You
Hi, I'm Mari Windsor, and welcome to my accelerated Pilates workout.
Pilates is the best workout that I have found to tone, firm, and re-sculpt your entire body.
And not only will you get the best workout that you've ever had, you're going to be
more coordinated, more flexible, your body's going to feel stronger, and your posture's
going to improve.
You're going to get those long, lean muscles that all the dancers have that you see.
Before we begin, we need to review some of the important parts of the Pilates workout,
the first being the powerhouse.
That band of energy, of support, going across your middle, your center.
Working that area, pressing the belly button to the spine, helps you to create more strength
and more coordination with all the exercises that you do.
The next thing I want to mention is the frame of the body.
Shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip.
Wherever that is on your body, your limbs should stay inside the frame of the body so
that you can work the smaller muscles to support the larger muscles.
And get those long, lean muscles that you want, and it's perfect.
The last and most important thing that we need to talk about is breathing.
Breathing in through the nose, out through the nose.
With your natural filtration system that you have in your nose, you'll purify the air and
also relax the body and feed oxygen to the muscles much, much more efficiently to increase
your flexibility.
In all my workouts, I have a modifier so that if you have weak areas of your body, please
follow Dagny.
From my Hollywood studios, joining me are Susanna, Saul, Brenda Lee, and Dina.
So get your mats, get some water, and let's begin my accelerated Pilates workout.
Standing, cross one arm over the other like I dream a genie.
Cross one foot in front of the other.
You're going to take your body using your powerhouse and slowly sink to the floor.
The more you pull your powerhouse in, the easier it will be.
Unhook your legs.
Take your hands by your side and roll down vertebrae by vertebrae using your hands on
your legs if you need to help.
The next exercise is called the Pilates 100.
We're going to breathe in through the nose for five counts and out through the nose for
five counts, up until 100.
Bring both knees into your chest.
Very nice.
Stretch the legs straight up.
Bring the legs out in a Pilates stance position, lower the legs down to a 45.
Close the ribs, lift up the head and shoulders, elevate the arms.
We're ready to pump.
Here we go.
Inhale, pump those arms, and exhale two, three, four, five through the nose.
Again, inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose.
Make sure that when you exhale, you're pushing your breath into the abdominals to protect
the lower back and to also increase the circulation.
Pumping the arms helps that circulation, and you're going to feel a warm feeling around
your heart.
Long, loose legs, belly button tight, inhale two, three, four, five, and exhale.
Very nice.
And last one, inhale two, three, four, five.
Notice the modification here, and good everybody.
Bring the knees into the chest, relax the neck, put the feet on the floor, and let's
get ready to do the roll up.
We're going to do that four times slowly and four times a little quicker for a challenge.
Everyone please stretch your legs straight down.
Bring your arms back above your head.
Make sure you keep your belly button into your spine.
Everyone has a natural curve of the spine, so don't jam your belly button down, but lengthen
and the belly button is tight to support the back.
Bring your arms up, keeping your shoulders down.
Once your hands reach to the ceiling, you're going to lift your head and continue the rest
of the way over to stretch your hamstrings and your back.
Let's add the breath.
Inhale to roll down, pull the pelvis underneath you, curl the back, and reach the arms back.
Inhale the arms come up, belly button tight.
Reaching over, reach a little bit further this time, challenge yourself.
Pull the belly button in tight, uncurl the back, and reach with the arms again, and up.
Notice how Dagny is modifying this exercise by keeping her hands behind the leg to support
the back so she doesn't have to work too terribly hard in the back.
She'll get stronger though.
Again, last one.
Inhale to come up, pull the belly button tight, reach with the arms, and breathe through the
nose, and reach a little bit further, and roll down, and bring the arms back.
A challenge here is to keep the legs down with the powerhouse, a little quicker.
Here we go, and up, one, and reach over, pull the belly button in, and reach back, always
reaching with the arms, reaching forward, belly button tight, down.
And reach up, and reaching over, reach more, and roll down, and flat.
Last one.
Up, and belly button tight, and reach a little further this time, and roll down, and reach.
The next exercise we're gonna do is single leg circles.
We're gonna do five circles one way, and five circles the other way.
Bring one knee into the chest, stretch that leg straight up.
Hands are down by your side, shoulders are down, neck is long, and don't forget to breathe.
Cross the leg over, cross, down, and bring it up, four times more, and up, good.
Keep breathing everyone, and notice how Dagny is doing a modification of this exercise,
making it smaller, and bending the knee.
Let's reverse it, down, cross, and up, nice.
Down, cross, and up, keeping that leg inside the frame of the body.
You can see it, so check it, and down, cross, and up.
Bring one knee into your chest, put the foot on the floor, pull the belly button to the
spine, bring the other knee into the chest.
