Side leg lift
Played on both sides, one round each; the app tells you when to turn round. Under a minute a side.
How to do it
- Stand facing the phone, a chair beside you
- Lift one straight leg out to the side, toes forward
- A little is plenty: keep your hips level and hold it steady
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.
- Stand tall on both feet.
- Keep your right leg straight, toes forward, and lift it slowly out to the side, only as far as feels steady.
- Hold there, as still as you can, for 20 seconds. You can make it 30 or 40 in Settings.
- Then the other side.
If the position slips, the app says so: “Lift one leg out to the side.”
What it is for
The app files this stretch under:
- Tight glutes
- Stiff hips
Where the phone goes
Phone on the floor facing you, angled up a bit, about 6 ft away, a chair within reach. The phone faces you straight on. 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.