Quick Fit with Cassy

- It's time to do some arm toning.

Hello, I'm Cassy with today's arm and shoulder toning workout.

We'll use a band for all the moves today, but even if you don't have one, simple isometrics, squeezing the muscles, will work to challenge them.

So grab your band and we'll get started right away.

[upbeat music] I have a short band, but if you have a longer band with handles, you'll be able to stand on it to create tension or wrap it around your anchor hand a few times to take up the slack.

Let's begin with bicep curls.

So your anchor hand will be the one that's not moving, and I've got my hands fairly close together.

Put 'em down in front of you, and then turn your working hand palm up and curl.

So I'm just extending and bending to about a 90-degree bend, and make sure you don't have slack in your band, okay?

Lift and breathe and exhale.

Make sure you're standing nice and tall with those shoulders back and down.

Lift.

Extend all the way and lift.

Don't stop your extension here.

Make sure you extend all the way and lift.

Few more.

Squeeze, extend, squeeze, extend.

Now if it's too easy, you have to take up some more slack on your band.

Good; if it's too hard, then just loosen it up a little bit.

Let's do about five more.

Five, four, three, two.

Now let's do some negatives.

That's slang for focusing and controlling the eccentric part of the move.

Follow this pattern.

Up, hold, down, two, three, four.

Up, hold, down, two, three, four.

Few more.

Up, hold, down, two, three, four.

Check your posture.

[inhales and exhales] Down.

Shoulders should be down and back.

And down.

Your arms should be feeling pretty warm by now.

That burning feeling, that's a good feeling that we're strengthening those muscles.

And last one, up, hold, and down, two, three, four.

Now let's switch sides.

So I'm gonna roll it up.

Make sure there's not too much tension.

We don't want it to be too easy or too hard.

And so two hands start in front of you.

Anchor hand is the non-moving hand, and I do have palm up.

So curl it up and squeeze.

And squeeze.

I hope you're not holding your breath or slouching.

Okay, let's have nice posture.

Breathe it in, exhale and down, exhale and lift.

Where are your shoulders?

They should be down and back, and lift, lift.

See, it's easy with simple equipment that you have at home.

It's not very expensive, but once again, even if you don't have a band right now, you can just squeeze those muscles.

You'll feel them.

All right, let's do the negatives.

So up, hold, and control the down.

And again, up, hold, down, two, three, four.

Squeeze, hold, breathe, check your posture.

We always have to recheck our posture.

Shoulders should be down and back, not pulling forward, okay?

Lift, hold, down, two, three.

Extend, lift, hold, down, two, full extension.

Last one, squeeze, and down.

All right, next we'll do the triceps.

So let's have the band in one hand and lift it up over your head.

I'm gonna turn around and let the band go behind me.

Bend that elbow and then grab your band.

Where is it?

There it is.

Okay, so I'm taking up some of the slack so that I can get a good enough workout.

Now simply keep this elbow next to your head and extend and down.

So I'll turn around.

You'll see what's happening, extend and down.

I'm using my anchor hand, the one behind my back to have nice tension, so I get a good workout, okay?

Once again, standing up nice and tall.

Try to have your chin level, not having your head jut forward and not letting the elbow kick out.

That tends to happen, so extend and down, extend.

Let's do about five, four, three, two, then we'll do the negative.

So up, hold, control the down.

Two, three, four.

Extend, squeeze it up there all the way, and down, two, three, four.

Full extension, guys.

Check in the mirror if you're not sure.

And up, down; let's do about three more.

I can feel my triceps.

They're getting very warm, maybe a little burn.

That's good.

Now as long as you're not having any very painful shoulder pain or knife pains, keep working through it, and we'll switch sides.

All right, switch hands.

Get that other hand up overhead.

All right.

Drop that hand.

Bend the elbow.

Grab the band.

Keep that elbow close to the head.

Take up your slack and extend and lower, extend.

[inhales and exhales] Stomach's in, standing nice and tall, nice, long neck, but you don't have to lift your chin.

My elbow's trying to move away.

My arm's shaking.

I'm really pulling on the bottom of the band.

Good.

If you need a break, simply count to three and join us again.

Extend and down.

Full extension.

Go ahead and look at that elbow.

If your elbow's like this, try to get it fully extended.

And three, two, last one, and we'll do the negatives.

Up, hold, down, two, three, four.

Up, extend, down, two, three.

Extend, down, two, three, four, down.

Hang in there.

Keep that elbow nice and high.

Readjust it every time in case you think it's kicking out or dropping in front of you.

Okay, try to keep it high.

And one more, extend.

Down, two, three.

Good job.

All right, now for the kickbacks.

So have one hand right in front of you.

Make sure you don't have much slack or no slack, and have your hands fairly close together.

Start with this elbow bent and extend.

Simple, bent and extend.

So you do need to make sure your hands are fairly close together because if you're getting a lot of slack, then you're not getting tension to work the muscle.

So get that tension and extend.

Good.

So your anchor hand has a job to do.

Take up the tension a little more if it needs to.

Good.

I hope you're standing tall, stomach's pulled in, neck is nice and long but not jutting forward; extend.

Let's do the negatives.

Slow control, extend.

Control the way back.

Good, press.

Now do an extra squeeze as you extend and control.

Don't let the band just snap back.

Extend, one, two, three, another one.

How about another?

Extend, hold, and back, two, three, four.

Let's do the other side.

Okay.

All right, anchor hand's right in front of you and extend.

Pull your shoulder back, too, and extend.

How about a little quicker but a full extension for five, four, three, two, one.

Let's do the negatives.

Control, control, control.

Extend, hold, back for three, two, one.

Extend, hold, three, two, one, extend.

Three, two, one.

Good job, all right.

Let's do a little bit for the shoulders, so your anchor hand's in front of you and your other hand will press forward.

Let's do eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two.

Now we'll go up, straight up.

One, two, three.

Oh, I've got a lot of tension in my band, so I'm gonna have to work for these last few.

And then we'll go forward one more time before we switch arms.

Take a little tension off.

Not too much.

Don't make it too easy on yourself.

Five, four, three, two, and up, ready?

Five, four, three, two, and now we get to switch arms.

Good, all right.

Your other hand should be right in front of you and we'll punch it forward.

I have a little bit too much slackness, so straight ahead.

Five more.

Four, three, two.

Straight up with the elbow in front of you.

Don't kick it out to the side for this one.

Up, up, up.

Three, two, we still have one more set forward.

Four, three, two, and up.

Last five.

Five, four, three, two, hang in there.

Take your deep breaths, okay?

And now arrange your hands on your band.

Slightly, just slightly wider, just slightly wider than your shoulders.

Okay, and we're going to pinch the pencil between your shoulder blades, and just that slight movement to squeeze the shoulder blades together.

You should have a little bit of tension as the hands widen.

So don't think necessarily about your hands opening.

Think about pinching the pencil between your shoulder blades.

So as you squeeze your shoulder blades, your hands naturally widen just a little bit and you're feeling that tension from the band 'cause there's no slack in it, okay?

Let's do five more.

Pinch, pinch, pinch.

Last couple, two, and one.

Good job.

Nice, big inhale, [inhales] extra long exhale.

[exhales] Very good.

A simple routine like this is just the thing to keep your muscles strong and toned.

Repeat this workout two to three times a week and you'll see a difference fast.

Just come back here to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit to find all your favorite classes to keep you loose, strong, and pain-free because life is movement.

Until next time, keep on moving.

– Announcer: Funding for Quick Fit with Cassy is provided by Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.