Class #3653

Reformer At Home

40 min - Class
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Your body will feel great after this Reformer workout with Kristi Cooper! She uses the AeroPilates Reformer, explaining how you can translate the work you already know to this piece of apparatus. She encourages you to take responsibility for how each movement feels so that you can make sure that you are doing the work instead of letting the machine do it for you.
What You'll Need: Reformer w/Box

About This Video

Jan 23, 2019
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Hi everybody. Welcome to my office where I'm going to give you a workout on the Aero Valadez reformer, which was actually the reformer I tend to need to use more often because the studio is always full filming, filming, filming. So we're going to do it here today and um, I'm going to do my best to explain to you how I'm translating the work we know or the work you might be getting in any one of our classes. My experience on the aero is, is that it, it translates pretty well. Occasionally you might have to go heavier or lighter than what's prescribed, but I'll do my best to keep you informed on that. Um, the [inaudible] bar has at least mine has two positions.

I tend to like it higher, so I've already got it there for foot and leg work I have out of the four chords that are here currently, I'm just going to use one as part of my warmup. Other than that, I'd just come along for the ride. I don't think there's going to be a whole lot different than if you're taking a class elsewhere, but maybe this will help you get more used to it. So we're just going to stand at the edge of the reformer feet parallel and ground yourself into the floor. Ground yourself, meaning, feel the feet, kind of notice what your tendencies are. You can make a decision about how you want class to go as well. Um, for me, I really just want him to move.

I don't anticipate this being a really long workout, but I need to feel better and good and here we go. So shifting the weight forward, feeling the feet and just rock back and forth gently. It doesn't have to be a big move, but it does kind of help align you. It helps to kind of notice like, oh my head is way in front of me, so I'm going to try and pull it back and just taking inventory. Where might there be tension? You might not feel any of that yet.

Let's take an inhale, just breathe the arms up to the side, maybe overhead, but collect some energy. And then turn the arms down, press it down, perhaps feel a little longer in your spine. I think of it as lifting, filling, giving more space in the body. On that inhale and exhale. As I press down, it's sort of an, as my arms go down, my head reaches to the ceiling. Just one more inhale. Again, you can go all the way up if that feels better. I'm just sort of reaching wider today and down from here. What I often do in the studio, I'm gonna just leave the bar where it is and roll down to find my hands to the edge of the carriage and instantly I noticed my knees wanting to lock out one more than the other, so I'm just paying more attention to that in the moment and now we just push that carriage away. Now if that feels really light again, put on another court that's part of working out on your own as taking responsibility for how does this feel in relation to what the exercise might be meant for? Right now it's just for supple spines. It's just waking us up. You can bend your knees, even sometimes that's really nice and get longer, nice and flat.

Inhaling as I push out and gradually with each one getting a little longer in my spine, try not to forget the neck, start the exhale around the lowest part of your trunk and bring it back in. Let's go a few more. Inhale, push out [inaudible] and exhale some already starting the dance with this reformer. And inevitably every time I'm on any different reformer, I do have to just sort of thing. Does that feel like I want it to feel and make any adjustments along the way? One more [inaudible] and come on back. Once that carriage hits the stopper, just roll yourself up. Hopefully hips over heels, ribs over, hips, shoulders over ribs, and then your head on top. So far so good, right?

So we're going to just go right into foot and leg work. Um, putting all four springs on for almost everybody. For some you're going to think it's not enough. And in that case, what I'm going to suggest to you is that you really do have to be with, you're a farmer. You have to kind of go into a dance relationship as if I can dance with another person. But you want to look for the sort of infinity of energy that it's not just a push, relax, push, relax. So let's just keep that in mind as we get going. Okay?

Again, I have my bar quite high. Um, you can move yours out and for most, I'm not real tall. It's just when it's further away, it's a little hard for me. All right? From here, heals on the bar parallel. You settle into your mat. Nice cushy mat by the way, and push all the way out. Take a second to make sure your, as long as you can be, that means the knees are in fact straight. This is that place of energy.

You pull yourself back in, you push out, you can go faster. But right now let's think about what are you recruiting maybe or don't think about it, but try to feel all sides of your body. Maybe the better way of saying it, so we press out, it's finished. You pull it back in. Sometimes it's nice when it's lighter because you actually do have to work your way back in.

