Classical Stretch Season 8: Age Defying Series

Season 8 was my first introduction to Classical Stretch. I checked it out from the library 6 months ago and used it while rehabilitating from a major surgery. It worked very nicely for that purpose but once my surgeon loosened up my restrictions a bit, it fell to the wayside as I dove into Barlates‘ new Fusion Flow workouts. But I didn’t forget about it. I checked out Miranda Esmonde-White’s book Aging Backwards from the library and decided I needed to work Classical Stretch workouts back into my life. So I checked out Season 8 again. BTW–that is the only season my library carries, so if I want more, I will have to subscribe to Miranda’s streaming site. Which I am seriously considering!

Season 8 is a collection of Miranda’s workouts that aired on PBS. Due to the fact these workouts are created as 30 minute TV programs that have commercials, each workout is actually 23 minutes. Since I decided to use them while doing Mark Lauren’s 90 Day Challenge, their length worked perfectly for all of his Level 1 workouts. I just tacked on a Classical Stretch workout as soon as I finished one of Mark’s workouts to give me a total workout time of just under an hour. I continued to use them for his Level 2 workouts as well, but I had to adjust a bit by skipping Mark’s cool down/stretch to keep my time at an hour.

Season 8 is shot entirely outdoors in Jamaica. The scenery was always beautiful. Miranda’s workouts are very hard to break down. So I decided that I am not going to give a detailed breakdown of these workouts. Each workout just gets a summary so you know what to expect. I don’t list the time because they are all the same length–23 minutes, give or take 30 seconds.

Classical Stretch workouts all use the same basic movements–but there are a lot of them. Miranda based her technique on Tia Chi. It takes you through wide range of motion exercises that give you the benefits of both strength and flexibility work. Most of her workouts hit every muscle group in your body in some fashion–stretching it, strengthening it or just taking it through full range of motion. Her workouts are feel good workouts, too. Occasionally you will feel the burn from some of the exercises–wide plié squats, arm work, mat based leg work and some of her core work–but for the most part Classical Stretch workouts just feel good. Even when there is a burn factor it never lasts long. She doesn’t burn you out like other trainers do. If I had to classify them, I would say they are bodyweight fusion workouts, but they are more than that.

I did these workouts 3-4 times a week (3 times a week for the first 4 weeks then 4 times a week for the next 5 weeks). I have now read 3 of Miranda’s books: Aging Backwards, Aging Backwards: Fast Track and Forever Painless. In these books, Miranda explains the concept of Classical Stretch/Essentrics and all of its benefits. She makes a lot of promises. Those promises are one of the main reasons I wanted to incorporate Classical Stretch workouts into my 90 day body weight rotation. But I have to be honest. I didn’t see any of her promises come to fruition. My shoulders continue to hurt, my hips hurt throughout (I’m pretty sure that is DOMS from all of the other workouts I do, but nevertheless, it is constant) and I have other aches and pains that persisted. So I was disappointed. What I most wanted was the relief from shoulder pain and increased range of motion of my shoulders. I did not get either of those things during the 9 weeks I did Classical Stretch.

That does not mean I am going to stop doing her workouts. I think the flexibility and range of motion aspect of them is very important and I find them much more enjoyable than yoga. Plus, Miranda’s discussion of fascia and how her workouts keep it functioning properly makes a lot of sense to me. It is not something I can easily summarize here, but her books turned a light bulb on in my head regarding the maintenance of your fascia. Because of that I will continue to use her workouts. I will say, that in reading her books (particularly her most recent one, Aging Backwards: Fast Track), she does stress the importance of doing her workouts every single day for results. And I did not do her workouts every single day. I don’t know if I ever will. But maybe I will give it a try since I have yet another surgery recovery period in my future. I did think doing them 4 days a week for 9 straight weeks would give me some relief.

Below is a summary of each workout in the Season 8 collection. There are 30 workouts total.

Workout 1: Stretch all 600 Muscles. Equipment: chair. This was a really good, feel good workout. It begins with standing dynamic stretches that are reminiscent of Tia Chi. Then you do some standing barre lower body work but without a chair–so it is balance challenge. Which is good for you but I have metal heels and cannot do balance challenges like this one and had to hold onto my chair. Then she tells you to get your chair. You do some tricep dips off the chair and the remainder of the workout is standing dynamic stretches using the chair. The legs and hips are stretched thoroughly but she does hit other muscles, too.

