Full-Body Reformer Flow

Hi, Tracey Mallett here. So excited again to be with you. Got a great workout ready and waiting for you. All you need today is a lovely TheraBand. Green resistance is good, like a medium-resistance TheraBand, nice and long, just so that you can choke it up to make it harder, or to make it easier, release it, so the longer, the better.

If you don't have a band, don't worry about it. You can still do the class without the band. You will also need your box today too. You're gonna be using your box and the band, all right? So should we get ready?

So grab your band if you have one, and we're gonna double it up just like this. Now, depending on what reformer you're on, there's always going to be a foot strap, okay? My foot strap is on the top. On some of the reformers, the foot strap is right here, so it doesn't matter where it is. Just find the middle, and you're going to do like a slip knot.

So you're going to put it underneath so you've doubled your band like this, and then you got a little loop here, right? So you're gonna thread it through the loop, and you're gonna attach it, just so it's attached right in the middle of your foot strap, alrighty? We're gonna start with some leg work, so make sure your head rest is up to get going, and we're going to be on... I'm gonna do two reds and a blue, but you may wanna do three reds and a blue. We're just doing some leg work, all right?

So let's get down onto that lovely reformer. Place your head down. Now, we're gonna separate the band, and just put the band to either side of your body just for now. Now from here, we're going to do little pelvic tilts. So we're gonna inhale, exhale, little pelvic tilts.

Inhale back. Exhale, pelvic tilt. Inhale back, and exhaling, and inhaling, drawing those abs in, exhaling and inhaling, flattening the spine against the reformer as you tilt the pubic bone towards the bellybutton. Let's do one more, (exhales) and then come back. Feet are hip-width apart, grabbing your bands, holding your bands.

Now, externally rotate so your palms are facing the sky, alrighty? We're just gonna press out and reach the arms up, and up, and down. So it's moving very small. It's the downward motion and an upward motion. It focuses that external rotation through the chest, and you can actually thumbs up.

You can press the thumbs up like this, down. So we go all the way up and a little down. There we go. Small range of motion, opening the chest, and you're also working, obviously, your shoulders, your upper body. Let's do a few more. (exhales) Now we do our little pulses here, so we go pulse.

Just keep the hands nice and still, and just pulsing. Those arms are still working isometrically right here. A little pulsing here midway, and four, and three, and two, and then all the way up, reaching those arms out, and then coming back down. Replacing onto your toes now. Reach the arms back out again.

We're gonna go again. Ready? Exhale. If you wanna make it a little bit harder, choke it up a little bit more. Alrighty, ready, and lift.

So now as you choked it up a little bit, you can feel your arms a little bit more. So you have control how much resistance you want with the band. Exhale up, inhale down. (exhales) Let's do four more here. Four. Exhale, three.

Exhale, two. Exhale, one. Bend your knees. Now hold your hands, little pulses. Keep your arms still.

Pulse, and pulse, and pulse those little midway. Keep that ankle joint still. There we go. Exhale, and four, and three, and two, and all the way out, and then come back down. Let's go into your V position here, back again with the arms.

Externally rotate. Now, we're gonna bring the arms a little bit further in. So we go straight up, and then back, straight up, and back. So you'll feel it dragging on the sides of your thighs. It's a small V, straight up and straight down, so not as lateral as you were before.

Those shoulders are working super hard. As you lift up, draw your scapula down in opposition. Are you breathing? Now holding midway, hold the arms still. Now pulse, little pulse, little pulse.

Keep the heels connected together, tailbone down, neutral spine. And five, and four, and three, and two. Last time, all the way out. Squeeze those inner thighs, and then come all the way back. Bring your knees into your chest.

Take hold of the band. Open your feet so you're in your wide position here. Grab the band together like this. Now we're gonna press out. Ready, and press out, and back.

Press out and back. So your heels are right on the corners of your actual bar. Now as you lift the arms in opposition, you're pulling your scapula down in opposition, so try not to elevate your scapula. Breathing. Couple more.

Now find your midway position, and little pulse. Keep the arms still. Little pulse, little pulse. Think of those hamstrings. There we go.

And five, and four, and three, and two. Now one more all the way out. Beautiful, and then back down. Take a little break. Now replace the heels with the toes, okay?

