3 Key Movements Over-50's Should Do Daily!

Summary

In this informative video, physiotherapist Will Harow introduces three essential daily exercises for individuals over 50 to enhance strength and mobility. The exercises include the sit back squat for lower body flexibility, the overhead reach for shoulder and thoracic spine mobility, and hip rotation to maintain hip joint health. Each movement is tailored with varying difficulty levels, and viewers are advised to consult healthcare professionals before starting any new exercise regimen to ensure safety and suitability.

Takeaways

• 🧗‍♂️ The script introduces three daily exercises for individuals over 50 to improve strength and mobility, focusing on areas that tend to weaken and stiffen with age.
• 🏋️‍♂️ The first movement is the 'sit back squat', which is beneficial for the mobility of the back, hips, knees, and ankles, and is demonstrated with varying levels of difficulty.
• 🤔 The script acknowledges that not everyone can perform these exercises, emphasizing the importance of consulting with a healthcare professional before starting any new routine.
• 👴 For those with limited mobility, the script suggests breaking down the 'sit back squat' into simpler components to safely stretch the lower back and hips.
• 🙅‍♂️ It's advised to avoid any exercises that cause pain, highlighting the need for personalization and caution when engaging in physical activity.
• 🤸‍♂️ The 'overhead reach' is the second exercise, aimed at improving shoulder and thoracic spine mobility, with progressions for different levels of flexibility.
• 🧍‍♂️ The script demonstrates how to perform the 'overhead reach' against a wall, starting with a simple version and advancing to more challenging positions.
• 🤲 The final exercise is 'hip rotation', which is crucial for maintaining hip health and preventing stiffness, especially as cartilage may degrade with age.
• 🦿 The hip rotation exercise involves lying on the back and rotating one leg in and out from the hip joint, with the other leg bent for stability.
• 👥 The script notes that men often have more difficulty with medial rotation due to a higher prevalence of hip revision, while women may have better natural hip rotation.
• 📚 The presenter, Will Harow, offers a book titled 'Thriving Beyond 50' for those seeking more information on health and fitness for the over-50s.

Q & A

Who is the speaker in the video and what is their profession?

The speaker is Will Harow, who is an over 50s specialist physio at HT physio INF farum.

What is the main purpose of the video?

The main purpose of the video is to reveal three daily movements that are beneficial for improving strength and mobility in people over the age of 50.

Why are these three movements important for people over 50?

These movements are important because they target areas of the body that tend to become weak, stiff, and tight with age, and can help reverse this process.

What is the first movement recommended for over 50s and what does it target?

The first movement recommended is the sit back squat, which targets the mobility of the back of the hips, knees, and ankles.

What are the different levels of difficulty for the sit back squat movement?

The sit back squat has easy, intermediate, and advanced levels, allowing people with varying abilities to perform the exercise according to their comfort and capability.

What is the second movement shown in the video and what does it aim to improve?

The second movement is the overhead reach, which aims to improve shoulder mobility and mobility of the thoracic spine or midback.

How should one perform the overhead reach exercise correctly?

To perform the overhead reach, one should stand facing a wall, place one hand on the wall, and walk fingers up the wall as high as possible while maintaining good posture and without lifting the nose from the wall.

What is the third movement and what does it help prevent as we age?

The third movement is hip rotation, which helps prevent stiffness in the hips and the loss of hip mobility, which can be early signs of hip joint issues.

How should one perform the hip rotation exercise and what is its main focus?

To perform the hip rotation, one should lie on their back, straighten one leg, and rotate it across the body and back to neutral, focusing on the hip joint as the pivot point.

What is the book mentioned in the video and where can it be found?

The book mentioned is called 'Thriving Beyond 50' and it can be found on Amazon using the provided link in the video description.

What advice does Will Harow give regarding trying these exercises?

Will Harow advises to try these exercises for a couple of minutes a day, to work on them consistently, and to consult a healthcare professional before starting to ensure they are suitable for the individual's health condition.

