University Place

StrongBodies: Strength Training for Life

– Angela Flickinger: Hello, and welcome to the StrongBodies Wisconsin Program.

I’m super excited you guys are here today.

We are gonna do a series of strength training exercises.

I’m gonna lead you through ’em, you’re gonna join me, and we are gonna have a lot of great fun.

So let’s stand up; let’s do a five-minute warmup.

As we’re warming up, I can introduce the program.

My name is Angie.

I’m excited to be here and lead you through this program today.

We are here today because of the University of Wisconsin Extension and PBS Wisconsin, so thank you to those two organizations.

We’re gonna do a warm-up just for a couple minutes to make sure all the blood is flowing.

If you guys wanna go side to side.

We can move around.

You can do whatever you want to get that blood moving.

So a health disclaimer, make sure that if you’re feeling any sharp, shooting pain or discomfort, that you discontinue doing the exercises.

Seek medical attention if you need to.

Otherwise, if you’re feeling good, we are gonna get you stronger and healthier today.

We can march it out again.

What is StrongBodies, are you wondering?

StrongBodies is an evidence-based, progressive strength training program that is in Wisconsin and all over the United States.

It originated at Tufts University with Dr. Miriam Nelson and Rebecca Seguin, and we brought it to Wisconsin in 2006.

So we’ve been here for a while in Wisconsin, and have reached over 17,000 people, including you all.

So thank you for being here today.

Dr. Nelson, because of her research, found out that exercise, especially strength training, was good for muscle mass, energy, bone density, diabetes management, so we’re gonna talk a little bit about that stuff, and hopefully you are gonna enjoy the program, and get those health benefits.

All right, we’re gonna go side to side again.

Our mission in Wisconsin is to improve the health and well-being of all Wisconsinites through safe and effective strength training.

So this program can be found all over the United States and all over Wisconsin.

All right, you guys feel warmed up?

All right.

So first exercise is gonna be the wide leg squat.

What we’re gonna do is stand in front of our chairs.

You can grab weights if you would like.

If not, Phin Ter, my colleague, is gonna do the modification without weights, and he’s gonna do the modifications throughout today.

As you grab weights, we’re gonna be standing in front of our chairs, and we are gonna be about shoulder-width apart.

We’re gonna stick our behinds back.

All of the effort is gonna be right on our quadriceps.

So we’re gonna go down for four, up for four, and smile while you’re doing it.

All right.

Down, two, three, four; hold it right there.

Push up with your heels.

Up, two, three, four.

All of these exercises, we do two sets of ten.

Down, up, two, three, four.

Down for three.

Two, three, four.

Hold it, up, two, three, four.

Down for four.

Two, three, four.

You should feel it right in your quadriceps; up slowly.

If you’re unable to go all the way down, you can go halfway down, or as far as your body will let you.

And up, nice and slow.

Down for six.

Two, three, four.

Up, two, three, four.

Down for seven.

Nice job, you all.

Up, two, three, four.

Down for eight, two, three, four.

Up, two, three, four.

Two left, down for nine.

Two, three, four.

Up nice and slow.

Last one.

Down, down, down, hold it.

And up, two, three, four.

Nice job.

You should have felt that right in your quads.

Yes?

Okay, shake it out a little bit.

After each exercise, we’re gonna take a one-minute break, ish, and make sure that we kinda rest our bodies a little bit before we start again.

Make sure, if you’re doing this with us today, that your weights and your mats are tucked under your chair so you don’t have any tripping hazards, you have water available, you’re taking frequent water breaks, and you have nice, comfortable clothes on.

Okay.

Give us a little bit more time.

This muscle is good for sitting, getting up and down, for the couch, all of those functional things you need to do, especially as we get older.

So, let’s, feet out in front of us.

If you wanna make it more difficult, grab heavier weights.

Phin Ter is gonna show us some modification.

We are gonna do another set of ten.

Let’s go.

Down, two, three, four, hold it.

Up, two, three, and four.

Make sure your chest is up.

I’m gonna go around.

And up, two, three, four.

Down for three, two, three, four.

Up nice and slowly.

You can see Liliana’s knees aren’t coming over her toes, so all that pressure and her weight isn’t going to her knees.

Down for four, two, three, four.

Excellent.

Up, two, three, four.

Down for five, two, three, four.

Nice, well done, Bridget.

Up slowly.

Down for six, two, three, four.

Up, two, three, four.

Down for seven.

Hold it, nice and slow.

Up, two, three, four.

The up should be as slow as the down.

Down for eight, two, three, four.

Take four to go up.

Up, two, three, four.

