Balance Challenge Circuit

Hi guys, Courtney here, and I am here with my friend and fellow instructor, Megan, and we are gonna do a kickass workout. What I love about Megan's classes is she really works with tempo, so she's got a background and a few different styles of Pilates, different modalities, and so we're gonna play a lot with combinations, with tempo, and it's gonna be a really hard workout. Megan is also impeccable with her queuing, so I will do my best to bring it to this class today. We're gonna do three flows on the floor or cardio HIIT style and three on the reformer. We are gonna use some props for this class, so have a band ready, like a booty band, and have a ball ready as well.

With that said, let's get started. We're gonna start our flow today using our boxes. Mine is at the back of our machine, yours certainly doesn't have to be at this time. This is our floor flow. So, let's take one leg up, I've got my left leg up onto the box, drop the back knee and try to get low in that lunge so you feel the stretch to the front of your hip.

On an exhale rise up, I usually do opposite elbow to knee and then land and control, we'll do 10 here, so up. Just remember to pace yourself 'cause we're gonna be doing this three times throughout the class. You're trying to use your glute to lift you up, and you're certainly using your abdominals to stay stable and balanceable at the top. Three. Two.

And one, land with that foot on the floor and then turn in one direction. Now we're gonna do a squat with a diagonal knee raise. So, down we go and exhale opposite elbow to knee, 10 times. One. Two.

I love it when you underestimate your own power (laughs). And lift and up. And we've got four, three, controlling that landing, guys, easy and light. Two and one. Now step both feet on the floor and turn your booty to the box.

You got a couple options here, wide squat turnout, drop it, tap your hips down, rise, this is option one, let's go down and up. Option two would be to come up to the toes. Option three would be to come up to a jump. I'm not gonna jump (laughs). I'm just gonna warn you, we've got some jumps coming up next.

So, there you go, Megan's like, okay. Three more here, three and two, and one. Turn to face the box and I'll give you two different options. One is a box jump, so you gotta get low and you have to have a little faith, you can do it, the box is not very high. You're gonna spring up, land on the box, and hop or step down.

Keep going, Meg. If you don't wanna do that, step up, step up. So, my goal here is for you to get your heart rate up. Good, four to go, four, nice. You're using your abdominals to pull those knees up.

Three, good. Two, and then one more time. Awesome, let's do the other leg. Remember that jumping creates bone density, guys, so we're getting strong, not just in our muscles, but our bones as well. Right leg comes up, drop the back knee, and left elbow comes.

Inhale, left foot opposite elbow to knee. Sort of lean into that lunge. Inhale down keeping the spine long and straight, down and up. Three, that's two, and that's one. Twist, one foot's on the box, send those hips back, as you rise, pull the knee up and across, land it.

So we sort of have to anticipate that we might feel wobbly, and we do our best to stay stable. It is okay to be wiggly and wobbly in the studio, guys, you're teaching yourself recovery. And the only way to learn recovery patterns is to push yourself, find your edge. One more time, twist, wide turn out, sit those hips back and rise. If you wanna jump, if you wanna lift to your toes, you do you, you know you've got three rounds of these, down and up.

Five, four, try to meet that booty to the box. Three, HIIT mobility, two and one. Turn around, let's get it done. So, box jumps, you're up, you're back. You're up, you're back.

Or step, step, step, step. Get your heart rate up. You do you, yes, 10, nine. We're doing seconds, not reps. Eight, seven, six.

Good, Meg. Five, four, three, two, and that's one, nice. Okay, so that's our first floor flow. I have to say that slowly, I feel like I would mess that up. Floor. Flow.

Okay, so we have one blue spring and we're gonna get into our core. If you like your headrest out for this series, you can certainly pop it up. You are gonna be up in flexion, so up to you. Lie on down, one blue. We only need one strap for this, so go ahead and grab your right strap.

I'm gonna use my short loop, you could choose long or short if you have the option. Float those legs to table, reach both arms up even though you only have one strap, and then on an exhale pull the strap down, curl nice and high, collect yourself, one hand behind the head, we're gonna do a straight arm lift for five, down and up. Now you have that hand behind your head, so stay in your highest curl, close the ribs and find your breath. Only lift the hand up about the height of the shoulder, that's perfect, and then right back down. Let's add those legs, Megan, so as you pull your arms, extend the legs, try to go out on a straight diagonal.

