And effective way to maintain functional fitness. Mary ann the exercise program youre 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 doesnt 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. Im mary ann wilson. Im so glad youre here today. Were going to start with a wonderful warmup. Its beautiful music and we are going to go through the whole body. Okay. Lets get started. Sit on top of those sitz bones. All right. Now, take your hands out. Take that pelvis forward and back. Find that neutral spine alignment. And then sit right on top of those sitz bones. And then lift up the ribs. Just slide your hands under the ribs. Squeeze the shoulder blades and press back. And lets do it again. Slide. Trace those ribs. Squeeze the shoulder blades and reach back. Good job. Now, i want you to just lift. Lift that sternum. And take a breath. And breathe out. Lets lift one more time. Give it a lift. And open. Wonderful. Now were going to touch the chin. Pull it away from your hand. Touch with the other hand. See if you can pull it away a little bit more. Good work. Now, lets tilt. Try to get that ear as close to your shoulder as you can. And then touch. And drop. And then bring the head back up. Touch and pull back again. And then drop the ear. And then change one more time. Now, i want you just to turn. Look over that shoulder. Look straight ahead. Now look over this shoulder. Now were going to make a circle with your nose. Tuck that chin and circle. Side. Up. Side. And down. And lets reverse it. Side. Up. Side. Down. And now look straight ahead. Touch that chin again. Lets get a little bit more neck work. Here we go. Lets open. Look back. And bring it forward. Now this finger. Point. Follow with your head. See how far back you can go. Turn. Can you feel that in your back . I can. Point that finger and follow it with your eyes. Good work. Okay. Now time to work on those shoulders. Were going to come back with the elbows and squeeze those shoulder blades. And now pull down. Squeeze. Pull down. Now, were going to take the arm to the diagonal. All the way up. And down. Now, notice how your body is shifting in that chair. Lets change. Down, lifting the hip. Up, and lifting this hip. Youre getting a lot of exercise. You just dont know it. One more time. All the way up and lift up that hip. Okay. Now lets get some rotation through the spine. Hook your arm over the chair. Hold. And lengthen your spine and look over the shoulder. And look forward. And lets change. Lengthen before you turn. And then look forward. Good job. All right. Now were going to touch the back of the hands. Pull the belly button in. Round your spine. D now open thest. And then press back. Take your breath in. And breathe out. A little more rotation in the spine. Hands right here by your hips. Dont forget to lengthen that neck. I almost did. All right. Now, lets move forward and back in your chair. Get the pelvis into things here. Lets change legs. Forward and pull back. Forward and pull back. Okay. Now lets go for those legs. Make a circle with your toes as though youre outlining the toes, the ball of the foot. And the other foot. And now turn your foot to this side. Center. This side. And center. This side. And center. This side. And center. And lets keep going here with just some leg muscles stretching. This is the calf muscle. Thats your calf muscle youre stretching. Now point, and then flex again, and youll feel that stretch again. Lets do it on the other leg. Extend. Sit up tall. Pull back on those toes and feel that stretch. And then point and flex. And that was great now its time for your towel exercise. So reach for your towel. Well be using the towel for exercises to improve your posture and for abdominals, but let me show you something. If you cannot put the towel i dont want you to put it behind like that. I want you to put it in front. Do everything in front. If this causes any pain, dont do it. Okay . All right. Here we go. You want the towel to be just about shoulder width apart. And then youre going to take it behind your head or in front. Take a deep breath in. And feel that towel on the back of your head. And then breathe out and take the hands out just a little bit farther. And take it right behind the head. Now pull in the belly button. Bring your sitz bones together. Everything. Take another big breath in. And breathe out. And now lets take it all the way to the end. Keep that towel taut. Okay. Can you feel your head against that towel . Now turn. Look in one direction so you can see your hand. And then look forward and turn. And that was great okay. Bring the towel in front now. And were going to pretend that youre reaching for your seat belt with that towel. Ready . Pull down. And pull up. Youre resisting both ways. Pull down. And pull up. Lets take it to the other side. Okay. Theres your seat belt up there. Pull it down. And reach up for it. And pull it down again. Lets do one more on this side. Reach. And pull. And