Transcription
Welcome back to Move with Nicole. Today's class is an upper body and core focused Pilates class. You won't need any equipment, just yourself and a mat. So, when you're ready, let's begin.
Let's start today's class on our hands and our knees. So make sure that your hands are underneath your shoulders and your knees are underneath your hips. Let's take a moment to warm up our wrists. So just circle your body forward over your wrists and then circle back. Inhale as you circle forward, exhale as you circle back. Being very gentle here, just waking up our wrists. Now take it in the other direction. Inhale, circle forward, exhale, circle back. Back two more and last one. Beautiful.
From here, gently point your left fingertips towards your knees. On your inhale, arch your spine, look forward. Then exhale, round your spine and gaze towards your navel. One more deep breath in, open through your heart, and deep breath out as you round your spine and feel the nice stretch for that left wrist. Return through center and let's switch sides. So turn your left fingertips forward and your right fingertips back towards your knees. On your inhale, arch your spine, broaden through your collarbones. Then exhale, round your spine and gaze towards your navel. One more inhale, arch your spine, open through your chest, and exhale as you round. Return through center now and turn your right fingertips forward.
Engage your core by really dropping your ribs down towards your hips and pulling your navel up towards your spine. Find a beautiful long line all the way from your tailbone to the crown of your head. And then on your inhale, extend your left arm forward in line with your ear. Then exhale, pull your elbow wide down towards your waistline. Inhale, stretch your arm forward, and then exhale, set the hand down. Other side. Inhale, reach your right arm forward. Exhale, pull your elbow wide. Inhale, extend, and exhale, lower. Two more like this. Really keep drawing up through your navel, keeping your core engaged. Last one. Well done.
Stay with this, or if you'd like to add on, as you extend your left arm forward, reach your right leg back. Then exhale, pull your elbow wide. Inhale, extend, and exhale, lower. Other side. Extend your right arm forward, extend your left leg back. Then exhale, pull your elbow wide. Inhale, extend, and exhale, lower. Now, if you'd like even more of a challenge, as you pull your elbow wide, see if you can open your leg out to the corner of the mat. Then inhale, bring everything through center, and exhale, lower. Keep going. Inhale, extend. Exhale, pull your elbow wide. Open your leg. Inhale, return through center, and exhale, lower. Just four more like this. Really focus on keeping your hips level, dropping your ribs down to your hips, and pulling up through your navel. Two more. This is a great way to warm up our core. And last one. Excellent job.
From here, tuck your toes under and press back into a downward-facing dog. Let's take a moment to pedal our heels, alternate bending our knees as you push the floor away from you and lengthen your spine.
Okay, let's wake up our core and upper body a little bit more. On your exhale, shift your weight forward, pull your right knee in towards your chest, really drawing your navel up. Then inhale, press back to downward-facing dog. Other side. Exhale, shift forward, pull your left knee to your chest, and inhale, press back. Two more like this, moving with lots of control. Last one.
Now let's add on. On your exhale, pull your right knee into your chest. Then inhale, extend your right leg back, lengthen your spine. Then exhale, pull your knee into your chest again, lift up through your belly button, and inhale, press back to downward-facing dog. Other side. Exhale, pull your left knee to your chest. Inhale, extend your leg back, lengthen your spine. Exhale, pull your knee to your chest, round through your upper back, and inhale, downward-facing dog. Keep going. When you extend your leg back, take your gaze to the top of your mat and really find one long line all the way from the crown of your head to the tip of your toes. You're doing really well. Move with your breath. Exhale, pull. Inhale, extend, lengthen your spine. Exhale, pull. Inhale, downward-facing dog. Just one more. Well done.
Shift your weight forward now, lower your knees to the floor, and come down onto your belly. Place your elbows underneath your shoulders and lift your chest up into a beautiful Sphinx pose. Roll your shoulders down and back and broaden through your collarbones as you take a few deep breaths. Then carefully lower your chest to the floor. Take your hands underneath your shoulders, press yourself up and back into a child's pose. Let's take one deep breath here. Nice inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Then very carefully roll your spine up to a seated position.
