Similar to her last class, Min wasted no time whatsoever, flowing through a multitude of exercises to ensure full-body coverage. At the start, she inquired of our condition - well, mine, since it always seems that the question is posed when one member has stepped away. I had noted neck pain, clarifying that it had resulted from fatigue as opposed to injury. In response to this declaration, a release segment was incorporated into the class: Placing the feet between the shoulder rests and laying the neck onto the footbar, we were instructed to turn the head towards the left and right, allowing for a gentle massage of the neck. As if the fixed plane rotations weren't already painful for me, we then proceeded with head circles in either direction. The relief was absolutely necessary, but also excruciating beyond belief given my longstanding neck tension.
Interestingly, I had been shifted the second Reformer instead of the one I would normally use. Min had indicated that it was due to the gear bar setting options, though the reason for the move wasn't entirely clear to me as most Reformers could be adjusted for height differences without issues. (Perhaps it was a manufacturer defect?) The warm-up would start with hamstring stretches: both hands and one foot would be placed on the footbar, with the foot in between the hands. One would then extend and bend the knee, keeping the ball of the foot planted on the footbar. Two counts of upper and lower back extensions/stretches would follow; swinging one leg on either side of the Carriage, we'd push out against the footbar and flatten the back to the best of our abilities while pressing hips down. The lower back and hip flexors are perpetually tight for me. Min assisted by gently pressing down the lower back for a better stretch.
- Leg extensions: start with knees in tabletop, extend legs, then return
- Lift/lowers: keeping legs extended, lift and lower to targe the hamstring
- Leg extensions with a pilates ring fitted between the calves
- Lift/lowers with a pilates ring fitted between the calves
Next, one tension strap would removed from one leg. We'd continue with the same tabletop extension as before, but this time isolating one leg at a time. Needless to say, this was noticeably more difficult with more shakiness witnessed, especially when the weaker left leg was thread through the tension straps. On the final extension rep, the legs would remain extended for rotations. Inner thighs would be engaged thoroughly to keep the ring in place while twisting the lower body in the direction of the leg with the tension strap. In other words, if tension strap was on right leg, the lower body would rotate towards the right as much as possible without lifting the left hip off the Carriage. This exercise served to target the adductors, abductors, and obliques.