If you wanna make it harder, you can choke it up, or if that was perfectly fine, stay where you're at. Ready? We're gonna go again. And lift, and back. (exhales) Breathe.

(exhales and inhales) Deep breaths. Ankle joint staying nice and still. Feel that heart rate elevate. Let's do four more here. Exhale, four.

Exhale, three. And two, and one. Now midway, ready for your pulse, and pulse, teeny-tiny little pulses. And lift, and lift. There you go, little pulses mid-range.

And five, and four, and three, and two. One more, ready? Fully extend. Beautiful. Reach those legs out, and then bend the knees and relax.

Awesome, take the band down. Just drop it down and draw your knees into your chest. We're gonna come all the way up. Roll all the way up. Give yourself a little stretch.

Awesome. Now we're gonna continue with our arms and legs. We're gonna step to the side here. Now, I'm just gonna grab the band. You're gonna move the band towards to the side, so just make sure it's a little looser, and you're gonna move the band all the way to the edge, so it's right at the end of your lovely foot strap.

From here, we're gonna take it down to one red spring, one red spring. Now for this, I'm just gonna use one, one of the straps, okay? Now we're gonna take your foot onto the top here. Knee is level with the other knee. Now from here, we're just gonna just push.

Get the knee off of the reformer, and we're just gonna push back and in, back and in. Now as you can see, I'm prepping the arm to do a tricep extension as you push back. So you do tricep and back, tricep and back. There we go. So you've got your back leg.

It's in hip extension. You're pressing back with the hamstring and your glute. Your stabilizing leg is bent. Your hand that's on the bar is pushing away to engage your back, and you're drawing in your abs. Now keep your top of your arm still.

There we go. Isn't that a great one? Arms and legs. Four more. Four.

Three. Two. Bring the leg in. Now we'll do a little pulse-pulse, teeny-tiny pulse. Put the knee onto the carriage.

Pulse, pulse, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one, and come back. Now turn right here. Gonna grab that band. Bend your knee, elbow in line, and we're gonna flick out and bring it back. Flick that leg out and bring it back.

So the leg is going out and in. So you're working on your glute, and your arm is going overhead. Pull your scapula down. It's kinda like arms kneeling, right? Shaving your ear.

Keep that hip down as much as you can. Three more. Three, two, and one more. Woo-hoo, and back. Beautiful.

Slowly come down, take your band, loosen it up, and move it all the way over to the other side. So I've moved the band all the way over to the other side, alrighty? So let's get up onto the top. Pick up your band. You'll just have one strap.

Hand forwards, knees level. Get the knee hovering, and first of all, just push back and in, back and in. Now let's get the elbow high. We're gonna add the tricep extension, out and in, out. Keep that elbow nice and high.

The top of the arm is completely still. There you go. Now push away from that bar. Push away, and engage those abs. There you go.

Push away. (exhales) There we go, slow and controlled. It's all about controlling your movements. Let's do four more. Four, three, two, and one more. Bring that knee in, and let's do some little pulses here.

Scoop out those abs. Let's really burn that tricep, and go. Six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one more and back. Let's turn facing forwards, foot against the headrest. Bend your supporting knee.

Now let's lift that hand up. Here we go. Put your hand on your hip. Now we're gonna flick, and take the hand over your head. There we go.

Your stabilizing leg has gotta work really hard, and back, to stabilize. That's why we have to work unilaterally, right? Good. Press. Focus, four more.

Exhale, four. Exhale, three. Exhale, two, and exhale, one, and bring it down. Awesome work, guys. Stretch forwards in that stretch, and then slowly roll all the way up.

We're gonna attach the band for now. There we go. And just place the band on the floor. We'll come back to it later. Let's take this down.

We're gonna pick up your box, and put your box on the top here, all right? So as far as your spring is concerned, we're gonna take it down to either one red or one blue. It was on red before. I'm gonna take it down to a blue, but you could be on a red or a blue. There we go.

So make sure you pull your carriage away. All right, from here, we're gonna step up. Step up. Now we're gonna place the forearm down onto your lovely box here. Make sure it's nice and secure.

