Pilates Fit Blast

We're on! Hey, hey, everybody. So excited again to be here. Hello, hello. You know who I am. I'm Cathy Murakami, and today's class is like a Pilates fit blast.

So if you have your tennis shoes on, they can be optional, but they might, you might feel like you have a little better grip on your floor. I have a variety of weights. I have threes, fives, and tens. I also have two resistance level of TheraBands. I have silver, a little heavier, purple, a little lighter.

Okay, I have a towel 'cause we're gonna get sweaty. I'm already sweating. (laughing) I have a fan on me, have my water. So have all those things ready. Remember this is M-I-I-T, multi-intensity interval training.

So I'm gonna offer you, again, the different options. A lot of things you can do without the weights. You don't have to use weight for the whole thing. You also, for example, in plank can always go to the knees and maybe not even do the full movement, just hold for stability strength, that kind of a thing. Hmm, anything else?

Yeah, please put in the chat where you're from. I love, love, love that. I can not read it or even see it from here right now, but I do read it later. So I love all of you saying hello and thank you so much for joining. Okie dokie.

So let us see. I'm gonna start with the fives, okay. And we're going to start standing. And your first move, I'm going to just a little bit beyond a diagonal. It's just a simple lunge back.

So we're going to go back. Alternating the legs, inhale and exhale. I hope you were dancing around a little bit there (laughs) in the beginning. You can go at your own pace here, by the way. Jeff, one of our tech monitors kindly chose something a little funky for me there.

And believe it or not, I used to teach funk aerobics in the '80s. (laughs) Okay, so we're just stepping back. Remember, you all know knees over your toes. You can sink a little further if you'd like, and slow it down if you'd like. Inner thighs help you with your balance.

You should feel like your leg muscles are getting a little warmer now. Back, and the thing about these pauses, you're gonna really hear me panting (pants) throughout. Okay, next move. You've lunged. Come up, and put your foot down, okay?

So just add that little move. Lift and put your foot down. So there's that little pause for balance, okay. Got it? Same breath.

Inhale, oops, and come back. Think lift. Come back. Really feel your line here. Up, I just have to be careful I don't kick over the backdrop, right?

(gently exhales) We keep moving. Squeeze that supporting leg right here. That'll help you with your balance. All right, now we're gonna take your right leg, curtsy. Find your stability.

I like to turn out my front leg. All right. And we're going to pulse your little pulses. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, step together. Pause.

Feel and find your balance, unless I'm talking to myself. Two, three, four, five, six, seven eight. Find your balance. And one two, back knee is slightly soft, four, five, six, seven eight. Find your balance.

Really, whoa I could feel that vastus medialis right there supporting the knee. Six, seven, eight. Find your, whoop, balance. Let's do one more set on each side. Two, body upright, four, five, six, seven, sink and one more.

Balance. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Hold, and step. Put those weights down for a moment. This is going to be your move.

It's gonna be a little bit sorta like a burpee. All right, so you're gonna drop down. Come back. When you jump forward, sink into your squat. Put your hands down and back, you got it?

Here we go. Let me turn it a little bit diagonal for you. And legs wide. Sink to push your legs open, and back, Out, sink, step, back. Out, sink, down.

Back. Out, sink. Down, back. Out, sink. Down, back.

Whoo-hoo. Yeah. Two more. One more. I'm gonna be here.

Look, look, look, stay in your sink. Show me your hands. Pulse. Two, three, four, five, six, seven. Squeeze.

Stand up. Hands behind your head. Here's your move. Side, side, side side. Cross, cross, reach, reach.

Got it? Say yes. Side, side, side, side. Cross it. Reach.

And exhale. (strongly exhales) Rotate. (strongly exhales) Reach it. Good, again. Side, squeeze it.

Two, let's go, three, four, cross it. Rotate, rotate. Stretch it out. Good. Again. Add a little variations that you want to, except for stopping, ha-ha.

Reach it. Look in the distance. And one, two, three. Four, did you notice I wore my camouflage pants or leggings for this workout today? Rotate, rotate.

