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

Like many you, I love getting my hands dirty working outside in my yard.

As enjoyable as it is, it is work.

No doubt, you've experienced the soreness that comes from a hard day of digging, hauling, and bending over.

So join me today as we focus on the muscles and joints of the lower body to speed up recovery and reduce soreness.

Let's get moving.

[upbeat music] At my fitness studio, I've had people excited and thanking me for these classes, explaining that for the first time in years they didn't experience the horrible soreness that usually attends the beginning of gardening season.

No doubt, there was some soreness, but they recovered much faster.

So remove your shoes and have a sturdy chair handy as we begin.

Have your legs nice and wide and just do some easy butt kicks.

This class is about relieving pain, not causing your body to associate pain with exercise.

So if I suggest a move that you know will hurt, please modify that move or avoid it and wait for the next move.

Easy hip circles.

Remember it's hip circles, not shoulder circles.

Very good, and some nice, easy leg swings, letting the momentum take your leg, turning towards the hip that's doing the kicking and adding the arms just to deepen it.

[inhales] Start your breathing.

We breathe nice and deeply.

We exhale extra long and we don't hold our breath.

Let's just swing your arms.

We'll start going into some easy partial squats because getting down and up from the ground is an essential part of gardening.

So we want to make sure that it's easy.

All right, keeping those joints lubricated, hips, low back, knees, and ankles.

Remembering to keep your butt back and the arms forward.

Getting lower as you're loosening up.

All right.

[inhales] All right, let's just tuck the tailbone underneath.

This is a great stretch.

And big inhale, exhale as you do it again, letting your head relax, elbows falling forward.

Let's take that right arm and just reach it across, and a gentle pull on the back of your thigh.

Pulling in your belly.

We'll switch sides.

Take a big inhale on the way over [inhales] and then exhale [exhales] as you do a gentle pull.

Very good.

Now, I call this the outfielder.

This is very similar to the cat and cow that you do in yoga, usually on your hands and knees, just modified.

So we'll arch your back up like a cat, and then arch the back like the cow.

Very good.

So we're already partway down, so let's just reach forward, putting our weight on our heels.

Knees are nicely open.

Partway up again, getting a little lower.

At the bottom, you can just put your elbows inside those knees, open up the groin, shift those heels around, stretching the calves, the Achilles tendon.

Very good.

You can use your chair if you'd like to to help get up or you can do this in a doorframe.

Okay, just imagine standing back up, pushing your weight through your heels.

All right, hip circles again.

[inhales and exhales] And around the other way.

All right, a little side reach, stretching the ribs.

Yes, we have to stretch the ribs.

You don't realize when they get tight, they can make your whole body feel tight.

So one arm down, one elbow up.

One more.

All right, we'll make use of this chair.

Grab that ankle.

[inhales] Now, this is a little different than your typical quadricep stretch.

This is your quadricep.

Grab your ankle or your pant leg.

What I'll have you do is just squeeze your behind [exhales] and then press that knee down at the same time.

That really, really deepens the stretch.

And then do a little stir of the knee.

I can feel it all the way from my hip flexors down to the knee.

Let's switch sides.

All right, so grab that ankle, stretching that quad.

Now big inhale.

Squeeze your bottom and press the knee down at the same time.

Stir.

And I always make a face every time I do that because it is such a big pull, but it does feel good.

All right, let's go right into hydrants.

So we're just using the chair for a little bit of balance help.

Inhale.

[inhales] Do that again.

This time, I'd like you to move that leg all the way around to the back, [exhales] stretching that standing leg.

That feels good, let's do that one more time.

A little hydrant.

[inhales] Moving that leg around to the back, taking your time with lots of breaths in and out, [short exhale] and over.

That one really stretched deep up into the glutes.

Let's do the hydrants on the other side.

[inhales] So nice lift of that leg.

Exhale.

[exhales] Assuming you took a big inhale first, so inhale, exhale as you do these moves.

It really, really helps to loosen up your muscles.

[inhales and exhales] Hydrant.

Moving that leg around the back.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Leg is high.

All right, take your time.

And don't let me rush you.

If any of these moves really strike a chord with you and you're like, "Oh, I'm tight, "I should do that again," then just take your time, do a few more repetitions.

Have your legs nice and wide.

And we'll do a few easy twists.

Arms are right up at shoulder height.

You can make this easier by taking a big inhale [inhales] and then exhale, [exhales] and you'll see how much further you get.

And don't forget to lift your heel.

It really is easier on your knees.

So big inhale [inhales] and exhale.

[exhales] Doesn't that feel so good?

All right, let's reach up, up, up, and up.

Very good, and then down to the floor, down, down.

Good job.

Two arms, reach it up [inhales] and over, all the way down to the floor.

[exhales] Tuck that chin, roll up.

Big X.

Arms wider, and over and roll down.

[exhales] Rolling up slowly again.

I think this is one of my favorite moves.

Just simple roll downs and roll back ups.

All right, let's use the chair now for lunges.

You can always do lunges on the ground, but I really like the chair.

It's just a great tool for doing these.

So let's put one leg up onto the chair.

Hop back.

