AARP's GET MOVING! Wherever you are
10-MINUTE PILATES WITH Fitness Expert - Lorraine Ladish
Lorraine Ladish: Hi! I'm Lorraine Ladish.
And today, we're going to do a
ten-minute easy Pilates-based workout.
This is something great to
start today or do it any other time
in the comfort of your own home.
I'm using a yoga mat.
But if you don't have one, then you can
use a carpet, a rug, a towel,
anything that [won't slip around].
And please remember to take this routine
at your own pace because it's for you.
And you can stop, rewind, or
restart the video at any moment.
So now, let's begin.
We're going to start on our backs
with our feet firmly planted
on the floor.
The small of our back is going
to be pressing into the mat.
And as we breathe in and out
of our nose, or I hope you can—
breathing is more important
than just holding your breath—
we're going to be pushing down
as if there were some resistance
to our arms.
So once again, everything is engaged:
our glutes are engaged; our core,
which is like a girdle is going to be
engaged. And we're breathing in and out
and just pushing and pushing,
and cleaning energy and resistance as we
work out together with all these other
people who are at home doing the
same thing with us.
So here we're going to do three more,
that is three and two, and the last one
we push, push, push, push, give
it all we got. Great.
Now, we're going to lift one leg with
the foot towards the ceiling,
making sure that the leg is engaged
entirely, including the knee cap.
And we're pushing our hands into
the floor, the carpet or whatever
we are lying on.
And I'm also feeling this in my
core and I'm trying my best to have my
neck relaxed as I'm breathing.
Now, if you would like to make
this a little more challenging, then,
by all means, lift the opposite leg
and have the calf parallel to the mat.
And if you want to make it a lot
more challenging, then you can float
the opposite leg off the floor but
always keeping in mind that the
small of your back needs to be pressing
firmly against the ground. So we're
going to do three more. Remember also
that to gauge how intensely you're
working out or exercising is the
ability to have a conversation
while you're moving.
Now, to the other leg, same thing,
the leg is engaged and we're engaging
the core; most importantly, we're
pressing the hands into the carpet
or the floor and breathing in and out,
breathing in and out,
not holding your breath.
The breath is very important in what
we're exercising and what we're living.
Okay. So if you want to make it a
little more intense, here we go.
And the other option is to float the
leg off the floor but once again,
please do not lift the small of
your back off of the floor. So we're
just going to do two more and
keep that leg engaged. Smile. Keep
the neck relaxed, and here we go.
Now, we're going to be very gentle
and bring the knees into the chest.
And maybe kindly to our body,
being compassionate and
nice to ourselves, we're just going
to rock from side to side and
switch exercises. So now, I'm going to
lie the length of the mat or the rug,
or whatever I am on and
we can do these exercises up here on
our forearms or down here as if we were
lying at the beach. The bottom
leg can be extended or it can be bent.
I'm going to do it bent, which is a
little less challenging.
So my heel is going to be pointing
up towards the ceiling, and the
toes are pointing towards the mat and
engaging the entire length of my leg.
And I'm trying hard to stabilize
my torso so I'm not swinging around.
I'm not moving the top; I'm simply
pulsing up and down with that leg.
So it's not important how high you
lift it; what's really important is
how engaged that is and that your
movements are precise and small and
that you feel them. That is
an effective exercise.
So now we're going to bring that top leg
over and it's going to relax a
little bit. And we're going to
extend the bottom one. We're going to
fire the entire leg. And I like
to pretend that there is an invisible
string at the end of my [inaudible]
and somebody is bringing that leg up.
So it doesn't matter whether you are
lifting that leg off of the floor
or not; what really matters
is that you're feeling it in
your inner thigh. Even if the leg
never comes off of the floor,
if you're feeling it in your inner
thigh, that is exactly what
we're aiming for.
So let's keep it here for three,
two, one and, hooh!
Now, we're going to switch it to
the other side.
