Chair Core & Stretching for Seniors & Beginners // Seated Ab Workout

Hi and welcome to this quick chair workout that works on our core and finishes with stretches. It's actually taken from a section from another workout. I will post the full workout here, but for those of you that enjoy my chair workouts, here you go. Again, quick workout. Join me for core and stretch. I'm going to turn to this corner here and we're going to start seated about halfway in our chair. Arms are going to round forward, shoulders down and back. Core is engaged the whole time here. As we lean back, we take the arm back, swiping down, come back to center. Back and lift. So we're using that core to lift ourselves back up. Reach and lift. And you'll be happy to know there's no repeats in our core section. One more each side. Lower the arms to the side of your chair. Scooch all the way forward and we're going to lean back, holding this core contraction here. And then we're going to bring a knee and you can use your arms to help bring your chest towards your knee and down. So we lift, and down. Inhale as you come back. Exhale as you come forward. So think of it like we're just doing a crunch on the floor, but our spine is straight. Maybe even feel it with your hands. We've all got those core muscles. We just got to find them and activate them. So good. Let's go and three, two, and one. Well done. All right. Combination stretch and core move. We're going to come into a figure four to do my workouts. You know, it's my favorite stretch. So while we're here, we're going to get a great stretch for the glutes and the hips. Arms come behind the head. We're going to reach down, making sure you're solid in your chair here. Try not to lift the hip out. Come back up and twist, alternating sides. Reach down using the oblique to help pick yourself back up. Twist to the side, elbows nice and wide. Reach, twist. Having the one leg lifted really helps us challenge the core with our balance. Yes, you can still work your balance even in a seated position. Lower the hands. Same thing. Let's switch legs. Actually, before we do that, slight hinge forward to emphasize that stretch while we are here. So ever so slightly, we're just leaning forward. Inhale and exhale. Lift the chest. Now we switch sides, crossing right above that knee. Nice and tall. Inhale and exhale. Here we go. Reach down and then we twist. And again, be mindful to keep both sit bones seated in the chair the whole time. So try not to lift up. Last one. Lower the arms. Hinge forward for that nice hip stretch. Big inhale. Allow that hip to release on that exhale. Wheel up the chest and then help that leg down. All right, last core move. Arms are up overhead. We're going to straighten and lift one leg and then try to reach that toe. Other side. And again, maybe a little twist here as well. It's okay if you're not reaching very far. The goal here, again, is the nice little twisted move for the core, working those abdominal muscles. And why not throw in a little quad work as well? You might feel a stretch in the backs of the legs. That's all good too. Two more. Let's do one more and hold. Lower the arm. Reach towards that toe. Maybe you can grab it. Grab whatever you can. Little stretch there. And release. Same thing other side. Maybe reach towards that toe. Grab your pant leg. Grab your sock. It's okay to bend that knee. Just a little stretch and release there. Well done. Let's turn to the side to stretch our hip flexor. So we're going to swivel all the way to the side. We're going to drop our outside leg. So like a 90-90 degree position here. If you're able to, you can stretch that leg even further for the hip flexor. Secure yourself with your arm around the back of your chair. Arm lifts up and side bend over. That should feel really nice from all that oblique work. Come back to center. Pull that leg back in. We're going to do a quad stretch. So a great way to get there is to grab your ankle here in this little tuck position. Then we lower the knee down towards the floor. Heel comes up towards the bum. And again, hold on. I don't want anyone falling out of their chairs. Think about doing a little pelvic tuck here. Really get into that quad. You can also use a stretch strap here if that would be helpful. Again, hold it onto a pant leg or sock, whatever you can grab. Let's bring it back forward. And same thing other side. So we're going to swivel. Knee drops towards the floor. Hold on to the back of your chair. Extend it if you like. And a little pelvic tuck to stretch that hip flexor. Arm comes up, inhale. Exhale, side stretch. Back to center. We hug the knee in towards the chest. Grab the ankle or whatever you can get a hold of. Knee drops towards the floor. Heel comes towards your glute. We grow tall. Inhale and exhale. Let's release that foot and come back to center. Right arm out to the side. Let's hug it in nice and close here. That feels good after all that shoulder and arm work. And while we're here, let's take our ear towards our shoulder, stretching the right side of our neck. Cleansing breath in and exhale. Arm back up to the side and down. Same thing. We lift. Hug it in nice and close. Drop the shoulder. Ear towards the other shoulder. Nice deep breath. Lift the head. Extend it and lower it back down. Clasp your hands in front. If you can, flip. Push towards me. Keep the elbows straight. We go overhead. Nice big reach. And then how about another side stretch? Back to center and side stretch. Keep reaching tall. Inhale up. Exhale. Release it down. Widen your legs just a bit, coming to the edge of your chair. Inhale. Arms come up. Nice little body circle here. So we're going to round forward. It's a big torso circle. We come to the other side. Feeling a beautiful release. Lower back. Releasing any tension here. One more each side. Back up to the top. Circle the wrist on the way down. And we're going to toe heel back in. Inhale. Arms come up. And exhale down. Beautiful work, my friends. Please leave me a comment. Let me know how you enjoyed this workout. We haven't done barre in a while, but I know I've got some big barre fans out there. If you haven't already, check out the website seniorshape.com. And as always, thanks for working out with me, and we'll see you next time.