>> we'll be using a large and a small ball today. if you don't have them, you can use your imagination and benefit from the movements. let's get ready to have some fun. keepdriving.com is dedicated to helping older adults maintain their driving independence using cognitive training, exercise, nutrition, and community. explore keepdriving.com today. "sit and be fit" is a creation of mary ann wilson, registered nurse, teacher and recognized leader in the field of fitness and healthy aging. mary ann consults with a team of medical and exercise specialists to bring you

a fun and effective way to maintain functional fitness. >> mary ann: the exercise program you are about to do is effective for any age, but it was specially designed for anyone needing slow, gentle movement. all you need is a chair that touches your back while your feet are flat on the floor. if your back doesn't touch, put a pillow behind for that necessary back support. if you have your exercise band and towel, put them on the back of your chair. now, get ready to "sit and be fit." >> hi. i'm mary ann wilson. thank you for being here today. i have some great routines set up for you. i want to get you in good alignment, though, first. pelvis, rock it forward and back. lift up your ribs. get your shoulders back. now, give those shoulder blades a little bit of a squeeze. touch your chin and pull it away. all right. let your arms hang down to the side and we'll get started. look over the shoulder, and over this shoulder.

now, pull the shoulders down, and then give a good squeeze. we'll do this about three more times. pull them down, hold it there, and squeeze. do it again. it's important to keep those shoulders down. and it's important to squeeze the shoulder blades. and let's do it one more time. reach down and squeeze. now, we're going to pretend we're conducting an orchestra. follow the fingers with your head and eyes. and now we're going to go up and over. make a figure eight, a figure eight that's on its side. turn the palms. get as much movement as you can. side to side.

all right. hold the wrist. gently pull it forward, and then pull back. pull it forward, and pull it back. now, straighten out your arm. press the fingers back. this is wrist extension. we'll do it with the other arm. pull forward and back. let one arm pull. and now extend that arm. pull the fingers back. now, let's get some more movement in your wrist. turn it to this side, and then to this side. try it on the other arm now. gently pull back. turn it to the inside. and then turn it outside. now we're going to stroke the fingers. so i want you to separate them as much as possible. put one hand on top of the other. stroke down and up.

and then turn your palm over. separate the fingers. stroke down and up. now, try it on the other hand. separate the fingers and stroke down and up. now we're going to turn your hand over. separate the fingers. and stroke down and up. now we'll get some flexion. take the tip of the finger and roll it around the thumb. the next finger. easy, easy. you have one more finger here. and then let's work the other hand, starting with the pinkie.

great. wiggle it out. that should feel really good on your hands. let's get in good alignment by sitting on your sits bones. can you feel those two bones? okay. i want you to sit directly on top of them. we're going to work the pelvic floor. the pelvic floor holds all of your organs up. so pull those bones together and exercise that muscle, and then release. do it again. squeeze and release. now, the next time, i want you to close your eyes. close your eyes, squeeze, hold it there. now, let the sits bones go and open the eyes. hollow out your abdomen. notice how it lifts the ribs. trace the ribs back. and then trace the collar bone. now, touch the chin. pull it back and slide

this hand up. you're going to use this hand to guide your chin over the shoulder. and then come back. nice slow, easy movements. pull up. touch. pull back. and now gently turn. and then come back to center. now, this hand is going to come across. we're going to hold this hand up and follow it with your head and your eyes. bring it slightly forward. and reach. and then bring it right over the back of your chair. lengthen your body. look back and look forward. now, we're going to do it all on the other side. bring your hand across. this arm goes out to the side. up. get a nice stretch here. and then bring your arm

to the back. hold on there. look back, and forward. super. now, you're going to slide both of your hands down your legs. turn the thumbs down and cross at the wrists. now, gently interlace your fingers. and do it again. and one more time. this is a great exercise for your brain. push everything back. roll the shoulders back. press the floor down. lengthen your neck. and look over the shoulder. look over the other shoulder. look straight ahead. roll the shoulders back. push everything behind you,

squeezing your shoulder blades. oh, that was great! a lot of patting and stomping going on here right now. it's a great exercise for the brain and your circulation. we'll start with good alignment and a few marches. we'll take one leg out to the side. one, two, three, four. back in. pat your belly. and now, pat the chest. same leg. working hard here. and now, change legs. back to the belly. back in. all right. ready for the chest? we're going to finish with that. now, one leg. out and in. heel and toe. whew! all right. the other leg.

