Ball to the Core

Hi, guys. Tracey Mallett here. Welcome to another great workout. Today, you're gonna be needing a ball. Love this ball.

Such a great tool to add to your workouts. So you'll need this little ball here. You'll also need a jump board 'cause we're gonna be doing some jump board and then this jump board is gonna become a bar, too. So, fun workout, so get ready to have some lots of smiles and lots of laughs with me. And let's just enjoy ourselves and have fun.

Okay? So grab your ball. You're gonna get onto your reformer and we're gonna start with some gentle jumping, just to warm up the body. So want you to get at one red and one blue, okay? One red and one blue.

Let's get down onto the reformer. Now, make sure your headrest is up. Always when we're jumping, want that headrest up. Alrighty. So let's get down onto that lovely reformer.

Come all the way down and place your head on the headrest. All right, we're just gonna reach the hands over your head with the ball here. Put your heels on the top of the jump board. Now, get yourself into a lovely neutral spine. Pull those abs in.

We're just gonna push out. Very simple, push out and in, just going out and in. Now, we're just gonna reach the arms up and then bring the arms to the knees. Reach out. Now you feel there's, obviously it's a very light resistance.

I just want you to get used to moving your arms and really focused on connecting to your back, too. Draw the shoulder blades down. There we go. Let's just do four more here. Four and three and two and one.

And let's come down onto your toes here and we're gonna start to do a little jump, a little baby jump. The arms are straight above. There we go. Little baby jumps. And you're always gonna land toe, heel, toe, heel.

This is your warmup. Your feet are hip-width apart. Now we're gonna tap the feet together. So we go tap out, tap out, tap out. So those inner thighs get nice and warm.

Good. Keeping the hands just above the body to stop you from using your hands on the floor on your reformer. You've gotta focus on your abs to stabilize the pelvis. Just do a couple more and back to parallel. It's going to first position.

So this is your little Pilates V. Beautiful. Keep the hands reaching up. Now, draw the shoulder blades down and back. Now we're gonna take you to open to wide to second and then back into first.

So take it wide into second and then into first and second. So the toes are going to the corners of the jump board and we open, we close, we open. We feel that heart rate start to elevate. Good, and open. Let's do four more here.

And four, and three. Keep breathing, landing toe, heel. And two, and one. Back into first. Now, we're gonna go back to parallel.

Let's bring that right knee up in your chair position here, knee over the hip, arms reaching, again, towards the sky. Now we're gonna extend the leg. Tap the ball. Tap the ball. Tap.

It's just tapping that ball. There we go. And tap. It's kind of like lovely lengthened hamstring. Three more.

One more. Hold it here. Now, let's switch to the other leg. There you go. Hold it here in that perfect chair position.

Abs are engaged. Landing toe, heel, just a small jump. Beautiful. Ready? We're gonna kick. Kick that ball.

Tap the shin to the ball. Land in your lovely chair position. You got it. Push out and in. Whew.

Reaching those arms to the sky. Four more from here. Four, three, two, and one. Hold it here. Now, let's switch, right then left.

Go, switch right and left. Switch right and left. There's a little ponies. There we go. Little ponies. Four more here.

And four, exhale. Three, exhale. Two, and one. Come back to parallel. There we go.

You're in your parallel. Now, you're gonna lower your left hand. Your right hand is up with the ball. Your left hand is on the reformer. Now, we're gonna lift the left leg up so it goes, tap, tap, tap.

It's like a grande Battement, grande Battement, and across, and across. Four like that. Three, two, and one. Hold it here. Switch.

A little bit of coordination really helps the brain connect to the body. Are we ready? This leg lifts up, ball to opposition. Shall we go? Let's go.

Tap down. Tap down. Lower, lower. There we go. Tap down, tap down, and four.

Keep it going. And three. And two. One more, and one. And bring it down.

Keep the hands overhead. Bring the other hand together. Squeeze that ball. Three, two, and one. Draw down.

Draw the knees to the chest. Give yourself a little bit of a hug. Now we're gonna roll over to the side, feeling nice and warm now. Let's come up. Now, we're gonna grab the ball.

Put the ball just behind the lumbar spine, just like this. Now we're gonna place the hands onto the reformer. You're gonna be in like a nice little V position here. Keep the actual weight as it is, one red, one blue. And we're just gonna push out and in, push out and in.

