>> today we'll be strengthening our core muscles using a large ball and hand weights. if you don't have these items, you'll still benefit from just going through the movements. sit and be fit made possible in part by vq actioncare.com, makers of the resistance chair. when you imagine your future, you wanted to be healthy and active. stay strong. 1-800-570-6220. "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. i have some great exercises for you today, but before we start, i would like you to move a little bit forward in your chair, and we'll start with the ball exercise, putting that ball right between your knees, checking your posture, lifting everything up. okay. get ready to squeeze that ball between your knees. you'll feel these muscles tightening.

and then release it. do it again. all right. now, we're going to add the hands. press your hands together in this praying position, and at the same time, press that ball between your knees. and release. do it one more time. all right. now, we're going to add the breath. breathe in. and breathe out and squeeze your hands and that ball. do it again. big breath. and breathe out. press everything together. and now relax. we're going to do some crunches in the seated position. this is for the abdominals. take a deep breath in, breathe out, and lean back just enough that you can feel these muscles tightening. and then come back up. let's do it one more time. press the hands. press the ball. and lean back and pull those

muscles in nice and tight. good job. all right. now we're going to put that ball down to the floor and have some fun. let's heel, toe. heel, toe. heel, toe. heel and toe. and let's change. it's heel and toe. can you feel these muscles working now? okay. now, put that ball right between your feet. you're trapping it. and then you're going to squeeze it. now, lift up the toes. all right. keep them there. we're going to press on the inside of the legs and resist. and release. do it again. and release. now, let's go to the outside. press and resist. do it again. one more time. all right!

now, we want to get that ball up. nice, straight back. and we're going to work a little more on the core. we're going to take the ball to the side and lean away from it, tightening your abdominal muscles. and to this side. lean away from it. tighten. and to this side. remember, that abdominal muscle, that needs to tighten. we're really working the transverse muscle and a little bit of the obliques with this turn. and one more time to each side. all right. that's hard, isn't it? good job. now, lift the knee and take it to this side. lift. and here. and now lift, tighten. every time you lift that knee, tighten it. good work. let's get rid of your ball and move on. we're going to be doing more core work.

come forward in your chair. you're going to need some room in front of your leg and in back. now, get into good alignment, take a deep breath, and we'll get ready to start. and breathe out. okay. this is a lot of coordination coming up here. forward and back. one leg is doing all the work here. and then we're going to add your arms. it's front, back. front and back. okay. are you ready with your other leg? start with the leg first. and don't kick yourself. all right. add your arms. front and back. and then we're going to do charlie chaplain toes. at the same time, do external and internal rotation. and now, dorothy heels. lift up those wings.

okay. now you're going to grab the rope. reach and reach. now, abdominals in nice and tight. and again. pull back. pulling those abdominals. one more. tighten. okay. get ready with this side now. you're going to reach and reach. now, pull back. tighten, tighten, tighten. and again. tighten. and one more time. tighten. okay. now you can sit up tall. a little bit of a break here. clasp your hands. i call this a slice. you're going to slice down and lift your hip at the same time. all right. get ready to change. here we go. slice it down.

this is working the oblique muscles. keep the tummy tight. okay. now, we're going to do some hip abduction and take the arms to the side. keep them straight. out, in. abdominals, believe it or not. and change. okay. now, sit up tall. we're going to bend the elbow and take the hand to the shoulder. up and down. up and down. up and down. now, can you add your hip? a lot to think about here. a few more. okay. ready with those charlie chaplain toes? out and in.

and dorothy heels. okay. roll those arms. great work. now, we're going to do a lot more core work. so come closer in your chair, almost to the edge, but don't fall out, and then check your posture. this core work is much more intense. so, if you have any pain at any time, i want you to stop. these muscles have to stay tight. and i know there's a game you played when you were a little child, one hand on top of the other, and you take that hand out and put it on top. now, we're going to do the same thing, only we're going to be crossing at the wrists, and at the same time we're going to do something with the feet. so, this is great for the brain. all right. let's get started. front and center.

