"Staying fit / Stretching."

Neck stretches.

I started with the neck stretches first from the left side, then to the right side while counting 10 seconds for each side.
I felt a slight crack on my neck and a bit of a relief as I moved from left to right.
After stretching my head to the sides, I then tilted my head towards my chest for 10 seconds and moved it backwards looking up at sky while counting another 10 seconds.

The next exercise I did was the shoulder stretch.

I can still feel a slight pain in my shoulder blades as I type this.
I stretched both my arms out and then supporting my right arm with my left hand I stretched it slightly. This I also did for my left arm supporting it with my right hand all the while counting 10 seconds with each arm.
Then I performed the chest stretch where I took both my arms backwards and locked my fingers at the back. This helped to stretch my chest.
While typing this, I checked my chest region for any signs of pains but there were none. I can only feel a smooth fluidity in it's movement.

Lower Back Stretch:

Moving on to the next exercise. Here I planted my palms on my chest and rotated my arms of which my waist moved with it to first the left side and then the right after a timeframe of 10 seconds each.
I used to think that this exercise was actually moving the waist in dance like motions but I learnt otherwise in this class.

This exercise is called the upper back and chest stretch.

By this time I was already feeling slight tensions around my shoulder blades, but nonetheless, I moved to the next exercise. Here I need to first make sure my shoulders are straight, then I'll put my hands in frot of my chest and from there stretch it out foward in a crossed format as though attempting to take something a bit far away from my reach while counting 10 seconds. I'll do the same backwards. The aim of doing this same exercise backwards is to stretch my chest muscles.

The first thing I heard was a popping crack sound as I bent to perform the full back and back of legs stretch.

I had to stand up first to be sure everything was intact😂 then I tried again but this time there was no popping sound from my waist. Once the 10 seconds count was done , I proceeded to do the full legs stretch where I lifted up each feet almost touching my buttocks and held it in place with my hand while counting for 10 minutes, did the same thing to the next feet then proceeded to bring my knees up to my chest.

first the left one then the right after a period of 10 seconds each.

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

I felt tense around my shoulder blades and also felt a tense pop around my waist when I was carrying out both the shoulder stretch and the full back exercise.
The pop I felt around my waist happened when I bent down stretching my hands towards my toes. It was a milisecond pop and then I couldn't feel it again. Then when I started writing this post, I felt tension in my shoulder blades when I tried to lift up my arms but it's gone now.

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

Ohhh, I feel it's beneficial as my body feels freer now than before. Before I started the exercise I felt knots al over my joints and I could hear small pops when I tried moving some parts of my body but now there are no sudden pops and I feel a bit lighter.

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

🤔🤔🤔 For me it would be the shoulder stretch as I carry things regularly and I'm mostly always working on my phone so my muscles get ache.
Also I would chose the full back and back of legs exercise as most of the time I'm sitting at a particular position for hours.

Thank you @marvinvelasquez for this class. I will be trying out most of the stretch routines here daily as they are easy to do and don't require so much space or me leaving my house to a gym.

@jovita30 @lewaswrite and @alexanderpeace have you come across this class? these stretches can be done from the comfort of your home and they're easy and very essential for the body muscles.