Hip Mobility Circuit

Hi guys, Courtney here, and I am here to bring you a class with my friend, and fellow instructor, Mary Kate. She teaches with me at Pilates Republic. She's known for some very beautiful high kicks, so when I was inspired developing this class, I had to add some hip mobility in. We're doing three flows: on the floor, cardio bursts, hit three on the machine, it's gonna be hard. Yes.

Let's get it done. Without further waiting, let's dive into it. So we have our machine setup with one red spring, and we're gonna start standing on the floor, one foot on the floor, I've got my right foot, the other foot back against the carriage, keep your hands on your hips, chest is open. We're gonna dive into a low lunge and pause, bend deeply into that front knee and fully straighten your back leg, close the ribs, and then rise to come back up. And again, press out, lean into it, and then rise to come up.

We're gonna do three more here. Every exercise is a whole body exercise, each movement comes from that core stability. So close the ribs, you don't have to do crunches to get a strong core. Alrighty, guys, last one like this, push it back, and rise. Now we're gonna add something cool with our arms, press out, and as you rise your right elbow is gonna come up, and there's some power in this move.

So you press pause, rise pause. This is gonna prepare us for some really intense, challenging, fun jumping movements. Okay, guys, two to go. Kick it. Rise.

Last one, kick it, hold. Now just bend that back knee in and out and stay as low as you can. Keep on going. Good. So the idea here is not to deeply bend the knee, it's a small bend, is to fully extend the leg.

What we're trying to do is get into that glute on that standing side, okay? I think that's about five. Hold the carriage out, place your hands on the bar, thumbs over, we're gonna bring the chest over the bar, lift that right leg up and hold. Now we're not going for a high kick yet, Mary Kate. (laughs) You're gonna pull your ribs up and just work to square off those hips, and then place your foot down onto the ground.

So you're really working that long line. Do it again, so we're working the plank, hold, pull the ribs up, and then land. Keep on going. As you lift the leg, try to find that right glute. Awesome, chest goes forward, leg lifts.

You've got those direction of energies, right? Head forward, toes back. Okay, now let's add a kick, more arabesque style, letting the hip open, it should feel free. You do you, four to go. That's four, nice.

And three. Don't let those shoulders come too far past the bar, chest right over the bar. Two, and last time here. That is one. Good, step off to the floor.

Now we practice this, so let's challenge ourselves. Left leg comes up, right elbow comes up, step it back, lean into it, rise up or step it back, lean into it, little hop, 10 times. We'll go 10, and nine. Keep going. Eight, and seven.

Good, I like to bend my back knee in the lunge. Six, five, four. Yeah, yeah. Three, two, and that my friends is one. Turn around and grab the strap that's closest to you, but hold it in your right hand, left hand on your hip, and step back a bit.

Right leg comes up, this is a balanced challenge. Close those ribs as you step into a lunge, pull your right elbow back, get really low, and then rise to come up to a balance. Do it again. So step and pull, and rise. Cool.

Keep on going, you're doing about five like this. The closer you are to the footbar side, back here the heavier it's gonna feel. Step forward to make it lighter or change to a blue spring, guys. Okay, one more like this. Step it back and rise to come up.

Balance here, take both hands into that long loop or short loop, and you're gonna kick back into a balanced T position. Reach down to the floor, pull your shoulders into your back pockets, pull the abs up. Rise to stand. Do it again. Five in total, kick and hold it, standing like as bent, rise to stand.

Good, three to go. Yes, so if you press a little bit more into your pinky fingers, it's easier to access the back. Rise to come all the way up. Cool, nice stability. Awesome, one more like this.

Kick it back, reach to the floor, and you're gonna hold this one standing like is bent, lower your back leg, tap the floor, kick it up. We're gonna go five. Yeah. Four, three directions of energy, right? Toes this way, head this way.

Two, and that is one. Now rise up to standing, hook up that strap and meet me in a straddle. You gotta love the straddle position, lengthen the glutes, hip mobility, lift the chest. Lean forward, so your chest is over those shoulder blocks and we're gonna do five presses with both hands on. Push and bend.

If it's not heavy enough, step forward. Push and bend. Keep your chest low, anchor the feet. I like to squeeze my legs to the frame of the machine. Now keep your arms straight, take your left arm off like an airplane, do a single arm press with your right, hold it straight, switch those arms.

We're doing five of these, so push. That's one, switch those arms. Push, switch. Push, that's two. Keep on going.