Workout 2: Increase Your Energy: Equipment: mat and theraband/resistance band. Another feel good workout. This workout starts with a short, low impact warm up with lots of kicks and hamstring curls. Then you move onto range of motion/dynamic stretching moves. Next is wide plie squat work. Get a fitness mat and do butterfly groin stretch. She has you lay on your back for crunch variations. The workout ends sitting on your bottom with legs extended straight in front of you and doing leg and spine stretches (you use the theraband for these).

Workout 3: Stress Relieving: Equipment: chair and theraband/resistance band. This was a very relaxing and flexibility focused workout. I think she did move and stretch every muscle and joint in the body. The workout starts with standing dynamic stretches and range of motion movements. Then you sit in the chair and, using the band, you do leg and feet stretches. Set the band aside and do hand/finger exercises and stretches. Next is seated hip stretching. The workout ends standing but using the chair for more dynamic stretches and range of motion exercises.

Workout 4: Firm & Strengthen Your Butt: Equipment: chair. This workout felt a bit more active/intense then the 3 preceding workouts. It felt really good though. Like most of Miranda’s workouts, this one felt like she hit every muscle and joint in the body in some fashion–strength or stretch or both. It starts with standing range of motion/dynamic flexibility exercises. Next is hand & finger work that moves up to arm & shoulder work. I feel like you get some toning work for your arms, too. Next is plié squats; you continue the plié squats but add upper body range of motion/dynamic flexibility moves. Get your chair and do lower body barre work. The workout ends using the chair for stretching/flexibility that starts with the upper body and ends with lower body stretches.

Workout 5: Balance & Strength: Equipment: chair. This workout starts with a low impact warm up with lots of kick variations and some upper body movements. You run through all of the exercises about 3 times, doing 4 reps of each move and doing them faster each time you repeat them. Next you do range of motion/dynamic stretches. This is followed by plie squat work with upper body/spine work–this started burning my legs out by the end. Next is standing barre leg lifts that take your leg through a full range of motion. Since you aren’t holding onto anything there is balance work involved. Get your chair for some lower body barre work (not much). The workout ends with lower body dynamic stretching using the chair. For the final stretch Miranda runs out of time so your legs are stretched unevenly. But if you are aware that each workout is 23 minutes, then you will also know that she is going run out of time. So I changed legs when there was about 1:30 minutes left of the workout so both of my legs were stretched evenly.

Workout 6: Lose a Pant Size: No equipment needed. Miranda does this workout on a golf course and makes some golf analogies to her exercises. She has two exercisers with her. I think one of them is her daughter. This was a great workout with a lot of bodyweight strength work. It starts with her range of motion/dynamic stretching then moves into arm strengthening work. Next she does something she calls windmills, but it’s not the yoga windmills I am accustomed to. You are windmilling the arms, but it is wide range of motion moves and you are also using your legs–it really is a total body, range of motion, dynamic stretching and strength exercise. Next there is more dynamic stretching for the lower body followed by more range of motion/dynamic stretching/strength work (but not windmills). The workout ends with some more gentle (but still deep) dynamic stretching/range of motion work.

Workout 7: Enlongating Your Muscles: Equipment: fitness mat. This entire workout is done on your fitness mat–no standing. I found this workout to be excellent! It worked and stretched my lower body and spine very well. You start sitting on the mat and doing range of motion/dynamic stretching for upper body. Extend your legs straight in front of you and do some strength work for legs. Lie on your side for more leg strength work. I have noticed that Miranda approaches this type of mat workout differently form other trainers and in a way that I feel it much, much more. She has you extend/stretch your working leg out before doing a rep(s)–by the end of the side lying leg work my legs were seriously burned out! Next lay on stomach for spine strengthening and stretching work. Lay on back for some deep hip stretches. Sit up again and start in butterfly stretch then transition almost immediately into a deer pose stretch variation then into pigeon variations. The workout ends with a few more seated stretches.

Workout 8: Slenderize Your Waist: Equipment: fitness mat. This workout takes place on a beach with the ocean behind Miranda. You start with standing range of motion/dynamic stretch work. Next you do some wide plié squat work that started to get a little painful–and she adds little hops to some of the plié squats. You continue working your legs with side lunges w/ core work, upper body range of motion and spine work. Get mat for core work that starts laying on your back. First you do basic crunches, then you raise your legs and do lower ab work. Lay on your side for leg work. Sit on bottom with legs extended in front of you and do more leg raises in this position–challenging because you have to keep your spine straight (no leaning backward or rounding back). Do some seated upper body and side stretches then combine the seated upper body stretches with the lower body work.