Stretch the leg up, here we go, and cross, down, and up, no hula dancing in the hips.
Pull the powerhouse in so that you don't wiggle in the hips, and cross, down, and up, cross,
down, and up.
Now let's reverse it, down, cross, and up, get those dynamics working in the body, breathe,
and cross, down, and up.
Bring one knee into the chest, put the foot on the floor, press the belly button into
the spine as you stretch the leg long.
The next exercise is rolling like a ball.
It sounds fun, doesn't it?
It is.
We're going to perform it six times, but we need to sit up.
Everybody put your hands underneath your tushy, walk your hands towards your knees, and sit
up tall.
Take your hands by your side, push with your hands, lift up your tushy, bend your knees,
and scooch forward.
Place one hand over the other, around your ankle, drop your head down.
It's very important you keep your chin tucked to your chest so that you keep your back in
a nice C curve so that you can roll.
Make sure you keep yourself tightly in and use your powerhouse.
This exercise is actually a massage for the spine.
Let's balance.
Roll back a little bit on your hips, lift up your feet, and balance, and we're good
to go.
Here we go.
Roll back and pull up, again, roll back and pull up, nice, and roll back and pull up.
Good, three more, and roll back and up.
Nice modification.
Two more times, and roll back and use that powerhouse.
Try not to wiggle around.
It's great for your balance, and roll back and come up.
Just for me, put your feet on the floor, hands by your side, scooch yourself back, and roll
down and relax.
One of my favorite ways to stretch out my spine is doing the rollover, and we're going
to perform this six times.
Everyone, bring your knees into your chest.
Stretch your legs straight up.
Use your buttocks, pull the powerhouse in, reach your legs back to the top of your head.
Open the feet, use your powerhouse, control the spine, rolling down.
Don't fall into it.
Over again, keep the back of the neck long, open the legs, and roll down.
You can use your hands to help you.
One last time, over, open the legs, use the powerhouse, lengthen the neck.
We're going to reverse this with the legs open.
Take it over, use your tushy, close the legs, slowly with control, roll down.
Again, open the legs, over, close the legs, there's your stretch, roll down vertebrae
by vertebrae.
One last time, make it a good one, over, close the legs, with control, slowly roll down,
leaving your legs at a 90 degree angle.
Beautiful, everybody.
This next exercise is the single leg stretch.
We're going to do 10 slow and 10 a little bit quicker, and this is the first in a series
of five to really flatten that stomach.
Bring one knee into your chest.
Stretch the other leg down to a 45 degree angle.
Take the same arm as bent knee, lift up that arm, take the hand to the outside of the ankle.
Lift up the opposite arm and put it on the inside of the knee.
This holds the leg inside the frame of your body.
Lift up your head, and we're going to gently tug the leg towards you, two counts, one,
two.
Now switch legs, taking the arm to the ankle, the outside arm.
Very nice, and again, switch, good.
Make sure that when you breathe out through the nose that you connect that breath to your
powerhouse.
Make sure that you're keeping the legs inside the frame of the body.
You can see them.
Make the adjustment if you need to, and breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.
Now we're going to take this a little bit quicker.
This is a challenge, good for control.
Here we go, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Excellent work, everyone.
Bring the knees into the chest, relax the neck down.
This next exercise is the double leg stretch.
We're going to perform it eight times.
Lift up your head, get yourself into that tiny little ball position.
Now stretch your arms back and stretch your legs out at the same time as you inhale through
the nose.
Reach your arms around, bend the knees in, take the ankles, and exhale through the nose.
Inhale through the nose and stretch out.
Reach your arms around and exhale through the nose, and pull the legs in.
Again, make sure you let the abdominals guide the legs back in.
Squeeze the tushy a little bit, and again, keep the legs inside the frame of the body.
Very important.
I like to think of this exercise as a nice, long stretch.
I feel the length of my body when I stretch out, and I control with my abdominals when
I bring the legs in.
It's all about that powerhouse and reaching with the arms and legs, feeling the muscles
longer in the body.
Inhale, reach around, and exhale.
You have one more to go.
Inhale, nice, long body, and exhale, and hold.
Very beautiful, everybody.
Head down.
The single straight leg is one of my favorite exercises for flexibility and stomach control,
and we're going to do that 10 times slowly and 20 times a little bit quicker for a nice
challenge.
Everyone, stretch one leg straight up in the air and the other leg out to a 45-degree angle.
Take both hands either behind the calf, the ankle, or the hamstring wherever you can reach.
Lift up your head and gently tug the leg toward you, breathing twice, one, two.
Nice and slow.
Switch, one, two.
Use that powerhouse, one, two, one, two.
Make sure that if you don't have the flexibility in your legs, you can slightly bend your knees
and give a smaller range of motion, like dagni, one, two.