Down for nine; almost there, guys.

You should feel this in your quads.

Yes?

Up, two, three, four.

Last one; let’s do this.

Down, two, three, four; hold it.

Up, two, three, four.

Nice job.

Nice job.

Shake it out.

We are gonna do all the muscle, big, major muscle groups today.

The next ones that we’re gonna do is the shoulders.

So you’re gonna grab lighter weights, ’cause this muscle is not as big as our quadriceps or our biceps.

Again, we’re gonna do two sets of ten.

If you feel like you’re unable to stand, you can sit for this one.

You can use no weights if you’re modifying it like Phin Ter.

Otherwise, you’re gonna have hands right here, and just do the range of motion you can.

Our goal is to do the full range of motion.

If not, go where your shoulders will let you.

Up for one, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for two, nice job; two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for three.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for four.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

You should feel this right in your shoulders.

Going up slowly, hold it on top, down nice and slow.

Down, two, three, four.

Roll those shoulders back, up for six.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for seven.

Make sure there’s loose grip on your weights, that your wrists are nice and straight, and you’re not holding all that weight on your wrists.

Down, we’re going up for eight.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for nine, two, three, four; straight wrist.

Down, two, three, four.

Great effort; one more.

Up, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Nice job.

You should feel it right in those shoulder blades.

Take a little rest, shake out those legs.

We know physical activity is super important.

We’re supposed to be exercising about 150 minutes a week, so most days a week, getting that cardiovascular system running, walking, swimming, biking, just getting that heart rate up, getting your breaths up.

We also know that strength training is really important, especially as we age.

So recommendation is two to three times a week, not on consecutive days.

So if you’re gonna do these things, these exercises, and use weights that are appropriate, take a day in-between break, and then do it again.

Okay.

We are gonna do the second set.

Hands up to your shoulders.

Loose grip.

And we’re going up.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for two.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for three, two, three, four.

Nice job, nice and slow.

We wanna make sure down and up are about equal, or even down is even taking a little bit more ’cause that’s resisting the pull of gravity and important for the strength building.

Down nice and slow.

This exercise is good if you’re trying to reach and lift for things, keeping that shoulder health good with a good range of motion.

Up, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Loose grip on your weights.

We’re going up for seven.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for eight, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Two left; up for nine, nice and slow.

These should be pretty difficult to do.

You should be able to not hardly push that one up.

Then you know you’re at the right weight.

Up for ten, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, and four.

Good.

Should have to feel like you need to rest that arm after it.

Okay, the next exercise we’re gonna do is the muscle in our upper back.

So we’re gonna take our light weights, have a seat in your chair.

You’re gonna be at the edge of your chair.

This muscle is good for pushing and pulling, kind of keeps our posture nice and upright and tall.

The exercise that we’re gonna do is called the bent forward fly.

So if you are able, we’re gonna be bending over at 80-degree angle.

If you’re feeling like your back needs to be straight up, I want you sitting straight up into the chair, and my colleague, Phin Ter, is gonna do that for us.

Otherwise, you’re bent forward, giving a little gravity.

You’re gonna have your weights in loose hands out in front of you, and we are using our shoulder blades to pull our elbows back, okay?

Not using your arms, using your elbows.

So let’s go, two sets of ten, and relax those shoulders.

We’re going back.

Two, three, four.

Hold it; squeeze those shoulder blades together.

Forward, two, three, four.

Nice.

Two, two, three, four.

Kind of like you’re having a tennis ball between your shoulder blades.

Forward, nice and slow.

The bend in your elbows at the same angle.

Forward, two, three, four.

Back for four.

Two, three, four.

Forward, two, three, four; relax those shoulders.

Back for five.

Two, three, four.

Forward, two, three, four.

Back for six.

Two, three, four.

Forward, two, three, four.

Back for seven; nice and slow.

Squeeze those shoulder blades together.

You’re using those muscles in your upper back.

Slowly forward.

Nice job; back for eight, two, three, four.

Forward, two, three, four.

Back for nine, two, three, four.

Forward, two, three, four.

Last one, back for ten.

Squeeze those shoulder blades together, and forward.

Two, three, four.

Nice job.

You can put those weights down.

You can stay in sitting position.

Or you can stand if you’d like, shake out those legs.

We’re gonna do another set of those, so one thing that we wanna remember is that as we get stronger, we don’t wanna lose the muscle we have.

So as we age, sometimes we tend to lose muscle, but we usually lose that muscle because we stop exercising, or because of huge hormonal shifts, or because of a chronic condition, or something happening within our body.

