Pilates for greater shoulder mobility & arm strength – no weights!

Agatha: Hey, hey, hey Welcome back

Agatha: Today we're working on a Pilates sequence that is going to open up the shoulders and strengthen them, and at the same time we're going to be doing some work for your arms Agatha: So grab yourselves a mat, and let's get to it Agatha: Let's get started by standing on your mat, feet parallel, arms down by your side Start with a release for your shoulders So inhale, just gently lift them up towards the ears

Don't exaggerate and go to your maximum Just a gentle lift, exhale, let them slide down Inhale, lift the shoulders Exhale to release And inhale up, and exhale release One more time Inhale up, and exhale release Agatha: Turning to your side, we're gonna go forward and back

So, just closing the collar bones a little bit on the inhale, just pull the shoulder blades together in your back And exhale Inhale Pull them together in your back And again, exhale

Inhale Pull them together in your back And exhale And inhale to open Now we do our circles

And up and around Up and around Up and around Going the other way Agatha: Keep your breath natural

So, just some nice inhales and exhales here And the last one here Good Agatha: Okay, guys I have behind me a tool called the ped-o-pull in Pilates

I don't expect you to have one at home, but I want you to have the visual, and for me to explain the feeling, because imagining it can at times be even more effective in engaging the muscles than if you actually have the tool So, let me show you what we're aiming for here So, you see I have this nice long pole behind me That is where I am aligning my spine So, imagine you have a nice long pole behind you to which you are aligning your spine

You can either be in a gentle Pilates stance So, heels together, toes a little bit apart or you can keep your feet parallel Whatever works best for you Then image you have handles that you are placing your hands inside of with springs attached to it, okay? And with that we're going to extend the arms forward with the shoulders pulled down in your back Agatha: So, what I want you to understand from this and the feeling I want you to imagine and create for yourselves is as we press down there is this resistance that we have to move against, but as we come up, there is a resistance that we have to resist or else it will pull my arms too quick, right? So, I want to go down with control and I want to come back up with control

Okay? So, get that in your heads Try to image you have a ped-o-pull behind you You have your hands in the handles with those springs attached and we'll get to the work Agatha: Arms out in front of you Here we go

And press down Imagine those imaginary springs here and resist as you press up You should really feel that this places those shoulder blades down in your back, but also that it engages all the muscles around the shoulders and press down with control And inhale Come up

Exhale Press down Resist as you lower and press right past your hips and inhale up Two more And exhale

Inhale up And exhale Inhale up Last one Exhale

And inhale Agatha: Keep your arms here at shoulder height Now we're gonna do circles Same thing We're still imagining your hands are in those handles

The springs are attached and we open out to the sides, down around, and up So, it's an inhale to open Exhale down and around Inhale open Exhale down and around

Inhale And exhale You should feel all those muscles of your shoulders just working hard Good and reverse Press down

Around and up and exhale Inhale And exhale Inhale Exhale

Inhale One more time Press down and up Bring the arms all the way down Agatha: Now, bring your arms up to the sides

Okay Press down and up And press down and up Resisting those springs and down and on the return Two more

Press down and bring it up Last one Press down Good and bring it up Stay here

We do circles again And three, and two, with control, one Reverse And three, and two, and one Come back right at shoulder height

Inhale Exhale Imagine you're squeezing something between your hands Now, imagine an elastic band around the wrist and you have to press out to open And exhale

Squeeze that imaginary resistance Inhale Imagine that elastic that you're opening up And again Exhale

Squeeze Inhale open Last time exhale Squeeze

Inhale to open Good and release those arms Agatha: Let's get down on the mat onto all fours Shoulders Nice long line from your forehead to your public bone

That long line is pressing down together towards the mat making your shoulder blades flare up to the ceiling and then push into the mat to reconnect the shoulders And release and connect And release the shoulder blades and press up So, notice I'm not arching to do that The whole spine moves down together and presses up

I'm also not leading this movement with the neck So, down and press up And down and reconnect Two more Down and up

And one more And press it up We're going to stretch those arms out in front of us Go back towards your heels Press the base of your palms into the mat

Just give that upper body a nice release and stretch into the shoulders, into the upper back, into the chest Good Agatha: Coming back again So, now we're going to make that just a little bit more challenging You're going to come to your forearms

We're gonna come to a plank position If it's too hard for you, go back to the position we had just before Press those hips down so you have a nice long line from the head all the way down to your heels Same thing We're releasing the whole body as one solid plank if you will

Down towards the mat that releases the should blades to the ceiling and then reconnect Press it down Reconnect You should feel this as a lot harder obviously for your core If it's too much, keep the knees down and do the same thing

And reconnect And press down and lengthen the back of the shoulders Loosen Connect One more time

And connect Again, back onto the heels Stretch those arms forward Press the base of the palms into the mat Lengthen, lengthen, lengthen

Good And come up Agatha: Final challenge now Arms are straight Legs are stretched back

Full plank position Some mobilization of the shoulder girdle So we are releasing the shoulder blades We are reconnecting it Release and reconnect

Release Reconnect Two more And up One more here and up

Bring those knees down Press back Have yourselves a nice stretch Good And then come up

Agatha: Let's turn ourselves around onto a seated position Okay, we're going to do a combination to open up the shoulders Same time, work into our triceps So, you wanna have your feet flat on the mat, knees are bent, hands are behind the back, okay? On the inhale, we're pressing the hips up, opening up the chest, on that exhale, you're gonna bend just the elbows to lower yourself down Then straighten

