How to Do Pilates at Your Desk Video

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How to Do Pilates at Your Desk

How to Do Pilates at Your Desk Welcome to the warm up; let’s begin. The first thing I want to have you do is kick off your shoes and then you're going to adjust your seat height, so your knees are slightly lower than your hips. Let your feet rest flat on the floor, hip distance apart and take your hands and place them right onto your rib cage. Let the elbows be soft. Take a deep breath in into the sides of your ribs and as you exhale draw the abdominal muscles right into your spine. And again, deep breath into your hands, exhale and blow it out and bring the arms down by your side. Now, as you inhale, reach the arms of overhead, shoulders sliding down your back, exhale and let the arm just float right down to the floor. One more time just like this, inhale, big reach up, exhale and just let the arms float down. Now, as you inhale, let the eyes move up towards the ceiling; good! And as you exhale, let the eyes come right back down to the horizon. One more time, gently slowly inhale, lift the chin, exhale and bring the chin right back to the ceiling. Leave your eyes forward, inhale, reach up towards the ceiling. Now as you exhale, interlace the fingers and press them up towards the ceiling as you slide your shoulder blades down your back. Hold it here as you inhale. As you exhale, roll your belly away from your thighs and let your hands come down in front of your chest. And now, as you inhale, go ahead and contract the belly muscles and pull yourself right back up to sitting, good. And again, exhale, flow it all out, so your belly muscles scoop, inhale and lift. I'm going to turn to sides, you can see exactly what I'm doing. Exhale; notice how my belly moves away from my thighs and I round, eyes to the horizon, inhale and I reach my head right back to the ceiling one more time, exhale. Keep rounding, keep rounding soft in the shoulders one more time, inhale and stack yourself up. Now from here, exhale and slowly drop your hands right to your shoulders. And begin to make big circles with the elbows. Gently, slowly, warming up those muscles right in between the shoulder blades and now let’s just reverse that action, and notice the kind of shape that your elbows are making. Are they round? Are they square? What exactly does it look like? Good, one more time and then released your arms and let them fall right down by your sides. Take a deep breath then. As you exhale, float your ear right over to your shoulder and use your hand to assist that stretch just to bring a little more tug at the end. Good, inhale come up to center. And again, exhale use that hand to guide your head over to the shoulder. And then, use the opposite hand to press to the floor, great. Inhale, bring your head to center, exhale and drop your arm to the side. Let change sides. Inhale here, exhale. Now, float your ear to the shoulder, take your hand and gently assist it at the end; good! Inhale come on up and exhale; one more time. Use the hand to guide the ear over the shoulder, pressing to the floor with the opposite hand. Excellent, inhale come on up and as you exhale release the arm right down by your side. Now take your arms out to the side and readjust your feet so they're a little wider than hip distance apart. As you inhale, reach one arm to the ceiling and one arm to the floor. As you exhale, gently slowly curl to the side lifting through the chest. You don’t want to collapse in the middle but stay lifted. Hold it here as you inhale and now as you exhale, blow it all out and reach the arms long reaching through the fingertips; other side. Inhale again, one arm up, one arm down, exhale and curl; good. Hold it here as you inhale and as you exhale gently slowly come to that T-position, inhale to relax your arms. And now you’re ready for the neck and shoulder workout. Please take yourself to the edge of your chair, place your feet flat on the floor, hip distance apart and let your arms hang along by your sides. Dry your abdominal muscles into your spine and send the top of your head to the ceiling. Now as you inhale, gently lower your chin toward your chest keeping your back very, very long. And as you exhale, gently bring your eyes right back to center. I'm going to turn to sides, so you can see what I'm doing. As you inhale, once again, slowly nod the chin towards your chest and as you exhale bring your eyes right to center. One more time just like this, inhale and nod. Avoid collapsing in the middle. Stay length and through the back, exhale bring your eyes right to the center. Now as you inhale, take your shoulders and rise them up towards your ears. And as you exhale, slowly, slowly slide them down your back. Now again, inhale, reach them up being careful that the shoulders don’t rotate in but keep them wide, exhale and slide those shoulder blades right down your ribs, so one more time. Inhale, reach them up and one last time exhale and slides them down. Now as you inhale, reach your arms up in front of you, palms of the hands facing each other, exhale and just pause here. Now as you, inhale reach your fingertips forward as if someone is gently tugging on them. And as you exhale, take your shoulder blades and slide them back. And again, inhale, reach forward, feel how the back widens and as you exhale feel how the back narrows. One more time just like this, inhale reach it forward, forward, forward, it’s a very small movement. So please take your time with it. Exhale and draw the shoulder blades back. Now as you inhale, let your arms come down by your sides and take a pause. I'm going to use a Thera-Band for the rest of the workout. However, Thera-Band is not necessary for this workout to be effective. If you have a Thera-Band, please take it and place it right underneath the soles of your feet. Once again, let your feet be hip distance apart, readjust yourself here sitting comfortably on the edge of your chair. Now take the band into the palms of your hands, curl your fingertips over it and take the thumb across. Take your palms and flip them over, arms are long; elbows are soft taken, inhale here. As you exhale, reach your arm up towards the ceiling and as you inhale, slowly return it to the ground. Other side, inhale, exhale reach it up, inhale to return. And let just alternate arms, side to side reaching and returning. Now as you exhale and lift the arm up make sure that that shoulder blade is staying stable. What you want to avoid is that shoulder coming up into your ear. Let it stay long on your back, other side, good. One more time, each side, here we go, exhale, lift. Now its one smooth controlled pull. Don’t let that band snap you back one more time, other side, good, inhale to return. Now both arms together, exhale and scoop those arms up as you feel those shoulder blades slide down your back. And return, three more times just like this, exhale and reach. Inhale to return, two more times. Now just notice which arm is stronger and which arm is less so; this really shows up and this exercise. One last time, good. Inhale and pause right here. Flip your palms to the diagonal, feel how the shoulders rotate