Two, we're doing five, three, that's four. And now hold the legs and the arms, hold it. As you bend your right elbow, bend your right knee like this, and then everything goes long, five, and everything goes long, four. Try to hold that abdominal curl. Three, working strength and endurance.

Two and one, hold the arm and just switch the legs, we're going five, four, single leg stretch style, three, two, and one. Take a moment and take a recovery, both hands are gonna go in that strap, guys. Put your left hand in front of the right, stack your hands, take the legs up, and then we're only pulling to the right, otherwise you get rope burn on your forehead and that's not a good look. Stay up and pull your arms down five times. One, and pulling down to the right.

Two, you got it. Your shoulders are lifted. Three, take breaks as you need to, if you wanna do this with your head down, that is fine. Four, and then keep your arms down, keep reaching through your fingers, just those legs, double leg stretch style. One, setting those knees out.

Two, three, energy through the fingertips. Four, and that is five, take a break, take a rest, hook up that strap and let's do some reformer rollups to kind of reset. So relax your legs, lift your arms, I love to roll my wrists out, wiggle your fingers. How about five, Megan? Exhale up.

And inhale down. And if you wanna slow the pace, you can. Exhale up. Inhale down. This is a reset to feel centered and balanced.

Good, shoulders relaxed, make sure the low back connects to the mat, and take it all the way down. Same thing, other side, grab your strap. Short loop, hand in, arms up, legs table, big breath in, you know you're gonna be here for a while. So find that power, lift, hold, hand comes behind the head. Let's do it just the arm for the first five.

One, and this hand behind your head is doing something, it's holding you into that scoop, it's assisting you. That's three, and four. So when you start to get tired, use that hand to help you deepen your scoop. Go ahead and add those legs, they're gonna extend out and bend in. Five, four.

The lower you send them, the harder it is to stay stable. Three, that's two, and then we hold the legs out for one. As you bend your left elbow, bend your left knee, and straighten everything. Five, bend with control. Four, three, reminds me of a bone arrow.

Two, and hold it straight, and let's just send those legs for single leg stretch. Five, four, three, two, one, and take a break. I find not only am I less coordinated on one side, but I'm also less strong, what's the coordination? I'm like that one side, I'm like, come on, you can do it. Take your right hand into the strap, then your left hand behind, legs float to table.

Pull to the left and stay up, get that twist. Just the arms, let's do this. Five, if you wanna lower the head, that is fine. Four, big lift, big twist. Three, that's two.

And then hold the arms down, just the legs. Double leg stretch style, out and in. One, reaching through the fingers, reaching through the toes. Two, three, four, and five, and recover, hook up the straps. And let's do a reformer rollup, but we're gonna stay up for this one for a second.

So up and over we go, adjust your seat so you feel like you're not gonna fall off the mat, and then roll halfway back. These carriages are a little bit smaller than some of the other machines. Okay, so we're tucked, we're gonna windmill, inhale open, exhale close. Five. Four, oh, my abs feel tired (laughs).

Three, good, two, and then one more each side. Even yourself out, don't go down, stay up for one. All right, we're gonna lie on our side facing this way for just the side arm series. We're gonna keep our blue spring on, by all means if you wanna go heavier, a red would be your next option. Now here's what I like to do, slide your elbow through the shoulder block, support your head.

You want your hips to be back of your shoulders a bit, but find that lift in the side body, and then grab the strap that's in front of you, put your hand into the short loop, Meg, and then reach your arms straight out in front. Good, shoulders down and back, we're gonna pull to the hip, pause, that rope's not meant to touch your face, and then inhale, let the arm come forward. Pull to the hip and then forward, yeah, that's perfect, you are working your back, you are working your core, and you should be feeling the back of the arm, if not now, you'll feel it shortly. Inhale, pull and exhale. Okay, let's keep that arm back, bend the elbow and check it out, you're gonna lift your top leg up, knee bent.