Good.
Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.
Very nice.
Now, let's pick up that tempo.
Are you ready?
Let's go.
And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, two, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Bring both knees into the chest.
I know you felt those abdominals now.
If you didn't before, you feel them now.
Head is relaxed, arms are down by the side.
The fourth exercise in our stomach control work is called the double straight leg.
We're going to perform this eight times.
Everyone, arms down by your side.
Stretch both legs straight up in the air, lengthening.
Don't snap those knees.
Place both hands behind the head, one on top of the other.
Nice.
Lift up the head and the hands can support the head.
Pull the ribs in.
I want you to lower the legs down just a little bit to test the waters here.
Coming out, use the stomach to draw the legs back in, like you have a string connecting
your belly button and your toes, and you're pulling the string to bring the legs back
up.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose, keeping the legs inside the frame
of the body, shoulders open and relaxed.
And good.
Exhale to bring it up.
Inhale through the nose and squeeze your tushy and exhale.
Last one, smaller range of motion for those of you who have weak lower backs.
Bring your knees into your chest.
The crisscross is my favorite exercise in the series of five.
It's the last one.
Maybe that's why it's my favorite.
Anyway, we're going to do ten slow and ten fast.
Everyone, lift up your head.
Pull the ribs in, shoulders down, elbows open.
One knee is into the body.
The other knee is out at a 45-degree angle.
Twist from the waist.
Take the opposite elbow towards the opposite knee.
Switch to the other side.
Opposite elbow to the opposite knee.
Try to keep both elbows open and don't move only from your elbows or shoulders.
Lift from your waist, breathe in through your nose and out through your nose.
Very important.
And lengthening the legs as you go, keeping the legs inside the frame of your body.
You can see them, so check.
Less range of motion here if you have a weak lower back or less twisting is fine.
Very nice.
Excellent.
Let's pick up the tempo and make a challenge.
Here we go.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Bring your knees into your chest.
Take your hands away from your head.
Hold onto your ankles.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your nose.
Relax that back.
A wonderful thing to do for yourself after we've done a lot of abdominals is continue
to stretch the back, which is precisely what we're going to do now.
We're going to do the spine stretch forward and we're going to perform it three times.
It's very powerful.
Everyone release your hands from your legs and put them down by your side.
Feet go on the floor.
Pull your belly button to the spine as you stretch the legs out.
Lift up your head.
Walk your hands up towards your knees to help you if you need so you're sitting in a straight
position.
Lift up your chest.
Think about your posture as you reach your arms forward and flex your feet, opening your
legs shoulder-width apart.
As you exhale, you're going to curl the lower back.
Imagine my hands around your waist and your upper body curls forward.
Your arms stay in that sleepwalking position as you exhale.
Inhale to sit up straight.
And exhale as you round the belly button into the lower back, reaching the arms forward.
And sit up tall and inhale.
Nice breathing.
Exhale as you round the back, pulling the belly button tightly towards the spine, reaching
the arms forward.
It's an opposing force of energy.
Sit up tall as you inhale and think about your posture as you lower your arms down.
Keep your chest lifted, your neck long, your shoulders down.
Bring your legs together.
Inhale down through the spine, and we're going to get ready to do the next stretch.
Now's a really good time in your workout to stretch out your neck a little bit.
We're going to do the neck roll twice on each side.
So everyone turn around and your stomach is on the mat.
Place your hands underneath your shoulders.
Pull your belly button into your spine.
Tweeze your buttocks, legs glued together.
Push yourself up so you're looking straight ahead.
Very nice.
Remember, we don't want shoulders for earrings, so make your neck nice and long and let your
shoulders drop down.
Look to the side.
Take your chin to your armpit.
Circle the head around to the other side.
Very nice.
Again, circle around and up.
Remember, if your lower back is feeling particularly tight, what you want to do is go on your elbows
so as not to strain the lower back.
Look straight ahead.
Come down onto your elbows, and let's get ready to do the single leg kick.
The single leg kick is an exercise that I love for my thighs and my buttocks.
We're going to do this eight times, four on each side.
To get into position, make a fist with your hands.
Swing your hands around to the front and frame your head.
Use the strength in your arms and your triceps and push yourself up so that you're looking
straight ahead.
Pull your belly button to the spine, tweeze your buttocks, keep the legs inside the frame
of the body.
Bring the leg up and beat towards the hips, one, two.
Switch, one, two.
Again, one, two, belly button in.
Even though I can't see your stomach, I want you to make sure that the stomach is pulled
in.
It protects the lower back.
One, two.
Bring your arms down by your side and lower your head so that you're on your cheek.
You've just worked one leg.
Now I want you to work both legs together.
