Mark: Hi, my name is Mark Watterson. I'm a physiotherapist who specialises in musculoskeletal injuries and neurological rehabilitation. My main passion in life is helping those recover from their stroke. I'm proud to bring you these activities in the videos you're about to watch.

Craig: In this set of activities, you will need a chair or work top to support your balance and a wall. Before starting the warm up to this activity, it is very important that carers and family members watch the "Advice and exercises for carers" video.

Mark: Okay, Amber group. This is your warm up for your flexibility exercises. So, for this, you will need to be standing. Now to make yourself feel a bit more secure or supported, you can use a surface to lean on to if you need to. For this demonstration, I'm just using a chair. If you wish to use a kitchen countertop or a table surface, that's perfectly fine. What you're gonna do then, give yourself a nice, strong base of support. Shoulder width apart feet. Find your balance. Make sure your weight is distributed evenly between your legs, and we're just gonna march for 30 seconds, trying to get the knees as high as we can, up to our waist. So let's give that a go. 30 second march. Here we go. And go. Nice high knees. Find your balance, your support's there if you need. If not, then try and do it without. Maybe focus on a target in the background to help with your balance. Nice and controlled in your own pace. And get those knees high up. Few more seconds and relax. Use the support if you needed to steady yourself as you give yourself a little rest. We're going to do that one more time. Only this time, we're going to step forward and we're going to step back again. Use the support if you need to, just to begin with. If you feel confident, then don't use the support. Here we go. Another 30 seconds. Only this time stepping forward and back. And away we go. And step forward and back. And forward and back. So right foot, left foot. One, two. Keep it going. Well done, keep the knees high. One step forward and one step back. Support's there if you need it or if you're getting tired. If not, take your hand off. Make sure you're safe. Few more seconds. And relax yourself there. Give yourself a few moments now to go through the coaching points of this activity that we have just shown you.

Craig: Stand tall with your feet hip width apart. March with high knees for 30 seconds. Hold on to the back of a chair or work top if you need to steady yourself. Step forwards and backwards in a marching motion. Again hold a support if needed to study yourself and do this for 30 seconds to

Mark: Okay, Amber group. This is your first exercise for your flexibility group. So what you need to do now you need to be standing once again and you have your stable surface or support to assist with your balance, if you need that. Again, I'm just gonna use a chair for this demonstration. Feel free to use whatever you feel comfortable with. So we're going to stretch out our calves today. Okay, so what we're gonna do is we're going to face towards the stable surface that we're using. Okay. We're gonna grab hold of the object and you're going to take a step back of one of your feet, doesn't matter which one, as long as you're safe, okay? And you're going to make sure that the back heel of the foot that is behind you is in contact with the floor. From there, you're going to bend the knee of the leg that's forward, and you're going to stretch it like so into this lunge position. You're going to feel the stretch down the back of your leg. You want to hold it there for 10 seconds. Let's do that now. Four, three, two, one and relax. Bring yourself back up and repeat it with the other leg. So bring it back. Keep the heel on the floor, bend this knee, lean into it, use the support and hold it there. Here we go for another 10 seconds. And ten, three, two, one, and relax. Bring yourself back up. Give yourself a minute to rest. we're going to do that one more time. With a little progression, we're gonna bring our feet closer together. So if you're ready, if you're comfortable, get back into that position. Only this time you're going to bring the foot that's going behind you right behind the opposite one. So both both your toes and feet are facing forward behind each other. Push that heel back down into the floor. And lean into your leg. Let's hold it there, 10 seconds, here we go. four, three, two, one and relax. Bring yourself back up and repeat with the other leg. Bring it behind you. Keep the heel down. Lean into that opposite leg. Here we go. Final 10 seconds for your stretch. Four, three, two, one. And relax. Bring yourself back up. Well done. Give yourself a few moments there to go through the coaching points for this activity that we have just shown you.

Craig: Stand with a chair or work top in front of you to aid your balance if needed. Take one foot backwards make sure your heel is in contact with the floor. Bend your front leg until you can feel a stretch in the calf of your back leg. Hold that stretch for 10 seconds and then repeat with your other leg to progress. Bring your feet a bit closer together and repeat the activity.

