19: Pilates Band Sculpt & Stretch - 34 Minute Workout [ACTIVE RECOVERY]

Hey, everybody. I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy, and this is your Pilates band sculpt and stretch workout. In this workout, we're going to get some gentle strengthening and sculpting for your muscles while we also get stretching and mobility if you have them. We'll be working with bands today, either the mini loop band or a long flat band or loop band or both. If you don't have bands, don't worry. You can still get a good workout here today. Of course, I'm going to give you lots of different options to to work to your level. Are you ready? Let's do it. All right, go ahead and start with your feet about shoulder width apart. You can put your bands to the side. Again, we're going to work with the loop band and the long band. If you have both, use them. If you have one, just use that. Otherwise, just keep it body weight. I promise that you're still going to feel it. So let's go ahead and start. Just by getting in touch with our posture, try to relax. Let go of any tension you might be holding in your body. And let's start stacking our ears over our shoulders, shoulders over our rib cage. Rib cage over our hip bones or over that pelvis. And then pelvis over the knees, over the ankles. And while you're there, I want you to just check in with your body. Just do a little check and see where you're holding the tension. Is it in your face and your jaw? Try to relax that. Is it in your neck and shoulders? Relax that. Remember, with those shoulders, we want to have that posture, but we don't want to have that rib flare. So ribs flaring out. Think about buttoning up that rib cage while you relax those shoulders down and back. And then stacking the rib cage over the pelvis, making sure our hips aren't forward or back. Soft knees release the tension. Hands on your side. Just a few of that. Those deep core breathing. Inhale to expand all the way through. I call this TA breathing transverse abdominis. Exhale everything in and up so we're not here or here. Inhale, expand all the way around. Let the pelvic floor drop. Exhale, connecting with the core, but also allowing your body to relax into that. One more time. Inhale, relax, exhale, contract. Roll those shoulders. And then let's go ahead and start with a little gentle march and rolling of the shoulders. So here's how this is going to work. We're going to start up top. We're going to work our way Back down to the mat. We're going to have some pilates and bar inspired moves for some strengthening, some sculpting with or without the band. Again, you don't have to have the bands to get this done. Let's take those circles a little bit bigger and. And just good old mobility and stretching. The band, excuse me, can be a great tool to get a deeper stretch, but again, if you don't have it, it's not a big deal. Let's cross those arms right through here. And of course also a little gentle cardio mobility. Big stretch to the side right here. Opening up the hips just like we do in our regular warm ups. Right here. Let's take it to side. You can flip those arms feel even just doing that, we feel that little mobility. Feel those tight shoulders. Walk your feet in and let's just do our eyes wise and T's. So you're just making it with your arms mobility. And the goal, keep that core in tight is not to arch the back to get there, but to try to bring those shoulders back. Right mobility right through here. Maybe you're feeling tight from your weights workout yesterday. I know I am. We can add a little hinge to it. Drop it down. Hinge. Drive those hips to the back right here and breathe. And one more and out. And here and let's go flat back down. So you're gonna round on the way up, flat on the way down. So we're just going to do a little bit of body weight mobility and then we're going to grab the bands and add in some things that are going to open up, that are going to get that stretch as well as a little bit of sculpt as well. Hold it underneath here and roll your shoulders as you gently press out and here to here and walk your feet in. Just a little standing cat, cow rolling through your back here and round it up and all the way up. All right, so let's start with the mini band. If you have one, it's your smaller mini loop band. And you can start if you have something with something more on the medium or lighter side because we're going to keep it up top. So I'm going to switch to this. We're going to grab it here and I want you to start up top and without pulling on the band first, we're going to get mobility. We're down in front and we're straight up, similar to what we just did with those eyes. We're here and I want you to really think about activating the core Right here. Down and up. Down. Now let's take it all the way down in front of the legs, all the way up. So again, getting mobility feel simple. We're going to add a little something to it. If you're just doing body weight, that works too. Let's add a little balance knee starting with that. And then if you have the band, we're gonna do a little pull. Right. So I still want you to activate the core. And here. Now, if you don't have the band, you're just getting a little tension as you push out, right. And hold it at the top. Right here. Take those toes out and we're going to go down and up. If you have the band, I want you first to just use it for mobility. Little plie. And then we can