Tower and Reformer Combo

Hi. I'm Gia, and today I'm gonna do a reformer tower class. I'm gonna tell you a bit of what we're gonna do with the setup before we start moving. So I have two short arm springs, the yellow ones with the handles. I have those three from the bottom. And then I have the two yellow long leg springs with those straps. They're two from the bottom.

And then I have my push through bar and a a red spring at the top here, just one spring. And then I'm gonna use the box later in the class as well. So make sure you have all of that ready and then we'll get moving. So to start, oh, I also have, just one yellow spring on the reformer, and that's not gonna change. So to start, we're gonna grab the two arm springs your head rest is down, hold them in one hand, and then carefully sit down with your feet on the head rest. And then you can hold one strap in each hand.

Make sure you have some room behind you. We're gonna roll back. Arms are gonna stay straight and sit up nice and tall as you inhale. As you exhale, you're gonna tuck your tailbone under, peel it down one bone at a time, think of bringing your waist back to the reformer. Just go till you get to your shoulder blades.

Inhale here, exhale as you roll up. One bone at a time. So the nice thing about this is you have to move slowly so you can't cheat. So you have to be in control of your equipment pulling back as you roll. So if you go too fast or you rush through it, and the equipment kind of crashes, and that's what you don't want pulling up.

One by the time, trying to stay relaxed in your shoulders. Lakes can be apart or together, whatever feels better to you rolling back. Arms are staying straight, controlling those springs, and then rolling up, feeling the waist pull back as you roll up, lengthen your spine at the top. One more, rounding and rolling back. And then rolling up.

We're gonna add some legs to this. So I'm gonna roll back one one at a time, find that curled up position and hold We're gonna bring one leg up to tabletop and then lower it back down. And then other leg lifts up and then lower back down. So I'm trying to keep the reformer still. Lifting up.

Again, if you speed through it and rush through, the reformers gonna bounce back and forth. Lifting one leg up, control, and other leg up. One more set. Lift and lower. Last one. And then you're gonna roll all the way up. Pull your waist back as you roll up.

Squeeze your legs together if you'd like. Laying nearest by the top. Again, roll back, find that same position and hold. Now from here, you're gonna lift both legs up to tabletop and then lower back down and lift both legs up. And lower. Two more. Lipped and lower.

Last one up and down both feet down and then pull your waist back as you roll up deepening those abdominals. One more rolling back. From here, you're gonna lift both legs up and hold. You're gonna stretch both legs out to the diagonal and then pull back in. Try to keep your low back on the mat and then back in.

Again, the reformer's not moving. Trying to keep it as still as you can. Two more. Reach. And bend last one, and then lower both feet down, and then roll all the way up.

Langters by the top. Hold those straps in one hand while you scoot back. Just wanna be a little further back. So you have about a hand distance away from the edge, and then one strap in each hand. Sitting up as tall as you can.

If you need to bend your legs to sit up taller, you can. We're gonna go into a bicep curl. Elbows are gonna stay in line with your shoulders. You're just gonna pull in and then reach your arms forward. And then pull in. So you just wanna make sure you're not riding the spring as you stretch your arms and you're controlling the movement. Trying to keep the spine stacked.

So you have your shoulders, ribs right on top of your pelvis. We have four more. And three try to keep the elbows lifted and two shoulders on the back. Last one, we're gonna add this onto a row. So the rowing series, you're gonna pull into your bicep curl flat back.

You're gonna hinge back. The character's gonna move nice and slow. Now from here, you're gonna lift up with the arms. You're gonna sweep your arms down, dive your head down towards your legs. Arms gonna reach behind you.

Grab your hands. You're gonna reach your arms out around and reach toward your feet and then roll all the way up to a vertical position. You're gonna pull into your bicep curl hold flat back as you hinge back. And then arms reach up and back. Control it as you dive your head down as you reach your arms behind you.

Grab your hands if you can. And then reach arms out. And around, and then roll up. So it's just like on the reformer. It just feels a little different where you have to control it a little bit more than you would on the reformer. A little less flow.

A little more control. Dive your head down. Reach back. Arms reach out and around. And then reach forward. Roll all the way up.

I'm gonna go into the round back. So you're gonna pull your elbows out to the side. Hands come into your chest. Round your back. We'll halfway back, reach arms out to a tee.

Push back to dive your head down. Grab your hands. Reach out and around. And then reach forward towards your feet. Roll all the way up vertical.

Pull your hands to your chest, elbows wide. Tailbone under as you roll back arms push out. You're gonna dive your head down, grab your hands behind you, reach. Keep pushing into the springs as you reach out and around. And then roll up.