We're going to add a little stretch of the back with this, so I want you to clasp your
hands together, put them either on the waist or up the small of the back.
Stretching is also very important in this exercise.
We're going to do this exercise four sets.
Beat your legs into towards your buttocks three times.
Ready?
And one, two, three.
As you stretch the legs out, I want you to reach back and lift up the body.
Very nice.
Come back down on the opposite cheek.
Beat the heels.
One, two, three.
As you stretch the legs, imagine my hands pulling you back and come down.
Don't forget to breathe.
One, two, three.
Reach and stretch.
Get longer in the torso.
Shoulders down.
Last one.
One, two, three.
And reach.
Pull the belly button into the spine to protect the lower back.
Beautiful.
And let's come down straight.
Release your hands and push yourself back to a little piece of heaven to stretch out
the lower back.
And let's stay here for a minute and take a deep breath in through the nose and relax
the back out through the nose.
And if you have weak knees, make sure you put a pillow underneath your seat for a little
cushion.
It does help.
Are you ready for some swimming?
This is a wonderful challenge for your coordination and your stamina.
Everyone stretch out.
We're going to do this slowly twice and fast 20 times.
Stretch out on the mat, please.
And reach your arms out in front of you.
Lift up and reach one arm in front of you.
Long arm.
As you have that arm reaching, lift up the opposite leg so you have a diagonal line reaching
through your body.
Now let's switch sides.
Very nice.
Bring the arms and legs down.
Lift up your head.
And here we go for 20 fast.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, two, two, three, four, five, six,
seven.
You're almost there and good.
Now let's go back into the little piece of heaven for a nice stretch in the back.
Push with your hands.
Take your seat to the heels and stretch.
Take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the nose.
Now it's time to challenge the strength in your powerhouse.
This next exercise is called the neck pull.
We're going to do this only four times.
It's a very powerful exercise.
Stretch out long on the mat.
Turn over on your backs.
Try to stay in the center of your mat.
Make the adjustment.
Legs are straight out.
Belly button is pulling into the spine.
Take your hands.
Place them behind your head, one on top of the other.
Try not to lace your fingers.
We're going to breathe as you bring the elbows up.
And I want you to open the legs so that there are hips width apart.
And I want you to flex the feet.
Feel those toes really coming towards you.
And here we go.
Inhale and come up.
Keep your body curved.
Use the powerhouse.
Stretch over.
Sit up tall.
Elbows are open.
Think about your posture.
Think about a string from the hips all the way through the head.
Lean back and pull the powerhouse in and roll the rest of the way down.
Let's try this one again.
And up.
Inhale and exhale over through the nose.
Sit up tall.
Think about the posture.
Lean straight back in a line.
Pull the belly button to the spine and uncurl the spine, lengthening as you go.
And again, up.
If you have trouble with this, the best thing to do is to just stretch the neck and engage
the powerhouse.
That's fine.
You can go a little bit further each time until you get strong enough to do the whole
exercise.
Let's do it together one last time.
And roll up.
Inhale to come up and exhale to sit up tall.
Lean straight back.
Look straight ahead and pull the belly button to the spine and lengthen down.
I know that's difficult, but it's a good one.
Take your arms down by your side, legs together, and now we're going to do the saw.
We're going to perform the saw three times on each side.
Everyone, take your hands on your legs and walk yourself to a sitting position.
Think about that posture that we just did in the preceding exercise.
Take your arms out to the side and lift yourself from your waist.
Give yourself the tiniest waist that you can.
Flex your feet.
Bring your toes towards you and open your legs a shoulder width apart.
Nice long back.
Now you're going to twist from the waist.
With the little finger towards your little toe, curve in your upper body and saw the
little toe off.
One.
Reach a little further.
Two.
Breathe out the air.
Three.
Sit up tall.
Other side.
And twist.
And reach the little finger towards the little toe.
Saw it off.
One.
Reach a little further.
Two.
Reach a little further.
Three.
And sit up tall.
Nice and relaxed here.
And again, if you have a delicate shoulder, it's important that you let the shoulder and
arm relax when the arm goes to the back.
Better for the shoulder.
And sit up.
And smaller range of motion for some of you.
And twist.
Really reach.
And let me hear that breath this time.
And reach.
A little further.
Reach.
A little further.
Reach.
Sit up tall.
One more time each side.
Twist.
Posture.
Stomach.
And go.
One.
And two.
Reach a little further.
Three.
Keep that opposite hip down on the mat.
Very important.
When you're twisting to the side, do not let the opposite hip come off the floor.
Feel that your hips are crazy glued to the mat.
And last breath.
Let me hear it.
Thank you.
And sit up tall.
Arms out to the side.
Very nice, everybody.
Thinking about that posture.
Now I want to test that powerhouse.
