Practice: Chair Power: Seated Strength Workout

Jenna Zaffino 

Hi, everyone. Welcome to your seated chair workout. We are going to move our arms and legs. We're gonna use some small weights today and just give you a resistance and perhaps a little elevated heart rate workout to help you feel more alive and more capable in your body. Make sure you have something sturdy to sit on, your chair, your couch, the edge of your bed, and also make sure that you have some room around whatever you're sitting on to move your arms and legs. Remember to listen to the signals that your body is giving you. Those are the most important. Make good choices, and let's have a really good time today. 

I have a pair of 2 pound dumbbells and also a pair of 5 pound dumbbells in case we're feeling really spicy today. You can lift any weight that is appropriate for you. If you would rather not use weights for the weighted portion of class, you can simply move your arms in consideration of what I'm doing. Alright. Let's begin with our warm up. We're gonna start lifting our heels up and down. Up and down. So we're seated right at the edge of our chair, legs about hip lift distance apart, adding breath as needed, which is needed. 

Right? So choose the cadence and the depth of the breath that makes the most sense to you. That's it. Go 2 and 1. Let's take our hands to the chair. We're gonna tap your heels forward 1 at a time. So the seated workouts are interesting because they're seemingly a rested position, but as we move our bodies and we start to get more active in a seated position, you will feel that you're exercising and moving with a good deal of intensity. So just temper yourself along the way. Get water as you need to. 

Let's keep going. Heel, heel, heel, heel. Good. If you don't need to use your hands for support, you can certainly take them on your hips. We're gonna do single, single, double. Heel, heel now 2 times. 2 times on the right. Now we go single, single, 2 times on the left. 

Single, single, double. And again, single, single, double. Let's try that a couple more times. Single, single, double. And single, single, double. Let's go back to our singles. Side to side. Really nice. 

We're gonna let the arms hang down by your sides and add a little bicep curl to these heel taps. Curl. Curl. No weights right now, just getting some movement in the body. That's it. Nice work. Let's go for 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. And lower, lift up, and release all the way down. 

Let's bend our elbows to a 90 degree angle. We're gonna open the arms out and back in. Again, out, opening your chest. Back in. Couple more. Out and in. Last one. Now, we're gonna add the legs with the arms. 

So let's open the right side, the left side, bring the right side back in, bring the left side back in. Do that again. Right and left, back to center. Alright. Let's pick up the pace. Ready? Let's go. Open and open and close and close. Open and open, close. 

That's it. Just trust yourself. Follow along. Take those steps that make sense to you. Let's do 4 more here. Good work. And 3. Nice job. 

Last 2. And then we're gonna speed it up a little bit. Alright? Get your courage and your positivity on. Here we go. Open. Close. Open. Close. 

If you start to get tripped up, don't worry about it. Come back in when you can. Good. For 2. For 1, come back in. Uh-oh. Press those arms forward. Pull them back with fists. 

Reach through your hands, pull them back. That's it. Push and pull and push and pull. Let's go right arm. Go push, left arm. Push and pull. Reach and pull your shoulder back. Good. 

For 8, 7, 6. Come on. 5. Sit a little taller. We go for 4. Nice job. 3. And 2. 

And 1. Let's go side to side. Push and push and push and push and push. You got it. Good. 8 more. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Take both hands on your knees, round your spine. 

Let yourself have a little break. Sit up nice and tall. Excellent. Good. Come back to center. We're gonna take those arms down. Lift your heels as you lift your arms. Lower down. 

Lift your heels as you lift your hands. Lower down. One more time like this. Good. We're gonna lift those heels. Keep the heels lifted. Reach all the way overhead. Touch your shoulders. 

Lower the heels down. Here we go. Lift and reach. Pull to the shoulders. Lower the heels down. And again, lift. Lift higher through your spine, hands to shoulders, lower down. A little faster, here we go. 

Lift and reach, Good. And down. Lift and reach. Nice work. Up and stretch. Good job. Lift and reach. Can we do it even faster? Let's try it. 

Here we go. Up and down. Up and down. Here we go. Up and reach. Give me 4 more. Give yourself 4 more. 3, 2, 1. 

Open, close. Out and in. Out and in. Little jumping jacks. If you need to go 1 foot at a time, that's perfectly reasonable. 4, 3, 2, 1. Keep your legs in. We're gonna go out with the arms to one side, pull back into the chest. 

