Standing Stretches

Hi, everyone. I'm Jenna. In this class, we're going to expand our strength training repertoire. Now if you have never done any strength training before, you can always do this class without weights or in a chair, modify as needed, or you might wanna choose going towards some of the other classes in the energized life library where you can find some basic form building classes that will help you feel a little bit more capable and competent in your body. However, if you're ready for a little more challenge, let's get started. So we're going to begin seated, and we'll build up to standing, and then we'll finish on the mat. For my weights, I have a heavier option, a medium option, and a lighter option. I'm lifting the weights that make sense for my body based on what I've been doing with my body, and I want you to choose the same.

In your own life, maybe you've been lifting some household items. Those might count as your medium or your heavy items, and your light might just be moving your own body weight. I want you to choose something that feels challenging, but doable in terms of lifting. And if for today, again, if you just go through those moves with your own arms, not to worry. You can come back to this class anytime and take it again with me. So, let's come into our seat. We're going to lengthen our spine as much as possible, and just be sure to have some space between your back and the back of the chair to ensure that you're using your own body strength to keep you upright. We'll start by warming up the spine and warming up a little bit of breathing.

Remember, your breath is your breath. I wanna always encourage you to breathe how you feel will be supportive for you even if that's different for me. So let's take our hands onto your knees. We're gonna just round your back, look down towards your belly. Let your shoulders kind of roll forward, creating a little bit of space between your shoulder blades. And then from here, press into your heels, lift up tall through your spine, and let's back bend in the opposite direction, looking up to the sky, Feeling your chest reach up to the ceiling open your shoulder blades Maybe you feel a little squeeze between your blades on the back of your body and then again come through center Let's do that a couple more times we call this a seated cat cow. You've seen it in your yoga classes and in your Pilates classes. Let's go back to our backbend.

It's just a really nice way to bring some motion into the back. Let's go one more time rounding. Maybe you breathe into the width of your back. And then, lifting up nice and tall, reaching up to the ceiling. And then come back to center. Let's take our arms down by our sides and just give me some shoulder rolls. Bringing your shoulder blades forward, up, backward, and down. The purpose of our warm up exercises is just to bring some warmth and fluid into our joints to help us move with a bit more ease and a bit more support.

Good. Let's let this one be the last one, and then we'll reverse the direction of our shoulder rolls, bringing our arms back up, forward, and down. Now sometimes as we go through these exercises, you'll notice that one arm is tighter than the other or one area of the body is tighter than the other. This is just a time to notice. Don't worry too much about it unless you are experiencing pain, in which case, it might be time to check-in with your health care provider. But if you're just noticing a little tension, it's a good thing to note and then, you know, be ready to support, and maybe adjust some of your exercises as you move on. Good. Reaching your arms down by your side.

Let's sweep our arms back, and take your hands behind your head or to your shoulders, if that is more comfortable for you. We're going to hinge our hips like we do in lots of classes. Just folding forward in the hips, almost putting your weight into your feet like you could stand, and then coming back up to center. Reaching forward, keeping your back long, finding a way to grow taller in each position. So we're starting to integrate some of our core support by maintaining the length of our spine. As you move through space, you just wanna think about space and length in your torso. Good. We'll do one more hip hinge forward, and let's pause in your hinge.

Take your right arm down, right hand to left knee. And if possible, right elbow to left knee or to right knee. And then we're gonna twist the spine looking up. You can do a little activation for your outer thighs by pushing your knees apart here. Just breathing, finding that spiral. And then return to your hinge, hand behind the head. Let's bring the other one to meet it, and then do the opposite side.

Hand to the knee, elbow to the knee if possible.

Turn your spine, reach up, look up. Elbow to the knee if possible. Turn your spine, reach up, look up, and breathe. Just want to get the ribs nice and warm. Bring your hand behind your head, coming back to center. Let's do one more of these each side. Just pressing over, opening and reaching. Really good. Coming behind your head to recover forward, and then lower, press, and reach. All these warm up exercises are really great to do. Just any time in general. Hands behind the head.