You're trying to keep the chest low, so see if you can drop your chest even more and lift your sit bones high. Yes. So in this forward fold position, tail-feathers up, ribs are closed. Nice. Bend, and push.

Let's do one more each side, make sure you feel evened out. Awesome. Cool. Bring that carriage in and meet me in a seated position. Swing your left leg over to meet your right.

And before we repeat the flow, scooch forward, find a balance, palms in prayer. These are V-ups, so you wanna go all the way down towards your hundred position, and then you're trying to curl, roll through the lower back to come up. Let's do 10, inhale down, exhale up, 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, rise. Turn, ready to rock. So now it's gonna be my right foot against the shoulder block, left foot on the floor.

Start with your hands on your hips. Take a second, and when you're ready, send it back. Really push through that heel, close the ribs, find that long line and then rise to come up. Do it again. About five here.

Nice. Encourage your right hip to go down when you press that carriage back, we wanna extend from the hip, not rotating from the pelvis. Not yet. Cool, left knee is bent, it goes right over that mid-foot, And now we're gonna play a little bit with the arms. So press that carriage back.

And as you rise, your left elbow will come up, and this has the kind of punch to it. Boom. Rise. Hit it, and up. Good.

Lean, and lift. Lean, and lift. One more, lean and lift. Now hold it down there, and you've got your carriage kicks. Stay in that low position.

If you got longer legs, you're gonna notice your knee will tap the mat. You could always put your toes up a little higher on those shoulder blocks, but remember the emphasis here is the press out, the press out. So it's a baby bend and a big press out. One more time and place your hands onto that bar. Make sure your fingers are wrapped over.

Good, lean your chest forward over the bar. Lift the leg, hold it. Directions of energy. So toes back, head forward, land it, toe ball heel. Do it again.

We're not going into a high kick yet, we're really focused on a one long line in the body. Good, land line. Swing it up. Cool. Mary Kate is so good at keeping that shoulder stability.

Let's add an arabesque kick. So now she's got that freedom of movement to sweep that leg up. If the pelvis rotates, no problem there. Three, nice. That's two.

Beautiful. Navel draws in as the leg comes up, and that is one step down onto the floor. Now let's do it without that machine. So we're gonna step, right leg back, lean forward. Rise, that's option one; jump, that's option two.

10 times, here we go. 10, nine, eight. You're leaning into it, and you're loading off that left glute. Power up. Yeah, there you go.

Lean into it. It's almost like you could run forward, but you're using that energy to run up instead. Three, and two, and one, rise and turn around, take a moment, find your breath. You always have to find those little opportunities for rest. You have the long or short loop in your left hand.

Step back a bit. That same leg is up, so you're in a balanced position, and you might wanna come just away from the machine just a little bit, MK. Yeah. And then exhale, pull your left leg back, pull your elbow. This is the (mumbles) lunge at the same time, and then rise to balance.

Do it again. Big step back, drop the knee, rise to balance. Good. Pull, and rise. Keep going.

So, so far we've done a lot of high level coordination, a lot of sort of cross-diagonal kind of work. Two more. It's meant to challenge you, but if you're wobbly here in the studio, you'll be so much stronger outside in real life, so we have to push our limits. One more. Nice.

Good, and rise to come up. So now we'll take both hands into that strap and just keep a little tension, push down, and stay there for a moment. So kind of press to the pinky finger side of the hand, pull your shoulders down and back. Get that back leg up, bend the standing knee, and then rise to come up to standing. Good, keep going.

The carriage doesn't have to move. So remember our abdominals can work to move our spine, our abdominals can work to stabilize our spine. Right now she's working so hard on stability. The movement in this exercise is coming from her glute on her standing leg. And that my friends is what you should be feeling, the glute on your standing leg.

On the next one, hold, standing leg is bent, arms reach down. One long line, tap the floor, kick it up. You can have power and precision, so you can move big, and you can still move well. Three, and two. Yes.

And one, rise up, hook up the strap, meet me in a straddle, round two. So just FYI, the closer your booty is to that footbar, the lighter it's gonna feel. As you keep doing this video, you step forward, you make it even harder. Lean the chest forward, lift the tail-feathers, hands to the shoulder blocks, five presses forward. Let's go, one.

As you push your arms forward, pull your shoulders down and back, create that two-directional stretch. Lift your tail-feathers a little bit more, MK. Yes. Get the length through the glutes, get the length through the pelvic floor. On the next one, hold, one arm goes out like an airplane.

