Transcription
Welcome back to practice. Today's class is a 20-minute express Pilates class with a focus on strengthening your core and your arms. You will need a light set of hand weights. I recommend 1 kilo or 2 kilo. So when you're ready, roll out your mat and let's begin.
Let's start by placing our weights off to the side somewhere that you can easily reach them when you're on your back, and then come to a seated position towards the top of your mat with your knees bent in front, hip distance apart. Hold on to the back of your thighs. Take a deep breath in or open through your heart. Then exhale, round your spine, drop your chin, and slightly tuck your hips under. And again, deep breath in, roll your shoulders back, shine your chest forward. Deep breath out as you round your spine. Two more. Moving with your breath. Last one. Deep breath in and deep breath out as you round. On your inhale, roll up one last time. Really open through your chest. Then exhale, roll your spine down vertebra by vertebra until you're on your back.
Resting your head on the mat, let's grab a hold of our weights, holding on to one weight in each hand, and reach your arms up to the sky with your palms facing inwards. Imprint your spine, gently pressing your lower back into the floor. And then lift your legs to a tabletop position with your knees stacked over your hips. On your exhale, extend your right leg. Reach your left arm back. Inhale, center. Exhale, extend your left leg. Reach your right arm back. Inhale, center. Keep going. As you lower your arm and your leg, make sure that you are keeping your rib to hip connection. So, no flaring through your rib cage. Let's do two more. Then, we'll add a double toe tap to the mix. Last one. Here we go. Tap both toes down to the floor. Open your arms. Lift everything up. Then exhale. Extend your right leg. Reach your left arm back. Inhale center. Exhale. Extend your left leg. Reach your right arm back. Inhale center. Exhale. Double toe tap. Open your arms wide. And inhale. Lift everything up. Let's do two more like this. Really make sure your lower back is still gently pressing down into the mat. Really protecting your spine. One more. Draw your shoulder blades back and down, keeping them away from your ears. Well done.
Let's just do the double toe taps now. So exhale, tap your toes down, open your arms. Inhale, lift. Exhale, tap and open. Inhale, lift. Two more, then we'll add an ab curl. And last one. Here we go. Let's add that abdominal curl. So exhale, tap, open your arms. Inhale, lift. Exhale, curl up. Reach the weights forward. and inhale, lower. Keep going. Exhale, tap the mat. Open your arms. Inhale, lift. Exhale, curl up. Inhale, lower. We have six more like this. If you want to make this a little bit more challenging, see if you can tap your toes further away from you. And if you want to make this a little bit easier, you can tap your toes closer to your glutes. Wherever you are, make sure that your ribs are drawing in and down towards your hips and that when you curl up, you're really reaching forward with your hands, keeping your gaze towards your knees. Keep your breath going. Let's do one more. Exhale, tap. Open your arms. Inhale, lift. and exhale curl up. Hold at the top here. Extend your right leg as you bicep curl. Inhale bend. Exhale extend your left leg. Bicep curl. Inhale bend. Six more. Exhale extend. Inhale bend. Exhale extend. Inhale bend. Four more. You can do it. Really try to lift your shoulder blades up and away from the floor. Two more. And last one. Hold your knees bent. And let's take a little pulses. You curl up and up. Keep your knees stacked over your hips and really reach your weights forward. We have five more. You can do it. Four. Little higher. Three. Two. And one. Excellent job.