Outlines

00:00

🧘‍♂️ Daily Movements for Over 50s to Improve Strength and Mobility

Will Harow, an over 50s specialist physio at HT physio INF farum, introduces three daily exercises essential for individuals over 50 to enhance strength and mobility. These exercises target areas that tend to weaken and stiffen with age. The video provides variations for different ability levels, emphasizing the importance of consulting healthcare professionals before starting any exercise regimen, especially to avoid movements that cause pain. The first movement presented is the sit back squat, which benefits the back, hips, knees, and ankles, with a demonstration of how to perform it at varying difficulty levels.

05:02

🤸‍♂️ Enhancing Shoulder and Thoracic Spine Mobility with Overhead Reach

The second exercise featured in the script is the overhead reach, designed to improve shoulder mobility and thoracic spine flexibility. The exercise starts with a simple wall walk, progressing to more advanced stages that involve maintaining posture while lifting the arm off the wall without moving the nose. The importance of keeping the neck relaxed and engaging the glutes for stability is highlighted. The exercise aims to alleviate stiffness and improve shoulder mechanics, with suggestions to spend a few minutes on each side for optimal results.

10:04

🏋️‍♀️ Hip Rotation for Maintaining Joint Health Beyond 50

The final movement discussed is hip rotation, crucial for preventing stiffness and maintaining joint health as we age. The exercise involves lying on the back with one leg bent and the other straight, performing internal and external rotations at a 90° angle to the body. The script notes that one side may be stiffer than the other, indicating the need for focused practice on the stiffer side. The benefits of this exercise include improved hip mobility, reduced pain, and better overall walking and strength, with a recommendation to practice for a few minutes daily.

📚 Additional Resources for a Healthier Life Beyond 50

In the concluding part of the script, Will Harow invites viewers to share their experiences with the exercises and mentions his book, 'Thriving Beyond 50', available on Amazon. The book presumably offers further insights and guidance for maintaining health and mobility in the over 50s demographic. The video ends with an expression of gratitude for the viewers' time and engagement.

Keywords

💡Mobility

Mobility refers to the ability to move freely and easily. In the context of the video, it is a key aspect of maintaining good health and function as we age, particularly for those over 50. The script emphasizes the importance of improving mobility in areas like the hips, knees, and ankles through daily exercises.

💡Strength

Strength is the capacity of muscles to exert force. The video discusses the need to improve strength in older adults, especially in the context of daily movements that can help maintain or enhance overall physical capability. Strength is crucial for performing daily activities and preventing injuries.

💡Over 50s Specialist Physio

This term refers to a physical therapist who specializes in the unique needs and conditions of individuals over the age of 50. In the video, Will Harow introduces himself as an 'over 50s specialist physio,' indicating his expertise in helping this demographic improve their physical health.

💡Sit Back Squat

The sit back squat is an exercise mentioned in the video designed to improve mobility and flexibility in the lower back, hips, knees, and ankles. It involves leaning back while holding onto a stable object and sitting as if into a chair, which helps stretch and strengthen these areas.

💡Overhead Reach

The overhead reach is an exercise aimed at improving shoulder mobility and the mobility of the thoracic spine. It involves standing against a wall and walking your fingers up the wall as high as possible, which helps in increasing the range of motion in the shoulder area.

💡Thoracic Spine

The thoracic spine is the middle section of the spine, located between the cervical spine (neck) and the lumbar spine (lower back). The video emphasizes the importance of thoracic spine mobility, particularly in the context of the overhead reach exercise, which helps maintain flexibility and reduce stiffness.

💡Hip Rotation

Hip rotation is a movement that involves turning the leg inward and outward from the hip joint. The video highlights the importance of maintaining hip rotation flexibility as we age to prevent stiffness and potential hip joint issues. It is a key exercise for maintaining healthy hip function.

💡Healthcare Professional

A healthcare professional is a person trained in the field of health, such as a doctor or a physical therapist. In the script, it is mentioned that viewers should consult their healthcare professional before starting any new exercise regimen, emphasizing the importance of personalized health advice.

💡Pain

Pain is a sensation that indicates potential harm or injury. The video script advises viewers to avoid exercises that cause pain, highlighting the importance of listening to one's body and ensuring that exercises are performed safely and comfortably.

💡Thrivent Beyond 50

This is a book mentioned in the video, presumably authored by Will Harow, which likely provides further insights and guidance on maintaining health and vitality in individuals over the age of 50. It is suggested as a resource for those interested in more detailed information.

