Optum Community Centers in Nevada
Our community centers are a great way for people ages 55+ to stay connected, informed and fit.
Activities designed for you
You're invited to socialize, stay active and learn. Our community centers offer a place where it's easy to fit in and feel at home. Check our calendars for upcoming classes and events.
Our focus is on your well-being
Creating a healthy lifestyle is simpler when you’re not doing it on your own. We offer dozens of ways to help you get moving and enjoy life.
Get your Annual Wellness Visit (AWV)
Did you know you can do your AWV at a community center? It’s an easy way to stay on top of your health. We share results with your doctor.
Check out our presentations and classes
Want to learn about Medicare, computers, the latest health news, cooking and more? Give our no-cost classes a try.
Stay active and make new friends
We offer all kinds of activities, from dancing, fitness and yoga classes to bingo, card games and support groups.
Our locations
West
AWVs: 8680 W. Cheyenne Ave.
Activities: 8670 W. Cheyenne Ave., Ste. 105
Las Vegas, NV 89129
Open: 8 a.m.–4 p.m.
Give our online classes a try
We offer a wide variety of online classes, helping you stay fit from the comfort of your home.
Video
Welcome
Learn about our many offerings from the director of the Optum Care Community Centers and our Medicine on the Move program.
Optum Care Community Center Welcome
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Hi. My name is Erica Wiggins. I'm the RN Director for the Optum Care Community Centers and Medicine on the Move. The Optum Care Community Centers provide physical and emotional support classes and a place for seniors to go during the day. You can be expected to be greeted with a big smile and a warm welcome from our team here at the Optum Care Community Center, along with a wide variety of classes to support your physical, emotional, and social needs.
What I enjoy most is coming into the community centers and seeing our members enjoy the space and the resources that we have to offer. The Optum Care Community Centers are open to all seniors in Southern Nevada at no cost. We have two community centers conveniently located on the east side and the west side of Las Vegas Valley. We have one located at 5820 Southeastern Avenue and our west location located at 8670 West Cheyenne.
We offer a wide variety of classes here at the community center, ranging from chair yoga, to cooking classes, computer classes, and a whole lot more. We offer annual wellness screenings for our Medicare Advantage members. Your annual wellness screening will include a one hour visit with one of our Optum Care Community Center providers. They will go over your medications, your medical history, and perform any preventative screening that you might need.
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Video
Move gently with chair yoga
Our online chair yoga class will help you stretch gently, breathe and release stress.
Video: Move gently with chair yoga
Hello, everyone. My name is Gez. Welcome to chair yoga. Thank you for showing up on your chair. And it's time for self care.
All right, so let's get set up here. You can scoot forward a little bit so you could bring your knees over the ankles. And let's go ahead, pick up the toes, pick up the heels, the toes, and then the heels. Lower your heels. Lift the toes, spread your toes. And let's ground the toes one by one, baby toe, second toe, third toe, fourth toe, and a big toe.
So feel the Earth from underneath you, from all four corners of your feet, big toe, little toe, inner heel, outer heel.
And then begin to rock side to side, right and left, right and left. And feel your sitz bones on the chair. Then let's ground, right sitz bones, left sitz bones. Then scoop up your pelvis, pelvic floor, the navel, the chest, and roll your shoulders up, down, and back.
Sit nice and tall. Then begin to close your eyes. Arrive, observing the connection of your feet to the Earth, of your sitz bones to your chair. And with your eyes closed, are you sitting up tall with your shoulders over the hips?
Then scan your bodies. Acknowledge how you showed up today. Acknowledge your strengths, your weaknesses and your injuries, which might give you limitations on what we're about to do. Accept what is.
And begin to notice your breath. Notice the rise and fall of your belly, your diaphragm, and your chest. Observe your breath. Is it shallow? Is it deep? Is it quick? Or is it slow? Breathe in and out through both nostrils and open your eyes.
Bring your hands over the rib cage area by your diaphragm. And as you inhale, expand through the belly, rib cage, diaphragm area, and then the chest. And as you exhale, chest, diaphragm, belly draws in.
So inhale. Come into your Buddha belly or Santa Claus is belly. Fill up the lungs all the way to the top. And as you exhale, chest, diaphragm, and belly draws in towards the spine. Again, inhale for three, belly, two, diaphragm, one, chest. Exhale chest, one, two, diaphragm, three, belly.
