Conditioning

Goal: To warm up the spine and core.
Laying on the floor with feet standing hip width apart, push feet against the floor, rolling up one vertebra at a time. Breathe at the top, then roll down, one vertebra at a time. The more slowly this is done, the better. Next, roll up and tip one hip to the side then the other. Finally, roll up and lift one leg off the floor, pointing the toe as if it is being pulled from across the room. Try not to let the hips shift when lifting the leg. Hold briefly and then roll down and do the other leg.

Toe Dips

Goal: To warm up the core muscles not to have the toe reach the floor.
Laying on the back lift both legs up at 90 degrees, dip one toe down then the other, and your pelvis should remain stationary.

Arm Arc

Goal: To warm up the spine.
Laying on your side, knees at 90 degrees. Stacked on each other move the arms forward, then over your head, tracing the fingers on the floor, keeping the knees together. The goal is to have all parts of your spine participate as you twist to the side. Try to keep your hand on the floor. If you are extremely flexible, you can lay on a raised surface and do the same movement, tracing your hand on the floor and keeping your knees stacked on each other.

Goal: To engage the core.
With body in a push-up position, resting on the elbows not hands, keep body straight like a plank, holding for a count of 10 and then drop the knees to rest. The hips should be in line with the shoulders, not higher or lower. Do five repetitions if possible. Then in the plank position, isolate the shoulder movement, holding the rest of the body as still as possible, bring the shoulder blades together and then move them apart. Drop the knees to rest, then go into the plank position and tip the hips back and forth.

Goal: To engage the core.
In a seated position, leaning back on the elbows, with core engaged, draw feet up towards the ceiling. Make sure the pelvis does not tip, forward or back as the legs are raised. Point the toes. Body should be in a “V” position. Lower legs to the floor, just as far as the pelvis does not tip. Then reverse the movement and start with the legs up to the ceiling and lower them down towards the floor, go just as far as the pelvis does not tip. Do at least three repetitions in each direction. This movement helps the body understand how to keep the core engaged in an unstable environment like the fabric.

Goal: To warm up the shoulders, neck, arms, and hands.
Roll shoulders back and forward together and one at a time. Then swing arms backwards as if swimming in the crawl stroke, then forwards adding both arms together and then swim both backwards. Roll head around to relax neck stretch hands pressing each hand back and then bend towards chest twisting the hand.

Breathing

Goal: To re-oxygenate the blood.
Breathing out more than in is important. Keep the jaw relaxed. Breathe in and hold the breath for a count of five, five times.

Seesaw Breathing

Breathe into the upper part of the chest then into the belly. While holding the breath, move the air between the upper chest and the belly, as if it is an elevator for as many times as possible. Then let the air out. This will allow the body to fully rest.

Goal: To increase back mobility and core strength.
Laying on your back on the floor or mat, raise hips up off the floor with the toes pointed to the ceiling. Arms can be over-head, not pushing off the floor. Lower back down to floor, one vertebrae at a time, do this movement several times. This position is necessary for many tricks in Level 2 so practicing it is helpful.

Goal: To stretch the sides, stomach and back.
Holding the fabric in front of the face, reach around from the outside as if hugging it and then bring hands through the center. Hands are above the head. Wrap hands one more time around for a secure grip. With the shoulders down, lean forward rotate around to stretch stomach side and back pivoting around in a circle, feet remain in the same place.

Taffy Stretch Second Part
Reach through the center and around the outside. With hands down, hold the fabric. Shoulders down and back with arms straight and wrists straight. Lift feet off the floor and hold in position.

Goal: To hold to a count of 10.
Raise hands above head, wrap the same as the Taffy Stretch, around the outside and into the middle of the fabrics, then wrap hands one more time. With shoulders down, lat muscles engaged, core engaged, pull up and hold counting out loud to make sure to be breathing. It is important to learn how many counts can be held before working up high on the fabric.
If you cannot do the pull up, take weight off legs and hold position.

Goal: To determine dominant side.
Fabric is on the side of the body. Reach above head, grab the fabric, it does not matter which hand is on top bring feet off floor and hold weight briefly, shoulders down, core engaged. Do both sides. One side will be stronger than the other; this will be the dominant side.

Goal: To engage core and lat muscles.
Climb once with the body in between the fabrics. Bring the knees to the chest,then roll up and back like doing a back roll. Then roll forward and back again. Keep the legs together and bent. Do three each practice session.

Goal: To build core strength
Climb once, holding the fabric to one side of the body. Start with the dominant side. Bring body into an egg position,then straddle legs, lifting them up so hips are at the height of the hands. Bend the arms when coming down to do multiple straddle-overs. Try to do these with straight legs and do three linked together. Quality over quantity.

Goal: To Increase core abdominal strength
Do the Straddle-over on each side without coming down between sides. It is important to do them cleanly, versus doing multiple straddle-overs in a row. Keep legs straight and toes pointed. Do one at a time at first and build up to doing multiple repetitions.

Goal: To increase transverse abdominal strength.
From the inverted arabesque position, hooking the knee or the foot, reach arm over head and do two thigh wraps. Keep the tail of the fabric over the shoulder to keep from sliding. With arms behind head, do side crunches. Start with five repetitions. Then switch and do the same thing on the opposite side.