You do a single arm press, hold it straight, switch those arms. Good. It's during the switch that she has to work so hard in all those postural muscles. Nice, and press. Good.

Try to get the chest a little lower, neck a little longer. It looks good. Do one more each arm, make sure you feel even. And I will do those V-ups with you, so you don't have to feel lonely. (laughs) Bring that carriage in, take a seat, and swing that right leg around to meet the left. Make sure you have lots of room behind you, okay, guys.

Bring the legs up, I like hands to prayer. Make sure you get all the way down, so you're not coming to teaser, you're coming to the hundred, and then try to scoop and roll through your lower back to come up. Inhale down, exhale up. I almost bailed on you, I almost started to get up and walk around. How mean would that be?

I keep my promises, guys. Exhale up. And we'll do six, and five, that's four, and three, that's two, and one. Rise up. Okay, so that's the easy part.

That's our 10-minute reformer flow. Now it gets a little bit more intense, we'll do some carriage tops, we'll do some kicks, we'll do the other side. Before you know it, we're back to lying down on the mat. So make sure you have springs on to stabilize, and one foot up onto the footbar or one foot up onto the carriage, other foot down. Starting with your hands on the footbar, we're gonna go slow, okay?

So let's focus on articulating through the foot landing with those hips low, use the arms as much as you want, and know that you don't have to progress. This is a great place to be. You can also omit the machine altogether and do something on the floor to get your heart rate up. We're gonna amp up it and go a little quicker. Up, up, up, up.

Now there's a third opportunity here if you want it, and that's no hands. Up, up, up. Five, four, three, two, land on the right side of your machine, feet on the floor. So that wasn't so bad. Put your left hand on the footbar, the hand closest to it.

Bend your knees, you can have hand on hip or hand to head. Internally rotate, get those knee to touch, and then exhale, you're gonna kick up, you're gonna kick back, you're gonna make it big. In and kick, 10, nine, eight. Yeah. Seven, less hip flexors, more hip extensors.

Kick that leg behind, take up a lot of space, guys. Get big in this shape. Four, three, two. Now hold it up, hold it here. Three progressive lifts, it's called an elevator.

You go up a little, up a little more, up to your max, down to a hover. One, two, three, down to a hover. Keep it going. One, two, three, down to a hover. Nice, one, two, three, down to a hover.

Two more times. Good, get into that side booty, into those obliques. Last time here. One, two, three. Nice job.

Land that foot onto the floor, and let's do it all over again. So one foot is on, start slow, focus on form, knees over toes. Plant that landing, chest is lifted, land through the whole foot. Pick up that tempo, if you can. Remember that your foot is meant to absorb impact and shock.

If you land on your toes, that impact travels all the way up your legs. You have to use your foot like a sponge, you have to mobilize your ankle on these. You want to do no hands. Now it's your time, let's go. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five.

Yes, four, three, two, and land on the left side of your machine. Good job. So this next flow, it challenges our mobility, how big can you kick? And our endurance and strength during those elevators. It's kind of hard to have both.

Mary Kate's got it. Bend into your knees, hands onto that bar, you're gonna the leg up, hand to head, hip. Anything you want. Take it in, lift and kick, in, kick. If it gives you some extra power and arms to do something with the arm, get it done, in and kick.

Keep the ribs closed, guys. Internally rotate, and then get big. Four. Get ready to hold. In three the legs gotta go back behind you to access those glutes.

Two, that's it. Hold it, hold it. Lift it, three. One, two, three, two, a hover. Again, up, two, three to a hover.

Again, up, two, three to a hover. Nice, up. Two, three. Stay lifted in that side, up. Two, three, two to go, up.

Two, three, last time. One, two, three, and take a break. Breathe it out. Now we only have you got two more times, but we got some reformer stuff in between. How are you feeling? I'm good.

Okay, let's change it down to a blue spring. One blue. And after doing a really hard series, I always like to do something super-mellow. So let's reset in a plank for some pike. Sounds good? Yeah.

I mean, come on. Okay, so kneel on the mat or the carriage, and then take your elbows and forearms down. Whenever I do a pike, I like to be in this position with my hands, palms in prayer, elbows wide. If you prefer to have number 11 forearms, then you should do that. So curl your toes on the wooden platform and press out nice.

