Quick Fit with Cassy

- If you're getting back into fitness after taking time off, or you're completely new to fitness, this is the perfect place to begin.

Hello, I'm Cassy and this is Quick Fit , your place to stretch and strengthen.

Join me now as we gently stretch your entire body, preparing you mentally and physically for the rest of your day.

[upbeat music] If you're new here, we work out without our shoes, so our feet get a nice stretch as well.

Just have a nice mat or rug to work on.

Start with your feet about shoulder-width apart, and we're going to work nice and slow, lifting those arms up, inhaling nice and long and deep, and exhale extra long.

[exhales] Okay, count it in for about four seconds of an inhale and about four seconds, blowing all that stale air out.

Good, let's just do one arm, you can mirror me.

This'll be your left and your right arm up.

Getting an extra stretch through the shoulder, making sure that elbow is straight.

And one more time each arm, up, [inhales] reach it, stretching your ribs too, and down.

Widening those feet a little bit more.

Lift, feeling the ribs, looking at the floor.

Good job; hands on your hips.

So push your hips forward, to the side, around the back, and the other side.

Now, it's pretty common if you don't have a lot of hip mobility, people tend to compensate by moving the shoulders around.

Try not to do that.

Keep your shoulders above your ankles and just push the hips around as much as you can.

If it's not a lot today, it will improve.

Just be patient.

Okay, circle around.

[inhales] Nice, big breaths in and out.

[exhales] One more circle, and then stretch those arms out at your side.

Remembering, if shoulder height doesn't feel good to you, you can adjust it down lower, maybe slightly forward, and just start twisting, big inhale and blow.

That's what I'll be saying all the time.

Big inhale when you're moving and then exhale on the stretch.

Now, this time, remember, you can lift that heel up to be gentle around the knees and you just get more movement.

[exhales] Okay, breathe in deep as we transition, inhale, inhale, inhale, and then exhale [exhales] at the end.

You probably find you can get a little bit more movement.

All right, reach it up to the ceiling, paying attention to that elbow.

Extend it all the way.

Look, look at that hand.

[inhales] All right, looking forward now.

Draw some circles right from the shoulder, not the elbow.

Okay, lift, draw the circle.

Lift, [inhales and exhales] inhale and exhale.

And then the other arm up, lengthening through the shoulder sockets, feeling the ribs stretch, [inhales] lift and circle right from the shoulder.

Be strict.

Try to move your shoulders or your arms back, lift and to the back.

Good job, all right.

Arms out and open that chest.

A few side to side steps.

Good, hands on your hips.

[inhales] A little push off, push, push, push.

[inhales] Warming up those glutes, actually, that come around the side of your hips.

Reach and reach, extra deep, reach one more, extra wide, good.

Now go ahead and turn.

And I'd like you to put one foot slightly back and then we'll tuck your tailbone, tuck your chin.

Make like a big letter C out of your spine.

We're doing a lot at once.

Bicep curl, tuck the chin, squeeze your behind, exhale.

Very awkward the very first time you try that, but you'll grow to love these, 'cause we're moving your spine completely in the two directions of flex and extend.

Now let's extend those arms behind you.

Make it nice and long through your spine, pulling in your belly.

The pelvis is pulled back this time, and then your feet.

Both feet are on the floor, stretching that back calf a little.

All right, that back foot, lift that heel now.

We'll be actually stretching your toes when we do this.

We're making that big flexion with your entire spine.

Tuck your chin, [inhales] exhale, squeeze the butt.

Using the pelvis to work the lowest part of your spine.

Pull in the belly, exhale.

Keep moving those elbows kind of forward and up, and you'll feel that stretch on either side of your spine.

Stand up.

You know, the beauty of working on this platform on your computer is you can always hit pause and work on these moves.

Open up that chest, reach behind you, pull the pelvis back, press that heel into the floor.

Good, now try not to compensate with the neck.

I'm kind of doing that, right?

So have your chin level to the floor and just stick the chest out and pull the shoulders back.

Good, one more time.

Little smoother with less explanation, extend [inhales] and arch.

Good job, okay, let's do the other side.

So now the other leg is back and it's on the toes, knees slightly bent.

Let's start by tucking the tailbone under.

You can squeeze the hind end to do that.

Pull the belly in.

Good, now we're dropping the chin.

So once again, we've got this big curve from the top of the head to the tailbone.

Let's involve the arms now.

Make two big bicep squeezes and actively press and reach forward through the elbows, okay?

You're reaching forward through the elbows.

Stand up, press that heel down, open the chest, extend those arms completely behind you.

Let's do another one.

Tuck the tailbone, [inhales and exhales] exhale.

Keep moving those arms forward.

And make sure your feet aren't too close, one in front of the other.

Have a decent width of a base.

And arch, top to bottom.

Good job.

All right, let's face forward and just alternately lift one heel and then the other.

All right, get that heel up as high as you can and make sure that you're pressing down through the ball of your foot.

The ball of your foot is the big pad right underneath your big toe.

We don't want the ankles to go sideways like that.

You want a nice, straight line: knee, ankle, and ball your foot.

And alternate.

[inhales] Inhale, exhale, in and out, matching your breathing.

And as you do this now, okay, when you've got one heel up, the knee is bent, the other leg is straight, sit into that hip and let that stretch.

