Ab and Shoulder Reformer

I'm Trent McEntire, and welcome to Reformer for abdominal and shoulder connections. We have two different setups today. We have one reformer that would be using regular straps on, and we have an arcus on this reformer So you can see two ways to do the same exercise series and some of the benefit variations that come with using arcus. So let's get started. We got one red spring on, and we'll lie on your back.

Gonna grab onto the straps, and onto the arcus, the arms overhead. And we have the arm positioned so that it starts slightly behind the shoulder. So you can just adjust your rope length to get you a little shorter ropes for that. Legg's up to a nice tabletop here. Sure the hips are easy so they're not overworking in there to start with.

Little breath defines from abdominal connection before we even move. And the first thing to do is on that exhale, you're going to pull the arms down and stop just by the kneecaps. Just find that zone for a second. So that's about as low as we're gonna go, but you're also gonna be reaching through the arms away from you. Good. So let's take a breath in as it comes up.

Let it travel slightly behind the shoulders. And use the breath to lead arms press and reach toward the knees and then beyond the length of your arms. And exhale pulling it down. I feel like you narrow through the abdominals. You reach past the length of the arms.

Good. And again, inhale drawing it up. Let the breath start it. So the exhale starts, the ribs and abdominals are firing. That then brings the shoulders online. Gets your finding relationship right away between the breath, your abdominals, and your shoulders.

Nice and smooth. Take your time for the first set here just to get things warmed up. Find those connections. Why breath as you go up? Start the breath, move the abs, move the arms.

So you can think of a a three step process there. The breath starts, the abs listen, the arms listen. And your reach. Good. Nice breath in.

Bring it up. Make sure it goes behind the shoulders, hips are loose, breath abs arms. A little bit of a domino effect. They're quick together, but they happen sequentially. Breath abs arms. Trent you get more bang for your buck there. Good.

Two more like that. Nice breath in as you're coming up just behind his shoulders. Breath abs arms finally relationship between the two. Good. One more time. Breath, abs, arms, and hold this one there. Gonna keep the arcus right there.

Keep the straps there. And you're gonna glide the shoulders up toward the blocks so they glide up to the ears, like shoulder earrings there. Yep. And you're gonna press beyond the kneecaps. Good. Glad it up and take a breath in. Let it slide away up.

Exhale. Reach. Good. Keep going. Email full expand the ribs. Use the breath, abs, arms reach.

You still have that sequential three step process. It happens real close together, but that breath helps the abs, helps the arms. Nice. Breathing. Glad it up. Good. And then glide the shoulders up.

Yes. Good. And then reach them through. Two more like that. This last one. You're gonna keep the reach. Find it. Your deepest longest reach. Yep.

Nice job. Bring the arms up just behind shoulder level. Find that connection. This time when you pull your arms down, one leg is going to straighten out. Just find that position for a second. Now if you have the arcus, you'll reach over the knee.

If you have the straps could stop with the knee or if you feel like it you can go all the way down to the mat. Either place is gonna be okay and you'll see some variation and you can follow along which is appropriate for your body. Inhale, bring the arms up, bring the knee in. Let it go behind your shoulder. Good. Other leg. Pull it down. Good. Inhale. Bring it up. XL pull it down and reach.

Send the energy through the arms so they're longer than they look. Nice. Bring it up. And exhale. Reach it down. Good. Inhale. Up behind the shoulders, use the breath, pull and reach through.

Try to keep the knees over the hips to give you more abdominal work there. Beautiful. Two more like that. Mhmm. Inhale return. Use that breath. One more each side.

Inhale up. Breath, abs, arm, and leg. Good. Last time on the left side here. I'm gonna pull this and hold it there. We're gonna change it up and add on here.

Keep the arms there. Just change your legs. We're gonna breathe. And switch. And exhale and exhale again try not to take the knees past 90. A little more abdominal bonus work here.

If they stop just there. Five more. One and one and two and two keep pushing three and three, four and five, five knees in. Reach the arms one more time and bring it all down. Nice job. Breathe there. Take a break for a sec.

Mhmm. Let your feet rest. Just let your hips and abs. Just take a breather for one second. Yeah. Let your legs roll side to side. Whatever kind of works that out for you.

Good. Good. Lakes back up to tabletop. Arms reaching up. Do nice tricep circles here. So it's like your hands are on a wheel. So we're gonna start by pulling down on the arms.