Reach, reach. How about one more? Two, three, four, rotate, rotate. Reach, reach. Okay, you should be kind of warmed up.

All righty. I'm gonna take the three pounders, stand at the end of the mat. Woo-hoo. Take a big breath. Push overhead, shoulder press.

Elbows bend, arms down, roll down. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Walk it out. Remember, you can also do this without your weights. All right, find your nice, beautiful aligned plank.

Rotate your torso. Inhale, and exhale. And inhale, and exhale. Here's a little hint. Bend your elbow like a row and push it up and come down, because I know once I was teaching this live and I spaced out and I lifted my weight straight to the side and fell over on camera (laughs).

Here, anchoring the inner thighs, the lateral edge of your back leg back foot, medial edge of your forward foot. You still moving? Please do. Last one. And rest.

Okay, stay right there. Right, left, right, left. Right, left, right, left. Got it? Change.

Left, right, left, right, out, out, in, in. Pick it up and back. So I try to alternate the leg that comes forward. If you can, remember and right, right, right right. Change, left. left, left, left.

Change, right, right, right right. Change left, left, left, left. One more set each side. Let's go. Out, left.

Left. (laughs) Good, knees down. Face me. Probably. I'm gonna go a little heavier here actually. Yeah, a little heavier here.

Five pounds. You can do this standing. You could do it seated. I'm gonna be kneeling. Overhead press.

Have your palms facing forward. You can also do this with the palms facing in, ready? Push on your inhale. (strongly inhales) (strongly exhales) (strongly inhales) (strongly exhales) (strongly inhales) (strongly exhales) Straight up shoulder press. Okay.

If you feel any overcompression in your lower back, lighten it up. Push, pull, push, pull push, pull, one more, push, pull. Sink back just a little bit. We are not sitting down. So I'm hinging at the hips.

I have my elbows bent at 90 degrees. Really connect to your core and up and lower slowly. Up and lower. Three. Are you focusing, breathing?

Four, and five, and six, and seven, and eight. Beautiful, first set again. And I'm gonna change my hand position. You can, if you want to or not. And two.

Overhead press. Three, and four. You sweating yet? Come on, come on, five, and six, and seven. Oh, here we go.

Eight. And that little lateral raise, one, and two. Feel this in the back shoulder, not so much your neck. You can always put 'em down. Five, and six.

Look forward with your eyes a bit. Seven, woo-hoo, eight. All right. Put those down. Take a little dab off.

(sighs) Oh, where is my makeup girl? And stretch your shoulder out. Drop it down. You feel that right across the cap of your deltoid. Switch it up.

Drop it down. (strongly exhales) Yes, one more time. (strongly exhales) Last one. (strongly exhales) You got it? Okay.

Now, take your heaviest weight that you have. We're gonna do a straight up chest press. Okay, I'm gonna put my towel down quickly. These are tens, but we're not going as like on a regular bench press if you were in a gym below the shoulder line with the weights, okay? So, feet flat, knees bent.

My elbows on the floor. Your choice, you can have the palms in or the palms forward as though you were holding a barbell. I'm gonna to have my palms in for today. Feel your neutral spine. Get your mind in gear, and we push on an exhale.

(strongly exhales) Hover the elbow. Two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and seven, and eight. Bring it down. Put one weight down. Grab your other weight on the ends.

Anchor your lats in. Drop the shoulder blades. Take it overhead. You are keeping that neutral spine. Just bring the weight over your chest pulling.

So we're avoiding, oh, Barbie doll, yeah. Inhale, lengthen those lats, exhale and pull. So this is your eccentric contraction of your lats as the weight goes overhead challenging the stability of your rib cage. You know the drill. Inhale and exhale, and inhale and exhale.

Stretch your legs all the way out. Roll your head forward. Curl, use your weight. I'm gonna put mine on the floor and roll it. Oh, it feels so good.

Roll it back. Pick it up. I'm bringing it closer, 'cause it's pretty heavy. And then I'm rolling back down and reaching. Overhead pull.