Mark: Okay Amber Group. This is your second exercise now for your flexibility category. So you will be standing once again and you will need a chair or something stable at your side for your support. Only this time you want it on your stronger side. So you've got that to balance yourself as you do this exercise. So nice. Stable feet, shoulder width apart. Okay. What you gonna do with your stronger on, you're gonna rested on that surface, ideally a chair so we can slide up and down. And what you're gonna to focus on is sliding your hips and your hand down to that side for the stretch. Bring it back up, and then you're gonna slide your hand down the chair. So you've got that support stretching out your weaker side. We're going to do that for 10 seconds. Here we go. So let's head over now to one side and hold it for 10 seconds. Five seconds to go. Two, one and relax. Bring yourself back up. Now we're gonna go to the other side, using the support. Feel the stretch and hold it there. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and one. And relax. Bring yourself back up. But to do that one more time, but we'll try and increase the stretch. Now you're just gonna go a little bit wider with your feet and we're gonna do the same again. So other side and slide your hand down. Let's hold it there for 10 seconds. Keep going. Five seconds to go, four, three, two, one and up we go. And last one to the other side. Slide your hand down the support. Greater stretch. 10 seconds. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. And relax, bring yourself back up. Give yourself a few moments now to go through the coaching points for this activity that we've just shown you.

Craig: Stand with a chair on your stronger side and place your stronger hand on the chair. Slide your weaker arm down your weaker leg, towards your knee. Hold here for 10 seconds. Repeat on your stronger side by sliding your hand down the back of the chair towards the seat. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat again but try to widen your feet so you get more of a stretch down the side of your body.

Mark: Okay, Amber group. This is your third and final exercise now, regarding your flexibility. So what you need to be doing, is you need to be standing close to a wall. If you feel a bit insecure, you can have a chair or support by you at mid height. If not, you can always use your stronger arm to balance yourself on the wall. So what you want to do. Just give yourself a nice, wide, stable base of support, and what you need to do is with your weaker arm, is you want to try and get as much wrist extension as you can with the fingers also extended. Now, some people might find it difficult to extend the fingers and the wrist. Just ease yourself into it. If you do struggle to get full extension of the wrist and fingers, then just work with what you've got, as long as it's pain free and within your comfort zone, that's fine. So if you do struggle to get that extension, you want to support your hand onto the wall like so. Okay. And you're gonna put your stronger hand on the wall also, and you're just gonna lean into your arms. And as you can see, we're trying to create that wrist extension, and we're just going to hold it there. So we're stretching out the muscles in the forearm there. Okay. Now, for those who do have an extension in the fingers and the wrist, what you want to do is try and get your palm nice and flat. With your weaker and stronger arm and again, we just want to hold it there, a little bit of weight into the arms that are bent, and we're going to hold it for 20 seconds. Here we go. Try and be even and balanced through both arms. Make sure you're not in any pain or discomfort. You will feel some tightness. That's perfectly fine. And it should start to ease up. Okay, a few more seconds. And relax yourself there. If you need to control your arm down, give yourself a few minutes to rest. And we're going to do that one more time. Okay? Little progression, if you wish to is we're going to get their arms back in there, if we can. Full extent of the fingers and the wrist again. If you can achieve that, that's perfectly fine. This time you're going to place your arms back on and what you wanna do, maybe just take a little step back so your arms are straight and then keep the elbows locked and then lean into your hands for a greater stretch. Here we go. Last stretch. 20 seconds. Here we go. You're trying to keep your elbows locked and just slow lean your body weight into your hands. Again, work within your range. Make sure it's pain free. A few more seconds. And relax there. Give yourself a few moments now to go through the coaching points for this activity that we have just shown you.

Craig: Stand facing the wall with your feet wide to make you stable. Try to get both hands flat to the wall. If you cannot straighten your fingers, that's OK, try to get your palms as flat as you can. Hold here for 15 seconds. To progress, step further away from the wall and hold for a further 15 seconds. Please ensure that whilst doing this exercise you are pain free.