And then option up to you, do you wanna walk your toes up to the footbar? You can if you want. Yeah. Okay, remember that 50% of this movement is in your lower body, so fire up those legs, tuck your chin, lift your hips, bind it, and then lengthen out. Look at the hands.

Do it again. Tuck your chin around your spine. Try to keep your ankles as stable as you can, lengthen out. Keep it going. Keep it going, MK.

You got this, hips up, head down. This exercise has two positions. One is the plank, boom; the other is the pike, scoop. Two more times, babe. Make the pike a cat stretch, make the pike slow and savory and scoop chin to chest.

Look towards those toes. Make it about the journey to get into it, and not the destination being there. Good, rest your knees down. I just can't promise we won't do that again. (laughs) I just can't.

We're gonna take the strap that's closest to your left leg and place your left foot in the long loop. I just wanna remind you we're on a blue spring, we're using our long loops. Other options would be a red spring, if you want it to be heavier; or a yellow spring, if you want it to be lighter, Sometimes lighter is wobbly though, so just be aware. Okay, we have our hands on our shoulder blocks, we're gonna rise to standing. You need to make a tripod, which means your right foot is centered in between the shoulder blocks, making a triangle shape.

Take your left heel towards your booty, and we're gonna kick back keeping our hips square. That's perfect, and bend in. And some people like the strap to the inside of their wrists, and some people like it to the outside. I see people kind of switch it up. Just make sure that your hips are behind your shoulders.

Good. Is that five? Yeah. Now we're gonna (laughs) bend both knees and we're gonna add a straight leg with your standing leg. Bend both knees, straight leg with your standing leg, bend, and exhale.

Good. Now if you do have the strap to the inside, MK, you're gonna wanna switch it to the outside because the next one, straighten both legs, make that switch, you're gonna swing your left leg down to the floor, and exhale, swing it up for five. Yeah, so we're working to keep the hips in line with the shoulders. You don't even have to circle, just go straight back and straight down. Mm-hmm.

I mean, by all means, if circling feels good, you should do it. Good, two to go. Head reaches forward, ribs are closed. Think of our preparatory work what we did in the beginning, getting us ready for this kind of high level stuff. Now keep your foot in the strap and put your left foot onto the carriage.

Make sure you don't lose that strap, guys, it might take a second. You good? Okay, so then you're gonna kick your right leg up. That's the one that doesn't have the strap. Put your right foot down, and then you're gonna kick your left leg up.

The more you do, the easier it gets like anything. Remember, how complicated short spine was. Yeah. So you just gotta try, try again, and then you'll find it. This exercise is a weight transfer.

A lot of high level work, lots of brain-body connection. Good. We'll do two more. Does that sound good? Kick it back, left leg, plant the foot, find the stability, kick it back, right leg.

Ooh, she's working. Last time, kick it back, and left leg and right leg. Yeah, kick it back. Cool, right foot can go onto the carriage, left foot can go onto the floor. Keep the strap.

But wait, there's more. It's just, it's like an infomercial, like a midnight infomercial, you just keep getting more bonus movements, extra. Okay, so we're slightly on an angle towards the right riser and we're down into a squat position. So kind of like what we practiced this time though, it's the left leg kicks back, and then you just tap that foot in by your heel on your standing leg, and it's power, and it's balance and it's coordination. Good, and you're kind of leaning into it.

And the idea guys in all of these movements is your first few repetitions are kind of that discovery phase. And then you just get more confident because your body is adapting, your brain is learning in real time. Three. We did a lot of these because I like them. Two, and one, rise all the way up.

Hook up that strap. And you know, let's reset in a plank, easy-peasy. Back onto the elbows, back onto the form. We did a similar version of this with Sarah in Sarah's class, let's add on a little bit. So walk those toes up to the footbar, if you're feeling like it.

So here's the plank, don't forget about it, this is a combo movement, this position is really important. Then you tuck your chin around your back, go into your pike option to lift one leg up, option, and then place that foot back down, lengthen yourself out, look at your hands, and then scoop around, pause, lift the other leg up. These are options. Good. See if you can do three more rounds, MK.

So it's always nice to have the opportunity to progress if you're feeling it, but to be honest, guys, there's a lot of times, right, just don't feel like it, and I'm in my body just to move and groove to the level that I'm wanting that day. So make it your own. Lift. A lot of shoulder stability here, and exhale, lift. Ooh! I believe we have to do the left leg to even out.

