Full-Body Reformer

Hi everyone. We're here for a little reformer workout. We'll add jump board in the last segment or so. Full body. We'll get our legs going, abs, arms, and of course jumping, so a little cardio.

And I have two guests in town here from different countries to work out with me and work out with you. Nancy and Lucia. From Argentina and Rio. So this is so exciting. (laughing) They're gonna lie down on their back.

You're gonna lie down on your back. We're gonna start with footwork. So for all of you watching, we have some language. We have foreign language. We don't know a lot of English, and I don't know her language.

I don't know Portuguese. So the language of movement is universal, though. So we'll see how we can all work together. And I might rely on my friend Nancy to help me translate a little bit. But let's start with foot work.

Heels parallel on your bar. So just right in line. Flex your feet. And I'm gonna have you guys go 10 repetitions. So go ahead and start moving your carriage back.

And bringing your carriage in. And moving your carriage back. And moving it in. So we're looking on parallel alignment. Yeah, try to have that pelvis nice and neutral.

A good strong, flex strong feet. That's right, tracking nice and parallel, good. And I think they're counting, this is seven. And in, and eight. And in, and nine.

And in, and one more, and 10. And in. Balls of feet just step down. Good. Now with the balls of the feet, have your heels a little bit up, just a tiny bit of lift on the heels, there we go.

And 10 times, pressing out. And coming in. Let's feel your body moving nice and strong and fluid. Good. If there's a way you can ease up the toe tension, and just have a little bit more press from the ball of the foot.

That's right, Nancy. Yeah. There we go. Five more. And five, and in.

Good, think nice and long through the whole body. They've got their shoulders back beautifully. Just moving easy on the mat. And two. Good.

And one last time, press. Alright, let's do a Pilates V. So heels come together. Oh you know what? You can stay on the balls of the feet.

Yeah, ready? That's right, a little narrow. And begin, pressing out. And pulling in. Good.

Yeah. So notice, if you press your heels strongly together, really firm, you'll probably feel that energy, and work all the way up your legs, into your inner thighs, into your hips. There we go, we've got five more. Five. And in, good.

And four. And in. Continuous movement. Three. That was wrong.

And one. Okay, come all the way in. Heels wide. So set your heels wide. So heels wide, put 'em a little wider than your own pelvis.

They don't have to go all the way to the sides of the bar. There we go, just a little bit of turnout with the thighs, and here we go, 10 times. Good. So think about the evenness of your heel contact on your bar. That's right.

So working even work, through right and left leg. Exactly. Five more, guys. And press. And in.

Uniform movement of the legs. Again, they've got shoulders back. You've got your arms nice and long. Last two. We start out nice and calm and work on our alignment, of course, and we start to build some intensity, okay?

So come on in. Let's come back to the middle of the bar on the balls of the feet, on the pads of the feet. Yep, and let's work our calf muscles, okay? So press yourself out, straight legs. And then nice straight legs, just bring your heels down, and up.

For 10, 10 on. And really nice lift of those heels. Good Nancy. So it's as if you were trying to push the reformer to me when you go up. So you push that, exactly.

Five more. Five. And lower. And four. Good.

Three, as high as you can, as low as you can. Two. And then one more. Stay up there, and then one at a time. So you'll just prance, yep.

Good. So with the prancing, what you wanna work, one heel's really high. That's right, and one heel's really low. Yeah, good. Okay.

And just take the tempo up a little bit. One and two and three. (snapping) And four, and squeeze your glutes just a little bit so we don't have too much wiggle in the hips. Good, and four. Three, I'm gonna count with my fingers.

Two, and one. And both heels down. Let me pull on you, yeah. Yes, always a good stretch. Always a good stretch.

Great, okay, and all the way back in. Okay, we're gonna move on to some single legs. So come on in, guys. I'll take your spring down. So we were on three reds.

You choose what you want with your legs. And now for single leg, I'm taking one red off for these gals, 'cause I think two red will be fine. Let's put our right heel on the bar. Good, left leg straight up to the ceiling. Okay, other way.

