Full Body Reformer Flow

Hi. I'm Ashley Francis Hoffman. Thank you for joining me for this intermediate reformer workout. Have your short box somewhere easily accessible. We're starting on all springs for stability, foot bars up. Headrest is down.

Lie down on your carriage, feet onto the footbar, heel slash arch, head into the headrest and just take note of how your mind feels on the mat. We'll start with some articulation. So just a pelvic tilt, curl the tailbone up, and then let it drop down as you find that natural curve of your low back, maybe even a little arch. So we're just feeling the mobility of our pelvis. Three more times.

Five little pelvic tilts here. And two, feeling my heel right where my arch connects into it on the foot bar. And now I'll roll all the way into a shoulder bridge. Arms, arms push down. Roll the hips up.

Breatheen and exhale roll down articulating through the spine. Four more times. Just starting to feel where we are in space. Can we press the arms down more into the mat? Can the carriage stay in? The springs are helping us.

If you want more of a challenge, you can always have, less springs on. And then you have to really use those hamstrings to keep the carriage in. Continuingly thinking about the knees reaching over the footbar to keep that hamstring curl work as the shoulders press back. Now, we're going to the toes, heels are high parallel hip distance apart and rolling up through here for five. And roll down piece by piece, curling the tailbone up, rolling through the low back, four.

Feeling the knees reach right over the second toe. Pushing the shoulders arms back. The chin is, staying away from the chest because you're not lifting so high through your chest, just articulating up till you're in this nice straight line from shoulder hip to knee. At the top of the fifth one hold, and the knees will press together and open as wide as the reformer for eight. This is three.

Low abs deep in four. Breathing the whole time. Six, seven, eight, fine parallel hip distance and roll down through the spine. Heels together toes apart, slight external rotation, and five more rolling up to shoulder bridge, pressing those heels, getting a deeper inner thigh connection, roll and lift, not coming into an extension in the upper chest, so keeping Again, the ribs a little knit at the top. And down, three, feeling those hamstrings and glutes waking up, two, roll down.

On the next one, roll up and hold. And again, those knees come together and open. Arms push into the mat to create opposition as the hips are high to the ceiling. Feel that big stretch through the front of the thigh and the outer hip as the knees touch. Two.

One, knees, just as wide as the hips as you roll down for a little moment. We're coming right back up for a little extra balance challenge and single leg work. Right leg stretches long over the foot bar. Open that leg to the side and close eight times two. Really having to work on that opposite stabilizing side. Four, four more hips stay high and even three, as best as you can, two.

Keep that right hip up. One, replace the foot. Oh, a little shake. And roll down for a breather. A little moment to do the other side. Heels are high and together. Curle the tailbone, curl the hips up.

Arms pushing down left leg stretches long over the foot part, and it opens to the side. Just go as far as you can keep your hips square, or give yourself a little challenge and see how much you have to use your opposition of pushing the arms of lifting the hips. Last two, one, replace the foot and roll down. Hamstrings should be very awake now. So we're gonna grab the pegs and let them stretch out while we do some ab work.

Leg stretch to the ceiling. Elbows can either be wide or a little narrow, so you can really pull into your lats while you're here. Inhale stretch your right leg long. It might gently touch the foot bar. Exhale bring it back up.

Inhale, left leg. Exhale bring it back up. All the while keeping the stability of the rib cage on the mat. Exhale. Inhale. Breathe into your back. Exhale up.

Inhale. Exhale. So this nice, slow scissor switch, legs meet at the top, opening up the hamstrings that we just worked, and woke up really quickly at the beginning of our workout. This time, keep the right leg down, and we're gonna scissor switch for five, five, four, four, breath throughout three. Two, ribs heavy. One, hold the right leg down.

Open both legs for three, and come back, right, where you were in that scissor. Two, more of that lateral work. One, switch the top leg, left leg down open, and close, still pulling into those arms. And two, one more, and bend the knees in. Give them a little hug take a breath and feel your spine's a little heavier into the mat a little more elongated. Come up to sit for a spring change.

