Quick Fit with Cassy

Hi there, I'm Cassy and this is Quick Fit, easy and effective classes designed so you can live better, longer. If you've been experiencing an overall feeling of fatigue,

the solution may be simpler than you think

in your feet. So remove your shoes and join me to release the feet and boost your energy. Let's get moving.

gentle upbeat music

the solution may be simpler than you think

We'll begin the class today seated, and definitely take your shoes off, so your feet can have their full range of motion. If your feet are tender, then simply have a nice, thick pad underneath your feet, and have a definitely a nice sturdy chair. Let's start with just some simple ankle circles. You can hear mine clicking, like with every revolution. I twisted this ankle really bad several years back, and so it's always clicks a little, but it's good to just keep it moving, work out any scar tissue that might be in there. All right, and the other side. These are great exercises you can do any time, when you're sitting or watching TV or traveling. Keep your feet nice and limber. All right, and long, long stretch, all the way down through your toes, and now pull the toes up, okay. Gentle squeeze, don't want you to get a charley horse, and stretch. Other side, stretch and squeeze, stretch and squeeze. All right, two feet. Let's get those heels up and then lift the front of the foot, doing a little exercise to the shin and the top of the feet. These are anti-trip exercises as well. All right, now press your feet down, keeping the balls of your feet on the floor and just lift your toes. Okay, press the balls of your feet down. toes are lifting up. This is a great exercise for those of you that have plantar fasciitis; it works those arches. Okay, lift, lift, lift. Tightness leads to weakness and weakness leads to pain, so if your feet are tight, that could be one of the underlying reasons you have foot pain. All right, point and hold again. Keep stretching, nice and long, reaching, reaching, and flex and hold, and continue to pull the whole time.

inhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

One more, point and flex. Other side, nice, long point, nice, long flex. Keep pulling, one more. And then let's bring that ankle up and just work your feet by hand. Sometimes we've lost the ability to move your foot without a little help, but we can stimulate that just by a little help. Okay, and let's also stretch the toes. If your toes have just become stiff at the end of your foot from years of wearing shoes and not going without shoes, this is just a good, gentle way to start loosening up all those joints and bones. Let's do the other side. Okay, pull and flex, pull and flex. All right. Let's turn sideways and we'll work the top of your feet. So if you're mirroring me, you'll turn to your right, have your legs half on, half off the seat, and try to put the tops of your feet onto the floor. Be really careful how much weight you're pressing down through the foot and the toes. You might experience a charley horse if your feet are really tight, so just be aware and go carefully. The more I bring my knee forward, the more I'm getting onto the top of the toes. And a little rocking back and forth on the toes, okay. This also stretches the shin. All right, so let's work the calf. So I'm just pressing my heel straight down below my hip. My foot is back just far enough, where I can get the heel all the way down with a little extra press. If your foot's too close, you won't get a stretch, so kind of find that sweet spot to stretch the calf. All right, let's turn and do the other side. Once again, hook your arm around the back of that seat

inhales and exhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

and just let your leg hang, shift your heel left and right, going across the tops of all the toes. Put a little bit of pressure if you're not getting any charley horse, down through the top of your foot. All right, bring it a little bit more forward, gently working the toes and rock it back and forth on the toes. All right. And let's press that heel down. You can do it a little pressure down through your leg to deepen that stretch. All right. All right, from here we're going to stand, we'll continue working the feet from a standing position. Simple alternating heel lifts. Not going too fast, taking a little time before you drop down, controlling, gripping with those toes. Grip that mat, big inhale,

inhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

exhale.

exhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

Helping to loosen your muscles. And if this is the first time you've ever taken your shoes off, only do about half of these repetitions, because I don't want you to be sore, really bad sore. It's like any other muscle in your body, you have to ease into it. All right, so let's just do a little narrow pli. Okay, inhale, exhale,

exhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

keeping those heels down, and now lift and lift, and down and down. Hanging onto the chair if you need to. You can even have the chair in front of you. Okay, another, up, up, down, and down. Very good, let's do two at the same time, lift and down. Lift, lift, bend the knees, heels down, heels up, extend, and down. Terrific. All right, let's just do a little leg kick and up. Right, up onto your toes, using the momentum of the leg kicking, strengthening the feet. You'll feel a little more springy when you walk or climb stairs when you have nice, strong feet. All right, other side. Kick and lift, kick and lift. And once again, a nice, cushy pad under your feet will help if you've got tender feet. All right, standing on your tippy toes, just hold it up in this position.

inhales and exhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

Don't forget to breathe. The added benefit is you're strengthening all those breathing muscles. Take a few small steps. Good, just walk around, walk around your chair maybe. All right, two feet down and up, down and up, a little quick. Working those fast twitch muscles. All right, few more. All right, let's do a few stretches to finish off. So you can just use your seat, extend your leg back and press that heel down, pushing into the top of your chair for some leverage. Okay. Bend that back knee slightly. Once again, straightening. And then, I really like this one, let's just use your seat, the chair leg, press that heel, inhale,

inhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

and see how close you can get that heel to the chair leg. Other one, extend the other leg back, press that heel down. You can really press into the chair for some leverage. Inhale,

inhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

exhale. Do it again.

exhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

And then let that back knee bend a little bit, getting all those muscles in the calf. There are a lot of calf muscles, and if your calves are tight, they can contribute to knee pain, so really, really encourage you to have consistency with these classes, so that you get as many body parts stretched and strengthened as possible to keep your whole body balanced. All right, one more, pressing that heel down. Finally, a very unique stretch. Be careful, put all the weight on your standing leg and let your front leg just rock a little sideways, stretching the side of that ankle. This works to get some very high up calf muscles, way up in there.

inhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

Definitely add your breathing.

exhales

the solution may be simpler than you think

All right, let's do the other side. Okay, put all your weight on your back leg and just gently roll that ankle to the side, not putting a lot of weight through it, just experiment. That's terrific. How was that? Were you surprised by how good it felt? Or by how stiff your feet have already become? Remember to remember your feet by coming back here daily to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, where we work your entire body from hands to feet. See you next time, and bring a friend.