So now that know how to guide your breath, you can rest your hands again onto your lap and inhale fully. Exhale fully through the nose. And you can close your eyes as you continue to guide your breath.
So inhale the new and the vital. And exhale the old and the useless. Inhale peace and exhale stress. Inhale faith and exhale worry. Inhale courage and exhale fear. Inhale love and exhale gratitude.
Continue to breathe in and out through your nose. Smoothen and deepen the breath. And add the soft constriction of the back of the throat creating that audible sound like ocean waves, like trees dancing in the wind, or like a whisper breath. We call ujjayi breathing.
And anchor with your ujjayi throughout our practice. Then join your hands in front of your heart space in prayer and set your intention for today's practice. It could be one word like healing, clarity, peace. It could be a phrase. Or it could be your favorite mantra.
Then open your eyes and let's all inhale, float the arms up. And exhale, float your arms down through the clouds. Inhale and fill, fill, fill, all the way to the top of the lungs. And exhale, float the arms down nice and light. And again, inhale and exhale.
Resting your hands onto your lap, begin to drop your chin towards the chest and feel a gentle stretch at the back of your neck. Allow the shoulders to draw away from the ears. From where you are, come to a half-head circled towards the right so the right ear draws towards the right shoulder.
You can stay here or you can extend your left arm out shoulder level. You can allow the right hand to cup your face to support the weight of your head. And feel the warmth of your hand on your face. Continue to create space on the left side of your neck. And another option here is to wrap your left forearm around your low back and open through the left side, shoulder, and chest.
Continue to breathe and observe where you're feeling this. And channel your breath towards that space. And we always move slowly and mindfully from where we are, just reversing the path on how we got there.
Unwrap your left arm and extend. Lower your hand to your lap. And allow your right hand to guide your head back to center. And release down. Draw your chin to the chest. And observed the difference between the right and the left side of the neck.
Just repeating on the other side, half-heads circle towards the left, left ear to left shoulder. Feel that stretch on the right side of your neck, option to stay here or reach your right arm out to the side.
You can support your head with your hand, and as if you're daydreaming. Then option to wrap your forearm around the low back. If you can reach for your left-hip crease, go for if for a deeper stretch to open to the right-side chest and front of the shoulder.
And continue to distance your right shoulder from your right ear. Good, slowly exiting, unwrap, extend, lower, and then guide your head back to center. And sit nice and tall. This time we're going to turn our head right and left. So slowly turn your head towards the right and observe how far your neck could go, its range of motion.
And then slowly travel your gaze across the horizon and look back over your left shoulder. And X marks the spot. And look how far you could gaze. And then bring your head back to center as if you're saying no. Just turn your head side-to-side, side-to-side.
Next time you turn your head to the right, stay there. Let's change the angle of the neck and the head. You're going to look down towards the right, bringing your chin towards the top of the right shoulder. Once again, observing where you're feeling this. And channeling that breath towards that area.
And from here, lifting the chin and then slowly turning the head to center, towards the other side. Look past your shoulder. And when you're ready, bring your gaze down as you draw your chin towards the top of your left shoulder, once again, observing.
And on your next breath, lift your chin. And then turn your head back to center. And from here, you're going to go drop the chin to the chest as if you're saying yes. Begin to lift your gaze up towards the sky. And open to the front of the neck as you create wrinkles at the back of the neck.
Then just repeating that, drawing the chin towards the chest. And then lifting the gaze up. Bring the head back to neutral and turning the head once again towards the right. And observe if your X marks the spot just got farther away from you, if you were able to increase your range of motion on the neck.
And slowly turn your head back towards the left. And same thing, look back. Where's your X marks the spot? Are you past that? And then slowly bring your head back to center.
I'm going to take you to half-head circles. Drawing the chin to the chest, half-head circle towards the right. Chin to chest, half-head circle towards the left, chin to chest, and then gaze straight ahead.
If that made you dizzy, just stop here. If not, go for a full-head circle with me. Do it slowly. Draw your chin to the chest and circle towards the right, slowly lifting your gaze up towards the sky, head towards the left, looking down, chin to chest, inhale, return to neutral.
Draw the chin back to the chest and slowly going the other direction, observing the crackle, the popping in the neck. And then slowly bring your head back to center.