Rest your head down. Return your weights up to the sky with your palms facing inwards. Then lower your feet to the mat and just slide your feet a little bit further towards the bottom of your mat. On your inhale, bend your elbows, lower your weights to your shoulders. Then exhale, extend, lift your head and shoulders up and roll up to seated. Inhale, lift your arms, lengthen your spine, and exhale, roll down vertebra by vertebra. And again. Inhale, lower your weights to your shoulders. Exhale, extend, roll up. Inhale, lift your arms, lengthen your spine, and exhale as you roll down. Only two more like this. Moving nice and slowly, really using your abs to control the movement. Last one. Inhale, bend your elbows. Exhale, extend, roll up. Inhale, lift your arms. Lengthen your spine. And this time, exhale, roll back to your C curve, stretching your arms forward. On your exhale, pull your left elbow back. Inhale, extend. Exhale, pull your right elbow back. Inhale, extend. Let's do eight more. Roll your shoulders down and back. And slightly tuck your hips under. Really finding that rib to hip connection. Four more. Exhale. Pull. Inhale. Extend. 3 2 and one. Hold through center. This time inhale. Tap your weights down to the mat. Exhale. Lift. Inhale. Tap. Exhale. Lift. Now let's add on. Lift your right knee. Lower. Lift your left knee. And lower. Six more. Five. You can do it. Four. Can you round back a little bit more? Two more. And last one. Hold both feet down. And let's take little pulses. You round back and back. Trying to find that little shake in your abs. You can do it. Keep your shoulders away from your ears. Three more. Two. And one. Good job.
Roll up. And let's drop our weights and place them to the side. Keeping your feet hip distance apart. Inhale. Reach your arms up to the sky. And exhale. Take your hands underneath your shoulders with your fingers pointed forward. Deep breath in. Lift your hips and open your heart, gazing up towards the sky. Take one deep breath in and exhale. Release your hips down. Cross your legs now and let's come onto our hands and our knees. Tuck your toes under and press back into a downward-facing dog. Take a moment to pedal your heels, walking out your downward-facing dog as you really push your hands into the mat, lengthening your spine. Then when you're ready, straighten your legs and melt your heels down to the floor. On your exhale, shift forward to plank. Pull your right knee to your right tricep. And inhale, press back. Exhale, plank. Pull left knee to left tricep. Inhale. Press back. Let's do eight more like this. As you shift forward to plank, I really want you to think of rounding through your upper back, pushing your hands into the floor, and lifting up through your belly button. Four more. Try to tap your knee nice and high up on your arm. Two more. And on this last one, let's hold our left knee to our left tricep. Inhale, slide the knee down to your wrist. Exhale, lift it back up. Inhale, slide down. Exhale, slide up. Only two more. You can do it. Last one. Well done. Press back. Other side. Pull your right knee to your right tricep. Inhale. Slide the knee down. Exhale. Slide it up. Inhale. Lower. Exhale. lift. You've got it. Two more. Push the floor away from you. Last one. Well done. Press back to downward-facing dog. Lower your knees and rest back into child's pose. Take one deep breath in and deep breath out. Then carefully lift your chest.
And let's grab a hold of our weights again for our high kneeling series. So come up onto your knees and make sure to place a towel or blanket underneath your knees if you need extra cushioning. Then lengthen your spine and extend your arms down by your sides with your palms facing in. On your exhale, lift your arms out to the side. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Keeping a soft bend through your elbows. Inhale, lower. Six more like this before we add on. Exhale lift. Keep your shoulders down. Inhale. Lower. Really think of your Pilates posture here. Keeping your core engaged as you grow tall from the crown of your head. Okay, let's add on. Exhale. Lift your arms. Inhale. Slide them forward as you hinge back. Really tucking your hips under. Exhale. Come back up. Open your arms. And inhale, lower. So exhale, raise your arms to the side. Inhale, hinge back, slide your arms forward. Exhale, lift, open your arms. Inhale, lower. Six more. Let's go. Moving with your breath. Really important in this exercise that as you hinge back, you are really thinking of tucking your hips under and keeping your ribs lowering down to your hips. This is a challenging exercise, so let your breath guide you. Two more. And on this last one, let's hold in our hinge with our arms forward. On your inhale, circle your arms back, hinge forward. Then exhale, circle your arms forward, and hinge back. And again, inhale, circle back, hinge forward. Exhale as you circle your arms forward and hinge back. Six more. You can do it. As you circle your arms back, try to keep them nice and lifted. Really working the shoulders and the back of the arms. Three more. Stay with me. Two. And one. Good job. Let's hinge forward. Reach your arms back again with your palms facing inwards. Inhale. Bend your elbows. Exhale. Extend. Inhale. Bend. Exhale. Extend. Keep your elbows nice and lifted. Really working into our triceps. Keep drawing your navel in. Just three more 2 and one. Hold your arms straight and finish with pulses. You lift and lift. You've got it. Eight. Seven. Little higher. 5 4 3 2 and one. Excellent job.