Workout 9: Improve Posture & Energy: Equipment: fitness mat. I really liked this workout. It is set on the grounds of a beautiful plantation. At the beginning of the workout Miranda even tells the story of the female owner who murdered her husbands. The workout begins with range of motion/dynamic stretching exercises. Then you move into standing arm strength work. You do some more range of motion/dynamic stretch work. Then you add some spine work to the range of motion work. You do this by tucking in your pelvis while rounding spine then arching your spine (sort of a cat/cow motion while doing dynamic stretching with the arms). Get a mat. Lay on your back and do some basic crunches. Add leg movements to the crunches (one leg at a time, the other remains on the floor). Next you do some reverse crunches. The core work ends with bicycles-first just the legs, then add crunches then bring your elbow to opposite knee (full bicycle maneuver). Lay on your belly and raise slowly up into full cobra and hold. The workout ends with some lower body stretching. You start in butterfly, then transition to Z/deer stretch, pulling back leg into body (you are holding onto the foot of the leg behind you, stretching quad–sort of like the Kenpo quad stretch from P90X) then extend back leg and do several pigeon stretch variations.

Workout 10: Strengthen Hips & Core: Equipment: fitness mat. 2 people are with Miranda for this workout (one of them is her daughter, I think, and a man). The workout starts with an easy warm up, stepping side to side then knee raises. Next is range of motion/dynamic stretches for shoulders and spine. Next is plié squat work w/ heel raises. Then you do Miranda’s windmill/lunges–which are different from yoga windmills. Next is a balance move which she calls standing leg bicycles–you do the bicycle move with one leg while balancing on the other leg. Then she does “squash” lunges. Get your mat for butterfly stretch work with hip “blasts” (wrap arms around bent legs and press knees/legs against arms–resistance work). Lay on back for basic crunches that turn into more advanced abdominal work. The workout ends with lying hip stretches.

Workout 11: Unlock the Spine & Increase Energy: No equipment needed. The first 9 minutes of this workout is range of motion/dynamic stretching that focuses on the upper body. Then you do more range of motion/dynamic stretching with a lower body focus. You do some forward fold stretching. Then you do more full body range of motion/dynamic stretching with a core focus. Next is some plié squat work–first just plié squats (she even has you do some hops while in plié squat) then you add upper body work to the plié squats. Next is lower body stretching and the workout ends with some shoulder stretches.

Workout #12: Improve Your Balance: Equipment: fitness mat. This workout is set in front of a beautiful series of low waterfalls. The problem with that is, the rushing water makes it hard to hear Miranda! But the view is lovely. I’m not sure if I was just “off” this morning or if Miranda was moving faster than usual, but frequently I had a hard time keeping pace with her. The workout begins with a long range of motion/dynamic stretching segment. Next you do some balance moves: stand on one leg while tracing the alphabet to letter H with your other leg. You go through this pretty quickly several times and Miranda loses her place in the alphabet at one point. It was hard for me to keep up with her. Next, you do leg lifts that end in lunges and you do them in a clockwork fashion (front to side). The idea is when you land in the lunge, you are also stretching your hip flexor. Next is arm work that burns! Get your mat and sit on it with legs extended straight in front of you and do stretching and strengthening leg work in that position. Lay on your back for leg and hip stretches. The workout ends with some more dynamic stretching–start in butterfly then transition into Z/deer position and do some flexibility variations in that pose; it ends with pigeon pose variations.

Workout #13: Strengthen Feet & Fingers: Equipment: chair. I really liked this workout–not so much the extra finger and feet work, though that was good, but I really like the deep range of motion/dynamic stretching that she did in this workout. The workout starts with full body range of motion/dynamic stretching. Then you move on to finger, hand and wrist exercises. She adds on arm exercises so your entire arm starts burning out by the end of the segment. She also does side to side lunges throughout the finger/hand/wrist/arm segment. Next is more range of motion/dynamic stretching while doing deep side lunges–your entire body gets involved in these. Get a chair for feet work which includes raising up onto toes and ankle circles. Next is barre leg lifts (one leg is worked differently than the other). The workout ends with lower body stretches using the chair.

