Warming up and stretching

Presenter - As with any exercise regime, of course, stretching is very, very important. So Lucy, what should we start with stretch-wise?

Lucy - It's always good to do a warm-up before you stretch. So just march on the spot for two minutes to really warm up the muscles. Then there's a few basic stretches we should look at doing.

Lucy - The first one is the chest stretch, where we literally just take the arms behind and feel the stretch through the front of the chest, and you'd want to hold this for at least 10 seconds. Once you've done that, do the reverse: bring the arms in front so you're feeling the stretch all through the top of the back, and again, hold this stretch for 10 seconds.

Lucy - So we now need to do the lower body. We've got three that we're going to do. For the first one, step back so you're keeping the heel on the floor. Have your hands on the bent leg in front, keep the abdominals pulled in, and you aim to feel this stretch in the calf muscles of the leg that's behind. Again, I'd say hold that for 10 seconds. Then work on doing the opposite leg.

Lucy - For the next one, you can use a chair for balance. You're just going to take hold of the leg, and you want to feel the stretch all down the front of the thigh here. Again, hold this one for 10 seconds, keep the abdominals pulled in, think about good posture. If you do it on one leg, it's very good for balance as well. Then switch and do the other leg.

Lucy - And then the last stretch is what we call the hamstring stretch. You extend one leg straight, hands on the bent leg, and just feel the stretch through the back of the upper thigh. With this stretch I would recommend that you hold if for 15 seconds.