It technically wouldn't matter, would it? Okay, good. Now, point this foot. Really really point it, right? Push this heel on the bar, and just move the carriage back and forth.

About five times. Nothing fancy yet. Easy breezy. Just that beautiful long line of energy up. There's four.

And five. Okay, now, it's gonna get a little harder. So, without moving the carriage, keep the carriage nice and in. Oh, you know what? You'll have to take your head rest down.

Take your head rest down. Take your head rest down, yeah. That's fine, okay. So we'll do all of the rest of it with the head rest down. Okay, without you moving the carriage, I want you to roll up, I've got you, to your bridge.

Roll up to a bridge without moving your carriage. So lift lift lift, there we go. Hold your hips up. Now, let's move the carriage five times. So just a little back, and in.

Back, and in. That's it. Good, so this strong long leg up here helps you keeps your hips up. Let's say five, all the way in. Now, just set your hips down.

Just hips go down. Yep, hips go down. Hips go up. Good, two more. Hips go down, exactly.

Luciana, nice. Hips go up, gorgeous. One more, hips go down. Hips go way up high. Bend your knee.

Set the foot down on the bar. Roll your hips down to the mat. And we'll do the other side. Okay, good. Nice, Nancy.

So take your right leg up. Left leg stays on the bar. Five leg presses. You're just moving your carriage. First, just move that carriage.

Out, and carriage in. It's your time to really set the tone of this, the leg up in the air. Still aligned with your hip, good. And four. And five.

All the way in. Now it gets harder. So without moving your carriage, roll up to a bridge. This leg helps you. This one is strong.

Five times, you move the carriage out, pull it in. Out, gorgeous, and in. Way up here. Out, that's it. Reach beyond.

And two. In, last one. Press. Impressive, Nancy. Now, just the pelvis goes down.

Pelvis up. Pelvis down. Pelvis up. Nice. Pelvis down.

And pelvis up. That was it, bend the knee. Set your foot on the bar. And you get to roll down your spine. Once you get down, give yourself a hug with your legs.

Okay, great you guys. Good, you can hug your knees. Lower your foot bar. I'm doing that for them just to keep it moving along. And let's go ahead, we're gonna start some ab work now okay?

So keep your head rest down. Reach behind and grab your straps. Behind you. And let's do the 100. No preparations, you don't need any.

Take your arms straight up to the ceiling. Take a deep breath through your nose. Curl up to the position of the 100. And when you do that, hold and really stretch. And stretch your arms.

Here we go, and in, two three four five. And exhale, three four five. You guys keep counting, okay? So we wanna try to minimize that carriage. Make it a little smaller pump.

There you go, baby. Reach reach reach reach reach to me. There you go. So sometimes the carriage moves back and forth like this. This is a new reformer for Luciana.

She's not from this country. This is a whole new thing. Now it'll stop. So you gotta curl high enough. Good, Nancy.

See that? She's so good, that's why. And I know my friend Nancy can curl higher. She's gonna get up here. That's it.

One more time. In, thank you, three, four, five. And exhale, two, three, four. Now you're gonna hold this. Hold hold hold.

Only to arms. Just the arms. Arms, and down. Two more. Just the arms.

I know it's horribly hard. Arms, and down. Now arms go up, head goes down, knees come in. And rest, good. Okay, next one is reaching in and out.

So take a breath. Come up to 100. Yep, now legs open. Reach your hands in between your legs. Good.

Back to 100, and then all the way down. Let's try again. So up to the 100. Then reach in between the legs. Good, reach out to 100, and all the way down.

Three more times, here we go. Exhale, one. Reach in, two. Reach out, three. And down.

Two more. Up, and reach, and close. You got it, you guys. One more, and up. And in, and open, and rest.

Okay, good, rest. Yes, good. Deep breath. Put your straps down. You can just hook the straps down.

Just go like that. Okay? So these gals know mat work quite well. And I know you do, too. Let's integrate a mat exercise, okay?