Yep, bend your bottom knee in a bit more, Meg, so your bottom knee's forward towards your hip. Yeah, and then as we straighten the arm in the tricep, straighten your leg, kick it up, kick it back. Bend your elbow, bend your knee. Exhale, kick it up, kick it back, good. Inhale, bend, and exhale, kick.

Let's do three and two. And then keep your arm and your leg straight, hold your leg out there, flip your palm down on your top hand, and then lift your hand straight up to the ceiling so your hand's right over your shoulders, and then use your back muscles to pull down to your thigh. We'll do five of these, inhale and exhale, pull. Five, good, stay lifted through that side body. Four, neck feels long, no tension, who needs it?

Three, that's two. And that is one, nicely done, go ahead and hook up that strap. And let's prop ourself up onto our forearm, make sure your elbow's to the inside. We're gonna do a side plank with our feet onto the wooden platform. So this is a light tension, let's set it up with a lot of integrity.

Hold onto the shoulder block with your top hand, roll your bottom shoulder under, stack or stagger your feet in any way that feels right for you on that wooden platform, and then keep your hips down as you press out making sure your feet feel real good on there. And then when you're ready, press us into your hand, make sure your forearm is pressing into the mat. The way that you lift up, guys, is by pushing down. That's great, now take your top arm up to the sky. You can look at it, let's do hip dips for 10, down and up.

10, nine, eight, squeezing your inner thighs. Seven, six, five, four, three, two. But wait, there's more, keep your hips up, take your top hand behind your head. That's it, bend your knees, doesn't have to be a lot and press out for five. Keep your elbow under your shoulder.

That's one, pressing out. Two, staying lifted. Three, four, and last time here, five. Send those hips down, that was awesome. Before you do the other side, swing your feet in front of you and let's do some single leg stretch to standing.

I've been told the taller you are, the harder this is, but the that's not my issue, I don't have overly long legs, so if you need any assistance, use that machine. Roll back, so you're hugging your knees in towards you. Good, let's straighten our right leg, hug the left knee in, and let's switch our legs three times, ready? One, two, three. Now hold, whatever leg is straight is the foot that goes on the floor, place it down.

This is what I mean by using the machine to help you roll up, press down and see if you can stand up on that leg. Okay, now sit back down and switch the legs three times. One, two, three, should be the opposite leg, place the foot down and stand up and maybe you can do it without using the machine. All right, let's rock, so we go down and we switch. One, two, three, and rise, whoo.

And we switch, one, two, three and rise, good, yeah. The secret is I kind of shift a little bit of weight to my toes when I stand up. One, two, three, and rise. And let's do one more time so we're even, take it down, one, two, three, and rise. That was awesome.

Okay, sideline arms, other side. So take a second, roll into your back. I think it's great to see it from both perspectives, the front and the back. Take your forearm down, support your head, and then grab the strap that's in front of you. Small loop, top hand.

And we just kept our knees bent in for the first little flow here. The hand is pulled forward, the shoulder is pulled back, and we bring the hand to the thigh. Don't let that rope hit you in the face, you've gone too far if it hits you. Pull and stretch. I may not have said it already, but you could do this on a heavier spring if that's what you're going for, you can totally do this on a red.

Just make sure it feels right for you. And one more time, forward and hold. Bend the elbow, lift the top leg up, and now we incorporate the leg. So as we extend the arm, we extend the leg, and we bring everything in. Try to not to over bend that elbow, guys, find that sharp 90 and keep those hips stacked too, good.

Exhale, press, and exhale, press, on the next one hold, flip your palm down, just leave that leg, arm goes up. Feel that shoulder blade pull away from the ear and press, arm goes up and press. Four. Three. Two.

And then one more here, one. And go ahead and bring it in. Hook up the strap, you're not gonna use it for the next one. Prop yourself up onto your forearm, make sure your shoulder's right over your elbow and hold onto the shoulder block in front of you. I keep my hips down until I feel like my feet are in a good spot, then I lift my hips using my inner thighs.

When I feel ready, top arm comes off, and we're gonna dip and lift for ten, nine, trying to keep that carriage pretty steady. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, hold, one, top hand behind the head, bend and press out for five. Go slow, keep that elbow right under you. Four. Three.

I'm thinking of a rainbow shape with my spine. Two. And then one more. Take the hips down and swing those legs forward, whoo. Before we go back to our floor flow, I have one more little series here.