So you can see the ball is supporting your lumbar spine. Now, if you feel comfortable and you want a little bit more ab workout here, we're gonna try and reach the hands forwards. So we're here. So you're balancing on that ball. The ball is encouraging you to go into that deep lumbar, really lovely curve in that lower back, reaching the hands forward.

So now we're gonna add the arms to second and in and open. So there's a lot of ab work here. Out and in. So we're going out and in. Let's do four more here.

Exhale, four. Exhale, three. Exhale, two. Exhale, one. Bring it into here.

Now, we rotate right. Rotate left. So now we're gonna get into those obliques. Your gaze follows the arms as you rotate around and your heels are glued together. There we go.

Exhale, inhale. Exhale, inhale, rotate, rotate. So do a couple more, rotate, and rotate. Bring you back to center. Come into parallel.

Now, from here, we're gonna push away. Legs are straight. Flex the feet, releve, and come back down again. So push away, flex, lift, draw those abs in, push away. Flex.

Imagine someone's pulling you forwards. Your spine is in that C-curve position. There's the abs, right there. Scoop. You got the imaginary ball in front of your tummy.

Beautiful. I'm gonna go a little bit faster if we can. Out, flex, and in. Out, flex, and in. Out, flex.

Keep that C-curve. Out, flex. Now, lifting that right leg. You got it. Ready? We're gonna extend, draw it in, extend.

Now, you can either keep your hands exactly where they are or if you want a little extra challenge, you can reach the hands right by your ears. Your body's still curved forwards in that C-curve position. Your abs and your thighs are working for four, three. Keep looking down towards your toes. One more.

Bring it back. Ready for the other side? Switch. Push out and in. There we go.

Keep that deep C-curve. Now we're gonna add that leg, lift, and lift. You got it. That's it. On a slight releve, not too high on that supporting releve.

Now, if you want, let's add those arms and ears, biceps by your ears. Keep that deep C-curve position. Your focus is towards the jump board, not to the sky. There we go. Three more, guys.

Two more. One more, and bring it back. Good job. Sit up, nice and tall. Reach forwards.

Push away to stretch it out and then come all the way back. Put the hands on top. Lengthen up. Feel that stretch through those abs. Beautiful.

Grab that ball. Take it down to one red spring. Beautiful. All right, we're gonna roll down now. There we go, rolling down gracefully.

Let's reach the hands over your head. Okay, now let's start to jump. There we go. So now you can feel it's so much lighter now and that means you've gotta stabilize with your core even more. All right.

So now we're gonna do this fun little combination. It's right leg, then left leg. It's like a grande Battement. We go right, switch, then left, switch. So let's try it.

So you'll lift the right leg, left leg. Right leg, left leg. Right leg, left leg. Like a little grande Battement. There we go.

Right leg, left leg. Pretty easy. Now we're gonna go right and then left and then right. It's kinda like a switch. So one leg switches against the other.

There we go. Now, to make it a little bit more complicated 'cause we've gotta challenge our mind and our body at the same time, we're gonna add a figure eight. Should we try figure eight? Figure eight. There we go.

Now, it's your hand, eye, ball coordination here. Not my greatest asset. That's why we need to do it, all of us, 'cause we all need a little help with coordination, balance. That's it, lifting that leg up. You've got that figure eight.

Whew. Isn't this fun? There we go. Getting that heart rate. Now, see if we can go a little bit more, a little bit more power. That's it, powering up those legs.

Think of those lovely, beautiful, long hamstrings. Active flexibility, my favorite friend. All right. Can we do four more? Yes, we can. Go.

And four, three, two, and one. Bring it down. Back to your jumps. Now we're gonna add a lovely little pike. So it goes one, pike, pike, pike.

Now, the ball is gonna hit the shins, shins, shins. Lift, lift. Watch you're not moving your pelvis too much. Use your abs to lift the legs up with control. Lift.

Let's do four more. Four, three, two. You're breathing and holding here. Keep jumping. You're in your first position.

First position. Now, one of my favorite moves is called the Peter Pan. We're gonna bend the right knee as the opposite leg goes out. So bend the right knee and lift, left leg. Keep on that same leg.

Right leg bends, left leg extends. Peter Pan. Up. Up. Let's do four more.

Four, three, two, one. Back to first position. How are you guys doing? Okay? You ready for the opposite side?

Let's go. And Peter Pan. Watch that leg doesn't go too out of control. Control your Peter Pans. Yes, we've gotta control those Peter Pans.