Nicole: Hello. I'm Nicole Lavin. I'm a specialist neurological physiotherapist, and I specialise in stroke rehabilitation. I have over 20 years experience working with stroke survivors following them through their journey from the acute stages, right the way through the rehabilitation process up until discharge. I feel absolutely privileged to be here today, working with A Stroke of Luck in collaboration with the Stroke Association to bring you these activity videos. I hope you enjoy.

Craig: In this set of activities, you will need: two cans of tinned goods, a chair or worktop, a wall and stairs. You may also need your carer or family member. Before starting the warm up to this activity, it is very important that carers and family members watch the "Advice and exercises for carers" video

Nicole: Amber Group. Welcome to your warm up for the stamina series of activities. For this activity, you will need some support on your strongest side. And this is just fingertips support for your balance. This activity, you will be doing some marching and mini squats. So with the marching, we want you to focus on getting your knees high, like this. And with the mini squats, a nice wide base. So your feet wide, back nice and straight and a small bend. So we're not looking at getting right down to the floor. We're just looking at the control. Okay, so we're going to do the marching first. And then the mini squats 10 of each. Ready? Off we go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Wide base now feet wide apart. Fingertips support. Keep your back straight. One, two, tighten here, if you can. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight. You might be starting to feel it a little bit. Nine. Last one and 10. Well done. We're going to take a short pause now so you can go through the coaching points of the activity we've just shown you.

Craig: Stand with a chair or worktop on your stronger side. Just use your fingertips to help balance yourself. March with high knees 10 times. Then stand with feet a little wider and then squat 10 times. Keep your back straight and tighten your tummy as you do this.

Nicole: Okay, Amber Group. This is your first activity in the stamina series. And for this activity, you could do this at the bottom of a staircase. If you've got stairs at home. If you don't have stairs, you can do it without the step and just follow the sequence of what we're doing with your legs. So if you are doing it on the steps, you just actually doing it on the bottom step. So we're not ascending the stairs at all. Just the bottom step. Okay. If you've got a handrail, hold on. Okay. And the idea is, you're going to go up, stepping up onto the step with your strongest leg first. So you need to make sure the full foot is on the step. Okay, Put your weight through your strongest foot and bring your weakest foot up to join it. Okay. From there, you're going to step back down, going backwards with your weakest foot first. So down, down. So if you don't have a step or stairs in the house to do this or you don't have a handrail to support for your stability. You can just do it, the stepping motion without the step. We're going to do this for one minute. Are we ready? Off we go. So strongest leg. Weakest leg. Weakest leg, strongest leg. Get that rhythm. And keep this going for one minute. Make sure your full foot is fully on the step. Now, as you've got a timed element to this activity, you can use that for a bit of feedback. Or set yourself a goal. Keep going. You're doing really well. Last few seconds and rest. Well done. Take a short pause there to go through the coaching points for the activity we have just shown you.

Craig: Stand at the bottom of stairs and hold onto a handrail. Bring your stronger foot onto the step, and then step onto step with your weaker leg. Step backwards towards the floor with your weaker leg first, and then bring your stronger leg down to meet it. If you do not have any stairs, then repeat the sequence by pretending to step up and down onto a step, holding a worktop or back of chair with your stronger hand for balance. Repeat for one minute.

Nicole: Hi, amber group. This is your second activity of the stamina series. So you need to stand shoulder width apart from the wall, facing the wall. And if you do need some support, you could have the back of a chair at the side of you. You want to face the wall, stand shoulder width apart, feet pointing forwards, and what we're going to do for this activity is a wall press up. So the ideal position is with your stronger arm out at shoulder height, with your hand flat against the wall as I'm showing you there. With your weaker arm, if you can't get the height or you can't get the hand flat, do it at whichever position is comfortable for you. So if this is a fist position and it's low, this is fine also. But for the purpose of the demonstration, I'm going to bring the arms up together so they're equal. So we're going to bring arms up, arms up, hand flat if you can get it, at a comfortable height, and from that position you're going to keep your feet still, but take your nose towards the wall. Bending at the elbows, making sure the elbows are straight down in front of you and not coming out to the side, like so. Okay, so we're going to try to do this activity now for one minute. It is not a race. We're not looking at repetitions. We are looking at stamina and control. Okay. Are we ready? One minute, off we go. So bend, nose to the wall and try to push through your arms to straighten out your elbows. And again, down nose to the wall and push through your arms to straighten out your elbows. Keep that going, you're doing really well. Nose to the wall. And again. Almost there. Okay. And relax. Well done. Let's take a short pause there so we can go through the coaching points of the activity you have just seen.

