- Welcome to Quick Fit , I'm Cassy.

In today's class, we're going to give you some relief.

Our upper backs and necks are so strained from all the hours of working in a forward and downward tilt to the head.

Let's take care of that.

[gentle music] For this class, make sure you have a comfortable chair with no arms and no wheels.

Sit forward in your seat 'cause we aren't going to be reclining during this class, and never work into any bad pains.

This is about pain relief.

So let's sit nice and tall, head up over your shoulders, feet slightly forward of your knees, and then we'll lift the shoulders and roll them back.

Again, lift them up, roll them back.

Start your breathing, don't hold your breath.

[inhales and exhales] Lift that chin, press the shoulders down and back.

And now drop the chin into that little hollow at the base of your throat.

Lift them up, [inhales] press it down.

[exhales] A couple more times, lifting up the chin and dropping it down.

[exhales] Good, go ahead and mirror me, face your chin to your left.

Big inhale, exhale, and then let's turn and face the other way.

Good, one more time, big inhale as you switch sides, [inhales and exhales] looking to your left, and then let's extend that arm right up at shoulder height, envision it in your mind's eye, palm forward, [exhales] open up that arm a little more without twisting through the torso.

Take some of the pressure off, inhale, exhale.

See if you get a little more movement.

Is your arm at shoulder height?

Bend that wrist.

Woo, you feel that all the way into your forearm and relax it down to the side.

Big inhale, turn your face to your right shoulder.

[exhales] Extend that arm out at shoulder height, big inhale, [inhales] exhale.

[exhales] Letting that arm move a little further.

Take some of the pressure off.

Inhale and exhale, go into the stretch again.

Mind's eye picturing where your arm is, and bend that wrist.

Feels so good already, doesn't it?

All right, now let's lift those arms up in the air, [inhales and exhales] drop your fingers down behind the top of your head and press into your fingers.

Fingers are resisting.

[inhales and exhales] Hold those elbows open.

Good, and relax.

Let's now press your forehead into the heel of your hand.

Your hand's going to resist, you ready?

And press, press, press.

You don't have to use all your strength.

About 50% of your strength will do.

Very good, now let's bring that hand up behind kind of the side back of your head and press back.

[exhales] Good, arm is resisting.

[inhales] Just, you can feel a little tension, so don't use everything you got.

Just a little bit is enough to begin conditioning those muscles, all right?

And press it back.

Back and to the side.

[exhales and inhales] Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Good, one more time, let's press the forehead into the heel of that hand and go.

[inhales and exhales] Breathing to facilitate movement, giving oxygen to those muscles, and release.

All right, let's drop the chin down into your fist.

You ready, go.

Press it down, press, press.

[soft music] And release.

One more big stretching up with two arms, dropping those fingers down behind the head and press the head back again into those fingers.

Elbows wide.

[inhales and exhales] Breathing, sitting up tall, belly in, and release.

Very good, so now let's look down to your right, okay?

Big inhale, exhale, letting that head relax, and let's lift your opposite shoulder.

So your left shoulder up and down.

Lift, [inhales and exhales] and stretch it down, fingers towards the floor.

Couple circles with that arm, you can feel it in your tight neck muscles, [inhales] arms getting a little bigger, movements getting a little bigger, [exhales and inhales] and shoulder height, pull it back, [exhales] letting that head and neck relax.

One more.

[inhales] Bigger, [exhales] opening that arm and release.

Good job, all right, turning in the other direction now, looking over your left shoulder, down at the floor.

Take another inhale, [inhales] help everything loosen.

[exhales] Your right shoulder, opposite shoulder, we'll lift and lower, [exhales and inhales] lift and lower, and we're still seated fairly upright, not reclining against the chair back.

Reach now with that arm towards the floor.

[inhales] Big inhale, exhale, start doing some small circles with that arm, pulling back a little further with each rotation, getting a little bigger with each rotation, [inhales] inhale, exhale, feeling things stretch a little more, loosen a little more, and pulling it back.

[exhales] One more, inhale, [inhales] exhale, pulling it back, looking down over the floor, and release, sitting up.

[inhales] All right, let's bring those arms right up in front of you about shoulder height, making a nice V right out from your shoulders.

And now imagine you're hanging on to like a water ski rope, all right?

And the boat's gonna go and you're gonna resist.

Shoulders are going forward.

From the side, you can see that my shoulders are going forward, but I'm not following.

Now, we'll pull those shoulders back, pinching the pencil between your shoulder blades, [inhales] elbows are straight.

Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] The elbows straight, shoulders are back and down, pinching that pencil.

Now, are your arms starting to get really wide?

Maybe bring 'em back again.