Shift your weight onto your side and let's come to a seated position with our legs out in front of us. Separate your feet so that they are hip distance apart and bend your knees. Sit up nice and tall, really lengthening through your spine, and then reach your arms forward in line with your shoulders. Take an inhale to prepare, then exhale, round back to your C curve. Inhale, open your arms wide. Exhale, close. And inhale, come back up, lengthening your spine. And again, exhale, round back. Inhale, open. Exhale, close. And inhale, come up. Six more like this. When you lower down into your C curve, lower your ribs down to your hips and slightly tuck your hips under to engage your abs. Three more. Open your arms nice and wide. Two more. And last one. Beautiful job.
Return to your C curve with your arms open and let's take some circles for 10, 9, eight, nice big circles, six, five, four, three, two, one, and reverse for 10, 9, can you round back a little bit more? Six more, five, four, three, two, one. Beautiful job. Take your hands behind your thighs and roll yourself up.
Okay, reach your arms forward again in line with your shoulders. Take it inhale to prepare, then exhale, round back and pull your elbow back with you. Inhale, return through center, and exhale, pull your right elbow back. Inhale, center. Exhale, pull. Keep going. When you pull your elbow back, really think of drawing your shoulder blades together, using our own resistance here to wake up our upper body. Three more to go. Two. And one. Hold in your C curve and stretch both arms forward. On your exhale, pull both elbows back, squeeze your shoulder blades together, and inhale, extend. Exhale, pull. Inhale, extend. Just six more. You've got it. Exhale, pull. Inhale, extend. Four, three, keep your core engaged. Two. And one. Well done.
Roll up to seated. Inhale, reach your arms up to the sky, then exhale, vertebra by vertebra, roll yourself all the way down onto your back. Then inhale, reach your arms back by your ears. Then exhale, reach your hands towards your hips, lift your head and shoulders, and roll yourself back up. Inhale at the top, reach your arms up to the sky, then exhale, roll back down, vertebra by vertebra. And again, inhale, reach your arms back. Exhale, roll up using your hands on your legs to help you, walk yourself up if you need that support. Then inhale at the top, lengthen your spine, and exhale, roll back down. We're only going to do two more of these. This is a challenging exercise for your core. Last one. Exhale, roll up one last time, and inhale, reach your arms up to the sky. Well done.
Take your hands underneath your shoulders now, with your fingertips pointed forward. Press down through your heels, squeeze your glutes, and lift your hips up. On your inhale, lift your right leg to tabletop. Exhale, extend your leg straight out. Inhale, bend, and exhale, lower. Other side. Inhale, lift your left leg. Exhale, extend. Inhale, bend, and exhale, lower. Just six more like this. Really focus on squeezing your glutes, keeping your hips lifted, and also keeping your core engaged so that your hips stay nice and still. You're doing really well. Stay lifted through your chest, pressing down through your hands. Two more. And last one. Well done. Squeeze your glutes, lift your hips up just a little bit higher, and then lower your hips down. Reach your arms forward and lower down onto your back. Well done.
Find your neutral spine now, lowering your ribs down to your hips by keeping a small little pocket of air between your lower back and the floor. Then lift your legs to a tabletop position and squeeze your thighs together. Interlace your fingers and place your hands behind your head. Take an inhale to prepare, then exhale, lift your head and shoulders. Inhale, lower, and exhale, curl up, lowering your ribs down to your hips. Just six small. Keep your chin slightly lower down towards your chest and take your gaze towards your knees. When you curl, pull your head and shoulders up. Just two more. Exhale, curl. Inhale, lower. And on this last one, let's hold our head lifted.
