- I'm Cassy Vieth with another easy, yet effective Quick Fit routine.

As we relax our shoulders and upper back, our head falls forward.

The heavy head then continues to pull the back and shoulders forward, stressing the muscles that support the head.

It's a circular pattern of negative events that can be prevented or improved, but requires diligence.

Our class today will give you the tools you need.

So let's get started.

[upbeat music] A forward head position and rounded shoulders isn't just about appearance.

It has negative physical effects.

It strains the neck muscles, causing headaches, can bring on TMJ symptoms, and reduces lung function and capacity.

So let's start working on it, shall we?

Slowly lift those shoulders and reach down towards the floor.

Make sure your head and neck is up over your shoulders and your stomach's pulled in.

Let's lift the whole shoulder girdle and then exhale, reaching down towards the floor.

At your sides, not in front of you, at your sides.

Let's take that left arm and lift the shoulder and reach down slightly behind you.

Your palms should be facing forward.

Lift and reach down slightly behind you.

Palms forward.

One more, lift, [inhales] exhale and extend.

Other side, lift.

Reach down, lift, and reach down.

You know, with continued malalignment, the stress on your spinal column will cause the bones to remodel along wrong patterns, making it increasingly difficult to reverse course, but we will not give up.

Let's just swing that left arm forward and back, standing nice and tall.

Stomach's pulled in.

Make sure you're not jutting your head forward.

Okay, then swing that arm across and out.

Just letting gravity and momentum loosen the shoulder.

And then once again, we'll go forward and up and then bending that elbow, letting the hand fall behind the head.

[inhales] Inhale.

[exhales] And exhale.

Let's do the other side.

Simple arm swings forward and back.

Have your feet a comfortable width apart so you have a steady base, stable base.

And swing across.

[inhales and exhales] Don't forget, pulling in your abs, standing tall.

And now we'll lift.

Let that hand fall behind the head.

Breathe it in, [inhales] blow.

Breathe it in and blow.

All right, two arms, elbow circles.

Pull 'em down by your back pockets.

Elbow circles, down by the back pockets.

Again, elbow circles, elbows down.

Now let's widen those arms, stretching through the chest.

Do it again.

Lift those elbows, open those arms.

You know, your chest muscles, some of them attach to your arms.

So as your arms are rolling forward, your chest is getting tighter.

Your chest is getting tighter and it's pulling your arms forward.

So that's why we're doing this particular stretch.

Now extend those arms and let's start with some spine twists, just partway at first, warming up.

[inhales and exhales] You can let that back heel lift, saving on your knees, breathe it in.

[inhales] And then exhale, [exhales] getting further into the twist.

Open, open that chest and twist across.

Good.

Right arm, let's do a few halos.

You could start in front of your face if you need to, working your way up over the head and hopefully eventually, behind the head.

Not today, necessarily.

Okay, but you will notice improvements with consistency.

Let's do the other arm.

We'll start in front.

Nice, big healing circles over the head.

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

Okay, it really helps those muscles.

All right.

Two arms up.

Okay, and just lean it over directly to your left.

Pause when it starts to feel tight.

Come partway out, breathe it in.

[inhales] Squeeze your hind end and lean over, facing forward.

Don't let your arms fall forward like that.

Okay, and up.

[inhales] And one more time to the side.

We'll pull on that wrist, [exhales] stretching that shoulder and your sides.

Okay.

Release and go to the right.

You can have a little soft knee.

Breathe it in, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Over, don't turn through your torso.

Shoulders and chest should be facing forward, and over.

Grab that wrist and pull.

One more, breathe it in and over.

Let's bring those hands down and place them on the top of your thighs, sort of like an outfield position, okay.

Let's do a couple cat and cows.

So you're arching your back up to the ceiling.

And now the opposite, as if someone's standing on the middle of your back.

One more time, arch.

[inhales and exhales] Good.

And the other way.

All right, grab that chair.

We'll be using the chair back for the next exercise.

A little bit of strengthening work.

So step back so you have a nice, long arm, and I'd like you to actually press down into the chair back and use about maybe 70% or 80% of your strength so that you can feel your muscles back here activating.

So press, press, press.

Breathe it in.

And then we're going to do a modified downward dog, which means you're going to be backing up, really lengthening through the arms, the upper back.

You can let your knees bend.

Halfway up.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Come back out of that.

And we'll do those active, pressing down into the chair with your hands.

Stomach's pulled in.

Pressing down for five, four, three, two, and then we'll go into the stretch again.

[exhales] Open the armpit.

Stretching through the shoulders and that upper back, your thoracic spine.

It gets really rounded, so we need to create some space.

All right, up again.

We'll strengthen those muscles that help you have better posture.

And then we'll stretch it back again.

Opening up the spine.

Very good.

Okay, so now I'd like you to take your left arm and you can release it and reach across your body.

See if you can touch your side up behind your shoulder or just below your armpit.

Okay, and we'll switch sides.

I'll show you on this side.

So we'll release, and then you're reaching around, touching your side, your back here, looking up under your arm if you can.

Okay, very good.

All right, let's turn your chair so we can use the chair seat for the next part.

Do some more strengthening to those back muscles.

Okay, so you'll be standing with your feet under your hips, hands under your shoulders, and let's reach out right at your shoulder height and do a few lifts.

Lift, lift.

Try not to be overstraining your neck, okay.

For you to look up, it does put some extra pressure on your neck.

So just try to look at the chair and I'll try to explain very well so you don't have to look up.

Now, we're going to move that hand back by your hip and do those pulses again.

Focus on squeezing your back and not swinging the arm.

And now let's move that arm up overhead, thumb pointing to the ceiling and lift.

Two, three.

If you need to take a break for your hamstrings, go ahead and then join us after just, I don't know, three or four seconds, really, will give you an nice break.

Shoulder height, lift.

Two, three.

Back by the hips.

Lift, two, three.

Back up by the head, ready?

Lift, two, three.

I know these can be hard.

Let's do the other side.

It can be hard when you've had, you know, years of your shoulders rounding forward and your upper back leaning forward, but you can fix it.

You can work on it a little bit each day.

Just be patient with yourself.

Okay, let's lift that arm out and lift.

Straight out to the side.

Good, move the hand back by your hip.

Try to rotate the thumb towards the ceiling.

Getting that shoulder in that better position.

[inhales and exhales] And up over the head.

And lift, two, thumb towards the ceiling.

[exhales] Let's bring that arm straight out from your shoulder.

Again, thumb up to the ceiling.

Let's do five, four.

Squeezing the back, three, two.

Back by the hip, five, four, three, two, and one more up by your ear.

Lift.

I know this is the hardest one.

Two, three, four.

Let's do a few extra and exhale.

Let's tuck your chin, tuck your tailbone under, and we'll roll up slowly.

Very good.

Let's just do a few halos to release.

Good, and the other side.

[inhales and exhales] Nice, deep breaths, okay, guys?

Breathe it in for like four seconds and out for like six, getting rid of all that stale air.

Good, lift the chest.

Good, other side.

So elbow up, palm up.

We're tracing a sideways figure eight with our hand.

Good job.

Some of my members have confessed to me that they often hear my voice, reminding them to stand tall and pull their shoulders back.

I tend to hear my mom reminding me.

In fact, she has excellent posture to this day.

So for more reminders, tips, and tools, join me here again tomorrow at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit and congratulate yourselves for taking action towards better health.

Now don't sit down, keep on moving.

- Announcer: Funding for Quick Fit with Cassy is provided by Greg and Carol Griffin, founders of ElderSpan Management, Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.