Come on all the way back up to center. Lower your arms down by your side. I'm gonna move my chair back just a little bit. You want a place where you can put your legs like so out into a wide position. We're gonna do a little hip mobility. Take your hands to the back of your chair. Make sure your chair is sturdy and then we're gonna just roll in the right hip and the right knee pointing the knee to the ground. Now, this might feel like a stretch.

If it's not quite there, you can move your knee back a little bit and just open up that hip a bit, turning your body to the side. And then to recover to center, press your right knee back open and find that wide position once again. Let's go to the other side. Rotating, rolling, finding the stretch in the front of your hip here and along your quadricep muscle, thigh muscle, and then opening back to center. Let's do that a couple more times. Rolling in. Sometimes, you can even hug your leg into the chair for a little more activation of your inner thigh. Excellent.

Opening it up and then over to the side. Really nice. Opening up. And then keeping that wide position of your legs, take your forearms down on your legs, press your knees back, and see if you can find a little stretch of your inner thighs while you make that hinge of your spine happen. Yes. Good. Come all the way back up to the top. We're gonna take our arms forward.

Bring the backs of your wrists together, and then just slightly round your upper back to create some space between your shoulder blades. From here, pull back your right elbow like you're pulling a bow and arrow, and look towards that elbow as you twist your spine. We'll reach forward. Backs of the wrists together, and then pull back your left elbow as you pull your bow and arrow. And reach forward, rounding and stretching. Going back to the right. Pull and stretch. Sometimes it helps to breathe out as you twist.

Let's reach back to the center and breathe in here. But again, you're always in control of your breath. Let's go one more time each side. So if the way you're breathing makes it a little more easy or manageable for you, then that's always the choice you wanna make for now. Good. Let's reach forward and come all the way back up. Alright. So if you are ready to squat, we'll stand now and use our chair for a little bit of support. But if you're not squatting today, you can always just use your hip hinge with your hands at your shoulders or your hips. And you could maybe even just practice a sit to stand, and a stand back to a seated position. As long as you're safe and you feel supported, you're good to go.

Let's take a standing position. I'm going to take my chair and put it over this way. I'm going to have it on my right side, with my legs slightly apart. Now, we are gonna practice as if we're sitting, so we're gonna reach our hips back, bend our knees, come all the way down, and then press to come all the way back up. Let's take it nice and slow. Of course, if you don't need any support at all, you're just gonna use those arms just to balance you out. Alright, 4 counts down. Go.

4, 3, 2, 1, press. All the way up, lift through your center. Again, finding our squat in this slow pacing breaths. I'm gonna widen my stance just a little bit. That's why we do them slow at the beginning. Just trying to figure out where you wanna be, which shape provides you with the most support, the most movement. Good. Alright.

We're gonna build a little heat here. So, we're gonna take our squats 2 counts down, 2 counts up. We go down for 2, up for 2. Down for 2, up for 2. That's it. Down for 2. Good work. So if at any time you need to go slower or faster, you can make that choice for yourself.

You need to take a break to catch your breath. Find a better way to support yourself with your breath that is absolutely within your wheelhouse, and it's also suggested. We're gonna go 4 more though. All the way up. 3. Nice work. Nice and tall. 2.

Mirror those legs. Right? Last one. All the way up to the top, and rest. Good. Turn to face your chair. We're gonna use this chair as a little bit of a guideline for our hip hinge. We'll reach forward, trying to hinge with our spine parallel to the chair itself, and then we'll come all the way back up. Let's start there, and then we'll add on.

Okay. Feet are just about a little wider than hip width distance apart. Hinge forward. Stretch the backs of your legs. Find that length. Come all the way up. Now, we can start reaching for the chair as we go into that hinge. Nice and easy, and stretch the top.

Great. Reaching forward. I'm thinking about using my abdominal wall to support my spine as we move through these exercises. All the way forward, all the way back up. There you go. Reach towards that chair, and stretch to the top. Good. Reach all the way forward, and all the way back up.