Now for our hundreds. Extend your arms forward in line with your hips, and either keep your knees in tabletop or extend your legs straight up to the sky. Let's pump our arms. It's inhale, two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five. Inhale, inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth. Keep going. Inhale, two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five. You can do it. Really pump those arms, nice and strong, waking up our arms here. You're more than halfway. Keep going. Inhale, two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five. Nice inhale and exhale. Keep drawing your belly button down towards the mat. Last one. Inhale, two, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five. Excellent job. Rest your head and hug your knees in.
Okay, from here, imprint your spine, so press your lower back gently down into the mat so there's no gap between your lower back and the floor. Hug your knees into your chest and keep your head rested. On your inhale, extend your legs out long, reach your arms back by your ears. Then exhale, pull your knees in, circle your arms around, and then lift your hips up using your lower abdominals. And again, inhale, stretch your legs and your arms out long. Then exhale, pull your knees in and lift your hips up using your abdominals. Just six more like this. When you extend your legs and your arms out long, really focus on dropping your ribs down to your hips, keeping that connection between your lower back and the floor. Pull your knees in nice and slowly, lifting those hips up with as much control as you can. Just two more to go. You can do it. And last one. Excellent job.
From here, hug your knees in and just rock the length of your spine up to seated. Now for a combo, you know how much I love a combo. So make sure that your knees are bent and your feet are hip distance apart. Take your hands underneath your shoulders with your fingertips pointed forward and lift your hips up, returning to that reverse tabletop position. We're going to do a ladder flow. So starting with a tricep dip. On your inhale, bend your elbows. Exhale, press. Then inhale, lower your hips down and exhale, lift your knees to tabletop. Then inhale, lower your body down, extend your legs out. Exhale, pull everything in. And inhale, lower your feet, lift your hips. And this time, let's take two tricep dips. So inhale, bend. Exhale, extend. Inhale, bend. Exhale, extend. Inhale, lower your hips. Exhale, lift your legs, maybe reaching your arms forward this time. Inhale, lower your body down, coming into low teaser. Exhale, come up. And inhale, place your hands and feet down. And again, this time we'll take three tricep dips, then lower your hips, and either keep your hands on the floor to help you or take your hands off the floor for that low teaser exercise. Well done. Lift your hips now for four tricep dips. You can do it. Keep your hips nice and lifted. One more. Beautiful. Lower your hips, come into your teaser, lower down into low teaser, high teaser, and then set your hands and feet down. Okay, last one. Let's do five tricep dips. You've got it. Can you bend your elbows a little bit more? Two more. And last one. Okay, lower your hips and this time let's take five of these high to low teasers. Inhale, lower down. Exhale, come up. Four more. Remember, you can keep your hands on the floor to help you. You pick your level here. You can do it. Just two more. And last one. Well done, everyone.
Take your hands underneath your shoulders, lower down into low teaser, and flutter kick your legs. Kick, kick, kick, kick. Now stay with this, or if you want that challenge, reach your arms forward. You've got it. Try to stay nice and lifted through your upper body. Keep breathing. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Just four more seconds. Three, two, and one. Beautiful job. Rest your head and hug your knees into your chest.
Okay, let's roll on to the right side of our body now and give our wrists a little bit of a break. So stretch your right arm long on the mat and rest your head on your arm. Extend your legs out long, making sure that your hips are stacked, and place your left hand onto the floor in front of you. On your exhale, lift both legs off the floor and inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. I really want you to think of using your obliques to lift your legs. So think of dropping your left rib down to your left hip to lift your legs up. So exhale, squeeze the side of your waist and lift. Inhale, lower. Two more. And on this last one, let's hold both legs lifted. Exhale, lift your top leg. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. Six small. Keep your bottom leg nice and lifted off the floor. You've got it. Three more. Two. And one. Now let's take some scissors. Switch your legs nice and wide. You switch and switch. Nice inhale, inhale, and exhale. Keep your legs lifted. Just eight more. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Beautiful. Join your legs together and carefully lower them down. You should have felt that in the left side of your waist.