So to keep what we have, we wanna make sure that we’re doing these exercises, so we don’t lose that muscle.

So we’re gonna start again with the second set.

Again, on nine and ten, you should feel the effort, kind of at your max effort.

Otherwise, we are doing this.

I’m gonna go around and make sure that our shoulder blades are coming together.

And Phin Ter is showing the modification.

Bent forward fly for the second set.

Back for one, two, three, four.

Squeeze those shoulder blades together.

Forward, two, three, four.

Nice, loose grip on your weights.

Back for two, two, three, four.

Forward, two, three, four.

Nice job, back for three; two, three, four.

Forward, two, three, four.

Back for four.

Nice job, Cristy.

Forward.

Two, three, four.

Back for four.

Squeeze those shoulder blades together, and forward.

Two, three, four.

Nice job, Penny.

Back for six.

Two, three, four.

Forward, two, three, four.

Back for seven.

Squeeze those shoulder blades together.

Hold it tight.

Forward, two, three, four.

Back for eight, two, three, four.

Forward, two, three.

Loose shoulders, everyone, loosen up those shoulders.

Back for nine, squeeze those shoulder blades together.

Forward, two, three, four.

Last one.

Back for ten.

Strengthen that upper back muscle, hold it, and forward.

Two, three, four.

Great effort.

All right, next muscle we are going to do is called the bicep curl.

So you’re gonna grab your heavier weights underneath your chairs.

This one’s gonna do the upper part of our arm.

We wanna strengthen our biceps for many reasons, but mostly it’s for pulling things up.

So this is one of our big muscles.

Legs are nice and loose.

Your arms are like you have a newspaper, or a piece of paper under there.

So those elbows are staying tucked right into your waist.

We’re gonna curl our arms up and back down nice and slowly.

Start at a neutral position.

Shoulders back, and there’s no modification for this one.

You can start with no weights and go all the way up to 15, 20-pound weights if you’d like.

Up, two, three, four; nice and slow, down.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for two, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for three, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for four, two, three, four.

You should feel this effort right in the bicep.

If not, you probably need heavier weights.

Up nice and slow.

Down nice and slow.

Two, three, four.

Up for six.

Loose grip on those weights.

Down, two, three, and four.

Up for seven, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for eight, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Last two, up for nine, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Last one, up for ten, two, three, four.

Nice, and slow down.

Resist gravity and done.

Nice job.

Okay.

So you say, “Why should we strengthen our bones?

Why should we strengthen our muscles?”

Well, we want to prevent any bone loss, right?

So as we get older, there’s about lots and lots and lots of millions of people in the United States who have osteoporosis.

They say it’s about 10% of our population, more than 10% of our population for adults.

So we really want to prevent that, right?

And most of that is preventable, and a lot of times, it happens more so in women because of menopause.

So we really need to be intentional, especially as women as we age.

To combat that, we need to strength train.

So the great thing is, is strength training can stop the loss of bone loss, and we can actually build our bone density back up.

So that’s the pretty cool thing that we have control over.

So second set.

And up, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

For two.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for three.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

This one is really one you can tell how much you can improve so quickly.

So if you’re doing four or five pounds, and you feel like, “This is kind of easy.

I could do this a lot more times,” then we’re ready to lift heavier weights because we really wanna feel that effort on nine and ten.

It should be like you can hardly do it.

That means you’re improving and getting health benefits.

This is six.

Down, nice and slow, loose grip.

Nice job, up for seven; two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for eight, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Two left.

Up for nine, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Last one, up for ten.

You should barely be able to push it up.

I know that you guys all could be lifting heavier weights.

Nice job.

All right.

You can put those weights away under your chair.

Tuck ’em in for safety.

Get a drink of water if you’d like.

We are gonna move on to the wrist curl.

So after your water, grab your light or lighter weights, have a seat on your chair.

Okay, so this one’s a wrist curl.

Super important because guess what?

When we fall, we usually land on our wrist.

We wanna build up that muscle around your wrist, and also the bone density around that wrist.

So we are gonna go up and back.

If you have a little bit shorter legs, you can use your blocks to keep your legs up, so your arms are resting right on your legs.

If you’ve been told that you have something going on with your wrists, and been told to do it this way by a medical professional, Phin Ter is gonna show us the modification.

Otherwise, we are knuckles up.

We’re gonna go up and down.

So let’s get started, up, two, three, four.

Do your whole range of motion.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for two.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for three, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for four, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for five, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

If you’re feeling it in your forearm, loosen up that grip on your weights.

Should feel the effort right in your wrists.

Down nice and slowly.

Up for seven, two, three, four.

