15-Minute Mat Pilates for Shoulder Mobility & Strength (No Equipment)

[upbeat music]

Hi guys.

Today I have a shoulder mobility class

for you guys prepared.

Now ,think about pulling your shoulders down and back.

It's so important for us to stand tall

and especially since we're sitting a lot on the chair,

you're in your office a lot,

so we are trying to pull those shoulders down and back,

opening our chest, working on that posture.

The shoulder mobility class will help you get that.

Let's get started.

We're gonna start with some shoulder rolls.

So I first want you to just relax your hands,

relax your upper body, roll your shoulders down and back,

back up and around.

Think about this like a shoulder shrug.

You're pulling those shoulders up towards your ears

and round, up and around.

Beautiful.

We're gonna reverse in three, two, and now reverse.

Pull those shoulders up to the ears, round and forward.

Beautiful. Find that inhale.

Exhale, bring it forward.

Last one. Beautiful.

Shake it out.

Separate those feet a little wider if you can.

Soft bend in your knees.

We're gonna start with your left arm up

for a little arm circle,

palm faces in.

We start forward, reach your left arm down, up and around.

Big shoulder roll right here.

And as always guys, you can do this stretch,

also seated, right?

You can just sit down onto a chair.

Let's reverse go the other way.

Beautiful. Up and around.

Really open up that shoulder joint here.

We're gonna do one more. Beautiful.

Reach up nice and tall. Bring it slowly back down.

Let's switch sides.

Reach your right arm up

and I'll bring it forward first, all the way up and around.

Big inhale. Exhale, bring it forward.

We're gonna hold it back at the top.

We go backwards in three, two,

keep it all the way up nice and high,

and I'll reach back.

Go the other way. Inhale, exhale back.

We got two more right here.

Yep. There we go.

Reach up nice and tall and I'll slowly release.

Shake it out again. Let's take it down onto the mat.

One of my favorite stretches

for your shoulders is a cat/cow.

I want your hands underneath your shoulders,

your knees underneath your hips.

Now rounding your spine, look down towards your knees,

really press into your palms

and just really press into that scapula

and I'll slowly untuck.

Take it into your cat pose.

Open those knees, arch your back. Beautiful.

And again, chin towards the chest, rounding your spine.

Really articulate your spine here,

round and round and round, and look down towards your knees

and then open back up.

Let's do one more right here. That feels so good.

Inhale, exhale. Press into your palms.

Look back down. Beautiful.

Last one. Let's open it one more time up.

Yes. Beautiful.

Now, slowly sit back onto your heels

and we're gonna walk it back up to standing.

We're gonna take this into a set of arm circles.

Slowly come up into a standing position.

Remember, if you want, you can stay seated on a chair.

Separate your feet hip width apart.

Have a soft bend in your knees.

We're gonna start with arm circles.

Arms extend out towards your sides. Palms face up.

Draw your belly button to your spine,

tuck your tailbone under.

We're starting to circle those arms

in little patterns forward.

Beautiful. That's it.

Give yourself a smile. We're already in it.

Beautiful. Relax your shoulders down and back.

And just focus on inhaling.

Exhale, bring those arms forward.

I really want you to connect to your breath here right now.

Beautiful. We're gonna reverse those circles in 10.

Keep that chest up. Relax your shoulders.

Yep. You got 4, 3, 2, and reverse.

Go the other way. Beautiful.

Those arms should get a little bit heavy right now, right?

Even though we're don't having anything in our hands,

no dumbbells, no nothing.

It's just our arms keeping ourselves up.

That's pretty amazing.

We're gonna hold in three, two, hold it right here.

Here. Rotate your palms down towards your mat.

Open it back up.

Beautiful.

Rotating from your wrists right here, open and rotate down.

Beautiful. Right?

Even though you're not seeing it,

your shoulder is working here right now.

Rotate down, open back up.

You have 8, 7, 6,

5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

Bring your arm slowly back down. Shake it out for a second.

Let's take this into a serve-the-platter.

It's one of my favorite exercises.

It's gonna target your chest, your biceps,

and the top part of your shoulder.

Palm faces up, bring your elbows towards your rib cage.

We start to extend your arms in front for two.

Reach your arms forward for three, forward for four.

Hold it right here.

Now open your arms out towards the sides all the way.

Beautiful.

You're gonna draw from your chest,

bring your hands back into your center line.

Yeah, that's it.

And then bring your elbows back down towards your ribcage.