💡Daily Exercise

Daily exercise is a routine of physical activities performed regularly to maintain or improve health. The video emphasizes the importance of daily exercises, specifically the three movements discussed, for individuals over 50 to enhance their mobility, strength, and overall health.

Highlights

Will Harow, an over 50s specialist physio, introduces three daily movements to improve strength and mobility for those over 50.

The movements target areas that become weak, stiff, and tight with age, and are broken down into easy, intermediate, and advanced levels.

The first movement, the sit back squat, is beneficial for the mobility of the back, hips, knees, and ankles.

Different levels of the sit back squat are demonstrated, including modifications for those with knee or back issues.

The overhead reach exercise is introduced to improve shoulder mobility and thoracic spine flexibility.

Instructions are given for a simple wall exercise to progress shoulder mobility, with variations for different levels of stiffness.

Advanced shoulder mobility is achieved by lifting the arm off the wall while keeping the nose in contact, emphasizing posture and neck relaxation.

Hip rotation exercises are crucial for maintaining hip health and preventing stiffness as we age.

The hip rotation exercise involves lying on the back and rotating the leg in two directions, starting with a 90° angle.

It's noted that one side may be stiffer than the other, indicating the need for focused practice on the stiffer side.

Consistent practice of hip rotation exercises can lead to improved mobility and strength in the hips.

The importance of practicing these movements daily for overall health benefits is emphasized.

Will Harow's book, 'Thriving Beyond 50', is mentioned for those seeking more information on health and mobility for over 50s.

The video concludes with an invitation for viewers to share their experiences with the exercises and to subscribe for more content.

A reminder is given to consult healthcare professionals before starting any new exercise regimen, especially for those over 50.

The video provides a practical approach to maintaining and improving physical health for the over 50s demographic.