For this one, very little weight you can use.

You can just start with no weight if you’d like.

And down for eight, slowly.

Three, four.

Up for nine, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Nice job.

Up for ten.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, and four.

Nice.

Shake out those wrists.

You guys feel it in your wrists?

Should feel it right here.

We used to think that as we age, our bone density, that we used to just, you know, get shorter and get humps in our back, and we now know that that’s osteoporosis, and that we can prevent it.

So we wanna make sure that we are keeping all those bones nice and strong.

We also know that it could help with diabetes.

So as you know, lots of people have diabetes in the United States, and it’s a huge medical cost.

So with type 2 diabetes, strength training helps take up the glucose in those muscles and helps us control the diabetes, which is pretty awesome.

So we are going to do the second set of these, as we are getting our muscles stronger.

All right.

So knuckles up, and if you’re doing the modification, you can do no weights, lighter weights, or as Phin Ter is doing it.

So we are going up two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for two.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, and four.

Focus on that wrist; up for three.

Nice and slow.

Down, two, three, and four.

Up for three, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for five.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for six.

Two, three, four.

Down, nice and slow.

Up for seven, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

You should be feeling it really good in your wrist by now.

Up for eight.

Down nice and slowly.

Up for nine.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Last one, up for ten.

Hold it up there.

And nice and slow back down.

Nice job.

You should feel that right in your wrist, around your wrist.

Tuck those weights underneath your chair.

We’re gonna be transitioning to behind our chair for the standing calf and toe raise.

So for this one, we’re gonna be strengthening our calf muscles and the front part of our legs also.

If you’d like to grab some weights, go ahead and grab some weights.

If you’re feeling like your balance isn’t the greatest today, you can have your fingers or your hands, both hands on a chair.

This is also a balance exercise.

So we wanna make sure that we’re building our capacity to stand up and to move our ankles around with mobility.

So we’re gonna go up, and we’re gonna hold it for eight, and then we’re gonna go back down.

So use your chair as needed, and if you don’t need it, you can add weights to the side or to your chest.

All right, we are going up on the balls of our feet.

We’re gonna hold it for eight seconds.

So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight; nice.

Back down.

Back up for two.

If you feel your ankles shaking, those are all your stabilizer muscles saying, “Keep me up, keep me up,” so you don’t fall down.

And they’re doing their job.

And down.

We’re going back up for three.

You should feel this in your calf muscle.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and down.

Only use the chair if you need to for balance.

Up for four.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Nice job, y’all.

Up, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Up for six.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Up, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Up for eight.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

You should feel this effort now right in your calf muscles, lower part of your back of your leg.

Up for nine; hold it.

Six, seven, eight, down.

Last one.

Up for ten.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Nice.

Shake out that leg; you should’ve felt it right here.

If you’d like to grab heavier weights for this one, you feel like you could do the second set heavier weights, go ahead.

We’re actually gonna pull back in a upright position, we’re gonna put our toes to the sky.

Make sure your legs are spread apart so you feel like you have good balance.

You don’t have to lock out your knees, but have your legs straight, pull ’em up.

We’re gonna actually stretch out that calf.

We’re gonna hold it for a couple seconds.

We’re gonna be strengthening the upper part of our leg, our shin area.

So let’s just hold that.

That should feel like a good stretch for you all.

All right.

All right.

All right, we wanna make sure, as I’m out of breath, you wanna make sure that we’re breathing and not holding our breath during the exercises.

So making sure nice and healthy breaths in through your nose, out through your mouth.

We know this helps regulate your emotions, helps regulate your heart rate, and super important to not hold our breath when we’re, especially when it gets hard when we’re exercising.

Second set, if you wanna grab heavier weights, please do.

Otherwise, you’re behind your chair.

We’re gonna do, again, second set.

All right, up on your toes for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

This one, try not to rest all the way on your heel.

Keep that calf engaged.

Back up for two.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down again.

Back up for three.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Nice job.

Down, up for four, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Up for five.

Nice job.

Do your full range of motion.

Some people get their heels way up.

Some people just kind of hover their heels over the floor.

That is fine.

Do what you can do.

Up for six.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

You should feel all those kind of muscles might be trying to stabilize.

You should really feel it on seven, eight, and nine.

Hold it, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Loose grip on your chair if you can.

Use this as a balance exercise also.

Up for eight.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Up for nine.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Last one y’all.

Up for ten.

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

Nice job.

Shake out that leg a little bit.

You can put your weights down if you’d like.

and when you’re ready, we’re gonna pull those toes As far as we can, up to the ceiling, kind of tuck in your behinds, and we’re gonna hold that stretch.