Then you bend the elbows, they go around the wheel, then they go up to the sky, and you pull down, bend the elbows. And you're gonna make that as smooth as possible, and make that wheel as big as possible. So when you bend the elbows, let them come real far back toward your shoulders. So you get a nice big up and over. Nice job.

Good. Nice and circular. Okay. Up and through. Nice. Knees above the hips. Yeah.

That gives you more room for the arms to reach over there. Good. Finish the one you're on. Bend the elbows. Then you're gonna reverse it by pushing down up. Bend the elbows.

We're gonna speed it up for five more like this. Here we go. Here's one up and two and three. There you go. And four, five arms coming up right into the ab curl inhale like this arms behind shoulders slightly. Exhale first, then pull curl forward, reach over the kneecaps. Good. All the way down.

Breathing in, arms go overhead. Good. Use the breath to help the head lift. Pull the arms from the abdominals. You have that whole upper body connection that comes from the pelvis and then bring it down. Good. Try to keep the legs still and you move the upper body to the pelvis.

Curl it through and reach. Mhmm. And down. Curle through and reach. Awesome. And down.

Two more like that. Breath lifts the head, drop the ribs down one more time. Keep those legs still. Arms long, beyond the length, reaching through. Rest it down. Good.

Take a break right there for a second. Yeah. You might start to feel everything. Really good. Let's take this to obliques.

So start the same setup. You're gonna bring your legs up. Pull the arms down toward the kneecaps here. Find your ab curl. Straighten your right leg out.

And you're gonna turn towards your left leg and take the arcus up and out. In fact, you might wanna go a little bit wider on the arcus for this one. Good. And you're gonna reach up and out. Good. And then keep your carriage still and change your arms and legs. And it just switches exchange by each other.

Good. And just turn over to the other side. Reach. Nice. And reach. And just keep the spacing between the hands the same as you go. Nice job. Good. And if you want a little bit more abdominal upgrade, then you'll let the arcus come away from the knees this way. You're welcome. Good day. Alright.

Two more. Here we go, breathe. One and one and two and Two good knees in and rest down. Just got real. Nice job. Good. Breathe. Let your feet rest. Why don't you take your feet on the foot bar here for a second?

Good. Just hook your straps on the hooks so they're handy. And you can just set your arcus down. Good. Let your feet be about hip width apart. Let's just take a shoulder bridge here. So on the exhale, just roll the pelvis up in the air. Let's just get a little bit of articulation, weighted into the feet.

Nice full breath in like that. And you're gonna roll it down. Doesn't have to be real high. We're just trying to get some pressure in the legs and get the pelvis off the ground for a second. And again, on the exhale.

A little bit of a curl, Trent. Good. Just sending those knees over the feet. Nice breath. Good. And then roll it down. Nice job. Two more.

Since equal weight on the feet, equal weight through the upper back as you put pressure on it there. Good. And then equal ribs side to side as you're coming down equal weight in the back of the pelvis. One more time here. Nice breath. All the way up with the shoulder blades.

Full breath in there and just ease it down. One piece at a time. Keeping those legs parallel. Nice job. Reach back. Grab your straps.

Grab your arcus. Okay. Double leg stretches next. Okay. So you're gonna take your exhale. Curl yourself forward, find the rounded shape reaching the arms long. Good. You're gonna bend the elbows and breathe in, and then the arms and legs work together in the exhale.

Just straighten out. You pick how low you want the legs to go. Clearly, the lower the go, the harder it is. So you can decide they could be up here, they could be low. Your choice there. Good. Let the breath drive the motion so that breath and the abs are how the shoulders create more force and more connection there.

Nice job. Mhmm. Last one here. Little up level. Hold it three times.

Arms come overhead, exhale. Pull it down. Two more. Last one. Beautiful.

And down. Bend everything in and rest right there. Beautiful. Nice job. Good. You can hook your straps on your handles there. You can set the arcus down. Let's come up for sitting.

Good. I'm gonna have a seat with your legs through the shoulder blocks facing your straps facing the arcus there. Good. So we're gonna shorten the ropes in the arcus to give you a nice long reach for this one. So if you reach forward, I'll give you a little bit of a pull. Okay. See if that feels like it's even.

Good there. Good. Okay. Do I have a little bit of distance behind you so that you're not gonna fall into the carriage? So that's a good width right here behind. Good. Sitting up tall through your spine.

Yep. You might wanna choke up on the ropes a little bit more there. You only feel like you're really out on the spring. Good. So this is a nice low pull. So the arms are gonna bend and pull the arcus low and the straps low to your body while you pull the pelvis just about a quarter of the distance back. That's plenty right there.