Last one. Reach all the way forward, and come all the way up. Alright. Now, we're going to add a little rowing action. So when we row, we pull our elbows back and squeeze our shoulders a little bit. Not so much that we bend our back, but enough to feel the muscles on the back of our upper back really engaging to help us, and the muscles on the side of the back doing the same. So let's bend our knees a little bit. We're gonna combine our hip hinge with our row.

So, let's take the hinge forward. We're gonna pull our elbows back, reach forward, Pull them back. Reach forward. Pull them back. One more to reach forward, and then stand nice and tall. Reset everything. Here we go. Reach forward, elbows pull back.

And again, forward, pull way back. That's right. Forward, pull way back. Reach forward. Press through your heels. Strong legs brings you back up. Reach. Pull back.

I like to feel my shoulder blades moving on my back. Reach. Pull. Reach forward. Press through those legs. Stand up tall. Chest nice and wide. Last time.

Reach. Pull back. Reach forward. Pull back. Let's go 2 more. Reach forward. Nice and active in that upper body. Last one.

Reach forward and stand nice and tall all the way to the top. Alright. Excellent work, everybody. We're gonna come down to a seated position and go into our 1st seated weighted exercise. I'm gonna start with my medium dumbbells. For me, that's £10, and I'm just sharing that with you so you have an idea of what's maybe possible if you're moving up in weight or maybe if you're moving down in weight. So, we're gonna have those dumbbells down by our sides. Feet are hip width distance apart, and let's just do a few weighted shoulder rolls.

So, we're gonna bring those arms slowly forward. Lift the shoulders up, bring them backward, and then let them reach way down. Do that again. Forward. Lift the shoulders up. Draw them backward. Lower them down. 2 more like that.

Bring the dumbbells forward from a straight arm. Move your shoulders. Bring them back, and then let those weights help you draw those shoulders down. Forward and up, and backward. And now they come down to stay. We're gonna take 2 counts to curl to the top, and then down to the bottom. Nice and slow. Okay? 1 and 2, and down with control.

Now, if by the 3rd or 4th repetition, you're like, wait. Maybe I chose the wrong weights. Maybe they're too light or maybe they're too heavy. Please take a moment and choose differently, ones that you can sustain for a little while longer. Okay? We have 4 more like this. Up to the top, reaching and all the way down. Good. Here we go.

Lower and down. Last 2. Up to the top. Again, I'm sitting tall, trying to support my spine, keeping my shoulder blades really strongly connected to my back. Good. And all the way down. Now, we're gonna do some single arms alternating. Right arm goes up, and then we're gonna switch right away.

Switch and switch. Here we go. Switch. You got it. Reach and switch. Yes. Good. This is the pumping iron part of the class.

You need a little extra fire in your muscles today. This will do it. Good. Now, make sure you're not swaying your body around a ton. This is just the arms moving. Let's go for 4, for 3, for 2, and last 1. Good. Release those dumbbells down.

We're gonna release them all the way to the mat. Take a moment to shake out those arms. Really nice. Now, we're gonna just pick up one of those medium sized dumb bells or whatever weight works for you at this point in time. Let's take our hands, we'll go right to the chest, starting with just a simple spinal rotation. Now, as we twist to the right, we wanna keep that dumbbell pretty much in front of your chest, in front of your breastbone, and then come back to center. So, you're turning your torso over to the side, and then come all the way back to center. Let's just do 2 more slower to find out where we're going.

See how far you can twist with ease. Come back to center. And the last one, twist the torso to the side, and come back to center. Now, this time as we twist to the right, we're gonna lift the right knee up as as high as you can. Try to bring your elbow towards your knee. Bring it all the way down. Other side. Twist and lift.

If it's impossible to get that knee up, then just lift your heel off the floor, just like so. Here we go. Twist and lift. This is core control, a little hip flexor work. Good. A little connection to those spinal rotators. Let's pick up the pace a little. Here we go.

