Quick Fit with Cassy

- Thank you for joining me for another Quick Fit class.

I'm Cassy, and in today's class, we'll be stretching the muscles down the back side of our body.

And because they're all connected, they're referred to as the posterior chain.

Grab a sturdy chair, remove your shoes, and we'll get started.

[upbeat music] Movement promotes healing because it causes blood to flow to the injured muscles, carrying in nutrients for healing and carrying away waste.

So the question is how to move when you hurt?

The key is to not use force.

Move very half-hearted and lazy-like.

We'll be starting with the muscles of the neck.

I'd like you to put your left arm behind your back.

Take a nice, big inhale [inhales] and turn your face to the right.

Very good, check your posture.

Stomach's in, hips are over the center of your feet, not pushed forward.

Let's do three nods.

Short and gentle, nothing fast.

Nice breathing, not holding your breath.

And now I'd like you to turn your face towards the ceiling.

[inhales and exhales] Inhale, exhale, relax through the shoulder, and then a nice, big inhale as we shift the chin down towards the shoulder.

[exhales] Now if it feels like you're very close to your neck locking up or contracting, just take some of the pressure off.

Take a big inhale [inhales] and exhale.

[exhales] Very good.

Slowly, we'll lift the chin and we'll switch sides.

Right arm behind your back and inhale as you turn your face, hopefully in line with your other shoulder and three nods.

[inhales] Don't forget to breathe.

Stomach's pulled in, and then lift the chin, looking at the ceiling.

[inhales and exhales] Try not to lean over.

I can tell I just did.

Just lift the chin.

And now let's drop the chin, see how far you can go.

The arm that's bent, try to relax that shoulder.

Inhale [inhales] and exhale.

See if you get a little more movement in the neck.

[exhales] Real good.

Moving slowly, let's come out of that and face forward, very good.

Left arm up.

Let's extend through the shoulder.

Try to poke a hole in the ceiling and then try to move your whole arm towards your backside.

Even if your arm isn't as high as mine is, think about movements that go towards your back.

Very good, other side, lift.

Extend through the shoulder, circles.

Now don't arch your back to try to compensate for tight shoulders.

Stomach's in, try to get the movement through the shoulder joint.

Good job, all right.

Left leg back.

Squeeze your hind end.

Lift the same side arm and rotate.

[exhales] The tensor fasciae latae is this big muscle that runs down from your hip all the way to your knee.

Okay, other side.

Straighten that knee.

Squeeze your hind end.

[inhales and exhales] Right arm up.

Get your balance.

You might need to widen your feet a little bit and then twist through the torso, [exhales] and come out of that.

Good job.

[inhales] All right, grab your chair.

We're going to work on the hamstrings and the adductor muscles.

So the adductor muscles are your inner thigh muscles.

And first thing I'd like you to do is do a nice, deep lunge over the top of the chair.

Now, take care that you're not way over the front side of your chair, all right?

We're just allowing the hips to come straight down.

Foot flat on the seat, moving that knee away.

Very good.

Now as you come out, adjust your feet so that you can bend both your knees slightly.

Okay, little tuck.

[inhales] Whole spine, tucking your chin, tucking your pelvis under, and then an arch.

As you do this, you will feel your hamstrings engage.

Right when they start to be tight, just pause.

Take a deep inhale.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Just hold it gently or slightly move in and out of it.

Very good.

[exhales] Terrific, let's switch sides.

All right, right leg up.

Slight bend to your knees.

They allow more work to occur in the pelvis, so we'll arch.

[inhales] Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Again, inhale.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Maybe you can reach a little further down your leg.

Arch that spine.

[inhales] Exhale and hold.

[exhales] All right, also the hamstrings.

[exhales] Let's work on that adductor muscle again, the inner thigh.

You'll have to hop that leg back, all right?

And then straight down, not over the front of the seat.

Inhale.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Keep your foot flat on the seat, but try to move the knee away for a little deeper stretch.

Might need to toe out a little bit.

It feels so good.

All right, calves are next.

Turn your seat.

We're going to use the back just to kinda press against it.

Draw your right leg back and press that heel into the floor.

Very good, all right, this is a little tricky move here to get the two main calf muscles stretched.

Press into the seat, and then I'd like you to swing your front leg.

This allows a little bit of movement to occur in the knee and in the heel.

Those connection points of those calf muscles.

Okay, now because one of those calf muscles crosses the back of the knee, adjust your back foot so you can get a little bend.

All right, stomach's in as you do the move.

All right, switching legs, okay?

Inhale, good opportunity to inhale and exhale big.

Press that heel down.

Enjoy that stretch.