I'm going to give you three more press one and in the next two reps, something in where my arms are pushing down. Last one all the way out. Come right back in. Keep everything else the same, but drop your feet down to the balls of the feet. Still parallel. Still slightly apart. Off We go, we press, we take a second. I can feel myself ever so slightly over gripping and my glutes and to relax them and think more inner thigh and pull back in, pushing out. Pull it in out. Pull it to your best, not to change the angle of the ankle.

All right, so you're not dropping, you're not losing energy through the foot. It's stable in that the ankle gets to bend, but the foot doesn't get to rise or lower. Let's just do two more. Reach one, here's to go all the way out and remind yourself that you want to be working holistically. It's not just the legs. I turn the heels to touch each other and here I do kind of need to really squeeze so that I get the sense of the glutes, but without really curling them up, there's no need to do that. Off We go, we press out all the way, we pull back in for us and then got admit sometimes it's nice to, I mean the studio is very close by for me, but it's still nice to just drop down and go for it. So I appreciate having this around this reformer. I'm going to do four more. We press our fully. Finish it though. You got to check with yourself.

Are your knees touching each other at the end? Let's do one more coming up. There it is. Finish it. You can squeeze inward but as much as you want and you can also think longer. Sometimes just the thought gets you there. Bring it back in. We're not done. I'm Bassey trained. We'd like a few more foot positions.

This one heals again at the edge of the bar. I'm going to turn it out a little bit. For me that means I then have to drop my legs, my hips settle back into that carrot. Here we go, we press out. You generate a little more power from this position. So keep looking for that sign of am I really connected to both ends of the movement, pushing out, pushing in, and don't be afraid to slowly straighten the knees, right? You don't just lock them, which to me means you let go of all muscular contraction, but you finish it.

Give yourself two more from here. Number one out, one more time or la come back in. Same position, but once again down on the toes. And if it's real crowded cause you chose this, the higher bar, you don't have to come all the way around. Just your best. Hello. I don't talk about the breathing as much as I used to, but I do tend to exhale on the way out. Other people do the exact opposite and it's okay. So pick one or change it around or, but that's the least of it right now. So long as you're breathing three more one, pull it to, maybe you can feel that engagement in the back of the body here. Three, come on back in. Let's go toes parallel again.

So I there's still a part, um, yeah, about sits bones, distance on the ball of the foot. It's not quite the toes. We push all the way out. We proved ourselves, we're long that we haven't gripped were not needed. Um, for me it feels like my low back comes up a little. That's okay. Um, but the intent is to hold strong in the front. So just lower the heels under the bar, come on lower, lower, lower and then from the foot. But not without letting or not with letting go. The inner thighs, that sense of they're drawn together. And now for that we're just rising up and we lowered it.

We feel through the feet. And boy, this Arrow Peloton bar is different. Right? So if that's too tough, we will give you some tips later on how you can pad it. But for me, I kind of liked feeling more than I sometimes do on other reformers. That's not necessarily pleasant all the time, but it does kind of inform me. I'm doing two more from here.

Trying to get a little more each time and there's two good down again. Actually no, go up. It's an easier place to start. Your knees are straight. You're going to bend the right knee, let the left heel go under with a straight leg and even pull. That's where this bar go right from the lower foot. You push up, you both at legs end up straight and you switch. Your hips aren't moving side to side though. It's not that sexy.

Now that you know what we're doing, we're going to go quicker. You go down, you go up, you go down, you go. Trying not to grip the toes anymore. Since we're not just holding that stretch, but rather work through the foot. Point that knee straight up. Let's go. One, one, two, a four, two. Here's three. Stretch. Stretch. One more time and one more time. Also hold one foot down. Okay, so something to notice. If you really lock into the Nice, it might send your foot one way or the other.

Let's try to keep that heel underneath the rest of the foot, meaning the toes of the same foot. Push up and switch [inaudible] I could change your life right there at least a day. Okay, come on down. I'm going to do just a few single leg exercises. So with my left heel, again, straight up from the hip, hopefully right foot comes off and then all we'll do for fuse. Just push out to get used to it. Full extension. I didn't need to change the weight. I doubt you do either. But again you can, right? It's same idea. We're not shifting through the pelvis. We're just working on one side. Let's do one more like that.

And then from here, straighten the bottom leg. Why not get a little more creative with it and back and forth for a few so you know where that is. And then if you want to change it, it would be unfold the leg, reach it straight to this guy folded, reached back down under, so you're still doing the single leg and that really is the important part of reaching up. And just one more and we'll switch legs all the way up. Stay there though. Stay there. Stay there. Flex that top leg. Reach the hamstring or the back of the leg of the s, the one on the bar down as you draw the other leg closer to you and then just put it down that upper leg. Come on home. Establish a stable foot on the right side now.