Craig: Stand facing a wall with your feet shoulder width apart. You can have a chair to your side for support, if necessary. Bring your stronger hand up to the wall in line with your shoulder. Make sure your hand is flat. Bring your weaker arm into the same position. If your arm cannot move this far, allow your arm to rest against the wall in a comfortable position. This may be at a lower height and or with your hand in a fist instead of flat. Bring your nose towards the wall by bending your elbows and then push away by straightening them. Try to keep your elbows in close to your body as you do this. Repeat for one minute. This is all about control, not how quickly you can do the activity.

Nicole: Okay, amber group. This is your third and final activity from the stamina series, and for this activity you'll need some small weights or tins, tins of beans, soup, anything. Just a small weight in either hand. Now, if you do struggle with your grip or you can't, you don't have the strength in your weaker side to grip something. It's absolutely fine to have nothing on that side, but keep the weight on your stronger side. Now for this activity, we need your sitting forwards in the chair, if possible, not taking up the back support of the chair or wheelchair and your feet firmly on the ground. You need to sit up nice and tall, and tighten your tummy button in. Okay. And for this activity you're going to raise one leg and the opposite arm. So it's a little bit of coordination as well. So I'll do a demonstration first of all. So we're going to go right knee up, left arm up. Okay? And then slowly lower down. And then left knee up and right arm up. Okay. With this activity, you must not work through any pain. No shoulder pain. And just go within your comfortable range. So if you're only raising it to here, that's absolutely fine. Okay, so we're gonna go for a full minute. There's no race. Just take it at your own pace. Are we ready? Off we go. So knee up. Arm up. Down. Knee up. Arm up. Down. Knee up. Arm up. And down. Keep this going. And what's important is that as you're lifting your leg, you don't lean backwards. So you use the back of the chair as a reference point. And if you're coming into contact with the chair, you need to bring yourself forward again. Okay? To really work your core stability. So it's not just about the lifting. It's all about the control on the upward movement and the downward movement. Keep that going. And relax. Okay. So take a short pause, and then we're going to repeat it. Another round. So for a full minute, take as much rest as you need to in between. And then off we go. So knee up. Arm up. Down. Knee up. Arm up. Down. Knee up. Arm up. And down. Keep this going. And what's important is as you're lifting your leg, you don't lean backwards. So you use the back of the chair as a reference point. And if you're coming into contact with the chair, you need to bring yourself forward again. Okay? To really work your core stability. So it's not just about the lifting. It's all about the control on the upward movement and the downward movement. Keep that going. And relax. Okay. Well done. We'll take a short pause there so you can go through the coaching points of the activity we have just shown you.

Craig: Sit nice and tall in a chair. Hold a small weight in both hands if you are able. If holding an object in your weaker hand is difficult, do this activity without the weight. Raise one knee up towards the ceiling and at the same time, raise your opposite arm up above your head or as far as you can. Do not push past any pain or resistance. Now raise your other knee up and arm at the same time. Repeat for one minute. Have a rest and go again for another minute. Try not to lean backwards against the back of a chair as you do this activity.

Nicole: Hello. I'm Nicole Lavin. I'm a specialist neurological physiotherapist, and I specialise in stroke rehabilitation. I have over 20 years experience working with stroke survivors following them through their journey from the acute stages right the way through the rehabilitation process up until discharge. I feel absolutely privileged to be here today, working with A Stroke of Luck in collaboration with the Stroke Association to bring you these activity videos. I hope you enjoy.

