Sit Right, Stretch Right Routine | Perfect Form With Ashley Borden
Uploaded by LivestrongWoman on 24.10.2012
Transcript:
Hi, I'm Ashley Borden, and welcome to Perfect Form. Today, we're gonna be focusing on how
do you sit at the office and how do you stretch your body at the office in a small space.
Question I get all the time from my clients is: "How do I sit correctly in my chair without
having back pain?" "And without spending hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars in an office
chair?" These two things that I'm using today -- this is a Back Joy Posture Plus and some
yoga blocks -- are the answer to your dreams for under $45. Okay, so let me show you how
you go ahead and use this and why it's so important. You're gonna sit right in the center,
and you're just gonna scoot your tushy back. And now, you can see, like when I'm seated,
the position that you're looking at is to make sure that your knees are a little bit
below your hips. But the problem here is that my toes are a little bit too high. So the
yoga blocks are perfect because now I'm in correct alignment. I have no pull on my back,
and I feel like my pelvis is mobile, which is what is so important to not feeling back
pain. When you don't have that support, what happens is your tush completely turns off
and sometimes crushes your sciatic nerve, which is what can cause back pain as well.
Alright, so this is how you're sitting. And now I'm going to show you how to stretch out
in a small space to make you feel a little bit more energized and more open. So we're
gonna do a Walkout Hamstring Stretch, and we're gonna go through this guy five times.
You're gonna take a big inhale up. You're gonna exhale, hinge at your hips all the way
down and just relax the body. Walk it all the way out, hold plank, okay? So when you
go back, I want you to drive your drive your heels down, drive your hips up -- you should
feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings. Tuck your chin to your throat, roll all the way
to the top, and that's 1. Again, inhale up. Exhale, forward, bend, relax the body. Walk
it all the way out slowly. So you see how I'm driving my heels down, so I'm feeling
that deep hamstring stretch. Hold plank for a beat. Walk 'er back, drive the heels down.
Look underneath you. Rolling up -- 2. Again, inhale. Really important that you're breathing
through this whole thing too. Gives you a lot more energy. And walk it all the way out.
Hold from there -- feel the heat in that body, and then drive the hips up, heels drive down
so I really feel that through my calves, hamstrings. Roll. Two more, guys. All the way up. Forward
bend, hinge at those hips. Walk it all the way out. Drive those heels down, take your
time so you feel that stretch. Hold, squeeze your glutes, squeeze your quads. Drive it
back, tuck. And, again, if you can't get your palms all the way flat -- one more time -- that's
okay. You can do fingertips. The point is is that even if you're here, you just wanna
focus on pushing that tush up to the ceiling as you're going out to get that stretch. Hold,
drive it back. Tuck and roll up one vertebrae at a time. Excellent. Alright, so let's go
into your shoulder stretch. So many times when you're seated for a long period of time
you're chest gets really tight, you're shoulders get really tight. So, this stretch is a little
bit safer than just kind of stretching the arm back willy nilly -- this gives you a little
bit more control. So you're gonna have your knees bent, feet are gonna be flat, and you're
gonna put your palms and your forearms on the ground, okay? So you're going to feel
like you're collapsing first through your shoulders, and then I want you to push through
your shoulders. Palms are flat and raise the heart up. You should feel a deep stretch in
your shoulder harness, and collapse. That's 1. Again, inhale through your nose. Exhale,
push. And relax the shoulders -- 2. If you don't feel it in this position, you can do
palms up. It's a little bit deeper. Bring the fingertips facing away from you, and same
thing, you can push through your shoulders, reach that heart and chest and collapse it
down, pull the belly in -- 3. Two more. Push, push, push. Heart reaches up to the ceiling.
My palms are flats. And tuck under. And that's 4. And give me one more. Push through that
heart and chest -- really try to extend the arms long. Woo, I feel that. And then all
the way down. Excellent. Alright, so let's go to your Quad Stretch, and a quad stretch
is super important because it helps to open up your hip flexors and your quads, and that
gets really tight when you sit for a long period of time. So what you're gonna do is
you wanna feel like you're in a kneeling position first, and you're gonna take that foot foreword.
