Quick Fit with Cassy

- Long workdays at your desk can leave you sluggish and exhausted.

I'm Cassy Vieth.

Let me encourage you to take a break and join me now for this refreshing Quick Fit class to counter all that sitting and forward head posture so you can end your workday with energy left over to enjoy your evening.

[gentle music] We'll be making use of your chair and desk, so make some room and scoot your chair back a bit.

All right, reach your arms up nice and tall, lengthen through your spine.

Big inhale.

[inhales] Go ahead and arch that spine, hands behind the head, [exhales] elbows back.

And if you chair's the right height, make use of it to really round that upper back.

Feels so good.

All right.

Place your fingers on your desk.

And let's just stretch those fingers and wrists, right there on the edge of the desk.

Okay, big inhale, [inhales] press the fingers down.

Work across your pinky, little finger, pointers, and thumbs.

Taking your time, stretching through the wrists as well.

Okay, press 'em down, elbows nice and straight.

Big inhale.

[inhales] Exhale anytime you stretch.

All right, use one hand to stretch the other.

I just have my thumb right under my wrist, using my fingers to press down at the back of the hand.

Notice my elbow is nice and straight to really lengthen all of these muscles in the forearm.

And we'll do the other hand.

So get your thumb right there at your bend in your wrist and press that hand down.

[inhales] Big inhale and then exhale.

[exhales] Feels really good to kind of counteract all of that wrist motion that we do with our keyboards and our mouse.

All right, some fists, do some nice, big fist circles.

Take your time.

Okay, go the other way.

Really press them down and up.

All right, reach across the front of your desk, we're going to stretch your biceps.

Make sure you fully extend as far as you can through that elbow.

Okay, and... Reach further, further, further with those fingertips, twist through the shoulders and twist the head away.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] And the other side.

I think the biceps are kind of neglected.

We forget that they get tight and they have an effect on your wrists and your shoulders.

All right, reaching further along your desk, opening up the shoulder joint, twisting away through the shoulders and the neck.

Feels so good.

All right, look at that elbow, is it stretched completely?

If not, work on it a little longer.

Very good, all right.

Now, place your elbow right out from your shoulder on the edge of your desk, and then adjust in your seat so that you can lean your torso forward, stretching through the front of the chest and the front of the shoulder.

Our forward body position all day long allows those muscles in your chest and your shoulders to shorten, and then that just contributes to pulling you over in that forward rounded position even more.

Okay, now let's move that arm up about an inch or so and sink down into it again.

[exhales] Move the arm forward a little more, finding those tight spots on your shoulder.

Big inhale, exhale.

Let gravity pull your torso over and look the other way.

Feels so good through that neck.

All right, and we'll go the other direction.

Okay.

All right, adjust yourself so you're not too close to your chair.

All right.

Arm's on the edge of the desk.

And you can sink down with that shoulder in line with the elbow.

Let gravity pull you down and looking the opposite way.

Take some of the pressure off with a big inhale, [inhales] exhale, [exhales] walk that arm a little higher.

And one more time, inhale.

Adjust your arm to a new position and blow.

[exhales] That feels really good.

All right, come out of that and face the desk and get that elbow, okay, the flat part of your elbow on the edge of the desk and scoot back so that you can get your head down, hopefully right in front of the desk, stretching that lat.

So your lats come up in the back of your armpit and attach to the high part of your arm and that contributes to pulling you forward as well.

So we're stretching those lats.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale, [exhales] lengthening through the back, opening the armpit.

Let's switch to the other side.

Okay, let that hand go behind the head and exhale when it starts to get tight.

You pause, take another breath in, and exhale.

[exhales] Hopefully you can get your head down right in front of the desk.

Depending on how tight you are, of course, that really, really feels good for the triceps and the lats.

All right, so now if you've got room here or you don't, make a little room.

I'd like you to reach across your desk and stretch that upper back.

Scoot back a little bit, make a little bit more room.

Hands and wrists are on your desk, and open those knees so your body can stretch down a little deeper.

This is really good for that upper back that gets over-rounded all day long and for those shoulders that are in a forward rounded position.

Feels so much better.

Okay.

Let's bring your chair a little bit closer and I'd like you to twist in your seat with your feet in place.

Have your feet flat on the floor in front of you so you have a nice, three-point base, and you can grab your desk and your chair for a little leverage.

Inhale, exhale, twisting, keeping those knees wide, lengthening through the spine.

Good.

A nice, tall spine twists easier than a rounded spine.

Okay, so grab your chair [inhales and exhales] and lift through the upper, upper spine, pulling on the desk and the chair.

All right, extend that leg back, opening up the hip flexors, trying your best to get that knee completely open.

Maybe you have to go a little bit to the side.

[inhales] All right, and extend through the spine.

Find your toes behind you and stand up just a little bit, push those hips forward.

Good, let's do that leg extension on the other side.

So twist one more time in your seat, legs nice and wide, lengthen through the spine.