Out with the arms to the other side, pull back into the chest. Do that again. Out, pull it all the way back in, and reach, pull it back in. Let's add those legs. Open and close. Open and close. You got it. Open and close, and open. 

Can we do it just a little faster? Here we go. And, open, and close, reach. That's it. Stretch wide. You wanna take up space for 4, 3. Good work, everybody. 2, and 1. March, up, and up, and up, and up. 

That's it. Let's start to swing those elbows back and forth. Nice work. Lift your knee as high as you can. See if you can keep your spine nice and long. Good. Here we go. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. 

We're gonna take 2 jumping jacks. Here we go. Out and in. Out. Let's do that again. Out. We'll make it 4. Now we march. 

March. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and out and in. Out and in. Out and in. Out and in. Good. Let's take a deep breath in. Release all the way down. 

Let's try that one more time with our marches. Take it a little slower which means lift your knee a little higher. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. Here we go. 5. Are you surprised at how warm you're getting? Four jumping jacks. Open and close. Open and close. 

Last 2. Open and close. And open and close. March it out. 1, 2, 3, 4. You got this. 5678. Open, close. 

Open, close. Open, and close. Last one. And open and close. Good. Take those hands on your knees, round your spine. Once again, sit up nice and tall, lift your head up, come back to center. Let's bring our hands into a w shape. 

So elbows nice and close to your sides, sitting up nice and tall. We're going to bring your hands to goalpost. Elbows come close together. If you can touch, great. If not, no worries. Bring them out to goalpost. Reach up over your head. Good. 

To goal posts. Pull the elbows together. Reach them out to the side, reach them all the way overhead. Good. Goalposts, together, Reach them out to the side. Reach them all the way overhead. Pull it down. Pull them together. 

Reach to the side, all the way overhead. Will we take it up a notch? Here we go. Pull it down, together, to the side, overhead. You got it. Pull it down, together, Side, overhead. Couple more. Down, together. Side, overhead. 

Last one. Down, together, side, overhead. Press all the way down. Good work. Let's take our hands on our chair. If you need a quick drink, you can get it. Otherwise, we're gonna move right along to a little leg lifting. So let's take our right foot forward. 

From here, we're gonna fold in your hip to lift that leg up, lower it down, and bend back in. Listen, it does not matter how high you lift it. Reach forward. You wanna stay tall as you lift any amount. Lower down. Pull back in. Alright. Here we go. 

Reach forward. Lift and stay tall. Lower down and pull in. Yes. Reach forward. Lift it up. Lower down. Pull it in. 

Couple more like this. Reach forward. Lift it up. Lower down. Pull it in. That's right. Stay with me. Reach. 

Lift. Lower. And pull in and rest. Alright. We're gonna try a little faster. Hands still on the chair if you need it or on your hips. We go forward, up, down, and in. Here we go. 

Forward, lift. Nice work, everyone. Forward, and up, and in. Forward, and lift. Good. Let's add 2 lifts. Lift 1, lift 2. Hey, let's add 3. 

Lift 3. Bring it in. That's good. Let's go other side. Lift 1. Here's 2. Why not 3? Bring it all the way in. Other side. 

That is the joke of all time that fitness instructors cannot count. But it makes us get a little other work in. A little extra work in. 1, 2. You're doing great. 3. All the way in. One more each side. 

Reach and lift. Down and lift. That's it. How can you sit taller? Where can you find that extra strength inside to lift you up? Last one. Lower all the way in. Good. Reach it out. Pull it back. 

Reach it out. We're gonna call these movements a row. So, not exactly like you might row a boat or a canoe but same general action, we're gonna add these to our leg lifts, okay? So we've got that 3 time leg lift with 3 rows. Are you ready? Hold it here. We reach out. Lift. Lift. Lift, touch, and down. 

We reach out. Lift. Yes. Lift. Come on. Touch and down again. Reach, lift, and lift. You've got this. 

Reach, press down, other side. Out. Stay tall. Think of how your torso, your trunk muscles support you here. Really good. Out, lift. We've got this. One more. 

Reach and press forward and lift. Lift. Here's our last one. Reach and press. Good. Take a little side bend, stretch over to the side, releasing. Bring it all the way back to center. Out to the other side, and back to center. 

Alright. Let's gather the weights that you'd like to work with today. I'm gonna start with my smaller weights. These are 2 pounders. Again, if you don't wanna use weights, just move your arms like we are moving them together. Alright? Open chest, strong back. We're gonna bicep curl. Up and down. 

