- I'm Cassy, and this is Quick Fit , your place to remain loose, strong, and pain-free.

Long hours of immobility while traveling make us stiff and compress our joints in unnatural ways.

Being able to get up often and run through a simple routine like this will help you feel better and arrive at your destination more refreshed than usual.

So join me.

[gentle music] We'll be seated for the beginning of this class.

Make sure you have a sturdy chair and sit quite forward on the seat.

Big inhale and exhale, and we'll pull that knee in.

Go ahead and just mirror me.

This would be your left knee.

And try to move it across your body past center.

Okay, inhale, [inhales] exhale, [exhales] trying to relax the spine as you do this.

Then sit up, lifting, lifting through the spine.

All right.

Let's do that other knee.

Pull it in, lifting your ribs to meet your thigh.

[inhales] big inhale, exhale [exhale] and relax.

Bring that other knee across the center, sitting up.

[inhales] All right, let's press this knee into your hands, you ready?

And press, press, stomach's in, getting some leverage.

[exhales] And release, inhale [inhales] and press, [exhales] press, two, three, four, relax.

Switch legs, big inhale first.

[inhales] And then press, press the knee against your hands.

Hands resist, [exhales[ another inhale [inhales] and press.

Two, three, four, and release.

Cross that ankle over your knee.

If this is too high, you can always extend that leg down a little lower, and press, okay.

Find what feels good for you and press.

You should feel it really deep in here in the hip socket, inhale [inhales] and press it down.

[exhales] So it's just a little extra encouragement with your hand.

All right, then lift.

Lift that knee up into your hand, lift.

Inhale [inhales] and exhale.

[exhales] This is gonna help your muscles to stretch a little more.

All right, other side, cross that ankle, inhale and press it down.

Get ready to lift that knee into your hand.

Lift, release.

[inhales] Press it down.

[exhales] Blow, One more time, lift into the hand and release.

Good job.

Turn sideways in your seat towards your right.

And then we're going to stretch these hip flexors.

All right, so extend that leg to the back.

All right, inhale.

[inhales] Extend it to the back.

[exhales] You might need to go a little bit on the side so that you can get a full stretch of the knee.

All right.

Let's lift that same side leg.

I'm gonna move mine a little bit back further.

Moving that heel towards the floor.

A little lean back through the chest if you've got more room to move.

All right, and release.

Let's go ahead and twist to the other side.

[inhales] All right.

Sitting half on, half off the seat.

We'll extend this leg.

If it's tight at first, do it in a few moves.

Inhale.

[inhales] Try to reach back a little further.

[exhales] Find that spot where you can fully extend the leg.

Enjoy the stretch through your hips.

[inhales and exhales] I'm gonna put my leg a little bit more to the back.

Lift the same side arm, big inhale, exhale, [exhales] leaning it back, enjoying the deep stretch in those hips.

Very good, and come out of that.

We're gonna stand, all right.

Stand to the side of your chair.

First thing I'd like you to do is grab your ankle.

Now if grabbing your ankle is difficult, you can get a band or a towel so that you can reach down and grab that ankle.

All right, so hanging onto the ankle, squeeze your bottom.

That'll help tuck the tailbone under and you'll get a much longer, deeper pull down towards your knee.

[exhales] Inhale, [inhales] exhale, [exhales] and twist.

Nice stir, nice stir of the knee.

All right.

And then we'll stretch the same leg to the back.

All right, press that heel down.

Okay, we'll lean slightly back like we just did when we were seated, and lift.

Pushing your hips forward.

Now we'll come out of that slightly.

The arm is still up.

Let's just add a turn of the torso.

Good.

So let my back adjust all the way down.

Very good, let's switch sides.

Grab that ankle.

Big inhale, exhale, squeeze your bottom.

[exhales] Press the knee down towards the floor.

Stir that knee.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale, [exhales] and press the knee down.

Good, gentle release, don't just let your foot fall to the floor.

Stretch that same leg back, pressing that hip down, [inhales] squeezing your hind end, which pushes the hips slightly forward.

Lift the arm, [inhales and exhales] keep moving the arm, opening that armpit, pushing the hips forward.

Heels down, hips are forward, and release.

Arm is still up and let's twist the torso.

[inhales and exhales] Real good.

All right, gently come out of that.

All right, stand nice and tall.

Lifting the head and neck as tall as you can as if there's something above you you're trying to touch.

And then I'd like you to pull the chin in.

So we're pulling the head back, but we're not doing it by lifting the chin, okay.

It's as if someone's pushing you back right here.

Not a very attractive look.

I wish I had my mask on to hide my double chin.

So I'll just put my hands there.

[laughing] All right, but this is a great move to do in your seat.

When you're driving, just push your head back against the headrest.

Maybe when you're sitting, waiting for a traffic light.

All right, big up through the arms, pull them down, make a nice big W. All right, pull the arms back and make sure you're not pressing forward with the head.

Keep pulling the head back, relieving all of those muscles that go from the back of your head all the way down towards the center of your back.

All right, open, [inhales] open, [exhales] open.

Those feel particularly good, especially when we've been hunched over driving, heads forward, the neck muscles have to hold all that weight.

All right, a few hydrants.

So get a little bit away from your chair and just lift, lift, lift, lift, and hold.

Good, one more, nice and slow.

[inhales] Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Good.

And reach out with that leg that was just up.

Move this one a little closer to the chair.

Sit back on this heel, okay.

Enjoy the inner thigh stretch.

Just straight leg.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale, sitting back.

[exhales] If all of this makes sense right here, I'd like you to do a little twist towards your bent side, bent knee, [inhales and exhales] very good, one more.

Sit back it, lift those toes.

Real good, let's switch sides.

Good, a few hydrants on this side.

Lift, lift, lift, and hold.

[exhales] Sitting into that hip for more.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Good, reach out with that leg and we'll sit it back.

All right, exhale.

[exhales] Enjoy the inner thigh stretch.

Don't rush it.

And twist.

[exhales] These are some of my go-tos when we travel a lot.

I put on a lot of miles and pull over to the rest stop.

All right.

All right, so now let's use your chair and let's just say you were at a rest stop somewhere.

There's usually a picnic table or something or a short wall that you can get your leg up onto.

So go ahead and get that leg up and we'll do some hamstring stretches.

We'll tuck your tailbone under [exhales] and then do a little arch; soft knee.

Okay, tuck it under [inhales] and exhale.

Good.

Other leg.

Inhale [inhales and exhales] and tuck under, and arch.

Once again, a soft knee.

Tuck it under, [inhales] working your spine as well as your hamstrings.

These feel good, so don't race through them.

[inhales and exhales] It's not always about getting to where you're going, you need to enjoy it along the way when you're on those long road trips.

All right, let's lace your fingers behind your back.

Open the chest.

Open that chest.

Those muscles get tighter and tighter from sitting and slouching.

All right.

Release the fingers from behind you.

We'll do a few partial squats, nice and easy.

Swinging your arms.

[exhales] Exhale, getting a little lower.

[inhales and exhales] Last one.

[exhales] Very good.

Our time is up for today, but use these stretches anytime you've been sitting too long and need a good stretch.

Find more classes to make your entire body feel great by going to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit where I promise to keep you loose, strong, and doing all the things you love.

See you next time.