Twist, recover, and turn, and face in front. There we go. Remember, your rib cage is twisting, not so much your arms. So your arms follow your chest, but they don't go independently. That would look like that. Right? We want the whole shape to come together. Here we go for 4. Back to center, 3.

Good. 2. Back to center. Last one. Alright. Hold that dumbbell. We're gonna press it up overhead, nice and tall. Bring it all the way down, right in front of your chest.

And again, think elbows reach forward, strong through the back. All the way down. You got it. Here we go. Press it to the top, grow through the spine, Lower it down. Really good. Press it all the way up. Reach through the crown of the head.

Lower all the way down. Do we have 4 more? Let's see if we can press that endurance for 4. Good. Lower to the bottom. That's right. 3. Big press. Lower.

Got it. 2. Push. Excellent. Lower all the way down. Last one. Promise. Press it up.

Get taller. Get taller. Sit nice and tall and stay tall as you lower that weight down. Really good. Alright. We're gonna come back to those exercises in just a minute, but we're gonna add on a few more standing exercises. So, I'm gonna move these dumbbells forward, and let's take our chair. We remember we used it as a guide for our hinge.

We're also going to do a little combo movement with some weights. So I've got my weights on my chair. The first one we're gonna do is a little combination hip hinge into a squat, and then we'll do some rowing exercises. Okay? So take your feet about as wide as you had them for your squat. Maybe your toes are pointing out just a little bit. And then from here, we're gonna start by hip hinging forward, just like we did earlier. However, from here, we're gonna bend our knees into our squat as low as you're able to, and then stand all the way up to the top So you've got 2 moves to get to the squat Hold it for a beat, and then stand up. Alright? It goes forward, find your squat.

We're gonna hold for 1 pound 1 and stand. Let's do it slow again. Legs don't move, but then knees bend. Hold it there. Rest to the top. You got it. Alright. Fold at the hips.

Bend from your knees. Chest lifts up. Hold it down. 1 count strong. Push through your heels. Stand tall. That hold is gonna get a little harder, right? Forward. Bend from the knees.

Hold 1. Push all the way to the top. Really nice work. And, again, forward. Bend from the knees. Hold, and all the way up. Now, can we get a little courageous and bend a little lower? Forward. Here we go.

Bend a little lower. Oh, here comes that hold. Hold it for 1. Push to come up. Last time. Forward. Bend from the knees. Hold for 1.

Press all the way up. Really good. Now, listen. If you didn't get very low, not to worry. We've got time. We can work on this. We can progress. You just know it's there for you.

Okay? Alright. Now, we're gonna go into our rows. So I've got my heavier option. Your medium or anything is going to work out just nicely. We're gonna bend our knees a little bit and come into a flat back. You see that long line of support from my head to my tail. I'm using the chair as support. I'm gonna row one weight up and put it down, and then the other one and put it down.

So alternating sides. Alright? Join me in the position, then we go up and down, up and down. We're gonna pull from our shoulder blade. Keep your chest and hips facing your chair. This is a little extra help here, finding your way through. Pull, reach. Pull and reach.

Pull and reach. Keep going. Pull and reach. Keep going. Pull and reach. Keep going. Pull and reach. Keep going.

Pull and reach. Keep going.

Push. Reach. Keep going. Pull and reach. Keep going. Push for breaths. Good. Pull.

Let's go for 4, 3, 2, and 1. Excellent. Alright. Stand up nice and tall. Shake it out. We're gonna take these weights and put them off to the side, and go through your circuit one more time. Okay? We've got this. Let's take ourselves into a seated position.

Do you remember what we started with? It's our bicep curl. So choose your weights. Find yourself here. Roll those shoulders up and back, and let's go for it. Curling it up all the way down. Little faster this time because we know what to expect. Yeah? We've spent some time under tension last time through. Now we're just gonna move with it.

