To ask what age you would say this to people?

There's a wonderful gymnast, Johanna Quaas, Guinness World Record holder at the age of 99yo still doing her routines on the parallel bar and mat. I think she stopped competing at 96yo!

Obviously not to the advanced level as when she was 20, but showing amazing levels of strength, coordination and flexibility. And she looks bright as a button with a lovely graceful posture.

there aren't many like Johanna, but it does show if you can keep a daily fitness routine going through life, starting when you're young, so you don't lose mobility and strength, the benefits it brings to QoL are immeasurable.

Definitely use it or lose it. I’m in a walking group and we often do 6-7 miles. But other friends of mine drive everywhere and struggle with short walks. I hate the hills and any steps but its definitely good for you so I push myself.

Crikey - that's interesting. I guess it makes sense though.

I am in my 60s and someone said something like that to me last week and l was taken aback thinking what age do you think l am! But l have kept active and l run up the stairs to make sure l don't lose that ability and practice balancing exercises as l saw that years ago on a TV programme. So being told in advance is no bad thing. Keep moving!!

I’m in Oz where most people live in single story houses, and I see far more fit and spritely oldies here than when I lived in the UK! A lot of people here are pretty sporty though.

I think everyone should be aware of keeping fit and active. I frequently tell my daughter in her 20s she should exercise more (she doesnt though!). I'm in my 60s and still as able as I ever was to run up / down stairs, get up off the floor etc without difficulty.

Well, it varies obviously.

im also 55 and can no longer run up & downstairs.

i can bend over to get things from a low shelf, but i cant crouch down.

nope to Attic

Pretty much overnight my knees just became unbearably painful to kneel on & bend and an accident meant I had to have my entire shoulder replaced.

My elbow joints hurt like fuck & my hips.

You're never too young to do what you can to protect/strengthen then.

@InThePinkScarf

youre not too young to practice the getting up off the floor in several different ways, plenty of reels on it & if I was your age & fitness I'd start doing wall Pilates/yoga or whatever.

that flexibility, strength & fitness you have naturally now & take for granted will not always be there unless you work on it.

I was probably late 40's when it started going downhill, 52 ish when it was more obvious.

I don't expect you to listen, I didn't. I cant be an example, let me be a lesson.

And yet those of us who live in countries where what you call a bungalow is the norm seem to manage very well at 70 and beyond. I have however heard of several people who have fallen down their stairs with unpleasant consequences.

Good to be told at your age. Muscle tone deteriorates from our 30s.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23167-sarcopenia

I'm 58 and it took me 40 minutes to get out of the bath in a hotel this year. 🙄I don't have a bath at home, so I hadn't used one in years.

Conversely the long lines of wheelchairs for older ladies boarding flights to certain Muslim countries because they've barely left the house for 40 years or maintained any fitness...

A lot of my friends of 60 plus say stuff like that. 'use it or lose it' is a popular one. My mate was telling me how it's bad to ride a bicycle too much when you're older and arthritic as it means you forget how to walk properly.
The stairs thing usually changes to 'stairs are evil. I wish I had a stair lift. I need to move to a bungalow' etc after they hit about 75 usually!
Obviously they don't mean it about you personally, they're more thinking of it from their own perspective if you're only in your 30s. Unless you've told them you have health or mobility issues?

Round about the age of 60 you become aware of physical issues. Some things get harder, knees get difficult. It's good advice to give to someone younger, to look after their body.

If they are in their 60s it's probably something that's on their mind (I'm in my early 50s and have started to think a bit like this - 'use it or lose it' type thing), so it came out because of that. It's good advice so I'd just nod & take it.

Ah 39. I remember it like it was yesterday. Trouble is, I am 71 today, can still run upstairs, did 10,000 steps today. (with a midway pub stop) and off to a rock concert tomorrow. Try to keep your weight down, keep moving and enjoy life. You seem to blink, and all of a sudden, you are 70. It's a lot easier if you keep fit (ish).

I grew up in a three storey town house meaning that just to go to the kitchen or living room when entering the house meant a flight of stairs. Or going to the loo meant a flight either up or down. We used to fly up and down those stairs.
I noticed the difference, even at the age of twenty, when I moved out and only had to do stairs to get to the bedrooms.

My dad is super into fitness and has been saying that kind of thing to me since I was in my twenties 😂

He's never been particularly flexible but he is super fit and at 70 he goes running up in the fells on a daily basis for a couple of hours.

My DPs moved to a bungalow in their mid 60s - not because they’d particularly wanted one, but because they couldn’t find anything else in their chosen area.

After 3 years they decided they didn’t like the area after all, and moved again, to a house. And found that the lack of stairs had seriously affected their ability to manage them as they had before - without even thinking. Their stair-fitness did eventually return, and my Dm was still well able to manage stairs when she moved to a care home at 89, because of dementia. Admittedly she was lucky in having no mobility problems, though.

Use it or lose it!

Obviously there can be medical factors that intervene, but if you don't have those extra difficulties, the best thing to do is to keep moving as much as your body allows and keep your muscle mass.

Fitness professionals into "functional fitness have caught on the "asian squats" as a healthy movement and it is true that across Asia and areas where squatting is a common form of rest/ activity, people of all ages do it.

In the UK, lots of people take on the attitude of "I'm an adult, I won't sit on the floor" then there's been dodgy health advice over the years like "don't bend your knees beyond your toes" which is not absolute advice for all situations. I remember growing up, advice about not bending over from the hips because "it's bad for your back" but if done with appropriate care, bending deadlift style has many benefits.

I was compeltley fine until a few weeks ago. I had to pull DH in to the recovery position when he fainted and knocked himself unconscious a while back. Did something to my back at the time but a few weeks later ended up in absolute agony, worst pain ever as bulging discs in lower spine. I couldn’t walk properly for a couple of weeks and needed a stick. A woman I know at a coffee morning I go to has a similar issue. Her issues have remained worse than mine. She was never in to fitness and I am thinking my usual fitness is aiding my recovery, plus not being overweight,

I can usually walk 10 miles, cycle up to 20 miles, I could only shuffle around the block for a bit, after 8 weeks I’m back to two miles. I’m 58.

Obviously its all about averages. My brother lives in a bungalow at 38 but he's a surfing instructor who plays football 3 times a week and cycles for an hour a day, so the the fact he's missing out on a few flights of stairs per day probably isn't going to make much difference.

But for a lot of people, those stair climbs are a decent amount of their daily exertion, and it probably does have an effect.

Obviously, it's a great idea to try to keep fit and in good shape throughout your life, if you possibly can...

But I think we can get a little complacent about being 40+ years old and maybe have unrealistic expectations when we start to ache or slow down more than when we were 20.

40 years is actually a very long time, if you think about it. Apart from buildings and trees, how many things - whether living or not - are still in great shape and tip-top condition after 40 years?!

I'd be interested in a study between those who are on British culture and those who come from cultures where sitting down on the floor is common eg India. Lots of people do seem to have mobility issues but I've seen many Muslim men praying prostrating themselves on the ground in Mosques and those who are older too

It’s good advice at any age. I learnt a technique of getting up from the floor on you tube which is good, after learning of a very elderly man in his 90s who fell and lay on the floor for six hours before being found. I am 69 and fit for my age, exercising regularly and with a normal BMI.

Ooh, that's interesting - I'd never thought about that.

My DGPs insisted on buying a bungalow when in their 40s and in good health, reasoning that they would then be sorted and never need to move house again when they got old and were unable to manage stairs.

They did indeed live there until they died, aged 83 and 97 and in very much less good health, commensurate with their age - but I'm wondering now whether their reasoning might have turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy?!