Class #2989

Reformer Workout

70 min - Class


Get ready to sweat with this challenging Reformer workout by Courtney Miller. She fuses the elements of fitness and yoga with Pilates to create a HIIT sequence that will work your entire body. This is the first part of a three-class series that she used to regain her strength, flexibility, and sanity after having a baby.
What You'll Need: Reformer

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Hi, I'm Courtney Miller and I have designed a very challenging, yet very fun, I hope you'll agree with me, series of three classes and I've used these formats for myself and my own body at my home for my personal practice to help me regain my strength and my flexibility and my sanity, most importantly, after having a baby. So, I love to do Pilates and I also love to do yoga and I love to do fitness classes, however, postpartum, it was hard for me to get out of the house and it was hard for me to get away from my baby for long enough to do all those things that I love to do. But I do have a reformer at home and so do you. That's why you're watching this. So, I infused all of these elements from workouts that I know work so well for my body using the reformer.

So, this is a fusion class and these series of exercises will infuse elements of yoga and fitness. For this particular workout, you do not need any props but it is hard, so you need a towel. You're gonna sweat. And you need some water and you're gonna take breaks as you need to and you're gonna listen to your body and make modifications and you'll see me making modifications as well, cuz' this is a work in progress. My rehabilitation postpartum is a work in progress.

But I will say that I did not experience diastasis recti so, I am going to be doing some core exercises. If you are postpartum or there's a reason why you shouldn't be doing some of the exercises in this series, like flexion or jumping, I will give you other things to do. Alright, let's get started. So, I'll put the towel down. I'm setting up for my bilateral footwork.

That's my footwork where I'm pressing with both legs, so, choose the springs that you normally choose. I have three springs on. You'll also want a sticky pad. You'll see how I put this pad down. That's where my tail bone's gonna go and that's for the next series.

So, take a seat when you're ready. Adjust your headrest for your needs and lay down and get comfortable. Shoulders are snug against the shoulder blocks. Tail bone is heavy, ribs are closed. And abdominals are drawing in and up.

Hands are down, chest is open, feet are hip distance apart in parallel position. Heels are on. Exhale to push out to straight legs. Pause for a moment, ensure those vastus are engaging, so you're drawing out through the patella, dropping down through that pubic bone, feeling length through the front body and inhale to return to come home. Here we go, exhaling to press, inhaling, resist.

Knees are traveling right over the mid feet. So, this is your warm up, so let's take this opportunity to get into our breath and into our body and find that connection. Feel your hands and fingers and feel your wrists into the mat. Feel your chest open and your abdominals engage with each exhale. I want you to push all the out to straight legs.

Not 92% straight, but all the way because we are activating the muscles around the knees in preparation for some jumping coming up. On the next one, we'll come half way in and pause. Pivot both feet towards one side, so I'm pivoting my knees, ankles and feet to my right, but my hips are staying level. Pressing out and resisting in. Now, you could use a ball between the inner thighs here.

If you're having problems keeping your thighs parallel, then a prop like a ball will help you with that. Press all the way out and in. I'm visualizing a ball there. Pressing all the way out and exhale and inhale to come in. I'm doing about 10 repetitions per variation here.

Knowing that this class will have some elements of powerful movements that are gonna get us sweating, so, sort of the calm before the storm in preparation for those big powerful movements. Come all the way in, pivot on the feet, turning the knees to the other side and pressing out on your exhale. Now, it does take some mind body connection here to make sure that those knees are traveling right over the mid feet when you're on a diagonal. You'll have to press that opposite hip bone down into the mat so that you feel level and stable through both seats, both sides of your seat. Exhaling to press and inhaling to come in.

Again, about 10 repetitions here, focusing on pushing all the way out, creating length and creating heat. Right here, right above the knee. That's 10 there. Come all the way in and take the toes on. All 10 toes, pinkies, too.

I'm still in parallel. I'm still at hip distance. The breath changes. Inhale to press, exhale to lower the heels. Get a stretch.

Inhale to lift and exhale to come in. Next time, two of each. So, I push all the way out and come in. I push all the way out and hold. Two, tendon stretch.

Heels go under and heels go under. You guessed it, next time three. So, I press and exhale, pull. Two and hold for three. Heels go under all the way.

Enjoy that stretch. We have to warm up the ankles and feet for this class. And come all the way in four times. All the way up. See if you can really connect that breath with your movement here.

You should feel compression through the front body and a hollowing out of the abdominals on the exhales. Four times, we lower and lift the heels. Take this chance to widen those collar bones, maybe you're just rounding those shoulders a little bit. Five times we press out. This is the end, so all the way out.

Five. Four. Three, exhaling yourself back in. Two and five tendon stretch. Heels go under.

They lift up. Five. Four. Three. Two and one.

Nicely done. From here, we push halfway out and hold. One heel goes under as the other heel stays up. Switch the heels without moving the carriage. Lift and lift.

For me, I have to pay special attention to make sure that I'm A, articulating through my feet and B, keeping weight onto the big toe and the baby toe. My body wants to roll my weight toward the baby toe side of my foot, so I have to work really hard to find that pressing, that heaviness through the big toe that connection through the inner thighs. Let's do two more. Press and press. Heels are high, push all the way out and bend to come in.

Hopefully, you're feeling warm, I am. Let's take the feet wide. Toes are still on, finding your second position. Heels are high. Press all the way out and exhale to return, five times.

We're gonna repeat the sequencing that we did in the reverse order. So, we start with five and we work our way down to one. There it is, heels go under and heels lift up. Now, every time the heels lift, I'm thinking about my inner thighs spiraling outwards and this is starting to fire into those external rotators, my seat. Heels stay high, bend and come in four times.

