[uplifting music]
- This is Quick Fit,
your daily workout to stretch, strengthen, and reduce pain.
Today's class will focus on the muscles of the back,
upper, lower, and sides.
Throughout this class,
you'll need to pull in your abs to support your spine.
Just a nice, continuous hold.
Let's just start with some nice, big rainbow warm-ups.
Hands up and over. [exhales]
Start to match your breathing [inhales]
with you repetitions.
Nice deep inhales and long exhales. [exhales]
That's going to help your muscles warm up quicker.
And lengthen.
In and out. [exhales]
Remember, if you have any pain, don't work into it.
You want to be very relaxed,
kind of half-hearted as you move.
You do need to move to keep the blood flowing
into those muscles that have been injured,
but we don't want to create any pain responses.
All right, very nice.
Let's move on to a good morning.
Have a chair handy, hopefully no wheels.
Just a nice, sturdy chair.
And let's just open up those arms,
and we'll kick one leg back
and just a relaxing [exhales] sweep down.
All right, up. [inhales]
Nice and smooth. [exhales]
Blow it out.
Enjoying the stretch.
Exhale. [exhales]
Let's do one more.
Don't forget to pull in your stomach.
I'll just keep reminding you throughout this class.
It's something that is just really good to do
throughout your day.
Just holding in those abs.
It works on those very deep abdominal muscles
deep around your spine.
Okay, we'll kick the other leg up.
Arm out [inhales] and sweep it over, exhale. [exhales]
Exhale a little longer than you think.
Inhale, [inhales] and over. [exhales]
You don't have to get as far over as I do.
Just do what's good for you.
Don't make yourself grimace. [exhales]
One more.
Big, big, big inhale [inhales]
and exhale. [exhales]
Terrific.
For this next move for the upper back,
we'll be using your chair,
and I'd like you just to step back a little bit from it.
You can have your feet side by side,
or if you have very tight hamstrings,
you can step one foot back more than the other.
Try to have a flat spine.
You know your hamstrings are tight
when you're very rounded like this.
So try to adjust, push into the chair
so that you can flatten that back
and you can have your head above your arms.
Right hand, press down into the seat,
left arm, lift.
Where's your stomach?
Pull it in.
Lift. [inhales]
Exhale. [exhales]
This is work,
so don't be concerned if you're breathing heavy.
[exhales] You should be.
Lift.
'Cause I know this is not easy.
People's upper backs get weak much earlier than you realize
in your age.
It's not just an age-related weakness.
Lift, okay, and take a little break, inhale.
[inhales]
Exhale and [exhales] reach it back with your hips
and lift with the other arm.
Lift, lift, lift,
and lift, couple more, keep it going.
These are one of my favorite exercises for the upper back.
And take a little break.
Inhale, [inhales and exhales] exhale.
And now, let's sit it back a little further
so that your spine and your arms are even longer.
Lengthening through the shoulder.
If you were standing,
your shoulders would be up by your ears.
Okay.
A little soft bend to the knee to relieve the hamstrings,
stomach in.
And let's do what I call a core angel.
One-armed core angel.
Okay, moving that around,
using the back of the chair for support. [exhales]
[inhales] Pull the stomach in.
Don't forget to breathe as heavy as you need to.
Let's do the other arm.
Around [exhales] and up.
Around and up. [inhales]
Using your back muscles, the upper back muscles
to support the movement. [exhales]
All right, round the back to ease that tension
and walk it up.
Very nice.
Let's just turn the chair around sideways
and we'll start getting a little lower with our legs
doing some partial squats.
So your feet should be at least shoulder-width apart.
Find a comfortable width so you can get your hips down.
[inhales and exhales]
It's so nice.
You can do these types of workouts anywhere.
You can go visit family
and do the exercises right in your room
or in your living room.
No special equipment.
All right, coming down. [exhales]
Try not to hump over with the back.
Use the chair at your lowest point
to help you stretch the upper back and lift.
Lift, lift, and lift.
Other side.
Lift, lift, lift, and lift.
That is not an easy one.
So if you're not finding that one easy today,
don't worry, consistency is the key to getting stronger.
All right, let's continue to use the chair right by us.
We'll just take a little step back.
All right, have your front knee over your ankle.
Your back leg is extended behind you.
[inhales and exhales]
So the chair would be good if you need that for balance.
And we'll just hinge at the hips.
Flat back.
So we're not rounding to get lower.
You're stretching this leg, this hamstring, your glutes,
and you're only hinging from here.
Reach and up.
Stomach's in, support the move.
Down and up. [inhales and exhales]
Over. [exhales]
Maybe a little lower.
Okay, maybe you have to move that back leg back a little bit,
but keep this straight.
A few more.
Push that foot to come up and over.
One more.
All right. [inhales]
Other leg.
Big step back.
Knee is straight over the ankle,
and [exhales] slide those hands down by the foot.
Come up.
Stomach's tight.
Back is flat.
We're not rounding.
And press, and press.
Very good.
All right, nice, wide move here.
And I do like having the chair here as a reminder
that your knee is not gonna go anywhere.
So keep this chair here.
Line up the knee over the ankle.
Move this leg so you can have a nice, large warrior pose.
[inhales and exhales]
And reach over that chair.
You're going to feel this in all different spots.
Your leg has to stretch,
you're moving only from right here.
These side core exercises.
All right, hold it here.
Move that arm down, move this arm up and over.
Two, two more.
Three.
One more, very good.
Let's switch it to the other side.
So the chair is just a really great tool.
I'm gonna line my leg up
just to remind me to have good form for my knee.
Arms are nice and wide and [exhales]
we're not dropping those arms.
Unless you have some sort of shoulder pain
where you need to adjust, okay? [inhales and exhales]
Over.
One arm up, one arm down, and reach.
Reach, reach, and reach.
So good.
All right, let's just stand up and do the last couple moves.
Hips stay forward.
I'd like you to do
just a little twist through the shoulders.
Dip to the back and to the front.
Where's your stomach?
Make it tight, pull it in.
Don't push it out.
Pull it in.
Okay, let's do the other one.
[exhales] Twist.
Dip forward and back.
Stomach's in.
Spine is nice and tall.
Improved body awareness is what you will end up
with consistency with these classes.
And that may not have been easy for you today,
but it was fairly brief.
So come back to it again if it felt good
or if you are particularly weak in one of these areas.
PBSWisconsin.org/quickfit is your place
for easy and enjoyable routines so you can live better, longer.
See you soon.