How mobile are you in your body?

[bryceQ]

I've recently joined a tai chi class and it's fascinating seeing how mobile many of the people are who attend who are in their 80s.

We see so much now about gut health and living longer... But I wonder for how many people they think about mobility and "functional movement" day to day?

Do you wish you'd done more here? Or are you happy with how you move?

I'm interested in movement because I run and I do think after about 40 people's perception of how "old" a person seems is based much more on how they move than how wrinkled their face is.

I'm not flexible though because of the running and have started attempting some yoga , which makes me feel much stronger, despite already being quite fit.

What's the saying, you don't stop becuase you get old, you get old because you stop?

Ah i haven't heard that saying!

I wonder what age you start to notice my body doesn't move the way it used to...?

I think mobility work is pretty popular? That's essentially the underpinning rationale of pilates, which is hugely popular if the speed at which my gym's classes book up is anything to go by.

It tends to be 90% women though, and 10% men recovering from running injuries, which might contribute to it not being seen as 'proper' exercise, given that women's activities are often seen as inferior to men's.

Very. Still prefer to sit on the floor, or cross legged, praised by physio. I am 3 stone too fat and 56.

Everything’s stiffening a touch as menopausal and for exercise I only walk.

But I’ve spent so many decades doing diy on my own and crawling round like a toddler cos I’m always dropping things that flexibility is second nature and I suspect always will be.

I'm in my fifties and am actively working on my mobility. A few years ago (after lockdown when I literally couldn't exercise outside for months) I was shocked at how stiff I had become. I now do daily yoga. I'm still not very flexible but definitely better than I was. I also notice more people my sge that have gait problems. My grandmother always told me to do yoga - I should have paid more attention! I do have fibromyalgia symptoms though so I find it quite painful although not doing it is painful too.

For me around 45!

I’m 58 and very flexible due to swimming and Pilates. Years ago my pilates teacher said “When you’re old as long as you can sit yourself on the loo and wipe your own arse, you’ll be fine” and that has really stuck in my head. 😂 I’ll keep doing Pilates forever.

I’m 50 in a few days and have been exercising pretty seriously for about seven years.

My core strength is excellent, thanks to yoga and strength training (weights and bands). I’m flexible, and any aches and pains I’ve had in the past few years have been sports injuries. My cardio health is very good, with a resting heart rate of 54.

By contrast, about ten years ago I did a sponsored walk and could barely walk afterwards. My hips and knee were agony. It was that which gave me the impetus to sort myself out. God knows what state I’d be in if I hadn’t.

Annoyingly, I’m not thin though

Well I've never been able to sit on the floor cross legged even as a youngster!
I can, however, touch my toes, stand on one leg, squat and do 45 min spin classes. I regularly tramp across fields and climb over styles. I'm 60 and about to take up paddleboarding as a new hobby!

I am very mobile at 50 (and do tai chi!) and I think it’s very important.

I also do yoga, and am about 4-5 stone overweight. I started a thread recently pondering weight loss, and was pretty much slated by someone telling me how much damage I would be doing “to my insides” by doing handstands/headstands at my weight 😅

It was a depressing thread, with a good number of posters feeling it was much more important to be thin than to be fit, strong and mobile.

@ohtowinthelottery I loved the idea of paddleboarding but it made me so seasick it was ridiculous! My instructor said that's never happened to him before. Hope it goes better for you!

I’ve realised that in the last 6 years my strength and mobility has been drastically reduced by injuries to my joints - and it struck me very recently how weak my right leg is due to a hip bursitis that stopped me from exercising daily. I’ve started doing squats, I’m too young to lose this much muscle.

Yes mid 40s was when i realised I needed to actively work on mobility.

A distinction that I've found useful: mobility is about being able to move your joints through their full range of motion. Flexibility is about the ability of your body's tissues to stretch. They're both important and they're linked, but they're not the same thing. Yoga works more on flexibility. Pilates more on mobility.

Mobility requires strength while flexibility is passive, so in terms of functional fitness. mobility is more important to aging well.

I'm 43, mum's 76 and I'm watching her mobility disappear. She didn't move enough in the last ten years and I'm so determined not to allow it to happen to me and yet I've dodgy knees and get chest pains (stupid long covid) and so I think I can see how it happened to her now (played football with the kids the other night and lay in bed feeling like there was an elephant on my chest-I used to run 4/5 times a week up until covid) Thinking of starting a dance class and have started back swimming. I walk the dog daily

Really interested about this. What was your plan, where did you start?

My dad started Pilates in his 70s!

@Buttalapasta Gosh! Never occurred to me that you could get seasick on a paddleboard. I'm usually OK on boats unless it's really rough, but I do get Mal de Debarquement whenever I go on a boat for more than a day. I'm starting off with a few 1 hour lessons so fingers crossed I'll be OK with that!

Martial arts, a team sport and dog activities, an active job involving lifting, keep me mobile ( late 50s). I can touch my toes, do squats, sit cross-legged. I can stand from sitting cross-legged without using my hands. I'm determined to keep myself as active as possible for as long as my health allows. I've only got menopausal issues ( aching etc) no other health problems, so fingers crossed. My weight is a little more than I'd like, but I'm struggling to lose it even with regular exercise.

I can't stand up with crossed legs and it just seems impossible if you've got long legs?

Thank you I'm enjoying reading all of these.

Yes to social obsession with weight over strength and mobility....

The first thing I did was join a yoga class, and I’ve kept that up for seven years.

Then I bought a Fitbit, which I used to count steps, aiming for 10,000 a day.

Then one day, when on a dog walk, I randomly broke into a run, just to see how far I could go. It wasn’t very far! But that spurred me on to do Couch to 5k, and I kept up running for a few years, doing a few 5k and 10k races.

I interspersed this with Davina DVDs, then two years ago I found a personal trainer as I wanted to increase my strength and bone density. Both my parents had osteoporosis and neither were in a good state at the end.

I don’t run so much now, as I sustained a hip injury during my last 10k. I switched to Jeffing on the advice of my physio, and then over winter bought a spin bike, so tend to do my cardio on that. I do want to get out and run again now the weather’s improved, though.

I do outdoor swimming too!

Heading into bus pass territory and I think Im pretty mobile. I sit crossed leg still, can jump up and balance on a window cill to clean the windows, get on hands and knees and manage to get back up again

I walk, I walk a lot. I know I should do resistance but tbh I CBA , I do pilates , dont go to classes , just follow exercises Ive been shown when Ive had spinal problems in the past

Ive seen my parents take to their chairs in retirement and mum cant even walk the length of herself, and that scares me

@LunaNorth What did the dog think when you broke into a run?

I've been doing a mix of yoga, pilates and some weight-bearing exercised following YouTube videos. My cats watch me in amazement!

These guys -> are amazing for mobility. They have a set of relatively easy core mobility exercises e.g. the bear walk, that build both mobility and strength and then combine them into mobility routines.

He was delighted, God rest his soul!