How to Improve Flexibility and Mobility As You Age
Why Flexibility Matters for Everyone
Flexibility is important at any age, of course, but especially for older adults. Becoming or staying flexible isn’t easy, but it is essential for a long and healthy life.
When you think about flexibility, ballet dancers and gymnasts may come to mind. Flexibility is more than just being able to do a back flip or the splits – it helps you move comfortably throughout your everyday activities with less pain and a lower risk for falls.
We Naturally Lose Flexibility as We Age
Humans lose flexibility as we age and unless we take steps to improve and maintain our flexibility, we become less flexible over time. Being less flexible can make us less willing to engage in activities that require us to bend, stoop, flex, and stretch. In other words, the loss of flexibility prevents us from exercising, taking care of our families, and participating in our favorite activities.
Loss of flexibility is more than an inconvenience – it could be downright dangerous. The aging process causes our bones to diminish in both size and strength, which causes us to become frail and at greater risk of breaking bones if we fall.
Staying Flexible Helps:
Improve balance and stability
Make movement more fluid and comfortable
Improve ease of movement
Get stronger and stay strong
Improve your posture when you are sitting down and when you are standing up
Why We Lose Flexibility as We Age
The aging process causes a number of changes to our musculoskeletal system. Our muscles lose size and strength, for example, resulting in weakness, early fatigue, and reduce tolerance to exercise. The number and size of the individual muscle fibers decrease over time, so we lose muscle mass and strength. The aging body replaces muscle tissue more slowly, and often replaces supple muscle tissue with tough, fibrous tissue that leads to further loss of flexibility.
Aging also triggers other body changes that decrease flexibility. When we are young, our muscles and other body tissues retain fluid that helps keep them elastic and limber. We lose muscle mass as we age, though, which means we lose our ability to retain the fluids that keep us flexible. The tendons and ligaments that help us move our joints also lose fluid, which causes our joints to stiffen.
Stretching Exercises to Improve Flexibility
Fortunately, you can improve your flexibility through exercise. Pilates are perhaps the best known types of exercise to improve flexibility. Developed early in the 20th Century by a German physical trainer, Pilates is a low-intensity muscle-strengthening workout that improves muscle tone, strength and flexibility. Yoga can also help improve your flexibility while it reduces stress.
Improving flexibility is important for both your upper and lower body, so trainers have developed exercises to improve flexibility in specific parts of the body. To stay balanced, perform both upper and lower body flexibility exercises.
You can improve flexibility with this Mighty Health Strengthen and Stretch Mat Pilates class.
Another great option is this Balance and Mobility Mighty Health class
Mighty Health offers free, live classes to improve strength and flexibility every week over Zoom! Check out what we have coming up here.
Types of exercises you can expect to find in a flexibility and mobility class include both upper and lower body exercises.
Upper Body Flexibility Exercise Examples:
Forward and backward shrugs
Chest opener and bear hugs
Shoulder mobility
Arm rotations
Lower Body Flexibility Exercise Examples:
Straight leg reach
Wide stance reach
Seated leg reach
Seated wide leg reach
Butterfly stretch
Hamstring stretch
Long body stretch
Tips for Stretching to Improve Flexibility Safely
While stretching is a great way to improve your flexibility, you’ll want to start cautiously with simple stretches and work your way up.
You Can Protect Yourself from Injury by:
Warming up before stretching – walking in place is a great way to prepare your heart, muscles, and joints for exercise
Stretch until you feel tension and stop before you feel pain
Never bounce or jerk while stretching, as doing so can increase your risk of injury
Keep your joints slightly bent and your movements steady; “locking” your joints can lead to injury
Hold each stretch for 30 seconds to give your muscles time to relax
Take deep, unhurried breaths as you stretch
Take time off between flexibility training sessions to give your muscles time to recover
Enroll in a Pilates or yoga class
Consult with your Mighty Health coach
Improve Mobility with Mighty
Looking for accountability and consistency in your health journey? Mighty Health offers easy to follow, personalized guidance for your unique health goals. Each exercise, lesson, and nutrition plan is designed specifically for those over 50, so you can thrive in these years of your life. Try it out today for more energy, weight loss, improved balance, better mobility, reduced joint pain, and the strength and stamina to spend time with those you love.
Find more great exercise routines for healthy aging and joint mobility on our website. Download the app to match with your very own health coach, who is a real person here to guide, support, and encourage you every step of the way. We can help you regain and maintain your flexibility so you can increase your mobility, reduce pain, decrease your risk of falls, and improve your overall quality of life.