So it's really important when we work

on your shoulder mobility to get nice and warm,

full range of motion in those joints right here.

Perfect.

And don't forget to keep that soft bend

in your knees in the entire time, right?

Sometimes when we work on our shoulder mobility,

we forget our stance.

Stance is very important the entire time here.

You got 10 more seconds right here.

We're holding those hands right in front of you.

Coming up in

5, 4, 3, 2,

and 1.

Keep those arms right in front of you.

Now gimme a little pulse up. That's it.

Think about you're holding a little tray right now

and you're lifting it up.

Little lift. Little lift.

Ooh. We're feeling that burn.

The top part of your shoulder,

your biceps are feeling this right now.

Beautiful. Inhale.

Exhale. Lift a little higher if you can.

10 more seconds,

we're gonna take this into a chest expansion,

in five, in four, in three, two.

Slowly release those arms down, shake it out.

Now what I want you to do here is palms face back,

keep your hands right by your hips

and I'll open your chest a little bit more.

Think again, tacking the tailbone under, stand tall.

We're gonna press your arms back for two.

Press your arms back for three.

Press your arms back for four.

Squeeze. Open that shoulder joint.

Beautiful.

Now slowly bring hands back towards your hips for two,

in for three, in for four.

We're just pressing those arms back behind you.

Yep. And bringing it back in.

Now, even though this is called a chest expansion,

you are working the backside right here, right?

We're opening through those triceps,

we're opening through the back, and we're also opening

through the back of your shoulders here.

This is really also gonna help you

with your posture here, right?

We usually round in a lot,

so when I'm showing you right here from the side,

our shoulders go down, we're pressing them back.

Beautiful. We got 15 more seconds just like this.

Then we hold those arms all the way back,

right behind your hips.

You're doing great. Keep going.

We hold it back in 5, 4, 3, 2.

Hold it all the way back.

Now we'll open those pinkies out to the sides for one,

open out to the sides for two.

Draw your thumbs back together in for one, in for two.

You're just opening those arms behind your hips.

Really small range of motion, right?

We're trying to focus on that slow count right here.

Open up, nice and slow. Don't go too fast here.

We got 10 more seconds.

We're holding this back for a little pulse.

Hold those arms back in four in three,

two, hold it right up.

Now press those arms back. Little pulses.

Open your chest a little bit more. Yes, beautiful.

You got 10, 9, 8, 7, 6,

5, breathe, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Release. Beautiful job.

Let's raise your arms up. Let's go into your shoulder press.

We're gonna do two combos here.

We do one shoulder press with both of your arms

and then one at a time.

All right. Elbow in alignment with your shoulder.

Try not to bring it lower. Keep it right here.

This is your starting position.

Let's start to press your arms all the way

up towards the ceiling, squeeze at the top,

and then slowly bring your elbows back down.

Now we do one arm at a time.

Press your left arm up, stretch long.

Bring that left elbow back in alignment

with your left elbow.

Beautiful. And now press back up.

Squeeze your scapula down and back

as you retract your elbow down.

Yep.

And then you go back with both arms up towards the ceiling.

Beautiful.

I really want you to focus here

on really reaching that arm long

so you really find that shoulder joint pressing up.

Squeeze from the backside as well. Beautiful.

We got 15 more seconds to go right here.

We're holding this halfway, keeping the elbows in alignment

with your shoulders for a little mini pulse.

Really burning out the shoulders right here. Fantastic.

Coming up in 5, 4, 3, 2.

Hold it right here. Now palm still face you.

Tiny pulse up. So small, tiny pulse.

Breathe. Inhale, exhale.

Lift. Can you lift a little higher?

There you go. Pulse it out.

Last 10, 9, 8, 7,

6, 5, 4, 3, 2,

and 1.

Really shake it out. Beautiful.

Now I want you to hinge your upper body slightly forward.

We're gonna take this now into a lat pull.

Bring your feet hip distance apart, shift your hips back,

and I'll bring your elbows back into your goal post,

which we just had for your shoulder press.

Now I want your gaze forward towards your mat right here.

Bring your elbows in alignment with the shoulders.

I want you to extend those arms all the way overhead.

Hold it here for a second.

I want you to imagine you have a wet towel on your hand

and you're trying to wring it out.

So what you're gonna do is you pull your elbows in,

pull that towel behind your back apart,

squeeze your scapula down and back.

Yep. That's it.

And now press those arms all the way back overhead.

Take an inhale through nose,

exhale, pull it all the way in.

