Standing Theraband

Hi. I'm Christy Cooper. And today, we're gonna do a standing workout with a air band. So I have, a it's actually a six foot long fair band fold in half. So pretty much whatever you do have will work. We might have to draw up on the resistance or let it out a little bit. Having said that, you can also do pretty much the whole workout without it, but you'll have to use some imagination as well.

So don't worry too much. If you don't have a Theraband, we'll get it all in. Today's workout is really gonna be about letting go, filling up, loosening up. There'll be a fair amount of arm work, and let's just see what happens. I'll get everything in.

I promise you that. So with that said, I'm gonna turn sideways for this first part. My feet are just parallel, easy. You can stand wider. You wanna be comfortable to begin because what we're gonna try to do is just let a little bit of tension go.

The more tension we let go, the more efficient we're gonna move. So with that said, I'm just raising my arms up. I'm lifting up. I'm giving more space between my ribs and my waist and taking the deep breath. I am looking up. You don't have to. But when I let go, I'm just gonna drop my upper body forward and throw out the energy I don't want.

Come right back up. At exhale. I do bend my knees, so just make it comfy. Just exhale. Let go of whatever you don't need, what's not serving you. And decide right now what you might want to bring into your 30 minute workout here.

2 more. Oh, last time up and just let the arms float down the side. Now we pay attention to alignment a little bit more. Feet are parallel. The outer edges of your feet are parallel.

And that's something to pay attention to because it's not so natural to do for most of us. But it is something I just want us to pay attention to. Then from there, let's start at the ankles. Just kinda shift your weight back and forward on the ankles. Little bit. No big deal.

Now then, I'm I'm gonna suggest that you keep your ankles, your body weight a little bit more forward on the foot. Just a little. Not fully. Your heels aren't able to lift. Then your knees. Look at them if you're not sure, are gonna be right over your ankles.

As you travel further up your body, the pelvis is right over your knees. Hang out here for a second and just pay attention to whether or not you are wanting to maybe stick the tailbone out or what I would call an arch of the low back. Or if you tend more towards a tuck or around this of the low back, we're aiming for what let's just call neutral. If this is a bowl of soup, you're not pouring the water out front or the broth out the front or the back, it's level. That's ideal for now. Let's go higher.

The rib cage right above the pelvis. Alright. So just some notes, a lot of us might wanna throw the ribs forward and a lot of us because we sit a lot, throw the ribs back. Again, back to that neutral sensation, look for it, explore it, Then shoulders are over ribs, and the crown of the head is the top of your spine. We're gonna roll down from here. Just leave your arms heavy. Inhale. Excel. Let it go forward.

Doing your best not to shift your weight backwards. It is absolutely fine to bend your knees, though. So don't be shy about that if that feels better to you. You can put your hands on your shins or even above your knees. All of that is fine. Let your head be heavy and take an inhale.

Start the exhale. New to see abdominals pull away from the thighs. We're rolling ourselves right back up to where we started. Knees over ankles, etcetera, etcetera. And we're tall. Again, let's do a few of these inhale.

Exhale. Taking it forward. Something I'll mention is that trying to keep my arms on my back. And what that means to me is I'm not just letting him hang in front of me. Another way of saying it is my collarbone stay wide or pointing to the side inhale. And exhale, we'd allow ourselves to roll back up.

Maybe you'll feel some energy in the back of the thighs. Let's do one more. And on this one, we're gonna pick up that band. That's why I'm turning forward again. Inhale and exhale. Here we go.

Rounding forward. Rounding forward. We find the band, pick it up, take an inhale here, heavy head, and exhale to bring it back. Okay. So, again, you when you're working with a band, first things first, It's never about the hands. The band is here for an assist or perhaps to add some resistance, but really it shouldn't be like the the end all be all.

Rather you're gonna hold it, try to get in the middle of your palm so that you have some traction on it when you want it. And at any point where it feels like it's too tight, you loosen it up, or if you need to, maybe you have to wrap one hand, you're just gonna make it work. And for the starting position, simple, simple. I've got I'm holding it It's a little wider than hip distance, and it's taut. I'm not pulling hard on it. I just want it taut. Like, the subtlest resistance. And then let's explore the resistance we can create on our own. Again, I'm just turning sideways to make a point.