Push all the way out. Another thing to think about here is the heels coming in towards the midline. Notice my feet aren't moving but as I press out, there's a tugging sensation happening where I'm pulling my heels towards my midline and it's helping me to fire into my inner thighs. That's four, bending the knees. Now, I press out three times.

One, straight legs. Heels hugging in. Two and three, heels go under and up three times. Two and three. Two times, all the way out, one and two, heels go under.

Lift them, tighten that tummy, and singles, press, lower, lift and come in. Press halfway out again. Keep the carriage steady. Lower one heel down. Switch the heels, switch.

Now, in this class, we're gonna be doing a lot of weight transfer, going from standing on two legs to standing on one, or kneeling with four points on the carriage and lifting one or two of those points off. So, right now, I want you to think about finding your center. Your center of gravity right below your belly button. It travels all the way through your body to your lower back. Feel that tightening, like a little ball of energy.

And notice as you move your feet, or you move your arms, that this energy stays strong. This is where all of our movement is gonna come from. This is where our balance is gonna come from. Heels are up, push all the way out. And resist to come in.

Move down away from the shoulder blocks and let the legs hang over the footbar. Now, it doesn't have to hit you in any particular area, behind the knee or on the calf is fine, but do push the legs heavy into the footbar. Don't let them rise up. Taking your arms out to a letter T, heavy your legs into the footbar, nod your chin towards your chest. That's an inhale.

On an exhale, the arms go under the footbars, you flex forward. Forehead towards the knees, scoop the belly. Inhale, roll half way back, so the hands can clear the bar and exhale, push down with the legs as you roll down. We're gonna do that a few more times. Inhale, the arms come in, the chin nods, exhale, flex the spine, roll forehead towards the thighs.

You can stay here and breathe, guys. This is an awesome time to just chill. So, breathing lateral and posterior. That means into the back and sides of the body. Okay, but I'm gonna keep going, so rolling down and exhale, resisting.

Now, I'm doing this not just to warm up my abdominal muscles, {breath whooshing) but to sort of turn off, if you will, the muscles in my hips, because of the work I was just doing, the foot work, and because we all sit a lot, these muscles right here, they want to work and what I'm trying to tell my body is these muscles right here, they have to work. By pushing the legs heavy into the footbar, I'm activating more through the back of my body in hopes that the front of my body can chill out. Those hips can turn off. One more time, nodding the chin, exhale, flexing, scooping to come up and this is also a great time to make a spring change. So, I'm taking one spring off.

I had three, now I've got two. Take your time as you roll back down. And you're all the way down again. Now, you've moved away from the should blocks. This is good.

You've got your sticky pad, so you're not gonna slide around. So, these are two important things. If you don't have those, go ahead and grab those now. Taking your feet back onto the footbar, feet are hip distance apart, parallel position, heels are high. The spring tension is reduced.

Inhale, press all the way out. Drop the tailbone down, nodding your chin towards your chest, exhaling to curl up. Now, I want the tips of the shoulder blades to remain on the carriage. The tummy to stay flat and compressed. You can even use the tips of your fingers to help your shoulders stay in alignment.

Bend to come in, exhale to push out. Now, let's just take a second to observe what's happening in our bodies. So, in this position, when you're lifted up, you can make some corrections. What do you see at your ankles? Can you keep the heels high as you push all the way out?

What do you see happening around the mid section? Do you see a lifting or a bulging of the abdominal muscles. If you do, work a little bit harder to find that Pilates breath. Exhaling the air out to feel compression. Last time like this.

(breath whooshes) Come halfway in and freeze. One leg goes over the footbar, hands go behind the head to support the neck as we press out, we bicycle the leg. So, find that nice table top position. As we come in the leg straightens. Five repetitions here, guys.

Two. Exhale, three. Four and five, hold. The leg goes up. The arm opposite to the leg goes up, crosses and it's as if we're gonna saw off that ankle.

We're gonna add a little lift. Inhale to return in five times. One and (breath whooshes) two. Are you straightening your pressing leg all the way? Hope so, of course you are.

Three. (breath whooshes) Four and five, now hold this position. Lower your shoulders, lower your chest and work to lift up a little bit higher five times. Two. Three Four.

Five. The leg stays up, the head goes down. Inhale, returning the carriage home. Now, if you've moved into those blocks, come away a little bit. The head stays down for this.

This is more about finding stability in the pelvis. Carriage presses out as the leg lifts. It opens a little and it swings back to center. One leg circle. Inhale and exhale.

Press that opposite hip bone down. In. (breath whooshes) Out. Five reps here. Last time in this direction.

(breath whooshes) Reverse. Press as you circle, swing. Lower. Press. Less is more sometimes.

Don't go too wide. You have to keep that opposite hip down, so that is your limiting factor. Last time like this. And in, press all the way out. Hold.

Nod your chin towards your chest. Look at your thigh, grab a hold of it. Think of your tree on the reformer. You'll use your thigh and your abdominals to climb your tree. Flex both feet, plantarflex.

Flex and point. Keeping the hips square and the shoulders down. Two more. One. (breath whooshes) Leg goes down.

Arms go down, you go down. And we do the whole thing again on the other side. Before we get there, though, let's readjust. Both feet stay on. Go ahead and press out.

Nodding the chin, flex up. Scan your body. Let's go in and out five times, so we can find that symmetry, that balance. (breath whooshes) Pushing to straight legs, keeping the heels lifted, pubic bone drops away from the chin to create length. Abdominals working to compress the front body and three dimensionally.