We'll take the springs down to two red for some more ab work, lying back down and grabbing your handles, similar to what we did holding the pegs, but now with that movement of the carriage, knees to the chest, legs to the ceiling, arms to the ceiling gripping those long loops. As the arms press down, the right leg lengthens. As the arms come back up, the leg lifts as well. So two red is a nice strong place to be for this. But if you like a little less, you can always do a red and a blue or just one red.

And then if you need a little bit more of a challenge, go for two reds and a blue. I'm leaving the head down to really focus on the elongating, pressing the head back into the headrest. Five sets here. Inhale, exhale press. Inhale up.

Exhale press down. Inhale up. Exhale press lengthening while the hips stay heavy on the mat, reaching the fist towards the foot bar. On the next one, as the right leg lowers, the arms stay down and long. The legs switch switch scissor. Two, breathe in and out three, and four, And five, we're gonna hold that left leg to the ceiling right leg long and open.

Reach those arms longer. Open the collar bones more. Three switch legs last time open and close. Connecting your legs into your abdominals. And together with the legs, bend the knees, bend the elbows, and take a breath, let your feet find the foot bar.

These can go a little one way than the other. Waking up, warming up. Feed are going into the loops for frog. Place the feet in, arch is close to heel, and settle your back. If this doesn't feel great on your neck, you can always lift the headrest up.

We're just going for eight frogs here. As the legs press out, the ribs stay heavy, as the knees bend in the hips stay heavy. And I'm only letting my knees go about as wide as my shoulders here. We'll open it up in a moment after our eight frogs, we'll do a little frog swimming is what I like to call it. But first, just seeing what our range of motion is.

Letting the neck be relaxed or if anything head pushing a little into the headrest to create opposition to how we're always kind of rounded forward flexion in the neck throughout the day. This time, press out. Open the legs as wide as you feel in control. Bend the knees and bring the heels back together. Let's do that. Four more times this direction, push.

Open as the ribs and hips stay stable, bend and pull the knees back together. This is gonna look different on every body because we all have a different amount of hip rotation extension, lateral extension. This should feel nice. Push open, and now this is what it's all been working towards. So now we open from here, reach through those inner thighs and hamstrings, bring them together.

And bend in. We've got this eccentric contraction, this long hamstring inner thigh, and then it's working to bring the legs back together, and bend three more. Open, press zipper like you're hugging a giant magic circle. And two, stretch the legs long as the ribs stay heavy. So everything is moving from the center. One, and reach. Bend the knees in, taking the loops off.

We're coming up for another spring change. Hook the loops onto the pegs so they're there for you. And we're going down to one blue spring. So two reds coming off. And the footbar will come down.

So we're kneeling for some side body work and arm work. I'm a little bit away from the shoulder rest, but not quite at the edge of the carriage, and I'm in line with this front shoulder rest. I'm gonna place the loop onto my elbow, interlace hands behind your head, and let your head press into your hands to really feel that giving you the length. If this position isn't great for your knees, you can always do a little crisscross apple sauce. Just bend to the left and come up. So you're bending towards the springs whichever side you're worth starting with will, of course, get to both sides.

Just five times here to start to feel the activation of this spring side and coming back up. Now we'll lift up onto the knees as you bend and come back down with control. So moving the carriage, no sudden movements, nice and controlled both ways hugging into the midline, lift, bend laterally to the side, and bring it back down. Two more. Lift.

And bend waking up that side body after we connect it to the back and the front. And now we're gonna stay up here and go for eight full bends. One, so you get to go both directions. Two, just the spine moving the hips try not to shift. Three, leaning the head into the hands.

Four, So everything stays nice and stacked head over shoulders over ribs over hips, over knees, and bend. Three more. Bend and two, keeping tall out of the low back as you bend the spine. Last one, and we're gonna stay here smoothly transition to grabbing that loop with the right hand. Staying at the top of standing on the knees.

Reach this right arm up and twist and bring it back. So we're adding a twist into all that bending we just did. Two. Breathe in. Out and three. In, and four, and five. Feel your shoulder blade glide.

As your arm extends overhead, your shoulder blade will lift, let it come back down. So you can connect to that latch. On your back. Two. Last one, and then we'll bake it to the other side, carefully slow and controlled sit back to your heels.