And we did a fell for maybe five of this. Just getting used to it too. Yeah, it's never a bad idea to connect with the, I'll do one more. Never bad idea to connect with the back of the body here. All right, stay out here. You can now take the leg, the straight leg, the bent knee under the bar straight. That's just too few there. You can stay here or we then unfurled it if you'd like to would Ben and then when you're there it strains you refold and drag it back down. Three more and little bit of a brain teaser sometimes. So one more just cause it will stay there this time. Flex that top leg, reach the back of a bottom, like down and get longer, even in your neck. Put the foot down and we come on home.

Okay. It's that time for the hundred a, I'm going to get my bar just a little out of the way, but I'm not going to change my springs. Um, on the Arrow plot is, it's a little closer to the classical style and I find that if I lighten it too much, like I might on the balance body downstairs where I would do say a red and a blue, a medium or heavy, I'm sorry, medium and light. This one, it just works better with all four. So that's what we're doing. Again, you can change it. It's just, it's actually a little harder, I think to not have this weight guiding you. So my straps have the option to go a little bit smaller. There's two loops. So I'm going to do that. And that's what you're seeing on these extra bits. Scooting away from the shoulder rest. Uh, from here, knees are coming up to tables. I'll put a little resistance.

Employee does not feel heavy right away. We'll be all right. Start Your exhale, curl up, shoot those legs out over the bar and then really reach into those straps. Um, Amy Alvarez sometimes, or maybe it's racial. Talk about letting your arms feel like they're on a hanger. So catch the straps. Don't just push them away from you, but really catch them so that it feels like you're being suspended from under the armpits. Then it's inhale, two, three, four, five and exhale two, three, four, five, pump in to three. Keep those arms a little higher than you might think.

Oh three and try not to overtighten the legs, but shoot him out. One more like this. Bump to. We're not done though. Just changing the arms. Now inhale slowly up to three. Not Real high down. Two, three, four, five up to three. Try not to move the carriage down three more times. Crawl up to it. Three, four, five, down. Three, four, five. Up, two, three, four, five down. Oh one more. Cause guess what? Three, four, five, down to three, four or five.

Draw the knees in way in weight and lift your butt to do it. Crawl towards it. Come on, rest the feet on the bar for the moment. Get out to where those arms are right above your shoulders. Again for a coordination. These come off. Here we go. We inhale, prepare, exhale. Everything curls up like you're going to do the a hundred open. Close the legs, boom, boom. Bend the knees. Come on back down again.

I could take two springs off. I'm not going to. I like it like this. You can exhale, curl up, open, close, pull in, pull in. Don't worry if your butt lifts, just get it back down when you go out and exhale, curl up. Legs Open, close. They pull in and down. This one the breath kind of helps. We exhale up so long excess, still exhaling.

Then theoretically right here you're inhaling all the way down. Let's go again. Open, close bend and last one. Press up. Open, close, bend and if you'd on the bar, I'm taking the straps in one cause it's a little hard to get them on here. Once you've got them off, just sit up and now I'm going to go down to, I'm going to go to to attempted to stay on three. I'm going to do some legs and straps. It just sort of depends.

It's very possible you're going to want three. Could even be done with four but a little, little too much for the point. Okay. Lying back down, pushing out carefully. Step into your strap. I am using the longer version of the option that I have here in terms of the straps and arms. Downfield your body. Now this is gets tough, right?

You almost have to hold your legs up. You press out them too on the frog. You pull in and this is one of those machines that is, especially if you've had years, as long as I have, it kind of can, you know, it needs to be taken really well. Care of all though. This one is a, when I pull in, if I over commit to the push out, I'll lose tension. So that's what I like about it. It really keeps me connected to, okay, my back and spine are not changing. I'm drawing in. I'm reaching out, but I'm not getting so committed to the push that I ended up not being able to even get it to come home or I lose tension. Let's do one more. Okay. Keep it out there. Now keep the, my legs are turned out a little raise up and going into circles. Careful on the lowering. Exhale down.

Find the back of your legs. Let the feet separate. Come around and back up. Okay, so when is a little bit lighter? It's almost like, well, it's not almost. You have to hold a little bit stronger in the center. Just notice if you're holding his coming from higher than that, like your neck or shoulders. Last one there. Let's reverse it. Pick it up. Oh, come on baby.

