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With today's workout we are working towards adding challenge to build strength and stamina.
First we focus on finding stability and connection, and then we layer in challenge and more movement. As we increase the range of movement your aim is to maintain a strong stable core, which is easier said than done!
I loved filming this workout. I could really feel how with each progression I needed to dial up the connection with my core.
Listen to your body …. Focus on my verbal cues and how your body is feeling…. Breath and move with control …. Enjoy enjoy xx
Anyone following this class does so at their own risk. It is your personal responsibility to work safely and within your own limits.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi. Today's core workout is all about layering in progression. As you grow stronger and you find a
0:10
deeper connection with your core and you feel that you're able to also exercise and use those muscles
0:16
for longer, you're going to love this workout. Okay. So we are going to start with the basics
0:23
So we start with an exercise and then we layer onto that same exercise, adding challenge and
0:28
challenge and challenge. Okay. And then we'll move on to the next exercise. And then you've got
0:33
various options that you can use when you want to do a core focused workout at home. Okay. Don't
0:40
need any equipment. Just you and I, we're going to get straight into this. You're going to come
0:45
onto your mat. We're going to sit down. You're going to place your hands behind your thighs
0:49
We're just going to mobilize your spine first. Okay. So long spine, find those sit bones underneath
0:55
you. Inhale, keep your shoulders stacked over your ribs, scoop your navel in towards your spine
1:02
You're going to exhale, lift your chest, press your chest forward, draw your shoulders down
1:08
nose to ceiling. And again, inhale and exhale. So as I'm doing this, I am finding that connection
1:17
with we call it our powerhouse with our center and lift. One more time, inhale
1:25
and exhale and lift. Well done. Okay, we're going to round our spine, find that C shape and we're
1:34
going to roll all the way down onto our mats. Okay, you're going to place your hands down by
1:39
your side, just place yourself in there so you feel centered on your mat. I want you just to do a
1:46
quick tuck, tilt of your pelvis here. We do that so that then you can find what you feel is that
1:53
midpoint between that range where we're not imprinting our lower back. We've not got that
2:00
huge space underneath. It's that point in between. We're all different. So it's finding what your
2:06
neutral is. Okay. Then we're going to start working on our core. So remember, we start simple
2:13
but we lay it into this. So if at the beginning you think, oh, this is too easy, this isn't for me
2:18
stick with it, stick with it and see what is yet to come. Okay, so you're going to reach with the
2:24
arms down the mat, pulling your shoulders away from your ears. Really simple, you're going to
2:28
inhale, lift the arms, and as I lift the arms, I'm keeping the back of the ribs heavy on the mat
2:34
I'm drawing my navel down towards my spine, sweep those arms forward, exhale just two more times
2:40
starting to find that connection with your center. Sweep the arms forward. So there's no movement of
2:47
my spine here. Breathe in, breathe out. Well done. Okay, right arm down by your side, left arm
2:56
hover that arm off the mat, turn your palm to face into the center. Sweep that left arm back
3:01
keep those ribs heavy on the back of the mat, draw your navel in towards your spine
3:05
extend your right leg here. Okay, you're going to bring the arm back, you're going to return that
3:11
foot. We go again, breathe in, breathe out. Just one more time, breathe in, breathe out. So now
3:20
we're going to extend the arm, we're going to extend the opposite leg, we're going to hold here
3:24
Deepen that connection with your centre, breathe in, breathe out, lift the leg
3:29
we sweep the arm forward and inhale, exhale. So you're focusing on flexing and extending at the
3:39
hip and the same at the shoulder joint, no movement from your spine, so your core is creating that
3:45
stability on the mat. We're going to go three, we're going to go two and we're going to go one more
3:53
Okay, we're going to warm up the other side. You're going to bring your hand down on the mat
3:59
Okay, you're going to take your right arm overhead, back of the ribs stay heavy
4:03
extend that left leg, extend. We turn the foot onto the mat, bring the arm down by your side
4:10
We go two more. Again, we're just working on that light connection to begin with
4:15
it's going to become a whole lot more challenging. Well done. Okay, extend the arm, extend the leg
4:21
Head stays down on the mat We sweep the arm forward lift the leg breathe in breathe out Well done One more Awesome
4:34
And bring the hand down by your side, foot down by your side
4:38
Okay, we're going to take both arms to a vertical position. Collarbone wide, relax your shoulders