[inhales and exhales] Stomach's in, press into the seat, lift the leg and swing.

Few more.

Foot down, adjust that back leg so you can get a slight bend in that back knee.

[exhales] Brace yourself on the chair, stomach in, swing the leg.

Five, four, three, two, and done.

We'll be going down to the floor.

So now would be a good time to grab some blocks and a band.

Okay, once we're down on the floor here, I'd like to stretch your lats.

So your lats are these huge muscles all down your back, attaching in the hip area and actually up behind your arm.

Okay, a little bit of space between you and the seat.

I'd like you to stretch your arm over the top of the chair.

Just grab on with your fingers and then try to relax through the shoulder, sitting the hips back.

Good.

Come partially up, open those knees, move your hand across towards the back of the seat and then shift your hips in the opposite direction.

Good, come out of that.

Switching arms, reach across, hook your fingers around the edge of the chair [inhales] and sit it back, trying your best to actively relax through the shoulder.

Come up, walk those fingers across more towards the front of the seat, open your knees so you can shift your weight to the left, your hands to the right.

Stretching that long lat muscle.

So when these lats are more flexible, you can bring your arms back better.

Okay, hip flexors are next.

So you've got the chair next to you.

If you're mirroring me, you've got the chair on your right side.

Your leg that's closest to the chair.

Let's lift that up, okay?

I'd like you to squeeze your bottom and a slight shift forward.

Very good.

Arm up.

[inhales and exhales] Slight shift forward again, leaning over the ear.

Hands on your hip.

So move that foot a little bit towards the chair and shift.

Very good.

And actually, if you move your foot a little bit towards the outside of your body and try that again, it'll feel slightly different.

All right, let's do the other leg.

Move that seat towards your other side.

That's part of the workout, moving your chair.

And the leg closest to the chair, I'd like you to pick that one up.

Squeeze your hind end, arm up.

[inhales and exhales] Slight shift forward through your hips and then exhale.

[exhales] Lean towards the chair.

Good, come out.

We'll do that again.

Squeeze your behind and shift slightly forward.

Let's put your hand on your hip and I'd like you to move that foot towards the chair without moving the knee, squeeze your behind, and shift forward.

And then move that foot away from your center of your body, wait, towards the outside of your body, and shift forward just a little bit.

If it bothers your knee, just skip it.

Next, we're going to be sitting on the floor, so this is a good time to use those blocks.

So if when you sit on the floor, you're very uncomfortable and you cannot straighten your spine like this, blocks are the perfect tool.

So you can take two of them if your blocks are like this, and put them side-by-side to give you a little height.

So hopefully now, you can straighten up through the spine.

Extend your leg, let's say, extend your left leg.

Cross, pull, [inhales] and twist to your right.

[exhales] Good job.

Enjoy that stretch down into your hip, and we'll switch legs.

Extend your right, cross your left.

Reach.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] And just enjoy it.

This is the one that's getting the stretch.

All right, come on off the blocks and we can lay on the floor.

Have a band handy 'cause we're going to be doing your hamstrings.

Roll it back.

Right leg, let's bend that knee, flex that foot, and reach to the ceiling.

A few active stretches of the hamstring.

Lots of breathing.

[inhales and exhales] And extend and hold.

So now's a good time to grab that band.

Wrap it around that foot, ready?

[inhales] Press the foot into the band.

You can bend if you need to take some of the pressure off.

Big inhale and exhale.

[exhales] Good, a little bend, big inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Very nice.

All right, as you bend that knee now, I'd like you to let it fall with gravity across your body.

[exhales] Extend through that leg now and enjoy the stretch.

All right, let's switch legs.

Okay, bring that leg up.

Flex that foot, press it to the ceiling.

Bend it, press to the ceiling.

And bend, [inhales] press and hold, grab your band, [exhales] and actively press that foot into the band.

[exhales] Take some of the pressure off, inhale.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] And if you're not quite vertical, that's okay.

Work within your limits.

Need to enjoy this so that you'll come back and do it again.

[inhales and exhales] Very good.

All right, release that.

Let's bring that bent leg across your body now.

Hold.

[inhales and exhales] Very good, and then extend and let gravity pull it over and look the other way.

[exhales] Terrific, that one feels so good.

All right, hands behind your leg.

Let's kick it up to a sitting position.

[inhales and exhales] Excellent.

These classes are all about rebalancing the muscles of your body, bringing them back to their proper length and tension ratios.

And because muscles are so interconnected, a class such as this that you perform daily is the best plan to make sure you're caring for your entire body.

Just log in again at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit for the widest range of stretches and strengthening moves so you can feel better naturally.

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 Funds for Wisconsin Programming, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.