Let's roll the shoulders up, down, and back, shoulders up, down, and back. Couple more times, roll the shoulders up, down, and back. And pause, draw the navel in, hands on the thighs, you're just going to hinge forward. OK, so just hinging from the hips. So if I will put my peace fingers on my hip joints and just hinging forward, keeping the spine long. Inhale and exhale. One more time, inhale and exhale.
Now we will articulate the spine in our cat-cow stretch. Hands on the lap or even on the kneecaps, arch your back. Lead with your chin and with your chest as you inhale. And as you exhale, round to the upper back. Draw the belly in and return to start.
Inhale, reach with the chin and the heart. Arch the low back. And on the exhale, draw the navel in and round. And repeat that twice more. Inhale, lengthen, and arch into your cow pose. And exhale, round into cat.
One more time, yogis. Yoking the breath with the movement. Then let's try to reverse here. Inhale to prepare. On the exhale, draw your chin to the chest. Round your upper back as you scoop the belly in. Arch your lower back. Look forward. Inhale, lengthen and lift up.
Exhale, chin to chest, round, draw the navel in, arch, lengthen, look up and rise. Twice more, exhale, round into cat. Inhale into your cow. And last one. Good job.
And let's all inhale. Float the arms up. Side bend towards a right. Return to center. Inhale, exhale, side bend towards the left. Let's do one more each way. And on the next time, inhale, prepare, exhale, side bend right. You can hold onto the chair or your right hand on your lap.
So ground through the left foot and your left sitz bones as you continue to reach your left arm towards the opposite wall, lifting your left ribs off the hips. Then from here, just say no, just add movement on the neck.
And then you will leave your gaze where it's most comfortable for your neck. So you can look down. You can look straight ahead. Or you can look up. It's up to you. I choose to look down.
And then from here, you will turn your chest towards the floor and reach your left arm towards the front right corner of the room. Continue to breathe into your left side body. Inhale here. On the exhale, you will just return to your side bend. Inhale, prepare, and exhale, return to center, arms down.
Switching sides, inhale, float the arms up. Exhale, left arm down, holding onto the chair for support, grounding to the right foot and the right sitz bones, and coming into a side bend.
Lift your right ribs away from the hip. And just say no once again, checking in with the neck. And then choose the angle where it best suits you. Where's most comfortable for your neck here? Go there.
Continue to breathe into the rib cage. Just changing the angle, turn your torso to the floor. And continue to reach your right arm towards the front left corner of the room as if you're really reaching for something over there. Continue to find length. Continue to breathe. Then slowly returning to your side bend, stacking the shoulders, look forward, inhale. And exhale, return to center. Good.
And then from here, pretend we're holding onto a ball. I will take you into a twist. Inhale, prepare, exhale, let's twist to the right. Inhale, return to center, exhale, twist to the left. Inhale, center, exhale, twist right. Inhale, center, exhale, twist left. Inhale, center, and exhale. We're just going to twist to the right.
You can stay here holding onto your imaginary ball. Or bring your left hand to your right upper thigh and your right hand on the chair. Inhale, lengthen to the spine. Exhale, twist a bit more towards your right, moving from the waist, the ribs, the shoulders, and the neck and the head will follow.
Continue to breathe here. Inhale, turns the head back to center. And exhale, unwind your torso. Good. Hold on to your imaginary ball again. Inhale, prepare, exhale, we twist towards the left.
And then slowly going deeper into twist, right hand's supported on left upper thigh, left hand to chair. Inhale, lengthen the spine. Exhale, twist a bit more.
Inhale, turns the head back to center. And exhale, unwind the torso. OK, so we will all put that together. Inhale, float the arms up. And exhale, float the arms down, hands to lap. Inhale, lengthen, and arch into your happy cow. Exhale, round into your angry cat.
Inhale, float the arms up. And exhale, side bend to your right. Inhale, return to center. Exhale, side bend towards the left. Inhale, return to center. And exhale, let's twist to the right. Inhale, back to center. And exhale, twist to the left. Inhale, back to center. And exhale, hands to heart.
Let's repeat that. Try to go with your breath. Inhale, float the arms up. And exhale, float your arms down. Inhale, lengthen and arch. Exhale, and round. Inhale, lengthen up. Exhale, side bend towards the right. Inhale, back to center. Exhale, side bend towards the left. Inhale, back to center. Exhale, let's twist right. Inhale, back to center. Exhale, twist left. Inhale, back to center. And exhale, hands to heart. And release down.