Inhale, push the arms up as far as you can overhead if can if you can as if you're working through a solid and then push it back down too. So it's like you're working almost mud, not a great analogy, but let's just say you're pushing it up. It's not about the band right now. I'm just keeping the distance the same and getting a sense of like, okay. Right. I'm working through a solid. I'm creating my own resistance even though I have a tool in my hand.

And again, and up. And, and notice, like, what happens for you? When you take your arms up, do you thrust the ribs forward like we talked about before? No. If you have to shorten your range of motion, great. Do that. And and start to think about, okay. Well, why do I get so tied up there? And, hopefully, by the end, it'll be a little different. Alright. That's the last one up there. Come on back down.

Same deal with the feet. Take it up. Arms right up overhead. And that's kind of a funny thing. I don't everyone has a mirror or anything, but if you were to bend your elbows, the band would land right on top of your head theoretically. That's what we're aiming for. Okay.

But it has to be a little bit in front. That's okay too, but aim for right above your head. And so from here, we're gonna do a site over. So what we do is we lift up, pouring the rib cage out to the right now then step on that left foot. Right? You keep the weight there and exhale come back up other side. Up and over.

So the lower body's not really doing anything at the moment. And up, we're just going, oh, hello, spine. I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna come back up. Keep going. And something I'm warning you to maybe consider is that it is your spine we're moving, it's not the arms. Right? So keep your head the same distance apart or in the middle of both arms, I should say.

And over. You can go as far as you want, but you'll get limited if you keep the weight equal on both feet. Okay. Come back up because ever so slightly more exciting, bring the feet completely together. You can rest your arms at any time. If you get neck tension, it's not worth suffering through it. It really isn't.

I've just zipped up my legs. And by zip up, I mean that. I'm trying to get ankle bones, knees, inner thighs together, Do the best you can. It's alright if the feet are slightly apart if the knees hit first. There we are.

Now then press your hips to the right. And it the upper body will accommodate. Right? So the hips went first. Now rather than yanking yourself back up, push the hips back to the center, that lifts you back up. Start with the hips this time directly to the side, and it's like, now reach to the far side of your room.

And press the hips back to center. The arms will come back up. It's like you're almost like blowing in the wind. And press back up. Relax a neck.

Don't let don't let it get the best of you. Press over almost like you're gonna fall, but you're reaching so far the other way and come back up. Check your hand tension. Just make it so kinda good. And the way that will happen is if you keep it as if you're in between two plates of glass, The ridge, you're not rotating or twisting.

You're just leaning as if someone was blowing on your waist, and then you push the hip center. Shall we go a tiny bit faster? And up lead with the hips in both directions down and up or to the side and back to center. Good. Good. Good. Good. Reach reach. Reach.

Up 1 more. Reach. Reach. Okay. Let your hands come down, take a little release there. For the next one, we're gonna go into some foot and leg work. We'll come back to something like that in a minute. Again, I'm gonna turn sideways, but I am going I'm gonna stay or go back to the parallel position, thinking maybe a little bit the the weight is over the middle of my foot. If anything, it would be more toward the heels so you could kind of lift your toes up throughout this entire exercise. Yeah? Alright.

So from here, we are going to sit back, let the arms just come out to chest height. Again, I'm not pulling tight on the band, but I do have some, a modicum of resistance. Then when you come up, stand up, press the band into your thighs, keep the spine straight and pull back. Little tricep and upper back. Yeah? Here we go. Bend, exo come up and press back. Oh, yeah. Here we go.

So you're definitely keep going. You're definitely hinging at the hip. And notice I'm I well, naturally, you have to lean forward. Right? I'm not trying to round my spine. The spine itself doesn't change. It's just going with, sort of physics, really.

But where you can pull the band and get some extra bits is right here at the top. Pull back back back super straight arms. Check yourself because it's really tempting to bend here. Don't don't keep them straight. Alright. Let's go a little quicker.

We go down. We go up, down, and up, and down. Up. I I I get in the habit of looking down. It's not a good habit. So it looks straight ahead. Proud.

How hard can you work those upper arms and upper back? You can squeeze your glutes all you want. Try not to tuck at the top. I have a lot of rules, don't I? One of them is not counting.

And and and you know what? That doesn't really matter here. We're just getting the body warm. The legs moving. Next one, we will stay up. When you get there, you have a little bit of downward press of the arms and a little bit back from there. Rise up on the heels or toes, heels rise up, and you can lighten up on the band when you come down. Again, it's like a calf raise, right?