Workout #14: Unlock Your Hips: Equipment: fitness mat. This entire workout is done on the ground on a mat. She also has you using the proprioreceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) technique on many of the stretches. This is where you contract and relax the muscle to go deeper into the stretch. Start sitting on the mat with legs extended straight in front of you and do a foot warm up–flexing and pointing, circling ankles, etc. Next you will do some spine stretches that move into hip stretches. Next you will do some butterfly stretch variations. Lay on your back for a short set of basic crunches. Sit up again with legs extended straight in front of you and do forward fold variations with arm reaches. Lay on back again for some deep hip and hamstring stretches. Sit up and do kenpo quad stretch variations (Kenpo quad stretch is from P90X–Miranda starts the stretch from a Z/deer pose position, but it is still basically the same stretch). Sit on bottom with one leg extended and the other bent and do more leg and spine stretches. The workout ends with more low back stretches–sit cross-leg and forward fold over legs.

Workout #15: Increase Your Energy: No equipment. I really liked this workout. The entire workout is primarily standing range of motion/dynamic stretching. First 9 minutes of this workout is total body range of motion/dynamic stretching. Next the focus moves to the spine and hips (but still range of motion/dynamic stretching). Then the focus moves to the shoulders and upper back (still range of motion/dynamic stretching). Then you do some forward fold stretch variations. Some range of motion/dynamic stretching for the core. Then you do plié squat work followed by some lower body stretches. The workout ends with more total body range of motion/dynamic stretching.

Workout #16: Tone Your Entire Body: Equipment: Chair. This workout was set on a beach. This workout definitely works your entire body in some fashion. You stretch and move everything through a full range of motion. It begins with fast range of motion/dynamic stretching of arms while shifting side to side. Then it moves on to slower range of motion/dynamic stretching of shoulders and spine. Next you balance on one leg and do leg lifts to front and to the side. During these leg raises you will also “fall” (gently) into lunges then push out of the lunge into a leg raise. More upper body range of motion/dynamic stretching. Next is Miranda’s windmills, which are not like yoga/pilates windmills, they are total body range of motion/dynamic stretching moves. Get a chair for some tricep dips off the chair seat followed by push ups off chair back. You will do some traditional shoulder and tricep stretches and the workout ends with thorough dynamic stretching of the lower body using chair.

Workout #17: Strengthen & Shape Your Legs: Equipment: fitness mat. The workout starts with some brisk range of motion exercises that focus on the upper body. Many of them are sports related moves, too (fling a frisbee, golf swing, etc.). Next is plié squats. Then you do slower and more controlled range of motion/dynamic stretching of the upper body and spine (you shift into deep side lunges while doing it). Next is standing barre work (no chair, so balance challenges). Get your mat. Sit on your bottom with your legs extended straight in front of you, flex and point toes (you do this slowly and with purpose so you really work every muscle in your feet). Add leg lifts to the flexing and pointing. Lay on your side and do lots of leg lift variations. My legs were burning! Lay on your back for dynamic stretching of your hips and low back. The workout ends with more spine and hip stretches but while sitting up.

Workout #18: Burn Calories & Lose Weight: No equipment needed. In this workout Miranda has two exercisers with her, her daughter Sahra and a man named Brendon (they are the same people in the other workouts–I just didn’t know their names). Another great Classical Stretch workout. This one is done all standing and Miranda and her exercisers are on large square platforms in the center of a pool. Miranda shares that they are at a resort that is set in a lush rainforest. The workout starts doing large range of motion/dynamic stretching of arms in wide figure 8 patterns while shifting lower body side to side. Next is plié squats. Continue the plié squats but add upper body range of motion/dynamic stretching. More range of motion/dynamic stretching of upper body with deep lunges (Miranda’s windmills are included in this long set). Next is spine and upper body range of motion/dynamic stretching (the spine work consists of standing cat/cow motion with various flowing arm movements). Next is standing leg lifts in clockwork fashion (balance moves). Then you do front leg lifts that fall (gently) into narrow lunges. Next is some upper body/shoulder work (that burned my arms and shoulders out). You do some more lower body exercises that work from your feet to your hips (more balance moves involved). The workout ends with lower body stretches.

