Quick Fit with Cassy

- Welcome back to Quick Fit .

I'm Cassy Vieth.

Today's class is all about power.

What do I mean by that?

I mean being able to apply force with speed.

If you think of explosive movements like swinging a golf club or climbing stairs or getting up out of a deep seat, these movements require a quick burst of strength.

And if you feel like these movements have become less explosive in your life and you need more coaxing, then you'll find this class particularly useful.

So join me now as we burn calories and gain strength.

[upbeat music] All right, just start shifting your hips right and left.

Hopefully you have those shoes off because it's a great way for your feet to get exercise without directly, purposefully meaning to exercise just your feet.

Lift the knee, circle, other one, lift and circle.

Working on the hip flexors, those muscles that lift the leg.

All right.

[inhales] All right, just some loose cross the body kicks, really loose.

We're still just warming up, warming up the hips.

Start your breathing.

Nice and deep, take extra long inhales and extra long exhales.

Add the arms.

I know this is one of the most confusing parts for everybody, but just do your best.

I want you to twist the spine a little bit with the hands going one way and the legs going the other.

Nice, big rainbow.

All right, other way.

Add the kick, across.

Add the kick, across, nice and loose.

[exhales] Very good.

I know some of you are just like, "I'm never gonna get that."

But that's okay.

Just move.

And a few twists, feet in place.

See how far you can go with the heels down, stomach in, chest high, other way.

[inhales] Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Now I'll have you start lifting that heel so you don't tweak your knees.

Inhale, exhale, other way.

[inhales and exhales] Good, those feel really good.

Sit into that hip, all right.

That one that's towards the back.

Let's do the other way 'cause it felt so good.

Exhale.

[exhales] Very good, good job.

All right, now a couple more of these kicks, but I'd like you to purposefully throw the hands down.

So stomach in, good.

Ready, throw it down.

Inhale.

[inhales and exhales] So if you're mirroring me, this would be your right leg and you're throwing the hands to the right.

Stomach tight, throw it down.

A couple more, one more.

[inhales and exhales] So this is some of that explosion.

So now you're switching legs.

Left leg's gonna go that way.

And at the same time, the hands will go towards the left.

Ready, and stomach tight.

[inhales and exhales] Throw it down, throw it down, explode.

So it's an explosive take off and stop.

Okay, throw it.

[inhales and exhales] Last one, feet in place.

Bag toss: bag of dog food, bird seed, or if you live by us, big bags of salt.

Throw it over.

[inhales and exhales] Down and up, stomach in, down and up, a little bit more twist.

All right, catch your breath now.

[exhales] Add a couple more knee circles.

[exhales] Slow it down.

[inhales and exhales] One more.

All right, now into a wide lunge land.

Don't let that knee go past the toes.

All right, lift, circle, land.

And even if your step isn't very wide, still make sure, even if it's here, that you don't let that knee go past your toes.

All right, stop it.

A little wider.

Make those legs strong enough to stop you.

Let's do the other side.

All right, and land, circle and land.

Good job, hang in there.

All right, rock it forward, land, push off, land.

Now push the butt back so your knees don't get as far like mine just did, okay.

Push to the heel to move the hip back.

Rock it forward.

Good form, okay?

I don't want you to hurt yourself when you're trying to take care of yourself.

Always use good form.

That way, the right muscles are getting strengthened.

Let's go the other way, okay.

Kick across, land.

Push off, [inhales and exhales] land.

Push off.

[inhales] Good.

[exhales] Push off, or land and push off and land.

One more.

Good job, all right.

Next we will get into plis.

[inhales and exhales] Catch your breath while I explain.

A pli is just a wide squat.

We want the knees and the toes to go in the same direction.

Not everybody has the ability to do this.

So if you find your toes are wide and your knees are in, that's not good for your knees.

So move the toes in the same direction as the knees, feet are flat.

Some of you even have to have a much more forward.

That's okay.

We're still holding it here.

I know you're holding it.

Now we're going to explode up, okay.

First, start with knees as wide as you can make them.

Ready, and explode.

Very good.

Down, inhale, [exhales] and explode.

Good, down.

Ready, get ready, ready, ready, ready, up.

Good, and down.

Get everything tight, tight, tight, tight, and push.

Nice, down.

[inhales] Press.

All right, for the last one, now we'll do it slightly different.

I want you to pull with these muscles so fast as if you were going to lift your knees up and get your feet off the floor.

So it'll just look like this.

Drop it down.

Good, and up, ready?

So think about, I used the term pull as if you're pulling your knees up.

Ready, down and up.

And it might take a little while for you to actually figure out what I mean by that, because maybe your muscles and your brain aren't really connected to do this yet, but it just takes a few weeks of practice and then you'll be like, "Oh, I can feel those muscles."

All right, so now we're gonna hold it, one, two, three, and explode up.

You ready, up.

Pull it down.

Count to three, two, one, and up.

[inhales and exhales] Down, two, three, explode.

Very good, down.

So we want your legs to be stronger than your arms.

If you're pushing yourself off the couch with your arms instead of using your legs, this is one of those exercises that is really gonna help you to use all this muscle here.

All right, so now we're gonna rest just a moment.

Go back down into plis, single leg.

Push off, wide, wide leg, land, ready?

Push off, land, push off, land, whoops.

Stabilize and down, push off and land.

All right, other side, push off and land.

Even if you have toes forward, you know, more like this, it is gonna be awkward, but it doesn't matter.

As long as you're not hurting anything, using good form.

Push off, land, push off and land.

All right, hang on.

We're not quite done yet.

If you need to take a break, count to three and join us again.

All right, jump up and land.

That's a new one.

Up and land, just a little, teeny little move.

Not a huge impact, but it's quick.

And that's what we're looking for.

I hope you're breathing as heavy as I am.

Don't be embarrassed.

Don't hold your breath.

Few more, [exhales] all right, very good.

Shake that off.

All right, let's stretch the quads.

Just a few quick stretches, one and the other.

Not quite done yet, almost.

Sit it back back for a couple of hamstring stretches.

All right, bringing the heart rate down, and we're going to do just a little bit of hover squats.

So hips back, [exhales] arms up.

Very nice, hold it here.

Checking your form.

You don't want the knees forward, okay.

If your knees are forward, you're trying to sit up too much.

Push through the heels, behind back, shoulders come a little forward, arms up to keep your back up.

I know some people, when they can't get their butt down, they just drop the shoulders.

And that's not what we're after.

So by lifting the arms, good, and up.

One more, ready?

Down, two, three.

Check your form in the mirror if you're not quite sure what you look like.

Sometimes what we imagine and you know, what our bodies are doing are two different things.

One more, down.

[inhales and exhales] Lift those toes up.

Sometimes that helps you to get your weight back a little more.

All right, arms down and up.

Very, very good, catch your breath.

[inhales] A couple more, [exhales] final, final stretches, stretch your quads, stretch your hamstrings.

All right, I hope you had fun with today's class.

I know I had fun teaching it.

And truly, just a few minutes each day makes all the difference for you to enjoy a full and active life.

So if you want to live better, longer and keep doing all the things you love, then join me again tomorrow here at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, where it's my goal to keep you fit, strong, and pain-free.

Keep on moving.