Quick Fit with Cassy

- Hello hello, I'm Cassy Vieth, and you've just logged in for another Quick Fit class.

Thank you, because this is a compilation of my very favorite stretches for tight hips and pelvis area.

So grab a chair and we'll get started right away because the sooner we get started, the sooner you can move on with the rest of your wonderful day.

[upbeat music] First thing I'm gonna show you is I'm going to be using a yoga block to do this first exercise.

This exercise can be done just on the floor, but this really helps deepen the move and to understand it better.

You also can just use like the lower, the lowest step on a staircase if you have that.

But first, I'll show you what it is.

So I just stand up on here and then relax into this hip so that the height allows my other foot to have room, so I don't put any weight on it.

And so I can really concentrate on relaxing.

The first time you do this, you probably won't get much movement because you know, you're not used to consciously relaxing into this hip, but just give it a little time, don't rush it, okay?

And try not to lock out the knee and try not to bend the knee.

All right, let's switch sides.

All right, so relax, take your time.

[inhales and exhales] And then I'd like you to do a few lifts and lowers.

Exercising and working these muscles on the side of the hip.

Okay, lift and lower.

So it's a stretch as well as an exercise.

Great.

These really, really feel good.

All right, then scoot that aside.

And like I said, you can do that without the block.

Just kind of bend the knee, this knee and, you know, lift the hip and try to sink into the other.

Just takes a little practice.

Now for the next one, we'll use a chair just to rest the weight of your upper body, [inhales] but I'd like a nice square kind of, between your feet to hips, hips to shoulders, shoulders to hands.

Pull in your stomach to support your spine and then reach back with one leg, okay.

Now right away, your standing leg, you're probably getting a great deal of pulling in the back.

Let's relieve it by turning the hip, the toes towards the ceiling, [inhales] big inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Then try to see how far you can get with turning this hip towards the floor.

It really is, really is pulling now on the back of that standing leg, so do lots of breathing and do a few shallow reps before you try to go deeper, okay.

If this is the first time you've done this exercise, it'll really take a while for your standing leg to loosen up, but then, [inhales] it will.

[exhales] So just keep at it.

All right, let's switch legs.

Reach it back, stomach's in, supporting your upper body, and rotate and rotate.

Maybe you stop before it really pulls and lift it again, inhale, and then a deep exhale, long exhale, [exhales] deep inhale, extra long exhale to really help those muscles relax.

I love this one.

All right, very good.

Next, we'll be using the chair.

Once again, these are just all my favorite, favorite hip-loosening moves.

So let's turn sideways first off.

And, so if you're mirroring me, you'll just turn towards your right, have one leg on the side of the chair and just let your other knee dangle straight down from your hip, okay.

Get your toes under you and then open and drop, open and drop.

Now, the only trick to this one is don't let this hip move.

In other words, don't turn it with the knee and the leg.

Okay, leave it here, and if you don't get much movement, so be it.

But the move requires you to keep this hip in place so that you get movement in the joint, okay.

It's not a spine move, it's a hip move.

Okay, open and then just hold it briefly.

[inhales] Good.

Open, hold it briefly.

Good, now let's lift that whole leg, straight out to the side, just hang on to your chair back.

In fact, you can even turn your shoulders to look at the chair back.

In fact, I prefer that you do that because this will prevent you opening that hip and prevent the quadriceps from cheating 'cause they wanna cheat, you know.

This leg wants to lift like this and I want you to use these weak hip muscles here.

All right, lift and hold.

Lift, lift, lift, lift, and lower.

[exhales] All right, extend that leg out to the side.

First thing we're going to do is we're gonna press that foot down into the floor.

Whole leg down, press, press, press, turning, face the chair back and try to lift that leg and down.

Did you get a charley horse?

That's common.

So just put the leg down, relax, shake it out, and try it again.

I understand when you get weak muscles or underused muscles, the first time, they kind of rebel.

