- Welcome to today's bone strengthening workout.

I'm Cassy, and this is Quick Fit , where we use your muscles daily to positively stress your bones.

Your bones are living tissue that are constantly repairing and remodeling.

As you use your muscles, your bones are stimulated to repair and thicken to resist the tugging action upon them.

So grab your mat, remove your shoes, and join me.

[gentle music] Movement that gets your heart pumping works to deliver nutrient-dense blood into your bones for bone building, as well as carrying away waste.

So let's begin by standing with your feet about hip-width apart, and we'll do a few shallow squats.

Okay, just a few to warm up, and then we'll hold it.

Come up, and hold.

[exhales] A little longer.

[inhales] Exhale, maybe a little deeper.

Make sure your knees are as wide as your feet, and don't guess; take a look.

If your knees have come in, really work at pushing the knees as wide as the feet.

Doesn't mean you have to move your feet.

Just keep the knees open.

Okay, let's come up again, and maybe a little deeper.

[exhales] Breathe in, [inhales] and exhale.

[exhales] And if it's easier for you to have your hands on your hips, by all means.

If you're a person that is finding that their chest is down by their knees, you definitely need to get your chest up a little higher, and it might be easier with your hands on your hips.

Okay, and come on up.

Let's lift a heel.

[inhales] Make sure you're on the ball of your foot, beneath your big toe, as opposed to moving over your pinky.

That won't be too good.

And have your knee in alignment right above your big toe.

And let's put some weight straight down through that leg, down through the knee, into the foot.

Okay, making that ankle work, press.

Press your weight, and press.

Let's do the other side.

Lift into the ball of your foot, and press that weight down.

Try not to let the knee go way, way beyond the toes, okay?

Down.

You'll have to move your hips back a little bit to keep the knee from moving forward too far.

All right, and down.

Again with the first leg, heel is up, checking to make sure you have this nice, straight line with the shin.

Press your weight down, press weight down through that foot, and other side, heel up, [inhales and exhales] and press, press, and press.

Good job.

Next, we'll do some half lunge holds.

So draw your left leg back.

Have a comfortable base.

Your feet aren't lined up, and a little half lunge.

You can let your back heel come up, and we'll hold this position.

Try not to have the feet too close together, or too stretched out.

Okay, should be comfortable.

Your knee should be above your ankle.

Your back heel can be lifted a little, and we're just dropping down a little bit.

Working the quadriceps.

[inhales and exhales] Come up, and back into the lunge.

How about that breathing?

How about your posture?

Think about those things.

[inhales and exhales] And pop up.

Throw the other leg back.

Let that back heel come up as you sink into just about a half lunge.

I call it a half lunge, because a full lunge would be really stretching that back leg further back, and getting the hip down in line with the knee.

A little break, and exhale.

[exhales] Position your feet so you feel stable.

And of course, we're standing nice and upright with our torso.

And stand back up.

Good.

Make sure you have enough room, and I'd like you to just do a forward lunge, and then a side lunge.

Okay, landing to the front, push off to the side.

To the front, and to the side.

Few more, one.

And two.

Three.

Four.

[inhales] Keep it going.

Make sure you feel stable before you go into the next lunge.

Okay?

Have control.

Last set on this side, and we'll switch legs.

Okay, to the front.

Make sure your entire foot is on the floor.

Toe to heel, toe to heel.

To the front again.

[inhales and exhales] And down, push off.

Down, push off.

A few more.

Almost done.

One more set.

Last one.

And push off, good job.

[inhales] Arms up by your ears.

Okay, extend, lengthen through your spine.

Neck is neutral, and tip it to your left.

Have your feet about hip-width apart.

Reach, feel your ribs stretch.

[inhales] Exhale.

Stomach's in, glutes are squeezed to support this move, and up.

Breathe in.

[inhales] We'll go to the other side now as you exhale.

[exhales] Partway over, pause, breathe in, [inhales] exhale as you stretch.

[exhales] Maybe you'll get a little further.

Squeeze the glutes and the abs together, and up.

We'll go to each side one more time, and over.

[exhales] Maybe you'll get over a little further.

And up, other side.

[exhales] Hold it here.

Extend and stretch.

And up.

Those are good.

They're not easy.

Next, we'll be doing some plank holds.

We'll be using the chair.

All right, so for this, you have the option of being on your hands or on your elbows.

If your wrists bother you, then by all means, go right away to the elbows.

Now let's stretch your body out.

Have your legs stretched out.

Have your hips in line between your shoulders and your heels.

So try not to be like a tent with your behind in the air.

Let's try to be a nice, long line, and your shoulders should be over your wrists.

And try not to let the head sag, or no need to arch it.

Just have a nice, neutral neck.

And if your feet are close together, and that seems difficult, you can widen your feet, pull in your stomach, check your form again, push into the seat, and hold.

And if this is fairly easy for you, then you're welcome to go down to your elbows, hold, and back to the hands.

It's a little less boring that way too, giving you some sort of activity to do instead of just counting.

Okay.

This is great.

[inhales] A little longer.

[exhales] Stomach's pulled in.

Try not to sag down either.

You can feel your shoulders getting warm.

They're getting quite the workout.

Breathe in deep, and exhale.

[exhales] Good.

Next, we'll do some side planks, but I wanna give you just a little bit of a break first.

Circle those shoulders.

Good.

Roll 'em forward and back.

All right.

The side plank may or may not be difficult, but there's a strategy for working with that.

First, let's get your elbow down, and then extend this top leg, and then see if you can get that bottom leg wrapped around the first, and hold it here.

Good.

Let's reach up.

Do your best to have a nice, straight line.

Try not to have your shoulder forward, or your hips back.

Try to have your hips in line with your body, and your shoulders stacked.

You can have your hands here or here.

And this is something you can practice each day to try to get your feet stretched out a little more each time.

You may be starting out kind of like this, and that's okay.

But this is the goal.

All right, let's do the other side.

All right, we'll move the chair.

And on this side, you can do it from your elbow, like I just did.

But I'm gonna show you the other option, which is from your wrist.

I like to get my top leg planted, and then get the other leg wrapped around the back.

Good, pull in your stomach.

Once again, we're not bringing the top shoulder forward, and we're not bending the knees or the hips.

Nice and straight, hands on your hips.

And let's extend that arm if you wanna get fancy.

You see, you're going to get stronger, so I have to give you more options.

This is great.

All right, let's bring this arm down.

We'll stand.

Shake it off before we finish with one more plank.

[inhales and exhales] All right, hands on the chair again.

Stretch it out.

Start, shoulders over the wrists.

Or of course, elbows on the seat, and we'll bring your knees forward.

Touch and bring the leg back every time.

Do a full movement.

Maybe you can't do 20 of these, but I want at least one of 'em with really good form, okay?

Always work with your best form as much as possible.

Hips are down, but they're not sagging.

The neck is in nice, neutral alignment.

Shoulders are over wrists, and hips are not lifted up into the air.

Last one.

[inhales and exhales] Good, let's bring that foot forward.

Tuck your chin, pull your stomach in.

Squeeze your glutes as you roll up to relieve any tension in that low back.

[inhales] Big breath in, and then exhale.

[exhales] Again, I know that wasn't easy work.

It didn't look like a lot's going on, but it is tough, isn't it?

[inhales and exhales] Body weight strength exercises are often enough to keep your muscles toned and your bones healthy, but consistency is the key.

Keep up the good work by coming back here again tomorrow to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit to take a proactive approach to your health.

Until then, remember to keep on moving.

- Announcer: Funding for Quick Fit With Cassy is provided by Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.