Gentle Chair Exercises for Seniors to Improve Mobility, ROM and Flexibility with Chamber Music

Hi everyone. So this is a gentle workout today. Let's get started with a nice warmup. Let's just bring our arms up halfway, take a nice deep breath in and breathing out. Let's do that again. And breathing out one more time and breathing out. Good. Let's just bring the arms in front. Just bring one arm in front actually. Just bring it as high as you can and then back down again. Other side and down, switching sides. So just go to whatever height works for you. If your shoulder doesn't allow you to bring your arm that high, just bring it as high as you can. Let's bring the hands together in front. Let's just press the hands out. You can have your hands this way if that works better for you and bringing the arms back, stretching them out and forward again and pressing back, turning the palms and forward. Let's go again. And two more times and let's bring the shoulders back and one more and then let's bring them forward this time and then rotating the wrists and other direction. And let's have the feet flat on the floor, feet shoulder width apart. And let's just reach forward and then come back again and reaching forward and back. And two more times. Excellent. Having the hands that go down. Let's just bring the hands to the shoulders and back down and one more. Good. And then let's just bring the feet a little bit wider and we're just going to reach to one side and staying with that side. So going again and two more times on that side. Last one. And then switching sides. This is three. And last one. Good. And let's just bring the arms up to the side and let's just tap the shoulders and bring the hands back out. And one more. And then bringing the hands in front. Same thing. And two more. Good. I think the upper body is good and warmed up. Let's go to lower body. So we're just going to bring a knee up and down. Switching to the other side. So just raise your knee to whatever height works for you. And last one on each side and then just lifting the foot up. So knee extension and the other side. And after this one, we're going to bring the arms into it too. So bringing that foot up and down. Other side. So trying to sit up straight and then let's just do one more on each side. Good. Taking a bit of a breather here. Nice deep breath in and breathing out. Let's do that one more time. Nice deep breath in and breathing out. Good. Okay. Let's just walk a foot out to the side and then switching to the opposite side. So if you can just sit a little bit further out on your chair. So you have a little bit more mobility here. So just tapping side to side. One more. And then this time let's just tap forward and one more on each side. And then sitting back in your chair. Let's just bring one foot up. Let's just warm up the ankles here. So just flexing that foot and pointing. And flex and point. One more time. And then rotating that ankle. Other direction. Switching to the other side. So other foot goes up, pointing and flex, point and flex. One more time. And then rotate the ankle. And the other direction. Good. Okay. Let's bring the hands in front and let's do a bit of a row here. So we're just going to bring the elbows back. And now I want you to just really press the elbows back. We're going to work on posture here and then bring the arms forward again. So elbows here and then press them back as if you're squeezing a water bottle between your shoulder blades and coming forward and back and squeeze and forward, back and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze. One more time and squeeze. Excellent. Bring the arms down. Let's just bring the elbows up and down. Working the shoulders here. And we've got two more for this one. And taking a good breath in and out. Now this time let's just reach overhead. So we're just going to reach up as high as we can and down to the shoulders and up and three more. And let's give that upper body a break. Let's just do some toe tapping. So we're just going to do four taps forward. So one, two, three, four. Then to the side, one, two, stay to the side, three and four forward again and to the side and forward and side. Now this time let's tap back. So bring that foot back, three and four. And let's raise the knees. One, two, three, four. Tapping back and raising the knees. Tapping back for a count of four and raising the knees. Last time. Tapping back and knee raises. Okay. Giving the lower body a break. Let's go back to upper body. So bringing the arms forward and coming back. So we're doing this four times and then reaching overhead four times. And forward and overhead. And this is four. One more time in front and four and overhead. Last one. And bringing those shoulders back again for a count of three. Good. Having the arms down at the side, let's just bring them up halfway. And now this time I want you to press down. So press down, let them float back up and press. Floating up and press and press. Last one and press. Let's do the same thing going forward. So let them float up and then press down. Use some resistance here. Breathing out, floating up, breathe out. Two more times. Last one. Good. Let's have the arms here. Thumbs