Trying to keep your arms even. Since you have two springs that are not connected, you wanna roll back. Try to keep the arms working as closely together as you can. Push out. Dived down. Make your hands back. And then out and around and then roll all the way up.

Have your palms facing each other, sitting up as tall as you can. You're just gonna pull your elbows back for a row and then arms come forward. So think of pulling from your back. So pulling your arms behind you and then reaching the arms forward. As you pull your elbows back, try not to thrust your ribs forward.

Keep your spine nice and vertical. Pulling back and forward. Two more. And reach the arms forward. Last one.

Now we're gonna add a twist to this. So the arm that straight is just gonna have the strap, the spring loose. So you're gonna pull one arm twist and then come back to center. The other side will twist and center. So it's kind of like a single arm row. The other arm keeping it out but it's not pulling on the strap at all and then switch Make sure you're not leaning back as you twist.

Pulling one arm and center. And then the other arm, rotate and center. One more each side. Rotate. Center. Last one.

I both straps in one hand. We're gonna switch her position. So place both feet on the floor just so you're safe. You're gonna bring your head rest up if you'd like it, and then you're gonna lie down on your side so that you can get onto your back. And then make sure your straps aren't crossed.

We're gonna bring your legs to tabletop. Make sure you're away from the shoulder rest. Arms are gonna come right over your shoulders. So take a deep inhale with the arms up. As you exhale, press your arms down by your sides.

Again with control so you don't crash into the top, especially where your head is. You don't want to crash. Arms come up to the ceiling and then press down and reach arms reach back up, can resist against those springs. Don't ride them and then press down. Keep pulling your low back toward the mat.

Use your abdominals to hold your legs up. Two more like this. Pressing down and then arms reach up. One more like this. We're gonna go into the series of five.

So you're gonna push down curl up and hold Reach your arms long. You're gonna reach one leg out. And then with control, you'll switch again. We're trying to keep the reformers still just like we did earlier. Reach and reach.

Keep pushing into those straps with your hands. And reach last set and reach both legs in arms reach up, rest your head. Take a breath for double leg stretch pushing down curl up, hold. Both legs will reach out oops. See I lost control there right bounced and reach both legs out and then back in and reach out. The thing I like about this is it hard for me to cheat on these.

I can really tell if I'm not engaged. Two more. Reach and in the last one, keep curling your chest up. And then lower your head down, rest your head down, arms up, Take a breath, exhale, push down curl up. That one was better.

Reach the legs up to the ceiling. You're gonna lower one leg down. Other leg comes toward you, and scissor to switch. And just keep alternating. Again, pulling your chest up.

Your ab should be burning. I know mine are and reach passing right through the midline. And reach last one. And then both legs in. Rest, just hug your knees into your chest for a second.

Rock side to side. It's our little break before we do the last two on the series of five. So legs up to tabletop again arms up to the ceiling, push down curl up, find that control, legs up to the ceiling and hold. You're gonna reach both legs out and then lift back up. Both legs will lower, and lift back up three more. Keep curling your chest up, reach into those hands and lift, and two.

And lift back up, relax the shoulders, last one, and lift back up, bend your legs, lower your head down. Take a breath. We're gonna go into crisscross. So you're gonna keep your arms straight You're gonna bring your legs up to tabletop. You're gonna keep one leg bent.

The other leg is gonna straighten as you come up into a rotated position, and then lower back down. Other side. Rotate. And then back down. And then rotate.

And back. Two more each side. I'm feeling the burn on this one. One more each side. Last one.

And then carefully place both straps into one hand roll over onto your side and then push yourself up. Sit in the center of your or toward the shoulder rest even and then slowly bring the carriage home and then we're gonna hang up these straps. The hardest part is actually the transitions when you're getting up and down. We're gonna move these straps out of the way, and then you're gonna grab just one leg spring. So we're gonna lie down on your side.

Your headrest can be up or down, and then your your hips toward the back. Then you're gonna put your foot inside the strap. The bottom leg is bent out of the way, and then your top foot's in the strap. You wanna make sure you have a space underneath your waist so your hip waist is long and then your head can be all the way down or if you wanna have your arm under your head, that's an option too. Your top leg is gonna come up hip height.

You're just gonna push your leg out and then pull it back into your chest and then again push out and then back in. So think of leading out through that heel. Pushing out and then it's coming in line with your body and then back in and reach long and controlling it so you don't crash toward the edge of the the frame pushing out. And then back in two more. Keeping the waist long, the hips still stacked and and just keep checking to make sure your body is in a nice square position. We're gonna hold this next one out.

