- Welcome to Quick Fit !

I'm your host, Cassy Vieth.

If you're looking for a quick warmup for your day or before a more rigorous workout, this is the class for you.

If you've become concerned about loss of mobility, you'll find these gentle moves effective.

And if you're new to this program, take off your shoes, and join me now as we work to get you moving easier.

[gentle music] If you aren't feeling that great, move through these exercises rather half-heartedly and sloppy, with long, deep inhales and extra long exhales.

Let's sit forward on the seat with your feet out in front of you a little bit, hands on your hips, and let's just do some circles.

Make sure you're moving right from where your bottom meets the seat.

Okay, now breathe it in.

Exhale, pull in the abs as you lean back, and work it forward.

And just continue.

And then we'll reverse.

Now reduction in range of motion restricts some muscles and overworks others.

This can trigger painful spasms.

Let's put up your hands up behind your head, and we'll just do a real lazy upper waist rotation, okay?

[inhales] Just kind of moving like a ragdoll.

And reverse it the other way.

Now another reason for moving all your joints regularly through all their ranges is to clear out the mineral buildup that causes inflammation and pain.

All right, we'll just finish up here, and let's just do some easy shoulder circles.

Go at whatever height feels good for you.

Just let momentum bring that arm around.

Exhale.

Good, and reverse.

Up.

[inhales] Try not to hit your seat as you move that arm around.

Wouldn't want you to hit your funny bone.

And let's do the other arm.

So forward, [inhales] and down.

Good.

And reverse.

And then we'll switch arms again, and we'll have your palms up and extended.

Let's pull that shoulder up by your ear, and then reach it out.

You're trying to reach something that's just beyond your fingers, but you can't lean your body to get it, okay?

Now, so you've lengthened and opened up the shoulder, now circle.

Good.

Now rotate.

[inhales and exhales] Make sure you're sitting up tall.

Stomach's in, head and neck is up over the shoulders.

Palms up.

Pull back to stretch the front of the shoulder and the chest.

You can even look the other way.

And relax, and we'll do the other arm.

Extend.

[inhales] Palm is up, and we're going to reach, reach, reach, then pull the shoulder up by the ear, and then stretch it out again.

Remember, you're not gonna follow with the torso, it's just stretching these muscles and ligaments and tendons.

Good.

Do a couple circles in this lengthened, continually reaching position, and then rotate.

Involve the shoulder, not just the wrist.

Okay.

And finally, let's pull that arm back, trying not to twist through the torso, okay?

We're stretching these muscles in the front.

You can even look the other way.

Take a big breath in.

Exhale and get a couple more centimeters.

Very good.

Let's do a few seated cat and cows.

So hands on your hips, and we're going to take your hip bones and just let them rock back, and now come up, and rock them forward.

Okay, we're just rocking back and forth on your sit bones, right where your bottom meets the chair.

Rock it back and forth.

We're not using any force.

So for a lot of us, one direction is easier than the other, but doing both will help loosen it up.

And your pelvis is connected to your lower spine, so it's important to have nice mobility.

Okay, arms out, [inhales] and just some easy twists.

At first, our bottom is stationary in the chair, have those knees wide, [inhales] and to deepen the stretch, we can start dropping that knee in, and let your bottom shift in the chair, and continue around.

[inhales] Good, the other way.

Let that knee drop in, and shift in the seat.

Nice and easy.

[inhales and exhales] Good, you can do a little halo with that arm, and then the other way.

All right, face it forward, and a couple circles, draw a circle with your chin.

And once again, we're sitting up nice and tall.

And the other way.

Try not to get dizzy.

[inhales] Lift it up and down.

All right, good job.

All right, we're going to bend over forward, sort of just like a ragdoll, okay?

Just let your head and shoulders and arms hang forward.

You can shift around a little bit.

I just push my feet into the floor.

Get a little bit of a ragdoll effect, and then we'll roll up.

Tucking that chin, head coming up last, opening that chest.

We'll do it again.

Kinda bend over forward, like a ragdoll, and roll it up.

As if you can't feel your arms.

Last one.

[inhales] Good job.

All right, little bit of work for the hip sockets.

Put your hands on the seat to lighten your hip from the chair a little bit so you can get some nice, good movement.

Good, and the other leg.

Big circle.

Good.

I'm pushing my hands into the chair to take some of my weight off this hip so I can move easier.

All right, now let's lift up your knee, so you have a little bit of room under your foot.

Keep that foot flat, and then rotate your hip socket to bring the foot towards your other leg, and away.

Just kinda sweeping right and left, and you can feel that ball and socket joint working, helping those synovial fluids to lubricate all those soft tissues in your joint.

Couple more.

And the other one, let's bring that knee up.

And swing it left and right.

[inhales and exhales] Couple more, and I feel more coordinated on one side than the other.

Maybe you'll find that too.

Let's extend this leg and do a few ankle circles as we're finishing up today's class.

And reverse.

Make sure you go as far as you can in this rotation.

Go as slow as you need to.

And the other leg.

Good, trying to move just through the ankle joint.

And reverse.

[inhales] Pulling those toes towards you and then pointing away.

Let's add some wrist circles, okay.

These feel so good.

It's a nice stretch in the forearms.

[inhales and exhales] And reverse.

Especially this position, 'cause it's the opposite of what we do on our computer all the time.

So really stretch these muscles.

And widen those legs so you can do a few halos.

At first, just go right in front of your face, and then as you feel you can, start going up over the head, and maybe even behind the head, depending on your mobility, and of course we don't want anything catching or any pain, okay?

Other arm.

This is about pain relief, not creating pain.

All right.

[inhales and exhales] Last one.

And we are done.

This is a great routine to come back to whenever you need to be extra gentle due to a recent injury.

You may have noticed we didn't do any strengthening exercises, just simple rotations and lots of breathing.

So make note of this class, and log back in again at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit any time you need to take it easy or want a little extra time to warm up.

And remember, life is movement.

- Announcer: Funding for Quick Fit with Cassy is provided by Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.