open. Take a breath here, relax the elbows, exhale and bring the arms up, inhale to return. Good. Three more times just like this, exhale, reach it up, inhale to return, last two. Remember as those hands come up, those shoulders blades are sliding down your back, one last time. Exhale and reach, don’t let that band beat you, go ahead and control that action as you return your arms down to your side, excellent. Now please take the band from underneath your feet, fold it in half and place it into your hands. Let your arms be a little wider than shoulder distance and let them be about level with your chest. Make sure that those elbows are wide. Go ahead and readjust your feet, so there are little wider than hip distance apart here. Take a breath in and as you exhale bend the elbows, pull the band apart and bring it toward your chest. Good, inhale and press it away. And again, exhale, bend the elbows, draw the band toward your chest, keep those wrists very, very long, inhale to return. I'm going to turn to the sides, so you can see what I'm doing. Exhale, bend the elbow, inhale to return it. Now, notice as I bend the elbow than I'm not extending my chest. I'm keeping my back long, so once again, I'm thinking about sending my head to the ceiling. I'm constantly thinking about drawing my abdominal muscles into my spine and press away. One more time, exhale, pull it in and one more time inhale and press it away. Now, take your band and just let it rest right over your thighs. Let your hands come down by your sides, take a deep breath in here. And as you exhale draw the shoulder blades back and as you inhale, bring the shoulders to your ears. And now, just make circles with the shoulders. Gently, slowly, noticing there roundness or not, your breath is just natural and easy. One more time in this direction, good. Now, lets reverse, bring them forward, up and back and down and again. Now notice that my elbows are quiet. My hands are quiet. All of this is happening in my scapula. My hands and my elbows are not necessary in order to make shoulder circles. Good. And one last time, excellent and pause. Now you're ready for the arms and wrists workout. Take your Thera-Band and place it right underneath the soles of your feet. Readjust yourselves here, so you're sitting firmly yet securely at the edge of your chair. Take the band into your hand. Curl it into the palms of your hands. Bring your fingertips over it and your thumbs across. Draw your abs into your spine, let your head reach for the ceiling and let your arms hang comfortably by your side. Take in and inhale. As you exhale, bend the elbows and bring your fists up towards your shoulder. Good. Slowly inhale and return the arms to there start position and again, exhale. Excellent, inhale and return the arms. Four more times just like this, exhale. Remember to send the crown of your head to the ceiling, inhale to release it, three more times. Now as you bring those fists up towards your shoulders make sure that your wrists stay very, very long. You don’t want them to curl in and at the top; keep them long and inhale to return. One more time just like this, exhale all the way up and inhale. Let the arms come down by your side. From here, rotate your palms out to the diagonal, take a breath in. As you exhale, once again, bend the elbow and bring that fist right up to your shoulder. Now as you inhale just return the arms halfway back, so you're about 90 degrees here. And again exhale, reach the wrist to the shoulder, inhale to return. Two more times just like this, exhale long grease, tight fists, slowly, slowly return it. Don’t let that band beat you. One more time, exhale and lift. Now as you inhale, let the arms come all the way down by your sides, excellent. Now as you exhale, just bend the elbow just halfway, inhale to return. Three more times just like this, exhale; good. Inhale to return, two more times. So we’re still working the bicep muscle. We’re just working different fibers of it at this level. One last time, exhale, inhale and return the arms all the way down by your side. From here, flip your palms over, so the seam of your palm is facing your thighs. Take you feet and slide them slightly forward of your knees. Take your elbows and bend them in towards your waist. Once again, the crown of your head to ceiling draw the abs tight into your spine and from here tilt your upper body forward. So your eyes are to the floor just between your toes. Take a breath in, as you exhale extend the elbows behind, your lengthening out through the triceps, inhale to return. And again, exhale, take it long. Inhale to return, two more times just like this. Again, watch what's happening in your wrists. Make sure that they are staying long and its okay to look at them to make sure that there long. Good, inhale to return. Now as you exhale, drop your arms, stack your spines in the crown of your head to the ceiling. Flip your palms over. If you would like, readjust the band in your hands, so you have a little more tension here. Take a breath. Exhale now, swift the arms behind you very slowly. We’re working still the triceps. Inhale to return and again, exhale and just swift those arms behind. Once again, wrists are staying very long and how to return, two more times exhale; good. Inhale to return. One last time as you pull the arms back also make sure you point those abs to your spine. Inhale to return. We’re going to change are timing, exhale and pause for three, two, one. Inhale to return and again, tiny pauses, three, smaller yet, smaller yet and return. Two more times, so the emphasize is away, away. Inhale to return, one last time. Exhale and pause, pause, pause, great. Inhale and return. Now take the band from underneath your feet and place it around your mid back. Let the band rest in the palms of your hand between your thumb and first finger and let your elbows hang comfortably by your sides. Take a breath in. As you exhale reach the arms forward. As you inhale open the arms to the side but not too wide. You don’t want them to go beyond your sides. Exhale, bring the hands together. As you inhale draw the elbows back, great. Three more times, exhale as you reach forward. Sitting very tall, use the abs here to support the spine as you open the arms, think taller yet as you bring the arms together and then inhale to return them, great. Two more times, reach it forward. So here we’re working the shoulders and we’re working the arms. Great, close it up on that exhale, inhale to return. One last time, exhale reach it forward, inhale to open, exhale to close and inhale to finish, great. Take your band just place it on your chair. We’ll be using that a little bit later. Bring your arms out in front of you. Bend the elbows and flip the palms so they’re facing the ceiling. Go ahead and make your fists with both hands, take a breath in. As you exhale, curl your fists towards your forearm. I'm going to turn to the sides so you can see exactly what I'm doing. I'm sure what you're feeling here is a lot of popping and snapping and maybe some tightness. Good. One more time, excellent, lengthen the wrists. Flip the palms over, take a breath in. As you exhale, reverse the action. Now bring