Workout #19: Tone the Abs & Strengthen the Legs: Equipment: fitness mat. This workout is set on a beach with the ocean behind Miranda. Though Abs is in the title, I didn’t see much core work in this workout. It starts with a warm up: side to side steps, cross knee raises and hamstring curls–all with various arm movements. Then it slows down for range of motion/dynamic stretching of the upper body with a shoulder focus (lower body does side lunges during this). Next is plié squat strength work and stretches. Then you do some hip flexor stretches and lunges followed by standing leg circles for the hips (balance challenge). Next is some standing lower body stretches. Get your mat and lay on your side for a lot of leg lift variations that burned my legs out! The workout ends laying on your back for some nice deep hip stretches.

Workout #20: Full Body Posture Workout: No equipment needed. This workout starts with large range of motion/dynamic stretching arm swings and circles (you will also be shifting your hips side to side while doing them). Next is wide plié squats (my legs started burning); add dynamic stretching of the arms. Then you do slower range of motion/dynamic stretching for upper body w/ shoulder focus. Next you will tilt pelvis under then push it back behind you; add cat/cow rounding of your spine with upper body range of motion moves. Next is some spine/upper body dynamic stretching. Then you do some standing leg lifts (balance moves). This is followed by lots of shoulder/arm work that really burned my shoulders out. The workout ends with some lower body dynamic stretching followed by Miranda’s version of windmills, which is a total body range of motion/dynamic stretching move.

Workout #21: Strength & Flexibility to the Core: Equipment: fitness mat and theraband. Brendan and Sahra join Miranda again for this workout. It starts with lots of arm swinging motions to warm up. Next is slower total body range of motion/dynamic stretching. Then you balance on one leg and draw the alphabet with your leg. Next is hand/wrist/arm work. Get your mat and sit on it with legs extended straight in front of you. In this position do quad/leg work (lifts, circles, etc.). Next is seated spine and hip stretches. Get your theraband (Brendan and Sahra do not use a band) for seated leg stretching using the band.

Workout #22: Full Barre Workout to Loosen Hips: Equipment: chair. I expected something different from the title of this workout. It is not a traditional barre workout–it is a stretching workout. The workout starts with a dynamic warm up: hip shifts then hip circles, figure 8 range of motion/dynamic stretching for the arms, hip cleaners (which is Miranda’s name for a leg move that completely rotates the hip joint), and leg sweeps front and back. Next is range of motion/dynamic stretching for the spine and upper body. That all lasts only a few minutes and you can view it as a sort of warm up. The remainder of the workout consists of deep stretching using the chair. The bulk of that stretching is deep lower body stretches–hips, glutes, calves, and hamstrings. Near the end of the lower body stretches she adds upper body and spine work to the hamstring stretches. The workout ends with a few minutes of spine/neck/side body stretches.

Workout #23: Stretch & Strengthen the Lower Body: No equipment needed. The workout starts with lots of wide/broad/full range of motion/dynamic stretching arm movements: swings, figure 8s and frisbee throws, and while doing these arm movements you are also shifting your lower body side to side, doing plié squats and side lunges. Next is slower, full body range of motion/dynamic stretching. Then you do standing cat/cow variations with various arm range of motion exercises. Next is forward fold twist variations. Then you do some standing clockwork leg lifts (no chair so your balance is challenged). This changes to leg circles landing in a lunge (you land gently). This changes to leg lifts behind you then swing through, landing in a front lunge (gently). Dynamic stretches that focus on the lower body but also stretch the spine and upper body.

Workout #24: Spine & Abs: Equipment: fitness mat. This workout is filmed on the beautiful plantation that has been used for a few of the other workouts in this season. The workout starts with an active warm up: arm swings, then side steps, hamstring curls, knee ups and more, all with arm movements. Then you slow down and do total body range of motion/dynamic stretching with a spine focus. Next is hip cleaners and leg lifts (you are standing so it challenges your balance). More range of motion/dynamic stretching for spine and core. Get your mat. Lay on your side, your body extended straight, raise both legs of the mat while also crunching up your torso. Next raise just the top leg in leg lifts and circles. Lay on your back for basic crunch variations. Next is reverse crunch variations. Then you do some hip and lower body stretches. The workout ends sitting up and doing some spine stretches.

Workout #25: Feet & Ankles: Equipment: fitness mat and theraband. This workout has a short warm up and during that warm up, Miranda talks about the importance of warming up before you start a workout. The warm up is arm swings and figure 8s w/ squats. Then you move on to more range of motion/dynamic stretching with core focus. Next is leg lifts done in a clockwork fashion, landing (gently) in a lunge and articulating through your foot and ankle when pushing off. More range of motion/dynamic stretching w/ core focus and side lunges. next you will do some shoulder work. Get your mat and theraband. Sitting up, do leg and feet stretches using the theraband (flexing and pointing with band wrapped around one foot). Lay on your back and do crunch variations, both basic and reverse crunches and moves that combine the two (my core was fatiguing). Sit up with legs extended straight and do various spinal stretches.

