Transcription
Hello everyone, and welcome to day four of your Move With Me series. For today, I have a Pilates class for you, but with a focus on our arms and our abs.
Now, for today's class, I will be using a set of one-kilo hand weights. But if you don't have hand weights at home, you could always grab two bottles of water, or even two cans of vegetables, or bags of peas, whatever you can find at home to act as weights. But if you can't find anything at all, don't worry, because you can still do the workout without the weights. I just really want you then to focus on moving with, moving your arms with lots of control and lots of resistance and strength, and you'll still feel it, trust me.
Okay, well, let's get into our warm-up. So, starting on your hands and your knees. Make sure your hands are underneath your shoulders, knees are underneath your hips. On your exhale, round your spine, gaze towards your navel. Then inhale, arch your spine and look slightly up. One more exhale, round, warming up her spine here, and inhale, arch. Then return to your neutral spine and just take a few circles forward and back. So, shifting your weight onto your hands and then pressing back a little bit. Now, you can make this circle bigger, really sending your hips back closer towards your heels, just creating a little extra movement. And now reverse it. Take it the other way, making this circle as big or as small as you like. Let's do one more. Beautiful. Return through center. Now, curl your toes under and let's press back into a downward-facing dog. Keeping your knees bent here, just for a moment. Really press through your hands, press through your shoulders, finding your nice straight spine. Then start to pedal your heels, alternate bending your knees, just releasing any tension through the back of your legs. Then press both heels down into the mat. On your inhale, ripple your spine forward, finding your high plank. Then exhale, press your hips back into your downward dog. Inhale, bend your knees, hovering them off the floor. Then exhale, straighten your legs and press your heels down. Three more. Inhale, ripple your spine forward, exhale, press back. Inhale, bend your knees, press through your shoulders, exhale, press your heels down. Two more. Inhale, really pull your spine forward, exhale, press back. Inhale, bend your knees, exhale, straighten. One more. Inhale, really moving with your breath, and exhale. Inhale, bend, exhale, straighten. On your next inhale, really pull your spine forward. Let's lower our knees down to the floor. Then exhale, bend your elbows, lower your chest, then your chin, and then lower your hips to the floor. Let's bring our elbows. I'm just going to move those weights to the side. Let's bring our elbows underneath our shoulders, lifting our chest, coming up into our sphinx pose. Really roll your shoulders back, let your heart open, taking nice deep breaths here. Let's take one last deep inhale. [Music] And exhale, release back down. Bring your hands underneath your shoulders, inhale, press up. Exhale, curl your toes under and press back into your downward-facing dog. Let's walk our hands now back towards our feet, keeping a soft bend through your knees, roll your spine all the way up to standing. Keeping your feet about hip distance apart and parallel. Draw your navel in and drop your tailbone. Starting with your hands at prayer, let's just squat down and up. Nice inhale and exhale. So, really important in these squats that you are shifting your weight back into your heels, sending your glutes far back behind you, meanwhile staying lifted through your navel, keeping your spine nice and straight. Let's add some arms to this now. So, on your inhale, squat down, reach your arms forward, and then take a nice breath stroke with your arms to come up. So, inhale, squat down, and exhale, come up. So, doing a nice breaststroke swimming movement with your arms, just to get our arms nice and warm, because they will be doing a little bit of work today. Let's do two more. And last one. Now, hold low in your squat. Really sit those hips back. Swing your arms back and forward. Nice inhale and exhale. Keeping your arms nice and lifted, really reach through the crown of your head. Just two more. Last one. Now, add a pulse with your legs. Down and down. Just for ten, nine, eight. Feeling that heat through your arms. Four more, three, two, and one. Well done. Let's come up to standing. Reach your arms up. Take a nice big inhale and exhale, dive forward, taking your hands down to the mat. Let's walk our hands forward now and step your feet back, coming into a plank position. Making sure your shoulders are over your wrists, your feet are hip distance apart. Really draw up through your navel, press through your shoulders. Let's exhale, lift our right leg. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift your left leg. Inhale, lower. Keep going. You exhale and inhale. Really pointing through your toes. You want to try to keep your hips as square as you can here. Nothing else is moving, just your legs. Two more. Last one. Well done. Set your knees down, uncurl your toes, and lower yourself down onto the front side of your body. Let's come up onto our fingertips now, and on your inhale, roll your shoulders back, lift your chest, coming into your cobra. Really roll those shoulders back, lift your chin, maybe look slightly up. Take one last big inhale. And exhale, lower back down. Bring your hands underneath your shoulders, press yourself up, and let's cross our feet behind us so that we can come onto our glutes. Okay, scooting yourself forward now, sitting up nice and tall. Let's grab a hold of our weights now, if you have them, and just holding on to the back of your thighs. Take a nice inhale and exhale with control, roll yourself vertebra by vertebra down onto your backs. Good. Once you're on your back, just let your head rest. Walk your feet in slightly so your knees are nice and bent and they are hip distance apart. Let's start by holding the weight in our left hand and take your right hand behind your head with your elbow wide to support your neck. From here, let's reach that left arm up towards the ceiling. Now, we have a little bit of a combo. On your exhale, we lift our head and shoulders up, bring the left weight by your left hip. Inhale, take a bicep curl. Then exhale, extend and inhale, lower your head down, reach the arm up. And again, exhale, curl up, inhale, bicep curl, exhale, extend, and inhale, lower. Keep going, making sure that when you lift your head and shoulders up, that you're keeping your chin slightly dropped down towards your chest to protect your neck. Good. Let's do two more. Exhale and inhale. Exhale, curl up a little bit more. Inhale, lower. One more. Try to keep your shoulders as relaxed as you can. Beautiful. Now, let's curl up one last time, and then from here, I want you to take baby bicep curls with that left arm. So, you're just trying to really squeeze in that left bicep. And now, let's add a crunch up and up. Really feeling it in those abs. Just eight more, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Ouch. You should have felt that in your abs pretty quickly. Okay, drop your weight, place your hands down by your side, relax your shoulders. Let's imprint our spine and take our legs to a tabletop position. We're going to work our lower abs now. So, on your inhale, shoot your legs out to the diagonal. Make sure your lower back stays in contact with the floor. Then exhale, pull your knees in and using your abs, lift your hips off the floor. Then inhale, shoot your legs out, exhale, pull them in, lift your hips. Keep going. Inhale, extend, exhale, pull your knees in. Now, I want you to do this movement as slowly as you can, so that when you lift your hips up, you're using the strength of your lower abs to pick your hips up, versus using any momentum. Use your breath to help you. Inhale, extend, exhale, pull. Just two more. Last one. Well done. Let's set our feet back down on the floor. Grab the weight with your right hand now, and take your left hand behind your head with your elbow wide. Let's repeat that same series with the right arm now. So, on your exhale, lift your head and shoulders up. Inhale, bicep curl with the right arm. Exhale, extend, and inhale, lower. And again, exhale, curl up, inhale, bicep curl, exhale, extend, maybe lifting up a little bit higher, and inhale, lower. Keep going. Remember that you want to keep your chin slightly dropped down towards your chest, keeping your gaze towards the top of your knees to make sure we are protecting our neck here. Really think of that rib to hip connection as you curl up. So, exhale, lift up, drop your ribs down towards your hips. Good job. Let's do one more. You've got it. Beautiful. Okay, let's hold in our curl. Go back to those baby bicep curls. So, you bend your right elbow in and in. So, we're just trying to contract through our right bicep. It's not a big movement here. Now, let's add that crunch. So, we curl up and up. Nice exhale and exhale. Just eight more, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. So good. Drop that weight, rest your head, and bring your hands back down onto the mat. Bring your legs to that tabletop position, imprinting your spine. We're going to repeat that same lower ab exercise now. You can keep your hands on the mat, or if you want an extra challenge, let's reach them towards our hips. On your inhale, shoot your legs out, reach your arms over the head. Exhale, sweep them around, pull your knees in, lift your hips. Keep going. Inhale, extend. Exhale, pull them in. Inhale and exhale. Remember, taking this with as much control as you can, using the strength of your abs. Make sure that you are not arching your back as you extend your legs, so really keep that lower back pressing down into the floor. Let's do two more. Really breathing. Inhale and exhale. Well done. Hug those knees in, and then from here, let's rock the length of our spine up to a seated position. We're going to grab a hold of those weights again. This time, sitting up nice and tall. Your feet are hip distance apart, your knees are bent. Let's grab a hold of our weight and I want you to pull your elbows back and take your weights just in front of your chest with your palms facing down. Just working the arms to stop. On your inhale, let's shoot the arms forward. Then exhale, lower the arms down. Inhale, reach the arms up and exhale, pull the elbows back. So, you inhale, extend, exhale, lower, inhale, lift, exhale, pull. Keep going. Inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale. Two more. Keeping your shoulders nice and relaxed, focusing on sitting up nice and tall. Last one. Good job. Now, this time, we are going to add some ab work. So, on your exhale, I want you to round your spine back, tucking your pelvis under, finding your C-curve. Then inhale, drop your weights. Exhale, lift. Then inhale, come back up to that straight spine. So, we are reversing the breathing for this one. Exhale, round back. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Inhale, come back up. Keep going. It's exhale, inhale, exhale, and inhale. Really making sure that as you round back, that you're dropping your ribs down towards your hips, finding that engagement through your abdominals. Let's do two more. Last one. Now, let's hold in our C-curve. Reach your arms forward, pull those shoulders back, and take little lifts up and up. This one burns. Let's do just eight more, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. On your next inhale, lift your chest, reach your arms up. Then exhale, circle your arms around and bring them forward, returning to your C-curve. And again, inhale, lift up. Exhale, circle out and around and come to your C-curve. Inhale and exhale. Really feeling the muscles in your shoulders here getting all fired up, maybe feeling those abs too. Let's do four more, and three, and two. Last one. Now, hold in your C-curve. On your exhale, pull one elbow back, then punch forward. Other side, pull and punch. Nice exhale and inhale. Maybe rounding back a little bit more in that C-curve, getting those abs nice and fired up. You've got it. Let's just do four more, and three, and two. Last one. Don't hate me. Hold the arms forward. Little pulses up and up. Then we get to drop them. Let's go. Just eight more, seven, six, five, you've got it. Four, three, two, and one. Whoo. Let's drop those weights and roll ourselves back down onto our back. From here, let's just press through our heels and lift our hips up for a moment to release any tension through those hip flexors. It's always nice to just take a stretch here to counteract that C-curve position. Then carefully lower your hips back down. And guess what? We're going to do a little bit more ab work. This class is arms and abs, after all. Okay, imprint your spine. Let's lift our legs to a tabletop position and cross your right knee over your left. Interlace your hands behind your head with your elbows wide. Another little combo. On your exhale, let's lift our head and shoulders up, finding our curl. Now, inhale, lower your head, tap your toes down. Exhale, curl up, and then take a twist and come back through center. So, you lower and lift, then twist and center. Good. Just breathing naturally here. If the breath pattern is too much, inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale. Good. We just do one more, then we'll go straight away to the other side. Here we go. Switch the crossing of your knees either side. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift, then twist and center. It's inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale. Keep going. Let's just do one more. Beautiful job. From here, let's go back into our twist. Extend your right leg and take bicycle legs for ten and nine. Nice exhale and exhale. Just six more, five, four, three, two, and one. So good. Rest your head, hug your knees in, maybe rock your spine side to side if you need to. And then let's roll on to our side. Now, creating a one long line with your body. Take your bottom arm out long and rest your head on your arm. Press your fingertips into the mat in front of you and really draw your navel in, finding that core engagement. On your exhale, let's lift both legs up off the floor. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. This is a really great exercise to work the side of our waist. So, when you lift your legs up, I want you to think of the movement coming from that top rib cage dropping down towards your hip. So, exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. You've got it. Really squeeze your legs together. Just two more. And last one. Hold your legs lifted. Top leg lifts and lowers. Nice exhale and inhale. Just eight more. Really breathing. Seven. Keep that bottom leg lifted. Six. Five more, and four, three, two, and a one. Hold your legs together. Let's take some scissors. You switch and switch. Just eight more, seven. Whew. Six, five. Feeling that burn in the side of your waist. Two more. Last one. Good job. Lower your legs down. You should really feel it through there. And then prop yourself up onto your forearm. So, make sure that your elbow is directly underneath your shoulder. Your knees are bent and then slide them back so that they're in line with your hips. From here, take your top hand onto your hip. Really lift up through the side of your waist and we're just gonna lift our hips up and down. Nice inhale and exhale. Trying to not rest your hips back down on the mat here. I want you to just kind of tap them to the floor and then lift them straight