the back of your hands to the top of your arms. Good. This is a great way to strengthen those forearms. Two more times, here’s one. One last time, lengthen and pause. Put the hands back around. Take a breath in. And now as you exhale, circle the palms toward each other. And just notice the shape that your fists make as you circle them inward. And now please reverse that action. Don’t be surprised if your circles are kind of square, maybe rectangular. That’s okay. One last time and pause, excellent. Drop your arms down by your side. Take an arm and reach it forward. Make a fist with the hand. Take your opposite hand around and bring it on top of the fist, take a breath in. And as you exhale, gently curl the wrists towards your underarm, excellent. Inhale, lengthen that wrist and again, exhale. Just gently use your hand to curl the fist under. You can feel that stretch all the way to your elbow, inhale to lengthen. One last time just like this, exhale, excellent. Inhale back to that long wrists and now let’s change sides. Once again, take your arm out in front. Let it angle to the floor, so your shoulder isn't reaching up into your ear. Take the opposite hand around. Take a breath in. And as you exhale go ahead and stretch that wrist. Inhale to release, exhale and stretch. One more time just like this, exhale gentle tug at the end and inhale to release and slowly let your arms fall down by your sides. Let’s move on to the abs and back workout. Bring yourself to the edge of your chair. Interlace your fingers and place them behind the roundness part of your head, elbows wide. Take your abs and pull them tight into your spine. Take a breath here. As you exhale, roll yourself away from your thighs keeping those elbows wide, eyes to the horizon, hold it here take an inhale. As you exhale, dive your forehead toward your knees, feel that bend in the mid-back and as you inhale slowly gently stack yourself tall to the ceiling, eyes to the horizon. And again exhale, roll yourself back; good. Hold it there, take a deep breath. This is where the work is, hold, hold, hold, exhale. Now dive that forehead towards your knees. Inhale and stack yourself up and when it turned to the sides, so you can see exactly what I'm doing. As you exhale, draw the belly button towards your spine and roll yourself back. Hold it here as you resists the temptation to bring your feet up the floor, take a breath, exhale, and now dive forward. You’re still rounded to here. Now as you inhale, stack your spine very, very tall. Now from here as you exhale, you're going to tilt back. Notice how my back stays long, long, long. It’s a smaller motion because it’s hard to keep your feet here. Take a breath in, exhale. Now dive forward, you get to round again. Now as you inhale, tall spines stack it nice and tall, head to the ceiling, two more times tilt. Keep the back long. Your drawing those abs into your belly, hold it here, take a breath, exhale. Now dive your head forward. Inhale to stack it up. One more time, just like this; inhale and tilt, tilt, tilt. Let the abs support the low back, hold it here, take a breath in, exhale. One last time, dive your head to your knees and as you inhale just articulate that spine right up to center, excellent. Go ahead and drop your arms out to the side. Bring your feet to the floor, hip distance apart, drop the shoulders, take your hands and bring them just slightly together. So you have a big V position versus a T. Take a breath in. As you exhale rotate to the side, go three pulses. We’ve got three and two and one. As you inhale, come around to the center. Let your eyes come to the middle. Exhale to other side four, three and two and one. Go very, very tall as you inhale and come center and again, exhale for three and two and one. Pull up to the middle as you come to the center and again, exhale for, three. So we’re working the obloquies here. Come on up as you come around. One more time, exhale for three and two and one. Let the shoulders be very, very quiet. One more time here, exhale for three and two and one. Inhale and come to center. Exhale and drop your arms. I'm going to use a Thera-Band for the next two exercises. However, it’s not necessary to use a Thera-Band in order for these exercises to be effective. If you have a Thera-Band, please take it and place it right underneath your seat. Readjust yourself here sitting at the edge of your chair, feet flat on the floor, hip distance apart. Take the band into the palms of your hands, bend your elbows and let them rest comfortably down by your sides. Take a breath in. As you exhale reach the arms up towards the ceiling and as you inhale circle the arms wide. And again, exhale, bend the elbows and punch the arms up, shoulder blades sliding down, inhale to open the arms. And we’re going to add a head movement with that. As you exhale, reach the chin towards the ceiling draw the abs into your spine to support the back. Inhale to open. And again, exhale, reach it up, inhale to open. And one last time just like that exhale. Reach the eyes to the ceiling and let them come back to the horizon as you inhale. Let’s reverse it. Exhale, reach the arms up, leave the eyes to the ceiling, draw the elbows in and extend. And again, exhale reach it up, eyes forward then the elbows as you inhale and release. Now let’s add that head movement, exhale reach up, inhale, bend the elbows, draw them down, extend the hands. Two more times just like that exhale, reach up. Remember to use those abs then the elbows and return one last time. So don’t let this band control you. Remember, you're in charge of that and pause, excellent. Now, take the band from underneath your seat and bring it into your hands. Readjust yourself so your feet are flat on the floor. Just a little wider than hip distance apart this time. And bring your arms up over head. I'm going to turn to the sides, so you can see exactly what my position is. Take a breath in here. As you exhale, pull the band apart, bend the elbows and let that band just float to the top of your chest. Good. Inhale as you return the band to the ceiling and again, exhale pull it apart and let the elbows angle down towards the floor and return it. Notice that my elbows are not point behind me that there are coming straight down. Inhale to return. Three more times just like that exhale and pull wide, excellent. Return it on that inhale. So we’re working the muscles of our back right now, the big lats. They do a lot of work for you as you're sitting there all day long. One more time, exhale and pull, excellent, inhale to release. And now just let the band come in rest right onto your thighs. Let your hand rest long by your side. Take a breath in. As you exhale, curl your chin forward and just let your torso fall forward. Let everything just dangle and hang forward. You don’t have to hold yourself in any particular way here. Take a breath in. As you exhale, contract your belly muscles and slowly roll yourself up, one vertebra at a time. I'm going to give you a side view so you can see exactly what I'm doing. Take a breath in, exhale, nod the chin forward. And now let air be a part of you just follow. This is the wonderful thing to do for yourself