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By Marguerite Ogle, About.com

The Hundred

Lie on your back with your knees bent, and make your shins and ankles parallel in height with your knees. For now, put your hands behind your knees. Inhale.

Exhale: Bring your head up with your chin down and, using your abs, curl your upper spine up off the floor. Keep the shoulders engaged in the back. Your gaze is down into the scoop of the abdominals.

Stay here and inhale.

Exhale: At the same time, deepen the pull of the abs and extend your legs and arms toward the wall in front of you. Your legs should only be as low as you can go without shaking and without the lower spine jumping up off the mat. Your arms extend straight out low, just a few inches off floor, with the fingertips reaching for the far wall.

Hold your position.

Take five short breaths in and five short breaths out (like sniffing in and puffing out). While doing so, move your arms in a controlled up and down manner – a small pumping of the arms.

Be sure to keep your shoulders and neck relaxed. It is the abdominal muscles that should be doing all the work.

Do a cycle of 10 full breaths. Each cycle is five short in-breaths and then five short out-breaths.
The arms pump up and down a few inches, in unison with your breath.
Keep your abs scooped, your back flat on the floor, and your head an extension of your spine, with the gaze down. OK – not hard!

To finish: Keep your spine curved as you bring your knees in toward your chest. Grasp your knees and roll your upper spine and head back to the floor. Take a deep breath in and out.

Tips:

To make the hundred more challenging: Lower your legs. Do not lower your legs past where you can control the movement. Don’t let your spine peel up off the floor as you lower the legs.

To modify the hundred for back or neck problems: Do this exercise with your knees bent and the feet flat on the floor. You can do this exercise with the legs extended but the head left down on the floor. This modification is often used by people who need to protect their necks.