Nicely done. Come halfway in. Hands go behind the head. Support the neck. Leg extends, this is the opposite leg now.

As you press out, the knee will bend. Find a sharp movement. So, hopefully you saw that correction I just made. So, that's kind what my body wanted to do, but because I was up here and I could see that, I was able to drop out of that hip a little bit. Bad hip.

Here we go guys, exhale. Inhale, reach, five times. (breath whooshes) The pushing leg is working, too. So, don't forget about that. All the way out.

And press. (breath whooshes) Send the leg to the sky, send the opposite arm up. Lift and twist towards the leg. Your goal is to saw off your ankle. Inhale, it sweeps down.

Exhale up, lift. And up. (breath whooshes) Inhale down, exhale up. Both legs are straight at that moment that you lift and twist. On the next one, hold.

(breath whooshes) You go up. Five. Four. Three. Two.

One and the leg stays up but you go down. The carriage comes home as the leg lowers. Inhale, press, open. Exhale, in. Inner thighs, finding the midline.

Inhale. (breath whooshes) Exhale. Inhale. (breath whooshes) Exhale. If you're not sure what the hips are doing, put your hands on them.

You will find out right away. And exhale. Reversing, so you go wide when you press out. Pull using the hamstrings. Wide, pull.

Three. (breath whooshes) Two. (breath whooshes) And one. (breath whooshes) Press out, hold. Nodding your chin towards your chest, lifting into flexion, take the hands behind the thigh.

So you are using the hands to assist. Press your foot into the footbar. Using a combination of the abdominals and the upper body, climb to the top of your tree. Flex both feet, point, five times. (breath whooshes) Pull the stomach away from the thigh.

(breath whooshes) Shoulders down. (breath whooshes) And press. Leg goes down, hands go down, you go down. And the carriage comes all the way in. Well done.

That was just our warm up. We're in trouble. Okay, coming up to a seated position. So, this class infuses what's called High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT and that's what we're about to do. These are gonna make you sweat.

They're great, they're hard. Let's just get them over and done with. So, what I'm gonna have you do is leave the springs that you have on. Put the footbar down one or two notches, so that your platform is accessible to your hands in preparation for the next move. The carriage is stabilized.

You'll come up to a standing position. You'll now see why it is that we did all that work in the feet and the knees to create warmth. So, carriage hops. One foot is on the carriage, one foot is on the floor. The goal here is to stay low.

So, press into your heels. You're gonna be using your seat. You'll lift the body, placing both feet onto the carriage just for a moment in time and the other foot will then come onto the ground. Except, we have to go a little quicker than that. It is gonna get our heart rate up.

Let's get started. We go up and over. Exhale to lift, (breath whooshes) inhale to lower. About 10 repetitions, but you might have to build up to it. Notice as I land, I'm going toe, ball, heel.

Notice as I spring up, that movement is reversed. Heel, ball, toe. Just like the jumpboard, (breath whooshes) Three. Two and one. (breath whooshes) If you're breathing heavy, you did it right.

The next part of this is zero springs. Now, I do not use the reformer very often with zero springs. You could always sub out the zero for one yellow which I may do halfway through. Carefully, place your hands onto the platform and your knees onto the carriage. Walk your knees towards the front edge of the carriage.

We're doing eight, what I call zero gravity pikes. Cuz' it feels like you're weightless. Maybe it's the opposite. Lifting up to your plank position, scoop the belly, pulling the carriage forward. Inhale as you lengthen out.

That's one. Exhale, scoop. (breath whooshes) That's two. Elbows are soft. Pulling the feet forward.

Now, if you'd like this to be harder, simply walk your toes towards the front edge of the carriage. I am not doing that. Exhale, lift. Remember, option to be on a yellow spring. Exhale, lift.

Inhale, one more time. Exhale, lift. Inhale out. Carefully lowering the knees down and right away, add a spring. I've added one red spring.

The third part to this is a modified pushup. Hands are onto the footbar, shoulder width apart, feet pressing back against the shoulder blocks. Press out into your long plank position. Wrap the fingers so the wrists are elongated. Inhale, the chest gets low.

Exhale as you press out. So, consider these pushups more about the movement forward and back, than the up and down. Here is the good news or the bad news. Depends how you look at it. We repeat this set three times.

So, the whole thing three times. Yes, I think it's good news. Inhale, exhale, press. (breath whooshes) Eight here. Two more.

(breath whooshes) And one more. (breath whooshes) Now, you do get to rest in between sets. That might be a time to towel off. Get a little sip of water, but try to keep your rest short. 10 seconds is all you need.

I'm adding a spring to stabilize the carriage and here we go again with those carriage hops. One foot is on, one foot is off. Get low and work to stay low. Lift up, switch the legs. When you're ready to go to tempo, go for it.

Up and over. Exhale to lift. (breath whooshes) Send the hips back, but keep the heart lifted. Land light, so listen to your landing. You should hear nothing.

Land like a cat. (breath whooshes) Three. Two. One. (breath whooshes) Done.

They do not get easier, but it's fun. This is good times, okay. So, we've got our zero gravity pikes. When you're ready to have no springs, make sure you're holding onto the platform, so you do not go floating away into outer space. Hands are on, curl the toes under, lift the hips.

Eight times. (breath whooshes) Inhale out. The trick here guys is to really try to use the core, not the hips. The head goes down and you round the spine like an angry cat. Don't just think about the booty going up and down.