Nice job.

We’re more than halfway done.

We’re doing great.

All right.

As you release that shin, you can shake out those legs.

We are going to transition to the floor.

So if you are not feeling like it, you are unable to transition to the floor, Phin Ter’s gonna show us some modifications from a chair.

Everyone else, I invite you to roll out your mats, make sure your other weights are tucked under your chair for safety.

We are gonna be on our bellies for this exercise.

Get a drink of water if you need to.

All right.

So this exercise we’re gonna do is gonna strengthen our lower back.

So we’re gonna be focusing on the lower back, so we can have a good range of motion, so we can decrease arthritis and back pain, and also just increase our core strength, and that’s really important.

So we are gonna start with our right arm forward, our left arm back, and we’re not using our arm and leg to swing together.

We’re using our lower back to lift our chest off of the ground.

So really trying to create space right here.

For some of you, it might look like this.

For others of you, you might have a lot of space right there.

Do what you can do.

We’re gonna do, again, we’re gonna hold it for eight, do two sets of ten.

So, heads down, spines are nice line, your body’s in a nice line.

We’re gonna go up, and hold it for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Good, release to the ground using your lower back.

Up for two.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Relax.

Great, up for three.

Try to use that lower back to get as high as you can off the ground.

Hold it; I’m gonna walk around.

Down slowly.

And back up.

Nice job.

Keep your noses to the ground; spines aligned.

Down slowly.

And up for five.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Nice job, Liliana.

Up for six.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Excellent, Dani.

Up for seven.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

If you’re standing up, you’re doing the same thing as on the ground, like Phin Ter.

Up for eight.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Down slowly.

Two left; up for nine.

Use that lower back.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

And up.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Nice.

All right.

Relax that back a little bit.

It’s not nap time; we’re just gonna give our backs a little rest.

Does anyone know anyone with arthritis?

Yes, because every person knows somebody with arthritis, right?

So this is also a benefit of strength training is that we know that as we strength train and build that bone density up, we can manage pain from the arthritis symptoms and also prevent arthritis from happening.

So we wanna make sure that all of our major muscles and joints are being used, and used specifically to strength train.

So strength training is really the key to pain management.

Okay.

Ready?

I’m ready.

Now we are gonna do the left side using that lower back muscle, so heads towards the ground.

If you’re standing, you’re following Phin Ter.

And we are gonna go up.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Down slowly.

Noses towards the ground, body is aligned.

Up for two.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Down slowly.

Up for three.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Up for four.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Using that lower back to lift that chest off the ground.

For, five, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Down slowly; up for six.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Down slowly.

Think about getting both those shoulders off the ground using that lower back.

Up, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, down.

Up for eight.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Down slowly.

Up for nine, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

And last one, good effort; let’s go up.

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

Nice job, you all.

We are gonna transition and do our belly muscles.

We’re gonna be on our backs.

Again, my colleague, Phin Ter, is gonna show us the modification in the chair.

He’s gonna be sitting straight up.

We are, again, gonna count these for eight seconds.

This one is a lower pelvic floor muscle and our lower ab muscle.

So think about a weight or something.

If you’re, like, holding or clenching your lower abdomen muscles, make sure you’re doing that.

We are gonna actually tilt our pelvis to the ground, so think about tilting our pelvis to the ground, holding it, and we’re gonna hold it for eight seconds.

So I want everyone, place your hands on your thighs.

This is one way to engage those lower pelvic muscles.

And I want you to tilt that pelvis, push that lower back into the floor, push your thighs, hands on your thighs.

Hold it for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Release.

[inhales] Big breath in through your nose, exhale through your mouth.

Push on those thighs; hold it for two.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and relax.

Again, in through your nose.

Tilt that pelvis forward, cut off the pee stream, so you’re holding it really tight.

And for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

Your behinds shouldn’t be coming off of the ground.

Your pelvic is just tilting a little bit.

Again for four.

Tilt that pelvis in, push on those thighs, keep those lower muscles really tight.

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

And in through your nose, out through your mouth for five.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

Same thing if you’re in the chair; you’re doing the same thing.

And again, for seven.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

[inhales] Big breath in.

Exhale, push on those thighs.

Think about that lower pelvic floor muscles and those lower abdomen, and hold it.

Release.

Two left; again, small of your back squished up against the floor, push.

And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

Last one for ten.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Nice, relax those muscles.

Before we do our second set, I also wanted to talk a little bit about the benefits of strength training programs and StrongBodies programs, all kinds of places where people gather.