Is that right? Okay. And then round scoop, big hiccup. She's got it. Finish by going out into your plank, take a knee down, take a moment, and take a breather.

Yes. Let's grab that right strap when you're ready. Right foot, long loop. And don't be in a rush when you setup your foundations because you're here for awhile, they gotta be good. So your left foot is gonna be centered between the shoulder blocks and it's gonna be underneath your pelvis, your hands on the shoulder blocks, you're gonna stay bent in your standing leg, and then kick back, and come on in with your right leg.

So we're going in, and we're kicking back in, and kicking back. Yeah. And so what I really want you to feel in your own body is a lot of length in your side body, on your right side. Now let's bend both knees on the next one. So deep little bend, kick and lengthen.

Good. When you bend both knees, I kind of think of a seed, the shape of a seed, something really small. And then when you, yeah, and then when you press out, you are like the flower. Is that dorky? And if you have the strap on the inside of your form, you're gonna wanna move it to the outside of your form because the next one you're gonna hold those straight legs, swing it down, and then exhale, swing it up.

Yeah. So not only a lot of distance from the armpit to the shoulder, stability in the low back guys, right? Because it's all core work. We've got the glute Maximus working to kick that leg back, we've got strong shoulders and strong spine to sweep that leg. Last two.

Nice. And last one. Good, you can take your knees down. You can keep your right foot on the strap, but step off towards the... Oh, we missed those double kicks.

Thanks. See, well, what would I do without MK? Double kicks. So the strap like kicks up and back, and then the foot goes down. Make sure the strap stays on, and then the right leg comes up, yeah, and alternating side to side.

I had a feeling we're missing something, but I just kinda went with it. (laughs) She can feel it, if we miss it. This is a tough one because it takes a lot of spatial awareness. She has to know where to plant that foot, she has to know how to stabilize that strap on her foot, all the while keeping her upper body strong. Good, let's do one more kickback with that left leg, and now we're ready to step the foot down to the floor.

Keep the foot in the strap though. I think I was so excited to do these. (Mary mumbles) (Courtney laughs) Okay, so here we are in our bent position, you're leaning into it, ribs are closed. You're gonna send that strap leg back, and then in, and I really want you to punch the positions. So back and hold in and tap, back and in, keep going.

Back and hold, in and back, yes. Good, and kick it back. Yeah, so your chest is kind of aligned with the risers, feel free to kinda angle yourself in different ways, so you feel good about the movement. Bend your standing knee a little bit more, MK. Yeah, and then kick, find that glute.

Last two. Cool. Last one. Nice job. Bring it in, and go ahead and hook up that strap.

Guess what? It's time to boogie. So let's add another spring on, so we have one red and one blue. That'll prepare us for our next exercise, and that'll also make sure that the carriage isn't too crazy and wobbly. We start slow and then we go big.

So find the spot. One thing guys, I'm kind of, I find myself constantly going a little bit too low and coming into that round back. So when I do this exercise, I actually think about trying to stay up a little bit higher and keep my spine nice and straight, sending my hips back and keeping my spine long. So something to think about, let's go up and over, and up and over using the hands, and using the abdominals to pull those legs up. Do you wanna pick up the tempo?

Now is your time. If you choose to pick up the tempo, try to keep the quality high. Do you wanna do no hands? That's up to you. 10, ooh, nine, eight, seven.

You gotta fight for it. Six, five, four, three, two. Landing on that side of the machine. Yeah, hand on the footbar, bend both knees, find your angle. Leg comes up, hand to the head or the hip.

Kick it up, kick it back. Boom. Kick it up, kick it back. Close those ribs. Good.

Find that mobility guys. Don't be afraid of momentum. There's nothing wrong with it. Inhale, bend, exhale, kick. Four, elevators coming up next in three.

Good, that's two. Now hold your high, MK, don't go lower than that. Up for three, two, one, back down, you go up and up and up, back down. Good. Up, up, up, and down, stay lifted in that side body.

Three to go. That's up, up, up, hover up, up, up. She's fighting for it. Last time, big lift. Take it all the way down.

Breathe it out. Put up the fire. That's hot. Slow and steady. Find a breath, breath is fuel.

Don't restrict it. And do you wanna go quicker? Maybe. Go, go, go, go, if you want. These kind of remind me of mountain climbers, you know those, you can go slow and still get so much out of it.

No hands, maybe that's up to you. 10, nine, eight, seven. Try to land through that whole foot, babe. Up and over. Four, three, two, staying on the left side.