anytime during the day. Hold it here as you inhale. And now as you exhale, contract the belly muscles and slowly roll yourself up to sitting until your eyes come to the horizon. Now, we’re finally ready to move on to the hips and knees workout. Take your Thera-Band, double it up and tie it around your ankles. I'm going to turn to the sides so you can see exactly what I'm doing. Let there be just a little bit of space between your ankles when you're got to tie your band. Now, readjust yourself so you're sitting securely on the edge of your chair. Let your feet be slightly forward of your knees and take your arms out to the side. Draw your abs into your spine and send the crown of your head to the ceiling. Take a breath in. As you exhale, lengthen one leg away from the floor and keep extending until that you feel that toe come off the ground. Inhale, set it back down and slide it home.And again, exhale reach, so feel that toe reach and it’s that action of reaching that brings the leg off the ground. Inhale, set it down and slide it back two more times. Exhale and reach. Now make sure that you're not collapsing in the middle here that you’re sitting tall. Inhale, touch the toe down and bring it home. One last time on this side, exhale and lengthen. Feel that work in the front of your thigh, inhale, set the toe down and draw it back. Other side exhale and reach the foot forward. Good. Inhale set the toe down, and draw it home. Bring your arms up over head. This adds just a little bit of a challenge here. Exhale and slide it forward reaching through the toe, reach, reach, reach. Inhale to set the foot down and slide it back two more times just like this; exhale and reach, reaching through the toes for the top of the leg work. Excellent, set the toe down and draw it home. One more time just like this, exhale and reach it forward, reach. Set it down and draw it home. Go ahead and bring the arms down by your sides. Readjust your feet; so now they're pretty much in front of your knees. Take your arm back out to the side, take a breath in. As you exhale, take your foot and slide it back towards your chair. Excellent, inhale to return it and again, exhale, slide that foot back. You're going to flex that foot until you feel that heel come off the ground, keep reaching, feel the resistance here. And slowly set the foot down and return it. And again, exhale and slide it back, inhale to bring it home. One more time just like this exhale and slide. You can feel this working in the hamstring or the back of your thigh. Inhale to return it. Other side, exhale and slide the foot back. Inhale to return it. I'm going to turn to the side just so you can see exactly what I'm doing. Exhale and slide that foot back. See how it comes off the ground as it reaches towards my seat. Inhale, slide it back forward two more times just like this exhale. Flex that foot. Feel the sole of the foot slide on the floor. Inhale to return it. One more time just like that exhale and slide; excellent! Inhale, set the toe down and bring it home. Go ahead and drop your arms and pause. I'm going to bring myself back to the center. Once again, please readjust yourself on your chair. Set the crown of your head to the ceiling. Let your arms hang along by your side. Take a breath in. As you exhale, slide your foot out to the side. This is a very small movement. Inhale to return it and again, exhale slide it away. So you're working the outer thigh here. And as you return it, resist the band. Let that inner thigh work just a little bit more, exhale and slide it out. Inhale to come home, one more time just like this exhale and reach. Inhale to come home. Other side exhale and slide. Return the foot. Now as you exhale and slide the foot out, be sure that your not leading with the heel but you're keeping the foot very long and bring it home. Two more times; exhale and reach it long, out to the side. Remember to maintain contact of your abs with the spine one more time and slide it out and one more time and bring it home. Excellent, we’re going to do a little more work for the inner thighs, so take your band and just slide it up over your knees. Bring your feet together. Take your arms out to the side. Take a breath in. As you exhale, pull the knees apart. You can feel that work on the outside of the thighs. Now as you inhale, slowly, keyword is slowly bring those knees together. Three more times exhale and bring them out. Notice that the soles of the feet for the most part stay on the floor. There will be a little bit of separation but not much. Exhale and reach. You really feel this on the outside of the thighs and again, exhale and reach. Inhale, come on back. We’re going to change the timing and two pauses. Inhale here, exhale and pause out for three, two and one. Inhale, bring it home. And again, exhale for three, two, one and inhale bring it home. Bring the arms over head just to add a little more of a challenge here, exhale and pause for three, two, one, inhale return. One last time, draw the abs in as you press out for three, two, and one. Inhale to return; excellent. Go ahead and drop the arms, take your band and just slide it off your legs and bring it up to the side. Please take your arms out to big V position. Readjust your feet, so there a little wider than hip distance apart. As you inhale, send one arm up and one arm down to the floor. As you exhale, curl over the side reaching to the ceiling and reaching to the floor. Take a breath in and hold. As you exhale, contract the belly muscles and send the arms out into T position thinking long for the fingertips. One more time, inhale big reach out and big reach down. Exhale and curl over to the side. Hold it here as you inhale. And now as you exhale, one more time, pop it up use those abs to support the low back and inhale, drop the arms. From here take an ankle and cross it over your knee. Let your hand rest on one knee and the opposite hand on your foot. Take a breath in here. Now as you exhale, you're just going to lean forward keeping that back very long and what you’ll feel is stretch right down the side of your glut. Inhale and come up to center. I'm going to turn to the side, so you can see exactly what I'm doing. Take a breath in here, exhale and just lean forward. Notice that my back stays long and where I feel that stretch is right out the base of my glut. Good. Inhale and come on up. Exhale, let’s change sides. Take the opposite ankle over the knee. Take one hand to knee, one hand to the foot. Take a breath in here. As you exhale once again, just tilt forward keeping that back very, very long. You’re bending from the hip joint. Great, now as you inhale, just come right back to center. Two more times just like that, exhale and reach forward. Draw those abs into your spine. I'm sure you can feel this down your glut because I sure can. Inhale to come on up, one last time. Exhale and just tilt forward. You don’t have to go very far to feel this and inhale to slowly roll yourself up. Go ahead and set your foot back on the floor and drop your arms down by your side. Thank you for joining me for the full workout today. To maximize the benefits of this workout, please come back often. Thank you.