Bring the carriage home, connect that loop on, and we're gonna spin it around. I like to hold the carriage against the frame just so it doesn't move too much as I'm shifting. Now if that felt like too heavy of a spring, you can always go to a yellow, if you need more, or if your straps are a longer length you might wanna read. Right at the elbow crease, interlace the hands behind the head and sitting nice and tall leaning your head into your hands. Start by bending towards your springs and coming back to that straight spine.

Sitting on the heels for these first five, just to feel the movement of the carriage as your spine moves, feeling what part of your body is moving the apparatus. On the next one, we start to lift. So we know about our bend. Now we're adding that extension through the hip and sitting back. So all of this can be done in many different positions.

If it doesn't feel good to sit on your heels, you're more than welcome sit on a little box, a crisscross applesauce, or do the whole thing kneeling right out the gate, if that's better for your body. On the next one, we're staying up. And then we're gonna bend towards the back of the reformer and towards the foot bar. We get to go both directions here while using all of the hips, glutes, abs stabilizing us as we find that lateral flexion both directions. Eight times total here, kicking the shins down to help create stability, to help create that connection of hips right on top of the knees, not rocking back or shifting forward, that'll create too much movement in your carriage. And on the next one, carefully come back to a straight spine and transition to holding on to that loop in your left hand.

Extend the left arm and twist, bring it back with control. Feel that shoulder blade of the extending arm, lift a little and back down. We have to let our shoulder blades glide along our rib cage. To have nice healthy shoulders reach and resist it back where we pushing against the spring and where we resisting it. Two more times, finding that length, hug to the midline.

Everything gets a little taller, a little stronger for your last one, and carefully bring it back home sit back to your heels, return the carriage home. Loop goes back onto the peg. Head rest can lift here, and let's come around to change the spring for side leg work. Red spring on, blue off. If you have a green, you can always do a green for a little bit more. I like red.

Head into the headrest. You can always grab a pillow if needed. Place your leg into the loop until you're right above the knee. Knees are in about a 90 degree bend, and you wanna feel that top hip lengthen keeping the space through the bottom waist. Start by just lifting and lowering this top leg little bit of movement of the carriage, but not a lot because we're keeping the angle of the knee and the hip at 90 degrees.

Breathing into the back 10 times, starting to feel that outer hip activate, relax through the head and neck. And you can have your hand here or in the shoulder rest. Sometimes it's nice to keep it to find that length through the waist, extend your leg out from the hip, lift and lower 10 times here. And two, try not to let the low back round. Three, and four, and five. I'm starting to feel some shakes. Six. Hopefully, you are two, seven, eight, nine, 10, bend the knee in and take a little second.

I like to tuck and arch just feel more my pelvises in space. And now we're lifting that knee 90 degrees and circling for five, like your knee is trying to paint a little circle on the opposite wall from you. And then we're reversing it, lift and around. The lift is the most important part, getting into all those glutes to help me stabilize our hips, and take a little breath. We get one more set of five and five.

Lift that knee hip level and circle knee towards you up and away. Two, keeping that space in the waist. Three. Four. Five, reverse. Two, starting to get that burn in the outer hip, four, five, and rest.

Again, little tuck, arch, find that length in the low back last thing on this side clams. So the feet are gonna stay as the top knee opens and close 10 times two. And three, and four. You can even have your hand as something to reach for. And four more. Three, two, One and rest.

Whoo. Other sides carefully coming out of this side place the loop back onto the peg, bring the carriage home. And as you sit up to turn around, just give your body a second to release that hip and make your way over to the opposite side. So head into the head rest. Pillow if needed, grabbing the loop and placing it over the top thigh, right on top of the knee crease.

If it's too close to the upper thigh, it's gonna the strap will be too close to your face or the the cord. Okay. So stacking 90 degrees, top leg's gonna lift and lower. Lift and lower. Finding that length through the top waist to create length in the bottom side. Open and close 10 times. The second side is usually harder because the side is already working to stabilize when you were lying on it.

It's already a little fatigued. Two. One, and then you're extending the leg to straight, lift and lower from there. So longer lever and three, and four. Press that leg to the ceiling. Five. Six. Keep the low back long. Seven.