Come on baby. Isn't it like you have to dig deeper in the belly. It's like there's this stability so the legs are almost weightless. Coming up makes it a little harder. I love the variations that happen when you switch equipment. Even even in the studio. I'm going to do one more after this one and then my favorite. You can finish that at the top. Just while you're here.

Check things out. Assuming your straps are level, sort of adjust yourself if, if one needs higher than the other, and now just rotate out at the legs and bring it back. I'm not making any big movements at all really, but I'm noticing what the tension, uh, the tendencies are. Turn the five bones out, but don't tuck the pelvis. Bring them back to parallel. Turn them out. Bring them back one more time. Out and back, and then lower to, I dunno, a little maybe higher than 45. Turn them out one more time. Okay. Maybe a tiny bit, Lauren. Not Open out.

Pay attention to your back. If it feels too light, just get up and put another strap on. Pushing. I'm reaching and that's what's gonna keep me consistent. If I just rely on the chords to pull me wide, it's not going to happen. And not for any fault of the the machine, but because I'm not keeping my own commitments to the, the equipment by reaching into and lengthening through those straps, I feel it. I feel it. No down. [inaudible] reach retreat. So don't just go side. You're still going along.

One more. We'll take a little stretch, but before you hang out, raise the legs off so that you have that help. And if you'd like, you can just press on the straps or you can support from underneath if that's better. Yeah, I work way better if I've moved. I don't know about you. I can already think I've got ideas brewing. Can I'm, I'm focused too. So we come back. Uh, I'm gonna have us come out of this, so just take your feet out. I'm just going to drop the straps for now in the back and let's just come up for knee stretch that come on off. I'm going to leave the two that I have on, I think, but this might be one that you want to add one more to really feel it. If, especially if you don't do this exercise a lot, it's a knee stretch.

So stepping onto your reformer feet right up against those shoulder blocks as best you can. Line up the heel right with it. It's really tempting to be forward of it. And you might have two for now, but do your best to get back there. I also like to bring my bar closer again and I'm on two. So sitting back almost right on your heels. If you can. You scooped the valley, lift up, put some weight into those hands and really get a good grip. I've got my thumb wrapped. Looking down. We're gonna push the carriage out, right? Oh that's so good. It's so late.

It's going to be tough to pull it back and we're, here it comes. I'm excelling in. The emphasis really is in, it's pushing up, pulling in all sides, working here. But let's focus on the end primarily for now. You can go faster, but you got to control that core pool. Push poor. Keep the spine pretty still.

Okay. Next time, come all the way in. Same exercise, but in a flat back position. So you go, you really do have to stick that tailbone out. You might need to push back a little. If you're taller than me and we push and pull. Same thing.

Trying not to move the spine from where it starts. You might be able to extend a little further. [inaudible] hinge at the hip, hands at the hip. Let's do three and two and one stay in from there. We're going up into that of stretch.

Lifting the heels just partway up is a great chance to look at them. See if you're rolling in or out trying for your ears right between your upper arms. In this version we pushed back just a little and we pull it back in. Careful on that push back of the legs engaged and then the abs pull it back and actually it's more than that, but I like to almost think like the cords are doing the work and I'm just making it easier on the chord by lightening and lifting through the ABS and hip flexors. [inaudible] [inaudible] that's a pretty key piece of this, but let's go into what we call upstretched too. From this sort of pyramid like shape, you're going to rotate around the shoulders as you push yourself into a plank chest, basically over the bar XL, bring it back so the trunk is going to move quite a lot.

The arms are not, boom, hit it and pull it back. Exhale and Paul and push. I think I keep forgetting my head. I hope you're not. Make sure you actually bring your head with your spine. One more time and we'll stay back up out in plank or boy, come forward as much as you can. Now you're, I'm wishing I had that bar further away. Push back. That's your inhale. Exhale.

You can reverse that breath. It might be easier. Exhaling out, but [inaudible] boy, it's making you work. He those heels on the shoulder blocks. I love it. All right, come down to your knees. Feet still back at the shoulder box. Okay. He says you can't work out at home or office. Here we go. This one, if we were back here in knee stretch, I like to kind of start it there actually cause I get that scoop, the Tuck.