back up. Just four more, and three, two, and one. Well done. Okay, guess what? From here, let's grab ahold of the weight again. Staying up on your forearm, just slide your bottom knee forward and extend your top leg out to the side, making sure that it's in line with your hip. Reach your top arm with the weight overhead. Feel free to drop the weight here completely if you want to and do the exercise without it. But from here, on your inhale, swing your leg forward as you sweep your arm back, and then exhale, come back to that starting position. So, inhale, sweep the leg forward, sweep the arm back, exhale, return to starting. Keep going. Inhale and exhale. Inhale, keeping that leg at the same height and keeping your arm at the same height. Beautiful. Three more. [Music] And two. Really find the length through the top side of your body as you reach that arm overhead. Well done. From here, let's pull our top elbow to our top knee now. So, exhale, pull. Inhale, extend. Just for eight and seven, six, five, you've got it. Four, three, two, and a one. Well done. Set that weight down. Prop yourself up onto your forearm. Keeping your feet to one side. Let's just take a quick stretch. So, inhale, reach your right arm up and exhale, side bend over to your left. Beautiful. Okay, guess what? We get to do that on the other side. So, swing your legs around. You can always just pop any weights that are lying around to the side, out of your way. And let's create a one long line with our body. So, your bottom arm is nice and long. Rest your head on your arm and then bring your fingertips in front of you. Make sure that you are relaxing through your shoulders and really engaging your core. On your exhale, lift your legs. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. Just eight more like this, and six, five. Really squeeze your thighs together. Four, and three. Using the side of our waist here. Two. Last one. Hold your legs lifted. Top leg lifts and lowers. Nice exhale and inhale. Just eight more. And seven. Try to keep that bottom leg as lifted as you can. Five, four, three, two, and one. Hold both legs lifted. Let's take those scissors for ten and nine. Eight. As big as you can. Six, five, four, three, two, and one. Well done. Set your legs down. You should feel a nice little burn through the side of your waist. And then let's come up onto our forearm. So, making sure again, your elbow is directly underneath your shoulders. Your knees are bent and they are back in line with your hips. Let's take our top hand onto our hip and we lift our hips up and lower. Nice inhale and exhale. Just eight more. And seven. Trying not to let your hips rest on the floor. Five more, four. Really press down through your arm. Three, two, and a one. Well done. Let's grab ahold of that weight. Extend your top leg and then extend your top arm with the weight overhead. On your inhale, sweep the leg forward, sweep the arm back, and exhale, come back to starting. So, it's inhale, we sweep. Exhale, return to starting. Just eight more. So, really trying to keep your leg at the same height, as well as sweeping that arm back and overhead at the same height as well. Good job. I think we have four more, and three. Try to stay lifted through the side of your waist. Last one. Good job. Now, pull elbow to knee and extend. Nice exhale and inhale. Each time that you extend, try to find a little bit more length through the side of your body. Five more, four, three, two, and one. Well done. Let's set that weight down. Prop yourself up onto your side for your mermaid stretch. So, inhale, reach your left arm up and exhale, side bend over your legs, taking your gaze up to the ceiling if that feels good for you, or maybe just closing your eyes. Feeling a nice release through the right side of your body. Then carefully come back up. Let's switch sides. Extend your right leg out, bend your left knee in. Inhale, reach your left arm up and exhale, side bend to the right. [Music] Really reaching through your fingertips here, finding length through the side of your body. And carefully come back up. Cross your legs, finding a comfortable cross-legged position. And then take your fingertips onto the mat next to you. Let's just drop our left ear to our left shoulder. And as you do that, try to reach your right fingertips a little bit further away from your body, so you feel a really nice stretch through the side of your neck. Good. Come back through center. Other side. Let's drop our right ear to our right shoulder. And then walk your left fingertips a little bit further away from your body, so you feel a nice stretch through the side of your neck. Good. Carefully come back through center. Open your eyes if they were closed. Take one big inhale, reach your arms up to the ceiling. And exhale, lower your hands down to prayer. Let's do one more. Inhale, reach your arms up. And exhale, lower your hands down to prayer. Thank you so much, everyone. I hope you enjoyed today's arms and abs workout, and that you have been enjoying the Move With Me series so far. Have the most beautiful day ahead, and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for day five. 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