So we also know from research that it is super important for people to make connections with each other for increased socialization, decreasing loneliness, and also improving your mental health.

There’s lots and lots of research that indicates your mental health is very important, and getting good blood flow through exercise and strength training can help with that.

We actually have some fantastic data from our StrongBodies Wisconsin program that said about 75% of the participants the last two years have increased their social connections and also have improved their mental health because of participating.

And that was virtually and in-person.

So we’re pretty proud of that.

So let’s do our second set.

All right, the tummy tuck.

Again, hands on the thighs, tilt that pelvis forward, push on the thighs, and let’s hold it for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, release.

Big inhale through your nose.

Exhale for two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

Try not to push with your legs.

Think about tilting that pelvis.

Again for three.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

[inhales] Big breath in.

Exhale for four.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

And again for five, push on those thighs, think about that small of back scrunching up against the ground.

Hold it tight and relax.

Halfway done.

Tilt that pelvis in, hold it for six.

Two, try not to push on your feet at all, using your pelvic and your abs to do all the muscle work, and relax.

Again for seven, in through your nose.

Out for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

In through your nose and out.

For eight, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

And engage those ab muscles again for nine.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, relax.

And again for ten; hold it tight.

We wanna make sure that we’re keeping all our urine inside of us.

Hold it tight for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight.

Relax.

Nice effort.

Okay, we are now gonna transition, quick transition to doing a side leg raise.

So we are gonna start with our left leg up.

If you wanna strap on your ankle weights, both legs.

If you only have one ankle weight, you can put it on your left leg.

Phin Ter, again, is showing us some modifications if you’re unable to get to the floor.

We’re gonna be standing up and doing this exercise the same as we would be doing it on the ground.

So this exercise builds up that muscle and also the bone density of your hip because we know, especially as we age, we do not wanna break our hips.

And if we do break our hip, we wanna be able to recover quickly.

And if we fall, we wanna make sure that it’s minimal damage to our hip joint because we know it can be a hard, long recovery if you hurt your hips.

So let’s strengthen that muscle on our hip.

You’re gonna be on your right side.

Your left leg is gonna be up.

Body’s gonna be in a straight line.

If you’re standing, you’re gonna be behind your chair with your leg coming up.

Your body’s nice, your hips are stacked up, your foot is flat.

We’re gonna go up for four, down for four.

We’re gonna try not to hit the ground on the way down.

If you want your body, your head up, you can have it elevated.

Otherwise, you can be laying on your bicep, whatever’s comfortable for your spine alignment.

All right, flat feet, and let’s work those hips.

Up, two, three, four.

We’re going up about 18, 20 inches.

Feet are flat, toes are not pointed.

Back down.

Two, three, and four.

Nice, up for two.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

You can tap that toe to the ground.

You don’t have to rest it; lead with your heel.

Back up for three, two, three, four.

If you’re standing, making sure you’re nice and tall, not tilting over.

Nice and slow down.

And back up for four, two, three, four.

Flat feet and down.

Two, three, four.

Up for five, two, three, four; nice job.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for six, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for seven, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for eight, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for nine; you should feel it in your hip, right around that joint.

Down, two, three, four.

Last one; up, two, three, four.

Hold it there.

Down, two, three, and four.

Nice.

As you rest that hip, we wanna make sure on all the exercises after we get done with nine and ten, we feel like we need to rest ’cause then we know we maxed out our effort, and that’s when you get the most benefit.

So we know, as humans, we wanna be efficient.

So if you’re working your hardest at nine and ten, and you have to rest, then you know you’re doing your maximum effort and you’re gonna get the most health benefits.

You can do the same amount of weights your whole life, that’s fine, to maintain what you have, but if you wanna get those health benefits, you gotta increase your weights every couple weeks, or as soon as your body allows you to.

When you do increase, you wanna increase about by two, you know, one to three-pound increments.

We usually wanna be on an intensity about four, on a scale of one to five.

So one would be, like, a green bean, and five would be a big box of steaks.

We wanna be at a four.

So maybe like a watermelon effort.

And whatever size watermelon it is depends on your body.

Second set.

So body’s in a straight line, hips are stacked together, feet are flat, and we are gonna go up.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for two, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for three, two, three, four.

Nice, Liliana.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for four.

Nice job, Dani.

Down, two, three, four.

Nice, Phin Ter.

Up for five, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Good, Bridget.

Up for six, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Nice, Penny.

Up for seven, two, three, four; hold it up there.

Down, two, three, four.

Nice, Cristy.

Up for eight, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

You should feel it in those hips, right?

Yes, especially the one you have the weight on.