Twist a little more until you can get that leg completely stretched out.

Enjoy that hip stretch.

And then find your toes and push up.

That just feels real good.

All right, coming back out of that, I'd like you to be half on, half off the seat and let that hip fall forward off the front edge of your seat.

Reach that arm up over your ear and exhale.

Turn the neck, looking at the seat.

Get that arm right over the ear.

Halfway out, inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] You should feel a nice stretch from your elbow practically down to your knee.

Good job.

Let's turn and do the other side.

All right, halfway on, halfway off.

Let gravity pull that hip down [inhales] and lean towards the chair back, elbow over the ear, looking at the seat.

Halfway out, inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Nice job, all right, let's stand up.

And I'd like to stretch your IT bands.

So let's put your left leg over your right if you're mirroring me, hands on the desk, and then left, this would be your right shoulder.

Lift that right shoulder up to begin with.

It's a nice stretch all the way down the side.

So push into the desk, right shoulder up, and then we'll switch legs.

All right, cross right over left and lift the left shoulder.

[inhales] Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Feels so good.

Sink into it, don't rush it.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale.

Very good.

Now let's use the top of your desk.

Make a little bit more room, and I'm gonna turn slightly away from the desk so we can ease into this one.

So I'd like you to try to get your hip up on top of the desk, make sure you have room, that the desk isn't gonna be tippy, and then gradually start getting the leg up higher.

Okay, you can hang on to the ankle and try to press that knee down into the top of the desk.

If you're flexible or taller, it'll be a little easier to get more of your leg up on top of the desk.

And I'm actually gonna pull from underneath the desk and lean slightly forward.

This is a great stretch for that hip.

[inhales] Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] And try not to move your shoulders and the top of your head towards your knee, let's try to move from the hips.

Okay, pull.

So you probably won't get that much movement, but it will feel really, really good.

Let's do the other side.

So turn, so at first it's just your behind and your knee coming up.

Grab that ankle, breathing in and out.

[exhales] Working more and more of your leg up on top of the desk as you loosen up.

Grab from the bottom of the desk and then press forward as if you could push your ribs towards your thigh.

All right, exhale.

[exhales] That's one of my favorite ones.

All right, let's use your chair now.

All right, and we'll stretch your hamstrings, let's get that heel up on top of the desk and rotate that foot across your body.

So if you have your right leg up, turn your toes towards the center of your body.

And now twist.

Exhale.

[exhales] Keep rotating that foot, don't let the foot point, keep it flexed, feeling the stretch through the outside of your hamstrings.

Very good.

All right, let's stretch the calves.

So put your foot flat on top of the seat and just move that knee towards the toes, but keep the heel down.

You can put some of the weight on the desk and the back of the chair, but keep pressing the heel down.

Take some of the pressure off, inhale [inhales] and exhale.

You see how we're reducing this angle between your shin and the top of your foot.

Very good.

Okay, arms up over your head.

We're going to stretch some very deep core muscles that are attached to your spine and your pelvis.

Don't have to move very far.

[inhales and exhales] Brace, contract through your abs to support the spine as you do that move.

Good, let's switch legs.

All right, so if you're mirroring me, this is your left leg.

Now rotate your toes, cross your body, and twist.

It's tight, so I'm gonna pause, inhale, exhale.

[exhales] And that breathing really helps things to loosen up.

You get a few more centimeters out of that twist.

Stretch the calves now, foot is flat on the middle of your seat, and just shift your knee over your toes, keeping that heel down.

Partway out, inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Keep the heel down.

Very good, arms up over the head.

[inhales] One more deep, deep muscle stretch for those core muscles.

Okay.

And over, very good.

All right, let's position yourself now between your chair and your desk.

Let's get that left shin and foot on the top of your desk.

Okay.

I would like you to actively press that foot down into the chair, squeeze your behind, press those hips forward.

You will feel a deep, deep stretch, clear down to the knee.

We're getting your hip flexors, your quads all the way down.

Very good.

[exhales] Let's do the other side, okay.

Big inhale and press the foot into the seat, squeeze your behind, and hips forward.

Exhale.

[exhales] Okay, pressure off, inhale and exhale.

Do it all again.

Foot into the seat, behind tight, hips forward.

Wonderful, wonderful, that feels so much better.

All right, move your chair aside for our final couple stretches.

Nice, wide legs and let's just sit into the left foot with a little twist, [exhales] really feeling it in those inner thighs.

And the other way, put all your weight on your right leg, extend the left, [inhales] exhale, twist through that torso, and enjoy it.

Almost finished.

All right, come up and we'll twist.

Let that heel come up, make it comfortable for your knees.

And the other way.

[inhales] And exhale.

[exhales] Feels so good, so good.

And that's it.

I hope that helps, and you make time to repeat this each day, and maybe even twice a day, or whenever you find yourself sitting for more than two hours at a time.

Just log back in to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, where together, we'll take action to care for yourself with these simple daily routines.

Remember, life is movement, so 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.