[inhales and exhales] Make sure your chair doesn't have wheels.

It's much safer without wheels, and just lower your weight down over the top of the chair.

Make sure you're not letting your weight go forward.

You just have to have your bottom leg back more.

Keep your foot flat.

And I'd like you to move the knee away from your body.

Okay, big inhale [inhales] and then [exhales] open.

Very good.

All right, pop that leg back under you.

And now I'd like you to just drop your torso forward.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] And let's add a little twist.

Twist towards the chair back.

And back up.

So good.

All right, let's do the other side.

Fix that.

All right, hop that back leg back.

Exhale as you sink straight down, not going over the front of the chair.

You just have to adjust the back leg.

Keep your foot flat and move that knee away.

Good, one more, inhale.

[inhales] Exhale, open that knee.

[exhales] Let's get that leg back up under you.

Let your weight sink down.

[exhales] One more inhale, [inhales and exhales] and then turn your shoulders towards the chair back.

That's just so good.

All right, let's keep this same leg.

Shake it off, and then we'll just put it right back up.

Heels up on the seat, okay.

Right away, this is a big stretch.

Pull those toes towards you.

You can feel it really deeply all the way up the leg, and then be fairly tall with your spine.

A little bent knee, okay?

Now I'd like you to tuck the tailbone under, just squeeze your hind end, and then arch your low back.

Tuck it one more time.

[inhales and exhales] This is a really big pull.

Shift your hips around.

And let that foot fall to the side.

And then one more tuck and arch.

Good job.

All right, shake it off and let's go to the other side.

So we start with our heel back up on the chair.

All right, just a little soft knee bend.

Very good.

Pull those toes, that foot toward you.

[inhales] Probably makes you grimace like me too because it is such a pull on tight hamstrings.

Okay, one more time.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale.

Keeping your torso up.

Slight knee bend.

All right, now we'll take some of the stretch out by tucking that tailbone.

It doesn't pull so much now.

But if you sit up and arch, that's when you feel it.

Good, so go real gentle, real slow with lots of breathing.

[inhales] Okay, arch and tuck.

Shift the hips around.

That really, really, you can tell, is really getting deep into those hip joints.

All right, so let's face forward.

Line yourself up with the front edge of your chair.

We'll take the outside leg and I'd like you to reach it back.

Then slowly bend it down towards the floor.

Make sure you have a nice pad under your knee.

Roll up your mat maybe, or a pillow.

Okay, reach a little further with this front leg because now I'd like you to take a big inhale and you're gonna push, by squeezing your butt, you're gonna push your hips forward.

You can feel this big, big stretch right here.

Lift the arm.

[inhales and exhales] All right, and come out of it and over the ear.

Take your time.

Let your weight sink this way.

Very good.

Now let's get those back toes under you.

We're gonna prepare to stand.

Put all your weight through your back toes and your front heel.

You're ready, and press up.

Do your best to not push on the chair.

And back down.

One more time, standing up and back down.

Let's do the stretches again, you ready?

Push the hips forward.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] And then over the ear.

These are wonderful hip flexor stretches.

Okay, let's get up again.

Get those back toes under you and press it up and down and up again.

All right, we're gonna pop forward and do the other side.

All right, lining myself up with the front of the chair, we'll take this outside leg.

We're gonna stretch it back.

I'd like you to have your knee over your ankle and then lower yourself down.

I'm gonna adjust to get my knee on the pad.

Arm up.

[inhales] Big inhale, and I'd like you to squeeze your bottom, pushing your hips forward.

[exhales] All right.

And over the ear.

[inhales and exhales] Okay, one more time, pushing the hips forward.

Big inhale.

[inhales] Over the ear.

[exhales] No need to rush through that one.

Let's get your toes under.

Get this heel lined up under your knee.

You ready?

And press it up and back down.

Press it up, back down.

Good job.

Another stretch.

Hips forward [inhales] and over.

[exhales] Get your back toes under you.

You ready?

Pop it up, one more time.

Pop it up.

And to the front.

Good job.

All right, we'll be finishing up on just a few more exercises.

Have your hands on the top of the chair and let's extend your left leg out.

Okay, now open up that hip towards the ceiling and let it come back over.

It's a real tight pull up the back of your standing leg.

So make sure you're doing lots of breathing [exhales] and then we'll bring this knee in for a hug.

[exhales] Take your time.

Cross that ankle over your knee.

Big inhale.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Press it down.

Feel that really deep into here.

Let's do the other side.

Okay, two hands on the chair.

Extend your other leg up.

Okay.

Open the toes and the hip towards the ceiling.

And then exhale.

[exhales] Woo, that's a pull.

So maybe you have to pause when it starts to pull.

Take a big inhale.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] These get easier with the doing.

When I first started doing these, it took me about 10 opens and overs for my standing leg to loosen up.

But it did, and now it doesn't take so much, so.

All right, let's hug that leg.

And now cross that ankle and sit back into it.

And that's it, quick and easy, but effective.

I hope you make this workout part of your gardening routine so you can remain loose and strong.

You'll find more classes just like this at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit because consistency is the key to a long life full of activities that you love.

Keep on moving.