4:45
Lift the feet away from the mat so you're at double knee fold. Okay, so you're going to have your right arm down by your side
4:52
it's going to hover off that mat, reach down the mat. Okay, you're going to take your left arm
4:58
extend the arm overhead, and then you're going to extend your right leg. Okay, so more connection
5:05
you can feel it, can't you? That arm, right arm is lifted away from the mat, we go again
5:10
So we lift opposite arm and leg, breathe out, breathe in. Well done. So we're going to go six
5:18
Well done, so one arm and the opposite leg is moving, everything else is still unstable
5:26
And you've got two more and one more. Well done, bring that foot onto the mat
5:36
bring the other foot, just reset your spine if you need to. Okay so legs come to double knee fold
5:44
Left arm is off the mat, reach down the mat. Okay, neutral spine, take your right
5:51
arm and reach above your head, extend your left leg here, breathe out, breathe in lower
6:00
breathing out. So my lower abdominal muscles, that transverse abdominus is working really hard to
6:08
stabilize my spine, stabilize my pelvis and we've got two more and one more
6:18
Quick hug, bring your knees into your chest, bring your feet down onto the mat. Okay so we carry on
6:23
with this, we're layering in more challenge. You're going to bring your feet to double knee fold, we're
6:28
going to raise the arms to vertical. Now this time we're going to curl up so the arms reach towards
6:34
the ceiling, shoulders are nice and relaxed then you're going to look through the legs at the gap
6:41
here top of your knees, arms are in this position. Okay we're going to go same side this time
6:47
so it's left arm left leg well done and switch and switch well done so we're going to go four
6:58
Good. Now, don't take that arm so far back that then your chest starts to drop. Well done. So
7:05
we're just working within that shoulder joint. Excellent. One more. Bend that knee, bring your
7:14
arms back to vertical, opposite side. Lift those shoulders away from the mat. Lift your chest. Okay
7:19
extend your left right leg reach behind lower the leg and lift well done and breathe out
7:29
and again you're doing really well if you need to support your head you can then bring that hand
7:38
behind your head and last one knees to chest curl all the way down shrug out your shoulders you're
7:47
doing amazing. Well done. Feet come down. Reset. Spine, pelvis, double knee fold. Okay. We curl up
7:58
again. We're going to reach with the arms to the ceiling. Your shoulders are lifted away from the
8:03
mat. Your chest is lifted. Draw your navel down towards your spine. We go opposite arm and leg
8:10
reach, return, switch sides, reach, return, keep your chest lifted, well done and again breathing in
8:21
breathe out, we're going to go six, we're going to go five, awesome, well done, we're going to go
8:28
four, lift up a little bit more and three, just two more and two and one more. Bring those knees
8:39
into your chest, relax those shoulders. Well done. Okay, we're going to roll together onto our sides
8:47
Come with me and we going to go into a four kneeling position Hands directly underneath your shoulders Okay so find that long spine draw your navel up towards your spine pull your shoulders away from your ears When you
9:04
look down, check your knees a hip distance apart. Okay, again, we're going for those layers of
9:09
challenge. First thing you're going to do is slide your right leg down the mat. So just watch that
9:15
this hip hasn't dropped or the opposite lifted here. Trying to keep your pelvis stable. We're
9:21
just going to lift the leg here and lower. Breathe out. So keeping that stability here
9:28
that connection with your center, crown of your head reaching forward. Well done. Draw
9:34
your shoulder blades back on the back of your rib cage. Well done. And three and two and
9:43
one more. Slowly lower the leg, slide that knee in opposite sides. Okay, just center yourself again
9:52
leg extends, softly point the foot. Think about not just lifting the leg
9:58
but really reaching to the wall behind you. Okay, this is what we see happen sometimes
10:03
that leg comes up and then the upper body is moving, the back is arching, so we're just
10:10
thinking about bringing that hip to a neutral position, extend from that hip. Don't need to
10:15
bring the leg too high to feel that connection into your glutes, into your hamstring. Last one
10:23
Lift, lower with control, bring the knee down onto the mat. Okay, pelvic floor lift, core engage
10:32
You're going to take your left hand away from the mat, slide the hand away, lift that arm
10:38
reach forward and lower and lift. We're just going to go for four. We've got two to go
10:45
and we've got one more. Bring that hand under that shoulder. Re-centre yourself again
10:58
Restack. So you've got your elbow, shoulder joint stacked over the wrist. Opposite arm reaches
11:05
forward. We're going to lift and lower and lift. Well done, last two and last one. Well done. So
11:19