takes a little bit of thought and concentration, doesn't it? all right. lift your hip and stomp your leg. use those abdominal muscles. let's march. we're going to take the hands to the belly and chest. bring it up to speed here. now we're going to stomp with one foot and pat the arm all at the same time. stomp. and pat all the way down. and all the way up. down. and up. okay. change legs. arm out. let's pat down and up. you can hardly hear me patting, can you?

now, here's a change. one foot. it's heel out and in. out and in. out, in. get ready for a change. here we go. okay. now, pat one leg as you stomp. now pat the other leg. good work! let's move on. we're going to be doing some more eye exercises for visual processing. so important to eliminate falls. so, your eyes are going to be looking up and down while your head remains still. they'll be looking side to side. you'll be focusing on a target and only the head will move. so it's really working your brain, your eyes,

everything together. shoulder lift up and down, forward and back, and then all around. up, down. forward and back. and then take it all around. now, you're going to squeeze the shoulder blades. hold it right there. then pull down. do it again. squeeze. and then pull it down. now, touch the chin. pull the chin away from your hand. look over the shoulder. and now look straight ahead. touch the chin. pull it back. and slowly look over the shoulder. now, look straight ahead. let the eyes look up and down slowly. don't move your head. up and down. up and down. do it faster. up, down. up, down.

okay. let's go side to side now. out to the side and this side. slow. and now faster. good work! all right. now, we're ready to move your head. put your thumb out here, and i want you to keep your eye on that target but move your head. here we go. we'll do it slowly first. okay. can you speed it up? try to make it a smooth move. good work. that works your vestibular system. now, we're going to make a figure eight right here. down. up and around. follow with the head

and the eyes this time. all right. let's come up for a change here. now, follow with the eyes only. let's change arms. head and eyes. up and down. move that head around. now, eyes only. great! >> it's time to pay special attention to the finger joints. remember, if you have arthritis, pace the number of repetitions that you do and stay in your comfort range. >> this is a wonderful song. you're going to love it. but we're going to have some wonderful exercises to go with it... isometric exercises for your fingers. use your ball as a resistance for that finger. you're going to press the finger into the ball and the ball

into the finger. an isometric exercise is one in which there's no movement in the joint but you're still contracting the muscle. now, if you don't have a ball, i want you to use your opposite hand and press against each other. but don't let those joints move. all right? are you ready? let's do it. this is an old favorite song of yours, so it should be lots of fun. position your ball here and press. press again. you'll have three presses on each finger. now, remember, don't let the joint move. all right. ready for the next finger? get it set up. press. good work. next finger. press and release. but hold it for a little bit.

there you go. now, before you start pressing, make sure you have that ball solid against the finger. one more press here. now, the next finger. you may be different on each finger, especially with arthritic conditions. all right. last finger here. keep pressing. three times. good work. let's not forget the thumb. right here. ready to press down? these are little joints, but they're important. all right. try your other thumb now. hold it there. press. all right. time for some extension now.

we're going to start here and roll the ball down the finger two times, gently pressing back. next finger. and one more here. feel the extension. that should feel good. nice stretch. let's try your other hand. roll the ball down to the tip of the finger, and then roll it down one more time. try the other finger. good work. all right. we're almost finished. but this is an exercise that should be done slowly. it should feel really good. if you have any pain, back off

and don't do that exercise. good work. now the thumb. roll it to the tip of the thumb and press back. and one more time. and now the other thumb. okay. we're going to keep our hands right here, put the ball in your palm, and grip it without the fingers. one more right here. grip it. don't use your fingers. great work. >> for leg strengthening and stretching exercises, stand directly behind your chair, placing your hand on the center of the chair for balance. if you prefer to stay seated, follow gretchen. she'll be turning during the leg exercises for demonstration purposes only. you should stay facing forward in your chair for a solid base of support. >> we'll be working on your balance in this routine with some wonderful music.

i want you to really get in touch with that floor. i want you to shift your weight to one side and then to the other, and then we're going to shift your weight forward and back and then trace the whole shoe. and if you don't have a ball, that's all right. just use your imagination. this ball is just a variable that's going to really throw in some extra challenge for you. all right. let's go. side and center. side and center. side and center. side and center. are you ready to go from toe to heel? toe to heel. toe to heel. and now let's trace that whole foot. both feet together. side. okay. let's do some more work.