Yes. Oh! Ooh! Okay, here we go. Bend hand on the bar, bend the knee, kick it up, kick it back; kick it up, kick it back. So the reason I say kick it back is, I don't want the leg forward. What we're trying to get out of is just those hip flexors working, I wanna get into hip extensors, I wanna find that booty, I wanna find that back, those obliques.

Three, get ready to hold. Two, you know what's coming next. Hold it and lift it up a little, a little bit more, maximum down to a hover. Boom, boom, boom, take it down. Good.

Hold your shoulders, down and back. Good. And we go up, up, up. Take it down. You've got four.

I think we should do a bridge next. Three. Yeah, she says yes. Two. One more time.

One, two, three, and take it down. You know when you go into your Pilates class and you think you're gonna start lying down, you're like I got bridge footwork, all those things when your teacher starts standing up, you're like, "What?" It's kinda like, "What? What about my time when I get to lay down?" So lie on down, make sure that that headrest is down, and then take the heels of your feet up onto that footbar, guys, feet hip distance and parallel. Let's just lift those hips. Cool, since we're already quite warm, we're gonna go right into our Can-can kick.

So take your right leg up to table, drop the hips about halfway to the mat. And as you lift the hips, you're gonna kick that leg up. Let's do eight of them. Here we go. And lift kick one, lift kick two.

That's three, try to keep the carriage closed. Four, knee in line with big toe on your stabilizing leg, kick, and kick. Okay guys, hold the next one up. Check it out. As you press the carriage out, swing your right leg down.

Tap that bar, but keep the pelvis level, and now big hiccup, boom, to bring the carriage in. Do it again, swing and lift, and down, and lift. Four to go, that's four, up, three. Up. You're good, girl.

Two, up, and one, hold it up, pulse it up. It's teamwork. I mean, I really didn't do any of those carriage hops, (laughs) so I will take one for the team and I will do the bridge series. Three, two, one, place your foot down. Reset.

Roll it down. Take a moment. If I've never shown you Pilates Shavasana, or my version of it, I'll show you now because it is the best. Just draw your soles of the feet together, open the knees wide, hands on the belly, breathe, but no time for that today. (laughs) So we're back up in the bridge. (laughs) Your left leg comes to table, pelvis is level, you're gonna keep the carriage closed, dip those hips low.

As you rise, you kick. We're gonna do eight of them, so let's go. One, and two, three. That's four, five, work your inner thigh on your stabilizing leg. Six, seven, and here's where it gets crazy, you hold everything.

As the carriage presses out, you swing down, level it off, kick it up eight times down, and up, shoo. Press out, swing down. Bring that carriage and lift. Down, and up. I usually tap the footbar, and at that time I sort of stabilized, and I square off my hips, I just kind of remind myself where I am in space.

And I think we need one more to be at eight. (Mary laughs) Press and hold. Okay, ready? Pulses up. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, bend the knee, keep the hips nice and high, and roll it down.

Roll it down. Roll it, and slow. Grab your straps, let's do some supreme core. Long loops maybe, short loops. That's gonna be a little bit heavier, but we're only on a red and a blue.

So find what suits you, draw your legs to table, draw your arms to the sky, find that tension. Let's do a variation of coordination, MK. So we're gonna pull the elbows down to start. Exhale, curl up, straighten the arms, straighten the legs. Find your Pilates V, and then click your heels together three times.

One, two, three, rotate back to parallel. As you bend your knees, try to curl higher to the thighs, bend your elbows, and then repeat the whole thing. Straighten your arms and your legs, find your V. One, two, three, rotate to parallel deep in the scoop. Bend, stop at a 90 when you bend.

Good, do it again, Press and turn out. One and two and three parallel deep in the scoop. Bend one more time, press, rotate one, two, three, deep in the scoop, and bend. Now for this one, I like to keep my head down. You wanna do some arm circles, babe?

Arms out to a T, pull your arms in, up and around. She's like yes, yes. Arm circles should be working. If you want to, you could lift your head, you could extend your legs. You know how it goes.

When your arms go up, stop with your hands right over your shoulders as you open out to the T, the carriage doesn't move. Right, so there is stability and mobility in this exercise. Reverse the direction of your circles down and around, and down and around. Cool. Two more, shoulders away from the shoulder blocks, collarbones wide, and let's have some fun with coordination.