add a little pull at the top. Right. Down and up. And let's hold it here. We're just going to pull the elbow back and center. Elbow back and center. So think of it as a row. If you just got body weight, just create that tension. Squeeze in the back. Yes. A little burn for the legs. With or without the band? Yes. Here we go. We've got four. And up. Three, two, one. Take it right here. Little taps. Taps. So it's a flow workout, if I didn't mention that. So you don't have to worry about intervals or anything like that. We're just here to move our body. So if you're not doing something the same as me, it does not matter. We want mobility, we want a little blood flow, we want some working of the muscles, a little gentle raise of the heart rate. Let's take it back right here. We're going to pull it down in front. And then if you can, pull it down and back. Watch me. So down in front, activate the core. And then you're just bringing those hands behind. So if you don't have the band, you're bringing them open up the chest, down in front. Then try to get them more to the back. If you have the band, you can actually use the tension. Think of it as a lap. Pull down and then really open up the chest. That's actually hard to do, right, to get behind your head. So just do the best you can. If you need to take your hands out and loop here, or if you can come all the way here, Feel how that feels for your shoulders. Yes. We're getting strengthening for our back, but also opening up our chest. Yes, you can hold it down in front. Just little plie. And up. Just hold it here. Create that tension. Now let's add this. Pull it down, take it up again, especially as you go behind your head. Feel that chest opener. I know. It's a good burn for that upper body, too. 4, 3, 2. Good. Relax the arms. Slide the heels in. Inner thighs, no band right through here. Zip up the core. Relax those arms. We've got four, three, two. Good. Hold it out nice and wide. Lift the heels and down one at a time. Core zipped, shoulders back, but relax those arms. I know. 4, 3, 2. Grab that band again. We're going to take it up to the top. We're going to pull the knee in and the elbow. So if you've got the band, you're going to get a nice good pull for your back and your arms. Bring the knee in for core. If you're just doing body weight, you're here and you can grab the wall if you need to. In and out, back and shoulders and arms. But also core mobility for the hips. Right? We're turned out just a bit for our sides. Yes, you can. I know, I feel it too. Here we go for eight. So lots of things working. Really. Pulling it down and squeeze. Pulling it up and squeeze. Opening up the hip. 4, 3, 2. Good. Other side. Get set. Bring it in and up again. If you're just body weight, you can use balance. If you need to pull it in, you're still making sure that you're contracting, you're tightening of those muscles. You're not just here, right? Yes. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Relax it down. Little taps, right? Roll those shoulders. I know. Feeling it through the shoulders and the back. Yes. 4, 3, 2, and 1. We're gonna bring it right here. We're gonna finish off a little bit of arms with this mini band if you have it. If you don't, just go through the the motions. We're going to hold it at the top here, right at your chest or shoulders. We're going to push down for triceps here. We're going to start with just that. Then we'll add a little tap back, then we'll take it to a lunge. So watch me push down and up down. If it helps to hold it out a little more in front. But you're thinking about that elbow extension, right? You can tap that leg back if you want. Breathe. I know you're wondering, when do we get to the stretch part? It's coming. If you want, you can drop it to a little more of a lunge if you can control all of those motions. Otherwise, take your time with it. Pick one. We've got eight right here. Seven, six. Yes. Five, four, three, two. Good. Hold it here. Just hold core engage. Push down with the triceps. Get low in the legs for 4, 3, 2. Relax. Let's get a little stretch right here. And then if you want, loop that band over and pull into it. If that's not right for you, you don't feel balanced. Grab onto the wall, sit back, breathe into that. Holding for four, three, two. All the way up. Shake it out and take it to that other side. So we're here again. Holding at the chest, pushing down. If you don't have a band, you can just push with body weight. You're still going to get it. And then we'll drop it to the lunge. We'll start with arms. We'll add the tap back, then we'll go from there. Core engage. Here we go. Push. If it's not enough resistance, grip a little higher on that top part of the band. Tapping back if you want. If you feel like you have the balance, you can lunge it if you want, get low and up. You're still going to get that leg, even with the tap backs. So if getting low is not what you need today, be where you are today. It's your workout. 7. Yes, you can. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Let's hold it down. Hold with both. So, core engaged. Tension in both arms. So we got biceps of triceps, what we did there. Yep. Hold it low for 4, 3, 2. And relax. Shake it out. Sit back right here. Put that foot here and little stretch into it right here. Yes, team. I know. Breathe. All right, go ahead and grab that band if you've got it. If you don't, I just want you to reach those hands back and you can even grab here. But if you can, we're going to put our wrists inside the band, right? It's like a little handcuffed. And I want you just to lift and press out. This is for a stretch, but obviously you feel that tension, right? Make sure it's not all up in the shoulders. Relax the shoulders down, press out gently and stretch. Now, I want you to remember this. If you're feeling. If you're like me and you spend too much time in the computer or in your car on the phone, that's all of us. You feel that tension or you feel like your shoulders are rounding forward, you can keep this band at your desk. Squeeze if you want. Take your feet up apart, get a little hinge with it again. If you're just lifting with Your hands, that's okay, too. Four, three, two. Relax. Shake it out. Let's grab a quick sip of water and then we're gonna grab. We're gonna put our mini band around our feet and also be working with that long loop band. If you don't have the long band or a flat band or anything like that, that is okay. But if you can, if you have a tighter mini band, that might be what you want. We're going to start it at the ankles. A little bit of mobility work and strengthening work for those hips and glutes. You decide how low you want to get in the square squat again. If you're feeling sore, like me from your workout yesterday, you can keep it higher. Or if you want to get lower, you do, you relax in those shoulders. I'm going to give you some movements with your arms to get some mobility. Let's start with just a double step right here, side to side. If you don't have the band, you gotta keep it a little just high enough that it will stay. If you have slick pants like mine, I get it right here. Reach those arms open back here, here. And we're focused on mobility. Right again. Those tight shoulders that we feel, you can take them up high, pull and here, open it up. Do you want to get a little lower? You can. You do you? We've got four. Breathe. Three, two, one. Hold it here. You're going out and in. Just tap, open the arms, cross them over and under. Four, three, two. Good little babies. Tap out, tap out. Pump the arms. 4, 3, 2. Other side. Take it out and in. Get your heart rate up, right. Who knew we were coming for a little cardio today? 4, 3, 2 little baby ones right here. Tap, tap. Keep it going. I know bird. Pump those arms. Four, three, two and one. Tap it out. Right. Roll the shoulders. Move that up above your knees if you have it, and then grab that long band. So if you don't have a long band, you can, if you want, do similar things to what we did with the short band. Or you can again, just keep it body weight or go through the motions. But right here we're just going to go up and down just like we did before. Think mobility. You're reaching behind your head. You can do a little gentle pull out at the top and connect with the core all the way down in front, straight up above your head. Breathe. Yes, you can. And then I want you to pull it down behind your head. We're down and up again. If you don't have a band, I want you just to get your arms coming behind. If you can get a little pull, you're going to feel a little bit more of the shoulders and back. But again, we want chest openers. Can we go one in front, one and back with a little step and back down in front. And it doesn't matter if you want to keep straight arms or if you want to bend them a little more up to you. What feels good for you? What do you need in this moment, if you can, all the way down and back and here, or whatever works for you. Three, two, good. I want you to hold it behind your head. Hold it here. Get that opener even if you're not with the band. Pulling out, can you get all the way down? Reach, pull out, away from the van. Feel that mobility. We all need this. Can you do little pulses out, palms are up. 3, 2, take it down here. Pulses to the side. And again, you can have more straight arms or triceps. 4, 3, 2. Take it here, take it out. Little taps. Pump those arms. You can drop your long band. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Other side. Take it here. Here. 4, 3, 2. And relax. All right, meet me down on the mat. So I know that didn't feel like a lot of stretch, but I hope it felt like a lot of mobility, especially with the band, with the shoulders down in front. And then improving that mobility with these activation exercises with the band. You can grab a sip if you want. Meet me on the mat. We're almost there. A few things down below, so keep everything close by. I want you to come all the way down. And the first thing that we're going to do, since we've got that band on, even if you don't have a band, we're going to tuck the pelvis. We're gonna roll up to that bridge and then slowly down these first ones. I want you to think really slow. Inhale, exhale, tilt the pelvis. Slowly roll it up. Just keep that tension with the band. You don't have to do anything with it yet. Inhale, release the pelvic floor. Exhale, lift, tuck, and bring it up. Think about mobility. Do you feel tight in that lower back? I know I do. Can you lift a little higher? One more right here. All the way through. Inhale, release, exhale, in tilt. Let's hold it up right here. So find that mobility. Do you want to turn your palms up? Does that help you with those shoulders? Again, if you're someone who feels a lot of tension here, maybe you want to turn those palms up. Oh, felt that right. Let's take those knees out and in. You're keeping it up, right? I know. Look up to the ceiling. Try not to pull that chin in too close. 