And from here, close your eyes again and observe the energy that just flowed through your spine. Observe your breath. And maybe observe the peace and the clarity. Join your hands back in front of your heart space. May love surround you. May joy walk with you. May laughter sing with you. And make good health bless you.
Return to the intention that you set. And then bring one hand over the belly, one hand over the heart, feeling your breath, feeling your heartbeat. And have a sense of gratitude for the gift of life, for the gift of the now, and for all your blessings.
Join your hands again in prayer. Ohm, shanti, shanti, shanti, peace, peace, peace. Namaste. And thank you for allowing me to guide your chair yoga practice today. Have a beautiful day, everyone.
Hello, again, all our lovely viewers. If you have enjoyed the class, feel free to visit me and all our other fabulous instructors in any of our Optum Care Community Centers. Hope to see you soon. Thank you.
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Video
Chair aerobics
Pick up the pace with our chair aerobics workout.
Optum Workout video
[MUSIC PLAYS]
Welcome, everyone. My name is Gez. Welcome to our chair aerobics workout. Remember to consult with your physician first, before you start any exercise program. So for today, you would need for your equipment, a chair with or without a handle, a rubber ball, and dumbbells. If you don't have any dumbbells at home, you can always utilize any water bottles or canned soup. Yeah?
So, let's make our workout place safe. Let's put our equipment underneath the chair, including your water bottle, because hydration is very important in any workout routine. You can have your ball behind you at any time. And then, let's begin our workout. I will give you modifications, options, progressions, remember to listen to your body and do the best you can. Most importantly, breathe, which means don't hold your breath. And I'll cue you to hydrate, but you can hydrate any time you need to. And then, personal best. Are you ready? Yes, we're ready.
So all you have to do is know your right from your left. Let's begin to march. March right, left, right, left, right, left. Maybe picking up the feet a little bit higher, and stepping softly, always getting the footwork first, and then we add the upper body. Just like your normal movement. The arms are just swinging front and back. Then let's all inhale, fill up the lungs, and reach the arms up. And exhale, floating arms down. Repeat three more times. Inhale, fill up the lungs all the way to the top, and exhale, draw your navel in as you empty. And inhale, and exhale. One more time. Good job.
Let's continue to march, and let's roll the shoulders up, forward, down, and back. Let's loosen up those shoulders. And then this time, we reverse. Lift the shoulders up, back, down, and forward. And let's come to our good posture. Let's lift the shoulders to the ears, which we don't want to happen at any time throughout our workout. So drop your shoulders down. The shoulders and ears are not friends, remember that. Continue to march.
Let's come to a tow tap. Tap right, tap left. Right, and left. Then adding some upper body movement, again, start small, and then slowly going bigger with your movement. When you're ready. From your toe taps, we go side tap, right and left. Side tap, right and left. Maybe adding some arms, shoulder raises. Good. Let's change the legs to heel digs. Heel, heel, heel. And maybe some add some bicep curls, alternating arms or both.
And let's put that together. Toe tap, toe tap, side, side, heel digs, heel digs. Tap, tap, side, side, heel digs, heel digs. Again, tap, tap, side, side, heel dig, heel dig. One more time. Tap, tap, side, side, heel digs, heel digs. Then continue on with your march. And then from here, we will take our feet side to side. We'll add some more upper body movement. We will roll the right shoulder forward, then the left. Give me four more. Then we open up through the chest. Palms up, maintaining our good posture. Then we reach across. Maybe move your fingers, as if you're reaching and grabbing for something.
And then they go reach side to side, extend through your side body. We need that good stretch, after all. Then cut it in half. Roll four, open up for four. And let's reach across, move your fingers. And then reach out through the fingers, nice and high. And cut in half for two, roll. And then we open. Reach across, and side to side. One more time. Roll, and open. Reach across, side to side. And march again, and breathe. Are you feeling more alive, maybe more awake? Good.
And then from here we will march our legs wide. So out, out, and bring it in. So let's begin with a count of eight. March it wide for eight counts, march it in for eight counts. Cut in half, give me four. Four wide, and four narrow. Four and Four. Cut in half. One, two, one, two. So now this becomes your V step. Can you visualize the V? Can you step your feet forward and in, forward and back, for your V step? Then adding some arms. Coordination. Good job.
