 Hello, my name is Jamie Chernoff. I'm an instructor in Healthy Bones and Balance for the Amherst Senior Center. We are on Zoom right now, Monday and Wednesday mornings with my colleague Bessie Howlett, 10 a.m. You can contact the Senior Center for information about that. Now following this, you can try out a class of your own. You can use small weights if you're used to using hand weights. Otherwise, just make a fist, use your own resistance and go slowly while you listen and follow along. It's safe. Faithful exercise will build strong bones and make you a happier person. Please enjoy. Okay, good morning everybody. Sunday, Monday. So let's get started. You could be seated or standing. I think I'm going to stand first. Do a little toe tapping. Learning up the body, maybe, yeah, seated or standing. Toe, toe, toe, toe, toe. And now we'll do one side to go all the way around like from 12 o'clock to 4 o'clock. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, home. Tap, same side. Tap, tap, home. Switch, tap, tap. Let's add some hands. We'll do two on each leg and do whatever feels like good with the hands. Now let's switch legs. Now switch the toe to the heel. Lean back a little bit, bend the standing leg. Elbows up. Heel, heel, heel, heel, and back toe. Forward heel, back toe. Forward and switch. Forward with the left heel, back toe. Right toe, or heel. And just work it into a march. And a bring up on the foot. So right now we're getting in the heartbeat going a little bit. We're getting the feet, the legs, knees warmed up. Doing this in a chair. It's pretty much the same thing. And also, so come to a still and we'll warm up the spine with a cat cow. So seated or standing, standing or bending the knees and inhaling. Lift the sit bones up. Takes the shoulders back and look up. And then exhale, reverse it. Take the belly in, curving, rounding the back. It's one of the few times you round the back and up with your breath at your own pace. Inhale and of course the chair. Now that you've done a few, try to go a little deeper, maybe a little slower. And just visualize the burn breaks. Opening on the inside as we and opening on the back side as you roll over. Stretching the connecting tissue, the muscles. Exercising the discs. And pause. Hands up in cat disposition. And lift the armpits up a bit without lifting the tops of the shoulders. Just try that a little bit. It's activating a muscle. We don't pay much attention to. So activating. So you're kind of longer from the armpit to the hip. And then take the heads of the shoulders back. And now the shoulder blades are moving together. And take the elbows back to accentuate that. Breathe into the stretch. And release. Once again, elbows, armpits up. Heads of the shoulders back. And bent elbows. Move back. Stretching the back in another direction. Stretching the upper back. Working the upper back. Just feel like a trench between a little canyon between your shoulder blades. And release. And now shoulder releasing. Forward and back down. Forward and down. With your breath. Inhale, exhale. And inhale in the reverse direction. And stand. Near your chair for side stretch. So reaching up with my left hand. And up, up, up. Just feeling the light from this, my left foot to the tips of my fingers. And then bending my knees slightly so I'm not locking them. Take, just maximize that stretch. You may be going up more. You make her over only you or looking at you. And breathe into that. That's opening in the whole left side of the chest and hip. And inhale, back up. And next other side. Got a nice light chair, but. And maximize the legs first. See how much more there was on here. And then right there without the only legs. I'm taking that armpit again away from the hip. The hip. And the right foot are pressing down. And the armpit's reaching up in the hands. And over. Go slowly so that you feel that stretch really from the middle of the side of the hip. Soften the knees. And breathe into all those new spaces. And shoulders up. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. And release. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. And release. And now let's do a sort of work. Well, it's another warm-up. Lifting the right knee and pulling down with the left arm. But it's also warming up our hip flexors. Right here at the top of our thigh. These strong chords. Pull, pull, pull, pull. Now we'll do a variation. Pull and now kick. Kick. Pull. Kick. Right lifts. Left kicks. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. I'm getting a jab in there with my kick. And we'll switch. Pause. And so lift to the left. And kick right. The flex butt. Jab is quick. I think I switched sides. That's it. Let's pick up our weights for our arm exercise. Overhead press. So we recommend being seated for this one because it could be more than your back wants to take on. So I've got the weights at my shoulders. Palms facing forward. Inhale and press up. Look up. So you just, you see that they're overhead but not moving back. Five. Two. Inhale. Three. Inhale. Four. Inhale. Five. Inhale. Six. Inhale. Seven. Inhale. Take the belly to the spine as you go up. Nine. Eight. Nine. Slowly to ten. And slowly down. Slow to eleven. Slow it up. Down. And slow to twelve. Down. Down. Down. Finish. And rest your weight. I feel secure there. And a little shoulder circles forward and back. Take up the weights again for our second set. I'm still wrestling with this little one. Up my weights. Begin. Inhale. And reach. Uno. Exhale for. Dos. Tres. Cuatro. Cinco. Let's slow it down a little bit. Six. Siete. Ocho. Nueve. Diez. Once. And doze. And now come down. Really slow. You're tired. Tired. And that's done. So weights down. And maybe tap those shoulders and upper arms. Those of you who are wearing leg weights. This is the time to put them on. Those of you who are not using leg weights can think about putting on your virtual leg weights and in the next exercise of our extension, you can create your own resistance by imagining that you've got huge weight times your ankles or a significant weight. And or you might, if you don't have weights, you might move your position on your seat a little more forward because that also is your, have more of the leg that you're holding up without the chair. So that's another way to add a little strength, a little more effort required, more muscle effort, more strength, or pull on the bones. Inhale and the balls, or this, or I'm going to keep your hands productively busy. Inhale, right leg extend, point, flex and return. Reach for the heel, point, flex, return. Three, point, flex, return. Four, six, seven, eight, and 12, point, flex, slow, return. Now I'm going to put my balls down to mention this last week. So as we get tired, it's natural for us to round our back to balance the upper leg going up. We want to resist that. It's okay if we lift our leg, if we lift it, we don't lift it as far. We're maintaining this. I'm going to keep my thumbs pressing against my upper sacrum and my lower arms touching the chair. So I have that distance I can, we'll be able to detect with my thumbs if my pelvis starts to tilt. Second set, right side. Inhale and circle, reach and circle. Two, circle. Three, set, reach for the heel and circle, or eight, ten, reach. Try not to take any shortcuts. Just lower the leg if it gets to be too much. I think there's one more. And there's, I mean, there's the option to slide out on the floor of the heel and lift at the end. You know, if you've been away from exercise for a while or you have reasons not to feel your pulse strength, modify. Let's take the hands up. Inhale, a little more power and energy for the second set. And left leg, point flex, reach, point flex, return, reach of the heel, point flex, return, reach, four, six. This is one of our most strenuous exercises, I would say. Oh, we probably each have our favorites and our least favorites. But, second set, circle the ankle, inhale, extend, toa, extend, katsa, extend, sink, extend, circle the ankle, cease, set, reach, lift, ease, and doze. These wide, come down, rest on the forearms, straight back, and let your hands, if this feels good, slide down the shins to the ankles. Press the elbows against the knees or the thighs and resist and stretch along from the sit bones to the crown of the head. That resistance action with your knees against your elbows allows even more forward movement of the hips. So, back to our hand weights, four bicep curls. Some people may use balls to hold in their hands for the weights. I'll stand up after that leg work. Same exercise seated or standing and weights in my hand and arms long. Just feel the pull of the weights, a little stretch from the top of the shoulders. Soften the knees if you're standing. That means just a micro bend, so you're not a hard lock of the knees. Belly to the spine, lift the chest, inhale and exhale, lower arms move up, upper arms stay where they are. For one, two, slow return, and three, inhale down, exhale, four, inhale, five, inhale, six, inhale, seven, inhale, eight, inhale, nine, inhale, 10, slow down, 11, inhale, and 12, slow, slow, all the way down. If you want to put down your weights for a moment, really a moment, half minute max. Second set, because our goal is actually to tire our muscles. That's when they start to get stronger. Feel the weight, let it pull down on the top of the shoulders, rotate the arms, hands, and return. Palms facing forward, and one, two, inhale, three, inhale, four, inhale, five, six, seven, nine, 10, 11, and weights down. We'll go on to side leg raise in a moment. Shaking hands, rolling, pulling. This is a very loose interlace of the fingers. Stretching them out