Day 28 is the last lighter day, and the count has doubled: 30 minutes of cardio spread through the day, then three stretches held while you count to 20 each. None of them has a side. The first is a hip hinge: standing, folding forward from the hips with a flat back and the hands clasped behind the head. The second is a full forward fold with the hands reaching to the floor. The third is a kneeling fold with the hips sitting back toward the heels and the arms stretched out along the floor in front.
The three positions are one line, taken progressively deeper. The hip hinge stretches the hamstrings and loads the lower back gently in a flat-back position, the forward fold lets the spine round and hang so the same hamstrings lengthen without any load, and the kneeling fold finishes by stretching the lower back and lats from the floor. Twenty counts instead of ten is the day's only progression, and it is the right one: by the fourth week the tissue is ready to be held a little longer.
In the hip hinge, soften the knees, keep the back flat and the elbows wide, and go only as far forward as the flat back allows. In the forward fold, let the head hang heavy, keep the knees soft and reach the hands toward the floor without forcing them there. In the kneeling fold, sit the hips back, reach the hands forward and rest the forehead toward the floor. Breathe slowly and count slowly.
The last stretch day doubles the count and leaves out the sides - three positions, twenty each, for a spine that has earned all of them.
Make it Harder: The harder version of a hinge is a longer one, not a lower one - stay in the flat-back position for the full 20 and keep breathing.
Make it Easier: Bend the knees generously in the forward fold and let the hands rest on the shins.