Return to your march. Then we'll switch to the left lead, left lead. So let's begin to march with the left. Left, right, left, right. Are you with me? Good job, now march it wide. Left, right, left, right. Times eight. Now march it in, times eight. Cut in half, give me four, and four. And four, and four. Now two and two. Out, out, in, in. You know where it is going, it becomes a V step. Forward and in. Add some upper body movement. Just a few more times. Good job. Then return to your right leg, march it out. And pause.
All right, now it's time to hydrate. Make it a good habit to hydrate. It's beneficial for your skin, for a general overall health, and I would like for you to scoot forward, OK? Scoot forward to the edge of the chair, and we'll bring the ball in between the inner thighs. Then from here, we will activate the inner thighs or quads, as we squeeze the ball. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. As we do that, I would like for you to maintain good posture, lift though the pelvic floor as if you're zipping up your skinny jeans, lift through the navel and lift the chest. And as we said earlier, the shoulders are away from the ears, because they're not friends. Continue to squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, until you feel your adductors, your inner thighs. Good job.
Now from here, I would like for you to hold on to your chair. We do this every time, we sit and we stand. So this chair aerobics is for your functional movement as well. So secure yourselves on the chair, dig in to your heels, and begin to lift your buttocks off the floor as if you want to get up. And then you slowly lower. OK? So, we exhale and lift up, and then we lower. And we repeat twice more, excellent. And this is your squat. And then lower. One more time. Good job.
And then from here, maybe cross your arms. So this is your progression across the chest, to avoid the chest from falling forward. So exhale and lift from the chair, that's your squat, and lower. So use a lot of your leg muscles and your core as you lift up from the chair. Your next progression is to go into longer levers. You will extend your arms in front, as if you would like to pick up your grandbaby. That gave you a smile on your face, yeah? Just the thought of your grandbaby, right, made you smile. Good. And then we lower to rest.
Then from here, continue to squeeze the ball in between your inner thighs, you will elevate the heels. Lift the heels. Let's say hello to the ankles, the Achilles, the calves. And give me four more, please. Lift, and lower. Life, and lower. Last two. Let's say hello to the toes. Lift the toes, and lower. Lift, and lower. Just four more, please. Then we'll put it together. Heel, toes. Heel, toes. As if when you're walking, we shift our body weight from the heels to the balls of the toes. If you're going backwards, from balls of the feet to the heels, right?
All right, then we will put this together with our squat. So holding onto the chair, or crossing the arms across the chest, or reaching the arms forward, so rise back into your squat. Pick up your heels. Lower the heels, and lower. Now we're going to rise to come into standing. From squat, you lengthen the legs. Lift the heels, lower the heels, and sit down. Now we're going to go a little bit longer. Life the heels, lengthen, and as if you're reaching for something way up there, and then lower the heels. Look forward at your grand baby, and lower your buttocks.
And we repeat. Let's make it more fluid. We rise, we pick up the heels, reach for something up there, lower the heels, and lower your seat. A couple more times. Exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale. One more time, please. Go ahead, strengthen the legs some more, and reach for the something something up there. And then lower the heels, and then we lower. How do your legs feel now?
All right so from there, we're going to bring the ball in between our hands. Let's give the legs a rest. And let's bring the ball in between the heels of the hands, just like what we did with the ball earlier with the legs, we're going to squeeze the ball in front of our heart, and we will activate our chest, front of the shoulders, our biceps, our triceps, upper body. So exhale, exhale, exhale, as you press on the ball. We will extend the arms and we'll do the same. And observe where you're feeling this.
We're going to change the angle again. You're going to elevate the arms diagonally, only as far as your body would allow you to, and continue to squeeze the ball. Good. Then we return to front of the chest, in front of the heart. Good job. And rest. Did you feel that? Let's do some more.
Let's bring it back in front of the chest. This time you will elevate the elbows, and squeeze the ball, as if you want to let all the air out from the ball. Activate your chest, your front of the shoulders, even more. Relax your shoulders down, continue to breathe. You're doing great. How about eight more counts? Good. And then rest. Then from here, we will extend the arms in front. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze the ball, and we will bend the elbows 90 degrees. OK, you see a number 11 where the wrist and the elbows are in one line, and the elbows are in line with the shoulders. Begin to feel your triceps here.