are you with me? actually, i won't know if you're doing it right or wrong. i'm going to count it out for you a little bit. it's one, two, three, four. one, two, three, over. one, two, three, four. last one. one, two, three, four. now, this is the intense work that i talked about. you're going to be leaning back. so before you do that, get into good alignment. tighten those abdominals. lean back, and back up. i'm going to count this out for you, too. take a breath. breathe out. start tightening. tighten. two, three, four. back up. two. and all the way. take a breath.

back, two, three, four. one, two, three, four. just one more time. take a breath. breathe out. tighten the abs. one, two, three, four. back up, two, three, four. okay. now, we're going to lean forward from your hip, nice straight back, turn your palms to the back, chin up. all right, stay nice and tall. put your hands right here at the tailbone. slide up, and down. and then we're going to do it again. chin up, chest up. and now come back. bring the hands from the tailbone to the lower back. helps with the posture, doesn't it? all right. now, you're going to cross the wrists here, and you're going to lean to one side and lift the hip.

lean and lift. lean. this is the oblique muscles that you're working, the ones that go diagonally up and down the sides. two more. one to each side. all right. now, make sure you're forward in your chair. check your posture, because we're going to stand up. all right, the first time we're going to lean from the hip, lift the chest and chin, and stand up. no help, right? if you need help, you can always touch your chair. and now sit down. and now this time, if you can, cross the wrists, lean forward, push on your heels, come up, and down. you did a terrific job. >> exercising with weights helps

strengthen muscles and bones. correct form is important. keep your wrists straight and breathe throughout the exercise. you can benefit from the movements even without using weights. if you have pain or can't maintain good form, do the exercises without them. if you have high blood pressure, check with your doctor before using weights. >> continue working your core, even though we're using weights. so i want you to come close to the edge of your chair. leave a space here behind for when you lean back and tighten these muscles. and we'll start with your bicep muscle. remember, if you have any pain, i want you to stop. squeeze that bicep muscle. and squeeze it again. it's that muscle on the front of your upper arm. and now we'll do one more. and then i want you to hold it right there. good. now, bring it up into a muscle man position. tighten the abdominal muscles,

and as you would turn to the side, bring the arms up and then back to muscle man. turn, and arms come up, and back to muscle man. do it again. these are the oblique muscles that you're working, the ones that run diagonally up and down the sides of your body. good job. now, bring your elbows right here by your side. and i want you to press out, and then pull in. press out, and in. take a breath. don't hold your breath. and one more. all right. now, we're going to do the tricep for the back of the arm. bend from your hip. get your elbows right back there and don't let them move. take the lower arm out and in. .

just keep breathing. you have one more to go. okay. good work. sit up nice and tall. roll your shoulders. okay. here we go. we're going to hold those weights right here and lean back and come up. again, lean back, but tighten this muscle before you even start. good job. now, we're going to add something. so take a breath in. as you breathe out, tighten here, lift your knee, and extend that leg. come back up. and extend again. and now let's change. take a breath. breathe out. tighten here. lean back and extend that leg. and one more. tighten and come back. all right. stack those weights here and lift.

and stack and tighten and lift. and stack here. tighten. lengthen. and one more. up. and now we're going to do a seat circle, so put those weights right here. forward, side. keep the abdominals nice and tight. one more around this direction. and in the other direction. keep breathing. how are you doing? here comes another change. you're going to reach down and pull that elbow back and squeeze the scapula. now, reach across and pull back. and reach up high and pull back. and let's try it with the other arm. reach down, pull back. and across, pull back. and one more. up and pull back.

you did a great job! now, get ready for some brain work. >> okay. we're going to work our brains now. we're going to do a lot of body crossing because research has proven that every time you cross your body it's actually helping to build neuropathways in your brain. i'm going to start with my right hand, and it doesn't matter which hand you start with. you just follow the patterns. all right? don't get frustrated. we'll start with some taps. sit up nice and tall. work on that good posture while you're doing all this. might as well. okay. here we go. i'm going to cross my right arm first to my elbow. and here we go. right, left, right, and i'm looking to that elbow. touch. and i'm looking to that elbow. right, left, right. i'm looking. last time. now we're going to change sides. so the other arm goes first

and it's the other elbow you're looking at. left, right, left in my case. look. last time. i'm going to add something new. okay? we're going to cross at the knees. right, left, right, left, back to there. right, left, right, left, and look. and we're going to change sides after this. get ready. got to think about it. left, right, left, right, and look. left, right, left, right. i have to say it to myself or i might get messed up here. and look. good. okay. come back down to these pa. going to change things up a little bit. we're going to do something with our lower body and our arms. so get ready. here we go. going to start with one leg going out and in.