I want to test your balance.
Everyone, relax your arms down by your side and bring your legs together.
This exercise is called open leg rocker.
It's very powerful.
We're going to do it four times.
Lift up your hips with your hands.
Push yourself to the front.
Very nice.
Let your knees open, bottoms of the feet together.
Place your hands on each ankle or the calf.
Whichever works for you is fine with me.
Bring one leg out just for the flexibility and for placement.
And bring it in.
Nice.
You don't have to stretch the leg all the way.
This is all about control and balance.
Stretch the other leg out.
Yes.
And bring it in.
Use that powerhouse.
Here comes the test.
You're going to balance.
Stretch both legs out, not too wide.
Remember to keep them a shoulder width apart.
Great.
Hold your balance.
Roll, drop your chin and roll back and pull up.
And again, roll back and use your powerhouse.
And roll back and come up.
Nice.
And one more time.
Back and come up.
And hold your balance.
Bring your legs together and keep your hands on the outsides of the legs.
Freeze the legs and roll down.
Walk your hands down.
I want your back on the floor and I want your legs straight up so that we're ready to do
the corkscrew.
We're going to do this twice each way.
Very small movements, controlling from your abdominals, using your buttocks muscles for
stability and your arms.
No hula dancing.
Let's move the legs, cross the body, down and up.
Very nice, everybody.
Reverse, cross, down and up.
Bring the arms straight down, the neck is long.
One last time, cross, down and breathe.
Stretching the spine is a really important aspect of Pilates.
This next exercise, the jackknife, we're going to do just that and we're going to do this
four times.
The legs are going to go over the head until they're parallel to the floor.
From that position, you're going to tweeze your buttocks.
Look at how tweezed that buttocks is, see if you can do that way.
From that position, you're going to bring your legs down just a little bit as you use
the abdominals to control the movement softly.
Don't ever throw yourself down.
Three more times and over, parallel to the floor.
Squeeze your tushy.
Bring your legs down slightly, use the powerhouse for control, lengthen the spine away from
the neck.
You can use your hands to help you if you have problems lifting up your seat.
That's fine.
Again, soon you'll be stronger and you'll be able to do this beautifully.
And roll down.
Let's do this one more time.
And legs over, parallel to the floor, squeeze your tushy, toes reaching to the ceiling.
Look at that, beautiful everybody.
And down slowly with control.
Bring your knees into your chest.
Put your feet on the floor.
Stretch your legs out and as you stretch your legs, push yourself back a little bit so that
you're in the center of your mat.
I give this next series of exercises to my clients and they come back to me in a couple
weeks and they say, you know what, my butt is higher, my thighs are tighter, my inner
thighs feel better.
So let's try this at home.
It's called the side kick series.
Everyone, lie on your side.
The first of this series is the kick kicks to the front and back.
We'll do 10 sets of this.
Everyone, take your hand that's on the floor and put it underneath your head and prop your
head up.
The other hand goes in front of you for support.
Crazy glue your legs together.
Lift them up and place them at the corner of the mat.
Now your body is in a pike position.
This is much safer for your lower back and easier to isolate the leg in the hip socket.
Lift up the leg just as high as your hip is, no higher.
Kick it to the front, one, two.
Kick it to the back, one, two.
We'll repeat this nine times.
Everybody, please don't forget to breathe.
It's very important.
Use that hand to help you for support.
Pull the powerhouse in.
Don't wiggle.
It's all about isolating the leg in the hip socket, increasing your balance and your flexibility.
And kick, kick to the front and back.
If you have a delicate neck, I may suggest that you put your head down or lie on a pillow
to do this exercise.
It's all about control.
Last one.
Great.
The second in this series is called the bicycle, three to the front and three to the back.
Bring the leg to the front and keep breathing.
Bend the knee.
Shift it to the back and stretch the leg, imagine I'm pulling it, and bring it to the
front again.
Bend the knee.
Heel to the buttocks and stretch the leg.
Again, front.
Bend the knee and shift the leg to the back and stretch.
Now let's reverse it.
Heel to the buttocks without moving the thigh.
Control, control.
Bring it to the front and stretch.
Again, remember if you have a delicate neck, you can either lay your head down flat or
you can put a pillow underneath your head is fine.
Last one.
Heel to the buttocks.
Feel that buttocks working.
Stretch the leg long and join the legs together.
Leg lifts 10 times.
Turn the top leg out.
Lift it up and control it down.
Nice.
And again, lift it up and control it down.
It's very important here while you're lifting the leg that you don't let the top hip roll
back.
Think of one hip being exactly on top of the other, like building blocks.
Kick it up and reach with the leg.
Think of the leg like an arrow coming out of your hip socket, nice and long.
Reach it up and down.
Don't forget to use the powerhouse.