feels good after weight holding, and then together and change the interlace and take it all the way up. Hold your ribs down, firm your whole front of your abdomen, and reach. Regain that length between the hips and the armpits that you had in the side stretch, and let them fall. Gradually. All right, leg, side leg raise. Inhale, left the right leg, turn the toe in, notably in, and lift. You see it straightens out, just the angle of the leg. Two, inhale, squeeze. Three, press against the weight you're trying to lift, and then here, hug a big exercise ball until the air comes out without a score. Five. It can be fun to play with balance. You've got something to catch on to, or bend the knees, do a little hula hoop for the hips, and the second step, right leg again. Same, lift, turn it in. Enna, vio, crinia, tesara, pende, exhi, ta. Slow return. Octo, ennea. It's Greek. Policala means very good, very good. Good job. And switch sides. Here's heavier. I know I'm weak at this one. So we go slow, not because we are fragile, not because we're strong and getting stronger. It would be really easy to swing this out, even with the weight. Swing, swing back. Use that momentum and the gravity and so forth. We're working against gravity to build our strength. Inhale, same thing. The left leg, lift, turn it a bit pigeon-toed and reach. Complets one, two, three, six. Squeeze that big balloon. Seven, eight, one knee and the other. That pulls the hip nicely. Second step, months of the year. Inhale, and I hope you're shouting it out, yelling it out, speaking it out. In your room's where we are. Inhale, January, squeeze it back. February. Okay, keep going. April, May, June, July, August, September, November, slow, slow, slow for December. And squeeze back. This feels good. Against the chair, just really stretch the muscles there. And then again, one and then the other. Then one as far as you can. And then it turns you to the side. And let's pick up one weight for tricep stretch. Back to the upper arm. So if you're seated, just make room for your arm at the chair. And if you're standing, this is the right foot. To do the right side, the right foot ahead of you, and bend that front knee. Weights at the hip. Roll the right shoulder back. Shoulder blade moves to the spine, belly, firms, and lift for one. So again, lower arm moves from the elbow. Two, keep that elbow as high as you can. Three, I'm sympathetic. It's hard. It's work. I'm getting warm. Second step, front knee, belly in. It's going to hold your whole torso, arm, and share the work. Same action. But that's all right. I'm making the effort to get where I can. That's it, getting to work wherever you're going to live. So we're going to have a second side. I'm left. Inhale. Roll that shoulder blade onto your back. It's sturdy, integrated, placed to keep the shoulder safe. All the action we want in the upper, back of the upper arm. Two, inhale. Three, inhale. Four, inhale. Five, inhale. Six, inhale. Seven, inhale. Eight, inhale. Nine, 11. Shoulders forward. Second set. En français. De, quatre, cinq, six, dix, douze, and return. Okay. So you might say, what if I can't, I can't finish? If I'm just too tired, to put down the weight, that's one obvious thing, and or don't have your elbow as high. The higher your elbow up, the more you can see the radius of the lower arms further. And so the best thing is to keep moving. Just do it with no weights and you can only get value out if you're doing it at the place where you're, you can keep going. Don't be moved. Up and up to down and up. Now I'm in place for the back leg raise. Standing against the chair of ball. Right leg goes back, squeezes at the glute, that's key, and return. Two, inhale. It's a slow move, but though it's not a kick. You're here, lift a little bit for the squeeze. Four, five, six, the slight bend of the standing leg, seven, chest up, eight, nine, squeeze that glute, 10, and 12. Hold, squeeze, slow return. Bend the knees, over lift, bend the knees up, second set, like, see, no, four, bend. Cinque, that's my favorite, say, seven, 12, nine, 10, hold, squeeze, squeeze, and then let's bend, let the sit bones up straight back. You might put your hands over the chair or stay here and bend the knees slightly and feel the delicious stretch back in the legs and those big muscles of the gluteus maximus. Left side, inhale and just pause here for a moment. This might be as far as you go if you're new to class and or new to weights. Let's say you're wearing weights for the first time, just go right here and then just when you're on muscle power, squeeze that left glute and return. Three, six, 11, and 12. Hold, hold, and return. Bend both knees, roll up on the balls of the feet and sink down again up and back on the heels with a straight, staying straight, legs and torso. Second