Pinch that pencil, [inhales and exhales] stomach's in, head is up over the shoulders, try not to strain with the neck.

Let's do a couple lifts, lifts, lifts, lifts.

[inhales and exhales] Pull it back.

Extend.

[exhales] If you get a little tired, [inhales and exhales] you can take a little break and join us again.

Lift, lift, lift, lift, and relax, good.

Dropping to one side, you can bend through the torso, it's all right and lift, [inhales] inhale, exhale.

[exhales] I like to just let the head and neck turn naturally as they loosen up.

Let's lift it up again, [inhales and exhales] turning and looking over to the one side.

Let's make a nice rainbow as you lift the chin and look over to the other side.

All right, let's bring those arms up again.

Grab that rope, pull those shoulders back.

Sitting tall, stomach's in, and do me a favor, try not to push forward with the head like this, sometimes we do.

All right, so head and neck is relaxed, stomach's in, lift your shoulders up, push them down.

Lift them up, press them down, pinch the pencil.

Press the shoulders down, very good.

Imagine you have a rubber band in your hand, and open, open.

Are you still pinching the pencil?

Are your shoulders still down?

Is your stomach still pulled in?

[short exhale] And lift, just a few more.

Relax the head and neck, and relax it all, very good.

Lift the chin, tuck it into that hollow.

[exhales] Turn and look over to the one side.

[exhales] Rainbow with the chin.

[inhales] Inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Oh yeah, it feels really good right back there.

All right, let's get up from your chair and we'll still be using the chair.

Just turn it so you can use the chair back and then we'll step back a little bit, creating a little space here, and a little soft bend in the back of the knee so your hamstrings don't get too tired.

Now let's pull the stomach in.

Now notice I don't have my upper back rounded, I'm sticking the chest out, and I call this a flat back.

All right, let's stand up.

[inhales and exhales] Sit back again.

Soft bend in the knees.

Hands on the back of the chair.

Now, I'd like you to press down with your hands into the chair back, pull in with your stomach, okay?

Pressing down, press.

Feel these muscles back here engaging, press down more with the right hand and a little lift with the left.

And down and lift.

Both hands should be doing some work, the one that's pushing down, and the one that's lifting.

Let's switch arms, push down with the left, engaging right there, and lift, [inhales and exhales] lift, stomach in to support that low spine, lift, lift, and lift, all right.

Now, let's do a couple angels.

Bring that arm to the back and around.

Back and around.

Other side, pushing down with the one hand, moving the other one around.

Depending on how flexible you are, you might want to get down a little lower.

Let's take a little break.

[short exhale] I know the hamstrings get tight in that position.

Sit it back again.

[short exhale] Extend.

All right, long, long, long through your back and shoulders.

Another angel, back and around, trying to get a little higher than the head without rounding the upper back.

[inhales and exhales] Our upper backs get really weak, and so keeping them as strong as the rest of your back is important.

[inhales and exhales] Around and over, very good, okay.

We'll stand up one more time, releasing the tension in the hamstrings, sitting it back, [exhales] and lift again, lift, stomach's in, lift, lift, lift.

One more, lift, lift, lift, and lift.

Really good, so we have one more move.

We are still going to be using the chair.

All you have to do is turn your chair a little bit sideways.

We use the chair for support.

I call these a single arm row.

Often people use dumbbells for these and you can, but today we're just going to do a body weight move.

So we've still got our knees slightly bent, we're supporting our weight on our hand, and extend the arm and now pull that elbow back, pinching your back, down.

Pull using your back muscles, don't think about your hand pulling the weight, squeeze the back.

And even if you don't feel your back muscles today, keep at it because it does take a little while for the brain and the muscles to clear all those cluttered pathways and reconnect, but they're working.

[short exhale] Stomach's in, and we'll stand up before we do the other side.

All right, I'm just gonna turn my chair, and ready?

Reach, pull, reach, and pull.

[inhales] A few more.

[exhales] Reach, squeezing the back.

[soft music] Pull.

Let's do two more, reach and pull.

We'll take a break and we'll do the same exercise again on both arms.

So relief for those tight hamstrings.

[inhales and exhales] Over, reach, pull, reach, pull.

It doesn't take a lot of weight to make yourself stronger.

Squeezing your own muscles, using isometrics and holds is a great way to keep your muscles fit for the things you want to do.

Let's do the other arm.

And I love that you can do all of these right from the convenience of your home, and pull, and pull.

And pull, two more.

Last one, very good.

That feels so much better, but don't forget, our muscles need that kind of care daily.

Find more easy and effective classes just like this at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, where together, we find ways to stretch, strengthen, and relieve pain so you can live better, longer.