So, lie down onto your mat, but this time you're gonna want your shoulders to hang off the back of the carriage, but not too much, okay, guys? Not too much. Take those legs to table, hands behind the head. Let your upper body drape down, oh, feels so good. And then curl up towards the knees.

Inhale, down, exhale, lift. You'll see some more variations of this extension into flexion when we incorporate the ball a little later. Lift, inhale, down, lift. Four more should get us close to 10, that's four. Use the hands behind the head to support the neck.

Three, two, let's stay up, Megan, focus on pelvic stability for toe taps. 10, keep the shape of the leg the same, drop that thigh bone, stay lifted, we got this. Five, four, reaching towards the floor with your toes. Three, two, and one. Little momentum gets you up and we're ready.

How you feeling? Good. Cool. I love the unilateral stuff 'cause like finding center is key. So we're back to our floor series.

If you don't have a box and you just wanna do this on the floor with us, that's fine too. Left foot comes up, lean into it. When the knee comes up, the opposite elbow rises, go down and up, we're going for 10. Yes, nine, you keep going, Megan. One of the things I talked about earlier was being in stable, right?

Finding your edge, when you're in the studio, you're in a safe space, why not discover that recovery? Push yourself a little bit, find that stability, it makes you stronger, it actually makes you smarter being wobbly and finding that stability really fires up your brain. All right, one more, Meg. And then twist towards that way, yeah. We go down, this is the cross diagonal lift, up and down.

Anything you wanna do with the arms is the right choice. Keep going, you're doing about 10. When you go into the squat, remember it's a flat back hinge, so you're not rounding your spine while you're in the squat, drive your heel down into the box. Two, awesome, and one. Feet to the floor, face the back.

I like to turn out, you may not, send those hips back and lift. And remember if you want it to come up to the toes or if you want it to come up to a hop, those are all great choices, you can choose different progressions based on how you're feeling that day. Awesome, five to go, you're halfway through. Five, chest is lifted. Four, root down through those feet.

Three, awesome, see how she's coming up to straight legs, that's perfect. Two, and then one. Good, turn yourself around. Can't forget about these, I find that they're so empowering, a lot of people say, oh, I can't do it, then you try it and you can. And guys, it doesn't have to be all or none, you could do two jumps and the rest steps.

Start to build, let's go. 10, nine, eight, you got it up, yep. Seven, good, six. Sometimes it helps to get down before you leap up. Yeah, you get that power by using your muscles like a spring.

Last four, you got it, Meg. Three, two, whoo, I love how she's finishing strong, one. Facing front and we have our other leg. Okay, so lunging first. Rise to come up, lean into it.

Use that booty to help you rise. You got eight. Yes, seven, six, find that strong breath. Don't hold it, don't restrict it, breathe whenever you need to, take breaks whenever you want to. Four, nice, three.

Good, that's two, and one more. Pull that knee up, yeah, I made her do that last one. Turn to face the back and the diagonal lift, so we're low and we're high, down and up, keep going. One of the reasons why this is so challenging, is the level changes, you get real low, you rise up, your heart is working hard, your muscles are working hard, you're building a strong booty, you're building strong bones. Three, nice, two, and one more, good.

Step your feet to the floor, take a moment. This could be recovery, you don't have to jump. Wide stance, down and up. Focus on hip mobility, so sending the hips back. When you're going down into that squat, you wanna think of your hips widening and your tail feathers pressing back, the opposite is that tuck, we're gonna avoid that tuck.

Good, four to go. That's four, nice, three, make everything you do core work, guys, close those ribs. Two, and one, rise and turn, good. Okay, before you do these box jumps, I'm just gonna tell you the next exercise is slow and savory. So, let's push it, let's push it.

She said she trusts me, big mistake, no, just joking, 10 times, go. One. Two. Three. Four.

Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.

10, done, good. Okay, grab that box, bring it with you to the side of your machine, and place it just right beside that foot bar. Cool, we're gonna leave the blue spring on, perfect, and stand on the box facing the foot bar. So, the foot that's on the box is gonna stay close to the machine, toes forward, and then you've got one foot on the carriage, yeah. And then let's start with our hands on our hips.