So let's go with our overhead, or roll over. You can use the straps at home if you still want to. I'm just gonna have them not. That's okay. So, hands can hold the shoulder pegs.

Take a deep breath through your nose. Here we go. Exhaling, we're rolling over, just like mat. Just roll over. Flex your feet.

Open your legs to the width of your shoulders. And you get to roll down your spine. Just like mat. Two more times. Inhale, and exhale a nice smooth up and over.

Good. Flex those feet. Open to mat width. Now as you roll down, lift your legs just a little higher here. Yeah, there you go.

Good you guys. Legs around, and together. One more. Exhale, and over. Flex your feet, open, and rolling down your back, nice and sequential.

Beautiful. All the way. Once you get down, hug your knees. Just hug your knees. And then they have a teacher that helps them like this.

That feels good. Oh yeah, okay. So the next series, ladies, we're gonna go into is long stretch series. Okay, so think plank position. Alright, come on up off your mat.

And I think for this spring setting, let's go two red. So on two red springs. They're still on two red, perfect. We'll take our bar back up high. We have a reformer that has a safety.

We're gonna go right in there, yeah. Okay, now head rest for me comes up. Feet go there. Hands on your bar. And let's see your plank position.

Perfect. Okay, so let's go like this. Step down. Come over here. Come here.

Watch. Okay, your turn. Oh, teacher down. Good, there we go. Okay, so it's about this real lovely lift, right in those abs.

Gorgeous, you guys. Feet solid. Now we move from the shoulders. Let's go, push back. Push away, and pull back in.

Without losing that line. They've got this gorgeous line. Push. And pull. Total of five.

Push. And pull. Last two. Push. And pull.

Good, one more time. Energy right out the heads, keep going. Push, and pull. All the way. There we go.

Now, knees down. Good, now you get to put the knees down, and separate your feet. Let's go to down stretch. So down stretch. Lean your hips forward.

Rotate your shoulders back. And give a sense that you're pushing the bar down, okay? Now look up for me. Yeah, so you've got this really good sense of sternum to that corner wall right there. Yeah, and now move the carriage back.

Push from your shoulders. More more more. More more more more more, 'cause you can. Come all the way in. They can.

Four more, here we go. Out, and out, and in, and in. Let's pick up the pace. Out, and out. Good, in, and in.

More, two more. Out, and in. Last one, and out out, and in, and in. Now make a cat back shape. Make a cat.

Stand up on your feet. Just stand up. Thank you, go ahead and -- Yeah, and elephant. You know your elephant? That's fun, foreign language.

I mean, hey. But we know that the shapes of the body are like elephant, right? So we're gonna go this way. Make a big curve for me, Nancy, C curve. There, okay.

So everyone watching and doing, let's think about elephant for a minute. Hold your shape. This outside shape of your spine. And the design of your body. We're in flexion.

Now, I want you to take your sit bones, and bring 'em really close together. So squeeze your butt. Squeeze your butt. Alright, so all this should be pulled, yeah, there she goes. Okay, now we move the carriage fast.

It goes, out and in, out and in. Real small and fast. Which is opposite of how an elephant moves, unless it's running. Okay, make your elephant run a little bit. Five, and four.

You've got it, three, yes. Two, one, and in, and come all the way down to your knees. All the way down to your knees. Great, that's plenty. Let's get our sticky mat.

Your sticky mat for stomach massage. So I think for you guys, let's make it lengthwise. Alright, stay on two red springs, but I am going to make a judgment right now to lower the foot bar for these guys because I just want to. You're gonna go down. Make your discretion later at home if you want.

And have a seat on your pad. Have a seat. Yeah, facing your foot bar. And then put your feet up on your foot bar in Pilates V. And I want you to try to start out sitting up comfortably.

You know, sit tall, however that means. So we're not gonna force ourselves right now to be as close to the bumper as possible. Use your hands at the front of the reformer. Press, and then lift tall. Okay, so we're really trying to get into, move back a little, Nancy.