Nicole: Okay. Amber Group, this is your stability warm up. So for this activity, you need to be seated in your chair or wheelchair. And again if you can possibly try to sit away from the back of the chair so that you're making your trunk and core work a little bit harder. And for this activity, if you could get somebody to place a pillow underneath your feet. Causes a little bit of an instability in your feet and ankles, so it makes you work a little bit harder. All we're going to do for the warmup, we're going to push your feet down into the pillows. I'll demonstrate that now. So you're pushing downwards into the floor. Okay, so there's not an awful lot of movement there, but you will feel it tightening up in and around your bottom and your upper part of your legs. So you're going to push down and relax. And what I'd like you to try and do at the same time is to try and bring your nose forwards. And if you can bring your nose forward over your toes, keep your arms supported on your lap. Okay. So we're going to do that for 10 repetitions. Are we ready? So pushed down. Lean forwards. Come back and relax. That's one. Push down, lean forwards. Come back and relax. Keep that going, so down. Forwards, back and relax. Down, lean forwards, back and relax. Down, forwards, back and relax. So we're halfway through keep going. So push your feet down into the pillow, lean your nose forward over your toes if you come. Back and release, keep going. Doing really well, last few to go. Last one. Push down. Really get your nose forwards, back and relax. Well done. Okay, so take a short pause there to go through the coaching points of the activity we've just shown you.

Craig: Sit in a chair or wheelchair and try to sit away from the back rest. Place a pillow under your feet. Support your arms on your lap. Push your feet down into the pillow whilst moving your nose forward over your toes. Return to start position and repeat 10 times.

Nicole: Hi Amber group, this is the first activity in the stability series, and for this activity you need to be seated facing a wall but far enough away from the wall to do some reaching and challenging of your stability. So sit in your chair or wheelchair. Okay? With your weaker am supported. Now for the purpose of this activity, we've actually put some post it notes on the wall, but you can just reach to any sort of target in front of you. So for the first part of the activity you're going to be using your stronger arm, okay, to reach for the targets and come back to the middle and get your alignment back. So making sure you're in the middle with the weight on your right side of your bottom and your left side of your bottom and trying to get that equal. So I'll demonstrate that now for you. So you're going to face your target. You're going to reach forwards with your stronger arm, touch the target, come back, to the middle and keep your alignment. So you're not actually going all the way back to the back of the chair. Okay, you're keeping away from the back of the chair. So we're going to do some repetitions with your stronger arm first, and then we're going to repeat it with the weaker arm. When we do the weaker arm, you will need to support it with your stronger arm. So we'll go through stronger side first. Are we ready? Off we go. Reach. Come back to the middle. Make sure you're in the middle. Reach, back. Reach, back. Reach, back. So you can see for the purpose of the demonstration here, we've put the post-it notes on the wall in a clock shape. So we're getting some across body reaching going on there, and that's important for stability. Vary it. So some high and some low. High. High across body, back to the middle. And low, back to the middle. So we're going to repeat some of this now, using your weaker arm And for this activity. As I said before, you need to support it with your stronger arm. I take the pillow out, okay. And when we do this, you might, you're only working within the pain free range, so you might not actually be able to do some of the high ones. So we'll start low okay? So reach forwards. Just go within the pain free range and do not pull your arm. Okay? You are supporting the arm. Come back to the middle. Okay. And again, out. Back to the middle. Out, back to the middle. Try some across body movement. So we're getting, challenging stability a little bit more. Out. And back to the middle, but it's important not to pull the arm and just support the arm. Keep that going and relax. We'll take a short pause now to go through some of the coaching points for the activity you have just watched.

Craig: Place some targets onto the wall in front of you. This could be pictures, photos or post-it notes. Sit in a chair a little away from a wall whilst facing it. Do not sit too far away, just enough to challenge yourself whilst reaching. Initially, have your weaker arm supported with a pillow. Use your stronger arm to reach for the targets and then come back to the start position, ensuring that you have weight equally through both bottom cheeks. Try to reach to both left and right and high and low. Now try to reach with your weaker arm supporting it with your stronger hand. Do not pull your arm and do not push past any pain or resistance. You may not be able to reach some of the higher targets, but that's okay, do what you can.

