- Hello there, welcome back.

I'm Cassy and this is Quick Fit , where movement and pain relief go hand in hand.

Today's class will be more of a clinic.

But don't worry, you will still get a workout.

I want to go over the proper technique for squatting safely.

The reason this is so important is because it is very healing for your joints.

So grab a chair and join me now.

[gentle music] I love teaching squats.

But knees can be tricky, and you know your body better than anyone.

So if at any point you feel a knife pain, stop, see your doctor to make sure you don't have anything torn.

But if you just have the normal pain associated with aging, join me carefully, and if there are certain spots you experience pain, avoid those spots, but follow along with the rest.

All right, we're just gonna start warming up the knees just a little bit before we start.

And now, I'd like you to have a fairly wide stance with your feet, about shoulder width apart.

All right, toes are slightly toed out, all right.

And I want you to push the hips back.

Your chest comes forward a little bit and lift up those toes.

All right, so we'll stand back up, we'll take a little bit of an inventory.

So inhale, [inhales] exhale and hips go back.

All right, so pick up those toes.

What will happen is, when you pick up your toes, it helps you to center your weight more over your heels.

All right now, some of us, just no matter what I say, don't realize it, but they're going knees forward, and this is pretty hard on the knees.

So push your weight through your heels and feel your hips go back.

Very good.

Ideally, you'd like your knees centered over about the center of your foot.

This activates the hamstrings and helps you also to develop stronger hamstrings.

All right, now let's stand back up.

All right, one more time.

Hips go back, shoulders come slightly forward because you just have to center your gravity.

All right, and up.

Now, if you still having trouble with the knees going forward, or you're not quite sure, here's a really great test.

So walk up to your chair or your couch until your toes are underneath.

All right, don't stop here and then move the knees forward.

That's cheating.

Walk up until your knees are right up hard against the chair.

And now, when I say squat, you know, you're not gonna do this, right.

Your hips have to go back.

And now you're in the proper form.

Just hold it here a moment and let's take an inventory.

Stomach in.

[inhales and exhales] Good, lift those toes, you'll feel the hamstrings activate.

Good, now without moving your feet, keep them flat, open the knees.

Very good.

And stand back up.

Good, one more time.

Hips back, allow the shoulders to come forward to compensate.

Mechanically, you have to do that.

All right, open the knees, but keep the toes down.

Feel your hamstrings and your glutes activate.

And stand back up, very good.

Now let's just move the chair out of the way.

We're going to do a few squats, now that you've learned the proper form.

Okay, toes are slightly toed out.

Feet are about shoulder width apart, and move the hips back.

Take a look; are your knees over the center of your feet?

Or are they perhaps past your toes; that's not good.

So push through the heels.

We're holding, pull in the stomach.

Now if your knees are like this, what do you need to do?

Open the knees.

Don't move the feet.

I see that all the time.

Just open the knees.

Good.

[exhales] Let's lift the arms and slightly lower.

Now I know some of you, when you can no longer get the hips down, the chest compensates and tries to fall forward.

Okay, so we're not trying to do a shoulder drop, we're trying to do a hip drop.

So let's stand back up.

[inhales] Very good.

[exhales] Good, and be critical of yourself.

When your hips can't go down anymore, try this.

Just open the knees, feet are flat.

Don't drop the chest, let's lift the chest, stomach in to compensate and to support the low spine.

All right, see, you're getting a workout.

I know holding yourself here is work.

So inhale.

[inhales] Exhale, one more time, hips back.

[exhales] Open the knees, stomach in.

Chest is, I say up, only because I don't want you to round your back.

It's, can be confusing and sometimes people think when I say, "Lift the chest," that I want them to stand up.

But did you see what just happened to my knees?

So it's not really what I mean.

I just don't want you to have a rounded back.

All right, come up.

[inhales and exhales] One more time, hips back, knees are open, feet are flat, hamstrings are activated.

Your torso is slightly leaning forward.

Good.

I like to say lift your arms, that helps people to not have a rounded upper back.

Now, let's start to get a little lower.

And up, good.

Now, we're going to do a little bit more stretching in the bottom part of the squat.

For that, I would like you to find a doorway.

A doorway is a perfect tool to help us really stretch the hips and the knees and the ankles.

So if you can find a doorway, it gives your knees also room to work around it.

Okay, a chair works, but it might not quite be heavy enough.

So get fairly close, okay.

Usually I have to-- people are surprised with how close I have them get.

And you can have your hands around the molding.

Let's find that location for your feet that makes it the most comfortable for your hips to get down.

Once again, [exhales] go back.

All right, and don't go forward; push through heels and we're gonna start getting lower.

Hang on to the doorway.

Okay, hang on, hang on.

Open the knees.

All right, if you're at your limit, let's push through your heels.

Pull on the doorway, and up.

Good, one more time.

[inhales] Hips back, hang on to the doorway and getting a little lower.

Every time you do this, I know you're stretching more and more.

The clients that I work with, this is my favorite exercise to have them do and I have them do it before every workout.

Wakes up the ankles, the calves, the knees, the hips, and the back.

Good, so even if you're not getting as low as me, that's okay.

[inhales and exhales] Now let's get all the way down.

And that's the other reason I want you to have the doorframe.

Because for you to get all the way down, I know some of you are falling, and that's okay.

Hang on to the doorframe.

[exhales] Good.

[inhales and exhales] And let's pull on it.

So you can have a long spine.

Dig those elbows into your knees and hang on to that doorframe.

Get some nice leverage.

So two things at the same time: you're opening the knees, keep the feet flat, and pulling on the doorframe to stretch that upper back.

All right, now we're going to relax.

[exhales] Let the whole back and spine round.

And I know this feels good.

I know some of you still have your hips fairly up.

In that case, shift around.

What I'd like you to concentrate is stretching that Achilles tendon and your calves.

[inhales and exhales] And it will get better with consistency.

You'll start to get lower and lower.

All right, now we're going to practice getting up.

First thing I'd like you to do is pull on the doorframe, find your heels.

Press the heels into the floor, but pull, pull, pull, pull.

[inhales] Good.

[exhales] All right, now, some of you I know didn't get as low as me.

Maybe you only got halfway.

Hang on to the doorframe, get down to where you can, push through the heels, pull on the doorframe, and up.

[inhales and exhales] Do several of these each day and soon enough, you'll find that you're much more comfortable in the lower positions.

And don't forget to make use of pulling on this immovable object to stretch that low back and that upper back and the groin.

See, I'm trying to pull my hips back.

Stick the chest out, long spine, use those elbows.

[inhales] All right, last time.

Start pressing the heels in, pull on the floor, nice long back, excellent.

[inhales and exhales] I hope your breathing is faster like mine is; that's a good thing.

Just take a few deep, cleansing breaths.

Fill your lungs with oxygen.

It's all good.

The great thing about this class format is you can stop the video anytime to repeat a move or go over a certain point or a cue.

You can stop and look in the mirror as well, and that I really recommend to check your form, especially since our imagination isn't always the same as reality.

And you can follow along anytime by coming back to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, where I'll be here to show you more great moves for staying fit, so you can keep doing all the things you love because life is movement.