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How to Do Pilates at Your Desk

Welcome to the warm up; let’s begin.

The first thing I want to have you do is kick off your shoes and then you're going to adjust your seat height, so your knees are slightly lower than your hips. Let your feet rest flat on the floor, hip distance apart and take your hands and place them right onto your rib cage. Let the elbows be soft. Take a deep breath in into the sides of your ribs and as you exhale draw the abdominal muscles right into your spine. And again, deep breath into your hands, exhale and blow it out and bring the arms down by your side.

Now, as you inhale, reach the arms of overhead, shoulders sliding down your back, exhale and let the arm just float right down to the floor. One more time just like this, inhale, big reach up, exhale and just let the arms float down. Now, as you inhale, let the eyes move up towards the ceiling; good! And as you exhale, let the eyes come right back down to the horizon. One more time, gently slowly inhale, lift the chin, exhale and bring the chin right back to the ceiling.

Leave your eyes forward, inhale, reach up towards the ceiling. Now as you exhale, interlace the fingers and press them up towards the ceiling as you slide your shoulder blades down your back. Hold it here as you inhale. As you exhale, roll your belly away from your thighs and let your hands come down in front of your chest. And now, as you inhale, go ahead and contract the belly muscles and pull yourself right back up to sitting, good. And again, exhale, flow it all out, so your belly muscles scoop, inhale and lift. I'm going to turn to sides, you can see exactly what I'm doing.

Exhale; notice how my belly moves away from my thighs and I round, eyes to the horizon, inhale and I reach my head right back to the ceiling one more time, exhale. Keep rounding, keep rounding soft in the shoulders one more time, inhale and stack yourself up. Now from here, exhale and slowly drop your hands right to your shoulders. And begin to make big circles with the elbows. Gently, slowly, warming up those muscles right in between the shoulder blades and now let’s just reverse that action, and notice the kind of shape that your elbows are making. Are they round? Are they square? What exactly does it look like? Good, one more time and then released your arms and let them fall right down by your sides. Take a deep breath then.

As you exhale, float your ear right over to your shoulder and use your hand to assist that stretch just to bring a little more tug at the end. Good, inhale come up to center. And again, exhale use that hand to guide your head over to the shoulder. And then, use the opposite hand to press to the floor, great. Inhale, bring your head to center, exhale and drop your arm to the side. Let change sides.

Inhale here, exhale. Now, float your ear to the shoulder, take your hand and gently assist it at the end; good! Inhale come on up and exhale; one more time. Use the hand to guide the ear over the shoulder, pressing to the floor with the opposite hand. Excellent, inhale come on up and as you exhale release the arm right down by your side. Now take your arms out to the side and readjust your feet so they're a little wider than hip distance apart.
As you inhale, reach one arm to the ceiling and one arm to the floor. As you exhale, gently slowly curl to the side lifting through the chest. You don’t want to collapse in the middle but stay lifted. Hold it here as you inhale and now as you exhale, blow it all out and reach the arms long reaching through the fingertips; other side. Inhale again, one arm up, one arm down, exhale and curl; good. Hold it here as you inhale and as you exhale gently slowly come to that T-position, inhale to relax your arms.

And now you’re ready for the neck and shoulder workout. Please take yourself to the edge of your chair, place your feet flat on the floor, hip distance apart and let your arms hang along by your sides. Dry your abdominal muscles into your spine and send the top of your head to the ceiling. Now as you inhale, gently lower your chin toward your chest keeping your back very, very long. And as you exhale, gently bring your eyes right back to center. I'm going to turn to sides, so you can see what I'm doing.

As you inhale, once again, slowly nod the chin towards your chest and as you exhale bring your eyes right to center. One more time just like this, inhale and nod. Avoid collapsing in the middle. Stay length and through the back, exhale bring your eyes right to the center. Now as you inhale, take your shoulders and rise them up towards your ears. And as you exhale, slowly, slowly slide them down your back. Now again, inhale, reach them up being careful that the shoulders don’t rotate in but keep them wide, exhale and slide those shoulder blades right down your ribs, so one more time. Inhale, reach them up and one last time exhale and slides them down.

Now as you inhale, reach your arms up in front of you, palms of the hands facing each other, exhale and just pause here. Now as you, inhale reach your fingertips forward as if someone is gently tugging on them. And as you exhale, take your shoulder blades and slide them back. And again, inhale, reach forward, feel how the back widens and as you exhale feel how the back narrows. One more time just like this, inhale reach it forward, forward, forward, it’s a very small movement. So please take your time with it. Exhale and draw the shoulder blades back. Now as you inhale, let your arms come down by your sides and take a pause.

I'm going to use a Thera-Band for the rest of the workout. However, Thera-Band is not necessary for this workout to be effective. If you have a Thera-Band, please take it and place it right underneath the soles of your feet. Once again, let your feet be hip distance apart, readjust yourself here sitting comfortably on the edge of your chair. Now take the band into the palms of your hands, curl your fingertips over it and take the thumb across. Take your palms and flip them over, arms are long; elbows are soft taken, inhale here. As you exhale, reach your arm up towards the ceiling and as you inhale, slowly return it to the ground. Other side, inhale, exhale reach it up, inhale to return. And let just alternate arms, side to side reaching and returning.

Now as you exhale and lift the arm up make sure that that shoulder blade is staying stable. What you want to avoid is that shoulder coming up into your ear. Let it stay long on your back, other side, good. One more time, each side, here we go, exhale, lift. Now its one smooth controlled pull. Don’t let that band snap you back one more time, other side, good, inhale to return. Now both arms together, exhale and scoop those arms up as you feel those shoulder blades slide down your back. And return, three more times just like this, exhale and reach. Inhale to return, two more times.

Now just notice which arm is stronger and which arm is less so; this really shows up and this exercise. One last time, good. Inhale and pause right here. Flip your palms to the diagonal, feel how the shoulders rotate open. Take a breath here, relax the elbows, exhale and bring the arms up, inhale to return. Good. Three more times just like this, exhale, reach it up, inhale to return, last two. Remember as those hands come up, those shoulders blades are sliding down your back, one last time. Exhale and reach, don’t let that band beat you, go ahead and control that action as you return your arms down to your side, excellent.