Look, curl. (strongly exhales) Just like the roll up. Can you feel how it helps you do the roll up? Roll out. Round that lower back with the shoulders down and then bring it in as close as you need to.

Maybe you can hold it out. That's fine. Reach through those heels and back. Let's do one more. And take your time curling.

Put it on the floor. Roll it out. If you're not using a weight, slide through your hands. Lift that lower back. Leave your weight there and sit up.

I'm gonna just put it aside for me. Turn a little bit. Lift your body up. Okay, lift it up. And now cross reach.

So right hand to left leg area. You ready? And one, and two. Look in the distance. Three, and four.

Turn your torso, five, and six, and seven, and keep it going. Let's do it. One and two, and push down in that non-moving leg. Five, and six, and seven, and eight. Good job. Sit down.

Pick that weight up again. Curl it back. Press out through those heels. Ooh. Over head.

I'm gonna do another set of those chest presses. Bend your knees. Focus your mind. Get ready. And one.

Hover the elbow. Two, and three, and four. Keep it moving, guys. Five, how's it going? And six, and seven, and eight.

Now you can keep using your weights or not. You could put one down and just hold it right across your chest. You just want one. Or you can keep it going. Or put all the weights down.

All right, hold your arms up. Bend your elbows a little bit. Push your hips, and hover your butt. Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale, exhale, make sure your elbows are microbent, everybody, especially if you have heavyweights here. (strongly exhales) Push your booty. Yeah. Push your booty. And push it up.

Press into all 10 toes of your feet inside those shoes if you have shoes on. Two more, one more, hold your butt up. Hold the weights up. I'm gonna put one down. Depending on what you have, put it right across your pelvis, okay?

Halfway down. Double pulse. Halfway down. Double pulse. Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, a little (gently inhales). Squeeze it. Inhale. (gently exhales) (gently inhales) (gently exhales) (gently inhales) (gently exhales) Booty, booty. (gently exhales) Okay. I'm gonna move my feet away a little bit.

And now I'm just gonna be on the heels. Try to get my feet symmetrical. Same thing. Lower, double pulse. Lower, double pulse.

Lower, double pulse. Oh yeah, lower. Don't feel those hamstrings? Of course you do. You would be a zombie if you didn't feel them yet.

Two more. (gently exhales) One more. (gently exhales) Squeeze it. Feet down. Roll.

Oh, good. Good, good, good. Put that weight aside. I'm just gonna move that one. Arms on that low V.

Little roll. I'm just taking it across maybe a little further than 45. Inhaling on the rotation, exhaling to center, using my arms to slightly anchor me without overdoing it in the upper body. Inhale. Exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, one more.

Inhale, exhale. All right, rock up balance in the rolling like a ball position. Okay. See these shoes? They weigh 10 pounds each.

(laughs) Kidding, but they are kinda heavy for tennis shoes here. All right, hold your position. I am slightly rounded. Drop those shoulder blades, okay. Right leg extends.

Reach toward it, look up, and down. So you know the stability is through your spine, and your mind. So that's what really helps to keep your eyes in one spot. Because wherever your eyes go, that's where your mind goes. Yeah?

So I know you have to watch the screen a little bit to see what I'm doing if you're more of a visual learner, but right now I'm just doing the same thing. Reach. Now, if you wanna up the ante a little bit, you do both legs and both arms. Reach and bend. And yeah, I am not touching the floor in between.

And bend. Reach, and bend. Reach, and bend. Reach and bend. Two more, reach, and bend, last one.

Reach and bend. Cross your ankles. Hug it as close as you can. Roll over. Plant your hands.

Jump back. I'm gonna move my towel. And up, up, back back, side, side. Here we go again, and a little faster. Side, side, in, in, left, left, left, left, right, right, right, right.

Left, left, left. Keep it going up, up, back, back out, out, in, in, up, back, back. I know you're waiting for both legs, aren't you? Not gonna happen yet. (laughs) One more set, each side.

Up, up, back, back, out, out, left. Back, back, out, out, in. Hover your knees. Come to your elbows. Come to your elbows, okay?

