Staying fit / Stretching."

There are basically 6 videos in all that you included in your teaching. The step by step explanations of them are as follows

• The neck stretches: this is done by stretching neck muscles in 4 directions. First, I placed my right hand over my head to the Jaw of the opposite side of my neck. Then I used my palm to stretch the neck towards the side of the hand that I am using. I did so while counting to 10 as if using the timer to get to 10 seconds. Then I did same for the opposite side using the left hand. Then I bent my neck down in front side for the same period and bent my neck backwards, facing upwards. This helps me to complete the 4 conners of the body where the neck can bend towards.

• Shoulder stretch: I did this by stretching the arms separately. First, brought my right arm forward and used the other palm as a support to be able to stretch the shoulder. I gently pushed the stretched arm with the supporting palm to the limit of that other arm by skewing it to the left shoulder for 10 seconds. I did the same with the other arm for the same period. Next, I stretched the chest by straightening my both arms backwards for 10 seconds also.

• Lower back stretch: this is a kind of twist that is done while standing. It's more like Russian twists. The idea is to stretch and twist the side that is targeted. Like in this case, I placed my arms on my chest and turned to my upper body to my left for 10 seconds. Then I repeated the same for the other side of my body for the same period.

• Upper back and chest Stretch: here the stretch targets the chest and upper back region and it is done by bending our upper body forward and back with our arms stretched forward and backwards. How I did it was to stretch my both arms forward and held my palm together, then I bent my upper body forward to my limit without forcing it. I stayed on that position for 10 seconds. Then, I did the opposite by stretching my body arms backwards, held my both palms together and bent forward again. The first which stretched my arms forward stretched the upper back while the one I stretched backward stretched the chest.

• Full back and back of leg stretch: this is achieved by bending your upper body downwards, then stretching your both arms to touch the foot. You do not bend the knees at all. I did so for 10 seconds as in others and I did it 2 sides as well as can be seen in the video.

• Full leg stretches: this is done by stretching the 2 legs separately in 2 directions which is front and back with the knees bent. First, I bent the knee of the right leg forward to my abdomen using my palms to support it and then standing on one leg for 10 seconds. Then I bent it backwards, using my palm to pull my foot up and raised the other arm upwards for balance. Then, I did same for the other leg in 10 seconds each.

What areas of your body did you feel tense? Share your experience.

I felt tense on the areas that the stretches focused on. For instance, the neck stretches was felt on the opposite sides of the neck where I am focused on. If I am stretching the left side, I did feel the tense on the right side and vice versa.

The shoulder stretch was felt on the shoulders. If I am stretching one side of the shoulder using the arm, I did feel tense on that particular side of the shoulder whose arm I am stretching. I felt the tense on the right side when I stretched the right arm and vice versa.

For the lower back stretch or twist, I felt the tense at the opposite side of the lower back where I was stretching at that time. For instance, if I twist to the right, the tense is felt at the left lower back and vice versa.

For the upper back and chest Stretch, I felt the tense on the upper back when I stretched my arms forward and held my palms together. When I stretched my arms backwards and help my Palm together, I felt it at the chest.

For the full back and back of leg stretch, I felt it at my back region and my back tigh and lower leg region.

For full leg stretches, I felt the tense on my knees of each leg both when I bent them forward and backwards.

Do you think stretching is beneficial or counterproductive for you? Explain your answer.

Stretching is beneficial to me and never counterproductive. This is because it helps my muscles to relax after fitness programs and it reduces the pains I could have had as a result of those trainings, helping me to be fit for the next exercise day.

It also helps me to achieve flexibility on my body parts, helping me to turn to any angle or sides that I want without experiencing any pain.

Stretches help me to reduce or even eliminate the impact of sprain on my joints. For instance, while playing football last week Wednesday, I sprained my ankle, I felt it but it was never intense because the impact was reduced as a result of regular stretches on my ankles.

Of all the techniques applied, which one would you choose for a personal exercise routine? Explain why.

Well, if I am not limited, I would choose all because they all focus on different parts of the body and muscles. I said this because each stretch is targeted and depending on the part of the body I choose to exercise, I will need to stretch that part of the body and muscles to relax them. If my training focused on full body, then I will need to carry out all the stretches to achieve the flexibility of all parts of the body. So, my choice will depend on the area of the body that I trained for each exercise day.

In conclusion, stretches is one important aspect of fitness that should never be neglected by me. It helps to achieve flexibility, reduce the impact of an injury, relaxed the muscles after training and reduced the pain that could have been felt after training. I truly appreciate this teaching today. Thanks to you @marvinvelasquez for bringing this on. @bossj23 @okere-blessing and @goodybest, have you checked this stretches out? See if you can take part. Success!