Now please take the band from underneath your feet, fold it in half and place it into your hands. Let your arms be a little wider than shoulder distance and let them be about level with your chest. Make sure that those elbows are wide. Go ahead and readjust your feet, so there are little wider than hip distance apart here. Take a breath in and as you exhale bend the elbows, pull the band apart and bring it toward your chest. Good, inhale and press it away. And again, exhale, bend the elbows, draw the band toward your chest, keep those wrists very, very long, inhale to return.

I'm going to turn to the sides, so you can see what I'm doing. Exhale, bend the elbow, inhale to return it. Now, notice as I bend the elbow than I'm not extending my chest. I'm keeping my back long, so once again, I'm thinking about sending my head to the ceiling. I'm constantly thinking about drawing my abdominal muscles into my spine and press away. One more time, exhale, pull it in and one more time inhale and press it away.

Now, take your band and just let it rest right over your thighs. Let your hands come down by your sides, take a deep breath in here. And as you exhale draw the shoulder blades back and as you inhale, bring the shoulders to your ears. And now, just make circles with the shoulders. Gently, slowly, noticing there roundness or not, your breath is just natural and easy. One more time in this direction, good. Now, lets reverse, bring them forward, up and back and down and again.

Now notice that my elbows are quiet. My hands are quiet. All of this is happening in my scapula. My hands and my elbows are not necessary in order to make shoulder circles. Good. And one last time, excellent and pause.

Now you're ready for the arms and wrists workout.

Take your Thera-Band and place it right underneath the soles of your feet. Readjust yourselves here, so you're sitting firmly yet securely at the edge of your chair. Take the band into your hand. Curl it into the palms of your hands. Bring your fingertips over it and your thumbs across. Draw your abs into your spine, let your head reach for the ceiling and let your arms hang comfortably by your side. Take in and inhale. As you exhale, bend the elbows and bring your fists up towards your shoulder. Good. Slowly inhale and return the arms to there start position and again, exhale. Excellent, inhale and return the arms. Four more times just like this, exhale. Remember to send the crown of your head to the ceiling, inhale to release it, three more times.

Now as you bring those fists up towards your shoulders make sure that your wrists stay very, very long. You don’t want them to curl in and at the top; keep them long and inhale to return. One more time just like this, exhale all the way up and inhale. Let the arms come down by your side. From here, rotate your palms out to the diagonal, take a breath in. As you exhale, once again, bend the elbow and bring that fist right up to your shoulder.

Now as you inhale just return the arms halfway back, so you're about 90 degrees here. And again exhale, reach the wrist to the shoulder, inhale to return. Two more times just like this, exhale long grease, tight fists, slowly, slowly return it. Don’t let that band beat you. One more time, exhale and lift. Now as you inhale, let the arms come all the way down by your sides, excellent. Now as you exhale, just bend the elbow just halfway, inhale to return. Three more times just like this, exhale; good. Inhale to return, two more times. So we’re still working the bicep muscle. We’re just working different fibers of it at this level. One last time, exhale, inhale and return the arms all the way down by your side.

From here, flip your palms over, so the seam of your palm is facing your thighs. Take you feet and slide them slightly forward of your knees. Take your elbows and bend them in towards your waist. Once again, the crown of your head to ceiling draw the abs tight into your spine and from here tilt your upper body forward. So your eyes are to the floor just between your toes. Take a breath in, as you exhale extend the elbows behind, your lengthening out through the triceps, inhale to return. And again, exhale, take it long. Inhale to return, two more times just like this.

Again, watch what's happening in your wrists. Make sure that they are staying long and its okay to look at them to make sure that there long. Good, inhale to return. Now as you exhale, drop your arms, stack your spines in the crown of your head to the ceiling. Flip your palms over. If you would like, readjust the band in your hands, so you have a little more tension here. Take a breath. Exhale now, swift the arms behind you very slowly. We’re working still the triceps. Inhale to return and again, exhale and just swift those arms behind. Once again, wrists are staying very long and how to return, two more times exhale; good. Inhale to return. One last time as you pull the arms back also make sure you point those abs to your spine. Inhale to return.

We’re going to change are timing, exhale and pause for three, two, one. Inhale to return and again, tiny pauses, three, smaller yet, smaller yet and return. Two more times, so the emphasize is away, away. Inhale to return, one last time. Exhale and pause, pause, pause, great. Inhale and return.

Now take the band from underneath your feet and place it around your mid back. Let the band rest in the palms of your hand between your thumb and first finger and let your elbows hang comfortably by your sides. Take a breath in. As you exhale reach the arms forward. As you inhale open the arms to the side but not too wide. You don’t want them to go beyond your sides. Exhale, bring the hands together. As you inhale draw the elbows back, great. Three more times, exhale as you reach forward. Sitting very tall, use the abs here to support the spine as you open the arms, think taller yet as you bring the arms together and then inhale to return them, great. Two more times, reach it forward. So here we’re working the shoulders and we’re working the arms. Great, close it up on that exhale, inhale to return. One last time, exhale reach it forward, inhale to open, exhale to close and inhale to finish, great.

Take your band just place it on your chair. We’ll be using that a little bit later.

Bring your arms out in front of you. Bend the elbows and flip the palms so they’re facing the ceiling. Go ahead and make your fists with both hands, take a breath in. As you exhale, curl your fists towards your forearm. I'm going to turn to the sides so you can see exactly what I'm doing. I'm sure what you're feeling here is a lot of popping and snapping and maybe some tightness. Good. One more time, excellent, lengthen the wrists. Flip the palms over, take a breath in. As you exhale, reverse the action. Now bring the back of your hands to the top of your arms. Good. This is a great way to strengthen those forearms. Two more times, here’s one. One last time, lengthen and pause.