Then come back up to vertical and reach the arms out nice and tall. And then you pull low. Do it again. Just find low. We're gonna Pete low for a set. Good. Nice and tall. Find the correlation between the pelvis rocking and the arms pulling.

So they're related to each other. And your elbows can go a little bit out to the side slightly. Trent it might feel a little better for you. Good. Mhmm. Good.

Just think of the hands being low as you pull back. Yes. Nice job. It's plenty. Just a small little rock back one more time. Just for that small. There you go. And come back up.

Now we're gonna do a high pull. So the arms are gonna pull up towards your throat and collar bones, and you're gonna extend the spine and take a small lean back. Make it small for now because we're gonna add on and make it bigger in a minute. Back up to vertical arms go long. And again, pull up towards your collar bones.

Extend and slightly lean back. Good. That extension calls from even more abdominal works. So you're using that out work you've been practicing all class so far. Just make it a small range motion.

We're gonna make it bigger in a second. Just make it small. Narrow the waist. Extend a little bit. Beautiful. Do one more.

Narrow like a fountain going up and over slightly. Good. Go back to pulling low and make it bigger now. So you're gonna roll about three fourths of the way down. So pull that. Nice low pull.

Breathe in while you're there. And then curl forward, reach the arms long, find vertical. Get real tall. Try it again and pull the pelvis. Pull low to your body. Good. Make sure it feels secure.

You're not gonna fall off the machine. Nice job. Scroll forward. And you see how there's plenty of room behind them to roll. So make sure you have room behind yourself as you come back. That you're not positioned so that you fall off your position. So you're very secure the whole time. Curl it forward nice and tall.

One more like this. Use that exhale rock the pelvis back. Pull low. Keep the neck and jaw free here so you're not clenching. Nice job. Looks great.

Come back up tall. Now we're going to pull high to the extension, so you're going to bend the elbows, put up the collar bones, find that extension, and now give yourself a good lean about a quarter to half the distance back. Nice job. Come all the way back up to vertical. Nice. Arms go long. Good. Try that again. Ben the elbows.

Lift the chest up. Extend it back and over. Beautiful. Then come up and through center. Arms go forward.

Good. Try it again. Bend. Good. Nice job. Good. And bring it back up.

Last one. Pull. Extend and reach. Keep it narrow apps, narrow apps. Good. Nice job. And rest right there. Good.

Just go ahead first and take a round over your spine. Just rest there for a second. Yeah. Take three or four breath cycles there. Just feeling the ribs expand.

Sholar's neck relax. Good. Nice and tall through your spine. Okay. We're gonna do a spine twist now. I'm gonna change this reformer to a blue spring with the arcus. And without the arcus, we'll stay on that red spring. Good.

Let's take this one off first here. So we just have one clip on. So if you have the arcus, you're gonna hold on so that you're with this left attachment that your left hand is palm facing down. And the right hand is palm facing up. Good. Good. Exactly. So with the ropes, you'll have one rope that will go loose as we do the twist and with the arcus, you're just gonna use one rope total. Okay.

So it's an inhale like this. We're pulling on the left arm first. So you're gonna pull the left and push the right. Good. And come back through center on the inhale. Good.

And again, pull. Now with the arcus, when you come back through center, you can let this left arm reach out long and let that continue to twist you this way. Exactly. And then you're gonna pull through that range of motion and push that arm out that way. Good. Come back through center.

And with the straps, it'll just come back through center center each time. Good. Think of that elbow going out to the side and pushing through that. Beautiful. And this one pushes forward. Nice job. I'll let the eyes help lead you so you're looking where you want to twist.

So you have a little bit of intention. So if you're twisting to the right, looks to the right, if you're twisting left, look to the left. And your brain will know where you want to go and we'll take you there. Beautiful. Good.

Send that right side of your body forward. You got it. Nice job. Beautiful push that right arm forward. You got it. Make sure that breath still leads the abdominal connection so the abs are how your shoulders find their power.

Beautiful, and that breath drives it all. One more. Nice job. And fine center. Good.

So change your strap here. Let me take this one off. Got it. So if it with the right hook, you have the right palm facing down, the left palm facing up. Good. So reach that right arm forward.

We'll start in that twist to show on this side how you can start in that rotation. You got it. Okay. So on the exhale, we're gonna pull That right arm pulls back. Take your twist. Push the left arm forward. Good. So even if you have the strap here and you don't have something to push forward, you're still gonna let that strap go on that line.