set, ana, vio, tria, tesara, pende, exi, eta, octo, teca, indica, vodka, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, and return. Those glutes are smoking. Bend the knees and you can go down further if you want. Almost a downward dog feels good. Bend the knees, press and come up and there's always more. So let's do a stand-up sit-down. So we've timed for 30 seconds and we each keep track of our own time and you want to, you know, really touch the chair each time you come down. Inhale, ready, and begin. More than half right, keep going. Done. Time for our gonna stay at the beat. Stretching out, let your heels toes up. So it's not a stretch, this is a rest. Bring in the feet, come back, and we will come to standing for squats. Behind the chair, or at the wall. And here's what we want is the knees pointing towards the toes and the knees not past the ankle. It's a Berkeley thing over ankle and directionally and come down. You can raise your hands perhaps or and stand. Straighten and bend. Straighten and bend. Chair goes the same, but you're leaning forward. Maybe stay down, hands to the thighs, just by the knees. Press down, belly in towards the spine, lengthen the spine long, shoulder blades move together, and then squeeze the legs together as you come up. And we will do the seated row. We have time, so this will be our last arm exercise. I have all my choices over here to choose from depending on our time. So, seated row involves weights and hips. And hinge forward, straight back. Hinge again, raise that hip crease, hinge forward, neck long, and extend the arms, hands to the calf, and then lift the elbows up for one. Extend, two. Extend, three. Extend, four. Elbows up for five, six, eight. Really take the belly to the spine and you say nine. As you reach the top, 10, 11, and 12. Rest your arms, your weights. Take right here to right shoulder. Let that gravity work to open the left side and inhale up. And left ear to left shoulder. Slowly giving the right side of your neck permission to release and inhale. Second set, starting here, 12, 11, inhale, 10, inhale, nine. Take the belly to the spine as you go up. Seven, six, three, two, athorized, hand weight for the day. Place them down out of your way, and ham curls. We'll do one set of ham curls. So we need to be standing and bend at the knee and bring the foot, the lower leg, parallel to the floor, thighs stay even. So as I put my hands right here just to see where feel where my thighs are. And two on the right side, three, inhale, four, inhale. Adding the resistance is essential. Five, seven, 11. I'm just balancing out kind of like bicep moves for 12. Switching to the other side, 12, 11, 9, 8, stand tall, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. And done with leg weights. And standing at the chair, let's come up on the balls of the feet, and down, up, and down, up, and then go slowly down to really feel it in your feet. And again, slowly up and hold, four, three, two, one, hold. Isometrically, pull the legs together, press down with the big toe mound, lift up with the chest, belly to the spine, and, if you're not already down, go down, up, two, three, four, then your legs, and down, two, three, four. And then just one of the other and hands behind interlaced or on your hips, bring the elbows towards each other. And if their hands are like this, you can reach them away. Bend the knees, let the sternum come forward and lift as the shoulder blades come together. And they lift up, take your ears up and back, or back and up, so your chin's not jutting out, and release. Shoulders up and melt down, soft melt. Takes a long time for these. Inhale, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. And we'll have a balance practice. Standing on one leg, choose your leg, lift up, plant it at the shin, and as you do that, extend off with the standing leg, and that standing hip hugs in. Both feet are active, pressing against each other, or the toes could be touching the floor, and begin. Belly to the spine, chest lifts, to hold onto your imaginary balance feet, balance the, you know, tight rope pull. See, if I look at my watch, I lose it. And down, deep slow, inhale and exhale. Next inhale, lift the other leg, and as you're practicing with us, you might lose your balance and find it a couple of times during this minute starting now, not a minute, 30 seconds. You can do for longer, press the standing hip in to dance vertical as you can to counteract the looseness by, very good, very good. We have a powerhouse here, I'm doing a big hip circle, bending my knees as the hips go back, stretching the front, they come forward, and reverse, and you can see that the quads are in the front of our thighs. It's beautiful in the chair. If you'd like to stand, you could do that, curl the back toes under, and reach through the knee. So both legs are actively pressing