And down.
Great.
Two.
And down.
Last one.
Make it a good one.
And reach with the leg and down.
Very nice, everybody.
On the big circles, five each way.
Imagine a barrel over your leg, and you're gonna trace the inside of the barrel with
your foot.
And bring the leg front using the powerhouse.
Up and down.
Make sure the hip is still.
Make sure the torso is quiet.
Breathing is always good.
Up and down.
Draw that circle.
Think of your foot like a paintbrush.
And forward.
Lift and down.
Let's reverse it.
Back, up.
Rotate the leg in the hip socket.
And down.
Back.
Lift the leg up and down.
Don't let that hip fall back.
One hip stacked on top of the other.
Use your powerhouse for control.
And back.
Lift.
And come down.
Instead of drawing a big circle around a barrel with your leg, now we're gonna draw a little
cantaloupe.
Ten circles each way, controlling from the hip.
Ready?
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Pull your powerhouse in.
Squeeze your buttocks.
Very nice.
And reverse.
One.
Two.
Make sure that hand is supporting the movement.
And lengthen the leg.
Beautiful.
And hold.
Now you're really feeling that butt.
Let's solidify that feeling with a little hot potato.
Six sets.
Tap to the front and to the back.
Three times.
Back.
Two.
Three.
Front.
Two.
Three.
And back.
Two.
Three.
Remember, keep your head down if your neck gets tired.
Or put a pillow under it.
One.
Two.
Three.
Back.
Two.
Three.
And hold.
Get your powerhouse working now.
We're gonna do both legs lifting.
Glue your legs together.
We're gonna do this five times.
Really breathe into this exercise.
Remember, in through the nose.
Up.
Hold it.
And come down.
Again.
Up.
Hold it.
And come down.
Work that powerhouse.
Up.
Hold it.
And come down.
Lengthen out the legs.
And up.
Reach with the legs.
And come down.
Don't just let the legs flop.
Control from the powerhouse.
And down.
Exercising your control, we're gonna do big scissors.
Ten times.
Ready?
And one.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Very nice.
Rolling yourself over on your abdominals.
Make a triangular shape with your fingers.
Hands down.
Rest your forehead and your hands.
Let's make sure we got that buttocks working.
Lift up your legs so your thighs are off the mat.
I want you to beat the legs 20 times.
Here we go.
And one.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
My knees underneath you.
And switch to the other side.
Of course we have to be even.
We must do both sides.
Get your body in the pike position.
Now you're ready to do your kick kicks to the other side.
Ten sets.
Lift the leg only as high as your hip is to prepare yourself.
Right.
Now kick kick to the front.
And kick kick to the back.
Excellent.
Make sure that you don't use full range of motion if you have any issues with your lower
back.
in control by pulling your belly button into the lower spine and keep your head
down if your neck is delicate. Kick kick to the front and back. Kick kick to the
front and back. Very nice everybody. Don't go too high with your leg to the back
and make sure one hip is right over the other. Last one and back. Bring the legs
together and hold. Bicycles. Three to the front and three to the back. Bring your
leg to the front and stretch it long. Bend the knee taking the heel to the
buttocks. Keep that position while you stretch the leg to the back. Stretch the
leg to the front. Heel to the buttocks. Shift to the back and stretch. One more
to the front. Bend the knee. Shift it to the back and stretch. Now stay there with
the thigh. Bend the knee so the heel touches the buttocks if you can. Shift
the leg to the front and lengthen the leg out. Great for control. Back. Bend the
knee. Don't move in the torso and stretch. One more time. Back. Bend the knee.
Take the leg to the front and stretch longer this time and join the legs
together and hold. Leg lifts. Ten times. Turn the top leg out so the knee cap is
facing the ceiling as much as you can without releasing the hip. Ten times.
Kick the leg up and slowly down. Nice. Kick the leg up and slowly down with
control from the powerhouse and down. Increasing your flexibility as you kick.
Not without control. However, up and keep breathing and again kick it up and resist
it down. Kick it up and resist it down. Feel like the leg is an arrow coming out
of your hip socket. One more and down and hold. Now we're gonna do those big
circles five each way tracing the inside of the barrel with your toe. Here we go.
Front. Lift and down. Beautiful. Front. Lift. Use your powerhouse and down. Don't
let that hip come back. Yes and down. This is great for control and flexibility
and use of the powerhouse and down. Remember to relax your shoulders. Let's
reverse it. Back. Up. Forward and down. Back. Up. Yes. Forward and down. As we go
sometimes the shoulders creep up and we have earrings again. Pull those shoulders
down. Back. Up. Forward and down and hold. Little circles. Trace the cantaloupe.
Front and back. Ten times. Here we go. One. Two. Keep that powerhouse in. Very nice.
