[gentle music]
- Welcome back to all my Quick Fit peeps.
I'm Cassy, and this is the place to reduce pain,
get stronger, and stay that way.
Today's class builds on the balance episode
for ready reflexes.
Have a chair handy, and please consider removing your shoes.
We're going to hold onto the chair to begin with.
Just stand on your right leg, if you're mirroring me.
And extend your left out to the side.
Okay, so we're not doing the death grip on the chair.
If you feel very unsteady,
you'll need to stay with the first episode
for a little longer.
So just lightly touching the top of the chair
and you have your toes out to the side.
Almost no weight going down through this leg, okay?
You wanna make sure you're steady on this leg.
Centering all your weight here,
conditioning these joints to the job, okay?
[inhales] Now completely release.
And as long as you don't flop over to your other foot,
then that's a good next step for you, okay?
Small toe lifts, doesn't have to lift far.
The point is just getting this leg used to holding up
all of your weight, practicing, practicing, be patient.
[inhales]
All right, now the standing leg is getting tired.
Little lifts, small little lifts out to the side.
If you need to take a break, do so.
Count to three and then join us again.
And we'll go to the front.
Nice little shift helps.
I can feel the muscles all the way down into my calf.
And to the back. [inhales and exhales]
You can still keep your hand right over the chair.
You don't want to waste a lot of time
shifting onto two feet.
All right, and now the hardest one is across, okay?
Across.
[inhales and exhales]
Creating an unstable but controllable environment
is part of training your balance reflexes.
All right.
Put that foot down just for a moment.
Stretch it left and right.
Giving a little relief to this leg.
All right, tree pose.
So let's just draw that same left leg,
the toes right next to your ankle.
[inhales and exhales]
Okay, we can start by holding on, lift.
So we have a very tiny base.
And now, if you feel stable,
then go ahead and lift the hands off.
Good, and if this is easy, and you don't feel
like you're going to need to hang on,
then just slide the foot up a little bit.
Very good.
All right, and bring that arm back down and two feet again,
stretching the knee.
Circle the ankle.
Shift the hips.
Let's do everything on the other side.
Okay, still hanging on to the chair just to begin with.
[inhales and exhales]
Extend that right leg out,
toes just barely touching the floor.
Okay.
Then you can start experimenting with lifting
the hand off the seat.
Maybe your foot's jiggling around.
That's all of those nerves
trying to communicate with your brain.
Good, small toe lifts.
And if anything just becomes too hard,
then just go back to the step before.
All right.
You can touch the chair, lift, lift, lift.
If you find that easy enough,
you can just lift the hand as well.
[inhales and exhales]
All right, to the front, lift, lift, lift.
[inhales and exhales]
And whoop, stop if you think you're gonna fall
and need to hang on, just stop.
Let your body stabilize and then move on to the back,
to the back, to the back.
See, it's controllable, you're not going to land
in a pile on the floor.
Chair's here.
Try not to hang on.
And now across and open, your body learns by failure.
A little failure you know, you're not falling to the floor,
but you just needed to grab on real quick
or put a foot down, that's okay.
[inhales and exhales] All right.
Let's circle around just a little bit
before we do that tree pose, lift each heel up and down.
And then, drawing that foot right next to your other ankle,
so you have a nice small base, knees wide.
Hang on if you need to to begin with.
Lift.
[inhales and exhales] All right.
Now we're going to just, little by little,
releasing the chair.
Good.
Find one thing to stare at.
Maybe something on the wall or the floor,
[inhales and exhales] while your body stabilizes.
Good, and slowly come out of that.
Two feet down, shifting through your hips.
And the other way.
Ankle circles.
Reverse.
And the other side.
Good.
All right.
Let's do some around the clocks.
So extend your right leg.
Hang on if you'd like.
Lift, use your stomach, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift,
and back around. [exhales]
Good, we'll switch sides.
Extend, lift, lift, and start scooting it around.
So all these muscles have to stabilize the joint
as you're shifting your weight
by these very slight little movements.
Balance just isn't in your inner ear.
The whole body needs to communicate,
and it takes practice.
So be patient.
All right, now let's do a little crouch.
Okay, so I'm just sitting back.
I have a slight bend in my knee,
and I'd like you to reach out with one leg
and back, one leg and back.
Now, notice that I'm not shifting my weight.
Once again, we're centering our weight
on the non-moving leg, reach and back.
Isn't this great, you can do these classes from anywhere.
This is a great kind of a travel thing.
Anywhere you go, you can log on to the PBS website,
whether you're camping somewhere,
or in a hotel somewhere, or visiting with relatives.
Let's do the other side.
All you need?
You don't need anything.
Well, piece of computer, a device, a phone, tablet.
Okay.
A couple more.
All you need is a will, that's it.
A will to live better, longer.
And that's why you're here.
All right, let's do just a couple ABCs.
Extend the leg, draw a letter A, hang on if you need to
because by this time you're tired,
but we still need to condition all those joints.
I'm on D.
E, the crosses going across is the hardest.
F, and a big G.
And of course, these muscles get tired too.
Shift it one more time.
All right, A. [exhales]
Tight butt, tight stomach, sitting up nice and tall.
Across, across, across, mine are kind of sloppy.
[inhales] And a big one.
A big letter G as we finish up.
Very good, all right.
We'll finish up with one, eyes closed.
So hang onto the chair, extend your leg out to the side.
Your toes are just barely touching.
Get as much of your weight down through your leg.
You're hanging on, close your eyes.
Now, if you feel stable,
then you can slightly, slightly start taking your hand
off of the chair.
[inhales and exhales]
Keep your hand really close.
All right.
Two feet down, open your eyes, we'll switch sides.
Hanging on, extend, [inhales and exhales]
hanging on, close your eyes.
Stabilize before you try to...
Stabilize before you try to close your eyes.
That's what I wanted to say, now close your eyes.
And relax.
Okay.
Improving your balance requires patience,
practice, consistency.
So keep following along at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit,
where I'll keep you strong and fit for the life
you want to live, because life is movement.