We're gonna take our leg out to the side, and put your knee against the shoulder rest. Draw those abs in. Take the hand behind your head. Now we're gonna push out and lift that leg up, and then bring it back. Push out, lift that leg up, and bring it back.

Push out. So you gotta really engage the lats and the serratus here pulling up through those abs. So as you travel out, that leg lifts up, and then it comes back as you bring the carriage in. Up and down. Let's do five more of that.

Five. And lifting up, four. (exhales) Three. Exhale, two. Exhale, one.

Lifting that leg up, and little pulses here to work the glutes. There we go. Exhale, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Take that leg forwards. Put your hand here for support.

Lift that back leg underneath and bring it in. Push out and in. If this is too challenging, put your hand on your hip. It's easy. And push out and in.

Let's work those underneath obliques. There we go. Let's do five more. Five, and four, and three, exhale, two, exhale, one. Come back, drop that knee in, turn it around.

Forearms on top here. Press the pelvis forwards. Look all the way up. Feel that stretch. Come back to here.

Draw the knees forwards in your knee strap here. Knee stretch. This is your prep for what we're gonna move to. Let's do a couple more. One more.

Now from here, curl the toes underneath against your shoulder rests. Ready? We're gonna come up into your plank, and repeat. Knees towards the box. There we go, towards that box. (exhales) Try not to sink between the shoulder blades.

Exhale in. It's all about your core pushing away from the box. Let's do four more here. Exhale, four, back, three, back, two. One more. (exhales) Draw the knees in.

Place them down gracefully. Curl the toes underneath and just stretch back into your child's pose. Roll yourself all the way up, and then we're gonna go to the other side. Step down. There we go.

So now, we're going to take your inside leg against the shoulder rest. Place the elbow down. Tap the foot out. Lift yourself up. Now, we're gonna extend that leg up, and then bring it down.

So you're lifting and extending, and then back. Lifting, extending. You can keep your hand on your hip if you feel more comfortable. Put your hand behind your head is a little bit more challenging, of course, and back. So as you push out, you're lifting that leg up.

It's a lot of glute work, a lot of oblique work. Yes. Okay, exhale up. Let's do a few more. One more.

Bring it in. Now lift that leg and pulse that leg up. There we go. Keep the underneath leg still. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one.

Bring it forwards. That's it. Now take your hand forwards as you swish that leg back. Lift yourself up into your side plank. Draw the knees in, push out.

Knees in and out. There we go, in. It's all in those underneath obliques here. Try not to sink into that shoulder, okay? Inhale.

Four more. Four, three, inhale, exhale, two. One more. Hold it there. Draw the knees in.

Control it in. Turn it around. Forearm here. Now from here, lift your knees off. Lift the knees off back into your plank.

Hold your plank here. Look out, and you're holding that position. Hold it. Draw those abs in, and we're gonna hold it for the count of 10. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, hold it.

Now pike. Pike, pike, pike, pike, pike, and plank, plank, plank, plank, plank. Exhale. Pike, pike, pike, pike, pike. Plank, plank, plank, plank, plank.

Let's do four more. Exhale. (exhales) Inhale down. Exhale, three. Inhale down, two more. (exhales) One more. (exhales) And then back into your plank. Draw the knees down, toes down, stretch back into that lovely stretch, and slowly roll yourself all the way up.

Take a deep breath in, hands overhead, and open one more. Your heart rate is up, and then come back. Beautiful. Let's step down, and step down. Now, we're gonna take your lovely jump, so your lovely box, and we're gonna put it right there, right there.

Let's pick up your band. We're gonna make a double with your band like this, and make it nice and tight. This is kinda like you're pressing out, so you're activating your abs, activating your back, and you're gonna be on one blue spring, all right, guys? Let's step up. There we go.

So put your foot in the middle. Put your other foot against the box. So our focus is on our adductors now, our inner thighs. So here, we're gonna open, and then draw the legs together, and open. Now we're gonna add that rotation.

Rotation. Center. Rotate. Center. Rotate.

Draw those abs in. Rotate away. Rotate. That's it, nice and tall. Couple more.

One more. Back to center. Open wide. Reach forward, so you're reaching forwards on a tabletop, ears by your biceps. Hold it there.

Now from here, keep your body where it is. Reach the hands towards the floor. Hands back where your ears by your biceps, and we come all the way back up. Bend. Reach forwards.

