Quick Fit with Cassy

- Hello, everyone.

This is Quick Fit and I'm your host, Cassy Vieth.

If you want to live better, longer and age well, you've come to the right place.

Reduced reaction time and weakness are two typical complaints of aging.

So today's class will benefit you by training your fast twitch muscles to respond quickly.

Join me now for a few simple moves you can do right from your home.

[upbeat music] Let's just start with a few simple leg swings, just to warm up those hips.

[inhales and exhales] If you enjoy sports or activities with your family, you don't wanna be left out or fall behind.

There's just too much fun to have.

Wouldn't it be more fun to hear your grandkids say, "Wait up," instead of "Hurry up?"

Have a chair handy and we'll just use it for a few stabilizing moves like these hip cleaners.

Okay, and extend.

So just bring this knee up across your body.

Open up the hip, extend behind you.

Swing it around.

Lift, open, reach, and around.

Very good.

[inhales] Even though these are short classes, we still have to have warmups.

All right.

And let's move that chair around and do the same thing on the other leg.

All right, so just lift up a knee, cross it, [inhales] open and extend.

Swing it around, lift.

[exhales] Don't forget about your breathing.

Let's start taking really, really deep inhales, long exhales to help you loosen up.

[inhales and exhales] Very good, let's do one more, inhale.

[inhales] All right.

We have a lot of work to do today, so let's get at it.

Extend this leg out in front of you and lift, and think about quick reaction.

Quick, quick, quick, just bounce it up.

Use your stomach to help lift this leg.

Lift, pull it in, [inhales] stand nice and tall.

You can even practice your balance, lift.

[inhales] And don't be embarrassed to breathe heavy.

Take nice, deep inhales, long exhales.

We need oxygen for today's workout.

Out to the side.

Lift, [inhales] inhale, exhale.

I don't wanna be the only one breathing heavy, okay?

So inhale deep [inhales] and long exhales.

That way, you also are controlling your breath.

You're not starting to hyperventilate.

So inhale slow and long, [inhales] exhale.

All right, and out to the back.

Your hip is already getting tired.

So if you need a break, just count to three and join us again.

That really makes a big difference.

Just like a three-second break.

And it also helps condition your muscles to make you stronger.

Lift.

Now all right, now try not to bend over as much as I was, and stand up tall and lift to the back.

Very good.

Lift.

[inhales] All right.

[exhales] Moment's break, but don't put that leg down unless you have to.

I know this hip is getting tired.

This is the one doing a lot of work, even though this is the one moving.

Lift and down.

Lift.

Okay, inhale.

[inhales and exhales] Catch your breath.

[inhales and exhales] Lift, lift.

Now, as you lift, lift with power and then squeeze it back down with power.

Lift and squeeze together.

Lift, squeeze together.

Stomach's tight to support your back and your core.

Lift and down and lift.

All right, don't put that foot down yet.

Lift, extend.

In and down.

Lift, kick, and down.

[exhales] Out [inhales and exhales] and out.

Good, inhale.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] All right, now we switch it up.

We don't put the foot down yet.

Lift it out to the side and down.

Lift, stomach's in.

Lift.

[exhales] Nice and long lines.

Try to control everything as best you can.

Lift, [inhales] hold it here.

And five, four, three.

I can hear you yelling at me.

Lift and down.

Very good.

Shift around.

All right.

Catch your breath.

Control it.

Take a four-beat inhale.

[inhales] This is five.

Apparently, I can't count.

Four, three, two, one.

And let's switch sides with the chair.

[sighs] Extend the leg, ready, and lift.

Stomach's in.

[inhales and exhales] Control your breathing.

Don't be panting.

Control it, four beats in.

[inhales] four beats out.

[exhales] Lift, lift, stomach in, helps you to lift this whole long leg.

Lift, lift.

[inhales and exhales] Quads getting tired.

Lift and lift, out to the side, okay?

Lift, lift.

You can use the chair just to stabilize.

Stomach's in, long lines.

Keep it pretty, lift.

[inhales and exhales] And if you don't get your leg as high, that's okay.

Lift and squeeze, lift, squeeze, lift, squeeze.