I mean, I don't mean it doing it again, I mean a coordination exercise. It's so (laughs) confusing that we have an exercise called coordination, but then we also do a lot of coordination. Okay, you guys ready? So let's take our right arm out like an L, and then exhale, curl up. And, yeah, we're gonna see stay lifted, okay?

So we're gonna go both legs out, both arms up, left arm out to an L, pull in. Arms up, legs up, like double leg stretch style. Right arm out, pull everything in. Good. Both arms up, both legs out, left arm out, pull everything in.

Both arms up, legs out, right arm out, pull kinda like double leg stretch. Find the L, pull. How are we doing? One more each side. Reach, open, pull; reach, open, pull.

And take a break. I kinda wanna do one more thing. Are you gonna kill me? Okay. (laughs) She says no, on camera. Legs come up to table, big breath in, exhale, come up.

Here's what we're gonna do. Leave the arms over under with the legs, over, under, damn, over, under. Stay in it. Over, under. Press into the pinky finger side of the hand.

Over, under. We've got four. Stay in the scoop, you'll feel your neck less, if you stay up in that scoop. Two, keep those obliques on, and finish over. And let's recover, like a real recovery, not a mean one, like a pike.

Drape your legs over the bar, lift your arms up to the sky, or four more roll up, or two or three or four. You ready to do the floor series? Yes. Says the girl who's not really doing it. (Mary laughs) The one yelling out the instructions.

Alrighty, so we have one foot onto that carriage. We're low. This is the last one, guys. Hands on. Slow and steady.

Find the landing. Pick up the tempo. Maybe. No hands, up to you. Good, we got eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

We did it. We did it. Sidekicks. Oh! Ready? She's known for kicking, that's why we programmed it this way.

Bend in, kick up and out. Bend in, kick up and out. Yeah. Hip mobility, feeling strong, feeling empowered, talk yourself into it. I got this, I can do it, this is easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.

Two, hold it up, and pulse it for one. Elevator, two, three, hover. One, two, three. Keep going, MK. You know I love these progressive builds, so it takes a little bit of that momentum away, and it's the hold, the endurance, the intensity.

Two more. Good, last time, up and up and up. Take it down. I warned you, I told you it's gonna be a tough one today. I'm getting her back, I take her classes, and she's very, very mean in the best possible way.

So I tried to embody the same level of meanness (Mary laughs) with a smile. Let's go (laughs) slow, slow, slow. Controlled, quicker. Maybe. No hands, up to you.

Find that breath, find that landing. Use your abdominals to pull your legs off the floor. Four, three, two, one. We don't have to do that again. Good. (laughs)

Hands to the bar, bend your knees, kick up, kick back, go. Kick up, kick back. Reminder, keep the ribs closed. Make it core. Keep your shoulders down and back, four, and three.

Get big in those spaces, get big in those shapes. Hold it, and lift. One, two, three, challenge yourself. One, two, three, pick a spot on the wall. Aim for it.

And each time, see if you can just get a little bit higher. Up, up, up. Or just turn the video up really loud, and you'll hear me yelling at you. Up, up, up, two to go, then we're done. I mean, not the video, we're just done this flow.

Pat it, pat, pat, pat it out, good, good, good. Let's take off our red, but let's leave on our blue. Okay, we're gonna slow it down, find our breath, kneel on the mat, we're gonna do some side arm. I have a sneaky suspicion, there's gonna be a little bit of booty work in there too. If you've got something going on with your shoulder, make sure you take care of yourself.

Maybe sit down, perhaps change your spring. You wanna use the long or the short? Let's start with the long, let's start with the long. Okay, so from here, we're gonna put our right hand against our thigh, and then we're just gonna circle our left arm up, over, look at the ceiling, bend, look down at your machine, extend, and then bring the arm back down again. Make a fist, MK.

Don't just hold it with your thumb, yeah. So you go up, over, make a circle, bend, lift, and swing it down. Good. And again, up. Keep your knees pressing down and your hips pointing forward.

One more like this. Up. Big circle. Look down, kick it up, and circle it around. Sweet.

Now this is where I would switch to the short loop, but listen to your body and do what works for you. You're gonna take your... I have my right hand, the one that doesn't have the strap onto the headrest. Cool, and then your outside leg over the foot bar. Yeah, we did a whole sidekick kneeling series with Abla, it was so hard.