Up, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Last one, up for ten, hold it up there.

You’ve got this, flat feet, and down.

Nice and slow.

Great.

Yes, feel like you need a break?

That’s good.

That means you’re at the right amount of weight.

So flipping on to the other side.

So if you just did your left leg, we are gonna have our right leg on top.

If you need to increase your weights or decrease your weights, go ahead and do so.

Again, bodies are in a very straight line, hips are stacked up, feet are flat, head and neck are in a neutral position.

And up, two, three, four.

If you’re standing, you’re gonna feel this in both hips because both hips are doing a lot of the effort.

If you’re on the ground, you’re gonna feel more the effort on the hip that you’re raising.

Up for two, two, three, four; hold it up there.

Flat feet.

When it gets hard, sometimes you wanna point those toes down.

Nice and slow.

Up for three, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Keep breathing.

Up for four, two, three, four.

Down nice and slow, two, three, four.

Up for five, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for six, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for seven.

Starting to feel it; keep breathing.

Don’t hold your breath.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for eight, two, three, four.

Flat feet; down, two, three, four.

Up for nine, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

This one, you should barely be able to push it up.

Up, two, three, four; hold it.

Down, two, three, four.

Nice job.

Should feel it right in that hip area.

Okay, so if you are able to do that one to 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, even to 12, then, you know, you’re ready for extra weight.

So with these ankle weights, they’re adjustable.

You can add one little pound of sand in there, or an extra half-pound.

If you couldn’t do it in good form and your leg was kind of flailing all over the place, then maybe you need to go down in weights.

Usually, that’s not the case.

Most time, people just need encouragement to go up in weights so they can get those health benefits.

So.

Are you ready for the second set?

Okay, side leg raise.

Foot is flat, body’s in a straight line, knees are together, and we are going up.

Two, three, four, at a good height.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for two, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for three, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for four, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for five, two, three, four.

Flat feet, down, two, three, four.

Up for six, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for seven, two, three, four.

Lead with your heel.

Down, two, three, four.

Think about pointing that toe towards the ground for this one; up for eight.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for nine.

You should feel it in that hip.

Hold it on top.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for ten.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Nice job.

Okay, the next one is going to be our chest press.

So we’re gonna be strengthening that upper front of your body.

We can take off our ankle weights.

The modification of the chest press, Phin Ter is going to be doing it against the wall.

The rest of you are gonna grab your heaviest weights ’cause this is a very big muscle and strong muscle in your body.

You’re gonna be laying on your back.

And as we get ready, we’re gonna be in goal post position.

This muscle is for pushing, pulling.

Eventually, if you feel like these weights aren’t good enough, you can do pushups.

We are gonna go up for four, down for four.

We’re gonna keep it at a 90-degree angle with our arms, go straight, and then back to a 90-degree angle.

Weights should be across your chest, and let’s go.

Up, two, three, four, hold it on top.

And down, nice and slow.

Two, three, four.

I want you to hover your arms, but not rest them.

Up for two, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for three, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for four, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for five, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for six.

Hold it on top.

Down, two, three, four.

Loose grip on your weights.

Use that chest to push the weights up.

Down, two, three, and four.

Nice, up for seven.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for eight, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Keep that core tight.

Up for nine, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Last one, up for ten.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, and four.

Nice, rest that chest muscle.

So that one felt easier than the hips, right?

Which usually means that we can use a little bit more weight, and if you’ve been using the same weight for a couple weeks, try to use the next weight up.

So if you’re on fives, go up to sevens or eights.

Go up to tens and see how that feels.

See if you can do ten of ’em in a row, and if you can, then you’re ready for that amount of weight.

We wanna make sure that we keep getting stronger, right?

This is progressive.

If we want the health benefits, we wanna make sure that we keep lifting heavier weights.

And when you’re plateaued out, and you’re like, “I’m at the heaviest weights possible, I’m at 15s or 20s for all the exercises,” then maybe it’s time to switch some of the exercises up.

All right.

We are gonna do second set of chest press.

Again, you’re on your back, goal post position.

Think about using that chest muscle to push the weights up.

Up, two, three, four; nice and slow.

And try not to rest your elbows on the down.

Hover right over the ground.

You’re pushing up right over your chest.

Up for two.

Two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for three, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for four, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Up for five, two, three, four.

Nice and slow down.

Focus on that chest muscle.

As we focus on the muscle that we’re using, we’re connecting your brain to that muscle, and we can use it more efficiently.

Down, nice and slow.

Up for seven, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Eight, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Nine, two, three, four.

Down, two, three, four.

Nice effort, up for ten.

Two, three, four.