Squeeze and open all the way back up.

Beautiful. That's it.

Also, really focus on your stance right here.

Really press down into your heels

as you shift those hips a little further back.

Yep. Fantastic.

Beautiful. Focus on that inhale at the top.

And an exhale, pull those elbows all the way down

to your sides.

Beautiful. You're really engaging your back muscles.

Your shoulder is working as well here, right?

This is a perfect exercise

to get your posture muscles activated

and to get your shoulder nice and mobile.

Now let's hold this in.

In 5, 4, 3, 2.

Hold it right here. Gimme a tiny pulse.

Can you squeeze a little bit more?

Tiny squeeze, scapula squeezing in.

Imagine there's a credit card behind your shoulder blades

and you're trying to hold it in.

Squeeze it, squeeze it. Watch your low back.

Don't let it arch, right? Belly button to spine still.

You got 8, 7, 6, 5.

You hold in 4, 3, 2. Hold it right here.

Now you bring your forearms down towards the mat.

Lift your forearms slowly back up, right?

It's a rotation from your shoulder joint right here.

Open and close. So don't let your bicep move.

It's just the forearm that's lowering down.

And keep gazing forward towards your mat, right?

I want your spine nice and neutral here.

Beautiful. Don't look to the left and right.

Just gaze forward onto that mat. Fantastic.

We got 15 seconds to go.

If you're gonna take it down into your kneeling stretch.

Coming up in 10.

Fight for this last little burn right here. You got it.

You got 5, 4, 3, 2,

and release.

Shake it out. Let's take it all the way down onto your mat.

Beautiful.

Now bring your hands underneath your shoulders,

your knees underneath your hips.

You're in that quadra position.

We're starting with that left arm,

extending it all the way out.

You reach your left thumb up towards the ceiling,

around towards your left hip.

Stop right here and then bring it back forward

all the way to the front.

Tap your mat, lift it back up.

And now what I want you to do here is follow

with your eyes, your hands.

So your eyes look up towards your hand up and around.

Beautiful. And then bring it back center.

Take an inhale at the bottom.

Exhale as you circle it up and around.

Let's do two more right here.

Open it up. Perfect.

Bring it back in. Last one.

Keep that soft bend that right elbow and bring it down.

Beautiful. Now start right with the other hand.

I want you to reach your right arm nice and long,

thumb reaches up.

Reach your right arm up and around towards your hip.

Follow with your eyes. Reach it back forward.

Tap your mat. Beautiful.

Inhale, exhale as you swirl it up and around.

Really opening up here.

Watch your left elbow, right? Keep a soft bend.

We always tend to hyper-extend.

I want you to keep that soft bend in that elbow right here.

Beautiful.

Really lubricating that joint in your shoulder here.

You got 10 more seconds.

And then you're gonna take this in

one of my absolute favorite shoulder stretches.

It's a thread-the-needle. And two and one.

Bring it down.

All right, rounding your spine for a quick second.

Yep. Bring it back to neutral.

Reach your left arm up toward the ceiling.

Follow your eyes

and I'll thread your left arm underneath your right.

Press your left shoulder down.

Reach your right hand all the way to the edge of your mat

as high as you can.

And just hold it here.

This is super nice on the shoulder griddle.

Press into that left shoulder as much as you can.

And if you want a little bit more,

you can try to reach your right arm behind your low back

and just hold it here.

Focus on that inhale through the nose.

Exhale, sink a little deeper.

Hold it here another second.

And I'll slowly want you to bring your hand back down.

Right hand comes down first,

pull yourself back up into your quadra position.

Take a big inhale.

Exhale, reach your right arm up to the ceiling.

Same thing.

And we're threading your right arm underneath the left.

Press your right shoulder down.

Reach that left arm nice and long here.

Maybe close your eyes if this feels good for you.

Press down into your shoulder.

Keep those hips nice and high.

And then again, remember, if you want a little bit more,

you can try to bring that left arm behind your low back.

Beautiful.

This is really so nice on your shoulder right here.

Shoulder griddle should get nice and stretched out.

Press a little bit deeper if you can.

Every time you take another inhale,

take an exhale, sit a little deeper.

Last inhale.

Exhale, sit a little deeper.

Bring your left hand down,

and then pull yourself all the way back up onto your mat.

Come into a seated or standing position. Shake it out.

Friends, this was amazing.

I hope your shoulders feel as mobile as mine,

and I can't wait to see you guys for the next one.