Quick Fit with Cassy

- Welcome to another great Quick Fit class.

I'm your host, Cassy Vieth.

I'm really excited about today's class because so many people who have trouble with their knees have found relief from exercises just like the ones we'll be doing today.

So grab a chair and follow along with me.

[gentle music] As usual, we will be sitting forward in your chair.

We are not reclining.

And I highly recommend you take your shoes off.

All right, let's just engage that stomach by squeezing your hind end, and extend the leg.

All right, flex that foot.

All right, start your breathing.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale [exhale] 'cause we're stretching through the calf.

All right, hold it here.

Rotate.

Let's do a few lifts.

All right, we'll be working all the muscles that go upstream and downstream from the knee to hopefully create some space in the knee.

Let's bend and extend.

And of course, if you're having any knife pains, we never work into any knife pains.

We want everything to feel good.

All right, let's bend and extend one more time.

Sometimes you just have to go shy of whatever point would give you a bad pain.

And then hopefully, with time, you'll get past that.

All right, extend the leg.

Big inhale.

[inhales and exhales] Exhale as you flex the foot, stretching the calf, holding it up in the air.

Engaging.

Stomach's tight.

Rotate.

Let's do some lifts.

Use your whole body to keep this leg up.

It's not just what you think you're working.

You can use your whole body to engage and to find leverage.

All right, we'll bend, extend, rotate, and lift again.

[inhales and exhales] Don't hold your breath.

Make sure you breathe as heavy as you need to.

One more time.

Rotate and lift.

All right, switching legs.

Extend that leg and circle.

Remember, you can sit forward, slightly roll back, you can pull on the chair.

Get some leverage to keep that in the air, nice and high.

And reverse.

Now, your leg is starting to burn.

That's the point, to use these weak muscles.

We'll be stretching them in just a bit.

Extend and circle.

Now remember, you're pulling your belly in, we're not sticking it out.

Pull it in, squeeze your hind end, and continue the circles.

[inhales and exhales] All right, very good.

All right, arch that back a little bit.

And now you can go back into the seat and lean into the chair back.

It's okay for this particular exercise.

So this is a great isometric kind of move.

I would like you to pull your heel into the chair leg.

Okay, you ready?

Go, pull.

So you're pulling against an immovable object and only need to use about 50 to 70%.

Pull, pull, pull, and relax.

Let's do the other leg.

Ready?

Inhale [inhales] and pull.

[exhales] I like to get a little grip under the seat.

Pull.

You might feel a little twinge, but as long as you're not feeling any knife pain.

[inhales and exhales] All right, switching sides again, maybe go up a little higher on the chair.

It'll feel different each time in each location.

You might find that lower or higher, you have more weakness or a little bit of something that just feels like maybe it's a weak muscle that's being challenged.

And relax, good.

And also, the higher you go, you might find you have less strength too.

Ready?

Pull in, pull your stomach.

A little pull on the bottom of the chair.

Feel your hamstrings working.

And relax.

One more time, the other side.

[inhales] I'm gonna go back down low again.

You ready?

And pull.

[exhales] Stomach's in, exhale.

[exhales] Pull.

Maybe you can slide your heel up the chair leg a little bit.

And release.

One more time, other side.

Go, pull.

Pull, pull.

Three, two, and good job.

All right, face the front again.

Leg out, toe out, a few circles using a little bit more of the inner thigh, this muscle right here by the knee.

Circle, circle, stomach's in.

Pull the belly in.

You can hang onto the chair again, but keep lifting.

Your circles always go up.

Up, up.

Other side.

[inhales] A little rest.

Roll it back.

Lift, toe out, and circle.

Concentrating on these muscles here.

Lift, lift, lift.

Keep going, let's tire them out.

[inhales and exhales] Lift, lift.

All right, very good.

Arch that back a little bit.

All right, let's bend your knee.

We'll do another isometric.

So, but the other way.

So hang on to the shin, and now try to stretch the leg out.

Feel your stomach engage, your behind, your hips.

And you can feel your knee having to do a little bit of work that it doesn't normally have to do.

Resist.

Shake it off, do the other leg.

Inhale.

[inhales] Ready?

Extend.

Extend.

[exhales] About eight seconds is the goal, three times each side at about maybe 50% to 70%, depending on how tender your knees are as you begin these.

Ready?

And extend.

Extend.

[short exhales] Don't hold your breath.

Breathe as heavy as you need to.

Release, other side.

And, go.

Three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

See, these are simple, but they're really effective.

One more time.

And, go.

Press, press, press.

All right, last one on the other leg.

And extend.

[exhales] A little bit of a workout for your arms as well.

All right, finished.

Let's extend that leg.

Scoot to the front edge of the seat.

[inhales] All right, [exhales] flex and lift your chest.

Just the action of having your torso nice and tall and your foot flexed, you'll probably start feeling that in your hamstring.

Now, if you can move forward a little bit, try to relax the hamstring and the knee, and blow.

[exhales] Now, if you've rounded your back, I'd like you to use your hands to push against your leg to get your chest up.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale.

Because it's a nice long spine that's going to help you stretch your hamstring.

All right, that feels really good.

All of these muscles have a big impact on your knees.

Tight hamstrings, quads, shins, and calves.

Okay?

[inhales] All right, we're still working on the hamstrings.

Let's just get to chatting.

Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Remember, long spine.

Flex the foot.

And blow.

[exhales] You can push on your leg to help you keep your torso and your spine nice and straight.

All right, very good.

Let's turn sideways.

Half on, half off the chair.

Hook your arm around, and slide your hand down towards your ankle.

Get ready, big inhale.

[inhales] And blow.

[exhales] I feel that all the way down towards my knee.

Inhale again.

[inhales] Exhale, press it down.

[exhales] Squeeze your hind end.

And now, release the quad, but I'd like you to press your foot down into your hand.

Ready?

Press.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, and release.

Let's work on those calves before we change sides.

Get your heels pretty close to down right below your hip and press down.

Now for me, that's a little too loose.

I need a little bit more of a challenge, so I pull the heel back about another inch until I can find a nice stretch to the calf and the back of the heel.

All right, now put the tops of your feet against the floor, going real careful.

This is a real typical charley horse spot.

[inhales] So just breathe.

Be careful how much force and how much weight you're allowing to go down through your foot, and shift across the top of your toes.

It's one of the reasons you really need to have your shoes off as we do this.

All right, changing sides.

Let's just slide the hand down to your other ankle.

Big inhale, and press it down.

[exhales] Nice stretch to the quads.

Big inhale, do that again.

And exhale.

[exhales] Releasing the quad.

Now, I want you to press the foot down into your hand.

Hold that.

Press, press, press.

[exhales] And release.

Real good.

All right, finding that sweet spot again where you've got a nice stretch behind the calf and the Achilles.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Helping those muscles to loosen up.

Very good.

All right, top of the foot.

Once again, being careful how much weight you put down through there.

Shifting.

This is a real forgotten spot in most fitness programs, so I'm really glad to include it here for you.

Top of the foot and shins, and the toes.

All right, facing forward.

Last thing.

Let's just let those knees fall open and let your ankles turn out to the sides gently.

Once again, being careful how much weight we're putting down through the sides of those ankles.

And this stretch is so unique because it gets these deep muscles up here at the top of your calf behind your knee.

Isn't it crazy how many different exercises you can do for the knee and all from a chair?

Now, I don't recommend sitting a lot, but it is a great tool.

So now, get up and get going with your day.

But please, come back again first thing tomorrow to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit to keep the good work going with your knees, legs, upper body, balance, feet, neck, and more.

See you soon.