Quick Fit with Cassy

- Welcome to Quick Fit , your place for simple, gentle movement to help you live better, longer.

[sighing] The abs.

Everyone's problem zone, right?

Well today, we'll be addressing them with moves that will really help you reconnect with them from top to bottom.

Activating the lower abdominal muscles so that your entire abdominal wall will be stronger, enabling you to progress with more difficult moves later on.

Let's get started.

[upbeat music] All right, so just sitting up with your knees bent.

All right, we're gonna start nice and tall.

And then I want you to squeeze your bottom.

Tuck that tailbone under.

Exhale and roll it back as far as you can control.

And right back up.

[inhales] Pull it up, stretch, long, long, long, pull in your belly.

Exhale.

[exhales] Rolling it back.

Rolling it back, roll, roll, roll, until you think you might lose it, pull in the belly.

Sit up, very good, inhale.

[inhales] One more time, exhale.

[exhales] Squeeze your bottom so it tucks your tailbone under and you can recruit more of your abs.

Rolling back as far as you can before you think you might not get back up.

And come up.

Good job.

All right, one more time.

Roll it back.

Hold it, hold it, hold it.

One, two.

Maybe you can go back a little more, three, and up.

All right, we're gonna do that a few more times.

Roll it back.

[exhales] Squeeze the belly in.

Squeeze the hind end to tuck the tailbone.

Hold it wherever you think you can.

Maybe you can go back another half an inch.

And up, good job.

I know you're starting to feel them already.

Exhale.

[exhales] Roll back.

Now, if you can't get your torso back past vertical without just falling back, then you might want to arrange to have a band and wrap it into a doorway or on a really heavy piece of furniture, something so that you can assist yourself to pull back up.

You have to start somewhere.

That would, that's a way that I use with my clients.

So one more time, hold it back.

All right, now I'd like you to twist.

Twist.

Now remember, the idea is to have your shoulders back a little bit.

Leaning back past vertical.

Twist, nice and slow.

Reach, inhale, exhale, reach.

You can always add a couple of soup cans if you want to add a little weight.

And up, let's stretch it out.

Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] One more time, roll it back.

Roll it back and hold.

So there's not a lot of action happening on the outside, but you're pulling your stomach in, conditioning your muscles, making them stronger.

Keep twisting and twisting.

Very good, all right, one more time.

We'll stretch.

We'll change it up just a little bit.

Big inhale, and you'll exhale as much of the air out as you can.

[exhales] A leg, extend it.

Now, if you don't feel like you can roll back at all, you could hang on to this leg.

Make sure you're pulling your belly in.

The tailbone is tucked under.

Give it a little extra squeeze.

Bring the knee in.

[inhales and exhales] Extend.

Bring the knee in.

[exhales] Extend.

Hold it here, hold it here.

And up and down and up.

Squeeze your hind end as you extend that leg, pulling everything in and up.

Good job.

Not done yet.

Still have the other leg to do.

All right, here we go.

Squeeze your hind end.

Tuck that tailbone under.

Extend that leg, hold it here.

Pull in the belly.

Keep exhaling.

Knee in, extend.

Knee in, it's a little break, extend.

[inhales and exhales] Don't forget to breathe as heavy as you need to.

You need oxygen for these muscles as they work.

Keep pulling it in.

Last one, two, three, and good work.

All right, sit up nice and tall.

Have a chair without any arms on it.

Or you could even use a couch.

So all we're going to do is put our heels up onto the seat; chair, your couch, doesn't matter.

But align yourself so that your hips are under your knees.

Now, even though our heels are on the seat, we actually aren't going to be pressing the heels into the seat.

What I'd like you to do is squeeze your hind end so that your low back presses into the floor.

Now from here, we're holding, pulling in the abs, and your tailbone is slightly tipped up.

Now push down on your abdominals that are right between your hip bones.

So these are the lower abs that we want to activate.

And this is the first step.

All right, release.

Big inhale, exhale, and squeeze your hind end.

Plaster the low back into the floor and then press on these low abs.

You can feel that they're starting to get a little engaged or they're very engaged if you've been doing abs, ab work frequently.

But if you're new, it'll take a little while to find them, but it really helps to push on these muscles at the same time that you're pressing your back into the floor.

And even though I'm not doing reps, I am squeezing the muscles.

This is just a hold.