Eight carriage hardly moves nine. 10, and rest. Little shake is to be expected, at least for my body, circling five times. Lifting through that thigh knee towards the chest up and around, and then reverse it. Five four three two One, take a moment.

We repeat that. I like to do five and five and then do it again instead of ten and ten just to let the hip have a chance to not be so fatigued in the opposite direction. Here we go for the last set of circles, five. Four. Three.

Breathing into that back. Reverse. One. Two, three, four, feeling that burn in the outer, hip, five, and rest. We're almost there.

On this side, clams is the last thing 10 times feet stay glued spine stays long, and you press that knee towards the ceiling. Two, carriage will move a little. Three, four bottom thigh is pressing down into them at five. Six. Seven. Oh, that external rotation is so hard. Eight.

Nine. 10. And let's take this loop off. Bring the carriage home carefully, loop onto the peg and come up to sit for short box. I'm adding a spring.

So two red springs for stability. Headrest down and loops off. Grab your box. Nice and active through my hips. And we're going I like to go over.

The shoulder rest, but depending on your own body, you may need more or less space. Have a seat on the box. We're going right into tree. So grabbing the strap below. Start with both feet in.

Just to feel where you are, they have some space behind you, and then taking the right leg out. Grab underneath, sit tall as you pull against this right thigh. Reach long. Again, getting to stretch the hamstrings that we worked at the very beginning. On the third one, walk out to the ankle. Flexor point or releasing through the foot, whatever feels good.

Round your spine towards your leg. Curl back. Let that long. Loop catch you at the bottom. Just here, we're not walking down yet, and coming back up. Keep your leg in your right hand, grab the side of the box with your left.

Take the leg to the side. And roll back as far as you feel comfortable and in control. Read, and the exhale pulls you back up. Reach outside the foot or the leg to rotate. Start to lean back.

You can either grab the loop or reach for the frame. Think of lifting out of the spine as it's rotated, leg pressing across your body. Let the foot push into the hand to pull you up And then one more straight back, wrap that hip forward, roll back, and climbing down the leg, go as far as you feel and control. I'm gonna go all the way. Use my exhale to bring me up climbing that tree climbing up and sitting tall at the top to switch sides. Holding that left thigh into you, lifting your back against it.

Stretch that leg and bend it. Two, on the third one, walk to the ankle. Do what feels good to I've got little shakes going in my legs. And I'm wrapping that hip forward. Round back as you kick into the strap with the long leg. Just the first one around and sitting up tall.

Keep the left hand on the leg. Grab the side and open. Go for that A la second stretch that second position, stretch, and then reaching across either foot or outside of the leg. I'm gonna go for my foot pressing it in, keeping my spine a little more extended and straight reaching for the frame, feeling the outer hip as you find length in the spine, push the foot into the hand to pull you up. One more time, square it off, round back, finding that nice traditional tree climb down where you feel in control, stretch that leg to the ceiling.

And I'm using my exhale to bring me back up. Sitting tall at the top and bring that leg down for some side bends. I'll keep my right leg under the strap and face towards the window. Left hand is on the headrest and starting by just finding that press up through that outer hip into the strap and finding a big side body stretch. We worked our side body.

We're about to work it some more, but first take that stretch supported by the hand into the headrest. Right hand goes behind the head pushing the head into the hand, keeping the bottom arm into the headrest like you're making a a side plank position here. Bend that bottom elbow, and then press up through the right leg through the right side. You can keep your hand on the head rest, or if you're feeling strong and stable, let your body lift off of it. It's like a little bit there for support and guidance that you can stay stacked like you're between those two panes of glass, eight times here. Lift.

Inhale lengthen. Exhale, lift. Inhale, exhale. That outside leg is kicking up the entire time. So really working through the outer hip. It's active from our side laying.

And then on this last one, we go for a full stretch in the rotation. Hand on each side of the frame. Let your body melt over as you keep that back foot flexed, tractioning. Take a deep breath in, let the neck relax, and then use the hands to help bring you up to switch sides. Opposite foot under the strap, sitting onto that top hip, bringing the knee across from the belly button, pressing up through the outer hip, find your bottom hand on the headrest and take that big stretch over.