Otherwise, they fly away. There we go. Control it. Lift. So heel towards your pubic bone.

There we go. Out and in. Let's do four more Peter Pans. Exhale, four. Exhale, three.

Exhale, two. Exhale, one. Bring it back to first position. Now, bring it into third position. Right leg goes in front.

Now, switch, switch. You're switching heel third position, third position. There we go. So we go right and left and down, down. Drop the hands.

Drop the hands. Drop the hands. Lift, lift. Use those abs. Lift, lift, lift.

Four, down. Three, down. Two, down. One, and down. Whew.

Bring the knees into your chest. Beautiful work. Heart rate is up. That's what we love. Let's gracefully get up, moving on.

Let's take it to one blue, one red. So add a blue spring. Let's get up onto the top. All right, guys. We're gonna grab your little ball.

If you want to do with this without the ball, you can. You're gonna put your feet somewhat in the middle of your reformer. You're gonna be in a V position again and your heels are against that lovely squishy ball. Gotta make sure your ball is squishy. The hands are forwards.

Now, draw the abs in. You're in that lovely C-curve position. Your knees are going to the corners here, not to the side, to the corners. Now, we're gonna push back. Exhale, pull in.

Inhale, push back. Exhale, pull in. So you're gonna feel it in your upper body 'cause you've got that extra spring gone. So think of this as upper body stabilization. Your abs are working, but it's all about your upper body.

Your arms connected to your back. Your arms are straight. It's in your upper body right now, guys, upper body. Push away. Push away.

Four more. Four, tilt. Three, tilt. Two, tilt. One, tilt, bring it in, and then little plies here.

Little plies, little, tiny plies here. Beautiful. For five, for four. Keep scooping out, for three, for two, and hold it here for those legs. Walk the hands down.

There's your stretch. Now, take off the blue spring. You're on one red spring. Walk back up again. Do not move the lower body.

Now you're gonna feel the difference now. It's more abs now. Exhale, abs. Exhale, abs. Less in the upper body, but more into your core and your legs.

There we go. It's like a knee stretch, but you're in a diamond position on your ball, but the root is a knee stretch. Four, exhale. Three, exhale. Two, exhale.

One. Beautiful. Bring it back parallel. So now you're in your parallel position here. From here, we're just gonna try a parallel just to see how you feel in that parallel. Exhale as you draw the carriage in.

Now, from here, we're gonna take that right leg forwards and repeat, back and in. Press back and in. The arms are still straight, still connected to your back, and you're pressing back. That back leg extends. The front foot is on a releve or on balls of your feet.

Four more. Four, in, extend. Three, in, extend. Two, in, extend. One, hold it there.

Now, you can repeat that exercise if you want or you can come with me and it's gonna get a little bit more challenging. Extend that leg. We go in and back and in. And remember, if this is too challenging, just go back to that previous exercise we did. Knee to chest, elongate.

Knee to chest, elongate. Push those arms away from your lovely jump board. In, and out. Four more. Four, out.

Three, out. Two, out. One, hold it there. Little pulses. Are we still there?

Get those arms straight and pulse and pulse and pulse. Eight more, and eight and seven. Keep those hips square. Four, three, two, and one. Bring it in.

Whew. Shaky, shaky. I'm with you guys. My legs are shaking. Isn't that good?

Draw those abs in. Arms are straight, guys. You ready? Double leg, inhale back, exhale. So we step.

This is your first step. Then we go to second step and then we go to that third step. You can stop at any step you want. All right, guys, are you ready? Two more.

Hold it there. Take the other leg forwards. You got it. Make sure that back leg is secure and push back and in, push back. So you're gonna extend that back leg, extend in.

That front leg is staying exactly the way it is. It's bent and you're just moving back. Extend, draw those abs in. Resist your jump board. Keep pushing away from your jump board through your lats, through your serratus.

Feel those abs engage. Let's do four, in. Three, in. Two, are you breathing, guys? And one and in.

You can stay exactly where you are or we can go for gold. We will. We're gonna go for gold now. We're gonna at least try. Leg goes out. Arms straight.

Ready, guys? Go. In, out, in, out, press. Keep it controlled. You don't have to go fast.

It's all about control. Inhale, exhale. Keep breathing. Let's do four more. Four, back.

Three, back. Two, back. One, hold it there. We got it, and pulse. Try and keep that under leg still as you can.