I always say it's like you're doing like a softball photo or something. You're back foot,
you're first and second toe, is curled underneath you, okay, so you can get a good base. You're
gonna squeeze your glute hard, tuck that tailbone, hands on the knees, and reach that heart up.
And you're gonna hold that for 20 seconds. Okay, so as you're holding, I want you to
really focus on tucking and squeezing. Put your hand on your bum -- if you don't feel
that tush on, I want you to try to push down a little bit harder through your first and
second toe, and squeeze. And you're gonna hold. Very nice. And you're gonna switch.
Some people say "Ooh, I feel that in my knee." What you wanna visualize when you're holding
this position is that you're energy is reaching up. You're not crushing down into your kneecap.
You're not trying to push down. You're actually trying to lift up and tuck. Okay, and you're
gonna hold -- squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. You should feel a deep stretch. If you don't feel
it, bring that that foot a little bit further forward so you can get deeper in the stretch.
Excellent. Alright, and the last one I wanna do is a Cat and Dog. So it's spinal flexion,
and that way you can kinda get that rounding feeling through your back and also feel like
you have more mobility. You're gonna go onto all fours. Okay, make sure your shoulders
are underneath your wrists and your knees are underneath your hips. I'm gonna start
in a neutral spine. I'm gonna inhale through my nose, expand my waistline, and then exhale.
Tuck chin to throat. So as I'm tucking my chin to throat (but I'm looking out to you
guys), you wanna feel like you're rounding your shoulders and pushing away from the floor
so it looks like this. And then exhale, open up your heart and chest, push your shoulders
away from your ears, and rotate your bum up to the ceiling. Okay, we're gonna go through
that five times. Exhale, inhale. Mmm, good stretch -- you should feel that through your
core too. Again, and rotate that heart and chest. I really try to bring my elbows inward
and push that heart forward. Exhale, tuck. Inhale, rotate the heart and chest, elbows
come in. One more. And rotate that heart and chest. Very good. And that is your small space
stretch light program. I hope you feel much more open and energized. And most importantly:
I want you to connect to your body.
do you sit at the office and how do you stretch your body at the office in a small space.
Question I get all the time from my clients is: "How do I sit correctly in my chair without
having back pain?" "And without spending hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars in an office
chair?" These two things that I'm using today -- this is a Back Joy Posture Plus and some
yoga blocks -- are the answer to your dreams for under $45. Okay, so let me show you how
you go ahead and use this and why it's so important. You're gonna sit right in the center,
and you're just gonna scoot your tushy back. And now, you can see, like when I'm seated,
the position that you're looking at is to make sure that your knees are a little bit
below your hips. But the problem here is that my toes are a little bit too high. So the
yoga blocks are perfect because now I'm in correct alignment. I have no pull on my back,
and I feel like my pelvis is mobile, which is what is so important to not feeling back
pain. When you don't have that support, what happens is your tush completely turns off
and sometimes crushes your sciatic nerve, which is what can cause back pain as well.
Alright, so this is how you're sitting. And now I'm going to show you how to stretch out
in a small space to make you feel a little bit more energized and more open. So we're
gonna do a Walkout Hamstring Stretch, and we're gonna go through this guy five times.
You're gonna take a big inhale up. You're gonna exhale, hinge at your hips all the way
down and just relax the body. Walk it all the way out, hold plank, okay? So when you
go back, I want you to drive your drive your heels down, drive your hips up -- you should
feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings. Tuck your chin to your throat, roll all the way
to the top, and that's 1. Again, inhale up. Exhale, forward, bend, relax the body. Walk
it all the way out slowly. So you see how I'm driving my heels down, so I'm feeling
that deep hamstring stretch. Hold plank for a beat. Walk 'er back, drive the heels down.
Look underneath you. Rolling up -- 2. Again, inhale. Really important that you're breathing
through this whole thing too. Gives you a lot more energy. And walk it all the way out.