Same thing, we're going to lie the
length of the mat or the towel,
or whatever we have and we could
do these exercises with the bottom leg
extended, which makes it a little
harder or we can, for greater stability,
bend the bottom knee.
Now, the top heel is going to be
pointing towards the ceiling and
those toes are pointing down. And again,
I'm pulsing, I'm pulsing and making sure
that the movement is precise.
If at any moment I'm really tired,
then I'm going to rest. And otherwise,
I will just keep on going and pulse
and make sure that the top half of
my body is not moving, even if I
have to rest whenever I feel
that I'm engaging other muscles that
I should not be. That is a good way to
prevent injuries. Perfect!
Now, from here we're going to take
that top leg over and that's going
to relax the glutes for a minute,
and then I'm going to extend
the bottom leg. And once again,
feel how I am pulling up, pulling up,
even if that leg does not actually
lift off of the mat and I have my
foot flexed, and I'm firing up
that entire leg. You don't really have
to move this one, but I like that
feeling to remind myself that, whoop,
this is exactly where I need
to be feeling.
So here, I'm going to hold it for three,
two, one, and we're done with that part.
Now, we're going to bring ourselves
up to a sitting position,
and I like to easy pose.
Now, easy pose should be easy.
So if your knees are not here,
that's fine; not everybody's knees
are going there. Maybe you want
to make yourself way more comfortable
by putting blankets or pillows
under your knees. The most
important thing is that your
palms are firmly planted on the floor,
that your back is extended,
that your spine is erect, and that your
shoulders are comfortably down.
So from here, we're going to push out
with our arms feeling like a [realm]
of energy between our hands.
And from here, I'm going to make
fists and pretend I'm really strong.
But you know what? No, I am really
strong, right? I'm going to think
that I'm really strong, And I'm going to
make little circles towards the back of
the room, engaging everything from my
shoulders to my biceps, to my deltoids—
absolutely everything.
And now, those circles are moving
forward, just little circles,
little circles, breathing,
breathing, breathing. Imagine all those
other people at home doing this with us!
I like to imagine all of you at home
doing this with me. It gives
me more energy as well.
So here, let's imagine that there
is a beach ball or something
between our hands. And from here,
we're going to pull down like we're at
the gym at the lat machine.
But we're going to pull down with
enthusiasm and with gusto, and
knowing that we're engaging everything
from the lats right here to the
pecs, to the triceps, to the biceps,
and all the while [scraping off]
stiffness and any kind of stagnant
energy that we might have in our body
from just sitting for long hours
or being at home.
And we'll do three more.
Let's give it everything we've got.
And again, for one more and that one
will be the last one but we're
not done yet.
So from here, we're going to push
our arms towards the back of the room
and then pull all that energy in
with our pectoral muscles, and then back
and pushing back and just holding
and engaging my entire back
and pulling in with my pectorals and
imagining that energy. I can close
my eyes and picture it;
it's like I am resisting against
something and creating my own
resistance mentally and also physically
to challenge myself and to fire up the
energy in my body, my mind, and my soul.
Great!
Now, we're going to just relax
our shoulders and bring one hand
out to the side, the hand resting on
the floor, the other arm extending
towards the ceiling. If this is a
little too much, then bring the
hand to the shoulder.
And what I'm really focusing on
is I'm bringing my chest, my heart
to the ceiling and opening from there.
I could also be here—either is fine—
which is opening the chest and
extending the side. Same thing for the
other side. I could be looking
down if it's bothering me.
I can have my hand here.
I'm still breathing in and out;
that's great.
And from here, we're going to
inhale and bring all the synergy
to the heart's center. Hooh!
Once more. And from here,
I'm going to take my hands to my
forehead to remind ourselves to have
positive thoughts, hands toward lips
to remind ourselves to have positive
communication, and hands to our
heart to remind ourselves to have
positive intentions.
I hope you enjoyed this routine
as much as I did. And I
hope to see you in the next video.
END