- Congratulations on making Quick Fit a part of your day.

If you're new here, I'm Cassy Vieth.

These classes are about taking action to keep you moving pain-free and enjoying life.

Muscles are designed to be balanced, meaning one muscle group should not overpower other muscles.

Underused muscles such as the hamstrings will become weak and eventually cause pain down the leg or up the back.

So join me now as we stretch those tight muscles to strengthen them and ultimately bring pain relief.

[gentle music] As we take our time running through these exercises today, I'd like you to have a chair handy and also you may need a pillow, because we're going to be going down on one knee.

So let's draw your outside leg, meaning the outside leg, furthest one away from the chair to the back.

Big inhale, exhale as you sink down on that knee.

Have your knee right beneath your hip and then push your front foot forward so you have a little bit of room to move.

[inhales and exhales] Start inhaling, exhaling.

We're going to go through this series a few times to ease into it.

Hamstrings are really tight and we don't wanna push 'em right away.

Even though these are short classes, it's important that we do a warmup to give our muscles time to get warm and some oxygen into them.

So I'm pushing my hips slightly forward.

[inhales] Lift your outside arm up [exhales] and look towards the seat and let your arm go over your head.

You'll notice that outside hip is getting stretched.

Your ribs are getting stretched.

Inhale, [inhales and exhales] let that arm go to the back.

[exhales] Squeeze your hind end.

All right, and now I'd like you to lift the front of your foot up.

[inhales] If you can move the hips back a little bit and slightly lean forward, do so.

But the trick here is to not let your back round.

I know it wants to, tight hamstrings pull your back into this position.

So try to stick your chest out and only lean as far forward as you can maintain this arch in your back.

Okay, remember, we don't wanna round.

All right, we'll go through that again.

So a slight push forward, having a pillow under that knee if you need it, inhale, [inhales] and then you might find you're starting to warm up already and getting deeper into these moves.

Up, squeeze your butt and let your arm go backwards.

Great, and now for the hamstring stretch, lift the front of that foot up, push the hips back, [exhales] arch the back.

Now don't worry if you're not leaning forward as far as me, and don't round the back, it's just the hamstring trying to cheat.

[exhales] You might not even be getting a forward lean at all yet, and that's okay.

Just having this leg in front of you [inhales and exhales] is probably enough of a stretch for many of you.

All right, one more time.

Really enjoying it this time.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Let those hips go forward.

Make sure your foot's not way behind you like that.

Let's get it forward so you can really stretch the groin, the inner thigh, the hip flexor.

All right, and up.

[inhales and exhales] I'm sure you're seeing why we need to do this a few times with lots of breathing.

[exhales] Good, one more time.

Squeeze your hind end [exhales] and now scoot that front leg forward, pull the toes up.

Just start by lifting the ribs [exhales] and then sit back.

That's tight already, isn't it?

I know, I feel it too.

[inhales and exhales] Okay, don't lean forward, but just see if you can straighten that leg a little more.

Whew, that's a lot.

You can put the foot down.

[inhales and exhales] Good job.

Let's switch sides.

All right.

So let's just pull that chair over onto the other side.

All right.

And the outside leg is the knee you'll wanna keep down, the leg that's closer, draw that up.

Have your knee that's on the floor under your hip.

And maybe just scoot your front leg forward a little bit and we'll run through it.

So just a squeeze of the hind end, pushing the hips forward a little bit to warm up, arm up, [inhales and exhales] look at the chair.

Let those ribs stretch.

You can feel it all the way down the outside of that hip.

Up, let that arm go back, arching your back, add a squeeze of the behind.

[exhales] All right, the hamstring stretch.

Scoot your foot forward and lift the front of the foot up.

[inhales and exhales] Just arch your back, meaning stick your chest out.

Already you can feel that pull, I'm sure.

All right, but that's okay.

That's just our first run through.

It'll get easier.

[inhales] Push the hips forward, a little more maybe than last time.

Go as far as it feels good.

You'll know; you don't have to force it.

Maybe the first few weeks it won't feel good at all, but shortly after that it will.

All right, lift, [inhales and exhales] squeeze your hind end.

[exhales] All right.

And now we're going to move the hips back.

Stick your chest out.

[inhales and exhales] Big inhale, exhale as you lift the front of the foot.

Yeah, it's pulling.

[inhales and exhales] All right, starting again.

Sinking forward as far as it feels good, really stretching that hip flexor on that back leg.

Come out of it.

Lift, [inhales] big, big, deep inhale, exhale, [exhales] and over.