out and in. now, our other hand is going to get into the action. we're going to take and we're going to scissor it. so you really have to put your brain to work here. get your arms to do different things. okay. let's change sides. so the knee is going out, the hand is following. okay, ready? we're going to add the other hand here. so it's going above and below. good. all right. and let's go back to those taps. okay. here we go. right, left, right. and look right and forward. again. right, left, right, look. last time. then we're going to switch sides. here we go. so it's left, right, left.

left, right, left. two more times. last one. now we're going to cross low. right, left, right, left, right, and look. right, left, right, left, right, and look. right, left, right, left, right, and look. last time. now, left, right, left, right, left, and look. left, right, left, right, left, and look. two more times. last time. >> 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. >> our mobility is not just restricted when we're seated or in bed. standing and waiting in long lines for prolonged periods is another time to focus on ways to keep the blood moving. coming up are some movements i hope you'll remember. let's start with the toe, toe, heel, heel. and now here comes your change. it's touch, touch, touch. now, lift that leg up, bring it back in, and change. touch, touch, touch. give it a lift. change again. keep that good posture. touch, touch, touch. now lift.

good job. feet together. now, this is a charlie chaplain rock. toes and heels. toes, heels. okay, that's pretty much apart. now, turn and rest your heel. pull up on your toes. feel that stretch all the way up the back of your leg? and now come up for a breather and slowly ease back into that stretch. all right. ready to turn that foot. to the outside and then to the inside. then when you bring it back, shift your weight forward and back. and let's turn in this direction. now, shift the weight to the back leg. rest your heel. reach back with your hips. there's your hamstring stretch. come on up for your breather.

and breathe out. ease into that stretch. take the foot out. can you feel that stretch move? and then take the foot to this direction. now, bring it center and begin shifting your weight. put one foot forward, one foot back. okay. now, stay on this leg, bend the knee, extend it. bend and touch. lift, extend, bend, and bring your feet together. let's turn in this direction. lift, extend, bend and touch. lift, extend, bend and feet together. great job. now, we'll just keep moving right into more stretching, just as though you're calming the water.

and once again, we're going to put one foot forward, one foot back. pull up on the toes. pull up on the heel. now, stay right there. i'm going to do a calf stretch. reach back with your leg. now, a hip flexor stretch. lift the back heel. tuck your hips under. lengthen this part of your body as much as you can so you can feel that stretch. and then slowly bring it down. now, shift your weight, put the other foot forward, and we're going to do a calf stretch on the other leg. how's your posture? everything pulled in?

can you feel it on your back leg right there, the lower calf? now, hip flexor. lift up the back heel. if you press your hips forward and under, you'll feel the stretch right in front of that hip. and then bring the heel back down. and now bring your feet together. and we're going to reach to this side and circle around. again. and let's reverse the circle. reach. feel that stretch all through your body. and now lift the arms up, bring them together over your head, push up and out, roll the shoulders back, squeeze those shoulder blades,

and push the floor away. take a breath in and let it go. >> we have time for a brief relaxation, so sit down, get comfortable and relax, roll those shoulders. let everything just fall from your fingertips, all the tension from today. and now, take this hand here and sweep it down under and down your side. and this hand right here, sweep it under the arm, and down your side. now, take this hand, sweep it down, and off. one more here. that feels good. now, just sweep your hands along your thighs and off. open up your chest. take a deep breath. and breathe out.

and one more time. thank you so much for being here. keep reaching out for a great day. for information on "sit and be fit" workouts, including those for specialty conditions, or for a complimentary copy of the "sit and be fit" newsletter, write, call toll free, or visit our website.

sit and be fit made possible in part by vq actioncare.com, makers of the resistance chair. when you imagine your future, you wanted to be healthy and active. stay strong. 1-800-570-6220. a0

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