And then once again, we will extend and squeeze. And we bend, and squeeze. Repeat. Extend, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. And bend at the elbows at 90 degrees, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Then we single that out. Extend, and bend. Extend, and bend. Continue to squeeze, and squeeze. Good. Now you are going to leave your arms here at 90 degrees, and we're going to lift and lower to shoulder level. Lift and lower to shoulder level. Give me eight, seven, exhale, inhale. Four more times. In two, in one. Good job. Extend the arms, and then release. Roll the shoulders. I hope you felt that. Now, let's bring the ball back into the inner thighs, just like what we've been doing earlier. Squeeze the ball between the inner thighs. This time we will pulse for three. Three, two, one, release. Three, two, one, release. And remember your good posture. Maintain that.
How about we increase that to eight? So pulse, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. More time, please. Squeeze eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Continue to squeeze the ball. Right leg get ready, you're going to come into a knee lift. You will extend that leg, push through the ball of the foot. Bend the knee, and lower. So we go up, up, extend, extend, bend, bend, and lower, lower.
Now what I would like for you to do as you extend the leg, squeeze through your thighs, your quads. We lift, we extend, we bend, and lower. Let's go a little bit faster. So lift, extend, bend, touch the floor, or lift, extend, bend, and hover. A couple more times. And last one. Good job. And feel the difference between your right leg and your left leg. This is a little bit warmer, a little bit stronger. So let's repeat that on the other side, maintaining good posture. Left leg will lift, so knee lift, extend, push the ball of the foot. Bend the knee, and lower. And lift, extend, bend, and lower. A couple more times.
I think you're ready to go for a single count. Lift, extend, and touch the floor. Lift, extend, bend, or hover the foot. Just two more, you can do it. Last one. Good. You feeling your thighs yet? All right if you have it, we have one more exercise. We'll go for leg lift. So continue to squeeze the ball, maintain your good posture. Ground through your left leg. Get ready to lift your right leg, and extend. We'll hold it here. Push through the ball of the foot, and we're just going to lift and hover. Lift and hover. Lift and hover. Wrap your thigh muscles around the bones. Just four more. Get stronger, shape your quads. Good. And bend the knee, and lower. Repeating on the other side, squeeze the ball. Extend the left leg, flex your foot, and we lift and hover. There's just eight of them, you can do that. Remember to breathe. Exhale. Inhale. Always exhaling on the point of exertion. Good job. And release.
All right, now we're going to hold on to the ball once again. All right, we will play with our grip. OK? You will open, and then we will switch grip. Inhale, open the chest. Exhale, switch grip. Inhale, and exhale. Have you dropped something lately? OK, work on your grip. And then from here, we're going to go overhead. We're going to meet the arms overhead and switch. Up overhead and switch. Good. Just four more of that. Nice job.
Now from here, pretend when you were young and you were playing basketball, you had that fancy trick that you're able to pass the ball behind you and grab with the other hand. Can you still do that? How is the range of motion in your shoulders? OK, so pass it behind you, if you're scooting back into your chair, can you pass it behind the chair? And come into your chest expansion. Can you do two more going this direction? Good. How about we switch? Do you have a better side? Are you breathing? Just two more, my friends. Good job.
Oh, it's time for hydration. Don't wait until you're thirsty to hydrate, OK? Once again, make it a good habit. All right, now I'd like for you to scoot forward. Remember the V step that we did a while ago in the warm up? We will repeat it here. Just in case you've forgotten, we will repeat just for muscle memory. So let's hold on the ball first, OK? Let's just give it a squeeze. Give your hands something to do, extra credit. Extra calories burned. So just give that ball a squeeze. Now, right leg, march it out wide. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two. March it in for eight counts, and march it out for four counts. And in for four counts. How about two and two? Out, out, in, in. That's your V step. Just step it forward and in. Yes.
Now, let's work on our coordination. You might want to scoot forward a little bit, because we would like to bounce that ball when we step out. Are you ready? V step with a bounce. V step with a bounce. How's your coordination? Are you ready to play? A couple more. Good job. Now rest the legs. How about we throw and catch? Throw and catch. Throw and catch. So hopefully you're throwing the ball a little bit higher, that you're able to clap. This is just extra credit. Good job. Can you do it together? Let's try. How about let's begin with the legs, V step, get the feet working. Then we add the bounce. We got four, three, and two. How about we throw and catch? Throw and catch, or throw, clap, and catch. Two more.
