Seated hamstring reach

Played on both sides, one round each; the app tells you when to turn round. Under a minute a side.

How to do it

  1. Sit at the front of a chair
  2. Leg nearest the phone out straight, heel down
  3. Hinge at your hips, reach down it

Step by step

In the words the app says them, out loud, while you do it. Written for the right side; the left is the mirror of it.

  1. Sit tall with your heel on the floor, arms by your sides.
  2. Reach slowly down your straight leg, as far as you comfortably can.
  3. Hold there, as still as you can, for 20 seconds. You can make it 30 or 40 in Settings.
  4. Come up slowly.
  5. Then the other side.

If the position slips, the app says so: “Leg out straight, heel on the floor.”

What it is for

The app files this stretch under:

Where the phone goes

Phone on the floor, angled up a bit, side-on to you, about 8 ft away. The phone sits off to one side of you, so the camera sees the leg and the trunk in profile. Every stretch shows you this picture before the clock starts, and talks you through it, because you are across the room by then.

In the game

The gap in the kelp sits at the depth you settle on yourself, and staying near that depth is the whole skill. Points come from how steadily you hold the spot you picked. Depth earns nothing, and going deeper than you can comfortably hold is the thing the app is built to avoid asking of you.

That is also what the research says: a gentle hold gains as much range over the weeks as a hard one. What regular stretching does, measured.

More stretches for reaching your toes

Get it on the App Store