- Hi, I'm Cassy Vieth, and this is Quick Fit .

Our deepest core muscles aren't flashy movers like biceps, but they are very important stabilizers.

Think of a crane.

If the main body of that crane wasn't rigid and stable, the arm that extends out would not be able to lift those incredibly heavy objects.

Join me now to activate and condition your deep stabilizing muscles.

[upbeat music] In today's class, the term I'm going to use throughout is bear down.

Bearing down is the technique of compacting your abdominal muscles.

And it's slightly different than just pulling in at the belly button.

Imagine somebody was gonna run up and tickle you and poke you in the side of your ribs.

You'd automatically just contract and bear down.

So let's bear down by contracting all of those abdominal muscles.

Can't even really tell it's happening, but it is.

[inhales] Breathe in and out.

And now I'd like you to compact, to bear down, and just dip your shoulder down.

Right?

A few times in one direction and now the other.

Keep it contracted and lean it over.

Just keep your hands on your hips.

[inhales] Exhale.

Good, and the longer you do this, you'll find more muscles are being recruited from deep under your ribs, all the way down to between your hip bones.

Press it down.

Do that again.

Right and left.

Exhale.

If you have to re-bear down each time, that's okay.

Inhale and exhale.

Inhale.

[exhales and inhales] And blow.

Now, let's add a little tail tuck, okay?

So tuck your tailbone under, squeeze your butt, bear down through your abs, okay?

Right and left.

Keep it going.

Squeeze.

You can push against those muscles so you can be sure that they are activating.

Exhale; just a little move, that's all you need to do.

Nothing major.

Last couple.

Good, and now let's extend your right arm up, left knee.

Okay, lift.

And now, let's do a little twist, moving that elbow towards the knee.

Now, have you forgot to be continuing to bear down?

Okay, you're contracting.

Extra contraction every time.

Lift [inhales and exhales] and bear down.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] One more.

Good, let's switch sides, okay?

Other arm up, [inhales] opposite leg.

[exhales] Good.

You have chains of muscles that work together and they make like a big X on the front of your body.

So right now, we're working that chain of muscles and it crosses about here.

Okay, inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Last couple.

Press, extend, and squeeze.

Don't forget to really bear down through those abs.

All right.

Continuing, bear down, tuck your tail under, hands on your hips, open those knees.

[exhales] You didn't have to move your feet, just the knees, okay?

Instead of doing maybe this, open those knees.

You'll feel your hips engage.

[exhales] Good, inhale.

Do it again.

Good.

Pulling it in.

Bearing down.

Squeeze the bottom.

Open the knees.

Exhale.

Good.

All right, now this time, you don't have to tuck your tail, but we are going to continue to bear down, but we're gonna lean forward.

So contract, reach, lean forward.

Okay?

Lean and reach.

Couple small get ups.

Push through those hips.

Good, and if bearing down doesn't feel as easy in this position, at least continue to pull in through the belly button.

Couple more.

Reach, reach, [exhales] reach.

Good, sit it back down and add a knee lift, okay?

Do you find it a little easier to do the bearing down move when you're in a more of a curved position with your tailbone tucked under?

Lift, you can even pull on the bottom of the seat.

Lift.

Other knee, lift and lift.

[inhales and exhales] Keep it going.

In five, four, three, two, good.

Other leg, extend it this time and lift.

Bear down.

Pull with your fingers on the bottom of your chair, lift.

You've got muscles that connect from here down into your leg.

Lift.

Couple pulses.

Five, four, three, two, and switch legs.

Little stretch.

Roll that pelvis back, extend that leg.

And don't forget about this leg.

You can also push this leg into the floor for a little more leverage, a little more muscle recruitment.

Lift, lift, and flex that foot.

Let's do a few pulses.

Five, four, continue to bear down, two, you can poke at your own ribs.

All right, good job.

Stretch, go ahead and turn to your right.

Bring that knee up, slide your hand down to your ankle, and we'll press that knee down.

Do a few stirs.

I wanna remind you that in about maybe two days, you'll get sore from all the bearing down that we were doing today, but you'll probably forget that you did this routine and you'll wonder what's wrong.

"Why am I sore all around my ribs?"

So give it a day or two and you'll probably be a little sore in spots you aren't normally sore.

Hang on to that ankle.

And that's good, it'll remind you that you did a good job.

You challenged your muscles.

[inhales and exhales] Good, and push it back.

And that is it.

I just love that routine.

It's mostly isometrics, meaning you're activating the muscles without movement.

You can activate these muscles any time of day and nobody can tell you're exercising.

Doing dishes, driving in your car, watching TV.

Before you know it, you'll automatically recruit these core muscles when they're needed.

Join me here tomorrow at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit and experience more power with all of your favorite activities.

Until then, 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.