Two more here. (breath whooshes) One more. (breath whooshes) Carefully lower down and right away add a spring. Once the spring is on, you can take your hands off. You're good to go.

Modified push up, whoo whoo. Hands go on, feet go back, shoulders in a strong position. Press the knees back first, so we're in that hip extension. Push the chest back and go for it. So, when we do these circuits of the high interval, high intensity, excuse me, interval training, just remember, they're short, yeah.

And in between them, we'll do reformer flows that compliment the work, but work different muscles. So, if you are feeling so tired, this is so hard, you can do it. Because it's only a short time. It's just a burst of energy. Bend and come in.

Okay, third round. This is the best round. So, we add a spring to stabilize the carriage. It doesn't matter which ones you're adding. I just have two springs on so it doesn't wiggle under my feet.

Foot goes down. Sooner we start, sooner we move on. Stay low, sit back. Use your seat. Up and over.

(breath whooshes) Do what feels natural with your arms. I think I come into a prayer position because I'm going to a happier place. Up and over. Up and over. Anything works here, guys.

(breath whooshes) Keep the chest open, land light. (breath whooshes) Three. Two. One. Whoo.

Here we go. Last set of these zero gravity pikes. No springs on unless you're modifying. In which case you'd have a quarter spring or a yellow. Walk those knees very close to the front.

Curl your toes under. Plank. Pike. To make it harder, the feet come forward. Plank.

(breath whooshes) Pike. Elbows are soft. Now, notice this is not about speed. So, we are bringing our Pilates principles of alignment and form and control into this fusion exercise. (breath whooshes) Two more, shoulders on fire.

Abs on fire. One more. (breath whooshes) Nice. Taking the knees down. I'm adding one spring, one red, for my modified pushups.

Heels of the hands are on. Feet are back. Hips are open. Press back. Stay low, keep the elbows narrow.

And push. (breath whooshes) Shoulders are wide. Chest is lifted. Inhale bend, exhale press out, eight times. And you may have to build up to your maximum repetitions.

It's more important that you maintain a high level of quality of movement. So, if you start with a lower number and work your way up to eight or ten reps, perfect. One more. (breath whooshes) And bring it all the way in. Sit back, take a breather.

So, that is our first HIIT circuit. We've got two more to do. Am I glowing? I feel like I may be. Add a spring for a bridge series.

So, whatever you prefer to do your bridging on, perhaps it's a red and a blue. Perhaps it's two reds, and adjust your footbar. I like my bridge series in a midbar. Make sure your head rest is down because your hips will be coming up, and lie on down. Get comfy.

We will be mimicking some of our footwork variations while in this bridge. Now, my preference while doing a bridge, is to be away from the shoulder blocks. So, come on down. Heels will be on, feet hip distance and parallel position. My hair is sticking to my face.

I think that means, yes I am glowing. And I'm gonna do a little tweak on the position for the bridge, but let's get there first. Exhale, scoop the belly, pulling the pubic bone towards the chest. Contracting, shortening through the ribs. This is when you feel the sense of pulling the seat bones towards the feet.

Then you can articulate up. Now, what I feel like I really need in my body at this point is my life is some big time stretches through the front body. So, I'm actually gonna walk my hands underneath me and in, so my thumbs touch towards the center of the carriage. This is helping me open up my chest. Hips are staying lifted, ribs are staying closed.

I'm getting a little bit of a stretch through my forearms and through my pecs. Inhale as I press out, the hips will lower. Exhale as you lift up. (breath whooshes) Inhale, I'm looking for a long diagonal line. Shoulder, hip and ankle.

Exhale. (breath whooshes) Five, five repetitions here, guys. Five reps per variation. Now, this is a great series for the modern body which is so tight in the forearms and so restricted in the wrists, because of all the work we do on our tablets, on our phones. So, I encourage you to give it a try.

Keeping the hands in, start to articulate the spine down. You're literally lying on top of your hands, so your hips are pushing on your wrists. You can wiggle fingers. You can wiggle the hips side to side. Giving yourself a little bit of a massage through those forearms and through those wrists.

And you can wave to imaginary people, hello. Grab a hold of that footbar flex the spine, scoop and roll, come on back up. Building, adding on here. Prepare to put all of your weight on one leg. So, fire into that glute and hamstring.

Anticipate the challenge. Lifting one leg off. Keeping the hips level. Pressing the carriage out, I tap the footbar. Now, this is a good time to readjust if you've lost that balance and stability through the pelvis.

Exhale, lift back up. Five, so we inhale, exhale, one. Inhale, exhale, two. And this whole time, I'm getting a nice opening for my forearms and through my chest. Three, inhale and up.

Four, inhale and up, five. Now, stay in. You may have to narrow those elbows a little bit more. Take your hands off the carriage, place them on your hips. The leg that's up towards the sky, start to drop back towards your nose and what you'll notice here is you'll come into this natural, yeah, right, what's natural about this.

But it's a nice smooth progression into your bicycle. Switching the legs. (breath whooshes) Switching the legs, switching the legs. Switching the legs. (breath whooshes) Reverse.

(breath whooshes) Keep those hips level. Just have fun with it here, guys. This one works my brain. And finish with the opposite leg up. Reach for it.

You may not think it's there, but it is. Place the heel of the foot back on, take the hands onto the carriage, and you're ready for the other side. Pressing and exhale. Make sure you have the alignment of your stabilizing leg. Heel in line with booty.

Inhale, (breath whooshes) exhale. Inhale. (breath whooshes) Exhale. Tap, lift. One more time, tap, lift.

