Quick Fit with Cassy

Strengthen Your Core to do More

“Strengthen Your Core to Do More” Transcript

Hi, I’m Cassy, and welcome to Quick Fit. “Strengthen your core so you can do more.” That not only rhymes, but it is true. A strong core at the center of your body will help you move more efficiently and perform all your activities easier and with less pain. So let’s get moving. [gentle music] In today’s class, we’ll be doing all of these exercises seated. I recommend a chair that doesn’t have any arms and preferably no wheels.

Now, your core is everything from your shoulders to your bottom. And think of it as this entire belt all the way from the front to the side and to the back.

Let’s have your hands on your hips, and we’ll just start by performing some real easy, relaxed warm-ups. And think of your spine as very straight. We’re not pulling in the chest and dropping the shoulders. Think of rotating right from the chair. Circle around a few times. Make sure you’re pulling your belly in when we rotate around the back. Pull it in, make sure you’re not pushing it out. And don’t forget to breathe. Nice big inhale [inhales] and exhale. [exhales] And then, let’s reverse. And remember, we’re moving right from your hind end. Your bottom should be actually getting light on the chair as you rotate and circle around, pulling it in. And now, let’s hold it back here. And we’ll reach left and right. And now, make sure you’re seated far enough on your seat that you’re not actually reclining against the chair back. All right? In fact, I’m gonna scoot forward a little bit more so that now I can get a little bit past vertical. We’re still pulling the stomach in. To help you with that, squeeze your bottom. And now, reach. Maybe reach a little lower each time. [exhales] Inhale, exhale, one more time. Very good, and come up.

For this next part, I’d like you to reach nice and forward and then round it back. As you extend out, straight spine. And as you lean back, squeeze your bottom and tuck that tailbone under. Extend and then rock it back, pulling that belly in. Inhale, exhale, reach. And now, let’s hold it here, right back. [exhales] And then, press the hands forward. Let that chin drop. Squeeze your bottom a little bit. Pull in your stomach. Relax the neck. And now, just a little twist by lifting one shoulder and then the other. This one really feels good. Lift and lower, good. And as you come up, lengthen through your spine and exhale. [exhales] Good. Going over to your right side extend through that right arm and then think about that left, lift. Straightening out all the fascia on this side. We’ll do each side one more time. Inhale, exhale, lift and over. Good, all right. One more set of reaching forwards and pull backs. Now, reach and hold. And let’s have a neutral head. So, if you’re looking forward at me right now, let’s just bring that nose down so that you can look at the floor. Now, stick your chest out. [exhales] Pinch that pencil between your shoulder blades, squeeze those elbows back.

Now, if you need to sit up a little bit more because you’re struggling and your chest is in and you’re kind of rounded, just do that. Just sit up a little more. Only lean forward as far as you can maintain a flat back. Let’s do this again. Reach, pull back, reach. Now, your heels need to be under your knees so that you are a much more stable machine. All right. Reach, and pull back. Hold these back here. Now, extend your hands back by your hips. Once again, pull the stomach in. Pinch that pencil between your shoulder blades. Big inhale, exhale. Don’t forget your feet. Push them into the floor just so you can generate more strength with more muscles. And we’ll bring one arm up and over, sort of like a one-armed snow angel. Reach that arm up and over. Hang in there. We’ll do left arm again. Reach it up and back. And then the other arm. And we’ll sit up for a brief break and then we’ll come back to it again. Just shift a little bit in your seat. Tuck that tailbone under and arch. One more tuck under and a push forward. Release that tension. And then, go ahead and sit up, nice and tall. All right. Lean it out one more time. Make sure you can see your feet. They’re not under the chair. And we’ll bring two arms up. Pull your stomach in, stick that chest out. By now you should be breathing pretty heavy. Don’t hold your breath. [breathing heavily] All right. Two arms up and back. We’ll do one more arm with a lift and then, the other side. Make sure you’re not arching your neck. Really lift that hand and then bring it back. Very good. I know I was feeling that in the back of my legs. Especially if you have a long spine and you’re leaning over, your hamstrings might have been feeling that.

Let’s move on to some moves that bring us right and left. So let’s open your knees nice and wide and sit on the front edge of your chair. Make sure your knees are as wide as your ankles. Nice big arms. All right, we’ll go first to your right if you’re mirroring me. So just reach it out over and reach over. And we’re trying to keep our shoulders nice and in line. We’re not turning. Inhale, [inhales] so you’re stretching right from this hip. Keep your arms up horizontal. I know when I teach these classes at my fitness center, it’s kind of common to see this.

So let’s reach out and lift. Lengthen that spine, don’t let your head fall. Keep it nice and pretty. Inhale, exhale, reach. And reach, good. And don’t forget about your feet. If they’re up here, you can’t lean out so far. Now let’s turn diagonally, slightly to your right. And so make your arm in line with your thigh. And we’ll go forward using that foot for support and then backward. Now, this is a little bit more advanced so if it seems hard and difficult, just go real relaxed and half-hearted. Because I can really feel it through here. And then we’ll switch and we’ll do the other side. Your shoulders are probably getting a little tired just from holding your arms up at shoulder height. And as long as you’re not having any knife pain in your shoulders, try to hang in there. You could take a three-second break and join us again. That always helps. I think three seconds is really helpful even though it doesn’t sound like a very long time. And back. All right, straightening it out again.

All right, one more time. We’ll lean it over. Now, let one arm drop down, one arm drop up. Lengthen that spine, use this foot. Open. And then, come up. We’ll switch sides. Inhale,[inhales] exhale, and over. One arm up, one arm down. Lengthen through your spine, use this foot. Pretty neck, pretty, long lines. And now, we’ll do one last one. Head it over towards your left. Drop one arm straight down and let’s rotate this arm. Inhale, exhale, don’t forget to breathe. Your muscles need lots of oxygen. And [breathes heavily] over. Whew, that one’s tough! But be patient. You’ll get stronger. Let’s go to this side and over. And if you find one side is weaker than the other, don’t be too disappointed. You’ve really discovered a source of pain. And now that it’s revealed itself, you can work on it. The chair is such a great tool, isn’t it? I hope you liked today’s class and please tell a friend so they too can live better, longer. And don’t forget, check out our other videos online at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit. I’ll see you next time.