Workout #26: Weight Loss & Toning: Equipment: chair. I really liked this workout a lot. It starts with a warm up of range of motion/dynamic stretching with upper body focus. Next is total body range of motion/dynamic stretching that hits the core nicely. More upper body range of motion/dynamic stretching with some more focused arm stretches. Next is some plié squats that flow into shifting side to side in side lunges. She adds the upper body range of motion/dynamic stretching to the side lunges then the sequence morphs into total body range of motion/dynamic stretching. Get your chair. First you do various heel lift exercises. Next is leg lift varieties (true barre work). The workout ends with leg stretches using the chair. Near the end of this leg stretch sequence she adds arm range of motion/dynamic stretching to the leg stretches.

Workout #27: Stretch & Strengthen Your Hips: Equipment: chair. This workout is 90% stretching. It is dynamic stretching but not in the same manner of Miranda’s other range of motion/dynamic stretching. It’s not as active because the focus is much more on stretching than on strengthening. During this workout, when doing the dynamic stretching, she has you flowing between two opposing stretches. This workout starts with a brief warm up consisting of arm swings, leg swings and hip cleaners. Then you do some dynamic stretching for the hips; then some dynamic stretching for the calves. Next is some quad stretches. Then you do some feet and ankle work. You will do some more hip stretches. Next is some barre inspired dynamic stretching–leg lifts to the front, to the side then large leg circles. Next is various heel lifting exercises (with feet together and in plié squat). The workout ends with side body and spine stretches.

Workout #28: Strengthen Your Bones: Equipment: chair. This workout has a lot of focus on the feet and calves, with lots of heel lifts. It starts with a warm up that includes cross taps, knee lifts, hamstring curls and front kicks with arm motions. The music continues to speed up and Miranda moves faster and faster through these moves until the last few times you run through them you are doing the legs only because it is too fast to include the arms. Once the warm up is over you will do total body range of motion/dynamic stretching with upper body focus. Next is wide plié squats and side lunges, both with heel lifts. You do more foot work–push off into leg raises and land in a shallow lunge (both to the front and to the side), and when you push off out of the lunge, you are articulating through the foot. Get a chair for heel raises combined with barre squats. The workout ends with dynamic stretching of the lower body using the chair. She adds some upper body range of motion/dynamic stretching to the lower body stretches at the very end.

Workout #29: Improve Posture and Flatten Abs: Equipment: mat and theraband. Brenden and Sahra are present again in this workout. The workout starts with a warm up–arm swings and circles while shifting side to side. Next is total body range of motion/dynamic stretching with upper body focus. Then you do some arm/shoulder work (lots of arm circles, both small and large). More total body range of motion/dynamic stretching. Next is lots of spine work–standing cat/cows with arm range of motion moves. Get your mat and theraband if you need one (only Miranda used the theraband). Laying on your back on the mat with knees bent and feet on floor, you will do crunch variations that become progressively more challenging but never advanced. Next you will stretch by doing cobra, child’s pose, cat/cow (on all 4s this time) variations. Then you will do butterfly stretch, Miranda’s version of the kenpo quad stretch and pigeon pose variations.

Workout #30: Strength & Flexibility of the Hips: Equipment: fitness mat. Brenden and Sahra are back in this final workout. It starts with a warm up: arm swings, figure 8s and other arm moves with side steps and hamstring curls. Next is range of motion/dynamic stretching with upper body focus (for lower body you are doing plié squats and side lunges). Then you do standing side leg lifts and front leg lifts. Next is more total body range of motion/dynamic stretching with deep side lunges. Get your mat. Lay on your side, raise top leg and hold while raising and lowering bottom leg; raise and lower both legs at the same time; add upper body crunch. Still laying on your side, do basic leg lifts, circles and squares (Miranda makes her lying leg work more effective by instructing you to pull the working leg “out of the socket/joint” before you lift it). Next you lay on your back for basic crunch variations. Next is bicycling your legs and reverse crunches, pushing legs out and opening them in a V. The workout ends with some dynamic stretching: cobra variations, child’s pose variations, cat/cow variations and butterfly variations.