Your forearms are parallel. Press the wrists down. Look at your hands. Try to get as much surface of the hands pressing on your mat, okay? (strongly inhales) Big breath, with your hips, hinge back.

Can you feel when you hinge back and open the armpits, your elbows wanna slide to the side. Do your best to keep them inward. The wrists wanna buckle, I know. That's part of the shoulder situation. Just hinge and pulse here.

All right, so we're gonna come forward into that elbow plank, and then hinge back. Bend your knees. (strongly exhales) Forward into your elbow plank. Hinge back, you can bend your knees. (strongly exhales) Forward.

Keep pressing all the surface of the arm, but into the mat. When you come forward, tighten up those legs. (strongly exhales) Okay, four, and sliding, right? Three, and two, and one. Bring it in.

I'm on the knees or you can come up kneeling, your choice. Lift those arms up. Bring 'em around behind your back. Elbows in. Push your hips forward a little bit.

Woo. Yes, it's sort of like a camel-likeish position. Ah, all right. Now you're gonna rotate to your right. I'm going to my right.

Touch. Lean. Come up. I'm actually gonna flatten my feet, so I can go a little further. Feel that line of stretch.

And come up. A little bit like a rotating supported thigh stretch if you are looking for that Pilates repertoire, and come up. Suck it up through your inner thighs, everybody. Inhale, and exhale. If you would prefer not to have the long lever of your arm, you can put your hand behind your head here, okay?

And make it a mini camel, baby camel. Yeah? All right, let's do four more. Your choice. One and up, and two.

Oh really rubber band-like quality, yah? Three, and four. Beautiful. Give yourself a hand. Give me a hand too. (laughs)

All right, next move. Quadriped, we're hands and knees with the knees hovering, okay? With the knees hovering. So you're just using your body weight here for your challenge. Find your center line.

So if you've not joined me before, your center line is this tube you can imagine and see running from the base of the pelvis through your torso to the front of your spine out of the crown of your head. It's like a straw, all right? Like a straw, so you hug energy there, and feel your line. And then you disperse the energy out so you're aware of every position of the appendages, et cetera. Take your breath.

Hug to your center line. (strongly inhales) Hover your knees, okay? Adjust if you need to. Right leg, push back. One and squeeze your glute.

Two, and three, and keep that left knee low. It wants to lift up, all right? If you have to put it down, I get it. Three, and two, and one. Pull it in.

Pause. Reorganize. Second side. Anchor those shoulder blades. And two, feel where the non-moving knee is.

Be aware. Four, and five, and six, and seven, and eight. Hover those knees. Put them down. Breathe. (strongly inhales)

Pick 'em up, hover. (strongly exhales) And put 'em down. Breathe. (strongly inhales) Pick 'em up, hover. (strongly exhales) Put it down.

Inhale again, and (strongly exhales) check where your head and neck are. Remember, no feedbag. All right, right leg back. Straight leg. Down, double pulse.

Two, double pulse, three, double pulse, four, pulse five six, seven, eight. Down. Before you lose your momentum, lower, pulse, pulse, lower, come on, come on. Lower, pulse, pulse, pulse, pulse, lower, pulse, pulse. That's five.

That's six. That's seven. That's eight. Woo-hoo. Knees down.

Open it up, and curl back towards a childlike pose. Come to your fingertips. But no, we're not gonna sit back. And forward. Arch your tail.

Soften your elbows. Stick your butt out. Gotta pull and traction yourself. Watch the shoulders. Come up.

Curling, shoulder blades down, lift through the kidneys. Let your head come down. Yeah, one more up. Soften the elbows. When you soften your elbows, still push the chest away.

Forward, you're kind of tractioning here. (sighs) Yes, yes, yes. Okay. Bring yourself up. All righty.

Lats, your straight row. Take your left leg forward. I'm using my left, so it's away from the screen. I am going to use my heavier weight for this. If you can, lift up your back knee and find the line when you're holding the weight here from the crown of the head to the leg.

And remember that center tube I talked about. Firm up that back right glute. Just pull with the elbow and squeeze, little mini, mini twists. You see that little mini, mini twist. Woo! Pull.

