Well now, we are going to review some on mat work. Barbara, I’d like you to roll back—and that is how she’s rolling gently back onto the mat. That articulation is very important throughout your abdominal work out, which is to be able to roll one very good time down on the mat and to be able to come back up.
Our first exercise is going to be the hundred. It is a traditional Pilates workout, first warm up for your abdominals. We do it a little bit differently so that we can have everyone participating a hundred. It can be kind of strenuous. Barbara is going to bring her feet a little bit closer to her buttocks and take a deepened help with your arms way over your head, sweep your arms around, there you go. And, as you exhale, she’s coming up and holding and she’s going to beat her arms. We are not going to do a 100, we are just going to show you the form. She is going to beat her arms as she inhales and exhales. Inhale for five, exhale for five. The beating of the arm is very rigorous because it is going to help you warm up, helps you focus on your abdominals. Now, as her head is relax, her chin is in a tucked position but not too tucked to her chest. Beautiful. And hold, and exhale lower down. Very nice.
And throughout the workout, we hug our knees to help relieve any tension that you might have created in your lower back and it will give you a little bit of a rest. Good.
The next exercise and we do it in both workout is there are variations of the crunch. What she’s going to do is lower her arms, take a deep inhale and sweep her arms behind the head and engage the upper body. Now, she’s going to pull her knees in towards her chest without pulling on her head and then lowering down. Pull in. Beautiful—and lowering down.
And when you get a little bit more efficient at this, what she is doing is that she is pulling her hips up slightly and rolling down, pulling up exhale and lowering down. Beautiful. And we do a couple of different variations of that exercise but that is the basic move.
The next one—Barbara, please pull your knees in towards your chest and extend your leg straight up in the air. We give that on her way a little bit, she has very long legs. We’re going to do the leg circles. So, we are also going to work on the turnout that we’ve worked on in the beginning. She is going to have her heels together with toes apart. She is going to part her legs and exhale coming around into a circle and inhale come up. Open, exhale, and when you think about your energy right here from your center. It’s not a leg exercise, it is abdominal as far as your leg just happened to be participating. You are going to keep your shoulders down, neck is relaxed. She is actually engaging her entire body. Her whole body is participating in this workout. So, don’t think that just because you’re lying down, you’re resting. You are pushing down on the mat. And, come in, bend your knees, hug your knees and rest. And then we go in the other position.
Let’s just do the scissor walk. So, place your hands down the mat, extend your legs up in the air. This is very important to go over the form of this exercise because there is a tendency to arch the back. So lower one leg down slowly, exhale and inhale come up. And, exhale lower down, beautiful, and inhale come up. And as you see, she has fluid motion. She is not kicking the leg. It’s slowly moving to the rhythm of her breath. Exhale and inhale come up. Notice that she’s pushing her back into the mat. She has her back pressed against the mat, her bellybutton feels heavy and it’s pushing down. Very nice. Bend your knees into your chest.
Now, watch how Barbara is going to roll up. She is going to cross her knees and hug her knees into her chest, and roll up. So, she is gently rolling up.
We’ll show you one more. She is going to do the roll up positions. So, her feet is on front. Good. Now, there are a couple of ways that you can do this exercise as well. In both of the workouts, we have our arms extended. So, extend your arms out. Now, watch what she does with her spine. She is going to slowly roll down exhaling. See that her shoulders are down. She’s not engaging the shoulders, hold, and take a deep inhale and roll up. And, exhale, lower down, contracting, and inhale roll up.
Now, if done properly, you are working your entire body. She is squeezing her gluts, her hamstrings, her quadriceps and of course, her core area—her abdominals. Beautiful. Pull out. Take a deep inhale, arms over head, and exhale lower your arms down.
Those are the basics for your mat workout. I can’t wait for you to get started.
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