Curl and reach. We're working for a little more endurance. You might notice that your breath is quickening a bit. That's okay. It's meant to help you as you pump more blood through your body, as your body uses the elements in your muscles and your blood for fuel to keep going. Let's go 2 more here. We need that circulation. Yes.

Alright. Single arms. Here we go. Curl it up and switch. But if at any point you feel short of breath, you know to stop. So, use any interventions you know of. Slow it down a little bit. Everything here is a suggestion for you.

There's no pressure to do it exactly how I'm doing it. Just there as an option. K? Any choice you make is gonna be the best one. I'm proud of you for sticking to it. Last 2. Good. Last one. Excellent.

Alright. Let's lower one down. We're gonna go into our little rotations in just a moment. Shake it out if you need to. We'll bring the dumbbell up to your chest, and we'll add the knee right away. So we're twisting and lowering down, and twisting and lowering down. Good. Twist and lower.

Holding just for a beat. Right? Twist and lower. Sometimes we wanna speed through it. But when we show our bodies that we can just endure a tiny bit longer, then we teach ourselves that we are a little bit stronger than we may have thought. That's an important thing, not only for your muscles, but also for your mind. Yeah. Good. Here we go.

Twist and center. Twist and center. We have 3 more. 3. Face front. 2. Nice and tall. Last one.

Turn. Come to center. Dumbbells at your chest. We're gonna push it up. Down. Press. I always think of pushing these weights, especially when I'm doing shoulder work overhead, that it's coming from a strong core. How can I make my spine feel supported? Really invincible.

Good. Press and in. Can we go 4 for 4? And down, 3, and in, 2, 3, and last one. Excellent. Alright. Good work. Let's come back to our work on our chair. We do have to do those squats again, but we're getting stronger for it.

Right? So come on up. If at any point in time you do need your water break, please take it. And we'll get those dumbbells. We'll put them there for our rows after our squats. Remember, we're gonna take a hinge from the hips and then a bend from the knees. Let's get ready. Last round, best round. Yeah? We go.

Hinge, bend, hold, and stand. I know. You thought I forgot about the hold. Hinge. Bend your knees. Hold it for 1, and stand. We've got this. Let's go.

Hinge and bend. Hold 1, and stand. You're doing great. Hinge. Bend those knees. Hold them. Press up nice and tall. Couple more.

Hinge. Bend. Chest up. Chest up. Hold it here. Push nice and tall. Excellent. Good.

Hinge. Bend. Hold, and stand. Last 2, promise. Hinge. Bend those knees. Hold it down there. Strong legs.

Last one. Here we go. Hinge. Bend. Hold. And all the way up to the top. Really nice. Alright.

Finishing up with the rose, and we get to stretch. It's gonna be great. Here we go. Flat back forward, little bend in the knee. We lift, alternating. Up and up. Pull, reach. Pull, reach.

Come on. Strong backs giving us the support we need to move through our week, to finish the day strong, maybe to start it, depending on when you're doing this class. We always wanna think of the bigger picture. It's not just about lifting that weight. It's about reminding our body that we're capable doing something for ourselves to support ourselves. One more each side, everybody. 2 and 1. You got it.

Stand up nice and tall. Fantastic. Alright. I'm gonna take these weights and put them off to the side. Let's go ahead and move your chair out of the way if you don't intend to use it, or you can sit back in your chair and do some of the exercises that we are going to finish with in a seated position. Alright. So great work. Making it this far, we did it.

Now we're just gonna mobilize our hips and do a little stretching before we complete our time together. So let's sit back. If you're in your chair, you're gonna do the exact same little rotation, your 90 90 degrees at the hip and the knee rotation. If you are seated, we're gonna lean back on our hands for a little support, find your legs in a wide position, and let your right knee drop in as you roll over onto the side. Now, this might be comfortable for you, or if you wanna try to find more stretch, you can always push your leg back a little bit. Press the other one forward a little bit, and just use your hands to find out where you wanna be in this stretch. A little bit in the open hip. Again, if this feels impossible, raise yourself up, sit on a stool or a chair, give yourself a little bit of help through the hips.