Yeah, good, that's it. Yeah, see, she said that's better. So that we can get these muscles up longer, and more weight on the kind of pubic bone part of your pelvis. Rather than back here on the pelvis. And then just go ahead, you guys, and move the carriage back.

Heels are gonna come under. Heels will lift. And you come back in. And it has some flow. Out, and under, and lift, and we come back in.

And out. And under, good. And in. Okay, you keep going. We're sitting as tall as possible.

This is beautiful. Nice and lifted. See she's got this strong back. A good example of this exercise. One more.

Press. Down, lift, and in. Now, make a curve. Let me show you, let me see your curve. So in the round back position, I still want you to feel like you're trying to lift your tummy up into the ribcage.

Yeah, and the legs will do the same thing. So go ahead and do your legs back, heels under, heels up, and in, keep going. Right, so all that space between ribs and pelvis. Good, three more times. And back.

Under. Up, and in. Out, and under. Up, and in. One more.

Press, under, up and in. Okay, now it gets harder. Reach your hands up, arms too. That'd be weird. (laughing) And reach.

Close your knees a little. There you go. There, okay. Yeah, now as you push the carriage back, go ahead, still reach in this direction, and then come back in. So we don't have to do the heel thing.

You just push away, and pull back in. That's it. And push away. Yes. Push.

This is a great great example. Again, that energy and that work in getting this part of the body up. Okay, three more, guys. One, and in. And two.

In, you're gonna continue with this movement of your legs, and add a twist on the next one. So twist, twist. And center. Twist the other way. There we go, and reach.

And twist, that's it. And reach. And twist. And reach. Once again, each side.

Twist, and reach. And twist, and reach. Excellent, you're gonna do monkey stretch. Hands go here, feet go there. Ah, stretch.

Push the carriage back. Lower yourself down. I will press just gently here. How low? Yeah, like that, great.

Beautiful examples of how low to go. Okay, so as you're bending your body over your legs, your stomach is pulling in. Almost imagine your sits bones kind of walking back behind you. Good Nancy, yes. You have that really good sense of length.

A couple more breaths. Good, one more. Let's fill up the ribs and back muscles. And all the way in. Okay gals.

Come up for tendon stretch. Have fun, come on up. So we will lift the high bar back up, or the bar back up. You can take the pad, and maybe just put it here. Yeah, thank you.

Remember tendon stretch? Yeah? Yeah, so stand. And sit. Okay.

Now, these carriages lock in. So we've got a good locking bar. Nice strong grip with your hands. And the balls of your feet will be right over the edge of the carriage there, guys. Good, so back up your feet a little bit.

Good, okay. You're gonna go upside down. Think of the monkey stretch you just did. And go upside down. Yeah, and hang out for a minute.

So what we're looking for on tendon stretch, first and foremost is confidence in going upside down. This is not a regular daily activity, unless you're a Pilates person, like us. So the carriage will move. I want you to start to move your carriage, just little for now. Push it, you okay?

Yeah, and that happens. That's exactly what happens, sometimes. You push and you pull. That's plenty, and come back in. You okay?

So we think, how do we push the carriage? Let your heels drop down a little. You're gonna find this, Nancy. You're gonna find it. I'm gonna help you find it.

As your heels go down, you've got it. I've got you, babe. Yeah, as your heels go down, you bet, think of moving the carriage out, and then your hips will come down. And lift and come back in. Okay?

That's it. It's really tiny, especially if this is your first time, like Nancy, first time. Throwing her to the wolves. She does it, she's got it. Try one or two more.

And for Luciana, try to come in and keep your heels down. There you go, sweet pea. Heels down. Yeah, yes, one more. Heels low, heels low.

That's it. You pull in, heels low low low low low. Perfect, have a seat. We're not gonna do the other one I warned you about. There she goes.

She's finishing. Come up, no, you're fine. All the way, perfect for me. And have a seat. All done.

Great. Okay. Nice, Nancy. (laughing) Way to go. I don't know if I would have done that on the first try, especially on camera.