And, honestly, the band helps. So if you pull back as you go up, it almost balances you, doesn't it? And that's sort of a lesson in knowing that the backside of your body really supports the front side of your body. Keep going. Nothing flashy here, but what that makes me want to say is this is a great time to remind yourself not to grip too hard in the band. So every now and again, I'll just kinda loosen up my fingers and down. Keeping that band right up against the legs.

Kind of feels good, doesn't it? Like, when you've been sitting all day, or maybe that's just me. And one more. Okay. We're doing another round. Aren't you happy about that? Here we go. Sitting down. This time, though, if you have the flexibility, I'm sitting into my heels and foot again, see if you can take the arm up by your ears.

If not do the right across the chest again, then come up and pull back. So I'm not rising on the toes this time. Just doing another round of those of that foot and leg work. Arms up. Arms down. Up.

And down squatting back. Starting to feel those arms working, maybe even starting to feel that upper back working, and hopefully a little bit the legs as well. Alright. We're friends now. Right? You're not gonna leave. Yet stay down on this next one.

Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Now from here, to stay seated like this, bring the arms down, press them right against your knees, and find that upper back. So I just pulled the band against my just below my knee, and take it back up with the arms. I'm still sitting back, pull back, and doing your best to keep the back as it was. It's not rounded.

It's not overly arched. You can wiggle your toes. You've feel the backs of the arms and hopefully a little bit of the shoulders. Woo hoo. Yep.

4. Here's 3. My goodness. How that gets so hard? So fast. One more time. Oh, and stand up.

Pull their band back. This time lift the chest a little bit. Just when he got us over here. You're still with me. We're gonna sit down.

Oh, my goodness. And now just pull, again, a little bit attention. It's not loose. You're just pulling the arms back. Back. Back back. Try not to look at the floor too much.

It's sort of like a maybe a foot or 2 out in front of you where your gaze is. Let's do three. To one stand up. Press the band into your legs. How you doing? I'm gonna take that as a good.

Let's go down again. Sit down. Your arms are up there by your ears. Now then just rotate towards the beard toward the front. Keep the spine with you so the whole band and everything turned. Back to center.

Other side. Yep. You could stand and do this, but you have to hinge forward a little. It's a little tricky. We're almost there. Or you could put the hands right behind your head and center.

Oh, boy. You gotta get it all in when you only do it for a little while. Right? One more to the back, back to center, and stand on up. Great job. Just shake it out from here. Oh, boy. Arms are I was I was hoping the legs would feel more than my arms do at the moment, but that's alright.

Gotta build it. A wide stance. Very similar to how we started Although, I don't know. I'm not a dancer, but some would say maybe it's like a second position. Your toes are turned out. We're taking those arms right back up.

Holding a little wider than I did before. Before I was about hip distance apart, I'm going a slight bit wider, and I might even wanna go more than that. But for now, we go up. Pelvis is neutral. You're not tucking.

You're not arching. We're pouring the rib cage out once again. Let's just do it. And now while you're over here, can you step into that opposite foot if you're going to the right like I am, step into the left. Then pick yourself back up.

So it's a little more specific oblique work than what we were doing before. And back up, arms don't change for now. Oh, back in between those two plates of glass where you're not rotating forward or back, sometimes you have to look But for the most part, it's just like, slide and up and slide and up. I like to inhale over start that exhale just before you come up and over and up. Boy. Oh, boy. Who says you have to lay on the ground to do abs over and up one more each way and up This might be a place where you want to adapt the band length.

I'm gonna go for it here. We're going back to that first site over Without rotating, we're gonna hold the position and press that bottom arm or lat more specifically and up. Let's try it on the other side. Lifting your ribs up and over, pour it over, equal weight on both feet, press the bottom arm down, come back up. Alright. Now we'll go to the first side and stay over there so you can get a better sense of it.

Come up and over. And as you press down that band's not really hitting you in the head. It's not in front of you, if you can help it. And we go down and we come up, press down. It's it's if it's coming from underneath the armpit of that moving arm, down and up, down and up, down and up. Reach that top arm too. Last one year, Come back up all the way you could put the arms down in the middle.

You're welcome. Back up. You know what's coming for the rib cage out. Liss the ribs a little. So it's not, like, you're not just leaning, but you're actually kinda curving over an imaginary something. Here we go. That left arm or bottom arm goes down, reach it out as it comes up, thick under the armpit, or the lat, or the obliques, anything to make it move, but this top arm is stable.