Tip forwards. Reach the hands back. Lift and bend. Ready? Reach in that tabletop.

Reach your hands forwards. Come back. Now as you come up, bend your elbows. One more. Reach, tabletop.

Keep that tabletop. Reach towards the floor. Inner thighs are working like crazy. Reach forwards. Bend, and pull back.

Now from here, take your hands forward. Just release your band. Come all the way down in that stretch. Just hold that stretch. There we go.

And then come all the way back. Beautiful. Now we're gonna go to the other side now, so turn to the other side. Make sure you double that band nice and tight. All right, guys, so we're gonna inhale out, exhale together.

Now when you feel comfortable, we're gonna add that rotation. So we rotate around and then back. Rotate, and rotate. So your hips stay forward. You're just rotating in your torso.

Now focus on your inner thighs pulling that carriage together, all in those inner thighs. Good, guys. Let's do four more like this. Four. Three.

Two. One. Bring it back to center. Now open here. From here, we're gonna reach forwards in that tabletop.

Reach the hands to the floor, back to that tabletop. Come up and bend your elbows as you bring the legs together. Hinge forwards, tabletop. Reach the arms towards the floor. Ears by your biceps, biceps by your ears, and then back.

Let's try that again. Reach forwards. Hinge, hinge, hinge. Reach down towards the floor. Now elongate forwards.

As you come up, bend your elbows behind your body. Reach forwards. Hinge, hinge, hinge, hinge. Now keep the carriage still. Your inner thighs are working super hard to hold that position there.

Lift up. Let's do one more for good luck, and hinge forwards. Keep the carriage still. Don't move that carriage. Reach towards the floor.

Keep that carriage still. Reach forwards. Slowly bring it back. Woo-hoo. Release.

Come into your side bend if you can and stretch. Put your hand on your hip. Lovely work, and then come all the way back. Step down, step down. Now, you're going to put all your springs on.

We're gonna do sideline work, so we want to have your foot strap, obviously, open for our foot. So I'm loading it all up. Put all your springs on. Now the box is here. I always say, if you're five-foot-six and taller, then you may wanna put your box over the shoulder rests.

I'm 5'3", so I'm usually right here. So let's come onto the top. We're gonna put our foot. Bend the foot. Once again, we got our lovely TheraBand.

Gonna choke it up. Now we're gonna flex that foot. Keep the hands here. Now incline over, and then just come up. Incline over, and then come up.

So the foot is moving. That's okay. Incline over, and then back. Incline over, and then back. Now, reach the hands over your head.

This is where the foot, that foot is not gonna move at all. If this is too challenging, put your hands behind your head and take the strap away. Lift up, diagonally over. Now we're gonna inhale down, exhale diagonal. Inhale down, exhale diagonal.

Keep that foot still. Inhale down, exhale up. Inhale, and exhale in that diagonal line. (exhales) Let's do five more. (exhales) Couple more. (exhales) One more. Hold it. Lift yourself all the way up, and over into a stretch.

Remember, you gotta be very linear. Now rotate and reach. Now we're gonna go the opposite direction. Lift, rotate, reach down, reach down, reach down. Lift up, reach down.

Lift up, reach down. Two more. Lift up, reach down. Lift up, reach down, and hold it. Woo-hoo, those obliques are on fire.

In my opinion, that is one of the best oblique exercises you can do on the reformer for sure. Let's come all the way up. Let's turn to the other side. All right. Find your position.

Make sure that foot is pulling away. Now put your hands in front. So first of all, we incline over, and then lift up. Incline over. Can you see I'm going in a diagonal line?

But the foot is moving, because the next variation, we're gonna keep that foot completely still, so all the work truly is in those obliques. Reach the hands over your head. Pull yourself away. Hit the diagonal. All right, so we inhale down towards the floor, exhale diagonal.

Inhale down to the floor, exhale hit diagonal. Inhale, diagonal. Inhale down, exhale diagonal. Inhale, diagonal. Let's do a few more.

Three, up. Two, up. One. Last time for good luck, and up. Lift all the way up, and rotate.

Reach. And then we come back up again. Diagonal rotate. Press down, lift up. Press down, lift up.