First set of five lunges, opening up the hips, and rediscovering that calm breath. Leaning into it and rising up. Keep your back leg strong, when you kick it back, pull the knee cap up. Good, one more. And now we're gonna add our arms, it'll be sort of like a swimming arm so let's kick it back.

Right arm reaches forward, rise to come up. And if you had toning balls or weights and you wanted to put them in your hands, you certainly could. Leaning into it. Awesome, and now we stay back, we bend the back knee but keep the arm movement. Five, four.

Try to get those biceps higher than your ears. Three. Two. One, and rise. Okay, we're gonna step both feet on the box and we're gonna do a lateral lunge.

So keep your left foot on the box and put your right foot on the shoulder block that's closest to you with your foot in door side flexion, so your toes are up, yeah. Any adjustments you think you need to make, go ahead and do them, guys. Your carriage leg is gonna stay straight and your box leg is gonna bend, and let's start with the hands on the hips. You're gonna bend at your box knee, sending your chest forward and your hips low, feeling a stretch in your inner thigh, and then rise to come up. Good, and again, bending low and rising up.

So that box leg, you've got the knee traveling right over the mid foot. Arches of the feet are alive. We're pressing back, rising up. You pick your tempo, guys, you don't have to go my speed, Megan's speed, you just do what's right for you. Okay, now we're gonna add the arms, ready?

We're gonna swing them forward, trying to get the biceps higher than the ears, and then swing them back, look up, almost like you're doing chest expansion when you come up. Four, awesome. See, I told you it was gonna be a nice one. Three, good. Two.

One more time. Now stay low, you're gonna bend your carriage knee, Megan, and open your arms at like a T. And then straighten your carriage leg and reach overhead. Five, you're holding that isometric squat in your box leg. Four.

Three. Two, and one, rise. I'm feeling the heat. I'm feeling the heat. Okay, turn till you're standing on the box, you're almost done.

Step your left foot back against the shoulder block, you've been here before and press the carriage out. You're gonna place your hands around the corner of the box. Guys, make sure your box is secure, I don't want it sliding, I don't want it tilting, make sure it's secure and then take your right leg back crossing your right leg over your left, you can actually cross your ankles if you want, yeah. And then from here, keep your shoulders right over your wrist, round your spine and find your pike, exhale, lift, inhale, lengthen. In our last class, we did some snake, kind of reminds me of snake.

And lengthen, three more, three. Two, really work that scoop. And one more, lift. We're staying on the plank, okay? Stay with me, give me five knee tucks.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five, and rise on up.

Whoo, that was tough. Can we do it again on the other side of course? Okay, so come on up, before we do the other side, let's place this box on in short box position in front of the shoulder blocks. And you might wanna add another spring just so your carriage feels more stable. If you normally put your box over the shoulder blocks or have another configuration for shoulder box, by all means do it.

We're gonna use our safety strap for our foot, and we'll face this way, so I have my left foot hooked. Good. So let's use this as an opportunity to breathe. Take your arms out like a T, sit up really tall to start. We're gonna do some kind of pretty choreography with the arms, this reminds me of the arm series you do in our class.

So as we lean to the side, take your left hand over head and your right hand around the front of your body. Yes, now twist to the floor and open your arms like eagle's wings. Try to get your left shoulder down. Now, as you twist back to the camera, Megan, you're gonna reach your right arm up and cross your left hand over your body. Gorgeous, and then exhale, come up and over, and back to a T, we're gonna do the whole thing again I just lost my little seatbelt.

So we lean, big stretch. We scoop, catch the air. We inhale, come back to that side, bend with the opposite arm. And then we exhale into that side, stretch. Three more, we lean, top arm overhead.

We open, find that thoracic flexion, yeah, drop your head a little bit too, good. We come back through and then we do that side cinch to come up, open to a T, and last time lean, bicep by the ear, open. Come back through and lift it up. Now, if I just stopped there, I wouldn't be living up to my reputation of being very, very mean, so we're gonna stay you here, we're gonna do some rotated back bends. Let's just do eight.

I was gonna say 10, but I thought she might get mad at me. Okay, ready? So fingertips to the forehead, lean, twist to the floor, try to square off your shoulders. Drop your forehead low to the headrest eight times One. Two.

Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

Eight, and take a stretch 'cause we deserve it, take your hand across, breathe it out. And when you're ready, use your arms to help you come up, we get to do the standing side series. So come off the other side, don't forget to take off that red spring 'cause you just want one blue for this next one, and place the box alongside of the frame making sure that it's secure and stable, rise on it, good. So your left foot's on the box, your right foot's against the shoulder block, you're using your hands to help you find your position in your hips, you're bending into that front knee, pulling the ribs in and up, rising to come up. Five, easy, focusing on mobility.

You're just gliding like you're on ice. And rise. Two to go. And rise. One more.

Same thing with your scissor arms, so as you go down one arm reaches forward, rise. And then go down, reach, and rise. These cross diagonal patternings are so similar to what you do when you run and walk, making your back and deep core stabilizers super strong. And stay down, stay down, bend the back knee but keep the arms, ready? Let's kick it.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One, come on up.

I love it, I feel like right there, right where you wanna feel it, yeah, good. Okay, so then we're gonna turn for our lateral lunges. So any little tweaks or adjustments that feel right for you, everyone has different hip mobility. The foot that's on the box is slightly turned out and I'm door door side flexion, and we start with the hands on the hips, so we're gonna bend the box knee. This one you are are leaning your chest forward, trying to stretch the inner thighs, and rising to come up.

And then again, lean into it, and rise. Now, pay attention to that box leg, don't let the knee roll in, keep the knee more towards the baby toe side of the foot. And send it down and lift it up. Good, send it down and rise. Adding the arms, it's kind of like chest expansion, reach and rise.

Look up, open the heart, five of them. Go at your pace, go at your tempo, four. When you rise, make sure you activate those glutes, guys, it's okay to pause while you're at the top and find it. Two more. One more, stay low, bend the carriage knee, open your arms to a T and reach overhead, five.

I'm reminding myself to roll my knee, open. Three. Two. One, rise, that burn you feel is blood flow and circulation, that heat you feel is healing, it's a good thing. I'm not gonna forget about those planks, we're gonna do them (laughs).

I'm just trying to give us a little bit of a break before we do. Okay, so we've got right foot against the shoulder block. And then we're low. And so I kind of put my hands kitty corner on the box. Is it kitty-corner or catty-corner?

I don't know, and then I cross my leg. And then keeping your shoulders right over your wrist, try to really emphasize the scoop. Gorgeous, Megan, and lengthen, shoulders over wrist, this is upper body work. Two. Three.

Four. Yeah, keeping that neck long, one more time. Five, you ready for those knee taps? They're quick. One, keep your chest bone pressing up.

Two, that was a cue for me, Megan, I figured. Three. Four. Five, and bring it on home. I don't know how to gracefully get off so I'm just gonna do that.

Okay, cardio flow from the floor, let's bring the boxes back. Okay, she says, no problem. This is the last one we're doing, which makes it kind of exciting. Okay, left foot up, lean into it, getting low, rising. Here we go, 10.

Nine. Eight. Seven, lean into it. Six. Five, if you're doing it from the floor it looks like this.

You are moving, you're doing something, you're getting that heart pumping. Three, two, and one, foot to the floor, take your twist, down in the squat, diagonal lift, good. 10 if you can. You don't have to do all or none guys, take break as you need, but know this is your last little push here, up and lift. Three.

Two. One, nice. Face back, squat and lift, HIIT mobility, down and up. Down and up, squeeze at the top, lean into it at the bottom, closing the rib cage, making it about the whole body here. Final four, Meg, push down into the four corners of your feet.

Three. Two, nice. And one, rise up, turn around. Are we gonna step, are we gonna hop? That's up to you, let's go for 10.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five, keep going, Meg.

I know some people really like to straighten their legs at the top of a box jump, some people bend their knees, so do what feels better for you, last time, awesome. Break, breathe, other side. Right leg up, lean into it. You rise, you step, 10 times. 10, knee's traveling right over our midfoot.