Breathing in, feeling the active outer top hip, and then hand behind the head. I like to almost feel like I'm pulling my head up here. So bend and press that left hip and left waistline is pulling me up three, eight times. Inhale, exhale four. Inhale, exhale five, three more.

And six lengthening to the back of the reformer. Seven, we're almost there for our stretch. Eight and reaching the hands to each side of the frame while you keep that foot hard flexed under the strap. And relax into your stretch. Deep breathe in. Use the hands to help you come up.

And we'll go into a long box, little series. So bringing the box long ways, You've still got your two red springs. We'll keep them there. Grab your long loops and have a seat on the box with your feet into the headrest. Rolling back, to a little supported teaser. So we'll do a teaser prep. Arms are in about a soft bend soft bicep curl almost 90 degrees.

Toast can hang off the headrest. You can really press your heels in. Start to curl the tailbone under. You keep the soft bend so the carriage moves with you. But as your spine lengthens into the box, arms straighten, go where it feels good and in control.

I like to open all the way here. Curl chin to chest as you start to curl through the bicep and peel your spine up back to that nice tall seated position. Two more times. So we're feeling where we're gonna roll through in our teaser. But then taking a moment to find this traction extension, let the arm straighten and the shoulder blades squeeze. If that's not great for your neck, don't have to go all the way back.

It's just an option. One more, curl the tailbone. The arms are coming with me as I roll my spine back. The arms elongate as my spine elongates. And then I'm just using the springs as a counterbalance to help me roll through.

Let's take it to our single leg teaser. Right leg extends. Like a little bend. You can go for full straight if you like. I'm not letting the arms change.

They're keeping that soft bend. I roll through to the tips of my shoulder blades. And curl back up for three. Curle under. Waste pulls into the box and then peels away as my tailbone stays curled under.

And this time at the top, you're in that single leg teaser and switching sides. So nice and controlled. Take a little glance at your hips. See if that left waistline really wants to shrink on you. Whenever we lift the leg, that likes to happen, which we were using our tree to help find some of that length.

Third one here, breathe in. Let the abs and the arms pull you up both feet down. You know what's next. Both legs together. So curl just behind the tailbone, carriage moves a little because I've got that soft bend, one leg, and then the other leg. Curling down to the tips of the shoulder blades, curl the tailbone deep in the abs to come up three, curl the tailbone under, and rolling and lifting through the chest too.

One more arms are just going for the ride back as strong abs deepen. At the top, maybe you take a little moment to straighten your legs, lifting up out of the low back, and plant the feet down to bring the carriage home. Place the loops into the well, step off to the side for some swan on the box. Lie on the box, chest right at the front head over the headrest, legs are long, hips heavy, and just placing your hands on the carriage next to the box. So the carriage won't be moving at all.

And as you stretch your legs long, feel the hip crease flatten into the box. Take an inhale and start to lift your eyes, lift your head, lift your chest, looking up the wall in front of you. Pressing into the hands and then coming back down. Feel as if your hands could slide back to peel your chest open. If you've ever done swan on the wound a chair, you get that sensation that you wanna push against the pedal.

So pulling your spine forward as your arms pull back and lower. Two more times. Lakes go along. They don't have to lift necessarily. We're working that upper back and using that drag back really transfers everything into the upper back. Out of the low back last time.

Eyes lift. In a chest pulls open by dragging those palms towards the springs. And lower it down, and just take a moment to feel the hips release while you're on the box. Step off to the side, and we'll take our box away for kneeling chest expansion. Hook your loops back onto the pegs so they're there for you. We're taking off one red spring and adding a yellow.

A red and a yellow is a great place. But if you like to have a little more of a challenge red and blue, or you can even do it on one red for less. Now we're hooking the toes to the back edge, grab your long loops, and come up to that standing kneeling position. Using the tops of the feet to keep you right on top of your hips. Inhale as you pull the arms back.

Look one way. Look the other. Look center. And forward. It always feels a little scary if you're doing it right, staying right on top of the knees as you bring the arms forward.