Press down, lift up. One more. Press down, lift up. Press down. Woo-hoo, in that stretch.

Use that stretch to really stretch out the QL, the quadratus lumborum in your lower back. Awesome, awesome. And then slowly come back. Do a little stretch here. All right, let's take that lovely band away.

We're just gonna put the band down, and from here, we're going to take the box this direction. We're gonna be on one red spring, one red spring. All right. From here, we're gonna reach the hands forwards. I'm gonna take the smaller straps.

Roll down through the spine. Bend in your elbows. Now from here, reach back, look back, circle the hands around, and roll, and come back up again. And again, rolling down, bending, reaching the hands over your head, all the way around, and then back. And again, rolling down, bending, bending, reaching back all the way, and up, and rolling down, bending those elbows, reaching the arms back, and rolling all the way up.

From here, come up into your chair position. Bicep curls, holding that chair position here. There's your bicep curls. Finding your balance here. There we go.

Elbows high. Now we're gonna add a single-leg stretch. So we're gonna go right, and left, and right, and left. Keep the elbows as high as you can, and out. Four more in that deep C-curve.

Three more. Three. Two. Give me one more with that left leg. Hold here chair position, and slowly come all the way down.

Put your straps back down from here. We're gonna step up forwards. Step back, holding on. We're gonna hold onto your shoulder rests. You're gonna be in a slightly tilted pelvis, imprinted pelvis, and we're gonna pull back to work that back.

Now, before you even do anything, you're depressing your scapula down, and you're tilting the pelvis slightly underneath you just so you're not over-arching the back. Now, nice, free movement, scapula pull-down, pressing down. Let's do eight more. Eight. Exhale, seven.

And six. And five. Give me four more. And four. And three.

And two. And one more. Reach forwards. Elongate. Take your hands forwards.

Get yourself into plank position. Tricep extension here, down and up. Now if you feel comfortable, we're gonna try and lift that back leg just a tad. It's gonna tap the back of your reformer. One more.

Hold it. Switch with the other leg. Little tap up. Elbows. Four, three, two, and one more.

Hold here. Draw those abs in, curl back, elongate, enjoy that stretch, and then slowly roll all the way up. Awesome. Let's come onto here. Now we're gonna take it down to a blue strap, so a blue spring.

I've got strap on the brain. (laughs) So you want a blue spring here. Now we're gonna come up onto your quadruped position. We're gonna take forwards. We're gonna grab that lovely band here, and we're gonna wrap it around. Now, first of all, get yourself into position correctly, so you've got your hands on the corners of your box.

From here, we're going to take your right hand down. Your other hand is on the box, and you're gonna reach that leg out, so you're in that rotation here. So there's that rotation. Now drop the forearm down. Got it?

Now we're gonna go down, and then up. So you're going diagonally down, diagonally up. Diagonally down, and then all the way up. That's why I have you on a light spring. A blue spring is perfect.

You gotta control it with your upper body, as well as the legs, and up. And down. And smile. Three more, and down. Exhale up.

Two more. (exhales) Last time. Hold it there. Hold it. Lift that leg as high as you can. Hold it there for four, three, two, and one.

Bring that leg down gracefully. Turn forwards. Now you're in your quadruped position. Drop that leg down. Abs are engaged.

Now you can press back. It's all about your upper body, not just about your lower body at all. That's it, down and back. (exhales) Keep breathing. Four more. Exhale, four. (exhales) Three.

Two more. Last time. (exhales) And then graciously bring it down. Take it away, woo-hoo, and bring it back. Your heart rate is up 'cause you're working super hard. (laughs) All right, so grab the other strap. Walk it up.

Wrap this around your foot. Take the corners. Flip it round. Get your knees on the top. So you've gotta get yourself into position before you even move.

Now, back hand onto the box. The other hand is on the corner right here. Now elongate that leg out, diagonally out. Look towards that leg. That's it.

We go down, and then lift up, and down. Exhale up. (exhales) Inhale down. Exhale up. Inhale down. Exhale up.

That's in that diagonal line. Beautiful. Inhale down. Exhale up. Can we do a couple more?

Control, slow and controlled, and then bring it down. Turn your body. Now you're in your quadruped position nice and strong. Pull your scapula down, press back. That's it.

