If you are over 50 then you must do the following three exercises daily!
They are simple and easy to do and will take you less than 10 minutes to complete. But that 10 minute investment of your time will help to keep your spine, hips and pelvis mobile, improve your sciatic and lower limb nerve health and improve your posture.
That’s a big claim I know but I’ve been a Physiotherapist for a long time so I know these work and the following three exercises that I’m going to show you aren’t just my favourites, they’re evidence-based too!
Why you need to do these
As we get older we tend to get a bit stiffer and lose a little muscle mass. This becomes more noticeable for most people around the age of 50.
We need to challenge ourselves daily not just to maintain our flexibility and strength, but also to keep improving with age.
I believe very strongly in this. The research supports it too. The research shows us that the more muscle mass we carry and the more leg strength we have, the better chances we have of living a healthier, longer life.
I wrote an article on how to reverse muscle loss with age which I’d recommend that you read after this one. You can access it here.
The exercises I suggest are not the only ones that you can do of course. But these three will target the crucial areas of:
- Lower Back Mobility
- Hip Flexibility
- Sciatic Nerve Mobility
- Improved Posture
- Lower Limb Flexibility
- Arm and Thoracic Spine Movement
I’ve selected them for how effective they are, ease of use, time to complete and the fact that none of them require any specialist equipment to perform.
You can literally do them now as you read this blog post.
Who should not perform these exercises?
You should always check with your medical professional before undertaking any new fitness or exercise regime. Also, if any of these exercises cause pain or discomfort then you should stop them immediately.
But for the majority of people, you’ll be able to start feeling the benefits of these exercises straight away.
Exercise 1 – Knee Circles
Exercise 2 – Sciatic Glide
1. Lie on your back, knees bent with your feet on the floor
2. Grasp one leg behind the knee and pull the leg back towards your stomach
3. Straighten the leg as much as you can, pause at the top for a second and then bend the knee again
4. This should be a glide rather than a static stretch
5. Complete 10 repetitions on each leg
Exercise 3 – Thoracic Spine Openers
1.Lie on your side with both arms outstretched one on top of the other.
2. Slowly open the top arm towards the ceiling and beyond until you come to a comfortable stretch position
3. Complete three repetitions on each side.
Conclusion
So there you are. The three exercises that will help you supercharge your mobility and flexibility.
If completed daily you’ll feel freer in the hips, pelvis and spine and not only that you’ll be preparing your body for the demands of modern living.
I hope you found this article useful and if you’d like more content like this, take a look at my Blog section of my website for more inspiration.
Access it here.
Good luck!