Couple more here. About 3. One and 2, and 3, and come on back up. Let it release a little bit. Alright.

You're still here. We're gonna keep opening up the chest, opening up our space. Again, you may wanna go a little wider on this one. I'm going to the very digits on this one. We are calling it the overhead reach still in a wide stance.

Take the arms up. I'm gonna turn sideways for this one. And what I'm hoping for is that you bring the arms back behind your head, just to the back of your head. Now that might be a lot for some of us some view. If it is, that's where you'll stay, or just do what you can.

It's like taking the arms back, and I'm not gonna lie at all. I am pulling a little bit on the band to do it. Just don't be afraid of that. The more you want a stretch or you think you can stretch, the less you have to pull, but it's it's expected that you'd have to pull some. Okay? And the the other guide is that the spine isn't changing much. Come on. Feels good, doesn't it? You can pull all you want. Try not to bend one elbow or the other.

Then as if I can't just stop because I can't. We're gonna try for the shoulder blades. It's up to you. Right? You can stop where you need to pull the band as much as you want, but that's what we're going for. Is this sense of opening the chest, opening the heart. And the more you do it, the more, normal it feels, and the more open you become, but it's not something you're just gonna muscle through.

Right? You can pull all you want, but oh, put the chest. Oh, guess what comes next? If it's within your range, you're going all the way. So, again, not much going on with the spine. You take it back. Back. Back.

All the way down. You made it? Gotta go back up. The sun this is sometimes harder for people. So, again, take care of yourself, but see what you could do. Read as far back as you can, then pull if you need to to bring it up and over all the way down. Again, up.

Pull. Again, you can stop what you want. It's one of those ones that used to scare me, and then at the same time, I'm like, gosh. Everyone needs this. So to just take your time because you it take it takes a little getting used to, I think, when you're not used to having this range of motion. Can we please do two more?

Up and back up and forward. Next time you go back, you get to stay back there. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Alright. So we're back behind us. Right? I'm gonna turn my back to you just because this is where we landed. Yeah? Then I'm just gonna roll my hand so that they face the back, and then I just choked up on the band, so to speak. And you can just bring your feet comfortable parallel. So I'm bringing the hands closer together. I don't have a lot of tension on the band yet, What I'm aiming to do now is to open those collar bones, which we should be able to do after that last one, point the elbows backwards And for now, just lift the elbows.

It won't be a big move most likely, but try not to roll the shoulders forward. Lift the elbows to the extent that you can. You have that openness across the chest from here. We're still setting this thing up. We're gonna just extend the arm from there.

It would basically try not to move your upper arm, extend the arms to straight. Right. So here we are again. Now the hands are a little bit away from the body as much as you can. Right? And then you just pull apart from there. So you're not going up or down with the band. You're just pulling the hands apart.

Already up as high as you could do it. Right? A little posterior dealt, really all the dealt, doing your best not to roll those shoulders forward, not easy to do. We got this. Alright. Kind of a combo coming up. Now we're gonna bend the elbows.

Straighten them back, pull apart, really go for it, and bring it back down to your bum. Slide the band up by bending the elbows. Not a lot of tension there. Extend the arms like you do in a tricep extension. Pull apart and come down. Again, bend, extend, pull, and down. Let's do a few more.

Bend extend. And as you're extending to really get more out of it, pull apart at the same time. Bend right here. Extend and pull apart and down one more time. Bend, extend, pull apart. And down.

Alright. Now we gotta get fancy. Let's take this band and wrap it around our ankles. The the goal is gonna be to have a wide be able to be in a a parallel wide stance, sort of how we started. So let's just take it around. Tying it, you know, it'll tighten itself up, but do make it so it's secure.

We won't have to undo it today. He you wanna be able to undo it eventually. So you can take this class again, but now here we are. Back to that stance again, pelvis is neutral. I dropped into my knees a little, so I'm feeling the weight into my feet, and we're just gonna keep this space but add to it and step to the left.

We step. Don't bring them together. Completely leave it apart so that you always have that tension. We're gonna do five steps to 3 great for hip stabilization for other way. Put on some music to three is really, really good for us. I know it's kinda weird, but it's really cool.