That's the hard part. That front thigh is burning, I know. Try and keep going. You got it. Pull your shoulder blades down.

Control that move. And six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. Bring it down, though shaky, shaky, lift up. Extend. Now, gently step off.

Step off. Beautiful. Let's reach your hands forwards. Give yourself a little bit of a stretch. Get your hips going right, then left.

Awesome. And slowly roll all the way up. All right. We're gonna go down to either one red or one blue, depending on how heavy your reformer is. So one red is typically, this for me is a little heavier so I sometimes go as a blue.

All right. We're gonna be doing arm work. So get your knees against your shoulder rest. Now, we're gonna take the ball, put it in between your ankle joints, and we're gonna take a seat. All right, so we're right there.

Squeeze that ball. Pick up. Pick up. Now, I'm going to go to where I've got my smallest straps and all I'm going to do is just press back and forwards. Pretty easy.

We're pressing back. So this is your step one. Now, engaging your back again. Now we're gonna try and lift, press down, lift, press down. So you're lifting up and back, lifting up and back.

Keep squeezing that ball. Got a nice little cushion. So now you're working your upper body, but you're also working your lower body at the same time. Your thighs, your quads. And again, let's do eight more.

Eight and back. Seven. Are you breathing? Six, whew. Five.

Four more, guys. Four, exhale. Three, exhale. Two, and exhale. One, and come back.

Beautiful. From here, into your incline, into your biceps. Pretty easy here. Now you're gonna feel a nice thigh stretch through the front of your thigh. Elbows high, in line with your shoulders.

You're inclined back. There we go. Let's do eight more, just like this. Keep the elbows in line with your shoulders. Seven and six.

Control that movement. Five, elbows in line, shoulders, three, bending those elbows, two. And you've got one more and come all the way down. Take a little bit of a break there. Put them down.

Turn around, back to face the other direction. Now you're here, still on that same resistance. You're gonna put your hands forwards onto the ball. Now, bend your knees and put your butt back. Your feet are hip-width apart.

Press your hands onto the jump board. Now, we want to scoot just ourself a little bit, a little bit further forwards. Elbows are bent and I just want you to push out and in, push out and in. Now, of course, we're gonna try and jump, land, jump, land, jump. So really grab hold of that ball.

Now, the elbows are going diagonally down to the floor, not to the side of the body, diagonally down. There we go. And we're pushing away. Think of those abs working as you push away. Contract through the core and gently control as you hit the jump board.

Got it? Keep pitching your body forwards. Eight more here. Eight and seven. Exhale, six.

Keep that scapular pulled down. Five and four. You got it, guys. And three and two. Give me one more, and one.

And then gracefully come down. Awesome work. Step off. Step off. Take the little spring off, come all the way down.

Just keep it here. I'm just gonna hook it around just so it doesn't move, but yours might not move. I'm just gonna keep it there. All right, we're gonna step into the well here. Now we do a little bit of bar.

We're gonna grab your little ball here. Put the ball in between the legs. Step up to your jump board, which is your bar. You're gonna put your hands here, elbows bent. You're gonna incline out and we're gonna go into a chair position here.

So, from here, we're gonna lift up and down. So while we're in this chair position, we want to make sure your shoulders are over your hips. All right. So you're in a chair position and your focus is not to move your knees towards the jump board. You want to keep your knees directly over your ankle joint.

Now, slightly imprint the spine so it's not a tuck. Remember, we do not tuck. We gently draw those abs in so the work is coming from your abs, not your glutes. So slightly imprint that spine. Keep squeezing the ball.

Yes, I'm counting, kind of. Let's do five more. Now I'm counting. Five and four and three and two and one. Hold it in that chair.

Now, let's just abduct. Squeeze that ball. Make sure your thighs are level to the sky, not any lower and hopefully not much higher, okay? So really get down into it. You can do it.

All right, you ready? Let's do eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Hold it there. Hold it and then lift all the way up. Beautiful.

Grab your ball. Turn, place the foot onto your reformer, elbow on your bar. Take the hand behind your head. Lift that leg up and press that leg up in your sideline. Make sure your elbow is in line with your shoulder.

The leg is lifted. There we go. Perfect. Now, we're gonna take the leg. It goes tap and tap.

So you're tapping side and back of the reformer. Tap and tap and tap. Let's do four more. Lift up. Three.