All right, and relax.

All right, next exercise is the same thing, but we're going to take a leg and put it in the air, and now, same move.

Tuck that tailbone under, pull your belly button in.

Press and make sure those lower abs are engaged.

Good, now make sure you're not pushing down hard into the seat.

Relax.

And again.

[exhales] Tuck the tailbone under.

Curl that pelvis, activating those low abs.

And down, all right.

All right, now we're not going to switch legs.

We're going to do two legs in the air, but it's the same thing.

Press that low back hard down into the floor.

Very tiny move, and relax.

So if you don't feel like you did it right, squeeze your hind end.

You'll feel that pelvis tip up, your low abs are engaged.

Check it out with your fingers, press.

You can push on them at the same time.

And that gives them a little bit of leverage, something to push against.

And relax.

[inhales] All right, so we're not throwing our legs, but I would like you to do some reps. You just tuck that tailbone and relax.

Press that back into the floor and relax.

And push on those low abs and relax.

Very good.

So that is the beginning of waking up those lower abdominals.

Now, hands out to your sides, bend your knees, okay.

And don't kick the chair.

Let's control it.

Drop the legs to one side, lift the hips on your way over.

It's the same movement.

You want to press your back into the floor to lift those hips.

Good, keep it going.

Okay, inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Very good, few more.

These are called windshield wipers, but I like that little extra lift of the hips on the way over.

And we're not throwing the legs.

It's a controlled move that you do by pressing the back into the floor.

All right, very good.

All right, rolling on up.

We're gonna get the chair out of the way and for this next move, we're going to be on our side, and a pillow might just make it a little bit more comfortable for your hip.

Not a thick pillow, as you can see.

All right, so lay on your side, stretch out.

Get as comfortable as you can and then lift.

So now we're working the obliques.

Keeping the feet off the floor, and down.

Lift and down.

Lift.

Do a whole bunch of these.

Lift, lift.

Five, six, seven, eight, and hold.

Stomach in, and switch sides.

Good job.

All right, swing it around.

Same thing.

The pillow kind of helps.

It gives you a little elevation so you can get those legs off the floor.

Stomach in, and press that elbow into the floor for a nice, long neck, and down, lift.

[inhales and exhales] Don't forget to breathe.

Keep it going.

Lift, lift, lift, and hold.

Push that elbow into the floor.

Feel these engage.

Stomach's in.

Long neck, make it pretty.

Very good, okay.

You can remove the pillow and roll over onto your back.

All right, we're going to do some bridges.

So start with your feet just a little bit, your heels a little bit forward of your knees and press your heels into the floor to lift the hips.

Try to get them in line between your shoulders and your knees.

Very good, all right.

Let's walk those feet out a little further.

You can feel it in different spots in your hamstrings.

Okay, walk it out a little further and walk it in.

Keep pushing up.

Walk it out.

Keep pushing.

Woo, walk it in.

Really, really feel it in your hamstrings.

If you feel like you're getting a charley horse, just, you know, put your hips down or pull your knee in.

It's common.

All right, hips up.

Walk it out.

Hips are staying up in the air, feet back in.

Walk it out.

Feet back in.

Very good.

All right, come on down and roll on over.

Do a few cobras before we finish.

All right, so you can push against the floor.

You can assist yourself if you need to or just no assistance, and get two hands back by your hips.

[exhales] Okay, so we have to work the abs, but we have to work the back side of the abs, which is right there.

It's all sandwiched together.

It's all one.

So strong back, strong core, strong abs, that all works together.

[inhales and exhales] And rest, take a few breaths.

And one more time, hands to the back, and now hands to the front.

Do a couple of Supermans.

Lift those heels.

Paddle those legs and arms.

If your breathing's coming faster, that's okay.

Go with it.

Deep breaths, [inhales and exhales] and finished.

So good, all right.

I hope you found your lower abdominals today, but even if you're not quite sure, relax.

Give this class a few more go-throughs over the next week or so.

And you'll find it easier as you become more aware of those muscles.

You'll probably have soreness too, in spots you haven't felt in years.

And that is a good thing because it'll help you recruit and engage those muscles, confirming that you're doing the movements correctly.

Find this class and more like it here at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit.

And do me a favor, please, and share this class with a friend.

So they too can keep doing all the things they love.

Enjoy the rest of your day.