4, 3, 2. All right, we're gonna go halfway down. Up and out. Don't forget about that core. Halfway down. Up and out. Halfway down. Almost there. We're going to take in the spand off four and up. Three, two, one. More. Yes. So hug the knees in. If you have the band, take it off. Hug those knees in. Gentle roll side to side. And here's what I want, team. If you have a band, either band, put it over that foot and then try to extend it up. If that's not right for you, then you can do it without the band and grab underneath. But if you have that band, we're trying to push against the band and extend that leg, pull towards you. Try to make sure that that band is right in the middle of the foot or below, so it's not going to pop right in your face. And I want you to take a few deep breaths. And on the exhale. Can you pull a little closer? Can you. Can you straighten a little more? We all need this, right? If your leg shaking, that's okay. Mine too. And one more. And then from here, can you turn your foot? If you don't have the band, you can just use that bottom leg. Remember this Figure 4 stretch. You can start here if you can lift it up. Otherwise, I want you to use the band to pull it towards you. You can still use this bottom leg. That may help push that top knee down. Flex that foot. I know so many things working. You might need this other hand to help. Do you feel that release in the low back, too? It's not just your hip, your piriformis, it's all of that. So breathing through it. Four, three, two, and relax. Let's let those knees drop to the side. We're going to do the same thing on the other side. So other foot, either band. You don't have a band. I just want you to grab on the thigh or the calf, not right on the joint, and then just extend it up. If you have the band, you can pull it towards you. This one's definitely tighter for me. I know a few deep breaths. Trying to straighten, trying to lengthen pull towards you a bit. Remember, we don't want to go to the point of pain, but a little bit of discomfort is okay. But just breathe into it. And then let's cross it over right through here. If you have the band, you're pulling towards you. Otherwise, try to cross. You can even take it down here if that feels better for you, and then bring it up, pulling into that, pressing this knee down. If you need this opposite hand here. I know, team, right. I don't want to have too much sculpt or too much stretch. We want a good mix of both. But I know it is your active recovery day, so. So make sure you get it. Go ahead, team, and bring yourself up to a seated position. Use your hands to do it. All right, we're going to do that roll up, but we're actually going to start from the top, so you have some options. So we're going to start body weight, and I'm going to give you an option to add the band. So I want you to stretch over into it, wherever you need your feet to be and watch the whole movement. First, we're going to straighten in our spine, and you can either just go halfway down and here, or if that's not right for your back, you just go from here to here with the stretch. Or if you can, we go all the way down. You can get that stretch over if you want, or you can keep them right above. Inhale, exhale, Pull that deep core in slowly up. Fold it over. Now, this is a challenging exercise, especially that first part. So you pick where you want to be. Join me here. Straighten up the spine. You can go halfway, or you can just keep it up to top and get that stretch or all the way down using your core, stacking your vertebra. Big stretch. Inhale, exhale. Deep core. Core is creating the movement. See, it's challenging for me, too. If you need a little support with your hands on the side, that's totally fine. Feel that stretch back to center. So again, if you want to put your hands right through here, and then when you come up out of it, you give yourself a little stability here. That's okay. I would rather you do that than feel like you're pulling with your back. Now, if you want to add either band, you can add this band or this band. Create that tension, get that stretch, take it all the way back. Inhale up, fold it over. Get that stretch back to center. Lengthen in the spine, all the way back down. Let's try to get two more at your own pace, trying to keep an eye on the clock. Don't worry. Think more about the mobility and again, get what you need today. Do you want more of that core strength or do you want more of the mobility in the stretch? Either is totally fine. One more Right here. We're all gonna hold it here for fold it over. So wherever you are, I want you to try to keep a straight spine and lean into that. I know it's tempting to go here, but let's try to keep it here. And if you want. If you want to hook the band, if you have the mini band or you have this band, feel that stretch and take it over. Keeping the chest open. You can even point the toes and come back. Little point and flex. Return to that straight spine. Three, two, one. And relax. Let's take those knees out to the side. We're going to finish it staying down here on the mat. You can just lean into that. And let's go ahead and come onto all fours. Inhale, exhale, sink. Thinking about that. Ta breathing. And then let's just do that little cat