Nicole: Hello, Amber Group. This is stability exercise number two. So for this activity, you need to be seated on the chair. Try and sit forward on the chair so that you're not taking up the back support. Okay? And you need a water bottle. Now you can determine how much water you put in the bottle. And the more water that's in it, the harder it will be. So, for your weaker arm, you might want a bottle that's just half full, for example. And this is working on core stability, so I will demonstrate the activity first. You're going to sit up tall, tighten up your muscles like what we've done in the warm up. You're going to reach down. Reach right down to your water bottle. Bring it back up towards your mouth, align yourself cross over, hand to hand, and then lower it at the opposite side. Okay, let go, come back to the middle. Okay, so we're going to do 10 repetitions, so it's five on each side. Are we ready? Off we go. Okay. So reach. Lift up to the middle. That's one, cross over. Lower control it down. Let go, back to the middle. That's two. Reach. Bring it up. Cross over, lower. Keep that control as you're lowering. Down back to the middle. Okay, Keep going. You're doing really well. That's it. Excellent. To the middle, cross over. And down. Okay, back to middle. Okay, we've got four more to go. Let's go, down, across, and down, back to the middle. Okay. Last two. Really keep that control. Keep that tummy tightened and down, come back to the middle. Okay, Straighten up. Tighten up. Keep your breathing nice and relaxed. And pause. So we'll take a short pause there to go over the coaching points for the activity that we've just shown you.

Craig: Sit forwards in your chair, trying to sit away from the back rest. Tighten your tummy muscles. And reached down to the side to pick up a bottle, return to sitting in the middle, bring the bottle up to your mouth. Take the bottle with your other hand and reach down to place it by your foot. Repeat this five times on each side. Remember to sit up tall when returning to the middle and control the movement when reaching to the side.

Nicole: Okay, Amber Group. This is your final activity in the stability series. We're going to combine some of the activities that you've already done in this series so far. So you need to be sitting forwards in your chair, again not taking up the support, and a pillow underneath your feet. And this is to provide a little bit of instability. Your feet need to be positioned on the pillow back behind your knees. So if you're looking down at the pillow, your feet are behind your knees. Okay? We're going to combine the activity that you've done earlier with the targets on the wall, with some reaching, with some side reaching, okay. And what we're looking for with this is a nice controlled movement coming back to the middle after every repetition. Okay, so we're going to clasp hands so that you can support your weaker throughout the activity. And remember, do not pull the arm. Okay, off we go. So we're going to reach forward, take your nose over your toes and come back nice and slow and controlled, coming back to the middle. Now we're going to reach towards our stronger side and come back to the middle. And across to our weaker side, back to the middle. And it's this midline that we're looking for each time. Reach forward, back to the middle. Over to your stronger side, if you can go a little bit higher and there's no pain and you have the movement, take it a bit further. And to the weaker side. We're going to take it a little bit further by side bending to a target. So really reach down, see if you can tap the target. Push yourself back up, back to the middle. Now to the opposite side. So side bend, you're coming forwards and side. Tap the target. Push down through your feet on the pillow, back to the middle. Let's repeat. Down, to the target. Push through your feet. Come back to the middle. Down to the target again, back to the middle. Let's do one more repetition either side. Down, to the target, back to the middle. And final repetition, down, to the target, back to the middle. Let's take a short pause there so you can go through the coaching points for the activity we have just shown you.

Craig: Sit facing the wall, as you did in the first exercise, but with a pillow under your feet. Place your feet behind your knees. Place targets on the wall and have water bottles each side on the floor. Clasp your hands or support your weaker arm throughout this activity. Reach in front of you to the wall, towards your stronger and then weaker side, returning to the middle each time. Repeat the sequence three times. Then reached down to the target on the floor to your stronger and then weaker side, coming back to the middle each time. Repeat three times each side.

Mark: Hi. My name is Mark Watterson. I'm a physiotherapist who specialises in musculoskeletal injuries and neurological rehabilitation. My main passion in life is helping those recover from their stroke. I'm proud to bring you these activities in the videos you are about to watch.

Craig: In this set of activities, you will need: a pillow, your chair, your bed if needed. A weighted object such as a bottle with water in it. 18 or a light dumbbell. You may need a carer or family member to assist you with your balance or weaker arm. Before starting the warm up to this activity, it is very important that carers and family members watch the "Advice and exercises for carers" video.