Then switch.

Okay, we're up on one heel, stretching these toes, stretching this hip.

Let's do it one more on each side, stretch the hip, [inhales] stretch the hip.

Good job.

Two heels up and down.

Now we'll strengthen a little bit.

Now, if you're really new to working without your shoes, then just stop with the feet work.

Just do one or two of any of the moves that I introduce.

All right, now let's lift those toes, just the toes.

The ball of the foot is down.

And now make a small, gentle squeeze with the toes, sort of like a fist with your toes, but be real careful.

When you're new to working your feet, this can make you get a charley horse, and I don't want you to get that.

We just wanna get some movement in those toes.

All right?

All right, now let's get onto the top of the foot and the top of the toes.

You might have to reach your leg back further to find the top of the foot and the toes.

If you haven't worked out without your shoes, your feet can be very stiff.

So you have to go with this super gently and slow, but it will get better over the course of the year.

Your feet take a little while to stretch out, but don't give up.

It'll get better.

All right.

All right, now start with your feet side by side, right under your hips, and I'd like you to draw your left leg back, just about a foot back, and don't have your feet lined up.

Have a nice base, but not too wide.

Okay, what, four inches?

And now I'd like you to move your weight onto that back foot, okay?

Your front leg will straighten, your back knee needs to bend, okay?

So your weight is on your back foot.

The knee is slightly bent.

The front leg is getting a nice stretch in the hamstring.

Now you can push a little bit against the legs to get a nice, flat back.

We don't want you to round your upper back, then you don't feel the stretch.

[inhales] Breathe it in, exhale, and sit it back.

If you're not feeling a stretch, reach forward more with that straight leg.

Good, shift those hips around a little bit.

Inhale, back into it, exhale.

[exhales] All right, line your feet up.

We're going to do the other side.

Draw that other leg back.

Have a nice, stable width, but don't have your feet too far forward and back.

Sit back on that right foot.

Let that right knee bend.

Left leg is extended, flat back.

Come out enough to take a big inhale, exhale, sit back into it.

[exhales] Do that again, breathe it in, exhale.

[exhales] It's a wonderful hamstring stretch.

Next, we're going to grab our chair and do a few exercises seated.

I always recommend you have a chair without arms and definitely without wheels.

Okay, so sit sideways in your chair so that only half of your butt is on the chair and let your other knee hang straight down from your hip.

All right, hang on to the back of the chair.

Let gravity pull you off the front of the seat and reach that arm over the ear.

Breathe it in, and then exhale.

[exhales] Again, breathe it in and exhale.

[exhales] Very good; that's one of my favorite stretches.

Okay, now I would like you to lift this leg directly out to the side.

Right away, I know what's happening.

Your legs are pulling forward.

To avoid that, pretend there's a wall right here, and we want that leg to go straight out to the side.

You see, I'm trying to stretch these weak muscles.

And usually when they're weak, the quadriceps try to take over.

Don't let that happen.

Make this do the work, even if you don't get any movement.

That's the way you wake them up.

You can poke your fingers into your hips.

Good.

All right, face it forward.

Bring that knee up.

Cross the ankle over your knee.

You can go above.

You can extend the leg if it's, you know, too much of a strain like that, you can go below the knee, okay?

Just find something that works for you.

And it's a nice, gentle pressure down.

All right, now pull that knee across the center of your body.

[inhales and exhales] Use your other arm to get a little leverage and twist through the spine.

Good job; let's do the other side.

So turn sideways in your seat.

Hook your arm around the chair back, let that leg hang down.

And this is a wonderful stretch from your elbow to your knee.

[exhales] Breathe it in, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] I just love that one.

Okay, so as long as you're facing your chair back, put two hands on that chair back.

This is gonna help keep your hips in the right location, so you don't bring your knee forward, hopefully.

Lift that leg out to the side.

Maybe take a peek and see if your leg's cheating.

We want the ankle and the knee to lift as one.

We don't want the knee to come up without the ankle, okay?

Down and up, down and up.

Five, four, three, two, and done.

Facing forward now, bring that knee up.

Good, cross that ankle over the top of the knee and press, and lift, and press.

Reach across to grab that knee, twist through your spine and enjoy.

All right, and lastly, let's work on getting up out of the seat without our hands, okay?

Have a nice V from your hips and have your knees over your ankles.

Don't go back on your toes, okay?

It's another way your body likes to cheat.

Let's use the butt to get up, but pushing through the heels.

Reach it forward until you can push through the heels.

You might need to adjust your feet a little bit, but find the heel, not just the toes, press, press.

Just explode, right?

With those legs, with those hamstrings.

Good, press through the feet.

We're gonna get up a little higher.

One more time.

[inhales] Make sure you own every inch as you go back down, then all the way up, okay?

Ready, and good job.

Now that was short and sweet, but even that short time makes a difference.

I want to make sure you feel refreshed, but feeling as if you could do more, because that positive attitude is what will keep you coming back without skipping your workouts.

In fact, plan tomorrow's workout right now and come back to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit each day, and you'll have the recipe for making fitness a lifelong commitment.

Until then, don't sit down, keep on moving.

– Announcer: Funding for Quick Fit with Cassy is provided by Greg and Carol Griffin, founders of ElderSpan Management, Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.