I don't lose that. I'm still trying for that. Even though it appears as though I've gone into the opposite. I'm still thinking pubic bone toward my sternum. I'm lifting up tall, push with the legs and the arms and everything just pulls back in and up, pushing back and up, pushing back, especially when you come forward. Keep pushing the heels into the shoulder blocks right there, right there, right there. Lift one more and up. Hold it in. Hold it in. Can you come up to the fingertips? Lift the arms up, heels back, crusty and release.

Step off to the far side. [inaudible] knee comes on, so I've just moved over to the backside. Should say foot up against the shoulder. Block one foot forward. We could take a spring off. Don't, I don't think it's necessary. Remember how we did the down stretch and we tuck the pelvis to get into it.

I think that here again, push with the legs. I feel the back of the leg. Do you? Then once you're there you can go a little further. So long as you don't collapse in the back. Looking for that stretch and that hip flexor, that front side, maybe a little on the other side as well in terms of the butt and you're lifted, right? You do need, you do want to hold on, but you're not relying on it from here. Now how much is gonna Change?

There'll be maybe a little hard to see on this head, but I'm just pushing the forward leg, just straight. I hinge forward a little bit and I flex the foot. That's not critical, but probably easier arm, just straight. Theoretically hips square. And if you don't feel the hamstring, my suggestion would be to come in a little closer. Tilt the tailbone up higher maybe even then the forward knee, it's not so much about the straight leg as it is the final position of the pelvis in relationship to the femur or your upper leg. All right, let's just walk around to the other side and do it there too.

Oh, not going to get distracted by that. Okay, so foot forward, struggling to get my back foot secure there. So there it is. Then again, the sense of biasing the pelvis forward and up so that when I go into the extension, I feel that for me, the side, the knee and leg on the reformer and it's that you know the two way stretch you hear about in Palatka is often as the lower body or than leg goes one way. Everything from pelvis and up is going the other, at least in my attempt. Okay breathing, they're letting it go. You can kind of play with it a little should feel good, feel useful. This is where I started to straighten the front leg about halfway from me.

I have to start thinking of that tilt to the pelvis again almost in the opposite direction, flexing it, looking for the stretch through the back of the leg. Arms are straight [inaudible]. If you need more you can go more. But if you find yourself doing the splits, it's sort of a different exercise and probably not well, it's certainly not what I'm queuing and you should be able to find it no matter who or how flexible you are here. So I would look for that and then go for splits if you prefer. Okay. So before we get too caught up in continuing on, let's get our long box. We'll do a little bit of back extension now.

Been kind of front centered. It's a little arms inside and be done. So go ahead and grab your box. Okay. Somebody I learned on this is if I leave my bar where it was, it's going to be too high and I'll, it'll throw my position if I take it off. Totally. I tend to skip the exercise because I'm usually, so what I'm gonna do is just lower it to the lower position and now my leg should go over that. It's close. I'll have to list them a little, but that's good for me because I tend to get lazy on this.

I'm leaving two springs on and that that has a lot to do with how the carriage just feels for me in the studio I might do one that's a common, a common thing. So we're going to lay face down, chest, just near the front edge. You're going to clear that bar. And then for me, I still like that I can grab probably just above the buckle that may work. I'll try that. If not, I'm going to wrap a little higher. In fact, I'm going to wrap a little hair. I know I tend to like it that way, so I just wrap my hands around a little more. It's up to you. Okay, so what I like about this is when I can put my feet on the foot part of start, I actually pushed down with my quads and top of the foot a little bit. Then from there, I know my hips are in the box. I can float the legs, but there's still that energy arms are straight. I'm not lifting the back yet.

I'm just connecting collarbones to the shoulder blades and polling. Trying not to drop into the, well, here's the hard part on some of these machines is you got to stay connected with that dance. You've got to really keep reaching down so the carriage still move for the wise. You get stuck up there, right Paul and rich and return. You can either stay here or as you pull, look forward, start to look up. It's not about a lift as much as it is a curve to that upper thoracic spine, the upper back forth. It's not just from the neck.

I even like depressed my sternum into the box as I'm trying to look forward and go forward. It just takes it out on my low back and keeps it where I want it. Upper back. Can we do one more please and come down from there. I'm going to unwrap my hands. If you didn't wrap yours to begin with, you might hold a little lower. Take your again, I'm pushing the thighs down, belly up, arms to at sea and we are taking those little fingers to the hips or even further over the over them.