Narrow the elbows in you need to. Take the hands onto the hips. My microphone is right where my hand needs to be. Here we go. So, to get up, this leg, hello, needs to go back towards your nose.

You see how that shifts the body? And there you are, okay. Switch the legs. Reach down to the footbar to open through the front of the hips. Reach.

(breath whooshes) Reach. (breath whooshes) Elbows are narrow, shoulder width. Reverse. (breath whooshes) Tap and scoop. Scoop.

Scoop. Scoop. Last two. One. Reach for it, I promise you it's there.

Feels like it's not, but it definitely is. Take the hands down. Take both feet down. Exhale, massage your spine. One vertebra at a time.

All the way down and release. You may even wanna get a little stretch here, right. You've earned it because guess what's coming up. Another HIIT circuit. Here we go.

Help yourself come up, pivot, turn. You'll need one red spring on, or one full spring on for this series. Your footbar is gonna go all the way out of the way. You're not even gonna use it. In fact, I'm gonna get this guy totally gone.

Okay, what we will be using is our straps and you'll need both of them. Grab a hold of your straps, pull the carriage out so that you're standing in the well. Now, I just happen to choose the center spring, so I'm actually standing with my feet straddling the spring. I don't always do that. I just didn't even think about it.

If you've got a spring that's on one side, not a problem. Just stand slightly off, so the spring is not in your way. Your platform is sort of like your goal. It's also your emergency exit if you need to exit. Toes are pointing forward.

Feet are hip distance apart. I'm going to lean back, squat and row. Now this happens at the same time. I can feel my emergency exit, so if I need to rest, I can. Rise all the way up.

I go down, lean back. Press into the heels to come up. (breath whooshes) And lift. Inhale down and exhale up. So, this is upper body and lower body.

This is a whole body exercise. It should get your heart rate up. We're doing ten of them. (breath whooshes) Now, we do have an option to advance here. These are very challenging for me to do.

But I'm gonna show you where I'm goin' with it. So, one foot stays, the other foot lifts. Now, there's not a row involved here. I'm leaning back, the springs are assisting. I'm even drawing up through the arms a little.

(breath whooshes) I'm just gonna do three. That's my goal today. (breath whooshes) Leaning back so that the knee travels over the ankle versus over the toes. Lean, lean, lean, lean. And up.

(breath whooshes) Lean, lean, lean, lean, lean. (breath whooshes) And up. Now, you could do all 10 single leg if you wanted to. And up. But I'm not going to.

Carefully step out of the well first and then you can hook your springs on. The next part of the circuit is what I call Superman elbow tap. Leave that spring on. Come to a kneeling position. Feet are gonna be against the platform.

Shoulders down the back. I have my thumbs like an L position with my thumbs to the inside of the shoulder blocks. Press into a plank with the shoulders. Right above the wrists. Press out as far as your core can stabilize.

Elbows tap. Exhale, lift and pull it in. The hard part is to get both elbows to lift at the same time. Inhale. (breath whooshes) Exhale.

You pick your number. I'm doing six, (breath whooshes) so, I'm halfway done. Inhale. (breath whooshes) Exhale. Inhale.

Exhale. (breath whooshes) Inhale. And exhale. Bring it all the way in to rest. Nicely done.

Those are not easy. Alright, guys. From here, we're gonna stay in a low kneeling position. Grab a hold of your straps. Crisscross them.

Draw your elbows into your body. Lean forward. Externally rotate and bring it back in. Externally rotate and bring it back in. Now, this is just your practice down low.

Close those ribs, Courtney. Thank you. Exhale. To increase the challenge, rise up. My preference is to be back away from the shoulder blocks.

Sit the hips a little. Go back into that hinge. Use the core to help stabilize you here. Exhale, push. And press.

Three more. 10 in total. Two and one. The whole thing starts again. So, come off to one side.

Pull the carriage out and come on into the well, safely. Grabbing a hold. You're option, if you remember, was both feet down. Lean back, really lean. Shoulders are over hips.

Weight into your heels. Rise up. (breath whooshes) Rise up. (breath whooshes) Rise up. (breath whooshes) 10 in total.

Some of you are already doing the single leg version which I showed you. I'm just gonna do my last three single leg. Leg lifts, no row. I need the springs to help me, the straps to help me. That's one.

Sit low. (breath whooshes) That's two. Sit low. That's three. Switching legs.

These are tough. Lean back. Get your power from underneath you. Push into the floor. Drive that heel down.

(breath whooshes) Carefully come on out. Hook up your straps and get ready to become a superwoman or a superman, or a superhero. It's super, either way. Press out. Abs in.

So, I push as far as my core can stabilize the shape. Gently tap the elbows. Lift, pull. Try to life both those elbows the same time. (breath whooshes) I'm doing six.

You might do eight or ten or two. (breath whooshes) Up to you and remember that your ability will change the more you do the work out. Press. (breath whooshes) One more time. Press.

(breath whooshes) Bringing it all the way in. Stay low to modify. Cross those straps in front of you. Elbows narrow, pitch forward. External rotation.

(breath whooshes) Lift high. Walk it back. Tilt forward using the core. Those abdominals to help you balance. Pressing out.

Elbows are narrow and to the sides. They don't have to be touching your ribs. Pivot externally at the shoulder. Three more. Three.

Two. And one. Bring it in. We are not done, three sets. Whoo.

10 second rest in between. I'm gonna milk this one. Here we go, okay. We got this. Last one, easy breezy.

Feet are anchored. Here's your emergency exit. Hands are on, chest is open. We lean, sit and row all at the same time. And come up.