Hold from there -- feel the heat in that body, and then drive the hips up, heels drive down
so I really feel that through my calves, hamstrings. Roll. Two more, guys. All the way up. Forward
bend, hinge at those hips. Walk it all the way out. Drive those heels down, take your
time so you feel that stretch. Hold, squeeze your glutes, squeeze your quads. Drive it
back, tuck. And, again, if you can't get your palms all the way flat -- one more time -- that's
okay. You can do fingertips. The point is is that even if you're here, you just wanna
focus on pushing that tush up to the ceiling as you're going out to get that stretch. Hold,
drive it back. Tuck and roll up one vertebrae at a time. Excellent. Alright, so let's go
into your shoulder stretch. So many times when you're seated for a long period of time
you're chest gets really tight, you're shoulders get really tight. So, this stretch is a little
bit safer than just kind of stretching the arm back willy nilly -- this gives you a little
bit more control. So you're gonna have your knees bent, feet are gonna be flat, and you're
gonna put your palms and your forearms on the ground, okay? So you're going to feel
like you're collapsing first through your shoulders, and then I want you to push through
your shoulders. Palms are flat and raise the heart up. You should feel a deep stretch in
your shoulder harness, and collapse. That's 1. Again, inhale through your nose. Exhale,
push. And relax the shoulders -- 2. If you don't feel it in this position, you can do
palms up. It's a little bit deeper. Bring the fingertips facing away from you, and same
thing, you can push through your shoulders, reach that heart and chest and collapse it
down, pull the belly in -- 3. Two more. Push, push, push. Heart reaches up to the ceiling.
My palms are flats. And tuck under. And that's 4. And give me one more. Push through that
heart and chest -- really try to extend the arms long. Woo, I feel that. And then all
the way down. Excellent. Alright, so let's go to your Quad Stretch, and a quad stretch
is super important because it helps to open up your hip flexors and your quads, and that
gets really tight when you sit for a long period of time. So what you're gonna do is
you wanna feel like you're in a kneeling position first, and you're gonna take that foot foreword.
I always say it's like you're doing like a softball photo or something. You're back foot,
you're first and second toe, is curled underneath you, okay, so you can get a good base. You're
gonna squeeze your glute hard, tuck that tailbone, hands on the knees, and reach that heart up.
And you're gonna hold that for 20 seconds. Okay, so as you're holding, I want you to
really focus on tucking and squeezing. Put your hand on your bum -- if you don't feel
that tush on, I want you to try to push down a little bit harder through your first and
second toe, and squeeze. And you're gonna hold. Very nice. And you're gonna switch.
Some people say "Ooh, I feel that in my knee." What you wanna visualize when you're holding
this position is that you're energy is reaching up. You're not crushing down into your kneecap.
You're not trying to push down. You're actually trying to lift up and tuck. Okay, and you're
gonna hold -- squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. You should feel a deep stretch. If you don't feel
it, bring that that foot a little bit further forward so you can get deeper in the stretch.
Excellent. Alright, and the last one I wanna do is a Cat and Dog. So it's spinal flexion,
and that way you can kinda get that rounding feeling through your back and also feel like
you have more mobility. You're gonna go onto all fours. Okay, make sure your shoulders
are underneath your wrists and your knees are underneath your hips. I'm gonna start
in a neutral spine. I'm gonna inhale through my nose, expand my waistline, and then exhale.
Tuck chin to throat. So as I'm tucking my chin to throat (but I'm looking out to you
guys), you wanna feel like you're rounding your shoulders and pushing away from the floor
so it looks like this. And then exhale, open up your heart and chest, push your shoulders
away from your ears, and rotate your bum up to the ceiling. Okay, we're gonna go through
that five times. Exhale, inhale. Mmm, good stretch -- you should feel that through your
core too. Again, and rotate that heart and chest. I really try to bring my elbows inward
and push that heart forward. Exhale, tuck. Inhale, rotate the heart and chest, elbows
come in. One more. And rotate that heart and chest. Very good. And that is your small space
stretch light program. I hope you feel much more open and energized. And most importantly:
I want you to connect to your body.