Nice and slow down.

Down, two, three, and four.

Nice.

Okay.

As you sit up slowly, we are going to transition and do a couple balance exercises.

So we’re gonna tuck our weights, roll up our mats, put ’em up under our chair.

The first exercise that– Or the first balance exercise that we are gonna do is the one-legged stork.

You might have seen people do this.

We are going to hold it for 30 seconds on each leg.

Our goal is to be able to do this for two minutes on each leg, but if you wanna start at five seconds, you can start at five seconds; do what you can.

If you tip over, just realign yourself, and start over again.

So we are gonna, easiest option is just to use your chair for balance if you need to, and just lift one foot slightly up, if that’s where you feel like your comfort is today.

Balance can change day to day; that’s fine.

If you’re feeling real comfortable about that, you can put your leg high up as you can.

Try not to push on that knee.

So we’re gonna hold it for 30 seconds.

When you feel nice and comfortable, try to find a point of focus and concentration, not on somebody that’s tipping over, and let’s go.

Four, three, two, and one.

Nice.

All right, we’re gonna switch to the other leg.

So, other leg up.

Again, you can do it like a bicycle, but otherwise you can put your leg up as much as you’re comfortable.

Use your hands only as needed, and let’s hold it for 30 seconds, starting now.

Five, four, three, two, and one.

Nice job.

Okay.

The next balance exercise we’re gonna do is the tandem walk.

So if you step back a couple feet, we’re gonna be taking seven steps in, turning around, and seven steps out.

If you’re having a problem and you need an extra step in there, or you feel like your balance is off, make sure that you’re doing it up against a wall or that you’re doing it, you know, across a flat surface, where you have something to catch your balance.

If not, this is, again, a different balance exercise.

We wanna keep our eyes up and we’re going nice and slow.

If you go fast, it’s actually easier.

Wanna spread those toes out in your shoes, making sure that you’re getting all of the balance you can from your feet.

And you’re gonna take seven steps forward.

Eyes up; you can go ahead.

When you get to seven, turn around slowly, and you can do seven back.

Our goal is to be able to do this 20, 30, 40 steps in a row, and something that you can practice at home.

All right, nice job.

We finished exercises, finished the balance.

Now we’re gonna stretch.

So first thing we’re gonna do is stretch out our hamstrings.

So this is the back of your legs.

If you wanna go in front of your chair, and hands on your chair, you can put elbows on your chair.

If you feel like you need a better stretch, push back.

You can widen those legs out until you feel a nice, really great stretch in that upper back of your leg.

We wanna hold that stretch.

We always want to stretch after we exercise, not necessarily before; before, we wanna warm up.

After, we wanna stretch; helps with your flexibility and with your balance.

We’re gonna hold that.

Should feel good.

All right, relax those legs.

Next stretch is gonna be our quadriceps, so if you want to grab your chair, you can use your chair.

For this one, Phin Ter is gonna show you a modification that you can do in the chair if you are unable to grab your leg, or you don’t feel like grabbing your leg, you can grab your pants.

If you have a towel, you can roll up a towel.

Otherwise, you can grab your shoe.

Get your knees together.

And this effort you can really feel if you push down with your kneecap.

Think about pushing it to the floor and tilting your pelvis forward.

Again, we’re gonna hold that stretch.

You should feel it in the front of your leg.

Should feel good after strength training.

For about 20 to 30 seconds.

Awesome, switch legs.

Try to keep those knees together.

When you’re stretching, you wanna get into the deepest stretch you can without having pain.

So where it feels really tight and really good, and that’s where you hold it.

Remember to breathe.

Awesome.

All right, clasp your hands in front.

We’re gonna stretch out that upper back.

You can drop your head to a shoulder.

Drop it to the other shoulder.

Stretch out that upper back, chin down.

Awesome; release it.

Think about pushing up against a wall.

We’re gonna stretch out our chest, or if you wanna clasp your hands, you can, and push back.

Shoulders nice and straight.

In through your nose, out through your mouth.

Let’s hold it.

Awesome.

All right.

Big breath in, [inhales] up to the sky.

Congratulate yourself for taking an hour to strength train today and make your body a little bit healthier.

You can also find this program in Spanish and in Hmong on our website for StrongBodies.

And if you are looking for a StrongBodies program in your community that you wanna connect with people in-person, our StrongBodies Wisconsin Extension website has that information for you.

And if you just wanna do it from home, the comfort of your home, we have many virtual classes available.

So please find a class near you.

Otherwise, find another area to strength train and take care of your body.

Thanks, all.

[participants applauding] [gentle music]