Good, keep going, Megan. So when you're in this position, you're in the lunge, the reason we wanna push evenly into the four corners of the foot is because that will determine where the knee is, so knee tracks in line with the toes. Nice, turn to face back. Same thing, we're in a parallel, knees travel right over the mid foot. Everybody's ankle mobility is different, so if you notice when you go down into a squat, that you're limited to this length before lifting your heels, that's fine, go as far as you can, keep those heels down, you're pressing into them, two to go.

Good, and one, this is our last one, okay? Find your breath. Tap the booty, rise, good. Tap the booty, rise, nice. Inhale, down and exhale, up.

Wide collar bones allow for that big breath to come in, recovering, slow steady movements. Four, good, three, sending those hips back, spine long. Two. And one, rise. Okay, last set, big finish, 10 times, go.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Six. Seven. Eight. Nine, a little slow. 10, whoo.

Oh, we made it look easy (laughs). Okay, come around this side so you can grab your ball. Finding your ball. Let's breathe and work a little bit of upper body. Leave the blue spring on, take a seat on your carriage facing back, and hang onto that ball.

Grab both of your straps. And I like to use my short loops for this one. Cool, and then once you have your straps, place the all behind you. So just a little note, the closer the ball is to your tailbone, the more you're gonna bend in that extension. The closer the ball is to your shoulder blades, the less you're gonna bend, okay?

So, go ahead and let your body sink into the ball bit, nice, reaching your arms forward. Let's not add the extension yet, just the arm work, so we're gonna go up, biceps by the ears, open like a T, and forward. Up, open. Doesn't it feel so good to circle? Yes.

Especially after a big cardio blast like Megan did. I only did a small portion of it, I do not take credit for that work. Okay, we're good, you wanna add the extension? So, first lift your arms biceps by the ears, then allow your spine to drape over the ball, don't forget about your neck, so you're gonna look for the foot bar. Tuck your chin to your chest, circle your arms and try to lift almost off the ball before doing it again.

So, arms, spine, head, are you looking at that foot bar? Tuck your chin, circle your arms, and try to lift almost off the ball. Good, again. Arms, head, drop it, tuck your chin, close the ribs. One more time.

Arms, drop, circle around, and you're up. Nice, hook up your straps. Grab that ball,, we're gonna use it, so don't get rid of it yet. If the ball is a bit on the large side, I'm not gonna make any comments further about the size of the balls, you can omit it if it's not working for you, but what you want is the ball to be underneath your waist to help support you in your side plank position. Grab that strap that's in front of you, put your top foot in the long loop, and send your leg towards the foot bar, nice.

Okay, stay lifted and stack your shoulders, you can have your hand to your hip or your head or whatever you want, guys, you do you, but we're gonna go right into a combo, Megan, so swing your leg forward, leave it forward, now lift the leg small three times, one, two, three. And pull it back and lift the leg up three times, one, two, three. And as you swing the leg forward, pull your hip back, lift it one, two, three, and then pull it back. And let's keep going on this, one, two, three. And this series with the leg to me is so similar to what we did in the arms earlier, so when we had our hand in the strap and we were lifting our arm and all the things, we had to pull our shoulder back and down, same with your hip, guys.

Is your hip burning yet? Yes. Okay, last time, forward for three, two, one, back for three, two. Bicycle, so bend your knee in, but let your foot come a bit forward so the strap is in front of your knee. That's perfect, kick your leg forward, swing your leg back.

We'll do three in each direction, that's one, bend, kick, swing, that's two, bend, kick, swing, reverse, so you go forward, bend, kick to the bar, that's one, forward, try to keep your ankle and knee the same height too, bend, I feel like my glute is just gonna yell at me, ah, I can't do anymore. Like, you know what? It's just like... Okay, cool, we did it, we did it. Place your foot on the floor and take your foot out of the strap.

Okay, before we do the other side, let's put that ball down. Let's do some presses, I feel like press has really help to open up the hip after that series. So place your hands onto the foot bar and you're gonna step into this well space. So before I jump into it, let me show you the exercise. So your left foot is gonna be against the front edge of the carriage, and your right foot's gonna come into the well space.

So meet me here. And if you've got really long legs, you might even wanna drop that foot bar and step in front of the frame of your machine. So, again, I don't have that problem (laughs). So bend into your steady knee, use the bar, press that carriage back, lean forward a bit. Press that carriage back.