Okay great, let's go thigh stretch. So our springs are fine. Knees up against the shoulder pads. Gorgeous transition. I'll take those away.

Reach out for your straps. Yeah. And I think, hold the rope, let's hold those ropes. Alrighty. Okay, so similar sensation.

I want you to get right up on top of your knees. Pretend you have a little ball between your knees, maybe give it a little squeeze. Arms stay perfectly straight. Alright, thigh stretch. So thinking of leaning back.

There we go. And then right all the way up. Alright. Five times. So here's number two.

You got one long line through your head to your knees. Good, Nancy. And all the way up. Arms stay right out in front of you. Leaning back.

Leaning up. Wow, yep. Last two. This is more familiar for Luciana and her Pilates body, yeah. Good.

And one more time, leaning back. Abduct a little, Nancy. Good. Yes, ladies. And all the way up.

Okay, go ahead and put your straps down. Turn around to face me, or face the foot bar. I'm gonna take out one of your springs. So that was still on two red springs. We haven't had a lot of change.

Keep it on one red. Put your feet back against shoulder rests, and now lean back and grab the straps again. Okay, so we're going into up circles. So this one also has an element of some front to back balance with it. So let's begin with the arms right by our sides.

Just there. Make a little bit of bicep squeeze happening, so we're not locking out the elbow, okay? Nice and tight. So take in a deep breath. On your exhale, raise your arms.

Just to the height of your shoulders. Open your arms to the side. And lower your arms down. Okay, there we go. And scoop front and up.

And open. And as the arms go down, we grow taller taller taller. And lift. Nicely done. Open, and lower weight height in your spine.

Last two here, we reach. They reach. Good. And down. Once again, and then we'll reverse the direction in the arms.

You doing okay? Is it heavy? It's good. Alright, other way. So from the side, up.

Good. Into the front. Grow taller. Exhale. And down.

Three more times. That's right. Alright, almost done with this one, you guys. Last two. And front.

And lower. And last time, one more time. Lift, and close all the way down. To get out of this, I sit back a little bit. And then just put your straps down, on your posts.

Yeah, all the way down there. Great, let's come into the control front. Think front support for mat. And I think one, we need one more spring. I'm gonna add a blue for you.

So they're red and blue now. Red and blue. Do you wanna demonstrate it? If I were to say control front, like front support on the mat, so your hands would be on the shoulder blocks. And your feet here.

Yeah. Throwing her to the wolves again, and she just goes right to it, like it's nobody's business. So right here. So shoulders right over wrists. And you're gonna hang out for me a minute, okay?

She's there, too. Okay, I love it. I love it. Can you guys bring your legs together all the way? All the way, abduct.

Nope, other way, together. (speaking in foreign language) Thank you. Translation. Okay, so we're back in this plank line. Push the carriage with your strong arms.

Push it a little. Nice, Nancy, there it is. Pull it back underneath you. Wrists under shoulders. Just five times.

Push away. Pull it right under your shoulders. Perfect, three more. In. Yes, two.

And in. Good for you, man. Last one, push and pull. Ooh, Nancy, God, that's a little low with that. You're strong, I know who you are.

Okay, put one foot to the floor. One foot to the floor, then the other foot to the floor. Okay, let's get ready to mount our jump boards. Okay, we'll get into our legs. We'll be right back.

We're back for jumping. We're just gonna do a little bit of jumping. Get a little cardio, a little more leg work in there. So I would love these gals and you to start with your legs straight. And just hang out, straight legs for a moment.

Okay, and rise, lift your heels and lower your heels. So just start to get a sense, yeah, of how the feel feel on the board. Or you can cardio tramp, if you have one of the tramps at home. You know, just lift and lower. And of course, a cardio tramp is the rebound.

It's got a trampoline. These are nice and hard and different. So we've got a different surface to jump from. Alright, one, two more times. Now here's the deal.

Just start, we're gonna just keep it basic. Bend your knees. We're on still a red and a blue. And just start to jump, gals. Let me just see what happens.