are going back. Let's press those thumbs back to the back wall. Feeling that through your shoulders, holding and releasing. So this is another posture exercise. Having the hands here, thumbs are going to the back wall, pressing those hands back, feeling your chest being lifted and relax. Again, thumbs are back, press and relax. Let's do that two more times. So press those hands back and relax. Last one and relax. Let's do one more that is similar. We're going to have the hands here. So elbows are close to the body. So now we're just pulling the elbows back, feeling the shoulder blades coming together and squeeze that upper back, getting that posture in a better, getting better posture. And relaxing, pressing those elbows back, squeeze the shoulder blades together. Let's do that one more time. Squeeze back. Excellent. Let's go back to lower body here, working the legs a little bit again. Let's do some leg extensions of sitting back in your chair, bringing one foot up and down. Other side. So when you're bringing that foot up, squeeze your quads here. So you're squeezing the muscle, tightening that muscle and down. Now, if you want to bring the arms into it, you can bring the arms up at the same time. That's just if you want a little bit extra, but really try and focus on those legs of tightening those quads, squeezing or flexing. And one more on each side. Good. Having one foot up this time, let's just bring it out a little bit and back in. Let's do two more. Bring that foot down. Other side. So bring it out and in. And last one. And let's just do a calf raise here. So lifting the heels up and down. Let's do a bicep curl at the same time. So the heels are going up and down. Now bring the hands up, squeeze those biceps. Biceps are here. So you're tightening the arms. Let's do five more. Four, three, two, and one. Good. Now let's bring the toes up. So lift the toes and down. Two, three, four. And last one. And five. Good. Now let's just go into a little bit of a march here. Get our heart rates up a little bit. You can move the arms at the same time. So our music is picking up. So let's pick up that pace a little bit too. If you find it easier, you can move to the front of your chair. Now let's go into a little bit of a ski. So we're just going to have one foot go forward and think about skiing here. This is more like cross country skiing. And let's go back into that march. All right, let's walk the feet out. So we're just going to tap out. And if you want, you can bring your hands into it as well. If this is too fast, just do one hand at a time. Lots of ways to modify exercises. And let's go back to tapping in front and let's just punch forward. Trying to keep your abs tight here. Back is off the backrest if you can. And let's bring those arms up a little bit more. And then a forward punch again and back into that walk. Okay. Let's change the exercise. Let's just bring that foot up again. A few more leg extensions to bring it up, squeezing here and down. So really focus on flexing that quad or the quads. Let's do three more on each side. Last one on each side. Good. Okay. Having the hands in front, let's just do a little bit of a twist working our abs here. So think of your abdominals being tight, belly button is pulled in. You're just twisting to the side, coming forward, other side. So remember to continue breathing. Don't worry about how you're breathing. Just make sure you're breathing. So you should be able to feel your abs here as you're twisting. They're working to bring you back into the front position. One more on each side. All right, let's do some swimming. So just bring the arms in front. Thinking you're on some beautiful beach somewhere and let's bring the arms overhead and let's bring the arms out to the side and we're just going to bring them down and then up. And this time just bring them halfway up. And we're going to put the palms to the back wall and we're just going to press back and then bring the arms in, having them at your shoulders. And then we're just going to press the hands back. If you want, you can bring your foot forward at the same time, just alternating feet. So you're thinking about the back of your arms here. You're squeezing the back of your arms or flexing. When your arms are straight is when you're concentrating on that flex. And one more on each side. And then let's just bring an arm around and then going in the other direction. And one more on each side. Good. Okay. Let's do a few more strengthening exercises. Let's just bring the arms in front and again, pressing down like we did earlier, going out to the side and press, press, press. So I think of there being resistance here, going up again and breathing out as you press. Good. Other side and breathe out. In front. Other side or out to the side and breathe out. One more. Breathing out and then to the side again. Good. Let's do something similar, bringing an arm up. And then you just think of pulling something down. That's really heavy. You're pulling down and then you're pressing it back up. So pulling down and press. And two more on this side. Last one. Switching to the other side. So pressing up something really heavy and then pulling something down. And