Put the hands back around. Take a breath in. And now as you exhale, circle the palms toward each other. And just notice the shape that your fists make as you circle them inward. And now please reverse that action. Don’t be surprised if your circles are kind of square, maybe rectangular. That’s okay. One last time and pause, excellent. Drop your arms down by your side.

Take an arm and reach it forward. Make a fist with the hand. Take your opposite hand around and bring it on top of the fist, take a breath in. And as you exhale, gently curl the wrists towards your underarm, excellent. Inhale, lengthen that wrist and again, exhale. Just gently use your hand to curl the fist under. You can feel that stretch all the way to your elbow, inhale to lengthen. One last time just like this, exhale, excellent. Inhale back to that long wrists and now let’s change sides. Once again, take your arm out in front. Let it angle to the floor, so your shoulder isn't reaching up into your ear. Take the opposite hand around. Take a breath in. And as you exhale go ahead and stretch that wrist. Inhale to release, exhale and stretch. One more time just like this, exhale gentle tug at the end and inhale to release and slowly let your arms fall down by your sides.

Let’s move on to the abs and back workout. Bring yourself to the edge of your chair. Interlace your fingers and place them behind the roundness part of your head, elbows wide. Take your abs and pull them tight into your spine. Take a breath here. As you exhale, roll yourself away from your thighs keeping those elbows wide, eyes to the horizon, hold it here take an inhale. As you exhale, dive your forehead toward your knees, feel that bend in the mid-back and as you inhale slowly gently stack yourself tall to the ceiling, eyes to the horizon. And again exhale, roll yourself back; good. Hold it there, take a deep breath. This is where the work is, hold, hold, hold, exhale. Now dive that forehead towards your knees. Inhale and stack yourself up and when it turned to the sides, so you can see exactly what I'm doing. As you exhale, draw the belly button towards your spine and roll yourself back. Hold it here as you resists the temptation to bring your feet up the floor, take a breath, exhale, and now dive forward. You’re still rounded to here. Now as you inhale, stack your spine very, very tall.

Now from here as you exhale, you're going to tilt back. Notice how my back stays long, long, long. It’s a smaller motion because it’s hard to keep your feet here. Take a breath in, exhale. Now dive forward, you get to round again. Now as you inhale, tall spines stack it nice and tall, head to the ceiling, two more times tilt. Keep the back long. Your drawing those abs into your belly, hold it here, take a breath, exhale. Now dive your head forward. Inhale to stack it up. One more time, just like this; inhale and tilt, tilt, tilt. Let the abs support the low back, hold it here, take a breath in, exhale. One last time, dive your head to your knees and as you inhale just articulate that spine right up to center, excellent. Go ahead and drop your arms out to the side.

Bring your feet to the floor, hip distance apart, drop the shoulders, take your hands and bring them just slightly together. So you have a big V position versus a T. Take a breath in. As you exhale rotate to the side, go three pulses. We’ve got three and two and one. As you inhale, come around to the center. Let your eyes come to the middle. Exhale to other side four, three and two and one. Go very, very tall as you inhale and come center and again, exhale for three and two and one. Pull up to the middle as you come to the center and again, exhale for, three. So we’re working the obloquies here. Come on up as you come around. One more time, exhale for three and two and one. Let the shoulders be very, very quiet. One more time here, exhale for three and two and one. Inhale and come to center. Exhale and drop your arms.

I'm going to use a Thera-Band for the next two exercises. However, it’s not necessary to use a Thera-Band in order for these exercises to be effective. If you have a Thera-Band, please take it and place it right underneath your seat. Readjust yourself here sitting at the edge of your chair, feet flat on the floor, hip distance apart. Take the band into the palms of your hands, bend your elbows and let them rest comfortably down by your sides. Take a breath in. As you exhale reach the arms up towards the ceiling and as you inhale circle the arms wide. And again, exhale, bend the elbows and punch the arms up, shoulder blades sliding down, inhale to open the arms. And we’re going to add a head movement with that. As you exhale, reach the chin towards the ceiling draw the abs into your spine to support the back. Inhale to open. And again, exhale, reach it up, inhale to open. And one last time just like that exhale. Reach the eyes to the ceiling and let them come back to the horizon as you inhale.

Let’s reverse it. Exhale, reach the arms up, leave the eyes to the ceiling, draw the elbows in and extend. And again, exhale reach it up, eyes forward then the elbows as you inhale and release. Now let’s add that head movement, exhale reach up, inhale, bend the elbows, draw them down, extend the hands. Two more times just like that exhale, reach up. Remember to use those abs then the elbows and return one last time. So don’t let this band control you. Remember, you're in charge of that and pause, excellent.

Now, take the band from underneath your seat and bring it into your hands. Readjust yourself so your feet are flat on the floor. Just a little wider than hip distance apart this time. And bring your arms up over head. I'm going to turn to the sides, so you can see exactly what my position is. Take a breath in here. As you exhale, pull the band apart, bend the elbows and let that band just float to the top of your chest. Good. Inhale as you return the band to the ceiling and again, exhale pull it apart and let the elbows angle down towards the floor and return it. Notice that my elbows are not point behind me that there are coming straight down. Inhale to return. Three more times just like that exhale and pull wide, excellent. Return it on that inhale.

So we’re working the muscles of our back right now, the big lats. They do a lot of work for you as you're sitting there all day long. One more time, exhale and pull, excellent, inhale to release. And now just let the band come in rest right onto your thighs. Let your hand rest long by your side. Take a breath in. As you exhale, curl your chin forward and just let your torso fall forward. Let everything just dangle and hang forward. You don’t have to hold yourself in any particular way here. Take a breath in. As you exhale, contract your belly muscles and slowly roll yourself up, one vertebra at a time.

I'm going to give you a side view so you can see exactly what I'm doing. Take a breath in, exhale, nod the chin forward. And now let air be a part of you just follow. This is the wonderful thing to do for yourself anytime during the day. Hold it here as you inhale. And now as you exhale, contract the belly muscles and slowly roll yourself up to sitting until your eyes come to the horizon.