Alright. Let's take it to the other side. So, for some of us, that's gonna feel like a big stretch. For others, it's gonna feel like not so much. Not a big deal. Either way, we're just experiencing that motion in the joint. Seeing what's there for us. Good.

Let's take it back to the center. Now, we're gonna take it over to the other side and stay. From here, let's walk our hands forward as far as possible. This might be it for you. That is okay. I'd like you to just see where you can find a stretch on the front leg, outer hip. I'm gonna take my hands here to the edge of the mat. And then once I find that stretch, that pull, I'm just waiting for my body to just relax just a little bit, seeing if it's possible to maybe come down on my elbows.

I know that's not available to everybody. The point is that I really want you to find the stretch that helps you, that feels like it's what you need today, and I promise I'll do the same. Anytime we meet our own needs in an exercise class or with movement in general, it's always better than forcing us into someone else's needs. Alright. Let's gently make our way up out of here, and then we're gonna go to the other side. So rolling over to the other side, finding that openness in the front. Maybe we have 2 90 degree angles, if possible. Maybe it's something else.

Walk your hands forward as much as you can. And now, see, this side is like, whoops, there it is. It's right there, that stretch. So it's not gonna take a whole lot of effort to find this one. It might take a little relaxation to see if I can intensify it. You know when your lips start quivering that you found the stretch.

Yes.

Just a few deep breaths here as much as you're able. Breathing that feels calm, helps you get into the stretch a bit more. Good. And then slowly walking our way up. Now, you can either be seated with your hands on your knees in a chair, or here, or if you'd like to, you might want to try a kneeling stretch, again, if it's available to you. So, no matter what position you're in, we're just gonna try to round the spine. If you're kneeling, you're rolling back, and that can also give you some opening in front of the the hips and the quads because of all those squats we did. And then from here, we're just gonna reach forward and stretch over the legs, maybe opening up your low back.

If you're on your chair, you're doing your seated Cat Cow that we did earlier. And if you're on your knees, we're just gonna go back and forth between these 2. The option's always there to tuck your toes under underneath if this makes your feet a little crampy. We've always gotta find the right configuration for us in the stretch. Your objective is to feel better. Right? Good. Let's go one more time back and one more time forward. Great.

And then after we're finished with this last Cat Cow round, let's go ahead and meet each other in our hands and knees position. If you're seated, we're gonna do the twisty stretch that you did at the beginning with your hand and elbow on your knees. If you're on your hands and knees, we're gonna do the same thing with just a little more extreme. So, you can come down onto your forearm and open up for a little more twist in your upper back. Or if you'd like to add your shoulder, you can do a full thread the needle and open up this way or keep your arm to the ground. Whatever you need here. Just breathing through and finding that final little opening, if it's possible, for you. From here, we'll pour the weight back into our hand, come all the way back up, and then go to the other side.

Either your forearm goes down or your full hand goes through. You can add a reach or just enjoy the twist. Beautiful. Press through your hand. Now, if you like that one, you can certainly do it again. But for now, let's tuck our toes under. If you're in your chair, just take a forward fold over your legs. If you're on the floor, we're gonna press up.

Maybe just pedal out the feet gently from side to side, nice and easy, finishing strong. And then just gently walk your hands back in towards your feet, bending your knees. You can take a slow roll up through the spine. That's wonderful. If you're seated, you can roll up through the spine, circle those shoulders out. And you always wanna take just a moment to just recognize how we feel after that. Maybe we're feeling tired, or maybe we're feeling accomplished, or maybe we surprised ourselves with something that we weren't sure we could do today. Take a momentary snapshot in your mind.

Notice what you did, what you did was enough, and just remember that you are strong, resilient, and these small moments that you challenge yourself truly do matter. I'll see you at a class real soon. Don't forget to check out the other practices with me and my colleagues in the energized life library. Take good care.