Keep lifting up out of your jump board. Two, and one more. Lift that leg up. Bend both knees. Now, diagonally forwards, we're gonna flex that foot.

Kick it out. Now you can see I'm going diagonally forwards, diagonal, not to the side, not to the front, diagonal. And you're pressing out little, tiny little pulses, heel towards your hamstring, heel towards your sit bone there. Three, two, and one. Point the toe.

Bring hip back into your lovely mermaid. Rotate around, press down, and turn to the other side. Take your foot, rest it on your reformer, elbow on your bar, hand behind your head. Press and let's just lift that leg up and down, up and down. Keep pressing out of your jump board and four and three and two.

Hold it there. We're gonna tap it front, tap it back. So it taps to the front of the reformer and to the back and to the front and to the back and to the front and back. Let's do four more, four, and back. Keep lifting up out of your jump board, lifting up through those obliques.

Last time. Lift that leg up, bend the knee. Now, flex that foot diagonally. Push it out. So you call these little baby frogs.

You're pushing the knee diagonally out, pressing it out, press and press and press diagonally out. That's it. Bend your stabilizing leg, guys. Can we do six more? Six and five and four.

Heel toward the sit bone. Three, two. Hold it there. Point that toe, bring it back. Cross it over into your mermaid, rotate, and push back.

And beautiful. Roll all the way up. Step, step. Let's take your lovely reformer all the way back. Okay.

One red spring, one red spring. Make sure your headrest is up. We're gonna come to your side. Now, from here, we're going to take the top leg, wrap it around so it's the back of your knee. You're gonna lift up, place your forearm on your shoulder rest, and you can press it down.

All right, this supporting leg, it's gonna jump. So you can see that leg is in front and I'm jumping with that underneath leg. The forearm is down. I'm putting my hand here just for support so you guys know where you are. Perfect.

Now, we're gonna try and reach the leg forwards. And then as we do that, the back leg is gonna go back a little bit, like a little bit in hip extension there, and there. Got it? There. So reaching forwards, you're in hip extension, hip extension. Those top obliques are working, too.

Lift and lift. Let's do four more. Four, three, two, and one. Come down. Foot stays where it is and then just lift that leg up and down.

So you can see I'm lifting that leg up and down. Ooh, feel those glutes. Let's do five and four and three and two and one, and bring it in. Ooh, let's go to the other side. Twist.

Forearm down. Squeeze. Now, the underneath leg is on the jump board. Hand is forwards. Now, just jump with the underneath leg.

Take this leg back, knee in line with the hip. All right, you ready? We're gonna push and push out. You're always gonna find one side stronger than the other. Now, let's try and reach the legs out.

It's kind of like a leap, like a leap jump, hip extension. There we go. Reach, like a leap jump. Those hamstrings are working with that ball. If this is too challenging, take the ball away in that leap position there.

Leap. Leap. Can we do four more? Four, three, two, and one more and come down gracefully, top leg up and down. Lift, lift.

There we go. So you're still lifting up on the underneath side. Feel those obliques, lifting that leg up and down, abducting that leg. All right, let's do eight more. We can do this.

And eight and seven and six, five, four, three, two, and one, and come down. Beautiful. Grabbing that ball, we're gonna turn this direction, keeping it on one red spring, which you do. We're gonna roll down onto your back. All right.

Put your feet on the top and what you're gonna do is lift your butt up and put the ball underneath your sacrum. Okay? Now we're gonna grab your right strap. We're gonna take your right strap into your instep of your right foot and lift that leg up. All right, we are there.

So from this position here, gonna reach that opposite leg out. We're gonna go into some scissors here, your little scissors, little scissors here. Good. Now, want you to put your hands on your hips. This will give you just a little bit more stability.

Let's do four more of these. Four, three, keep breathing. Two, and one. Hold that split. Place that foot down.

We're gonna jump and jump and jump and jump. So you can see I'm just jumping with that leg. You're gonna feel loose in the resistance just a little bit. Keep it small. Keep it small.

That's it. Keep it tiny. Just diagonal down. Just a little baby jump, little baby jump. That thigh, let's do four more here.

Four, three, two, one. Hold it up there. Developpe that leg. Hold it there. Now, from here, we're gonna bring the legs together.

Frog the feet, press out. Now, open the legs slightly, bring it in and frog and out, open, and in, and frog and out, and open, and in, two more, and frog and out and open, one more, and frog, and in and open. Control it, and together. Now, lower that leg down. Cross the other leg in front and you want to make sure your headrest is all the way down.