Try to relax the shoulders. Pull the powerhouse in and make sure the hips
don't move. And reverse. And one. Two. Three. Very nice. Four. Nice long neck. Good.
Reaching with the leg and hold. Hot potato. Six sets. Three taps with the foot.
Front and back. Here we go. One. Two. Three. Lift. Two. Good. Excellent. Make sure that
if you're modifying this exercise that you don't lift up your leg too high and
remember to keep pulling the powerhouse in. Last one and very nice everybody. Use
control in your powerhouse for both legs lifting off five times. Lift the legs up.
Crazy glue those legs together and control it down. Please just don't let
the legs flop. You must control it down. And legs up. Always in control from the
powerhouse and down. You can use your hand also to help you and push with. And
up. And down. Beautiful everybody. Let's do those scissor-like movements with the
legs ten times. Power from the powerhouse. Here we go. And one. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Fabulous. You're done. Let's make sure you got the
buttocks and the inner thighs activated. Roll onto your back for me and find the
center of your mat. Bring your knees into your chest. Arms are relaxed down by your
side. Stretch your legs straight up in the air. Lower down to a 45 degree angle.
Turn the legs out and I want you to beat the legs together very small beats. 20
times. And one. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Two. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Very nice.
Bring the knees into the chest. Now we're ready for the teaser. This is a very
powerful exercise and we only need to do it three times. This is a test for your
powerhouse. Stretch your legs straight up in the air. Pull your belly button to the
spine as you lower the legs to a 45 degree angle. Very important to hold the
legs in that position. Bring your arms back by your ears. You're gonna reach
with your arms and come up to a V-sit position. Ready and come up. Nice. And roll
down. Pull the belly button to the spine. Lengthen the spine. Arms back. And two.
Come up. Very nice. And roll down. You can use the hands to help you and bend your
knees for your modified version. And again, last one. Hold it and roll down
with control from the powerhouse. Shoulders are relaxed. Bend the knees
into the chest and relax the arms down by your side. The bent leg teaser offers
still a challenge for the powerhouse. We're gonna do four sets on each leg.
Place your feet flat on the floor, knees bent to the ceiling. Stretch one leg up
so that the knees are connected. Bring the arms back by your ears. And we're
gonna do the same reach and final V-sit with one leg up. Ready and reach up. Hold
the position and roll down using your abdominals for control. Don't fall. And
again. Come up. Now I want you to bend and twist over the bent knee. Come back
to the center. Nice oblique stretch here. And roll down using your powerhouse for
control. Let's do it again. And up. Reach with the arms. Reach with the body. And
roll down. Belly button to spine. One more time with the twist over the bent
knee. And come up. Twist over the bent knee. Nice for the oblique muscles in the
abdominals. Come back to the center. And slowly roll down using your powerhouse.
Now let's switch legs. Very nice. Other leg up. Knees are attached. Here we go.
And up. Reach with the arms. Pull the powerhouse in. And slowly roll down. Make
sure that you watch Dagny for your modifications. She's using her arms to
help her. And up. Twist over the bent knee. Back to the center. And roll down.
Powerhouse working. One more time straight. Come to your V. And up. Use your
powerhouse. And roll down. This is great for balance and control. And again. Up.
Last one. Twist over the bent knee. Don't forget to breathe. And back to the center.
Breathing through the nose. Exhale as you roll down. Bring your arms down by your
side. Bring both knees into your chest. And let's relax the back. Now we're gonna
do the Can Can. Little Moulin Rouge for you. Put the feet on the floor. We're
gonna do this four times altogether. Walk your hands up to the knee to sit up
tall. Once you sit up tall, sweep your arms around to the back. Fingertips
reaching away from you. And lean back into your arms. Draw your feet close to
you. And walk up on your tippy toes. There's your balance. Let your legs go to
one side. Yes. To the other side. Nice. And don't forget to breathe. Back to the
original side. Stretch your legs out. Bring them back in with control from the
powerhouse. Again. Little quicker. One. Two. Three. Out. In. Very nice. One.
Inhaling through the nose. And exhaling through the nose. Loosening up your lower
back as we go. Last one. Very nice. Knees pointed straight up. Focus straight ahead.
Hold this position. Now we're ready for the hip circles twice each way. Stretch
your legs up. Use your powerhouse. Right. Keep your chest lifted and squeeze your
shoulder blades together. Circle the legs to the side. Sweep them down. Bring them
up to the other side. Beautiful. This is not easy. Side. Around. If you can
accomplish this, you've made a big step forward with your powerhouse and with
your control. Inhale and exhale. One last time. Inhale and exhale. Bring your knees
into your chest. Put your feet on the floor. And stretch your legs out, sitting
up tall. Let's really work that waistline and stretch out that back. The spine
twist is next. Arms out to the side. Airplane arm wings. I want you to twist
your body from the waist, lengthening the legs as you go. Don't shift in your hips.