now youre going to place that towel right around the back. Now we are going to work your abdominals. So come up close. Get about halfway in that seat and the towel right around your waistline. Take a deep breath. And youre going to lean back as far as you can. Now, when that belly button and that tummy stops working, i want you to stop and pull up. Youre resisting with the towel. Take a breath in. And breathe out. Good job. Youre going to do that two more times. I want you to get the feel of that. Breath in. Breathe out. Start pulling the belly button in. Tightening that transverse muscle. Okay. One last time. Youre doing super. Breathe in first. Breathe out. Pull the belly button in. Oh, boy, does that feel good okay. Bring your towel out to this side. And then out to this side. Chin is up. Chest is up. Bring your towel to the front. Oh. That was super. Lets put that towel away and get some blood pumping here. All right. I want you to move to the middle of your chair, a little bit forward, because we have some coordination work thats going to bump e chair if you dont get in the right position. So here we go. On top of your sitz bones. Take a breath in. Now breathe out. Were going to start with this leg. Here we go. Front and back. Now were going to add some arms. Front and back. And change. First the leg work. Okay. Add those arms. And here we go with charlie chaplin. Toes go out. External rotation here for your shoulder. And now the dorothy heels. Lift up those chicken wings. Then were going to grab the rope. Here we go. Reach. Reach. Now pull back and lift that leg. And lift. Lets change. Reach and reach. Hold that rope. Pull back and tighten the tummy muscles. Good job. Okay. Keep your hands clasped and your arms nice and straight. Youre going to take it down to the diagonal. I call this a slice. And now lift the hip with that. And were going to do one more and then change sides. First get the slice moving. Now get the slice and the hip. Two more. Okay. Good job. Now keep those hands right there and arms straight, if you can. Out and in. Get ready to change. I bet your arms are getting tired. Theyre going to get a little break here. Here we go. Its lift the hip. Shoulder to shoulder. Now, i hope youre thinking about those abdominal muscles. One more here. Okay. Charlie chaplin toes. Sit up tall. Chins up. And dorothy heels. Lift up those wings. Okay. Were going to go back to that beginning. Its front and back. I think if you keep this knee up it will be easier for you to do this move. Add your arms. Now lets go to the other leg. Front. Back. Front. Back. Front. Arms. Two more. And lean forward and roll up and down. Fantastic exercise bands provide a form of resistance training to strengthen muscles and bones. Correct form is important. Keep your wrists straight and breathe throughout the exercise. Remember, you can benefit from just doing the movement so its not necessary to have a band. If you are using a band, but have pain or cant maintain good form, try the exercise without the band. And if you have highblood pressure, check with your doctor before using resistance. I would like you to wrap your band around your hands, but, please, avoid those finger joints. So put it around either the palm or the back of your hand or both. Now, when you take it behind your shoulders, you may feel like you need to readjust or change the position, but thats okay. Just do what feels comfortable. Now lift the chest. Take a deep breath. And straighten out those arms. Now, as you bring them in, squeeze the shoulder blades together. Out and in. Concentrate on those muscles that youre working. This just isnt a simple little movement. Its important. Now were going to work the tricep muscles. So let one end of the band go. Put the other one right here behind your head, if you can, or do the best you can. Then, grab it down at the bottom, and extend and bend. Now, if you keep that elbow pointed up to the ceiling, you will get a lot more out of this movement. Now, its time to change. So just change the top hand. Then you can reach back and grab the bottom. Get the elbow up and now anchor it and take that move. Nice and controlled. This is for the back of your upper arm. So work on that. All right. Good. Now bring that band right here across your body. And anchor it right here. Elbow up. Were going to open. Were still working that tricep muscle. Okay . This might be a little easier way for you to work it. Now, lets adjust to the other side. Elbow up. Extend and bend. Slow and easy. Its better to concentrate if you do it slowly. It makes it much easier. Now, we are going to just sit on your band. So open it up. Put it evenly on your chair. And lets work the bicep muscles both at the same time. Elbows stick right close to your body. Your chest is up. And i need more band. There you go. You can adjust all the way through. And i could use just a little more resistance. So im going to bring my hands down on that band