(breath whooshes) Here's something to think about. Even though your body's getting tired, your execution of each exercise should be better with each rep, with each set. Because your mind is getting sharper, cuz' you know it, right? So you mind takes precedence. Your mind is what is moving your body right now.

Don't worry about your body being tired. You can do it and you can do it well. Three times, single leg. I can do it and I can do it well. That's gonna be my motto for these three.

One. Whoopsie, I wasn't supposed to row. Two. (breath whooshes) Three. And up.

Lean back, get low. One. Two. (breath whooshes) Three. Yes.

Hooking up the straps. Put on your superhero cape. Hands on, press out. Last time. Press, bend, lift, pull.

Inhale. (breath whooshes) Exhale. Inhale. (breath whooshes) Exhale. Inhale.

Exhale, two more. (breath whooshes) One more. (breath whooshes) Bring it in, good. Cross the straps. I'm not gonna stay low.

I'm gonna go right up to the more challenging position. Pressing out. Controlling in. Exhale out. Wrists staying strong.

Press, really control that in. Five more. Four. Three. Two.

And one. And bring it all the way in. Easy, done. Next reformer flow. You hope it's not upper body, right?

It totally is, totally. Except it's not on a red. It's on a yellow. So, add your yellow, or your quarter spring first and delete your red. Okay, four point kneeling, facing front.

Here we go. My feet, I walk them back through the shoulder blocks, so they're resting here. Thus, my knees are not underneath my hips. They're narrower and that's kind of making it more of a challenge. Reach back, grab one strap for one hand.

Your stabilizing arm is a soft elbow. Shoulders are in a strong position because really, what's holding you up here guys, is your back and your core. It's important. Send the arm back behind you. On an exhale, bend your elbow.

Rotate the palm down and push forward. And you can go, da da da da. Bend and send it back. Bicep curl, reach. Inhale, send it back.

There is a progression here. If you'd like to move forward, you can decrease your stabilization points on the carriage by lifting the opposite leg off. Now, to do that, you'll see what happens. Sort of intuitive. You move your stabilizing knee underneath your pubic bone.

So that you can lift that leg. Inhale, now if it's lifted, make it purposeful. So, stretch it, reach it, lift it, engage the glutes. I'm doing six reps here. This is the end.

Just the superman. (breath whooshes) This is three. Four. And five. Now, you can keep your leg up if you'd like.

I'm taking mine down. Grab a hold. Forward reach. Straight arm. And down.

Pull those ribs in and up. Six repetitions per variation unless you're shooting for more or you're modifying by doing less, but keep count cuz' you've gotta do the other side. Last time. And rest. Okay, hold onto that strap, cuz' you're gonna need it.

Pivot and turn so you're side facing. I'm gonna come into a side balance position that looks like this. I don't know the name of it yet but here's what it looks like. Take your strap in your outside hand. Opposite hand is on the thigh to modify, or opposite hand is up high to make life more challenging.

The strap hand lifts, it goes up. It goes over and you can stretch. But you gotta come back by using your obliques and your lats. So, there's reward but there's also work. Up.

Over. Stretch. Up. Over. And down.

We'll do four. Up and over, so two more. And stretch. And pull. Getting back up is hard but worth the stretch.

Up and over. Stretch. And you can stay here. Hook your strap up. And we're gonna do the same thing, other side.

So, come back to four point kneeling. Springs have not changed. You just have the other strap. Take your time to get into your alignment. I'm telling you, it's so important here, is the shoulder positioning because it helps to co-contract the core unit that's gonna help you to stay balanced.

So, don't lock up the elbows, don't lift the shoulders. Send the arm back. Bicep curl. Push. Bicep curl, reach.

(breath whooshes) Head stays lifted in line with the spine. And if you remember, on the other side, you had the option to lift that other leg. Okay, find your stability first. And down. (breath whooshes) One more and then we're gonna just do the superhero reach.

As my fingertips go forward, my toes go back. Head is lifted. (breath whooshes) Two more. One more. (breath whooshes) I'm placing my knee down, just because.

You can keep yours up. Exhale, forward reach. Make a fist. Straight arm goes straight forward. Just a little wide so that you don't hit the rail.

Whole body work here, guys. Last two. And last one. Take it down. Don't let go of the strap.

Bring the carriage home as you pivot, turn. Come into your kneeling balance. And rise up. The strap goes into the outside hand. The inside hand can stay down.

This is gonna help or it can go up. It's gonna make life harder. The arm will lift. The arm will circle. You'll stretch and rotate to get this great little QL stretch.

Reach for those toes, even if you lose tension, that's okay. Lift up and through and circle around. Up. Over. Stretch.

Up. Over. Two down, two to go. Exhale. (breath whooshes) Elongate.

Inhale. One more time. Exhale up. Take it over. (breath whooshes) Inhale and take it down.

Well done. So, our heart rates have gone down. It's time for another high intensity interval training circuit, okay guys? So, for these ones, I'm gonna have you add a spring or two, so the carriage stays stable. I only had a yellow on there, so, I'm gonna add a yellow, or excuse me, add a red and a blue.

I took my yellow off. I just don't it wiggling around too much on me. I'm actually using the carriage as a mat. So, if you have one of those reformers that are all the way down onto the ground, this will work. This will be harder, but you could also place your long box on the carriage and use the long box to sit and roll onto, so you don't have to go so far down.

So, if you're using your box, go ahead and grab one now. I'm gonna lower down so that my shoulder blades are just hanging off the edge of the mat. Arms are forward and reach one leg long. Switch the legs. One, two, now the leg that's long is the one that goes on the ground.