So it's still traveling on that line to help help you counter twist that. Good. And if you have the arcus, it's like you're taking the end of the arcus to the end of the machine, and you're pulling it right elbow out to the ocean. Yeah. Nice job. Have a sense of having equal weight on your sit bones so that you're not leaning off one side or the other. Beautiful.

I'm gonna have you adjust just a little bit wider here. You can hold on anywhere there's wood, but I think that's gonna give you a greater sense of length there. Cool. Two more like this. That XL drives it. Good. And exhale drives it. Beautiful.

Back through center and relax right there. Good. So I'm gonna take this back and hook you back onto both. Good. We can grab on there. Good. I'm actually gonna change the springs back to a red here. So it feels like it's heavy. And then for you, when you grab onto the ropes, really choke up there so that you start with the carriage out quite a bit.

Good. Okay. We're gonna take a spine stretch forward here. So let's flex the feet for this one. And you're gonna reach the arms out long in front of you and go up and over your legs, take a nice even around over the legs. Good. Now stay there for a second and make sure the arms are really long and reaching out. But while they're there, that we're not getting up into the shoulders lifting up, so you still have that shoulder connection on the ribs like this.

And then what we're gonna do is keep the arms long and move the spine up to vertical. You have your abdominals and spine moving the carriage. The arms are gonna stay out of it for now. Good. Then you go head first and let the springs take you over. The abdominals work even harder in this shape here.

So there's nothing that's collapsed or compressed. You're working on keeping a nice lift and space in the joints. And then bring it back up. Arms stay long. You find vertical with the spine muscles or the abdominals. Good. Send those arms away from you. Yes. Good. And again, forward.

Exactly. Send your breath wide into your back here. The abdominals and breath lead it. Spine comes up, arms stay in front of you. Good. Now, we're gonna stay vertical here for a second and a little shoulder gliding.

So on that exhale, we're gonna pull the shoulder blades back toward each other. So like they're sliding glass doors and then moving back and toward each other. And then they're gonna send the arcus forward. So your shoulders gliding is what moves the carriage exactly right. Way forward and you're gonna slide it back after that.

And while it's sliding back and forth, you're trying not to elevate them up and down at all. That's real easy to let the upper traps kind of take over they're happy to do everybody's job in the upper body. We're gonna try to keep them a little bit quiet, beautiful, and just work on this plane here. It might make it feel like it's smaller than it should be because the traps can give you a a a big range there. Good. And then when you go forward, go even bigger this way. Mhmm.

So this stays here, but the arms reach way out. Mhmm. And then pull it back. That spine stays right where it's at, and just the shoulders are where to glide. Nice job. Two more like that.

Last one. Good. And then back to your spine stretch forward, over the legs, reaching the arms forward. This time when you roll up, when you find vertical, you're going to pull the shoulders back like you were just practicing and add an arm pull. So here comes the spine, retract the shoulders, then pull the arcus towards you. Pull the arms towards you. Good. Then straight arms. Protract the shoulders and then send the spine up and over.

Nice job. Breathe the wire there. Use the breath to make the abs fire up to bring the spine up to vertical. Once it's vertically, you can pull the shoulders back toward each other. Bend the elbows. Pull the arches towards you.

Pull the straps towards you. Nice job. Straight arms. Up and over. The abs were keeping it harder as you go forward. You find that strong support, so nothing has collapsed, nothing's compressed. Wide breath there.

Nice job. Roll it up. Spa works hard. Sholders retract on purpose. Elbows bend. Good. Upper traps are easy.

Nice job. Let's go when they listen, right? Up and over. Good. This time when you roll up, we're not gonna retract. You're just gonna find vertical. So here we go up to vertical.

Arms out real long in front of you. Good. Just pulling the arms, keeping the spine very steady, exhale, and pull that towards you. Now, if you have the arcus in your hands, I want you to feel like you're pulling the arcus apart as if you're taking the curve out of the wood. You're not just pulling it towards you, but you're also pulling it apart. You get a little bonus shoulder work there.

And with the straps, you won't have that tension to pull apart, but you are gonna feel like the collar bones are resting down. Yes. Good. And pull back and forth. Keep moving forward and back. Straighten the arms each time. All the way forward and pull back again.

Three more like this. Out. Pull the arcus apart. Nice. Hold it right there. Stay there. Good. Take a nice breath like this.

