Quick Fit with Cassy

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Hi, I'm Cassy. Welcome to Quick Fit. Here in Wisconsin, after a long winter, we can't wait to get outside and begin yard cleanup and gardening. But if you've not been training all winter, you may become overly sore. So let's fix that, so you can have your best year yet. Let's go ahead and stand nice and tall, lengthening and lifting through the spine, deep breaths in

inhales

and out.

exhales

One extra, extra stretch, shoulders to ribs to hip, just enjoy that. All right, one more each side,

inhales and exhales

see if you can even turn your neck and move that shoulder back. We'll do one more. All right, lift and pull.

exhales

I just want to welcome you to my home. Isn't this so nice that you can stay fit right in the convenience of your own living room? Pull your hips back. So we're doing these pelvis tilts, we're tucking the tailbone under, rounding the spine, flexing the whole thing, top to bottom, and then arching everything top to bottom. Not necessarily the neck, but the spine. Pulling the shoulders back, starting to loosen you up after a long winter of hibernation. And pull it back. Working out all the cricks. All right, let's do some hip cleaners. You might want a chair handy for this one. So all you need to do is bend that knee, reach across and open, and then extend that leg behind you, and I sweep around. And do it again. Across, open, and around.

inhales

Standing nice and tall, okay, let's think about our posture as we do this. We'll do one more. All right, to finish these up, I'd like you to grab your ankle or your pant leg, whatever you can grab, and then we'll make this stretch a little deeper. Squeeze your bottom, big inhale,

inhales

exhales

keep squeezing your bottom while you press that leg down. That really gets deep, all the way down to the knee. Let's switch sides, and we'll do those hip cleaners on the other side. So make it as smooth as you can with the knee across and open, and if you're new here, make sure you're doing everything relaxed as possible. Never working into any knife pains,

inhales and exhales

and don't forget your breathing, that really, really helps to keep everything lengthening and stretching. All right, and before we finish this one, go ahead and grab that ankle,

exhales

squeeze your bottom, and then press the knee down. All right, maybe a couple stirs with that knee,

inhales

if it feels okay, it's a really, really deep pull. All the way down. All right, let's do a few sweeps like this. We're going to mimic raking here in a moment, but I don't want you to do a lot of squeezing of your muscles yet. All right, so we're pulling one way and then the other.

exhales

Involve the ribs a little bit. You see I lift my elbow up, and it stretches your ribs. Using your feet and legs, now let's start pulling a little more, if you've been following me for a little while, you're a little more conditioned. Pull, squeeze your abs, and it helps you pull one way and then the other. Very good. All right, now let's do some squats. We've done a lot for the upper body so far. Have a chair just kinda nearby, but we need to start squeezing out all that inflammation in our knees, and stiffness. Have your feet about shoulder-width apart, move your weight back, and if you feel like you're gonna fall backwards, you need to have your torso somewhat forward. All right, let's work our way down, lots of breathing, inhale, exhale.

exhales

Keep your knees as wide as your feet. You don't have to move your feet any wider, you have to keep your knees as wide as the feet. Okay, a lot of us tend to pull the knees in and that's not any good for your knees. Down and up. We'll do just one more, getting as deep as you can.

inhales and exhales

All right, now one more. Now let's use the chair. We're going to do some lunges. For the first one, I'd like you to line yourself up so that as you come down, you land on the top of the seat, and push. Make sure you organize your body so that you are even between the front legs and the back legs. All right, one more. Touch the seat and come up. Scoot yourself a little in front of the chair, and we'll get a little lower. And up. And then, pop up into that front leg, reach it back. Push through your front heel, okay? Up, reach it back. We'll do one more.

exhales

Pop it up. All right, now let's switch sides. Go ahead and turn, arrange yourself so one butt cheek lands on the seat, but we don't put the weight there. We just touch the seat and come right back up. Your leg has to stop you, and push.

inhales and exhales

We'll do one more. And then arrange yourself slightly in front of the seat, we'll get a little lower. Down and up. We'll do two of these, and then we'll do the pop-ups. Find that front heel, you ready? Use that back leg and pop up. So we're using the front and the back leg. Pop it up. As well as your hamstrings, your glutes, one more.

inhales and exhales

Awesome. All right, now let's step it back. Any good gardener knows, you have to go all the way down to the ground. So work your way down, have a soft cushion under the knee if your knees are tender.

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Very good. All right, let's relax as you reach down towards the floor. So big inhale,

inhales and exhales

loosening up slowly, do as many of these repetitions as you need with plenty of breathing to loosen you up. One more,

inhales

inhale, and exhale.

exhales

One more, inhale,

inhales

and down. Good, all right, make some space and let that leg go behind you. Bring it back up.

exhales

Leg to the back. Bring it back up, maybe a little lunge forward as your groin area and inner thighs are warming up. Bring it up,

exhales

and back. Let's switch legs now, you ready? We're gonna bring that leg forward, inhale, exhale, sinking down into it, enjoying it.

exhales

inhales and exhales

You can't avoid the floor, you know, so much happens down here. We can't avoid it, it's best just to stay loose. All right, you ready? Bring that leg back.

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Bring it around to the front. Bring that leg back.

inhales

Maybe a little sit-back. And around to the front. It's getting easier already, isn't it? So avoiding it is not the way. Sit it back.

exhales

All right, so from here, I'd like you to get your toes under you. We're going to prepare to get up. First thing I'd like you to do is push the knees up, stretching your heel and your calves. Knees down.

exhales

Ready? Do that again, pushing so that the knees come up, nice stretch to the calf and the Achilles, the feet, the toes. We'll do one more. Ready?

inhales and exhales

All right, now start getting the hips up, walking the hands back, rolling it up slowly.

inhales

Doesn't that feel good?

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All right. So we've begun here with these few simple moves, but there's so much more we can do together to reduce soreness, recover quicker, and keep doing all the things you love. Find more gentle and effective exercises just like these online, at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit. And come back soon.

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