If you've seen some of my other jump board things, I break things down a lot. I just want them to move. I want 'em to move. So lots of strength in your feet. Push with your toes.

Push, that's it. Seven. Eight. Nine. And 10, and then pause.

Okay, let's do another set of 10. Ready, and go. 10. That's okay. Good, and these ladies have very powerful legs, so feel free, if you have those powerful legs, jump a lot, jump high.

Seven. Eight. Why not? Nine, and 10, and pause. Okay, now let's do V, Pilates V.

Here we go. Go, jump. And one. So in Pilates V, try to keep your heels together. Good.

Heels together. Just like we did in our regular foot work. You're gonna feel the upper inner thigh. Four. Three.

Two. And one, and pause. 10 more, here we go. And jump, one. Two.

And again, go for it if you want. Wider legs. Five. Yes, six. Seven.

And eight. Nine. And 10, and take a little rest. Okay, one more position just with basics. The feet can go a little wider now.

Yeah, just a little wider. And how about we do just a little turnout? Just a little bit of turnout. Yeah, ready? 10, go.

One. Use those legs. Point those toes. Five. Six.

They're breathing. And eight. And nine. And then 10, and a little rest. Ready, 10 more.

Go one. Good, two. Lot of feet, feet. Feet, good. Five.

Six. Seven. Eight. And 10. Okay now.

Let's do, I just got a funny look from this one. (laughing) Come back to the middle. Let's do it all over again. Okay. 10.

10. 10. 30 in a row. She's ready, go. And one.

You can't count for yourselves. I'll whisper when it's 10. 10, first position. One. Two.

Find a rhythm of your breathing. Eight. Nine. 10. Good, you're good.

Eight. Look how good they are. Got right on sync. Four. Three.

Two. And in, and rest. Rest rest, lift your legs, shake your feet out. Good. Can you tell me, are you okay?

Is the spring heavy? It's good. Okay, I'm just gonna keep it on a red and blue, okay? So take one foot to the jump board in parallel, and one leg to the ceiling. We saw that earlier in some of the foot work, but this is a scissor.

Parallel. So jump off this foot, and land on the other one. Go ahead. Jump off, and land on this one, exactly. So you're just alternating.

Good. Use your feet. Feet, yes, feet. Feet. And four.

And three. It's okay, two, and one, and rest. Okay. Let's do that again. And think straight legs.

The whole time. It'll be straight legs scissor. Ready, and go. And there. Two.

Three. Yes, guys. This is real life right now. Real life. Four.

Three. Two. Good, and one, and take a little rest. Okay, lift your feet, shake your feet out. I'm gonna take the spring down a little bit.

Okay, so what I'm doing for them, and you, take off the blue spring that you have. One red spring. And let's have you do Pilates V again. Now, go ahead and just start jumping, softer. Go ahead and jump.

You're gonna notice, of course, the lighter spring, you have more time out, away from the jump board. So you've gotta really hold in your stomach to your back. Keep going. In the air, take your legs apart, and then bring 'em together. Excellent, Nancy.

Good, you guys. Yes. Keep going. So good. It's fun, right?

Let's say five. And four. Three. Two. One more, and then hold.

Fantastic. Okay, we're almost done. Start with your feet apart. And start jumping. Just jumping there.

Just keep the feet apart. Okay. Now instead of just holding 'em apart, bring them like this. You'll bring 'em in, and apart. Bring 'em in, and apart.

Good. A lot of inner thigh. Excellent. And more butt squeeze. Good, five more.

Five. Four. Three. I could keep going with these gals, but I'm gonna be nice to them. And two.

You're welcome, one. And then everybody rest. You're fine. Okay, give yourself a figure four stretch. They're going to give themselves a figure four stretch.

An ankle over a knee. Bring your thighs toward you. Breathe deeply. Thanks for joining us for this reformer and jump board workout. Thank you guys for being here.

Have fun, I'm glad you were here, Nancy. We'll see you next time.