How about we get fancier? V step with a bounce, four of them. Keep your V step as you throw and catch, as you throw and catch. Optional clap. Last one. How do you do? No problem, because you get a second chance on the other side. Are you ready? Left leg. March it wide, you got eight counts. March it in, eight counts. Let's cut it in half, how about four and four? Four, three, two, and in. Four, three, two. Yes, we got it. How about two and two? One, two, one, two. Now just angle your legs forward and back to come in to your V step. You've got it. Let's add the bounce. V step bounce. Are you having fun yet with the ball? Four more.
Quiet your legs, just throw the ball and catch. Option number one. Option number two, add your clap, as if you're calling your pet, right? Come on, Bogie. Come on, Bogie. That's my daughter's dog. Good. All right, let's do it again. V step, left right. Left right. Is it more challenging to do this on the left side? Let's add the bounce. Bounce and catch. You've got four of them.
This time, you keep your V step as you throw the ball and catch. Throw the ball and catch. Two more. Last one. Good. How did you do? Did you have fun? If you didn't, I have more for you. Can you begin to march again? March. How about you put some rhythm? One, two, three, knee. One, two, three, knee. Then tap the ball to the thigh. One, two, three, tap. One, two, three, tap. OK, how about knee bounce? Knee bounce. Knee bounce. Did you play soccer when you were younger? Did you do this? Four more. Good. Did you have fun?
How about some challenge? Instead of one, two, three, tap, you just go march, march. You ready? Start with the right. March right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left. So this is option one. You can stay here, or add your knee bounce. Knee bounce, knee bounce, knee bounce. Whoa! And that's what I call extra credit, because when you drop the ball, you can go after it, you add that to your steps, more calories burned. Yes, good job. All right, how about we give the ball a rest, and let's grab our dumbbells. Before we do that, hydrate.
All right, so let's go grab our dumbbells from underneath our chair. Remember to always bend your knees when you pick up something, all right. And then you can always use the ball behind you to help with your posture. OK, so roll the shoulders up, down, and back. Lift through the belly once again. And then from here, I will take you into a row. So you will extend both arms forward, turn your palms in, and we draw the elbows straight back, squeezing the shoulder blades. So we inhale and exhale pull. You only have eight. If doing both arms is too difficult for you, you can always go for alternating arms. Remember that throughout our workout today. OK, give me four more, please. Squeeze your shoulder blades. Squeeze the upper mid back. Good job, and rest.
Now from here, you will bring your right hand over your left hip. We're still working on our upper back. So you're going to draw your elbow back, squeeze the right shoulder blade behind the heart, and return to the opposite hip. So exhale and pull, inhale and lower. Exhale, pull. And lower. You've got four more. Best two. Good. Switching sides. Left hand from opposite hip. Let's draw the left elbow back. Squeeze your left shoulder blade behind the heart. Exhale, pull. We got four more. Good job. And then rest.
We will add a little something something. This time, after you pull, you will extend your arm out, then re-bend the elbow and lower. So as if you're reaching for your seat belt, OK? And then you will fasten your seat belt. Exhale pull, open, bend, and lower. You got four more. If you can't reach high, that's OK. If at any time you don't want to utilize your dumbbells, that's fine, too. You can just use the ball. Remember, personal best. All right. Last one. Good.
Switching sides. Left hand from the opposite hip. Exhale pull, inhale extend, exhale, and lower. Pull, extend, bend, lower. You got four more just like that. Are you breathing? Which means don't hold your breath. Good job, and rest. Now from here, you will just extend your right arm out. Let's recruit through the lats, your lats. OK? And pretend you're just pounding towards the back wall. Press, press, press. And four, three, two. Good job. Re-bend, and lower. Switching sides. Extend and press, press, press, press, last four, three, two, good job. OK.
Then from here, I would ask you to scoot forward. So you'll have more freedom of movement in your arms for your bicep curls. So sit nice and tall. Feet are grounded, knees are over your ankles, shoulders are over the hips. Elbows in by your waist, and we exhale and come into our bicep curl. And lower. Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. Exhale, life. And remember to show control as you lower the arms, especially. So what we don't want to see is this. OK? You got to engage your muscles on the way up, and on the way down. Good.