But I do keep my eyes forward, okay? Hug up through your inner thighs. That's four. Pull it and reach. Pull it, I am not letting my shoulder blade go to the floor.

One more. Squeeze it. Distribute your work. Good job, I'm gonna step forward to turn around, but you could just step forward where you are. Okay, organize your line.

Okay. Feel your feet. Feel your inner legs. And a little rotation. And two, and three.

There is energy in your back leg, everybody. Four. Little rotation, just feel it. And six, and seven, and eight. Good job.

Okay, ooh, don't go off my set there. All right. Remember those hops? Okay, so you're gonna come back into dog. All right, when we hop forward and show your hands and back.

Hop forward, squat, show your hands, and back. Hop forward, maybe push, and back. Hop forward. Push, and back. Hop forward.

Push and back. Hop forward. Push. How's it going? Come on, come on.

Woo, your legs, yeah? Two more. (strongly exhales) One more. (strongly exhales) Pulse, two, three, four, five, ah, ah, ah. Whoa. Check it out.

Okay. You know, I decided to start doing, get some water, some of this type of workout 'cause I realized mostly I teach stretch Pilates, gyrokinesis, and the movements in general of course, are much more slow and controlled. As I go through life, i.e., time goes by, also known as A-G-I-N-G, I felt like I was a little bit losing that part of my brain and coordination to do things a little more quickly. Even if the form wasn't like Pilates perfect, there's this aspect of being able to (clicks fingertips) you know, fire and wire a little more quickly. So I started taking some classes like this and I was like, "Oh my goodness, "come on grandma." So that's where the concept of Pilates fit blasts came from.

Just so you know. All right, let's do another set of those rows. Normally in the weight room, I do four sets, four sets of whatever movement it is. And I generally keep it fairly simple. I like the KISS method, you know?

All right, so this time, let it go under your leg a little bit under. Feel how that little bit abducts your shoulder blade, and then that little rotation. (gently exhales) But I still keeping my eyes forward on the floor in front of my front foot. (strongly inhales) And (strongly exhales). (strongly inhales) And back legs, don't forget that back leg.

Pull it up. Pull it up. Pull it up, how about one more? Pull it up. Okay.

Change legs. I'm gonna stay on this side just so you can see maybe what it looks like from this angle. So I'm rotating a little under. And one, and now if you need to go a little slower than I go, that is fine. And there you go.

And someone emailed me at Pilates Anytime about wanting more weight, and I said, join this week, 'cause that's what I'm gonna do. Here's two more, so I hope that you're on, girlfriend. And pull, and down. Okay, good job. We're coming down.

I'm gonna use a TheraBand, your choice. I'm gonna use my little heavier one. Oop. Okay, I'm sweating like crazy. It's making me have a runny nose.

All right, I am going to cross my ankles, and be in a little bit of a diagonal. Hold the band in front. Drop the shoulder blades, yeah? Anchor them without locking. Bring your arms up slowly.

See I'm avoiding super gripping the band. Feel my center line. All right now, from the lat area, which is this area on the lateral side, mostly of your shoulder blade, of course, covers your whole back, pull it a little bit apart by pulling the blades down and in a little bit, just that little tiny move. (strongly exhales) You're exhaling. So even though you're exhaling, the spine tends to slightly shorten.

Imagine it going upward, upward. So the band's not coming down. You are growing above the band, okay? Inhale. (gently inhales) Inhale.

I changed the breath, yes. Inhale. (laughs) Now pull further, and lift your chest to the band. Feel your back and come up. Pull the band and lift your chest, and come back.

Yes, simple lat pull. Yes, you feel your top of your shoulder caps, your deltoids, because you're holding your arms up. Why do I feel the shoulder? Because you're holding your arms up. Good job, everybody.

Two more. Yup, one more. And up. (strongly exhales) I'm gonna turn towards you for this one. If your ankles were crossed, change it up.

Take it so there's not a lot of slack here on the outside of your hand. Lean to the side. Now, if you have the shoulder mobility, you'll have your arm a little more behind your head. If that really bothers your shoulder, have your arm a bit more forward, yeah? Lean to the side enough so you already feel the right side of your torso, the ribs, opening.