I don't know, doesn't this feel good after doing that footwork? Yeah, it's like an Etch A Sketch, it just sort of erases the tension. Okay, now take your fingertips to your forehead, keep going, kicking, and kicking, and kicking. Keep at standing knee, and now reach your arms forward. And again, five, four.

Three. Two. One, and then place your hands on the bar and you can kind of lift up and slide that right knee back. How was that for a smooth transition? It was great.

Grab the strap (laughs) on your right side and use the long or short loop, your choice. I'm gonna use long, you're gonna use long? Okay, place your left hand on your thigh, you're gonna reach forward for five, keeping the chest lifted. Four, it's all about balance. Three.

Two, and if you wanna add more, you certainly don't have to, flip your palm in, reach your gesture arm forward and windmill. I like to flip my palm down as I press, then I turn it in. Three. Two. And one.

Now, these are gonna be hard, you're ready? Single arm triceps, so you lean into it, press into your thigh, we can do five of these. Five, bend the elbow. Four, shoulder pulls down and back. Three.

Two. And one, circle the arm around and hook up that strap. Well done, let's grab our ball 'cause we are gonna use it on the other side. Let's start with the leg series. So first lie on your side, you don't have to use the ball, I like it 'cause it reminds me to stay lifted.

And then grab the strap that is in front, and place your top foot in the long loop, and send the leg long, cool. And really stretch it long towards the foot bar, stack the hips, hand can be where you'd like it to be, swing the leg forward. We go one, two, three, swing the leg back, one, two, three. So, even though I have the ball there, I'm trying not to overuse it. Swing the leg back, one, two.

How many of these did we do? It felt like we did a lot. One, two, three, and pull, one, two, three. And swing, one, two, three. And pull one, two, three.

Let's do two more sets, I said one in my finger and I said two in my voice. And pull, one, two, three. Last time, one, two, three, whoo. And we still have those bicycles, so bend your knee, try to keep your ankle and knee about the same height, strap in line with the knee, kick that leg forward, swing it back, three, bend it, kick it, swing. Two, bend it, kick it, swing.

One, reverse, forward, bend and kick. Three. Two. And one, whoo. And go ahead and hook it up.

We can place the ball down, and let's come on in to that well space. So, if you need to kind of step beside the spring, that's fine, just choose what works best for you. I've got my right foot on, my left foot into the well, I'm real close to the platform, and I'm down into a low squat, and then I'm kicking to a full extension and in. Five, lean into it. Four.

Three. Two. One, fingertips to the forehead. Five. Four.

Three. Two. One, wow, this slide's so much harder, arms forward. Five. Four.

Three. Two. Oh, I gotta work so hard for this last one. Hands go on, lift it up, and slide or step that leg back, and then grab your strap and find your balance. It's gonna feel different on this side.

Good, take that short loop or long, we use long, let's do long, yeah. And then we were pushing forward for five. And this is a great place to stay, you don't have to add that windmill, guys, press down through your front heel, keep your spine long. And then we've got windmill if you choose to add it, turn your palm in, reach your other arm long, twist, and twist, three to go. Three.

Two. One, good, triceps, lean into it. Close the ribs, ready Megan? Bend the elbow and let's go, five of our best. One.

Two. Three. Four. And five, circle it around, hook up that strap. Let's finish straddling facing front, like you can sit, we've already done the work (laughs).

You can sit, let's reach our arms, squeeze the thighs towards the frame of the machine, and like we're doing like a windmill, like lengthen and twist, twist a little more, twist, and come back through the center. And other side, lengthening and twist, shoulders down, twist, twist. One more, twist, twist, twist, other direction. I always have to finish the class in a somewhat nice way. Mermaid stretch, otherwise I'm afraid people won't like me (laughs).

They're gonna be like, oh yeah, that wasn't so bad, it's like the psychology between, you know, that middle of the class and the end of the class, you're like, oh, it wasn't so bad, she was like she's kind of nice. Guys, speaking of end of the class, we've made it, that was such a fun workout. Thank you, I know that was hard. All those jumps, all those single leg, all that booty, whoo, I love it. So thank you for joining me, so inspired by Megan, she's such an amazing teacher and a beautiful mover.

I hope to see you guys again, bye.