down, and I'm adding to the stretch that I'm getting by leaning back. I've got to keep up that active pressure into the floor, active reaching with the knee, maybe one hand reaches back, we could keep a hand on the chair back, switch sides. This thigh in front should be perpendicular to the floor. So you've got two 90 degree angles in the knees, and begin to go back. But don't lean back until you're really firmly reaching to that floor. I'm getting there, but activating the muscles to reach the back knee to the floor, pressing, and maybe let's say this extends a little more weight, not too much, and inhale up, tricep steps, reach right arm long, bend the elbow, and press the elbow back a bit, so your right hand reaching down, and take the lower ribs down, so you're firm in the front of the abdomen, feet pressing into the floor, so you can really isolate the stretch, reach up both hands, left arm, bend, press back, press down with the feet, in with the belly, lower front ribs, reach down towards the navel, and let your neck be free, you can be riding your arms to not feel constricted. Inhale up, and float down, little shoulder stretch, and that right arm across, there's another shoulder stretch, and feel when the stretch starts to get intense, and before you back off, just breathe into it, use your powers of visualization to imagine your breath filling up the space, massaging the stretched muscles, and then certainly back off whenever your first strategies don't work, and release, and left arm across, hug, make the two arms press against each other really actively, and let's stand for a couple of the leg stretches, let's do a calf stretch, so facing my chair with the bent knee, and I have the back foot on the floor, and I'm bending the back knee, and the more I bend it, the more stretch I'm getting, actually it's lower part of my calf, back ankle, so we're going to straighten the legs, and hips are facing the chair back, and I'm coming down, and I kind of split my down dog position across my hands on the chair seat, or you can hold onto the side, and try to get that back leg further back on the floor, and bend it a little bit, so right now I'm getting a hamstring stretch in my front leg, my left leg, which feels good, and the back leg of trying to isolate that calf muscle, only partially successful, but it's good hamstring, and bend the front knee, and come up, and switch legs, and lift the hips up so that the legs are long, straight, and then hinge forward, flat back, and breathe into those openings. Inhale up, and let's just go right here, just bending legs together, bending the knees, and a calf stretch right here, and we'll do a few lunges, final lunges is practice or balance practice, if you were throwing off balance to the right, you'd step out, and back, and left, back, we'll just alternate your permanent right, left, one more each side, really put your weight into that forward foot, and then forward, front knee bends, that's when you squeeze in the glute, as you try to stop yourself, that's what we're doing all that glute work for, so another last balance, feet together, it's called mountain sway, and maybe stretch to the side, we're gonna try to go as far forward as you can, really working the toes, and then come back to center, and now go to the right, you don't move very much, but you can feel how your whole body comes into your belly, glutes, trying to hold on, and then back, toes get light, you don't want them to be too light, and bend the knees, and let's have a good downward dog, back out, and we'll set the screen here, because I want to show you how you can get such, getting great back, leg stretch, torso stretch, armpits, and arms, pressing into the floor, lifting the sit bones, reaching with active fingers, jazz hands, and bend the knees, come forward, we still have a little walking balance, so if you have a circle, or you can just go back and forth, everybody has different kinds of space limitations, but the idea is to put one foot right in front of the other, heel and toe are touching, and then next step is like that too, but they're slow, some of you are meditators, you may have done this called a walking meditation, where you're visualizing the heel, touching the arch, sides of the arch, and then the ball of the foot, and then the toes, and then you're on to the next, the slower it is, this is what makes it a also a balancing exercise, try to lift your eyes up, and just have your mind attention in the feet, put your gaze is looking straight ahead, and come back to center, standing or seated, bend the knees, open up the palms, reach up, just take in a whole of this energetic hour, hands down again, do this two more times, inhale up, embrace the sun, and be grateful for your commitment to being stronger, being more of who you want to be. Thanks for practicing with me.