And when you exhale, the upper traps are gonna go really lazy. Good. One more breath in. And then spine stretch forward over the legs. Round it forward. Good stay there and rest there for a second.

You kind of hang out there for a minute. Send your breath wide into your back. Good. And then you're gonna roll up to vertical. We're gonna cross your legs in front of you and turn to face the left diagonal of the machine.

So that one knee is just lightly touching or near that shoulder block. That'll give you a nice landmark. So if you're facing toward the left, your right knee touches the block slightly or is really close. Okay. You're gonna hold on to the arcus the same way you were. And the straps the same way you were.

So while your lower body is turned, the upper body is squared off toward the end of the performer there. Okay. Let's take your spine and stretch forward here nice and slow. Lots of abdominal support. Take yourself up and over. Good. She feel like you get a nice open reach through there. Wide breath like this.

Roll yourself up, keeping the shoulders square in equal weight in the sit bones. It's gonna be tempting to shift Trent the back sit bone. Yep. Try to keep it on both if you can. Try it again. Going forward. Listen to your body for the range.

Only go where your body feels like you can live. And feel strong breathe into it. Heavy upper traps, arms long. Nice job. Two more this side. Hoping over.

Feel like those shoulders can sort of spiral out. Yeah. And then you roll it up. Breath leads the abs, leads the spine. We're gonna add on. We're gonna come up to vertical here.

So when you're ready, we're gonna peel it up to vertical. Five arms pulling here. From the breath, pull one and then out straight. Do five on your own time there. Make sure the breath is leading the abdominals, and that's where the shoulders get their power.

That's where they get the connection. That you find the relationship between what your abdominals are doing and what the shoulders are capable of. Is a direct connection. Rest after your five. Nice job. We change sides.

So you're gonna turn to the right side. So then when you're facing the right side, I got it. You're gonna have the left knee close to the shoulder block. Oh, this one. So this knee touching this block. K. You're right. Good deal.

Good. Just hold on just outside of the middle there. You got it? Good. Another option here, if this grip isn't as ideal for you, you could also grip on the outside or on the edge. So you can play with your hand placement on the arcus as much as you'd like. Here we go. Rounding forward. Up and over that front knee.

When you're in this forward position also, make note. If you feel yourself hitting the stopper back here, then you wanna choke up further or make your ropes shorter so that you're still getting a little spring buoyancy there that you're not just getting stopped. Take a breath like that and let's roll it up. The breath leads the abs so the spine has lots of support in the pelvis. Good. Nice breath like that. And going forward, up and over.

Good. Good. Nice wide breath like that. Let's make sure the shoulders stay kind of squared off and level. And then upper trap kinda goes to sleep. Nice job. Full breath like that. Bring it back up when you're ready.

Okay. Hoping over. Good. Give yourself just a little turn. Yeah. Just so the shoulders are still squared to the end of the machine. Even though the lower body is turned, the upper body is squared to the end of the machine.

Good. Nice breath there. Use the breath to leave the abdominals to bring the spine. Nice job. Good work. Arms, direction long.

Upper traps are easy. Good. One more time like this up and over. Wide breath in, stretch the ribs, use the breath, abs lead it, spine follows suit, Good. Five pulls of the arms here. If you have the arcus, think of pulling the curves out of the arcus to get that bonus work through your shoulders. Make sure the breath leads the abs drives the shoulders.

You find how the relationship is. Connected between the abs and the shoulders. Mhmm. Finish your set of five there. Nice job. Good. Rest here.

We're gonna go back to legs threaded through the shoulder blocks here. Trent to balance it out. Straight legs. Good. And if you have arcus, we're gonna go into a really wide setting palms facing up here. With the straps, you can just choke up real far on the ropes there.

Take one more spine stretch forward up and over the legs. It should feel like you have more range now after doing the twisted version. Yeah. And just let that arcus. We're gonna even let the shoulders elevate a little bit here. Just let that fully get that whole back line opened up. There. Good. Use your breath like this.

Trent your exhale leads the abdominals brings the spine. The shoulders get organized along the way. Mhmm. Nice job. Full breath in like that. And up and over again, lift it through. Good. Allow the traps to lift up this time so they know where up is here so that they even know better where down is when you come up, and it feels organic in the shoulders.

Good. Two more. And going forward. Up and over. Full breath in there. Make sure the breath drives the abdominals, and that's how the spine gets energy.

Color bones are resting. Spine is tall. One more breath like that, and relax. Good. You're all done. Nice job. Thank you.

Good work. Very good.