- Hello, I'm Cassy.

Thank you for including me in your busy day.

This Quick Fit class is all about strengthening your hamstrings, which helps lower your risk of injury, reduce back pain, and helps improve your flexibility and posture.

So let's get moving.

[gentle music] Because tight muscles are weak muscles, I suggest you start first with my video "Stretch and Lengthen your Hamstrings."

We will begin with a couple warm-up stretches though, just in case.

And I know many of you struggle with being on the floor.

Make it as comfortable for yourself as you can.

You can have a pillow handy for tender knees.

For neck comfort or vertigo, this wedge is very useful, placed behind your back and shoulders.

In fact, you can use it for your wrists, too, by decreasing the angle for your wrists when you're on your hands and knees.

But we're going to start first by laying on our back to do a few stretches to warm up the hamstrings.

So just lay on back, exhale, [exhales] and let's just extend that right leg right up to the ceiling, flex that foot.

Bend and extend, bend and extend.

If you hear my knees popping, they're pretty crackly, but they don't hurt, so extend and press.

[inhales] All right, exhale and let that leg fall closer to your body.

Do a few more active stretches and then a big inhale, and then exhale and let that leg come closer to you.

Good job, all right, other side, extend.

And flex that ankle so the bottom of your foot goes towards the ceiling, press.

Imagine something's pushing down on your foot and you're pressing away at it.

Okay, now take a big breath, exhale, and pull that leg closer to you.

Go back to your active stretches.

And exhale.

[exhales] Nice, all right, switch legs and I'd like you to rotate your whole thigh so that your toes move across you.

Extend your other leg so it's out of the way and let this leg fall across your body, doing your best to not let that hip follow.

Keep that hip on the floor; feels good.

Come halfway out with a big breath in, make sure you're still rotated through the hip socket, and let it go over.

This is a hamstring muscle that it's on the outside of your leg.

Good job, let's switch legs, reach it up.

Flex that foot, rotate, and let it fall over.

When it starts to feel tight, just come out a little bit, breathe in deep, and then exhale.

[exhales] Do it again, breathe it in.

[inhales] Make sure the foot's rotated, the whole leg is rotated, and let it fall over.

Okay, let's just do a little bit of activating now.

Lift the hips, do a few marches, left leg up and press.

Up and press, five, four, three, two, and then we'll switch legs, still in the warm-up phase, lift and press, keep those hips up.

You can press both feet actively towards the floor, the one that's moving and the one that's not moving.

And now we'll kick up to a seated position, put your hands behind your knees and kick up, and then we'll get on our hands and knees.

All right, if need be, the rest of these exercises can be done standing, but I'm gonna stay on my hands and knees and I'll show you how you can use the wedge.

It gives you a little bit of a cushion under your heel of your hand.

And like I said, helps reduce the angle of your wrists.

All right, let's start by extending that right leg out behind you, okay, and your left arm.

Get your balance, and when you feel stable, you start lifting that back leg.

Okay, hold it here.

Pull in your belly button up towards your spine and then try to have a nice, straight line from your fingers to your heel.

Good, this is a little, maybe more challenging with the wedge because it's got a little bit of a give.

And so your balance is challenged a little more.

All right, and down, and we'll switch sides.

So extend that left leg, have nice, long lines through your neck and your spine.

Try not to be caved down through the shoulders.

Extend that arm and stabilize before you try to lift this leg.

Pull in your belly button, try not to overstretch through the neck or over-arch, okay?

Reach and reach, two different directions.

Stomach's pulled in.

All right, two hands back down on the floor or your wedge.

You can even be on your elbows.

Let's pick up that right leg with the knee bent and try your best to have that foot facing the floor.

Press to the ceiling.

Have your bottom of your foot facing the ceiling.

All right, press, squeeze the bottom, press, press, press.

As if you have a tray on the bottom of your foot and squeeze it up.

Now, a couple big ones, down and up, down and up.

Stomach's in.

And last few presses, press, press, press.

All right, switch sides.

90-degree bend in the knee, foot is flexed, the bottom of your foot facing the ceiling as if you have a tray there, trying to balance a tray.

Press, squeeze your bottom.

Press, take that mental inventory.

Are your arms straight?

Is your neck nice and long?

Is your belly button pulled in?

Now bring the knee down, press, down.

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

Hold it up here.

And little presses for five, four, three, two, and done.

Let's open your knees and sit back just for a little stretch break.

Walk your hands away.

[exhales] Good, and come right back up and we'll do some butt kicks.

So extend that leg and kick, extend, trying not to drop the leg with every repetition.

Keep it nice and high, press, press.

You could be on your elbows as well if that's more comfortable.

Good, and now extend that leg and toe in and kick towards your butt.

Last couple, switch sides.

All right, and leg's nice and high, kick your butt.

Take your inventory, lengthen through the neck, push your hands into the floor.

Don't let that leg drop.

And extend that leg.

And I'd like you to rotate the toes in and continue moving the foot towards the butt.

Extend and kick, extend and kick.

Let's do three more, two, last one.

Good job, all right, let's extend your other leg and just touch the floor and lift.

Now for this one, you might feel more comfortable in your low back to be down on your elbows.

Pull your stomach in, there you go.

Touch and lift, touch.

Good, nice and long.

Let's do five more.

Four, pull that stomach in, three, two, and switch legs.

Extend and lift.

Now remember, you don't have to try to get the leg extremely high.

When you run out of room with your hip flexors, then your low back will try to find more movement and then that might aggravate your low back.

So just go to where it's comfortable for you and squeeze your butt on the lift.

Lift, lower and lift.

Good job, let's put your leg down, open your knees, and sit back with the hips and walk the arms forward.

Shift your hips left and right.

[exhales] Good, nice.

That was a good workout.

This has been a very focused routine because weak hamstrings are just so common in today's society, and that weakness contributes to low back pain.

I suggest you mark this video to repeat a couple times a week.

Just log back in at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit to keep your muscles and joints balanced and strong.

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.