Your upper body is fighting to stabilize that working leg. Hands on the corner of your box, and press back. Those abs are working super hard, so don't forget about your abs. Draw those abs in. Three more here.

Exhale, three. Exhale, two. You have one more. Exhale, one, and bring it down. Nice work, guys.

Take it down. Drop it back. Beautiful. Put those straps down. Got it?

All right, we're gonna step off your box. Pick up your strap for the one last time, and all you're going to do is you got like a little handle here. You're gonna thread it through the handle. Make sure it's double. Put it onto the top like this.

Bring up your bar. You're gonna have two red springs, and we're gonna sit up nice and tall, right on the edge. Pick up your band, and then we're gonna put your toes onto the top. Then you're gonna reach the hands, then we're gonna press out. Walk down, flex your heels down, so you're just holding yourself there basically.

Your arms are out, and we're just gonna come in and out, really simple, in and out. So you're hugging a tree. Flex your heels down and get a nice stretch. Now, one more. Externally rotate, and we're going to reach out and in, out and in, out and in.

So choke it up if it feels too easy, choke it up. Four, three, two, one. Bring it in, extend it out. Bring it in, extend it out. Bend.

Keep that back engaged. If it feels too challenging, too easy, should I say, choke it up just a little bit more. Couple more. And then bring it in. Take hold of your band.

Reach forwards, tricep, and hold here in that tricep extension. Send your body forwards in that tricep extension here. Feels good just to work those arms, for five, for four, for three, for two, and for one. Lift all the way up, bend your knees, come down. Last but not least, we're gonna come all the way down onto your box.

Choke it all the way up. We've got that lovely band. I just want you to choke up that band as much as you can. Choke, choke, choke, choke, choke. There we go, arms are straight.

Now we're gonna press forwards and back. Reach. Exhale, reach. (exhales) Using that band, a little extra resistance. (exhales) Hold here, hold. Scissors. (exhales) Breathe, breathe. Reach forwards.

Reach, reach. Reach, reach. Four, four, three, three, two, two. Flex the feet. Flex, flex.

Press the energy out through the heels. Four, four, three, three, two, two. Point the toes for two. We go two. Flex, and point, and flex, and point, and flex, and point, and flex.

Two more, point, and flex, and point, and flex. Bring the legs together. Pull back. Reach the head back. Drop the legs down.

Let that band go. Enjoy that stretch. Feel that openness through your chest. Beautiful. Slowly, we are going to reach the hands over your head, and slowly roll yourself all the way up.

Roll yourself all the way up. Wrap your knees over the end of the bar, all right? Reach forwards. Keep your knees where they are. Let the feet go.

Now pull on the bar, and back. Inhale, exhale, pull on that bar. Roll all the way up. There we go, so you're using your hamstrings, wrapping around the bar, okay? Inhale here.

Reaching back, enjoy that stretch. Exhale, draw those abs in. Use your hamstrings, and then lift all the way up. Inhale down, slowly curl down. Keep the knees bent.

Look back, open up your chest. Now, chin towards your chest. Exhale. Use your abs, your hamstrings, and lift up. One more.

Roll down. Over your head. Woo-hoo, and inhale. Exhale, roll all the way up, roll all the way up, and come forwards. Beautiful.

That's it, slowly roll all the way up. We're gonna come up to your side. We're gonna take a deep breath in, over your head, and then roll down. Through the spine, we're gonna roll down. Roll all the way up.

Reach the hands over your head, and then roll back down again. One last time, roll all the way up over your head, and then roll down. Last time. You're looking fabulous guys. Rolling all the way up.

Whew, good job, you guys. Isn't it amazing how just adding that little extra mighty... We'll call the band the Mighty Mouse, because it really does challenge you, but also it's just a fun way of just mixing things up, which is what this is all about: taking the things that you already know, taking the root of Pilates exercises, and just mixing it up a little bit just for a little varied experience, just to have fun and explore different ways to move the body with different props, and that's what it's all about. So I hope you had fun as much as I did. Definitely got my heart rate up today.

I'm definitely gonna feel my upper body and my abs, so I think it's a great workout. I hope you do too. So please come back and work out with me again. I'm excited for that next workout. Have a great day.

Take care. Bye.