Okay, prop yourself up and let's take a mermaid stretch. So inhale, reach your right arm up and exhale, side bend over to the left. Then carefully turn your chest down towards the floor. Return through center and come back up. Beautiful. Let's take it straight to the other side. So lower down onto the left side of your body, stretch your left arm long, and rest your head. Extend your legs out long and squeeze your thighs together. On your exhale, lift your legs. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. Six more. Again, think of squeezing through the right side of your waist to lift your legs up. So exhale, squeeze, drop your rib down to your hip, and lift your legs. Two more. And last one. Let's hold our legs lifted. Exhale, lift your top leg. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. Six more. Keep your bottom leg nice and lifted. Four more. Three. You've got it. Two. And one. Now for those scissors. Let's switch our legs nice and wide. You switch and switch. Nice inhale, and exhale. You've got it. Can you switch those legs a little bit bigger? Can you lift those legs up a little bit higher? Just four more. Three, two, and one. Bring your legs together and lower them down. Prop yourself up and let's come into our mermaid stretch. On your inhale, reach your left arm up and exhale, side bend over to the right. Then carefully turn your chest down to the floor. Then return through center and come back up.
Okay, let's now return to our hands and our knees to really work our upper body. So make sure that your hands are underneath your shoulders and your knees are underneath your hips. Find your neutral spine position with a nice flat back and really tighten through your core. So drop your ribs down to your hips and pull your belly button up. On your inhale, slightly shift your weight back and lower your elbows carefully down towards the floor. Let me just move Remy out of the way so that you can see. Let's try that again. So inhale, lower your elbows down to the floor, shift your weight slightly back, and then exhale, press up. And again, inhale, lower your elbows down, really try to wrap your elbows in, and exhale, press up. Two more like this, and then we'll add on. Last one. Good job.
Okay, this time, inhale, lower your elbows down, then shift your weight forward, squeeze your elbows into your waistline, and exhale, press yourself back up. And again, so inhale, lower your elbows, slide your body forward, coming into that low push-up position, and exhale, press up. Keep going with this. Inhale, lower your elbows, shift forward, and exhale, press up. Don't forget about your core here, so really keep pulling your navel up, trying to keep your spine as straight as possible. Only two more to go. You can do it. And last one. Well done.
Okay, from here, shuffle your knees back just a little bit, shift your hips forward, finding your push-up position on your knees. Time for another combo. On your inhale, bend your elbows, lower your chest down to the floor, then exhale, lift your chest and stretch your arms out in line with your shoulders. Inhale, return your hands to the floor, then exhale, press up, just like what we did in our push-ups. Then inhale, press back to child's pose. And again, exhale, shift forward. Inhale, carefully lower yourself down. Exhale, lift your chest, open your arms out to the side, and inhale, return your hands to the floor. Exhale, press up, and inhale, press back to child's pose. Keep going with this, pairing your movement with your breath, and really focus on using the strength of your arms to lower your body down and to push yourself up. And when you lift your chest and open your arms out, really think of squeezing your shoulder blades together. Keep going. You're doing really well. I know at this point my triceps and my shoulders were on fire, so if you're feeling like me, we're all in this together. Okay, on your next one, hold with your chest lifted and your arms out to the side. Then bend your elbows at a 90° angle. On your inhale, stretch your arms forward, then exhale, pull your elbows wide and lift your chest. Inhale, stretch forward, and exhale, pull. Keep going. Really focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together as you pull your elbows back, again using your own resistance, so really focusing on activating your upper body here. Keep drawing your navel up towards your spine. And last one. Beautiful. Hold your elbows back and now stretch your arms back, keeping your palms down to the floor. Can you lift your chest a little bit higher? And maybe see if you can lift your legs up as well, really activating the whole entire back body, our posterior chain. Take one more deep breath here. Nice inhale and exhale. Release back down. Good job. Inhale, press yourself up and exhale, press back into a child's pose. Take a nice quick breather here because our final exercise is coming up next.