Mark: Okay, so for this exercise, we're gonna go through your warm up for your Amber Group regarding your strength exercises. So this can be done sitting or standing. If you choose to do it standing, make sure you are supported and safe throughout. If you're gonna choose to do it sitting, make sure you're sitting unsupported, your back off the chair. What you want to do. Make sure you are nice and tall through your trunk, and you want to bring your arms up to your chest like so. If you struggle to get this position with your weaker side, support your weaker arm at the elbow and hold it up. Like so. From this position, we're just gonna turn from side to side. As far as you can. We're going to do this now for 30 seconds. Here we go. Keep it going. Make sure you stay upright and tall. Don't allow yourself to slouch as you get tired. And as time goes on, try and increase the movement. Okay. And relax there. Next warm up, you're going to place your hands down the side of your legs and your slowly going to lower yourself down to touch your feet on the floor if you can, you're gonna keep your back arched as you come back up and we're going to repeat this now for 30 seconds. So here we go. Again, be nice and controlled with the movement. Make sure you're not straining or forcing yourself into any pain or discomfort. Just doing what comes naturally. Okay, give yourself a few moments now to go through the coaching points for the video you've just seen.

Craig: Sit on a chair and sit up right away from the back of the chair. Alternatively, you can stand making sure you have a support for balance. Cross your arms over your chest. If this position is difficult, support your weaker arm with your stronger arm and let it just rest above your tummy. Turn your body to look to the left and then the right for 30 seconds. Move your hands to touch the floor in front of you and then return to sitting upright. And repeat for 30 seconds. When sitting up, hollow your back. Make sure to control the movement, making sure you do not force yourself at all.

Mark: Okay, amber group. This is your first exercise for your strength category. So what you're gonna need, you're gonna need a chair behind you. And what we're gonna be doing, is we're going to be standing in front of it, and you're gonna get your foot position nice and equal, shoulder width apart. Key thing to do before we do this exercise is make sure you're not favouring one side. What I mean by that is you may tend to find that you distribute your weight onto your stronger leg. Give yourself a moment and bring your weight in between both legs. So you're distributing your weight evenly. What we're gonna do from here is we're gonna slowly sit down for three seconds. We're not going to sit down as soon as you feel the bum on the chair. We're going to stand up. You can put your hands on your legs for support. Let me give you a demonstration. One, two, three and up. One more time. One, two, three and up. As soon as you feel the chair, we're gonna stand up. We're not going to sit down. Let's give 10 reps of that. Now, here we go first rep. And down. And one. One, two, three and up. That's two. One, two, three and push. One, two, three and up. One, two, three and up. Halfway there. Well done. One, two, three and push. It might start to feel it now. One, two, three, up. One, two, three and up. Two more. One, two, three up last one. One, two, three and up. Give yourself a minute. Catch your breath. We're gonna do that one more time and again, especially as you get tired, make sure you're keeping your weight between both legs. Okay? If you're ready. Here we go. 10 more reps and one, two, three and up. One, two, three and up. One, two, three and up. As you get tired, use your hands. One, two, three and up. One, two, three, up. Keep going halfway there. One, two, three. Well done. One, two, three and push. One, two, three, up we get. Two more. One, two, three and up. Last one. One, two, three. And up. There you go. Well done. Give yourself a moment now to go through the coaching points for this activity. We have just shown you.

Craig: Stand with your feet, hip width apart and ensure that you have a chair behind you. When doing the activity, try to keep your weight even across both legs. Go to sit down slowly for a count of three. As your bottom touches the chair, stand back up again. Complete this 10 times. Rest and repeat. If you get tired, slide your hands along your thighs to balance yourself.