Lift your arms up to the sky. Straighten your spine and turn your palms forward. On your inhale, circle your arms forward in front of your chest with your palms up. Then exhale, circle them back up. Inhale, circle forward. Exhale, circle up. Keeping a soft bend through your elbows. Let's do five more of these. Keep thinking of your good Pilates posture. Spine nice and straight. Two more. And last one. Let's hold our arms forward. Exhale. Open your arms wide. Inhale. Close. Exhale. Open. Inhale. Close. Think of broadening through your collar bones as you open your arms and squeezing your shoulder blades together, activating your back muscles. Two more. And last one. Let's hold our arms open and take little circles for 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 You've got it. 3 2 one and reverse for 10 nine. Keep your shoulders down and back. Five more. 4 3 2 and one. Well done. Lower your arms. Shimmy your shoulders. And let's place our weights off to the side. We don't need them again.
Okay, let's return to our downward-facing dog to repeat our tiger curl series. This time, on your exhale, shift forward to plank. Pull right knee to left elbow. Then inhale, press back. Exhale, pull left knee to right elbow. Inhale, press back. Let's do eight more. So, really pulling your knee across your chest this time to work the obliques. Just like you did last time, think of pushing the floor away from you, rounding through the upper back as you really lift up through your abdominals. Two more. And on this last one, hold your left knee to your right elbow. Inhale, slide the knee down. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Only two more. You can do it. Last one. Well done. Press back. Pull right knee to left elbow. Inhale, slide down. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Two more. You are so strong. Last one. Well done. Press back to downward-facing dog.
And then for our final exercise, shift forward to plank. and then lower down onto your forearms. Lower your hips, tighten your core, and either stay here or interlace your fingers. And let's salsa our hips to finish. Inhale, drop your hips to one side. Exhale, lift. Inhale, drop to the other side. Exhale, lift. Eight more. You've got it. Working at your own pace. Six. Keep pressing down through your shoulders. Four more. This is it. 3 2 and one. Well done. Return through center. Lower your knees and carefully lower your hips down to the mat. Separate your hands. Roll your shoulders back and open through your chest. Taking nice deep breaths. Then lower your chest down. Interlace your fingers behind your back. On your inhale, stretch your arms back. Lift your chest and lift your legs. Keep your gaze down to the mat. Roll your shoulders back. And lift your belly button up towards your spine. Take one more breath in and exhale. Release. Move your weights off to the side if you need to cactus your left elbow. Turn onto your left cheek. Bend your right knee and push yourself over onto the left side of your body. Feeling a nice stretch through your chest and your left shoulder. Then return through center. Switch sides. Cactus your right elbow. Look to the left. Bend your left knee and roll over onto the right side of your body. Carefully return through center. Place your hands underneath your shoulders. Press yourself up and back into child's pose. Take one clearing breath in and clearing breath out. On your next inhale, ripple your spine forward. Lower your hips and open your heart for cobra. Then exhale, lower your chin, and press back to child's pose. Let's do this a few more times. Inhale as you ripple forward. Lower your hips. Shine your heart open. Exhale as you press back. Two more. Connecting with your breath. And last one. Beautiful job.
Take one final breath here in your child's pose. Soaking in all the beautiful benefits of your practice today on your body. Then roll your spine up and come to a seated position in the middle of your mat. Sitting up nice and tall. Inhale, reach your left arm up. And exhale, stretch over to the right. Other side. Inhale, reach your right arm up. And exhale, stretch to the left. Then return through center. And let's finish class like always. Inhale, reach your arms up to the sky. and exhale. Lower your hands down to your heart. Thank you so much everyone. I hope you enjoyed today's class. If you want to see more classes like this, don't forget to like this video, leave me a comment, and let me know what you would like to see next. Thank you so much again, and I hope you have the most beautiful day.