I'm gonna use the carriage to help me rise up because I'm going slow. The arms come forward. I'll do it one more time slow. Sit, roll back, one, two, three. Notice how it's the other leg?

I'm gonna use the carriage and rise up. Little bit easier to get up without slowing it down. Let's try it at tempo. One, two, three, up, whoo. One, two, three, up.

(breath whooshes) You would be wobbly, too. It's all good. One, two, three, up. (breath whooshes) One, two, three, up. (breath whooshes) One, two, three, up.

One more set. One, two, three, and we're up. Well done, take a seat. Face towards the carriage. Again, we're using this as a mat, so the reformer's not moving at this time.

Arms are forward, legs lift up. Inhale, press towards 100-like position. Exhale up, it's called a V Sit. So, here I am in my V and down. (breath whooshes) (breath whooshes) 10 times if you've got it.

Four more for me. Straddle, it's kinda what you wanna do after that. Reach back, I'm reducing the spring tension, so I only have one blue on. Grab a hold of your straps. Elbows will be low and into the body.

Exhale, come into a bicep curl. Lift the elbows, lower them, send them long. Pull, lift them, lower them, reach them away. Make this postural work, too. Reach them away.

Really stack those shoulders over your hips. (breath whooshes) On the next one, leave the elbows high, reach them away, get lower in you plie and bring them in. (breath whooshes) Eight is my goal but my arms are feeling really shaky. (breath whooshes) Two. One.

Hook up the straps. Pivot turn, sit like a lady. 10 second break, add a spring. Here we go again. Roll back.

One, two, three, you're up. You're down. One, two, three, you're up. (breath whooshes) You're down. One, two, three, you're up.

(breath whooshes) And you're down. One, two, three, push down to rise up. One, two, three. (breath whooshes) Heart rates startin' to get there. One, two, three.

(breath whooshes) Two more sets. One, two, three. (breath whooshes) One more. One, two, three. (breath whooshes) You're down.

You're sitting. V Sit. Inhale down. To modify, keep the legs anchored. Full expression, send them out.

(breath whooshes) Not much I can say here, so hard. I just gotta breathe. Four. Three. Two.

One. The view of the ocean certainly helps. If you have one, I suggest you use it. Reduce the springs. One blue, five set series.

Stay low in that plie. Bend them in, lift them up, release. In, up. The up's the hard part. Up and down.

(breath whooshes) And down. (breath whooshes) One more here. Keep them up. Out and in. (breath whooshes) You can always lower that plie a bit.

(breath whooshes) Four more. Four, knees over toes. Reach up to the crown of the head. Two. One.

(breath whooshes) Hook up the straps. One more set. Add springs, the carriage doesn't move. Sit towards the edge. Remember, you can use the carriage to help you.

If you're starting to get a little tired, go for it. One leg extends out, arms hover. Three, two one. (breath whooshes) You're up. You're down.

Three, two, one. You're up. (breath whooshes) You're down. Three, two, one. You're up.

The cool thing is is these kind of get easier. (breath whooshes) You figure out where your foot needs to be. You figure out sort of that balance of where underneath you needs to be so you can propel yourself up. Switch, switch, switch. (breath whooshes) Switch, switch, switch.

(breath whooshes) Switch, switch, switch. (breath whooshes) One more time. Switch, switch, switch. (breath whooshes) You're down. Pivot, turn.

Last set of these. Inhale as you go low. Exhale up. (breath whooshes) Pulling the knees into the chest. Scooping the belly.

Four. Three. Two. One. Open it up.

Scooch back, reduce the spring. Grab a hold, stay low. In and up. (breath whooshes) And down. Up and down.

So your heart rate should be starting to elevate, especially on this last round of circuits. By the way, that was your last high intensity interval circuit. That was it, right here. We just gotta finish. Keep the elbows up.

Pull them in. Get low. (breath whooshes) Get your energy from underneath you. Press those heels down. Four.

Three. Two. One. Hook up the springs. Take a seat.

Ah, one last reformer flow. You don't even have to change your springs. Just a blue spring on. Head rest is in a down position. Laying down onto your back.

Again, my preference is to not have those shoulder blocks close to me. You need one strap. You need one foot and you connect them. Alright, guys, so you're on a blue which is super light and you only have the strap around one leg. So, this is all about core work and stability through the lower back and through the pelvis.

Pressing the legs out, push down with your hands. Bending the knees in. Using abdominals, not using momentum, you'll do a little reverse crunch, roll back down and push the legs out. Now, you'll know you're using momentum if you start to pull towards the spring. So, exhale.

Roll down the center of your spine and press. The lower you choose to send your legs here, the more abdominals will work. In and up and press. In and up and press. One more, we're gonna add on.

And press, okay. When the legs are long, you are up. You're arms are back. You've got long levers now. Four of them.

Curl up, keep the tummy flat, hands down. In and up. Hands up. (breath whooshes) Hands down, in and up. Hands up.

(breath whooshes) It's not about speed during these flows. It's about precision. Inner thighs will help your legs to stay tracking straight in line with your midline. So, if you don't feel 'em, squeeze those legs. (breath whooshes) And out.

One more here. (breath whooshes) Abs on fire. Take both feet into one strap. They're both in there, right? You will, we're doing cork screw, or a version of cork screw.

You'll start rolling toward the direction that you're strap's on. So, don't worry about left and right. Exhale, roll up onto your shoulder blades bringing the carriage quietly home. So, I have my left strap on, so my legs will tilt to my left. My hips will stay in line with my chest, so my booty's not going off to one side.