So you want to make sure that headrest is down 'cause we're gonna go all the way up now. So put your hands down by the side of your body. Now, we're gonna go towards the stopper here. Roll yourself all the way up. Hold onto that ball so you don't lose the ball.

Roll down, hit that lovely squishy ball, and press down with the hamstrings. Keep holding onto that bull. And again, so hit that stopper, drawing in through those abs. Press up over your head, scooping out through those abs. As you roll back down, hitting that lovely squishy ball and then press down with the hamstrings.

And again, just do a couple more. Hit that stopper. Roll all the way up, slowly. Keep those legs straight as you hit the ball and then back, one more. Up and up.

Lift all the way up, rolling down, and then pressing back. Beautiful. And let's unwrap that leg, bring it down, bend your knee, and let's switch legs. Okay, so put that strap back. Switch legs, the opposite leg up.

That's it. Push it straight up. Now, find your abdominal strength here and let's lift that upper leg out. And then we're just gonna press and down. So in that lovely scissors there, lift and back.

Deep breaths in your scissors here, pressing down with that leg with the hamstring. Gotta keep that stability within the ball, which is the challenging part, right? Let's do a few more. And place the foot down onto the jump board. We're gonna do like a little jump.

It's not gonna be very big. You're just pressing down, lifting that other leg up. There we go. Fun little jump just to get that heart rate up a little bit, pressing down. Keep it small.

Otherwise, you'll lose control. It's very small, tiny. There we go. Let's do five more here. Five, four, keep breathing.

Three, two, and one more. Now, lift up. Bring the other leg up. We're gonna be in your froggy position. So we go frog, now open.

Now, if you feel like you need you a little bit more support like we did on the other side, maybe put your hands on your hips. It's not as easy as it looks. So you can put your hands on your hips and press the hips away and back. Flex and then open. Not so easy, is it?

Especially on the less dominant side. So I've got my left leg in right now, probably the same as you. This is a little bit more challenging for me to control. That's why it's great if we work unilaterally, you know, to try and not let our dominant side always take control. If we work on that weaker side, we're gonna be a lot more balanced in our body.

So we have to focus now, push away. That's it. Inhale down. Keep those heels together, then you open. Ooh, let's do one more.

Nice balance and control here. And open and back. Good job, guys. A little challenge there. Put that hand on your ball now, so your hands are on your ball.

Thread that leg in front. Make sure your headrest is down. All right, guys. So we're gonna go towards the stopper. We're gonna roll all the way up over your head and then slowly roll down again.

Place the butt onto the ball and press down with those hamstrings, such a great stretch. Hit that stopper, stopper, stopper. Roll all the way up. Use your abs, lift up, and then roll yourself down. Get your butt onto that lovely ball and then press down.

Let's do a couple more. Keep those legs as straight as you can. Hit that stopper first. Then you actively roll all the way up. Okay?

Now, drawing those abdominals, well, one vertebra at a time, tailbone hits, then it's your hamstrings that were pressing you back. Let's do one more, hitting that stopper, drawing your shoulder blades down, or use your abs, all in those abs, and then roll down through the spine. Tailbone hits and then press down. Yes, yes, yes. Great work. Bring it down.

Awesome. And then take your little strap down. Hold it there. Take your ball away. Doesn't that feel nice?

Draw those abs in and let's slowly come back to the other side. From here, we're going to be grabbing the ball and we're gonna put it on one blue spring or one red. I'm gonna put it on one blue spring. Now, from here, we're going to put the ball, and it's optional to put the ball underneath the foot. I'm gonna put it underneath the foot like this.

It's optional. And then you're gonna put the opposite leg forward. So you're gonna hold on here to get your balance and then once you've got your balance, you're gonna come up so you're in that lunge position here. Now, we're gonna press forwards and then come back up again. So you're pressing forwards on the reformer and back.

So basically you're hinging your hips forwards and then hinging back, hinging forward, so that back leg stays straight. Forwards and back. Now, if you feel comfortable, we can add the arms. We reach front and back and front and back, pressing those hips forwards and back. So it's a really lovely hip flexor stretch, which is really nice.

Hip flexor stretch. Couple more. And then hold it here, hold it here. Put the hands back on the hips. Perfect.

Now, we're gonna reach the leg out and bring it back in. It's not gonna go to full extension. You're just pressing forwards and back. So that back leg stays straight and then just moving that leg forwards and back. So it's a lot of the hamstring work here.