Okay, so shift your weight forward and let's come into a plank position. We're going to take some barrel crawls combined with a side plank to finish class. So finding your strong plank with your hands directly underneath your shoulders, lower your hips, and really engage through your core. Leading with your right arm to start, lower down onto your forearms, right, left, and then press up, right, left. Then reach your right arm up to the sky, opening into your side plank. Other side, leading with your left, lower down, left, right, press up, left, right, then open your left arm up to the sky, coming into your side plank. Keep going. Leading with the right, lower down, down, press up, up, then open your right arm for your side plank. When you lower your body down into your forearm plank and lift yourself up, really focus on keeping your hips still. You're doing really well. Really push the floor away from you, keeping your shoulders activated. This is the end of class, so stay with me. You've done so well. Two more to go. You're so strong. Keep your hips nice and lifted in that side plank. Last one. Excellent job.
Let's lower down onto our forearms one last time and then interlace our fingers. Really press down through your shoulders, lower your hips, and activate through your abdominals. Now to finish class, you can either hold in this plank or let's salsa our hips by dropping one hip at a time. Inhale as you lower, exhale as you lift. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift. You've got it. Just six more. You can do it. This is it. Four more. Three, two, and one. Excellent job. Return through center, lower your knees, untuck your toes, and carefully lower your hips to the floor. Lift your chest, roll your shoulders back, and just take a few moments in this Sphinx pose. Pull your hands back towards your hips to really open through your heart. Beautiful. Carefully lower your chest down to the floor. Bend your left arm at a 90° angle and then press down through your right hand to push your body over onto your left side, bending your right knee and tapping your right foot behind you. You should feel a really beautiful stretch for your left shoulder as well as for your left chest. Then return through center and switch sides. Bend your right arm at a 90° angle, press down through your left hand, and roll yourself onto the right side of your body, bending your left knee and tapping your left toes behind you. Then carefully return through center. Take your hands underneath your shoulders, inhale, press yourself up, and exhale, press back to a well-deserved child's pose. Just let your body completely relax here as you feel all the beautiful benefits of your practice today on your body. Then carefully roll your spine up to seated. Take a nice big shoulder roll and then come to a comfortable seated position on your mat with your legs crossed. Let's stretch out our wrists. So extend your left arm in front of you and carefully draw your fingers back towards your chest. Then turn your palm towards you and carefully pull your palm towards your chest. This should feel really nice for your wrists. Then lift your arms up, bend your left elbow, and hold on to your elbow with your right hand. Really lengthen your spine, growing tall through the crown of your head, and then maybe see if you can stretch over to your right to feel a beautiful stretch through the left side of your body. Then return through center and release your arms. Other side. Extend your right arm forward and gently pull your fingertips back. Then flip your palm towards you and press down on the back of your hand to feel a beautiful stretch for your wrist. Then lift your arms, bend your right elbow, and hold on to your elbow with your left hand. Either stay upright or maybe lean over to the left to feel a stretch through the right side of your body. This should feel so nice after all the upper body work we did today. Then carefully return through center. Stretch your arms up to the sky and then interlace your hands behind your head with your elbows wide. On your inhale, open through your heart, lift your chin. Then exhale, drop your chin down to your chest and round your spine. And again, inhale, open your chest, open your elbows wide, then exhale, drop your chin and round your spine, gazing towards your belly button. Two more deep breaths in, open your heart, and exhale, round. Being very gentle here. Last one. Inhale and exhale. Beautiful. Lift your chest and let's release our arms. On your inhale, reach your left arm up and exhale, twist over to your right. Then return through center and switch sides. Inhale, reach your right arm up and exhale, twist to your left. Then return through center and let's finish class like always with one last big 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 Pilates class. If you would like to see more classes like this, don't forget to like this video, leave me a comment, share this video with a friend or family member, and subscribe to my channel. Thank you so much again, and I hope you have the most beautiful day.