march. and now take that ball up. and march forward. march back. all right. side together. do it again. this way. okay. now, let's slide. slide. bring it back. slide. and back. other leg. slide. and back. slide. good job. let's rock. up. rock back. forward.

and back. change legs. forward. and back. forward. and back. all right. now, here comes the tough part. keep your eye on the ball and start moving your head side to side. okay. we're going to walk with it now. one. two. three. four. back. two. three. four. and it's one. two. three. four. and you're finished! wasn't that great? >> that was fun. >> okay. let's get rid of these balls. now, check your posture. ready for a knee extension. lift and extend. keep it up there. okay. let's change. if you're standing, all the weight is on one leg.

okay. are you ready to change? this is a hamstring lift. it's just lifting to the back and down. lift. you have one more on this side. and now shift your weight and let's change legs. lift. these are the muscles you're working right here. one more. okay. now, a side leg lift. lift. hold it. and down. lift. higher. and down. you doing okay there? >> doing great. >> let's change legs. lift, hold. lift, hold it up there. only one more.

okay. come on up on your toes. make sure you're coming up on the big toe. and down. up. hold it. and down. one more. up. and down. okay. you're going to step forward and then slide your leg back. tap your toe, lift thheel. let's change legs. step forward, slide it back, tap your toe, and lift. other leg. step, slide, tap, and lift. one last time. good job. let's do the swinging stovepipes. it's forward and back. you're just pushing on the heel of your shoe. okay. i think we have four more to go.

lift up. press back. press. last one coming up. bend the knees. and up on the toes. bend. up. i want you to stay there. tighten the pelvic floor. and slowly come down. let's do it one more time. squeeze. and down. let's begin our stretching. reach for your towel. fold it in half lengthwise and in half again. get a good base of support. weight is evenly distributed over both feet. take the towel up, and now pull to one side. pull a little bit more. and then come up and pull to this side. can you feel that?

and now bring your towel. place it around your shoulders. stand on one leg, if you're standing, and swing this leg forward and back. forward. and now i'm going to place mine right down beside the other leg. i'm bending my knees, but gretchen is lifting her toes. getting the same stretch. and then come up. and swing your leg again. same leg forward and back. now, i'm going to take my leg to the back. gretchen is going to take hers forward for the same calf stretch. we have two calf muscles. this one attaches above the knee. the soleus attaches below. let's change legs. if you're standing, shift your weight to this leg. swing forward and back. forward.

and now get into your soleus stretch. good work. and now come up. swing your leg forward and back again. and now i'm going to take my leg to the back. gretchen is going to take hers forward. this is the calf stretch. this is the calf muscle that gives you a nice shape in your calf. and now come up. shift your weight. get a good base of support. thank you so much for being here. keep reachg out with us for a better day. for information on dvds, videos and audio tapes, including specialty videos for chronic conditions such as arthritis, or for a complimentary copy of the "sit and be fit" newsletter, please write, call, or visit us on our website.

keepdriving.com is dedicated to helping older adults maintain their driving independence using cognitive training, exercise, nutrition and community.

>> welcome to "skyweek." let's see what's happening in the sky from monday, july 22, to sunday, july 28. two fine constellations are side-by-side in the south -- hook-tailed scorpius on the right, and sagittarius to its left. modern star charts usually show sagittarius as a teapot. it's an eye-catching pattern, even though none of its stars is super bright. but sagittarius means "archer," and the bow and arrow are easy to picture if you visualize the stars that way. according to ancient greek tradition, the bowman was either the centaur chiron, or the satyr crotus. this is tony flanders from "sky & telescope" magazine, wishing you clear skies and great views. >> brought to you by... manufacturers of telescopes and binoculars.

maybe you have some energy- saving appliances, like an energy star-rated washer and dryer. but what about your tv? chances are it's on more than your washer, dryer, and kitchen appliances combined. did you know that if half of us in the u.s. replaced our regular tvs with an energy star model, the change would be like shutting down a power plant? you can find the energy star on everything from standard to high def to the largest flat-screen your heart desires. ow that makes sense. ow that makes sense.

>>joanne: you hear words like brining and you go "i can't do that." you know, it sounds like it's complicated. little do people know it's salt and water and what it does is kind of miraculous. [ music and background conversation ] >> funding provided by bella sera wines. >> what makes a beautiful evening? savoring the day's end, a time together, or is it something more? it's going to be a beautiful evening, a bella sera. bella sera, wines of italy.