I don't know if it's right or left for you, but you're opening that side, okay. Look straight ahead. I'm gonna bend my elbow more, so that I have more of the band shorter from hand to hand, okay. Look toward the hand on the floor. Keep the side of your neck long, the side that the arm is in the air.

You ready? Tricep pull. One, and two. And breathe out on these, three, and four. And yes, dingle dangle.

Six, and seven, and eight. Very good. Come up, you probably don't have to change, I'm just balling up the band in my hand, change the length unless, you know, you've got something going on with your elbow or your shoulder. Try your best to do the same version on your second side. Down toward the hand on the mat.

Both shoulder blades down. And one, and two, and three. And wow, look at that do-do-do-do-do shaking on the way back. And six, and seven, and eight. All righty, curl forward.

Oh, side bend. Lift up, breathe in. Let's take it around again. (strongly exhales) And around and up, and then reverse it. Curl.

And slide, bend, and inhale. Yes, we're gonna do a second set. I know you want to. Of course you're like, "Is she gonna do second set or not?" Yes, I heard you, we are. (laughs) And looking down.

One and, you know, what's really trippy about teaching this way for all of you is you know, here we are talking, I have no response. We make our corny jokes. We don't know if you're making a face or you're laughing or not. (laughs) And we just laugh at ourselves. I lost count.

Let's just do two more here, right? Lost count, just do two more. So that's why it's super awesome. If you guys do take that two seconds even just to say, "Hey fun," yeah? It really means so much to all of us to be able to offer our services to you, what our skill set is, and hopefully inspire you for the day, get you going for the day.

Hope you feel good, whatever time, yeah? Here we go, four more. One. And are both shoulders down? Check 'em.

And three, and four, whoo! Go put that down. I'm wiping my face. And I am hoping I am not the only one here sweating my face off. (laughs) All righty, now, one more thing for your triceps. We will be on our hands and knees.

The movement is going to be to reach forward and back and back and down. Forward and back and back and down. So that's option one. If you wanna up the ante, no, it's not with weight, it's gonna be to hover your knees, hover your knees, okay? So we all know how to do that.

Organize your midline, right? Feel where you are in space. You are either on your knees now or you're hovering, you ready? And up and back, and back and down. Up, back, back and down.

Up, back, back, down. Up, back. Yes, you have to a little bit, sway a little bit to the side, okay? But not a lot. Up, back, back, down.

Up, back, back. Keep your knees low. Up, back, back, down. One more set, up, back, back, down. Last time, up, back, back, down.

Whoa. Oh, was she cheating? Don't tell. Don't tell (laughs). All right, let's roll our shoulders out.

Got another one for you. We're gonna go into a reverse tabletop. All righty. I'm taking my shoes off now. So go ahead, this is your little mini break.

This particular move, I hear things like, "My arms are too short. "My butt is too heavy." Things like that. Well, you can just throw those excuses out the window now, okay? This is your move. I'll show you once, okay?

I have my feet in parallel. I'm gonna just come up to your regular reverse tabletop. And you can just work on your strength and stability here. Or you curl. Okay, I'm gonna curl the spine, flex the spine, without overdoing it in the glutes.

And slide under, and come back. One more time. Curl, so a lot of it is being able to flex your spine, and up. You got it? Of course you got it.

And exhale. (strongly exhales) Inhale. (strongly inhales) Exhale. (strongly exhales) Inhale. You must drive your energy down through the arms obviously.

The shoulder blades are also down the back, depressed. Just the blades depressed, not your brain. (chuckles) Curl. Lift. Curl.

Lift. Curl. Lift, it's okay if you just come under a little bit. It's okay if you touch, and then you have to try, okay? Come on, come on, two more.

And up, one more. And up. Bring your booty down. Stretch your legs out any position. Roll your shoulders out.

Breathe. I'm gonna move my whole spine. (strongly exhales) Lace your fingers. Roll your wrists a little bit. Do you get a second chance?