By the third time, it really is feeling good.

And up, [inhales] arch the back, and prepare to lean forward, scooting this foot forward, think about moving the ribs towards the thigh, not the chest and the shoulders with a rounded back, but the ribs towards the thigh.

All right, small move is all you need to do.

Don't make yourself grimace, all right?

[exhales] This is about feeling good.

And I want you to want to come back.

And if you make it horribly painful by pushing yourself too far into these stretches, you won't come back.

So this is about making yourself feel good.

Let's get rid of this chair, and we're going to lay on our backs.

Now, if you need a pillow under your head because your neck gets overarched, then use a pillow behind your head, and you may need to have a band handy later on, but I'll show you.

So just lay on your back with your knees bent, [inhales and exhales] roll it on back, and have your right leg flat on the floor and have your left leg up in the air.

All right, I'd like you to push your foot into the floor so that you feel your back into the floor.

Now keep pushing until your hips come off.

All right, it's a nice little bridge.

Let's go down, we're rolling our way down, pressing up.

Roll it down, press up.

[inhales and exhales] A couple more.

Hold it here, squeeze your hips.

Squeeze your hind end, one more, [exhales] and hold it here, good.

[inhales and exhales] You can pull those toes towards you for a little stretch.

Get those hips up.

Nice, all right, roll it down and we'll switch legs.

[inhales and exhales] All right, leg in the air, so your foot that's on the floor, my left foot, press it and so you can feel your back engage with the floor, and now press up into a bridge.

Very good, and down.

Press it up.

[inhales] Exhale, roll it down, [exhales] press it up and down.

Again.

I know your hamstrings are being stretched just in this position.

Push up a little higher.

Now if this is too hard, you can simply keep your ankle over your knee for a modification.

Modifying is always allowed, okay?

Because I want you to be able to do these classes at whatever level you're at.

All right, roll it down, we'll switch legs.

And if you have a band or a towel handy, you can use it for this exercise.

I want you to bring your knee towards your ribs and then extend.

And here's where the towel will come in or the band.

Okay, you can have it over your foot to help you stretch and inhale.

[inhales] Pull [exhales] just a little bit.

Let's bring that knee down [inhales] and extend.

[exhales] And if you get it maybe a centimeter closer to your body, let it up, knee down.

[inhales and exhales] Very good.

And you can also just use your hands to pull, just a slight pull, just to challenge, and we'll switch sides.

All right, so basically your leg is bringing the knee to your chest, but notice my foot is still facing the ceiling.

All right, so we'll press up.

[inhales and exhales] Don't forget to breathe, breathe, breathe, deep inhales, deep exhales.

[inhales and exhales] And one more.

Hang in there, we're almost done.

[inhales and exhales] Hamstrings, I know you avoid them because they're tight and they, it kind of hurts.

So go gently and it will get easier.

You'll learn to love it.

All right.

Hands behind your knees.

And we'll roll up into a seated position.

All right.

And let's extend, if you're mirroring me, just extend your right leg.

Okay, sit up nice and tall.

[inhales] And then we'll bring one shoulder over towards your knee.

Look up at the ceiling.

Okay, inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Enjoy it, okay?

Take your time, don't rush.

[inhales] Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] And think about bringing your ribs towards your thigh, okay?

Not your forehead.

The tighter your hamstrings are, the more I see that people, all they can bend is at their neck, but it's actually from your low back.

So you can even use the floor to push.

All right, and we'll switch sides.

All right, inhale.

[inhales and exhales] Allow the stretch, just from sitting on the floor is a big stretch, I know.

All right, so first I want you to just to drop your shoulder towards your knee, easy.

Inhale, [inhales and exhales] you'll stretch without forcing it.

So don't force it.

The weight of your body and the floor will work together to stretch those legs.

[exhales] All right, it'll come without you rushing or forcing it.

[inhales] Inhale, and remember, we're pushing from our lower spine, trying to get the ribs towards the thigh, not the head.

So be critical of that.

Maybe look at yourself in the mirror.

All right, inhale, last time, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Just getting all that old, stale air out of your lungs.

You'll feel refreshed.

You have just succeeded in making fitness a priority in your life.

Congratulations!

And I mean that, because I'm well aware it takes self-discipline each day to prioritize your workout and not talk yourself out of it.

Keep up the good work.

And within a month or two, you won't have to work so hard at it.

Your motivation will come more naturally as you feel within your body and emotions the benefit of working out consistently.

So I'll see you again tomorrow at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, where my goal is to help you live better, longer.

Have a great day.