Quick Fit with Cassy

gentle music

Welcome back to Quick Fit. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Cassy. In today's class, we'll be going through movements to warm up and activate the muscles of the lower body and those particular to jogging. You know, I'm just like you. I know stretching takes time, and we all like to just skip it and go right into our run or whatever it is we like to do. But if you want to be able to enjoy running or jogging, hiking, kayaking your whole life, you'll dedicate a quarter of the time to stretching that you spend on those activities. Circle around in the other way. Keep it going, this is the beginning of the warm-up, so just enjoy it and start your deep breathing, okay? The other way, widening your legs every time you switch direction. Okay, inhale,

inhales

exhale.

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Finding those tighter spots, working on those as you find them, okay. And we're getting a little deeper each time,

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a little deeper each time.

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Nice. Experiment with twisting your torso a little more. And my hip just popped as I found a tight spot. Making space.

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Inhale, exhale.

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So you see how circles can easily just turn into deepening the stretch in ways that feel good for you, and stretching that inner thigh. Let's move on to the cat and cow. It's so important; I do these in almost every class because the pelvis is attached to the lower part of your spine, and we need that to remain fully mobile too. Those of you with back pain can probably trace at least some of it to an immobile low spine. Tight through the pelvis, all right. Let's pull those elbows back, and we're just pulling the tailbone back and then tucking. Slight bend in the knee really helps with these. Next, we'll be working on your IT bands. So the way I like to do them is if you mirror me, the instructions might flow a little better. So let's take your left leg and cross it in front of your right. Big inhale.

inhales

Lengthen through the spine, hinging only at the hips. Exhale.

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When it starts to pull, you're going to pause, inhale, do it again.

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Exhale.

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Do two or three of them just like this with a flat back, okay, from the side. Flat back, and then, big inhale.

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And we'll round over.

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Now having a chair handy for this is y'know, a good idea. Let's come partway up, inhale.

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Exhale.

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You may feel a little wobbly, especially for the turn part. Come up halfway, deep inhale.

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And enjoy it.

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You're gonna feel it on the outside of one leg. Now let's switch sides, so you'll be taking your right leg, cross it in front, big inhale,

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flat back over.

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Those nice, deep breaths work to help your muscles lengthen with less grimacing and pain. 'Cause we wanna work with your muscles, not fight them or cause them to fight your movement. Inhale,

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exhale.

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It's this sort of time that's gonna make your time running, exhale,

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that much better. Improve your run times if you're competitive, reduce your incidents of injury, which just keeps you from doing more of what you love. Okay, next I'd like you to use a chair or-- 'cause I really like the chair. It helps me just to relax my thigh a little bit as I do this. So take the heel of your hand, or maybe even a, like a vitamins bottle, and just run it down the top of the muscle. Use your quadriceps, a few times, putting gentle pressure, finding those knots. Okay,

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exhale. Especially with like a vitamin bottle, rolling it around, I think you'll find some spots that you can work on. Let's do the other leg. Big inhale, exhale.

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I always, always, always like to recommend that you don't forget about the breathing. It also works to strengthen your breathing muscles.

inhales and exhales

Very good. All right. Now, grab your ankle. So a typical quad stretch, we're going to make even better. So this is a very common stretch, but if you squeeze your hind end,

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press the knee down at the same time, which takes a little practice, and then stir, you will really, really, really feel this. It's a very powerful stretch. All the way clear down to the knee. Again, inhale exhale,

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squeeze the bottom, press the knee towards the floor, stir.

inhales and exhales

I always have to breathe a lot for these because it's quite the pull. And then let's do the other side. All right, and exhale.

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Press the knee down, squeeze the hind end.

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Stir. No need to rush. You'll get to run, and you'll enjoy your run that much better. All right, one more. Release and then,

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tighten and stir. All right, next we'll be going down to the floor on your hands and knees. And stretching the tops of the feet and the shins. All right, so using your hands to help you control how much pressure you put down through the tops of your feet and your shins. This is really, really a great little routine for helping people that tend to get shin splints. Say that five times fast. All right, go ahead and pull the knee up. We're still putting pressure down through your heel. Now, I know some of you are probably getting charley horses, so you just have to take some of that pressure off. And as you do these more frequently, the charley horses will become less. Let's do the other knee. And a gentle pull up, working through the toes as well, and down. Good. Let's get those toes under you now. And we'll start stretching more of the feet, more of the Achilles tendon, and the calves.

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You can open up your knees to make room for your body.

inhales and exhales

And as you do this several times, you'll find that your heels get closer and closer to the floor. Okay.

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Stretching, taking the time to care for your body, it does so much for you. So let's just put a little bit of effort into self-care, and it really will be, the reward will be in yourself with less injuries, less soreness, quicker recovery,

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very good. And last, gonna put pressure and weight down through those feet, creating a more powerful foot. And you know you need powerful feet to help propel yourself forward with each stride.

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Remember, tightness equals weakness, so if you want to be better at performing, the things that you like to do, you have to make sure that you stay loose in all of your joints, 'cause they all affect each other. So that is it for this set, but look for Part 2 of Runner's Prep Movements for a broad routine that you can mix and match to reduce injury. Find it here, on pbswisconsin.org/quickfit and enjoy years of doing what you really love. And I promise I'll keep you feeling great. See you next time.