Okay. Same thing. You got to go wide wingspan. If you expect to move that carriage. I'm not lifting the chest by the way, or I'm not trying to anyone trying to keep it all flat for this one. [inaudible] keep the wrists hands facing down. Try not to turn them as you pull. We can do two more.

[inaudible] one more. Here we go. [inaudible] and burring it. All right, I'm going to set them down just in the middle for the moment to get rid of the box. Okay, well head into a little arm work. So let's do arms, kneeling, keeping my same two chords, not a lot of changing going on. This is one of those ones that I think you can get so much out of whether you are on the floor or on a reformer. So the way I've learned to really think about this is to push those quads into the shoulder or knees. If you're on a regular reformer, regular meaning what we would call a studio reformer, then you need to collect yourself cause you want to keep those shoulders over the knees too. And that's where it gets a little tricky, right?

Again on the floor or not, it might fall. So stay under control. Nice. Long arms almost locked out completely. And as you start to pull, think I'm bringing my collarbones back and forward. Maybe just a little in front and this same thing collarbones back. Now if I just let go, I'm in trouble, especially with bungee cords, so I'm going to read down, go forward. It's not so much of a, Oh, my shoulders need to lower more. I don't think it's just an energetic like, right. It's a different thing than a spring that I'm used more used to.

So you got to work this machine rather than let it only work. Yeah. Okay. I honestly find that to be quite fun. Yeah.

So Tom McCook talks a lot about the collarbones initiating, I think there's initial pool, but then once I'm gonna try and fold my arms behind me, I've learned now to think color, balance, and then my arms, although they take the brunt of it, they don't have to work so hard. I get more out of it and I'm enjoying it. So I were doing some money. How about one more thinking the collarbone. [inaudible] good. Turn yourself around. I'm going to suggest we try it with these two might be too heavy for that.

I just don't want us to fall. Let's just try it. So feed up against the shoulder rest. Yeah, that's okay. As long as you're aware. It's the same idea. If my, if those a shoulder restaurant in front of me, I'm still thinking thighs up against it and I want to pick back dangerous position to be up above. If you can get the arms overhead, do and then come down the side without wide wingspan. We did it in the long box exercise. [inaudible] when you get back down to the front, and this one's a little trickier on every reformer, keep your hands a little bit in front of you.

The carriage may or may not move right away, but you're going to come and walk right out to the side. It's really tough right there. Get overhead, turn the palms up and come down the front. Control that coming down the front, finding the balance so it looks easy. What is that going to mean for you? Okay. Make sure they don't get behind you. It's so tempting to get going and then they're back here and it's just, it's just, there's nothing good about that to mine.

Stay up at the top. On this one. I'm basically putting my thumb and index finger together like so from there. Do not lean forward but shave the back of your head. Try to stay up bright. It's not going to be easy on this one and if you need to, the hands can go a little forward but not the body. Okay.

Yeah, and I'm thinking of those collarbones they're still wide. They don't really change [inaudible] well that's when you might want to drop to one, but if you do be careful of as it be a significant difference. One more time when you get to the top carefully let them come down and behind you. For this one I'm a little forward a little bit. You may not have to, but I don't want Martin Spring and I don't. I want a full range so that's why I did that. Now I'm thinking shins into the mat and elbows are nice and high behind you.

Let me get back into that. Avoiding rolling those shoulders forward. I'm still in that wide collarbone position. Still imagining my knees against the shoulder blocks, arms as high as I can get them, and now bring that form in. Control it as you take it back out. Try to stop before the elbows drop. In other words, if you're watching, if you're going to pull in and drop the elbows, you'll be here all day long, if not longer. Rather, keep it up.

Keep the stretch through the chest and pex and just work the bicep in that same dance or infinity sign of energy going both ways. Almost like you're pushing back and then pulling forward and pushing back. Keeping those elbows is directly behind you as possible rather than to the side corners of the room. Let's do a few more so you feel [inaudible] if you've lost the middle of your body, just kind of not as fun, so, okay. Do you feel that the glutes are connected to the back of the legs? Ha. Love it. How about one more and by law? Okay. Carefully. You can just drop those behind you.

Let's do a lot of mermaid and finish it out like that. Something Nice and pretty. This one again. I'm going to try it with the the two. It feels quite manageable. I'm on the bar, I'll leave it. You could go higher, but it'll just mean I pushed further. I'm happy the Shin right up against the shelter blocks and use that as that anchor, right? So it's not just chilling, but I'm pushing into it and it, it just creates a really nice, again, two way stretch. So the way I'm doing it, my hands about middle of the bar, maybe slightly back, and we go from underneath that shoulder.

