Quick Fit with Cassy

- Hello, I'm Cassy, and this is Quick Fit , your daily workout to help you live better, longer.

As you map out this year's gardening and landscaping tasks, remember to make plans to condition your body for the work it will soon be doing.

In today's class, we'll stretch and strengthen the muscles of the upper body to get you ready for the gardening season.

So let's get moving.

[upbeat music] Just like runners wouldn't consider running a marathon without first training and preparing, so you too should prepare and condition your muscles for the outdoor work you'll soon be doing.

So grab a mat, remove your shoes, and we'll get started.

Nice and loose, two-arm swings right across your chest.

And even though we're not focusing on the feet, having your shoes off will exercise them in a gentle way.

So have a nice mat to cushion your feet if they're tender.

Let's just do a single arm, and if you're mirroring me, this will just be your left arm.

Lift it up and slap, and up.

[inhales] Let that elbow get up nice and high, and then let's go across, letting the momentum take it, slap the back of your other shoulder.

Right, right arm up, inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Don't forget to breathe nice and deep, don't hold your breath, and breathe as heavy as you need to.

Oxygenate that blood to get to all of your muscles and your brain.

All right, two arms up.

[inhales] Good, let's just do a nice stretch.

We're gonna do a nice upper body rotation, bringing those arms back by your ears, let's just tip first to your left, you'll be mirroring me throughout this class, to the right.

Think about bringing those ribs in and I'm sticking the ribs out, lifting the chest.

Let's go the other way.

[nhales] Lift the chin, enjoy the stretch, [exhales] and lift, very good.

Let's bring those arms down and do some nice, easy twists.

Lifting that back heel, I don't want you to tweak your knees.

Take a nice deep inhale on the way around, big, big, big, [inhales] and then exhale.

[exhales] That'll get you a little bit further around without having to force it.

So breathe in [inhales] and then exhale, [exhales] very good.

All right, side stretches, one way and the other.

And remember, if you have a history of back pain or really pain anywhere, when we come to those muscles, don't use any force.

Just work in a very relaxed and gentle way.

Okay, inhale [inhales] and exhale.

Now let's reach to the ceiling.

Lengthening your shoulder, your spine, and your ribs.

I think you'll be surprised how tight your ribs can be, lift, and let's extend that elbow completely, reaching all the way to the ceiling, [inhales and exhales] two arms up, lift, and then hands back behind the head, opening up your chest, lift the chin, arch the spine.

All right, now bend those knees just a little bit.

Soft knees pressing forward, [inhales] exhale, let that chin fall.

[exhales] Good, let's bring it in.

Arch the back just a little bit briefly so we can round the back, pressing forward again.

All right, elbows up to the back pocket, round the back and press.

Elbows up to the back pocket, up again, and press.

Now press across to one side, inhale, [inhales] press across to the other.

[exhales] Lift that elbow to the back pocket and press.

Let's go the other way.

Lifting that elbow up, elbow up towards your back pocket, and around the spine again, [exhales] stretching all the back of the ribs all down your side.

All right, let's do a modified cow position, hands on the front of your legs.

Okay, just let your back arch.

All right, now roll up like a cat.

I'm sure you recognize this from yoga, typically on your hands and knees, the cat and cow.

I like doing it right from the knees.

All right, and we'll roll up like a big letter T. All right, reach, stretching all through here, exhale.

I hope you have your feet fairly wide.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] One more, stomach's in, and we're not turning, okay, we're leaning out as far as you can.

Let's go one more time, reach and reach, lifting again, hands behind the head, let's press the head into the fingers by pulling your chin back.

All right, so we're pressing the head into your fingers, but we're pulling back from here, not lifting the chin, all right, pulling back.

Hold this, elbows are wide, pulling the chin back, and release.

Let's do a few halos right around the front.

These are great if you have stiff or frozen shoulders, any kind of circles are really good.

And we'll make them a little bigger, a little bigger, getting up overhead.

Think about lifting that elbow, getting around the back of the head a little more.

All right, very nice, let's do the other arm so we start small, right in front.

[inhales and exhales] Getting a little bigger, getting a little higher, up over the top of the head.

Stomach's in, legs are fairly wide.

All right, and last one, all right, two arms throwing something over the shoulder, okay.

Hike it back over there, [inhales] stomach's tight.

Couple more, picking up a big sack of potting soil or something.

Let's do the other side, over.

[inhales] And over, [exhales] and over.

[inhales and exhales] And good.

One more, good, hands up again, back behind the head, pressing the head into the fingers, opening the elbows, [exhales] and down into a W. Pull those elbows back and back, [exhales] a little higher, a little lower, [exhales] and reach behind the head and replace, reach behind the head.

One more, reach, see how far you can get, other side and reach, reach, reach.

Two arms, nice and wide.

Open the shoulders, open those tight chests.

Make a few circles that actually pull to the back.