So to try to just relax, or you can bend the knee so it's not quite so much weight, okay.

Condition them with the knee bent before you go with the straight leg.

All right, let's switch and do the other side, okay.

Arm around the chair back, let that dangle for a minute.

In fact, you can just really let gravity pull it down.

This is a very nice stretch.

Toe under and pivot, good.

Sitting up tall, what are you doing with your upper back?

Are you slouching or are you making your back muscles work?

Let's have a nice, pretty posture.

Try not to push the head forward, have it up over your shoulders.

Open and hold, down and open, down and open.

Very good.

All right, turn, put two hands on the chair back.

Make that side of your hip do the work.

Every once in a while, you might actually wanna look and see what's happening, but I know all too well the temptation to just sit on your behind and lift the leg up this way, but don't do it.

If you want this to get stronger, you have to use this muscle.

So lift.

And we gotta find ways to prevent your quads from cheating.

So don't look at that leg.

Lift, lift, lift, lift and hold, pull your stomach in.

You can pull on the chair to help you sit up taller.

Lift, hold, and relax, good job.

All right, extend that leg, if you're pretty good at doing this, then extend this leg and then press it down into the floor.

And then you'll be able to lift a long leg, but if you're kind of new to this, you'll wanna bend the leg again.

All right, turn, and either lift a bent leg or a straight leg.

I don't want you to get a charley horse.

Lift, lift, lift, hold, two, three, and down.

Super job, okay.

Forward, face forward in your seat and lift your knee and stretch your back.

All right, figure four.

This can be done with your foot right under your knee, or you can extend your leg so that it's not quite so hard to get your ankle crossed, and then push it open.

I know some of you are super tight through your hips and this is hard for you to do, but I promise you, with consistency, it will get easier.

I've seen people get looser in my classes that are consistent.

All right, cross it, [inhales] exhale.

Then pull that knee across.

The idea is to get it past center.

Enjoy this stretch.

Try not to let the hip come up.

Try to sit down on both of your sit bones.

Okay.

You can even take a moment and turn your head, let's work the neck a little bit.

[inhales and exhales] Inhale, exhale.

You can feel things loosening up.

Nice work.

Other side, lift, using the leverage of holding your leg to lengthen through your spine.

Good.

Cross the ankle over your knee.

Of course, you can extend or modify however you need to, and the idea is to open the knee.

Good, inhale, [inhales] exhale, and a little gentle press down.

Very good, feels good deep, deep in here.

Bring it up and pull across.

Just enjoy it.

[inhales] Deep breaths in and long exhales.

[exhales] And work that neck, don't rush it.

[inhales and exhales] Once again, check to see that both of your sit bones are touching the chair.

Very nice.

All right.

Now, let's just go down to the floor, okay.

We'll be sitting on our behind and then rolling down to your back with your knees bent.

Okay, so, all right, so just roll it back.

[exhales] Very nice, okay.

So with your knees together, arms wide, let's let those legs fall to the side and just enjoy this.

[inhales and exhales] Good, don't rush.

You can use the weight of your hand on your leg to add little more stretch in through here, trying to relax the, relax through the back.

And switch sides, [inhales] big inhale [clearing throat] and exhale.

[exhales] Very good.

Take your time.

And then two feet up, plus your knees are up, and we're gonna drop one knee in, letting gravity pull it down and lift.

And I'm pretty flexible, so my knees can fall pretty far, but if you move a little and your hips just move, that's as far as you should go.

So don't let your hips move.

We don't wanna turn through your spine per se, we wanna work through the hip area.

Good, one more time each way, drop one in with a little push.

Very good, all right, so good.

That is so much better, isn't it, than when we first started?

That's really just like eight moves that you can do most anywhere, whenever you need a bit of relief.

So watch them again, anytime or share with a friend.

Tell them to go to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit because you care about them and you want them to feel great too.

See you next time.