to give me a little less to work with. And lets do two more. All right. Now, were going to move that band under one foot. So just slip it down. Open it up as wide as you can. And then put your foot inside. Okay. Sit on those sitz bones. Get the band where you think you are going to get good resistance and extend and bend. And extend. Now on this last one were going to turn the foot out. And turn it in. Resist that band. The easiest way to switch legs is just to put one foot down, the other foot right next to it. And there you go. Now just lift and extend. You have two more. And now hold it there. Turn the foot in. And out. In and out. Okay. Take that band and put it away and get ready for some leg 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 will be turning during the leg exercises for demonstration purposes only. You should stay facing forward in your chair for a solid base of support. Well be focusing on breathing and balance work in these next two routines. So wiggle your toes. Feel that ground below you. Can you feel it . Press down with those feet. And now lets come up to the abdomen. Pull it in. Tuck that tailbone under. Lift up those ribs. Now lift the sternum up. Bring the shoulders back. Tap them down. Touch the chin and pull back. Now lets take a beep breath in, open up your chest as much as you can. And then as you breathe out, keep your shoulders where they are. Just pull the abdominal muscle in nice and tight. Again, breathe in. And slowly breathe out. Right. Pretend you have a ball right here. Youre going to take that ball up overhead. Right behind your head if you can. Now, breathe in. And breathe out as you bring that ball down and behind your back. Squeeze those shoulder blades. And lets do it again. Breathe in. And slowly breathe out. Now squeeze those shoulder blades together. Pull back with those elbows. Squeeze again. And now, reach forward with one arm. Reach back with the other and just turn. Just a little bit from the rib cage and then change. And change again. Okay. Breathe in. And breathe out. And then sweep down. Open up the curtains. Let that sunshine in. Lift your shoulders and press down. Oh, that was great, wasnt it . Felt great. Okay. Walk on your tiptoes now, its toe, heel. Toe, heel. All right. Now youre going to walk on your heels. Walk forward. Back. And heel and toe. How did you do . Great. Okay. Now, were going to work on the tight rope and your balance. Put one foot in front of the other so you can feel the toe with your foot thats in front. Now shift the weight front, and back. And then step forward and circle back. Lets change. The other foot comes in front. Now, before you do anything else, check your posture. Now shift the weight back and forward and back. And now step and circle that foot around. Well just keep going here. Knee lift. Push. Lift and down. Knee lift. Push it back. Lift and down. Were going to do four of these. Okay. Change legs. Lift. Push. Lift and down. Your weight is all on that other leg, and its working hard too. Lift. Push. Lift. And down. Heres your last one. Push. Okay. Heres a change. Touch. Touch. Now its heel, toe and lift. Heel, toe, and lift. And now bring your feet together and change. Touch. Touch. Heel. Toe. And lift. Heel. Toe. And lift. Now bring your feet together. Okay. Here we go. Toe, toe. And heel, heel. Okay. Now walk on your heels. There we go. Now were going to plant the heel, drop the toe. Heel, drop the toe. Heel, toe. Heel, toe. Heel, toe. And now knee lift. Push. Lift. And down. Same leg. While youre doing this, check your posture. Are you nice and tall . You are. Youre looking great. Thank you. Lets change legs. Lift. Push. Lift and down. Two more. Whew okay. Lets sit down and relax. Okay. I want you to feel the chair. I want you to feel your body. Take a deep breath in and breathe out. And now i want you to watch your screen. Were going to take a little walk through the fields, watching nature, how natural, and theyre in their own space. They feel that they can just do anything they want. And as we come across some color in your view, i want you to draw that color into your heart. And then as you breathe out, just relax with the water. Another breath in. Feel the freshness of the air and slowly let it go. Let the water wash over you, making everything pure around you, allowing you to enjoy whatever it is you enjoy most. Take a breath in. Let that fresh air revitalize you as we come back into the room. And then bring your hands together. Now draw it all in. Up. And out. Thank you so much for being here. Keep reaching out for a better 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. 18005706220. Xnnnnnnnny maybe you have some Energy Saving appliances, like an Energy Starrated washer and dryer. But what about your tv . Chances are its on more than your washer, dryer, and Kitchen Appliances combined. Did you know that if half of us in the u. S. 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