Keep the leg straight. Keep reaching out through the heel. You're gonna lift the leg up and down. And lift and lower. For this one, the reformer doesn't really move too much. So we're trying to keep the control.

Keep those abdominals working to help stabilize you up and down up and down two more. Last one. Keep the leg straight. You're gonna reach your leg forward. And then pull it back.

I'm keeping that control. Reach it forward and then back. I actually really feel the bottom hip working to stabilize me as well just again because I have springs pulling me in both directions. So it's really using the whole body to kind of stay in control of these springs. Two more.

Last one. Now we're gonna circle that leg around. So you're gonna go forward up and back. Again, keeping that control trying to keep the tension on the spring the whole time so it doesn't get lats. Reach out through that leg.

So try to stay relaxed in your upper body. Put the shoulders and neck loose. Any tension you feel try to put it into your core. Go ahead and reverse your circle after this one and reach back and around and forward back. And around.

Four more and three. To maintaining that control as you get tired. Last one. And then bend your leg carefully bring the carriage back to the stopper, and then we'll stand up and switch to the other side. So I'm gonna walk around just to give my legs a little break.

And then I'm gonna grab the other leg spring. I'm gonna lie down on my side and then hips are gonna go to the back. My foot's gonna go inside the strap and then I have my hips and shoulders stacked one on top of the other. So I'm gonna start my leg hip height. I'm gonna push it out and then bend it back in and then reach out and again trying to keep my waist long on both sides So I'm not contracting my waist. I want to find length as I'm working and reach back and inform more.

Reach and in. It got through the heel. Push control in. So working the abdominals, finding the strength in the center of the body. And working from the center out.

Hold this awesome out. Trying to keep the reformer still. We're gonna lift the leg up and down and lift and down. As I'm lifting the leg, I'm not letting that hip creep up by my weight or toward my waist. I want to keep my weights long still.

So you're gonna use your top hand to kind of push that hip away. Two more. Last one. Now I'm gonna go forward and back. So I reach the leg front and then pull it back and then reach forward.

And then back. And reach. I'm keeping the leg long. So flexing that foot. Reaching out to that heel.

You have two more of these. Reach and back in. Last one and then we'll go into circles. So you're gonna bring your leg forward up and back controlling that movement. Trying to make it as smooth as you can.

Four more in this direction. Three, and two. Last one. After refinish the side, we'll go ahead and stretch your hips. Don't worry.

And then back and around. Two. We're doing six. This last stretch of these make it nice and strong for two more. Find that control last one.

And then bend your leg. Try to bring the carriage all the way to the stopper. And then go ahead and sit up and then we'll bring the strap back. So I'm gonna put that strap down and then we're gonna just stretch your hips for a second. So go ahead and sit on the side of your former.

One leg is gonna cross over and then think of pushing your knee down and then with the flat back, you're just gonna hinge forward. Trying to pull the shoulders down, lengthen your spine, should feel really good on that hip. Switch sides. It's gonna cross the other foot down or over push that knee down long spine flat back hinge One more breath. And then come on up.

So we're gonna grab your push through bar. So we have one red spring with the push through bar and then you're just gonna hook that in and we're gonna come onto your knees. So hold on to the bar. You're gonna come onto your knees with your knees right against the shoulder rest. And then you're gonna push yourself forward.

From here, arms stay straight. You're gonna pull your shoulders down. We're gonna go into a cat stretch and a thigh stretch. So trying to keep the reformer still as much as you can here. You're just gonna dive your head down go into your cat and then come all the way up. Then from here, you're gonna bring your knees forward as you hinge back into your thigh stretch and then come all the way up.

Keeping your knees right under you as you push the carriage down doesn't go very far. I just need to. And then hips come forward as you come into your thigh stretch. And then back to vertical. I'm gonna dive down and come all the way up and then hinge trying to same one straight line.

You might find you go a little further each time. That's good. Diving. And then come all the way up. And hinge would do two more of these.

Trying to keep the shoulders away from the ears. Use your abdominals to help pull you back up to vertical each time. Last two. And then hinge. Nice last one should feel good. And then hinge back and then come all the way in and then bring your hand onto the shoulder rest.

You can step onto the floor. And then bring the carriage all the way to the stopper and then we're gonna take off the spring for now. We'll use this bar later and we'll grab our box. So I'm gonna put on the long box and then I'm gonna grab onto the short arm springs again. So long boxes on. I have both arm springs, and then from here, I'm gonna put it in one hand, and then lie down on my stomach.