And then from here, we're going to go for singles. Right side. Here's eight. So exhale, inhale. Keep your elbows glued in by your side body. Dumbbells will not touch the shoulders. It just goes to the top or front of the shoulders. Last two. And one. Switch arms, and here's eight. Maintaining good posture, breathing, enjoying the workout. You're doing great. You're almost done. Nice job, and rest.
OK, now I would like for you to scoot towards the right side of your chair. Roll the shoulders up, down, and back, and just allow your right arm to hang. So the focus here will be to bring your right ribs towards the right hip, OK? So right ribs to right hip. Keep your shoulder stacked as if you're just sliding your torso against an imaginary wall. So ribs to hip is the movement. OK, keep your neck muscles working, holding the head up, and not trying to do this. All right, that's for Halloween. Good job. Return to center.
Now we're going to go for singles. So, scoop your belly in, maintain your tall spine, inhale, and exhale. Here we go. Pretend you're carrying a heavy suitcase, you're kind of stuck there. Yeah, right ribs to hips. You got eight more counts Eight, and four. Good job. And then observe the difference between your right and left side body, is there? OK. Now let's work the other side. Scoot yourself towards the left side of your chair, just allow your left arm to hang and we begin. Left ribs to left hip. Shoulders are stacked, neck is long.
Good job, return to center. Big inhale and exhale. We're stuck right here, heavy suitcase. Too much shopping, you can't even lift it. We got eight more counts right here, my friends. Good job, return to center. And then from here, you will support yourself on your leg, as you bring your dumbbell underneath your chair again for safety. Hydrate before I take you for your stretch. Good job, everyone.
OK, so from sitting tall, extend your right leg, and lower your heel. Support your left hand on your left thigh. Inhale, reach your right arm up, and exhale, hinge from the hips. Look at your thumb. Continue to reach, reach, reach through your heart. Reach out the fingertips nice and long. Feel the stretch from your calf to your hamstring, to your lower back, your right side body. And inhale, rise. And exhale, return. Switching sides. Left leg extends, set your heel down, inhale lift the left arm, lifting the left ribs off the hip. Support, belly in, and hinge. Gaze at your left thumb. Continue to reach out, get longer. Breathing. And inhale, rise. And exhale, return.
Now I would like for you to stand, so we can stretch through our thighs, because you worked your thighs quite a bit when we did our squats and our leg lifts. So come towards the right side of your chair so you can utilize the chair for balance. Your left leg will be standing, bend at the right knee. So option number one is here. If you can't reach for your foot, just rotate your ankle, and I'm just going to turn sideways so you could see. So knees together. Option one is rotate the ankle both directions, and just hold that. Or option two, grab your outer ankle, bring your heel to buttock. Draw your tailbone down. Keep your shoulders over the hips. Good. And we lower the leg, and maybe just pedal the feet. OK, we will switch sides for the other leg.
Supported by the chair, right leg standing, left knee bends. I'll just turn myself sideways. Rotating at the ankle, both directions. You can stay there, or grab your foot. Maintaining your good posture. Stretching through the left hip flexor and the left thigh. Good job. And then release down. Now go behind your chair and turn your fingertips to you, and the heels of your hands on a chair, so we can stretch through the wrists, forearms, and the biceps at the same time. Nice. And then from here, give yourselves a pat on the back, push your tricep back. Pat on the back for a job well done for trying this workout. And as you release the arm, roll through the shoulder. And reverse.
And just switching arms. And then you give yourself a pat on the back, say good job, state your name. And release the arm, and let's roll the shoulders back, and then forward. Nice. Now return to your seat, and observe how you're sitting. Are you sitting taller? Did you remember to scoop in through the belly, and shoulders are down away from the ears? Let's conclude our workout with our breath. Let's all inhale, fill, fill, fill. And exhale, release down. And one more time, inhale, and exhale. And roll the shoulders up, down, and back, and you're ready for your day. Have a beautiful day. Thank you so much for joining me.
Hello again, all our lovely viewers. If you have enjoyed the class, feel free to visit me and all our other fabulous instructors in any of our Optum Care community centers. Hope to see you soon. Thank you.