Quick Fit with Cassy

This is Quick Fit, and I'm your host, Cassy Vieth. Have you been told you need to strengthen your core? Usually that's because you're experiencing back pain. Your spine needs balanced support from the muscles all the way around your torso so you can perform movements that require you to lean away from the center of your body or pick up and carry objects. In today's class, we'll focus on the abdominal wall muscles because it's so easy to just let them hang out. Let's work together to tone and condition them.

upbeat music

Okay, I hope you have a chair handy for today's class. It's just a really great tool. So don't let the chair change your mind about taking the class. We'll start seated forward in your seat. Have your feet slightly in front of you so you have this nice, three-point base. Hands on your hips, and we'll start with the cat and cow. Just like in yoga, you can do it seated instead of kneeling on the floor.

inhales

All right, so it's just a series of rounding your spine, elbows forward, head relaxing, sitting up and arching.

exhales

And remember, if you have a history of back pain, you won't want to use any force throughout these classes. You're just going to want to move very, very relaxed with no force at all. All right, just do a few circles right from the chair. Okay, so not just your shoulders moving. Let's move all the way from your seats, stomach in

inhales

and around. Good, and the other way, okay, around. All right, nice, wide arms and we'll go into a nice twist. We'll just stay seated for the first couple and then you can move through your hips. So, all right. I usually tell people you're not glued to the chair, but the first couple we weren't moving through the hips, so. All right, all right, so have your legs still nice and wide. We're sitting forward on the seat and we'll reach down with one arm, the elbow coming up on the other side. Okay, lift and over, inhale,

inhales

exhale. Even letting your head drop down to one side, stretching the neck. All right, one more each side. These feel really good. You might even find you're a little sore tomorrow because we never go around stretching our ribs. So let's lift the arms nice and wide. If you do find yourself sore tomorrow, you know what the cure is? Coming back tomorrow and doing one of these classes because it is the movement that moves out stiffness and soreness, all right? These nice, wide leans are activating your sides.

inhales and exhales

Stretch it a little further. One more, stretch a little further. Good job, all right, let's lean back just a little bit while you sit forward in your seat and then you can lean back and put your hands on the back of the chair, and then you'll lift your knees, pull in your abs, and press down towards the floor. Okay, lift and press, lift, press, lift, and press.

inhales and exhales

Lift, lift, and lift, other side, lift and press. Feel your stomach pulling in, using that leverage,

inhales and exhales

press, press. Good job, we'll do the other side again for about five, four. Now use your other foot as well, I'm pressing that into the floor. Good, one more, lift, press, press, press, and press. All right, hands on your hips, sit back a little bit, and stretch. In fact, just grab your knees and arch and stretch it over with a little twist, and up, stretching over with a little twist. All right, that feels good. Sit forward again and just let your leg fall to the side. We're gonna tie that string around your ankle, and imagine you're pulling up right from the ankle and so the knee is going out to the side, lift, lift, lift,

inhales and exhales

use your stomach.

exhales

Okay, kind of suck it in, roll back slightly to help pull the leg up and hold. Okay, lift, two, three from this high position and relax, stretch. And the other leg, okay. Let the leg fall sideways, imaginary string around your ankle and pull, keeping that knee out to the side. Lift, lift, lift. Keep going. Stomach's pulled in, don't forget. Hold it up and lift, two, three, four, nice and high, and down. Good job, sit back a little bit. We'll arch and round, good, one more time, arch. All right, sink forward now. We're going to just reach back and up. Reach back a little lower,

inhales and exhales

reach and up. Make sure you're sitting quite a bit on the front edge of your seat so you have room behind you. We are not leaning on the chair back. If you find yourself hitting the back of your chair, then just turn sideways in your seat. Okay, let's do the other side,

inhales

sit up and then reach back, pull in the belly, sit up and reach back. Good, couple more. And maybe just a couple more. Make sure everything's equal on one side and the other. Squeeze your bottom, pull in your belly, right at the same time like a sandwich. Belly in, squeeze your butt, reach. Let's go over to the other side one more time. Maybe this time you can get a little lower, sit forward, lean it back, good, aim for the floor. Right where the chair leg meets the floor. Good job. Stretch it out, arch your back, lean over. All right, let's turn it sideways in your seat. All right, same sort of thing, we're gonna tuck the tailbone under, pull in the belly to support, and start leaning back. Okay, let's lift that leg and reach, reach, reach, stomach's in. If you're a little leery of maybe falling out of the chair, you know, the chair back, you can just hang on to it. Good, and up and arch. All right, lift up the other leg. This time, we'll lean back. Tuck the tailbone, about that position where you think you might fall back, just stop and lean forward. You wanna keep this controlled, lean back and lift, lean back. Hopefully you're leaning back a little bit more than vertical. We want to challenge the abdominal muscles.

short exhales

blow, blow, check to make sure you're pulling your belly in and not pushing it out. All right, and up, good job, let's stretch it out. Arch that back and lean real good. Do the other side. If these are hard today, don't be discouraged. Just know that you're going to grow and get stronger with consistency. Right, we'll lean it back. Stomach in, squeeze the hind end, lift the leg.

inhales and exhales

Good, reach it back, reach it back. Keep checking to make sure you're pulling in those abs. Reach,

inhales and exhales

reach, reach. All right, and sit it up and lean it back, leg up, reach and blow.

short exhales

Pull the belly in and blow. A few more. And sit up and stretch one more time. All right, so let's do the vacuum hold. It is one of the best moves to just condition these deep abdominal muscles. So you'll sit all the way back in your chair and for one of the rare times, I'll tell you to actually lean against the chair back. You wanna squeeze your bottom and pull in your belly, pressing your back into the chair with some force. Have your feet on the floor and just hold it. Little exhales,

exhales

pulling in the belly. These are great exercises you can do if you're riding passenger in the car, watching commercials, for the whole time of the commercial, pull your belly in, okay. It's just a hold, it doesn't seem like a lot's going on, but it's a great exercise to condition those deep muscles in your abdominal wall. All right, nice, big grab up front, and we're gonna chop it to the right, chop it to the left, almost done. Chop it to the left, chop it to the right, and then a big beach ball,

exhales

circle. Just loosening it up as we finish. All right, those are all great exercises to wake up the muscles and reconnect them with your brain. Moves like these can be done daily. So come back as often as you can to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit where aging well is possible, easy, and enjoyable. See you next time.