cow rounding up. And then rolling through. As you round, I want you to up with that deep core on the exhale. As you inhale, release in the pelvic floor. If you want to add a little extra core on that exhale, little lift of the knees. Still rounding slowly down. Taking it here. You still want to make sure you're getting that movement through the spine, whatever is good for you. Inhale. And one more. And here, just step back into that child's pose. Just trust the shoulders down right through here. Let's reach one arm under. Get a little stretch through here. Hold that for just a few. And then other side, reach underneath. So we're going to take it all the way down to our superman or superhero position. If that's not right for you, you can stay here with a bird dog. Otherwise, join me all the way down. Have a few band close by. Either band will work, but as we lift, we're going to lift the legs, lift the arms. We're going to add a little tension. If that does not feel good for you, you just keep the lift. So we're here. Bird dog, opposite arm, opposite leg if you're on all fours. Otherwise we're going to lift. Hold. 3, 2, 1. And drop it down. Lift, hold. If you're like me, I have a lot of tension there. It's hard for me to get high. That's okay. We just want to get that stretch. Try to improve that mobility. Lift and hold. If you have your mini band, you might be more here. That's okay too. Let's get two more lift and hold. And last one, hold and relax. Come up into that little baby cobra or mini cobra right through here. And from here we're just going to finish with some plank singles. And then we're all stretch. So here, big inhale to expand through your core. Remember on this you're trying to just slip with the core. Exhale, lift up to the knees, using your core and then slowly down. I love this move. Recently used this in my core restore program in the Body Fit Athletic Club. Putting it in there a lot. You can go to the knees or you can finish off and go. Keep going to your toes. The idea is that you're not pushing through the elbows, not pushing through the knees or the toes. You're using your core to lift all the way up. When you really think about having to pull from the core muscles versus pushing, you're really going to feel that on the exhale, lift the core up to the knees. Continue lifting your core, your torso, up to the toes. Slowly down, slowly down. Let's get one more big inhale. Exhale. Lift all the way up if you want. Slowly down and down. So up on those elbows again, Baby Cobra. Look side to side. If it feels good for you and you want to come all the way up. Cobra or up dog, relaxing those shoulders. Look side to side and then take it all the way down. Rest your head if you want. We're going to bring that foot here. Now if you want to grab a mini band or a long band and bring it here, that might. It's almost harder to get into than the stretch itself, but that can help you pull up a little bit and then you can do that stretching where we do a little push and pull. Feel what happens. We're going to push for 3, 2, 1, and then hold. Do you feel how that gets a little deeper? If you don't have the band but you're able to get your hand back there, push into your. Your hand. Here we go. Push three, two, away from your body and then release. Pull it in. Do you feel that stretch as you lift that knee off the ground? And one more. Only go as far as is comfortable. 3, 2, 1. I should say, too, that you can do this lying on your side. If that feels better, go ahead and take that down. Switch to that other side again. It's almost harder to get into this one than to do it, so I'll do it on the side this time, but you can stay down on your back. If you want to be here grabbing with your hand or with a band, you're going to pull it in like a quad stretch. Then push against it. If you're just using your hand, push. 3, 2, 1. Then release. Pull in like the stretch. Push, 3, 2. Feel the difference, Especially right around that particular patella, around the kneecap, and then release. Tilt the hip forward. That'll help. And then one more time, push. Three, two, one. Yes. Right, right through there. Go ahead. Very carefully roll on to your back again. Whatever else you need. If you want to pull one knee in at a time. If you want to rest those arms out again to open up the shoulders. If you want to do some arm slides, what do you need in these last few minutes? Go ahead and take it big. Maybe toy, toy, toy soldier, snow angel arms, little march both knees in, maybe that happy baby. And then just find a comfortable position. Maybe one hand on your heart, one hand on your belly. Or again if you want those arms open and just take some breaths. Thank your body for showing up today. I wanted this workout to be a little bit of sculpt, a little bit of movement, but to still feel like active recovery. So let me know in the comments how you're feeling. This is something you would come back to. I know sometimes we want a little bit of getting our heart rate up, feeling a little muscle burn, but we also want recovery on these days. Make sure you're getting more of that mobility and flexibility throughout the week. And you don't have to come in, you don't have to move your arms, but whatever you want to do to get one more big, deep breath in and out. Thank you so much for being here today. You did it. That was your Pilates band sculpt and stretch workout. Great job, everybody.