Quick Fit with Cassy

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Hi, I'm Cassy. Welcome to Quick Fit. And congratulations on taking steps to better health. Join me now to ease tension with today's slow-paced, full-body movements. Let's begin with a nice, big two-arm reach up to the ceiling.

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Inhale,

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letting your mind relax and quiet down.

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Lengthen through your neck, shoulders, and spine. Exhale.

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Very good, let's press. Opening up the ribs. All right.

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Lift. Okay, try to move those shoulders back. Relax the neck, and now do an upper waist rotation.

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Thinking about only moving right through here, keeping your arms in place.

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Little bit to the forward, the side, lift the ribs, all right. Don't forget to breathe, nice and big.

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Exhaling extra long.

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All right,

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over to one side, just a little, beginning to loosen up the neck.

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Very good, let's bring your hands down to one hip, and then lift. Having a nice, wide base with your legs.

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Lift.

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Exhale, a little lower this time, down towards the knee. Remember, we never are working into any pain,

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modify in any way you need to to make sure this is a relaxing class for you. We never want to work into any pains in any of these classes. You want to keep your muscles relaxed whenever you're trying to get relief from a previous pain condition.

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Inhale, exhale.

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And of course, being sure that your doctor says it's okay for you to exercise.

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Inhale and exhale.

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Very good. Now we're just gonna rag doll left and right. All this means is you're shifting your hips and allowing the upper body to follow in a delayed fashion. Very nice, letting the head relax.

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All right. Now we'll roll up slowly into another big ceiling reach.

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Press.

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Feeling those ribs loosen up, very good. And now let's open up those arms and go into a nice twist. At first our feet aren't going anywhere,

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but now on this one, lift that back heel so that you can twist further, more naturally. And then exhale, allowing

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for greater movement. It's really kinda like magic if you inhale,

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and then exhale when you start to get to your limit.

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I always get like six more inches of twist. Inhale.

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Exhale.

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Very nice, okay, coming partway out of that, let's have one hand forward, one hand back, palms up, lifting through the chest,

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and then let's go the other way. Okay, one hand forward, one hand back, and lift. Very nice. All right, let's come out of that gently, putting your hands on your hips, and then let's do just a bit of a diagonal twist. We'll dip down towards the one elbow,

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and back towards the other.

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Trying to keep those hips squared to the front.

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Exhale. This is a great move for the psoas. Those are the very big muscles that connect your upper body to your lower body. They're connected to your lower spine.

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Inhale, exhale.

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All right. Widen those arms and let's pull those shoulders up by our ears, and extend. Reach in two different directions. Lift and extend. Now let's start leaning from the torso, not involving the legs at all yet.

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Extend. Feel those hips right in through here and your sides stretching. Trying not to drop the arms like that, okay? Lift and lift. Let's do that on a slight diagonal, all right? Reach, let's go towards the back. Just like we did with the elbows, but our arms are straight. Exhale.

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Let's go the other way. I think you're gonna feel this in spots that you'd be surprised at. Which is kinda funny really, you're going to just feel the stretch wherever you feel the stretches. All right, and down. Just lift one shoulder and then the other. Back up with the arms, and this time we'll start involving the legs a little more. So widen those legs where you can naturally start bending the knee without hurting the knee. If your feet are too close, this is not natural, okay? I often will have to stretch this leg to make sure this knee stays in a good spot. All right, and reach. Alternate, one way and then the other. I think sometimes we're afraid to widen our legs, but our legs are stronger than you think.

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All right. Isn't this nice? It doesn't require any fancy equipment. You can do this right from your home.

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Very nice. Enjoy that stretch. Other way, last time. All right, two arms up.

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And then let's bring those hands down behind the head, and then round our spine, and push forward. Yeah, just enjoying that.

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Pull, arch, elbows back. Inhale, exhale.

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Good, then we'll pull back, we'll do an arch first, and then we'll do it at an angle, widen those legs,

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Come up, the other way. On an angle, pull it in. We'll deepen it with your legs.

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Good, let's do one more to the front.

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Pushing forward,

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and then let's move around, keep those legs in a partial squat, getting a little deeper as you feel more comfortable with the move. You have to push your weight through your butt backwards as you're leaning your hands forward. All right, and now let's involve the legs a little more.

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Don't forget to breathe. Look at how I'm lifting up my elbow, getting a deeper stretch through my ribs and my back, still involving the legs, maybe getting deeper, as you're feeling more comfortable. And now just cutting through with that palm and pushing around. Let's do one more on this side. And then switching sides, cut and push around.

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Now you are ready for the day. Getting your workout in right away each day is really the best way to be consistent and enjoy the benefits all day long. So don't forget to check out all the other videos online at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, and please, do me a favor and share this class with a friend. I'll see you next time in class.