Yes, you get a second chance at this. Notice the direction of the figure eight of your wrist and then reverse it. Okay. So don't forget to find me online with my name, okay? I know some of you signed up for my newsletter and my weekly tips, so thank you so much for joining my tribe.

That's super cool. It makes me very happy. Second set. (clears throat) Excuse me, same thing. Okay, so you can hold or take it in two steps, or do the same thing we just did, or when we swing back into the reverse tabletop, stretch one of your legs up.

Huh? What? What, what? What does that mean? You're gonna stretch it up to this position.

So it's like back support, but the knee's bent, got it? Okay, just say yes. Let me hear you. Ah yes, we get it. And curl under.

(strongly exhales) And leg. (imitates swooshing) And curl under. (strongly exhales) (imitates swooshing) And I'm doing a double breath. Curl under, and up. And curl under, and up.

Now you know why I took my shoes off. (laughs) Actually those shoes aren't that heavy for as clunky and as big as they look. I don't know when sneakers became a fashion item, but they are even like designers, right? Like I'm going to go get some $300 Gucci tennis shoes. Curl, and up.

Yes, I'm still going. One more on each side. And up, and under, and up. Oh, but yeah. Swing front to back.

So the spinal motion you know, next week, I'm going to miss y'all 'cause we have a week off on Friday, but the first Friday in September is my spinal undulation class. It's where we're gonna get energy moving to the spine and snaky snaky. Really, really, you're gonna wanna be in on that one. Okay, you good on that there? All righty.

Next move. Let's just come to plank and toe tap. Look at this messy kitchen. Toe tap to the side. Out, two, three, four, or you can hover.

Five, so just so you know, I don't abduct a lot myself. Some of you know this, but two years ago I had both my hips replaced. So there's not, that range is something that is a little limited for me, okay? But not for you. So go, go, go, and go.

Great. All right, we're on the knees forward. You can also do this from your toes. I'm sure I did this one other class but I can hardly remember 'cause everything just blurs together. All right, shoulder taps, you ready?

One, two, three, four, five, six. Push that floor down. Or one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, more set, go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Pushups, I'm gonna do 'em from the knees, guys.

One. (strongly inhales) and two, and three, and four, and yeah, five, whoo! Six, and seven, and eight. Yes. Crawl forward. (laughs) We're gonna lie on our backs.

Okay. Lie on our backs. I'm gonna grab the threes. Lie down. Oh, don't you love it when the teacher says, "Okay, lie on your backs now." Oh girl, yeah, thank you.

Thank you very much. (laughs) All right, so that little overhead chest pull that we did at the beginning, I'm doing with a little bit lighter of a weight. So the movement is to curl forward. Reach above the knees, and come back. Now I'm gonna go slow enough so that you can notice if you're trying to squeeze your bottom a little bit.

And I'm gonna go out, maybe on a Pilates limb here, I am a believer, of course, in the neutral pelvis neutral spine, whatever that is for you individually. However, when you come forward here to flex your upper torso, your lumbar area has to delumbarize, okay. Unlumbarize, whatever you wanna call it. It's gonna slightly decrease in that curvature, but I'm not squeezing and pushing, right? Okay, because that is the nature of the biomechanics that have to happen for the lower spine to respond to the upper spine.

All righty? All righty, then. (strongly exhales) You didn't know that I was gonna get on a soap box, did you? (strongly exhales) Well, I did. (laughs) I tell my other classes, "Well you know, "I'm teaching the class so you just have to listen to me." (laughs) They're like, "Oh, really?" (laughs) Keep going up.

All right, now stay here. Can you pulse? Chin down, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One more, make it small. One, two three, I'm looking right between my inner thighs.

Five, six, seven. Squeeze. (grunts) And ooh, back. Rock yourself up quick, okay. And come back a little bit on your hands.

Microbend your elbows. You can do this here, or here, all right? So you can lower. (strongly exhales) You can lift. (gently exhales) You can keep it bent if you need a shorter lever, and up.