Put your hands on your hips for balance. There we go. Perfect. Can we do four more here? Four, three, two, and one.

Hold it here. Now, bend the back knee down and down. Keep that front leg still. Whew. Yes, it's challenging. And down and down and six and five and four and three and two and one, lift up.

Whew. Come back. Bring it back. Step down gracefully and then pick up your ball. Let's go to the other side. Alrighty.

So you're gonna put the inside leg forwards, the outside leg on the ball, so it's on that releve, and put the other leg forwards. Hold on here and then we're gonna come all the way up into a straight spine, shoulders over hips. That back heel is on, optional, on the ball. Now we're gonna hinge forwards and then back. So basically you're pressing the hips forwards and then you're coming back.

The back leg stays straight. So think of this as like a lovely hip flexor stretch, right through that front of that thigh. Got that? There we go. Forwards and back.

Forwards and back. Now, if you want, reach your hands forwards. We can add a forwards and back if you want or you can just reach the hands forwards. However you feel, however feels good for you. It's nice to reach forwards and back or just hold those hands forwards.

We can hold it here like this. Should we do four more? Four and up. Three and up. Two and up, and hold it here.

Put the hands back on the hips. Now, ready? Forwards and back. You're not going to a full extension. You just pushing forwards and back, pressing down the heel towards the sit bone. There's your hamstrings, heel towards your sit bone.

Perfect. Shoulders over your hips. Pressing back, pressing back. Yoo hoo. Let's do five more. And five and four.

Press down. Three. One more. Hold it there. Now, bend the back knee, okay, into your lunge. Down and down.

Keep that front leg still. That's the hard part, keeping this still, and the back leg is doing all the work. Yes. There we go. Can we do six more? We can. Exhale.

Six and five and four and three and two and one. Lift all the way up. Bring it back. Gracefully come back. Awesome.

Grab up onto the top. We're gonna take it to one red spring here. One red spring. We're gonna put the ball behind the lumbar spine here, holding onto your lovely straps here. I'm going to choke it up just a little bit 'cause I need a little bit more, so either small or choke it up.

We're gonna hold it here and from here, we're gonna open the arms to the side and back. Open out to the side and back so you're in that fly. Fly, there we go, in your fly. One of my favorite moves to do 'cause it really, truly does work. And let's go right then left, right then left, focusing on that back in that fly.

Look in the direction that your body is moving in. Back to the center for four and three and two on a diagonal again and diagonal, diagonal, diagonal. Two more. Keep smiling. Last time and then come back.

Last but not least, grab the ball, put it behind the back of the knees. Now, we're really gonna choke it up now. I'm gonna wrap my hands. Gonna go onto the ropes here. How am I gonna roll?

We're gonna do rolling like a little ball. So from here, we're gonna roll back, roll, and balance. Rolling like a little ball. Great little stomach massage. Inhale, and exhale.

That's it. It's gonna help you come up. That's why you need to choke your arm distance. So grab hold of the ropes and up. Inhale, exhale.

Three more. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, two more. Inhale, exhale. Last time, inhale and exhale. Hold it there.

Awesome work and drop down. Let's put your straps down here and let's take that lovely ball away. We love to hate this ball, but it's such a great little tool. Let's just put the ball in between your legs here. We're gonna sit back just a little bit.

Feet are on the floor. Just put your hand to the side, just going to a little stretch here and then switch to the other side, little stretch. Nice work, guys. You got a little bit of everything in today, a little bit of cardio, Barre, everything. And then back.

Take your ball. We're gonna switch over to the other side, put the ball in between the legs, hands reach up and over in that stretch, and then come back, back into that other stretch, that sideline. And then come back. Let's stand up. Awesome work, you guys.

Give yourself a little pat, little clap. You guys did awesome today. We're gonna put your feet hip-width apart. We're gonna roll down through the spine, rolling down. Exhale all the way up.

One more, rolling down. A lot of balance, a lot of coordination today. It's definitely not a class to be falling asleep on. You've gotta use your brain all the time and that's what mind-body is all about, where we don't just go into autopilot. We have to think about how we move the body, what's coming next, how to control the body.

Our body, our brain needs stimulation, and this class will definitely stimulated your brain today. Awesome, guys. Look forward to seeing you back here again and keep smiling. Keep feeling fabulous.