do you wanna do that single arm three times? Maybe. Uh, maybe. Lift and scoop. Press, lift and scoop.

Press, lift and scoop. Come on up. Guess what we have next? Floor series almost done. 10 times. Let's go, step it in. One, two.

Actually, it feels good after snake to do this. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Windmill, big and big. Guys, this is the end. Do you have any energy?

Anything left? Now's the time. Three, two and one. Step those feet together. Kneel on your machine, hand on the headrest. Let's kick that leg out. Stack those hips.

Hand to the head, 10 kicks up. Up and up. Your glutes are part of your core. There are lots of ways to strengthen your core. Lying on your back and doing crunches is no the only way, not even the best way.

This is a core exercise. Close those ribs. Let's kick the leg back for 10, 10. Good. Nine. When the leg kicks back, tighten that abdominal belt. In and kick. We're almost there.

Four, three, two, and one. Step up forward. Big push. Ready? Left leg. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Windmills, up and over. Drop that back knee.

Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Step it in. Dial it. Abla, you got it. 10 kicks up. Strong in the front, pulsing up.

And up, holding the shoulders back. You could do this on the floor if you'd like. This is a mat Pilates exercise. Blame Joe, not me. I didn't make it up. Circles for five.

Good. Reverse. Stay light in that wrist if you can. Bend the knee, kick it back. Kick, kick. It's your time to release. Let go of what you don't want.

Release what you don't need. It's gone in five, and four, three, two, and one. Step back. You have earned feet in straps. Darara.

Two reds. Lie on down. If you'd like your headrest up, guys, put them up. And feet go on the straps. I feel like I shouldn't do feet and straps because I didn't do all the exercises, like I haven't actually earned it, so.

Okay. So send your legs long. Let's start with your bend and extend parallel. We'll do five. Bend and press. Keep the same intensity. Keep the same focus on form. Yes, this is our cool down, but don't let all those things go 'cause we plant the seeds in the class that we use later in life, right?

Let's keep the bend and extend and turn down. You don't need to bend your knees too close to you. Yeah, it's not so much about flexibility. It's more about finding that stability in the pelvis and the low back. Keep the legs straight, rotate back to parallel.

Enjoy your big circles. Big, stretchy and around. I like to do my circles in parallel. Sometimes I play with internal rotation. If I'm going for big range, I'll go into external rotation. I don't think you can do them wrong.

I think you should just do what feels good. Reverse your circles. Big and around. I like to turn my palms up when I do feet and straps. I think it's just like an energetic thing I'm open to receiving.

All right, one more time. Awesome job. Bend your knees in towards your chest. Slide your feet out of the straps. You can hook them up or drop them on the floor.

Drape your legs over the foot bar, lift your arms to the sky. Roll up. Take a moment. Take a breath. Well, that was fun. We did so many exercises in a very short amount of time.

That was awesome. I hope you guys had fun. I'm so, so lucky to be able to work with people like Abla. She inspires me all the time, and this class was inspired by Abla. So thanks for joining me. I hope you guys liked it.

And I'll see you again soon. Bye.