You're pressing it. Just finding a long line hold that rotate the spine. This is where that anchor of the uh, lower leg really helps reopen. Carriage hasn't moved and come back up with a subtle press down at the bar. Take it out.

[inaudible] keeping your head in line as best you can. As I rotate, I use that lower leg as my anchor. So not all the weight is in that forward arm. Okay. And up and I'll turn stay here. So that was three, right? Stay here. Put both hands on the bar. You're gonna probably need to pull that first arm on the bar a little further out so you're more, even now, it's a downward pressure of the bar.

As you look forward as you allow the spine to almost lead the way up, still anchoring through that Shin in the back and go back down. Just one more. Pushing down when you can in the middle of the hand, pushing the Shin into the shoulder blocks, looking up, finding some enjoyment. Hopefully go back out the hand in the back. The one that was originally close to the middle of moves back to the middle. You reopen, come back up, hold that shoulder block. If yours is like mine, it comes off easy.

So careful up. Sit into that hip as much as you can and just stretch true. Ah, I decided I can't turn the reformer cells in a minute. [inaudible] Shin against it. I, I have a small, you know, I flex my foot to hook around us. I'm not really pulling with it, but there it is handy sorta near the middle.

You're as upright as possible. Shoulders down and off we go. We start to slide the carriageway, the other arm goes up to that diagonal line. When you're ready, you're anchored at the lower leg. You rotate to the level you can. It doesn't have to touch, reopen to the side position and up you come with a little pressure down on that foot bar. Again, pressing out, rotating. You don't need to go so low that it's all in your armpit, right? You need to feel like your arm is connected to the back.

Really and up one more like this, pressing out, rotate, [inaudible] reopen. And after the next one we'll add on. We've press [inaudible], we rotate, we adjust that arm that was already on the bar a little further back. So then now when we come in, as we look forward in both arms, remain straight. You can find a little rotation in back extension. Push back out, maybe get low enough that the ears match the upper arms, maybe not that low. It's up to you and look forward.

It's as if the carriage is coming in because the spine is just bending. Go back out that first arm heads toward the middle of the bar. Again, you re open, come back in and up, find something to hold on to carefully arm straight as you can, retreat, reach settling into both hips as much as possible, and then take the side bend at least. And if you're not facing me and I'm not facing any of that, so weird way to end class. So I'm going to face you and say thank you so much for joining me. Thanks for using your Arrow Palazzos and it's no different. Enjoy it. Use It, and let's do it again. Thanks.

Comments

3 people like this.
Excellent cueing! Such a serene atomsphere ; a beautiful view to take a class ! Thank you, Kristi!
2 people like this.
It was great to see you today, I’ve missed your classes! Also liked seeing you on that reformer and talking about the differences and similarities. Really enjoyed the class, your cueing is so good! Would love to see another one from your office.
1 person likes this.
I would have to say you have one of the best offices I’ve ever in my life seen! I had a flood in my home office/ Pilates studio and I’m so sad! Working hard to get things put back together. Thank you Kristi for a great class!
Really nice class, Kristi. It's good to have you back with a new class. Love your cueing! Love your view!
1 person likes this.
Thank you! Loved this. I have this reformer in my home and enjoyed seeing it here as well! ❤️
1 person likes this.
Kristi you’re no nonsense approach resonates with me Three words describe this....I LOVE THIS!🥼🤸🏼‍♀️🤸🏼‍♀️🤸🏼‍♀️
Thank you all so much for joining me in my office! It was hard for me to watch this one (they're all hard to watch actually ) for the simple fact that it felt so much more intimate having you with me in a more private setting. With the help of your feedback, I can say with certainty that I really enjoyed filming it this way. I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed it too! I plan to do more classes using the Aero Reformer. I may pull it into the studio for the next one, but happy to hear you wouldn't mind if we meet again in the office! Thank you!
PS: There is not a day that goes by that I don't appreciate that view or consider myself lucky for getting to work in this building.
Connie, I'm sorry to hear about the flood in your home office. I can't imagine what that would be to recover from. Wishing you the best as you put the pieces back together. Thank you for taking the time to take my class in the midst!
1 person likes this.
I love you cueing,
1 person likes this.
Always love seeing you move, Kristi! You never cease to inspire me. More Kristi, please! Really like the office set too.
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