Now, please make sure you're not shifting your hips forward.

Let's have your spine and your hips in a nice, long, tall line.

All right, one-arm circles to the back, with a pull.

Try not to turn in the same direction, resist.

Let's do one more, circle to the back and pull.

You can even look over your other shoulder.

Other side, circle, lift, [inhales] and exhale as you pull.

Imagine someone's actually pulling your arm behind you.

Look over the shoulder, one more, lift, [inhales] look, and pull.

All right, two arms, circle, pull it back, two arms, circle, pull it back.

Let's involve the legs just a little bit, one more, [exhales] down and up, [inhales] and open, good job, all right.

Reach down behind you, try to clasp your fingers behind your back and straighten the elbows, pulling the shoulders back, all right, inhale, and I'd like you to turn your face.

Let's go ahead and look to your left and your right, good job.

All right, and gently release.

All right, circle that shoulder, circle, two arms up.

I call these pencil pinchers.

So think of your shoulder blades and your back and imagine you're squeezing and holding a pencil back there.

So what I like to do is just pull the shoulders back, make sure they're down.

It's real easy to start lifting them up, so press them down, pull them back, all right.

Stomach's in, I don't want you to arch.

And try not to push the head forward to make up for the strength of your back.

So hold a pencil, pull the arms back, pinch that pencil, lift, lift, lift.

[inhales] Don't forget to breathe.

[exhales] All right, lift and lift, extend and pull back.

It's a lot to think about all at once, but don't push your head forward, stomach's in, shoulders are down and pulled back.

All right, very good.

Shake that off.

Let's bring your arms down, palms are forward.

A couple shoulder lifts and extend, lift and extend.

One arm, lift, stretch, lift and stretch, very good.

All right, soften your knees a little bit, widen your legs.

Probably wider than what you're used to, and we'll just do a few more of these halos.

But at this time, I want to involve your whole body.

So reach it around, around the back of the head, reach it around and reach it around.

Let's think about getting really wide, big, old table around us, maybe you're trying to clean and other side.

So little to big to biggest around the back of the head, elbows up, all right, so let's reach it across, and I'd like you to press, grab that wrist, and pull.

Let's go up over the head and pull.

Other arm, across, and press and pull.

Reach it up over the head, [inhales] grab that wrist and pull, and resist with your torso.

All right, good, let's take two hands down in front of your leg.

Nice big rainbow, and then exhale, [exhales] and up, [inhales] and exhale, [exhales] and push, palms forward, push and push.

Now, let's not forget about the hands.

Your hands are going to be doing so much for you during this season, so let's open them.

We're opening the palms as far as you can.

Really think about opening the palm, stretching your fingers as wide as you can, and bend through that wrist.

Let's make these little fans, and open, and squeeze and open, one at a time.

Start with the thumb, fingers, and open.

Just keep rotating.

All right, reach across with your thumb, open.

Try to reach right past the base of that pinky.

[inhales] You can feel it in through here, especially if you're dealing with arthritis, these simple moves are really, really helpful.

Let's close your thumb across and close the fingers around your thumb, now down.

You can really feel it through the top of your wrists.

Good, and face each other, elbows are close, and open again.

Just, now this time, we're not making a fist, we're just bending the joints of the fingers.

Keep it going, extend.

One more time, close your fingers down around your thumb and down, sliding your hands along each finger to gently pull and lengthen.

These always feel so good when I go get a manicure, they give you a little hand massage and pull along each finger.

Good, now let's press, press, press, press, and press.

Working these forearms, your hands and your arms are gonna be doing lots of digging.

So let's not forget; strengthen them and stretch them, the other way, and down, one finger at a time, lift, lift.

All right, now this is what I have to do, I have to reach across 'cause I don't think I can keep my other fingers up unless I do that.

So one finger holding these down, let's make the others go up.

Good, reach across to the other one.

And we'll just work our way across all the fingers, straighten them up while you hold the one finger down, you can also use your thumb to do.

Okay, and I feel that all the way in the forearms and up that side too.

Good, and open.

All right, arms nice and wide, wide arms, so start playing the piano with nice, long fingers.

Move it to the front, and up [inhales] and down.

[exhales] Don't forget the thumbs as you do these.

Now, I'd like you just to bend your finger joints sort of like little spiders.

This is really going to work the forearms, so lift, [inhales] lift, and back down.

[exhales] Really, really, you can feel these all up your arms.

Making the shoulders work, making the hands work, and then we'll bring them back down before they start to cramp and chop some onions.

And I really, really love these hands exercises.

I hope you did too.

As we finish up here, I hope you can see how effective these classes can be when done consistently.

I have so many great moves you can do right there at home to keep you loose, strong, and pain-free.

So go over to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit and explore.

Making Quick Fit an essential part of each day because life is about movement.

And I want you to be able to keep moving and doing all the things you love.