So hamstrings and abs wedging you straight up to the ceiling, pull those arms back, punch them down as you rotate. If the neck turn doesn't feel right, you can always just work this, again, chest expansion We warmed the upper back up with that swan on the box. One more full set. Pull the arms behind you. Punch them down as you get taller.

Look each way and return. Last time to be even arms pull back, lift up tall. Look one way. Open the collared ones as you look the other way. Look center, and bring it back forward. Place the loops back onto the pegs.

And have a seat onto your carriage, lifting your foot bar up for a mermaid variation. I'm still on the red and the yellow. I'm about in the middle of my carriage, and I'm gonna lift my heels some on my tippy toes. Left hand onto the foot bar, and the right arm, I'll slide a little away, so my arm's almost straight, and an opposite arm up to my ear. Keep your feet where they are, but lets your hips slide as you bend to the side.

Come back up two times just a mermaid bend, a side bend. And now we're gonna add a twist. So as you bend to the side and you reach your max bend, Your knees are just kinda following you as your feet stay. Rotate and bring both hands on to the foot bar. Come out of it the same way you came in to find this rotation and stretch. Lots of side body.

It's a bit of a common theme through this workout. Bend your left knee in just to go for a little ride with you. Left hand on the footbar, right arm to the ceiling. Same thing, bend to the side. Rotate. And as you rotate, you're gonna slide that right leg behind you, pushing away, bring the leg forward back to the ground and come out of it the same way you came in. Let's do that three more times.

I'm lifting tall, bending to the left, letting this leg lift and reach back as I grab the footbar and stretch my body in two directions. Bring the leg forward and up. You can always just let the leg press against the shoulder rest. So as you reach, you lengthen that opposite leg long if that hip extension doesn't feel right for you. And last time, feel that right hand on the footbar, right hand reaching away as you're on the left hip and left hand is pushing into the footbar, and bring it back up with control, other side, pivoting around, both feet are on the ground, on the balls of the feet, right hand on the footbar, a pretty straight arm, left arm to the ceiling.

Leave your feet where they are, but let your hips and knees shift as you bend to the side. Just a side bend two times before we add a twist. The hips and knees are shifting while the feet stay this time, bend and rotate placing the left hand next to the right hand on the foot bar and pushing through the foot bar with that right hand to resist coming back. One more time with the twist and lift. Bend your right knee in so it's on the carriage to go onto that right hip as we twist and extend.

Push away, lean onto the right hip, let the left hand touch the footbar, let the left leg reach between the shoulder rests, if you can, bring it back with control, lots of shoulder stability, lots of work through the center of the body to stabilize. Again, you can always just press the leg towards that shoulder rest, not up and over it if the hip extension doesn't feel great in your body today. We're gonna do two more pushing through the footbar, Find that left hand push the foot bar as the left leg reaches away, bring it back with control just as smoothly as you got into it. Last one reach, push. Stretch, feel stable in the upper body before you really let that lower body rotate and move, and coming up.

Stand up for a lunge stretch with a balance challenge. Left foot is against the frame, hands on the foot bar. I'm staying on the red and the yellow, right knee, down right foot, hard flexing the foot heel against the shoulder rest. Push through both legs till you find this nice lunge. Me stays down the whole time.

While you're here, maybe you can start to lift the arms. Go where you feel you can really control. Grab back on and come back in two more times. So you can absolutely just stay here and enjoy the stretch, but I always like to think that it's more about the legs in this position than the arms doing the work for the legs. Last time on this side, and you can even just do a single arm.

You can just do the arms low. Go where you feel safe. And strong. Hands come back. Bring the carriage all the way home and come around to do the other side.

Right. Foot on the ground next to the frame. Hands onto the foot bar. Left knee down, left heel against the shoulder rest, push through both legs, and then take that work into the legs as you reach the arms. If you need more of a challenge, maybe lift the eyes, lift the upper back. We've really opened the side of the upper back.

So this is our time to feel. Do I have more length in my spine? Do I have more stability here to move? From a place of control. Last one, press away, firm the legs, firm the abs, lift the arms, maybe lift the eyes. Return the hands to the footbar, bring the carriage in, and step down.

Thank you so much for joining me. I hope you feel great, open and a little taller.