Find all those muscles, the lifters and the ones that squeeze together.

Lift, squeeze.

And to the back.

[inhales and exhales] Push yourself a little longer.

Try not to put this moving leg down unless you absolutely have to, then count to three and join us again.

Lift, lift, lift, squeeze it.

Squeeze, squeeze from the hind end.

Don't just throw the leg around, okay?

Lift, lift.

All right, bend that knee, catch your breath.

[inhales and exhales] Out to the side and down.

Side, squeeze together.

Lift it, squeeze together.

Stomach's in.

Take that inventory.

Long neck.

Try to have most of the weight on your standing leg, not on your hand going down the chair.

This is just to keep you stabilized, so we don't have to waste a lot of time with balance.

All right, ready, up.

Kick, in, down, up, kick, in, and down.

[inhales and exhales] And you can put the foot all the way down, but don't touch the floor.

Extend, up, out, in, and down.

All right, long leg, lift, lift, squeeze together, lift, squeeze together.

And it's a lift.

We're not throwing the leg.

Lift, squeeze these muscles to lift it up.

Now, hold it here.

[inhales and exhales] Five, four, stomach's in.

Two and done.

Very good.

Sit back, [inhales and exhales] breathe deep.

Inhale.

[inhales] Control your breathing, okay?

Don't be breathing out of control.

[exhales] Force yourself to take about a four-beat inhale [inhales] and exhale, till about the count of six or seven.

[exhales] Very nice, very nice.

All right.

Let's lunge it forward.

A nice, big lunge forward, so that when you're down, your knee is right over the ankle.

All right, take a critical look at your form to make sure that you don't have your knee forward over the toes.

All right, bend that back knee, so you have kind of a nice 90, 90 with the knees.

And we'll just do a few bounces, [inhales] inhale, exhale.

So we're still working, but it's an opportunity to catch your breath, inhale [inhales] and exhale.

[exhales] Now a few quick and down, quick and down, quick and down.

[inhales] Got your chair here, if you still need to put your hands on it just to keep you stabilized.

[exhales] And try not to have your feet directly one in front of the other.

If you have them a little bit wider to give you a little bit better base, more stable base.

Okay, let's switch legs.

Step it back.

Okay, check your form.

Get that knee bent, the back one bent.

We'll just do a few easy bounces, right from here.

[inhales and exhales] Shifting until you find how to get yourself right down over that back knee.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] And then a few quick and down.

Push through your front heel, up and down.

Catch yourself.

Push, down.

Stabilize every time, don't let me rush you, okay?

Get your balance before you jump up or jump down, right.

Out to the sides now, right, over.

Push up, down.

Push up.

[inhales and exhales] Good, and down, switch sides and down.

Push, down.

Once again, check your form.

You don't want to go like this.

You see how tweaked my knee looks?

Let's get that foot wider.

Keep the hips inside and down.

Push, down, push.

[exhales] [inhales] And down, good.

Let's go from here right into plis.

Get that nice, wide, wide, wide as you can.

Squat, reach.

Bring your elbow down, reach.

Bring your elbow down, now up and down, up and down.

Almost done, and down, switching sides.

Elbow to knee and extend.

Elbow to knee and extend.

Catch yourself, explode, catch yourself and explode, one more.

All right, last, last one, okay?

We'll stand on one leg and we'll do a one-legged squat.

Push it back and up.

Chair is to stabilize you.

Move the hips back and up.

Try not to go knee forward, okay?

Push through that heel and up, and try to not use the chair to push yourself up.

Just there for balance, a little stabilization.

And switch legs.

Hips back, bend that knee, and up.

A few more.

You guys have done so good.

Let's finish this with some nice, deep breaths.

Shake it off.

Wow.

Stretch and take a break.

You've earned it.

That was a lot of reps, but that's what it takes.

And even if you couldn't do all the reps today, with consistency, you'll get all the way through that routine without stopping, and probably sooner than you'd expect because your body wants to be strong and it wants to keep moving.

So find this class again right here at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, where a little bit each day makes a huge difference in keeping you strong and doing all the things you love.

Until next time, 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.