But the one thing you cannot do is stop or quit, okay? Do it slower if you need to. Come to your elbows if you need to. It's actually I think a little harder there. Yeah?

(strongly exhales) And coming up. Come on, we can do this one more time. (gently exhales) Coming up. Ooh, sit up. Turn to me.

Open that hip. (strongly exhales) Stretch the bottom, like out. Push to that heel. (strongly exhales) Grab the top of your knee. Bring the bottom knee in and curl.

Oh, open your lower back. And then reach. If your foot's not there, just push through the thigh and just let your spine create the same shape on your back of that circle. Roll it to the other side. And pull.

Be aware that your foot is not, the back leg is not above your knee. I'm looking over and pushing down, and lifting the chest and spiraling around. (strongly exhales) And then I'm curling easy. Make sure the spine is flexing here, especially into your lower back. And open, push.

Lift through that chest. Oh, it feels so delicious, doesn't it? Yeah. All right. Okey-dokey.

Let us lie on our bellies. We're on the finish line here, everybody. We're on the finish line. We're getting there, it's in sight. (laughs) I'm putting these weights out of the way.

Lie on your belly. If you have your towel, you can roll it up and put it under your forehead, so you have a little bit of room for your nose. Do that. And then with your rubber band nearby, grab it. So this is something like double leg kick, but as you know, double leg kick, your hands are usually behind your back.

So that's sometimes a little bit much for some shoulders. So I use a rubber band to widen, widen. So the hands are about at the width of your waist, and it's very easy to keep your elbows down on the mat. Have your legs behind you and kind of lift up, free up your groin. Lift up.

Free up your groin. (sighs) Maybe we just stay here. No, kidding, kidding. Parallel legs. Feel your inner thighs.

Press all 10 toenails into your mat or floor. Anchor your pubic bone without squeezing the glutes too much. So feel that length in the lumbar spine, yeah? And as you come up, you will rotate the palms in. Keep the pubic bone anchored.

Arms reach back. Inhale, chest pulls forward. Keep your feet down. Exhale, bend your elbows, return, hands at the width of your waist. Elbows down, forehead down.

Glutes have not gone to rest. They're still slightly engaged. And here we go again. Slowly inhale. Up, this time stay there and exhale.

(gently exhales) Stay there and inhale. And then slowly come down. So I am keeping my forehead toward the floor. I am not gonna be turning the head, okay? We're at the end of class.

We're at the end of the week. Let's just keep it simple. Reach, open that chest. Reach your arms back. Feel your whole back line.

And return. Option: float one leg up and inhale. Reach long. Exhale. We're coming down.

Other leg, inhale. Notice, maybe if you're not looking, I'm gonna verbalize it to you. When you first decide to come off the floor, lift your elbows and rotate them in, so you get that external rotation. And coming back. Second leg, inhale.

Up, arms parallel to the floor. Coming back. Both legs. Reach, doesn't have to be high. Hold and breathe air.

And then bend, and return. Again, rotate your elbows. Anchor your pubic bone. Graze down your butt with the band. Reach long, and return.

Let's do one more. This one really counts. Make it the best thing you've done all class. Inhale. Feel your beautiful line.

Ah, smile from your heart inside. Release the band. Put your legs down. Press your hands by your chest. Come up any amount.

Breath, oh! Yay! Come back to the floor. Do that one more time. And press, coming up. Mmm. And return to the floor.

Put your hands under your forehead. Bend your knees and tip your feet to the left and to the right, so they are going in the same direction. Let it rotate your pelvis and rotate your lower back. Take some breaths into your lower spine. Yes.

We did it, everybody. Whoo! We did it. So, give me that, give me the pump it, pump it. (laughs) Thank you again for jumping onto class with me. Hope you had a sweaty good time, and I look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.

Please chitchat away. You can always DM me. Cathleen@cathleenmurakami.com Oh, thank you so much. Thank you, Pilates Anytime. You guys are awesome helping me get set up here.

And yeah, can't wait. Have a good couple of weeks. Stay cool especially if you're up in that area where the fires are. Sending you guys lots of prayers and loves for safety. And bye-bye.