I roll down the left side of my spine, swing the legs down. Pause, look up. Are they in center? Your hips, your shoulders, your feet in line, good. Roll up the other side.

(breath whooshes) Now you can roll down the side you just came from. (breath whooshes) Swing them down. You can take that check if you want. And exhale up. (breath whooshes) Swing, articulate and roll.

So, this is about mobilizing your spine and you're using your body weight to get a little massage and to help articulate the spine one segment at a time. One more, roll down, left side. Keep those shoulders open. Center, roll up right side. (breath whooshes) Center, roll down right side.

(breath whooshes) Roll up the left side. (breath whooshes) Find your center, roll down center. Take the original foot, excuse me, leave the original foot in. Take the other foot out. If you can, find the floor.

You might have a spring in the way and just enjoy a little stretch here. Open it up, breathe. You made it, this is the end. So, just relax into it. Hips are heavy.

Leg is nice and straight. You did a lot of really great work today. A lot of core work. A lot of cardiovascular work. You can hold onto those shoulder blocks.

Let the leg open. Somethings that I like to do when I open the leg, is I take that leg on the floor and I put it to the outside of the frame, so I can get a little bit more of an inner thigh stretch. Breathe into it. Take the leg across the body. Play with the positioning of the foot.

So, sickle the foot in to create more length. Hip is down, hip is heavy. And let's switch sides, well done. So, it's just a blue. Easy to switch.

Or maybe not, here we go. Okay, opposite foot goes in. Now, here's a perfect example. Just because you've already done the series, doesn't mean that you can anticipate it to feel the same because we've got a whole new side of the body engaging now. So, let's just see where we are.

Press out, bend in a little roll. Roll down the center of the spine, press out. (breath whooshes) This side definitely feels less coordinated for me. I have to think about really staying in center. (breath whooshes) Inhale and press.

Remember that the lower you send those legs, the more your abdominals will work. Little roll and press. One more time. No momentum, just your muscles. Press, flex up.

Take the arms back. Inner thighs, that's a big one here. Hands come down, knees come in, you roll. Once the hips go down, it's safe to lift the head, neck and shoulders and curl up. Arms extend back.

(breath whooshes) And press up. In and press out. Definitely harder on this side. Press. (breath whooshes) In, press, alright, we'll say last words.

So, my brain power can be focused on not spinning and twisting. One more. (breath whooshes) Good, take both feet in. Lift up. (breath whooshes) Bringing the carriage home.

Shoulders are wide, arms are long. So, I will go towards the direction that the loop is coming through first. Roll down that side, so the right side of my spine. Sweep the legs on a diagonal through center and I like to check that my center is actually true center and then come up the left side. (breath whooshes) Go down the left and I'm really working the spine here.

So, I'm not trying to use the backs of the legs to push into the springs. I'm just allowing gravity and my muscles to assist on the way down and to facilitate the way up. Left side. Swing it around. (breath whooshes) Roll down the right side.

Keeping those hips centered with the shoulders. Left side. The lower the legs go, the more work you have to do. Last set. Right side.

Harder to articulate through my lower back on this side. (breath whooshes) And left side. (breath whooshes) Roll down through the center. (breath whooshes) Take your time. Keep the original foot in.

Foot can find the floor. Go for a nice little stretch. You can open the arms. Do what feels right for you. If you like the idea of getting that adductor or inner thigh stretch, you can take your leg to the outside of the rail.

Just gives you a little counter pressure. You can grab that arm, cuz' you're only on a blue. So, if you feel like you need to get a little bit more of an aggressive stretch within the window of appropriate, right, cuz' aggressive and stretching really should not go together. And then the leg can go across the body, hip stays heavy, sickle the foot so you feel length through that whole lateral line of the leg. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Think of all you've accomplished. A lot. Burned some serious calories. Rebalanced the body by doing a lot of asymmetrical work. Worked the whole body.

Arms, legs, core, everything. Got a good sweat on, or a good glow. This is the first out of these series of exercises that I do at home. So, there's three of them. You've made it.

Come back to this class over and over again. What you're gonna see is you will get stronger. The exercises will, not get easier but your body will be more capable of performing them and your repetitions can start to increase and you can start to have some fun with some new variations. The other two classes that go with this series compliment this work. So, I will see you in class number two.

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10 people like this.
AHHHMAZZZZING!!! I love this workout so much. We have an athletic clientele that will eat this up. Thank you Courtney for always bringing something new and challenging to the table. Love Love Love this.
5 people like this.
Thank you for bringing some fitness aspects into the work. Very creative and fun. Love it.
1 person likes this.
uaoooo sei tornata!!!!! grazie .. è sempre bello vedere le tue lezioni!!!!
3 people like this.
How amazing you look! You are such an incredible roll model for every young woman that wants to be a Mom and still keep her fabulous body strong and healthy. Love all your creative workouts and the cues are so spot on. Thanks for all you do for all of us!!
4 people like this.
This was brilliant - I have been hoping that there would be a class that would incorporate some cardio for a harder workout, I am unable to run but want to maximise the results. Would love to see more along this theme. Thank you
1 person likes this.
Fantastic class! Love the cardio, it's nice to get a full workout in one😄
2 people like this.
Thank you - I loved it and it is exactly what I need!! Can't wait for class 2
Thank you Courtney! My kind of work-out!
1 person likes this.
You are always so inspiring and fun! wonderfully creative Pilates exercises with infusion of cardio....thanks Courtney for sharing and inspiring
1 person likes this.
Wow, cannot wait for the other classes. The intervals were a nice add on both mentally and physically. Thank you Courtney.
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