Help on The 12 Acts of Fitness Challenge

There's been a few questions about some of the exercises for the challenge, so here are some answers:

First, I want to make sure it's clear that you can do the challenges in ANY order. You don't have to worry about counting down or up. Just do as many as you can by New Year's Day. And keep track so I can award your points!

Here's a link that shows how to do my favorite neck stretch and the doorway stretch: http://taylorgoldensneaker.blogspot.com/2011/11/im-thankful-for-novembers-challenge.html

Here is a yoga tree pose:

Remember, you can modify by placing your foot on your ankle or waaaaay up on your thigh.

Here are some of the squat varieties:

The classic ball squat. You can hold weights too.

The sumo squat is just a body squat but with a wider stance and toes slightly pointed out.

The plie squat has a very wide stance and your body stays more upright. You can add a heel raise for more challenge.

The chair squat just gives you a target to make sure you squat nice and low. Plus it gives you the security of knowing something will catch your fall if your legs give out! Raising arms is optional.

The sissy squat is more advanced and can be a bit awkward at first. But it's a great challenge for the quads. Make sure you have something you can hold on to for balance.

My favorite way to do single-leg squats is with the ball because I'm not ususally strong enough to do it unsupported!

Here is a reminder for the crunch.

For this challenge, hold the "crunched" position for a count of 5 before lowering, then repeat. You can also lift your feet off the ground and/or hold some weight (medicine ball) between your knees. You can do these in bed!

Those are the exercises I've received questions on so far. Sorry it took me a bit to respond, but let me know if you need any others clarified. I'll reply as soon as I can!