So I want my chest just off the box, and then one strap in each hand with your hands on the side. We're gonna do pulling straps. So legs are reaching long abs are pulled in shoulders are down. You're gonna pull your arms back, lift your chest up, they can bring your hands all the way back to your hips, and then arms are gonna reach forward. Make sure you're not riding the spring again.

So you're in control. Pull it down and back. Lift your chest up and then reach forward. And if you feel any bouncing, that means you're letting the springs do the work. You wanna try to keep it as smooth as you can.

Lift your chest and then arms reach forward. One more. You're gonna hold this one back. Elbow stay by your side. You're gonna bend your arms. And then stretch your arms back for a little tricep press and bend. Keep reaching your sternum forward, lifting your chest up.

Try not to crank your neck though. Reach those legs long. And then reach back with the arms two more and reach back last one and then reach your arms forward. Take a breath. You're gonna bring your arms out to a t.

Try to have your palms facing down. Arms are gonna stay shoulder height. You're gonna inhale here. As you exhale, you're gonna reach your arms back, lift your chest up. And then arms reach out to your T.

Trying to keep them shoulder height this whole time. Reaching back, lift, or chest up, and then open out to your T. Two more. And then reach out. Last one and then reach back out.

Bring both straps in one hand and then come on off. And then bring the carriage all the way home and then hang up these straps. So we're gonna grab just one leg spring We're gonna come on to your knees. So hands and knees. You're gonna bring one leg in the center.

The other foot's gonna come to the carriage. You're gonna grab the strap and put it around your foot. Just like we would do on the reformer and then both hands on the box. So you're gonna bring this leg just to the side of the reformer. I like to point my toes just to keep the strap on my foot. You're gonna reach the arm Reach the leg back.

Just in line with your body and then bring the leg forward. Reach leg back. I'm trying to control it so you're not bouncing. Control it forward. Three more like this. Reach and pull. As you're reaching the leg back, make sure you're not dumping into your lower back.

Try to keep that same neutral spine the whole time. Two more. Last one. And then lower down. Bring your foot back to the carriage and then you're gonna take the strap off your foot.

And then slowly bring the carriage in and then we have to step off to do the other side. So I'm gonna put that one down, grab the other strap and then come back onto the box. On my hands and knees. So gonna have one strap, or sorry, one knee in the middle, and then I'm gonna bring my other foot to the carriage and then bring my foot inside the strap. Hands on the box.

Make sure you're stable and then reach that leg out right on the outside of the frame from here. Reach the leg back. And then reach the leg forward down on side of the frame. Make sure you're pushing away from the box. Try not to sink into your shoulder blades.

It's a full body exercise. Reach back. And forward. We have two more. Try to square off your hips as much as you can and forward.

Last one. And then bring your foot to the frame, grab that strap, take it off your foot, and then come all the way into the stopper. Come on down. Take that strap off and then we get to do something that feels really good. So we're gonna grab the push through bar again, hook it back on, and then you're just gonna stand in the well.

Hands on the, push through bar. Feet hip distance apart. You're just gonna go into a pushdown, into your chest. I'm just gonna reach forward into a little bit of extension, and then tailbone under to roll you all the way up. Again, push down. Reach forward with your chest, tailbone back and then roll all the way up controlling the bar.

Two more into chest. Reach forward. It's bringing me a sec. And then round and then roll all the way up one more. Change your chest.

Tailbone reaches back, and then round, and then roll all the way up. Face aside. One hand's gonna go behind your head. The other arm's gonna reach down and do a side bend. So you're just gonna bend over they have elbow coming up to the ceiling and then back.

Trying to keep your weight even on both feet. So you're not leaning. You're bending and then reaching out and up one more reach and up turn to the other side. It's gonna hit the stance apart. Reach that arm down.

You're gonna reach over into a side bend and then come all the way up. Side bend over and then up. Got a little adjustment there. That was nice. Reach and up.

Last one. And bring the bar up. We're gonna take the spring off and we'll finish with a spread eagle. So you're gonna hold on about waist tight on the bar. Just make sure you're not wrapping around one of the little eyelets and then your feet are gonna come to the front.

You're gonna sit back into your hips arms are straight and just hang should feel really nice on your spine. From here, keep your arms straight. You're gonna pull yourself up. Hips come forward and then chest lifts up as you arch. And then arm stay straight as you roll back into your hang, let your hips come back.

Round your back as much as you can and then you just push forward arms are straight still and then arch your back. One more, chin to chest as you let your hips roll back hang as much as you can, and then roll yourself back up into your arch, and then come back to vertical, pull yourself in. And step away. I hope you enjoyed that workout. I know I felt a lot of work in my body and it feels really good.

And I'll see you next time.