I'm gonna say that's 5. And, again, 1, and trying not to lift the hips, trying not to lean, just push out step over. And, again, over, over, over. Stop for a second inwardly toe your feet. Just a little. Because it's really tempting to let the quads take over, and we're kinda going more for the site. So I'm gonna say go ever so slightly inward toad still got a little bit of a drop into the knee.

Off you go. So one end, 2 end, 3 end, 4, and here's 5. Other way, step over step over again. I'm not bringing him all the way together. I wanna maintain that resistance. And, again, let's go.

Oh, harder with that inward toe, isn't it? It's not as big of a muscle. And over. 2, 3, and 4, shouldn't we do it again one more each way? Here we go. One and 2 and oh, I'm starting to wobble. Get lower if you are.

5 and 1, 2. It gets harder to count, doesn't it? Okay. Just when you thought it was over. I'm turning to the side. I don't guess you have to, but that you can see what I'm doing. I'm going back to that little bit of a hinge. I'm gonna take one leg back.

In this case, it's my right leg, and I I'm I'm extending it not super far back, but I am trying to get on the bottom side of those feet toes, I should say, so I could almost propel myself forward. Then aim for a straight leg. So you automatically already feel the back of your leg and your glute before anything else happens. Alright? Subtle hinge, whether or not you lift your foot off the ground is completely debatable and probably depends on how tight you tied your band, but that's the idea.

Could you lift a little down? Lift a little down? Oh my goodness. That supporting leg is really gonna work for you. Let's do five more here. 1, 2, do your best to keep the knee straight, the one of the working leg, again, doesn't matter if you actually lift it off the ground.

1 more. Switch legs. Oh, now that supporting league has to do more, Just a reminder, I have a subtle knee bend in the forward leg. I'm I'm imagining I'm a propelling myself forward because we want the back of the leg where the leg meets the glute to work. Let's do about 10 here. Ready. Here we go. So close. Oh, one different leg.

I wanna say it's easier, but it's not. 4, 5, 6, even if you slide the toes a little, 3 more. Oh, yay. That's enough of that. Walk yourself out of there.

Just kick it off to the side. Or some place pretty. And what we're gonna do now is, for the hand, for forearms, for a grip strength, all these things, the back of the legs, the glutes, and the hands, and grip strength are really, really important. So Bear with me on this one too. All the tough stuff today.

We're we have our open palms. We're going to take our little finger to the middle of our palm or far over as you can and then flick it out than the 4th finger or ring finger, I suppose, in and out. Middle finger in, out. Index finger in, out. You see where I'm going with this.

But do your best to really bring it in as far across as you can, and then like it's touch hot, something hot, and flick it out. Okay? So let's start that again. We'll end up going faster in a moment. Your arms can just be kinda low on the v Here guns a little finger first. We go in, out. Keep going.

Each finger. Out. Out. Out. It's not easy. Switch it now. Thumb, so you're just reversing directions of thumb index, but really make it big. You're not bending the elbows.

Keep reversing it once you get to the end. Right? Oh, I just got lost. It's I'm not gonna tell you which finger because you might be going faster or slower, but hit it, hit it, hit it, and fling it out like you're getting rid of something. It's not easy. There's no doubt about it.

It's kind of frustrating, but it's really, really good for you. By the way, when you're at home, open those jars. Don't get the thing to help you if you can if you can stand it. Make it happen. Here I go. I'm starting again from my pinky in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, switch end. Take it higher if you can.

Might as well. Keep going. Oops. I lost my fingers again. It's tricky, but it's so good for us. Keep on. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.

Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. We are so close. Don't have to go really high. You can just start walking it back down because we are almost done, but just make it powerful. I do another class where we do finger flicks.

It's another option for this and bring it all the way down. I might I just lost coordination. I don't know about you shake it out, and we're gonna end this baby just like we started it, but first of all, let's fit arms go. I'm turning sideways just to do that release and drop. So this is a chance where you go, okay. Did I gather what I needed? Did I let go of what I don't?

Yeah. One more shot. Here we go. Raise the arms up. Rise up. Feel good about the time you took for yourself at the very least in exhale. Blow it out. Bring it back up. Really, it's not mechanical.

It's just meant to be a letting go, a release, an acknowledgement of time, yourself, your body, and all it does for you. I'm doing 2 more. Here's one. You need as many as you want. And the next one, I like to hold it up.

Way up, lacing the fingers, flexing the palms upwards, and just let it go. Well done, everybody. Thank you so much for joining me today.