Press the hips up, then bend the elbows to lower yourself down One more time Press up, bend the elbows to lower yourselves down That's how we're working into the triceps So, just take a moment here

A couple breaths Okay Agatha: Let's do that again Feet flat Hands behind you

On the inhale, press the hips up Feel how you're opening into your shoulders Stretching the tops of your arms, and then bend those elbows and stretch lift the hips Bend those elbows to lower down and lift the hips One more time

Bend Stretch Lift the hips here Sit down Have another quick rest

We're gonna do it one more time for our third repetition Here we go Our third set And inhale Press those hips up, bend those elbows

Inhale Straighten the arms Press the hips up and bend the elbows And one more time Lift

Hold this one Feel the lengthening Feel the strength And then with control, very slowing, keeping those triceps contracted longer, lower down all the way down Come back to a seated position

Let's have a quick stretch of those muscles Let's bring the arm across the body You want to hold the tricep area so the top of the back of the arm, but press into your hand to resist the stretch a little bit So, we're pulling with one, but we're resisting with that long arm and you're gently looking over the top of your shoulder Okay? Then you're gonna bring the elbow behind your back, holding the elbow here

Press the elbow into your hand as the hand pulls to further activate the muscle Good And then release Agatha: Let's do that to the other side Just pull it across

As you push into it, look over the opposite shoulder Bring the elbow behind the back Press the elbow into your hand as you resist the pull Good Release that

Agatha: Okay Let's do a nice sequence here for all of the muscles supporting the shoulder It will also help work a little bit on opening up the chest So, it's our seated row series Normally performed on the reformer machine, but we're going to be doing it here on our mats

So, bring your hands together Make it into a little triangle and either you go to your forehead or if you have the flexibility in your shoulders, then you're going behind the head for shaving the head or it's here for salute Okay? On the inhale, imagine the springs that we imagined in the beginning of class That they're still attached to your hands here as you stretch the arms on the inhale and resist the springs to come back on the exhale And inhale

Lengthen Stretch And exhale to bend Inhale Stretch

Exhale Bend it in Two more Inhale Stretch

And exhale bend One more time Inhale Stretch And exhale bend

Good Agatha: Let's round the arms as if we're hugging a tree So, this is actually called hug a gree So, imagine you're hugging a big trunk of a tree Your fingers don't quite touch and reach over to the other side

So, you want them a little bit apart Elbows are pressing up and slightly bent So, what moves your arms here are gonna be your shoulders Okay? So, to open, we're gonna imagine and actually pull the shoulder blades towards each other in your back That's your inhale

On the exhale, let them pull apart from each other Inhale Pull the shoulder blades together in your back Exhale, pull them apart Inhale

Pull them together Exhale Apart One more time Inhale and exhale

Now, we change the breath And exhale to pull them together Inhale to pull them apart Exhale pull them together Inhale pull them apart

Last time Exhale Pull them together And inhale to pull them apart And then release and down

Good Agatha: So, now we have serving the champagne Imagine a tray of whatever you'd like on there, but a tray that you're holding Any turning of the palms is gonna make the tray fall So, we don't want that to happen

So, think of that Little pinky always pressing up towards the ceiling as well as your thumb Elbows are into the side, okay? On the inhale, you're reaching the arms forward and opening out On the exhale, think of the elbows pulling towards each other and then bringing the elbows in Careful with closing the shoulders and the collar bones as you pull in

We want that to stay open as much as possible That's why you want to imagine those elbows pulling towards each other and the collar will stay nice and open Agatha: Here we go Inhale, reach, and open Exhale

Together and pull in And inhale, out and open Exhale and pull in Inhale Reach out and open

Exhale Pull it in And one more Inhale and out And exhale and pull it in

Good And release those arms Fabulous Okay Agatha: Let's come back onto our knees

Let's finish off with a round of press ups So, for this exercise want you to stay on your knees If you are pretty strong in your upper body, then by all means just come to a plank position, a full push-up position We're starting with wide arms with the fingers rotated in towards each other What I'd like for you to make sure you do is that you move the butt, the top of your spine, the head all together

You don't leave your butt back here and just move the arms It's not the same thing, okay? Agatha: Here we go Connect those abdominals and inhale down and exhale Press up Inhale down

Exhale up Inhale down Exhale Press up Inhale down

Exhale up One more time down And exhale up Press it back Give yourself a stretch

Come back This time, we're gonna keep the fingers pressing forward The elbows pressing back and closed to your side So, working more into the triceps We bend those elbows a little bit and then straighten the arms

And down Exhale Press up Inhale down Exhale

Press up Two more Down And press it up And one more down

And press it up Umph Back we go again Give yourself a nice, well-deserved stretch Okay

Good Let's come up onto your knees Step one foot forward Come up to standing Agatha: After all that, gotta give yourself a nice little stretch here

So, place a hand against the wall Push into it Step forward with the body and then turn your body to look in the opposite direction Okay? Hold it there You're actively pressing that back hand into the wall

You should feel that stretch all along the arm and into the front of the shoulder Good Let's release that Same thing for the other side So, press your hand

Step and turn in the opposite direction Actively push into the wall Breathe And release Roll those shoulders

Agatha: How does everything feel? What did you like about this? Comment below and let me know That's it You did great And I'll catch you – Agatha: Did you find this sequence beneficial? If so, consider sharing it with a friend Hit the like button if you liked it

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Source: Youtube