Up and down. That's it. Nice and easy. Squeezing at your elbow, bringing your hand to your shoulder, and keeping your neck nice and long. No extra stress. Good. Here we go for 8, 7, and 6, and 5. Really great. 

In 4, 3, 2, and one. Reach your arms down straight. Hinge your spine forward so you're on the diagonal. Let your arms come to the midway point of your thigh. We're gonna press the arms back and bring them together. Hold them back there for just a second. You wanna get a little squeeze there. Pull them all the way in. 

Here we go. Press, hold all the way in. That extra moment of pause back there is gonna challenge us to really find the best position for us. Reach it and in. Let's do 2 more. Press. On this next one, let's press and hold it back. From here, we're gonna bend and kick back to your hips, straighten. 

To your hips, stretch. Good. Again, open chest. Engage through your shoulder blade muscles, reaching through the crown of the head. Good. For 2. Yes. For 1, press. 

Bring everything back upright. Reset your shoulders. Open your chest. We're gonna bring your arms up and into that w overhead press. We press up and pull it down. Now if you need to go wider for your shoulders, choose the position that allows you to feel the most mobile, the most accomplished in this one. Okay? Press. Pull it down. 

Again, we're sitting tall, Finding the weight, the energy through our spines. Telling ourselves we can do this. Yes? We've got this. Good. Let's go for 2. Reaching it all the way up and the last one down. Reach it all the way up. Pull down.

 Release. Alright. We're gonna put all of these movements together and guess what? We're almost done. It's a quick workout today. I hope you're feeling energized. Bicep curl comes first, then we're go to overhead press, back to the bicep, lower down. Bicep curl, overhead press. Good. 

Option to add a little heel raise as you lift, and then lower them down. Bicep curl up on your toes, heels down, arms down. Bicep, up on your toes. That's it. Bicep, lift those heels. Really nice. Where can you source that extra energy for in the midst of finishing these last few reps? Where is it coming from? Good. Last one. 

Pull it in. Reach it down. Let's find our hinge, letting our arms come forward. We're gonna alternate arms. Press right and in. Press left and in. Press right and in. That's it. 

Press left. Press right. Keep opening your chest, lengthening your spine, Feeling your feet supporting you. Excellent. Breathe and release. Let's go. 4, 3, 2. Now this time push both arms back and hold tricep kickbacks, bend and strong backs, 4, strong backs, 4, 3, 2, and 1. 

Coming all the way back to center. Really nice work. Let's release our weights. We'll place them down out of the way to the side and get ready for a little bit of a stretch, shall we? Alright. Turn your body over to your right side, come onto your chair. We're going to let our knee drop down so we're in 2 90 degree angles. You can tuck your toe toe under. Your back hand goes to your chair. 

Your top hand goes overhead. And just find a nice long stretch through your hip. Really good. Coming all the way back to center. We're gonna face the corner of our chair. Take that leg that was back out to the side and just reach over. You can stretch to your ankle. If you'd like to take your arm overhead, that's available for you. 

Good. Coming all the way back to center, let's walk our way back over to the other side, dropping our knee down, finding that double 90 degree angle. Hand on the back of the chair, other one up overhead, and stretch away from that knee. Good. And come back to center. Face the corner of your chair. Reach that that heel out, and take your side bend stretch over. You can reach your arm overhead as well if you like. 

Let's come all the way up through center, walking our feet back to the front. Take your right heel forward, reach down. Hands on shin, knee, other knee, or maybe even your toe. Find that long stretch. Beautiful. Come all the way back up. Let's go to the other side, lengthening forward. Find the stretch that works for you today.

It's always gonna be the best one. Right? Wonderful. Let's come back to center. Find firm footing. Reach your arms up overhead. Let's take one hand behind your head towards your neck if possible. Just give a little pull to your elbow and release to the other side. And release and lower down. 

Really great work today. Thank you so much for practicing with me. I want to encourage you to try to do this session another time within the next 8 to 10 days. Some repetition can help you build up the resilience for a little more movement in your practice, or maybe you'll use this session as a little bit of a recovery workout. Regardless of the purpose, do it because you like it, because you you want to, or choose something else to do that means more to you. Taking a walk outside, doing a dance class, anything that is yours in terms of your movement is going to be important in building consistency. Thank you for being here. Remember, you are strong and resilient, and the small moments matter. 

I'll see you next time.