Mark: Okay. Amber Group, this is your second exercise now for your strength category. So what you're gonna need you're gonna need some weighted objects. You can use anything as a household objects. You've just got a couple of cans here or you can use some dumbbells if you have them at home. If not again, you could use anything around the house. A bottle of water fill it up with water and it just weight to what you need. So what you gonna do. You gonna stand shoulder width apart, making sure you are secure with your balance. You gonna a pick up your weighted objects like so and you're going to bring them up to chest height, and we're going to start punching away like so. Now, if you struggle to get the height with your weaker arm, that's perfectly fine. Do what range you can, even if it's just down here. There's nothing wrong with that. If you can get shoulder width high, that's great again. If not, don't worry. If you struggle with any grip or strength in your weaker arm, just do it without the can and do what you can, do what suits you. Make sure it's comfortable. Make sure you're not in pain. So find where you at. We're gonna do 15 reps. Here we go for your first set and punch away. One. Two, three, four. Five. Six, seven eight. Nine. 10, 11, 12, 13 14, and 15 and relaxed there. Give yourself a moment. Make sure you feel the weight. Slow it down if you need to. Don't go too fast. We're gonna do this another two times now. So when you're ready, give yourself a moment. If you want, you can increase the weight like I'm about to do so. And we're going to do it again. Here we go. And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. And relax. Well done. Again give yourself a nice few deep breaths. You should start feeling your shoulders, in your arms. Do what you can. Two sets might be enough. If you can do the third one, that's great. It's something to build up to. If you're ready, we're gonna do your last set now. If you wish to make it harder, increase the weight or go a little bit higher, which I'm about to demonstrate. Here we go, the last one up in the air and away we go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 and relax. Give yourself a few moments now to go through the coaching point for this activity we have just shown you.

Craig: Stand holding your weights. Ensure weight is even through both legs. Bring your hands up to your chest. Punch your hands alternately away from you. Don't worry if you cannot hold the weight with your weaker hand or keep your arms at chest height, just do what you can. It's the movement that counts. Remember: go at your own pace, with or without the weight. Do 15 repetitions. Rest and repeat another two times. To progress, you can increase the weight of the object or add more water to the bottle.

Mark: Okay, Amber Group. This is your third and final activity for your strength category, so you will need to be able to lie yourself down on the floor. Or, if you're unable to do so, you can use your bed. It's perfectly fine. If you feel more comfortable doing that, then go ahead with it. All you're gonna need is a pillow, one or two. It's entirely up to you how you want to make this exercise easier or harder. So what's going to be doing is lying down flat, and we're gonna be doing some sit ups working on our abs and our trunk control and our core strength. So have your pillow behind you, and you're gonna lean yourself back so that the pillow is tucked in right underneath you. And just fall back like so. You're gonna have your knees bent, okay? And what you want to try and do, if you've got the movement in your weaker arm, you want to try and reach forward to the back your knees. If you don't have the movement, you can hold on to your weaker arm with the stronger arm and lift yourself forward. Don't pull the arm. Just do what's comfortable for you. Whichever way you decide to do it, we're gonna come up. We're going to hold it and we're gonna come down for three seconds for a nice stretch. We're gonna come up and down nice and slow for three seconds. Don't pull with your head. Don't lift with your head, feel it from your stomach lifting the shoulders up. We're gonna start with 10 reps. So here we go. One and down for three. One, two, three and up. One, two, three and up. One, two, three and up. One, two, three and up. One, two, three and up. One, two, three and again. One, two, three. A few more. One, two, three. Last one. One, two, three and relax. Give yourself a moment there. You should start to feel it in your upper abs and your lower abs, especially as you get to your last few reps. If you do want to make it harder, you can take your pillow away. So you've got more movement to achieve. But, if you're perfectly fine with that, then leave the pillow and we're gonna do our last set, one more time. Knees bent up. Make sure you're breathing throughout. I'm gonna try the different variation in case you can't reach behind your legs. Hold your weaker arm. And here we go. And up. One, two, three and up. One, two, three and up. One, two, three and up. One, two, three. Keep it going. One, two, three and again. One, two, three. A few more reps, keep it going. Two, three. Nice and controlled. Two, three, on the way down. One, two, three. Last one. One, two, three and relax. Give yourself a moment now to go through the coaching points for this activity that we have just shown you.

Craig: Lie on the floor or if this is too difficult, you can lie on your bed. Place a pillow at the base of your spine and rest your back into it. With knees bent reach forwards with both arms to the back of your knees. If the movement is difficult with your weaker arm, clasp your hands together and slide them both towards your knees. Do NOT pull your weaker arm. You are trying to move your body with your tummy muscles. Try tightening your tummy to bring your shoulders forward away from the pillow. Slowly return to the start position for a count of three. Repeat this 10 times. Have a rest and repeat again. To progress you can remove the pillow.