Now, we’re finally ready to move on to the hips and knees workout. Take your Thera-Band, double it up and tie it around your ankles. I'm going to turn to the sides so you can see exactly what I'm doing. Let there be just a little bit of space between your ankles when you're got to tie your band. Now, readjust yourself so you're sitting securely on the edge of your chair. Let your feet be slightly forward of your knees and take your arms out to the side. Draw your abs into your spine and send the crown of your head to the ceiling. Take a breath in. As you exhale, lengthen one leg away from the floor and keep extending until that you feel that toe come off the ground. Inhale, set it back down and slide it home.And again, exhale reach, so feel that toe reach and it’s that action of reaching that brings the leg off the ground. Inhale, set it down and slide it back two more times. Exhale and reach.

Now make sure that you're not collapsing in the middle here that you’re sitting tall. Inhale, touch the toe down and bring it home. One last time on this side, exhale and lengthen. Feel that work in the front of your thigh, inhale, set the toe down and draw it back. Other side exhale and reach the foot forward. Good. Inhale set the toe down, and draw it home.

Bring your arms up over head. This adds just a little bit of a challenge here. Exhale and slide it forward reaching through the toe, reach, reach, reach. Inhale to set the foot down and slide it back two more times just like this; exhale and reach, reaching through the toes for the top of the leg work. Excellent, set the toe down and draw it home. One more time just like this, exhale and reach it forward, reach. Set it down and draw it home.

Go ahead and bring the arms down by your sides. Readjust your feet; so now they're pretty much in front of your knees. Take your arm back out to the side, take a breath in. As you exhale, take your foot and slide it back towards your chair. Excellent, inhale to return it and again, exhale, slide that foot back. You're going to flex that foot until you feel that heel come off the ground, keep reaching, feel the resistance here. And slowly set the foot down and return it. And again, exhale and slide it back, inhale to bring it home. One more time just like this exhale and slide. You can feel this working in the hamstring or the back of your thigh. Inhale to return it. Other side, exhale and slide the foot back. Inhale to return it.

I'm going to turn to the side just so you can see exactly what I'm doing. Exhale and slide that foot back. See how it comes off the ground as it reaches towards my seat. Inhale, slide it back forward two more times just like this exhale. Flex that foot. Feel the sole of the foot slide on the floor. Inhale to return it. One more time just like that exhale and slide; excellent! Inhale, set the toe down and bring it home. Go ahead and drop your arms and pause.

I'm going to bring myself back to the center. Once again, please readjust yourself on your chair. Set the crown of your head to the ceiling. Let your arms hang along by your side. Take a breath in. As you exhale, slide your foot out to the side. This is a very small movement. Inhale to return it and again, exhale slide it away. So you're working the outer thigh here. And as you return it, resist the band. Let that inner thigh work just a little bit more, exhale and slide it out. Inhale to come home, one more time just like this exhale and reach. Inhale to come home. Other side exhale and slide. Return the foot.

Now as you exhale and slide the foot out, be sure that your not leading with the heel but you're keeping the foot very long and bring it home. Two more times; exhale and reach it long, out to the side. Remember to maintain contact of your abs with the spine one more time and slide it out and one more time and bring it home. Excellent, we’re going to do a little more work for the inner thighs, so take your band and just slide it up over your knees. Bring your feet together. Take your arms out to the side. Take a breath in. As you exhale, pull the knees apart. You can feel that work on the outside of the thighs.

Now as you inhale, slowly, keyword is slowly bring those knees together. Three more times exhale and bring them out. Notice that the soles of the feet for the most part stay on the floor. There will be a little bit of separation but not much. Exhale and reach. You really feel this on the outside of the thighs and again, exhale and reach. Inhale, come on back. We’re going to change the timing and two pauses. Inhale here, exhale and pause out for three, two and one. Inhale, bring it home. And again, exhale for three, two, one and inhale bring it home. Bring the arms over head just to add a little more of a challenge here, exhale and pause for three, two, one, inhale return. One last time, draw the abs in as you press out for three, two, and one. Inhale to return; excellent. Go ahead and drop the arms, take your band and just slide it off your legs and bring it up to the side.

Please take your arms out to big V position. Readjust your feet, so there a little wider than hip distance apart. As you inhale, send one arm up and one arm down to the floor. As you exhale, curl over the side reaching to the ceiling and reaching to the floor. Take a breath in and hold. As you exhale, contract the belly muscles and send the arms out into T position thinking long for the fingertips. One more time, inhale big reach out and big reach down. Exhale and curl over to the side. Hold it here as you inhale. And now as you exhale, one more time, pop it up use those abs to support the low back and inhale, drop the arms.

From here take an ankle and cross it over your knee. Let your hand rest on one knee and the opposite hand on your foot. Take a breath in here. Now as you exhale, you're just going to lean forward keeping that back very long and what you’ll feel is stretch right down the side of your glut. Inhale and come up to center. I'm going to turn to the side, so you can see exactly what I'm doing. Take a breath in here, exhale and just lean forward. Notice that my back stays long and where I feel that stretch is right out the base of my glut. Good. Inhale and come on up. Exhale, let’s change sides.

Take the opposite ankle over the knee. Take one hand to knee, one hand to the foot. Take a breath in here. As you exhale once again, just tilt forward keeping that back very, very long. You’re bending from the hip joint. Great, now as you inhale, just come right back to center. Two more times just like that, exhale and reach forward. Draw those abs into your spine. I'm sure you can feel this down your glut because I sure can. Inhale to come on up, one last time. Exhale and just tilt forward. You don’t have to go very far to feel this and inhale to slowly roll yourself up. Go ahead and set your foot back on the floor and drop your arms down by your side.

Thank you for joining me for the full workout today. To maximize the benefits of this workout, please come back often. Thank you.

Transcription by: Scribe4you Transcription Services

How to Do Pilates at Your Desk

How to Do Pilates at Your Desk -

How to Do Pilates at Your Desk -