come off your wrist for a moment, shake out your wrist. We're going to combine that arm and leg move
11:23
together. Okay, so one other alternative with the exercises we've just been doing
11:29
And with this exercise is you can have light hand weights in your hands
11:34
I'm not using them today, but I would go for about a kilo, no more
11:39
So you're now reaching forward with the left arm. Right leg's extended
11:44
Okay, pelvis is level. Shoulders are level. We're trying not to twist the body here
11:49
Okay, breathe out, lift and lower. Sorry, I was clenching my fist then, holding that imaginary weight
11:58
I actually make myself laugh sometimes. Okay, and breathe out, lift. Fabulous. So we're going to go
12:10
four. Well done. Three and two. Now lift and hold. Hold here. Okay, lower the leg, lift the leg
12:25
lower the arm, lift the arm and again. So really focusing on that center
12:34
on your powerhouse. One more of each. Well done. Hand returns, leg returns. Now give your tail a wag
12:47
from side to side. Well done. You're going to come off your wrist, you're going to shake out
12:54
your wrist. So I'm just going to change sides so that the arm I'm lifting is nearest to you. You
12:59
don't need to do that. Okay. If it feels uncomfortable under your knees, on the knee that's on the mat
13:05
you can always put a very thin cushion or a folded towel under that knee. You don't want the cushion
13:11
to be too padded or too high because that will send your hips out of alignment. Okay. So long
13:17
spine draw those shoulders back So now you sliding your left leg down the mat Okay So it the leg that nearest the camera Now okay draw your shoulders back Okay we going to lift the leg and
13:31
lower and lift and lower. Okay, we're going to lift, we're going to hold here. You're going to
13:40
slide that arm out in front of you and we're going to lift the arm. Okay, we lower and we
13:47
lift at the same time and we lower and we lift at the same time. So I want you to think less about
13:56
the lift and more about that reaching. So I'm reaching to the wall in front, reaching to the
14:04
wall behind and you've got two and you've got one more. Try not to let your heads drop and hold here
14:12
three, two, one, hand comes down, leg comes down, wag your tail from side to side. Well done. Let's
14:23
just move our hips here. Well done. Come up, shake out those wrists. Fantastic. Okay. So we're going
14:33
to do some planks and we're just going to layer into these planks. Okay. So the first thing we're
14:37
going to do is we're going to have our hands directly underneath our shoulders and then I'm
14:42
going to get you to walk your knees back and then can you see the position of my spine? So I've got
14:48
neutral position in my hips, I'm drawing my shoulders back so I can squeeze, gently connect
14:55
into my glutes and into my quads. So this would be your starting position for a plank, okay, on your
15:03
knees. As you feel that you build strength, you're going to then think about extending one leg
15:09
extend the other leg we lift those knees away from the mat so we stand strong into those heels
15:15
well done head in line with your spine hold your plank position here we're going to go five
15:23
four draw your navel up towards your spine three two one lift your hips press your heels down come
15:34
into your pike. Try not to move the position of your hands. Okay, we're going to lift the heels
15:41
we're going to extend from the hip and we're going to come back to our full plank position here
15:46
You're going to extend one, keep one leg extended, press into that heel, drop the opposite knee
15:52
straighten that leg, switch sides and extend and switch, extend and switch. Well done
16:04
and switch, and switch. Well done. One more. Well done. Knees come down, push back into your rest
16:16
position. Well done. Okay, we're going to go back to a kneeling plank. You're going to have your
16:23
knees wide. Okay, create that stability in your center. Find that connection with your glutes
16:30
with your quads. Okay, you're going to take your left hand away from the mat, bring that hand to
16:34
your shoulder, slowly bring that hand back down and tap. So we're trying to let our hips move as
16:44
little as possible. So we're looking for that stability. Okay, and tap and tap. So layering
16:52
into this would be to take the feet off the mat. Feet are wide, stand into those heels, take one
16:58
hand off and tap and tap. Okay. So you're either on your knees now or you're on your toes. We're
17:06
trying to avoid this where the hips twist and the hips twist. Okay. So we're going to go four
17:14
and three. Awesome. And two and one more. Bring your knees down, come into your rest position
17:25
so obviously you can do as many reps as you want of these exercises so can you see how the challenge
17:33
builds as we go through them so start slow find that connection and then build those layers and
17:41
then you do as many reps as you feel confident doing and still maintaining that stability
17:47
awesome effort today thank you for joining me
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