And it was in this position for a long time. Okay, so take that arm up. You could be palm up or palm down, look down, and then press your arm straight up. Yeah, and then bend trail with the strap. Good, MK.

The strap is not meant to hit your head, so your arm is going straight up, so your top hand is directly above your bottom hand. So you're making a T with your arms. Hold that leg up, we've got four, ribs closed. Three, shoulders look great. Two, and then one more.

Kick it up, and bring it down. Okay, I think we should do it. We're gonna come forward to come off the machine for a second, and then place your left foot in the long loop. Good. And then we're gonna come into a four-point kneeling position.

We won't be in four-point kneeling for too long. Walk your knees back, and then take your right form to the inside of the shoulder blocks. Yes, now open your hips and shoulders. MK, these are gonna remind you of the kicks you've just done a gazillion times. Now with some resistance, kick that leg back, and nice and high, and then bend your knee in towards your elbow, and exhale.

I like to focus on the rope staying in line with my knee, it gives me something extra to think about. Actually it makes sure that my knee and my foot are kind of working together. So these are our rotated glutes. Let's just do two more, and then keep that leg straight. You wanted to circle before, let's do it now.

So keep the leg high, go forward, forward, forward, down to the floor and back. Forward, forward, forward, down to the floor and back. Four, three, two. Four, down and around, one. Do you wanna reverse the circles?

No. I don't. (laughs) Now let's just hook up the strap. Okay, you can reverse those circles, if you want at home. You ready for the side arm series?

So kneel on the center, I started with the long loop, left hand, knees anchored, hip square, we draw a circle, bend the elbow. See how I'm sliding my hand down towards my knee. Push up, and come back. So not only am I getting some awesome upper body, but the spinal mobility is much needed for my body, and probably yours too. I mean, when do we get to just laterally flex our spine?

Up and over, and bring it around, three more. No neck tension. And two to go. We don't have to be synchronized in our movement because we coordinated our outfits. Okay, (laughs) here we go.

Up and over, and here we are. Okay, so now this is when I switch to the short loop. You certainly don't have to, and then we take the hand down to the headrest, the leg comes up, the arm comes up. Yes, it's a balance challenge. And you're kicking straight up making that T shape with your arms, you could look up.

Inhale, bend, exhale, push. Ribs closed. Yep, four, and three. That's two, and one, and bring it on home. You can step forward to come off.

Maybe that you have a better way to put your foot in the strap, but we're gonna put our right foot in. Nice, and then walk it back. Come to that quadruped kneeling position. So left knee is down in the mat, you're making kind of that tripod again, right? We see a theme today.

Forearm down, send the leg up and back nice and high, roll the shoulders open, stack the hips, bend the knee, and kick it. Bend, kick. Not only are you kicking up, you're kicking back the shoulders, the neck. So important. Four, free of tension, guys.

Keep this work in that booty. Three, two, and one. Let's do our circles, go forward, forward, forward, keep it high, down and around. Forward, forward, forward, keep it high, down on and around. Hip mobility, spinal and pelvic stability, getting it all done today.

Four, three. Bigger is better when it comes to these circles. Two, and one more time. One. Awesome job.

All right, all we have to do is a few teasers, and we're outta here. Just joking. I would never do that to you. I'll do that one in the next class. Let's take a straddle, and take a stretch.

You guys did great. So nice open legs, bend your elbows, look up, and then put your left hand on the carriage, MK, and reach your right arm overhead. Yep. And then rotate towards the floor, and grab that knee, just give yourself a little twisty love. Cool.

Come back to the stretch, and same thing other side, up and over. I always try to just roll my shoulder and my arm back when I do that, and then go into the twisty love, and then back to the stretch. Come on up, bring your right leg over to meet your left. We kind of worked our glutes like a little, so let's stretch them. (laughs) Bend your ankle and put it over your thigh, flex your foot, lean into it.

Let your knee come down, widen your sit bones, lean. If you didn't get enough work today and you wanna do things like seated squats or tricep dips, you certainly could. And let's switch legs. Dorsiflex, the knee is gently pressing down. We're leaning forward in the flat back, breathe in.

Life is good. That was a fun one. (laughs) Come on, you did great. Thank you. I'm so lucky to have the best team, guys.

Mary Kate is amazing. I mean, as you could see, she's so strong, flexible, those kicks are so inspiring. In my dreams I'm kicking like you are. Right. (laughs) I'm working on it. (Mary laughs) Thank you so much, guys.

We'll see you again soon. Bye.