Use your powerhouse. Breathe out as you twist and look back. Come back to the
center and inhale through the nose. Exhale through the nose and twist to the
other side. Nice. And inhale and come back to the center. One more time each
side. Twist from the waist. Reach and exhale. Come back to the center. Feel the
length from fingertip to fingertip. Feel long and lifted. Twist and exhale through
the nose as you reach, lengthening the legs and shift back to the center. Very
beautiful. Relax the arms down by your side. The next exercise is kneeling
sidekicks and small circles. Just in case you didn't get your buttocks before, we'll
get it now. Bring your knees into your chest and draw your hips underneath you
and stand up on your knees. Take your arms out to the side. Take your hands
behind your neck, elbows open. Squeeze your tushy and pull your stomach in for
support. Release one arm. Take that arm slowly down to the side until the hand
touches the floor as you bring your leg up, making a square. We're gonna kick
to the front and back. Three sets. And one, two. And back. One, two. Use that powerhouse.
Don't move in that torso. And back. Notice the modification. Leg is lower. Knee
is bent. Extend the legs straight out from the hip. Little circles. Five each
way. One, two, three, four. Nice. Five. Feel that butt now. And reverse. One, two, three,
four, five. Reach the leg. Bring the knee into the other knee. Stand back up on
your knees. And release the other arm to the side. And we have to do the other
side, of course. Reach your arm down until it touches the floor gently as the leg
comes up and make your box here. Breathing. In through the nose. Out
through the nose. Kicking the leg front. One, two. Back one, two. One, two. Stomach
in. Last one. One, two. One, two. Bring the leg straight out. Don't forget to
breathe. Small circles. Five each way. One, two, three. Pull that powerhouse in. And
now reverse it. One, two, three, four, and five. Beautiful, everybody. Join your knees
together. Stand up on your knees. Release your arms down by your side. Sit on your
heels and shift to the side so your hips are on the mat. The mermaid is one of the
prettiest exercises in Pilates and was also meant to wring the air out of the
lungs. A major health benefit in this entire workout. Make sure that when
you're sitting in this position that you take your hands holding on to your ankle
for support. Reach the other arm up and we're ready for two sets. Curve your arm
over your head and stretch the side as you breathe out all the air. Come back up
through the center. Keep moving. As you put your hand on the floor, go down to
the elbow. Stretch and come back up to the center. Very nice. And curl the arm.
Notice on the modification she's not going so far and she's not taking the
elbow down. And reach to the side. This is your last reach on this side. And come
up and place the arm by your side. Pick yourself up and let's try the other side.
Shifting your hips. Very nice. Hold on to your ankles. Extend that arm straight up.
And exhale as you curve the arm over the head and reach. Getting a wonderful
stretch in your side. Sit up tall. Continue reaching the arm to the floor.
Go down to the elbow and stretch. Very beautiful. And up and lift the arm and
curve over. Nice. And come up. Reach the arm to the floor. Lengthen. Stretch one
more time. Breathing as you go. And come up. Sitting up tall and relax. Twist
preparation is for balance and control. We're only gonna do two so here we go.
Stretch both legs out right to the side of you. One leg is in front. Put your
weight on your hand. Palms up. Push with your hands. Squeeze your buttocks. Lift up
your hips and reach your arm over your head. Feel a straight line from fingertips
to toes. Sweep your arm down in front of you. Make a break in your hip and sit.
Prepare for one more. Breathing up and reach. Hold. Feel the stretch. Sweep the
arm down and sit. Bring your knees into your chest. Let's switch around to the
other side. Stretching your legs out. Palm to the ceiling. Hand down. Sweep up and
reach. Squeezing the buttocks and feel that length in the body. Sweep your arm
down in front and sit. Prepare again and reach up and over and feel the balance
and control. Sweep your arm and sit. Final exercise of my accelerated program
is called the seal. You're gonna perform this exercise six times. After you
perform the sixth exercise I want you to come to a standing position. Everyone
turn and sit. Take your hands by your hips. Lift off your hips. Bring your hips
to your heels. Let your knees open. Place your hands on the inside of your leg
taking a hold of your ankles. Lean back and balance. Dropping your head. Beat the
heels three times. One, two, three and roll back. One, two, three. Roll up. One, two,
three and back. One, two, three. Very nice. One, two, three. Roll back. One, two, three
and up. One, two, three. Again roll back. One, two, three and up. One, two, three.
Roll back. One, two, three and up. One, two, three. Last one and roll back. Now we're
gonna come to that standing position and up. Beautiful. Now you've completed my
accelerated workout and you did a great job.