last one. All right, let's get in a little bit more cardio. So just going back to that walk, getting your arms into it again. And let's kind of follow the music here. So we're just going to tap in front. Let's bring both arms in front this time and then going out to the side. So keep going with the side here. One more time. And then pressing in front again. Let's tap with the heel this time. So keep going. And our music's picking up a little bit. So do as much as you can here. If you need to take a break, that's okay. And then let's just bring our arms up gradually. So they come up higher. And then just start walking your arms back down again. So all the way down to your knees. One more time going up. If it's hard to coordinate, then just walk it out. Okay. Let's just go into a little bit of a walk here. Now you can pick up that pace if you want and follow the music. Okay. Let's relax the arms and then just taking a step out again. And let's switch after this one to some high knees. Excellent. Okay. Let's just kick the feet out. So bring it out and then down. So up, out, in, down. So up, out, in, down. One more on each side. Okay. Let's do an ab exercise. So if you can sit on the edge of your chair, you're just going to lean back and we're just going to go from one side to the other, keeping the abs tight here. So you're just going side to side. So you should be able to feel this in your abs. Keep going for a little bit longer if you can and coming into that one. Good. Okay. Let's go into some stretching. So let's just bring one foot up in front, flexing that foot again, like we did before. So feeling that in the back of your leg and then pointing the toes away from you and then rotating that ankle and the other direction and switching to the other side. So bringing that foot up, flexing that foot, and then pointing the toes away and then rotating other direction. Good. Okay. Let's just lean to one side and hold that stretch. And then let's go to the other side and bringing it down. Let's just bring one arm up, one arm back again, and just reaching in both directions. And one more time on each side. Good. And this time just pressing out to the walls, feeling that through your arms, sitting up straight. And then if you turn your arms around, bring your fingers down towards the floor and you'll feel a nice stretch through your biceps. And let's just bring those arms in front and then press back. And again, coming in front. And let's do that one more time. Good. Let's do the same thing going overhead. So nice, deep breath in here. And breathing out. And again, nice, deep breath in. And breathing out. One more time. And breathing out. Good. Let's bring the hands together. Let's just lean forward. So you're going to round your back a little bit here just for your lower back. I know a lot of people have lower back pain, so let's just reach forward, feel it through your lower back and come out of the stretch whenever you need to. And rolling yourself back up. And let's do that one more time. So reaching forward and then rolling yourself back up. Good. Okay. Let's go to a shoulder stretch. So bringing one arm in front, crossing the arm in front of the body and pulling that arm in. And relaxing that arm. Let's switch to the other side. So arm goes in front, cross it in front of the body and pull that arm in. And relaxing that arm. Now, if you can here, you can either cross your leg, but if you're able to, you can bring your ankle up onto your knee. And we are just going to lean forward to feel that stretch all the way through our leg here. You'll also feel this likely in your glutes and in your lower back. So just holding the stretch. And I know this can be a hard one for some people. So definitely if you can't do that one, you can just do this. Okay. And lean as far forward as you can or even at the ankles and then lean forward. That's okay too. Just do what you're able to do. So we can come out of that one. We'll switch to the other side, leaning forward and coming out of that one. And then let's just do the one where our leg is going straight. So sitting on the edge of your chair, if you can, or as far out on your chair as you can, having one leg straight, the other leg is bent at a 90 degree angle and you're just going to lean forward. So you should feel a nice stretch right here. And then let's switch to the other side. So bring the other foot out, having that leg as straight as you can and then leaning forward and coming out of that one. And let's just finish with a few neck stretches. We're just going to bring our ear down to our shoulder. So sitting up straight is just your ear that's going down, holding that and then rotating your head forward and bringing your ear to the other side. And looking forward this time, just looking over your shoulder and holding and then switching to the other side and looking forward this time, gently looking up to the ceiling and then down to the floor and holding that stretch as you're looking down and then looking in front again and thanking yourself for being here today. Thank you so much for joining me. I wish you all a wonderful day and I hope to see you again or I hope you come back again. Bye for now, everyone.