Transcripts

if you're over 50 there are three

movements that you should do daily to

improve your strength and your mobility

and in this video I'm going to show you

what those movements are and why they're

so important if you don't know who I am

my name is will harow and I'm the over

50s specialist physio here at HT physio

INF farum and today we're going to be

revealing three movements that over 50s

should do every day to improve their

health now I've chosen these three

movements because they are all do with

areas of the body that become weak and

stiff and tight in people over the age

of 50 and just doing these movements a

couple of times a day is often enough to

reverse that process now I understand

that the over 50s category has a whole

range of abilities so for each movement

what I've tried to do is break the

movement down into an easy component an

intermediate and a more difficult one

for our more advanced over 50s but that

being said these movements are not going

to be suitable for everyone this is just

general information so make sure you get

checked out by your healthc care

professional to see if it's applicable

to you and definitely avoid any of the

movements that cause pain now that's

being said let's have a look at the

three movements so you can have a go at

them at home the first movement that

over 50 should do daily is the sit back

squat and this is one of my favorite

exercises for mobility of the back of

the hips of the knees and of the ankles

so I'm going to show you the different

levels of difficulty of this movement

now so all you need for this to work is

something to hold on to like a kitchen

work toop or the back of a chair

something that isn't going to move when

you start to pull against it so I'm

going to use my bed here what we're

going to do is put two hands on the bed

like this leaning slightly forwards and

then all we're going to do whilst

holding on is sit back into it as if

we're going to sit back into a chair and

try and round the the back and sit back

down towards the ground now you'll see

here that this is like a stretch for

lots of different parts of my body so

when I'm going back like this I'm

stretching my lower back as I start to

bend what I'm doing now is I'm

stretching the bottoms of my hips up

into flexion so my knees are coming up

towards me and my buttock is getting

stretched and now I'm starting to

stretch the quads and I'm also

stretching the calf muscles at the back

so it's such a nice combined movement

you're going to work a lot of different

parts of the body doing this but I

appreciate not everyone's going to be

able to do this so what we're going to

do instead if you can't do this movement

is we're going to break it up into a few

chunks so the first thing we can try and

do is just this part where we're just

holding on to something and leaning back

and this is going to give us a nice

stretch in the lower back so if that's

where you need to start that's

absolutely fine to do that and that's

definitely valid you're also going to

work your hips slightly if you feel you

can bring your body down towards your

knees more that is going to increase the

stretch and this would be where I would

start if you don't have great knees so

if your knees are sore you can see I'm

only slightly bending my knees but I'm

getting all of the benefit in my hips

and in my back now if you find that

you've got a bad back and you don't like

to do this what you can do is you can

keep the back nice and straight and just

practice going down into these types of

movements so this is like an upright

squat again another Bri brilliant

movement there's nothing wrong with

doing this if you've got a bad back and

you still want to work your hips and

your knees and that will also help you

with your ankles now what I like to do

or tell people to do is you just play

around in these movements probably for 2

or 3 minutes a day just getting into

that position and holding it really

rounding your back bringing your bottom

as close to the floor as you can is a

lovely way to get a stretch all over the

body and maintain mobility in these key

areas so the next exercise I'm going to

show you how to do is called the

overhead reach and this is a great

exercise for improving shoulder mobility

and mobility of the thoracic spine or

midback so doing this a couple of times

a day is key for these specific areas of

the body so the exercise is quite simple

you just need a wall I'm going to show

you the simple way to do it first and

then we're going to move on to more

Progressive ways so many people over 50

don't have great shoulder Mobility so

what we're going to do is we're going to

work to improve this movement called

flexion okay so we're going to stand

facing a wall one hand on the wall like

this with a good posture and you're

going to start just by walking your

fingers up the wall as high as you can

go now for many people this exercise

alone is going to be enough and it will

improve your shoulder Mobility so if you

feel stiffness here just stop here hold

for a second you might gently just want

to try and lean in slightly to the wall

as long as it's painfree and it's safe

for you to do so and then bring yourself

back down like this so this is nice to

just improve shoulder Mobility if you're

very stiff now if you're incredibly

stiff you might only be able to get your

shoulder to here which is fine you just

stop here for a minute hold it maybe

just lean into the stiffness and then

bring yourself back down and repeat a

few times in a row but if you're a bit

more advanced and you can quite easily

get your hand up here what we're going

to do next is walk closer to the wall

until your nose is touching the wall so

your nose is touching the wall like this

still with a good posture you want to

come quite close to the wall and then

all we're going to try and do is keep

that posture and lift your arm off the

wall without lifting your nose away and

then coming back down now this is a

great exercise to build strength and

stability in the shoulder in that last

movement you'll also work on your

thoracic spine control as well but the

key here is to keep your neck relaxed we

do that by keeping the nose resting

gently on the wall and then just lifting

that arm away hold for a

second and then pop it back down I'll

show you on the other side so again the

nose stays on the wall we lift the arm

as high as possible keep a good posture

what we want to do is just squeeze the

bum together as well just before we lift

the arm so squeeze your glutes and then

lift away you can probably see this arm

is a touch stiffer for me that's because

this arm is the one at the moment which

is I've made a little bit sore with some

of my own exercises so we're just going

to work on this one a little bit longer

until it starts to loosen up and until I

can regain control over that joint so

that's a great exercise to do spend a

couple of minutes on each side and that

will really really improve your shoulder

mechanics and stiffness in the Upper

Limb and give you healthier shoulders as

a result then the final movement that

over 50 should do daily is hip rotation

now as we get older the hips become

stiffer the ligaments tighten around the

hips and if we lose cartilage in the

process of arthritis we can lose the

ability to rotate the hips and then that

can be the first signs of things going

wrong for someone in their hip joint so

if we want to avoid unhealthy hips as we

get older this is a key exercise to do

daily it's very very simple we're going

to do it lying down on your back like

this and what you're going to do is

straighten one leg and leave the want to

be worked bent like this then we're

going to bring the leg up to 90° so

we've got a 90° angle between the thigh

bone and your body the exercise is two

stages and it's very very simple first

thing we're going to do is we're going

to turn the leg bringing the shin bone

across the body as far as we can just

till we reach The Natural end and then

we're going to go the other way come

back to neutral and then rotate outwards

now you can see that I've basically got

a line going down my leg like this so my

leg is not moving it's just

turning and the thing that's doing the

rotating is actually in my hip so even

though it's the shin bone that looks

like it's moving the movement is all

occurring from the hip joint this is

like the pivot point and these two

directions of rotation you might find or

be surprised to find that one of them on

one side is very very stiff and the

other one moves quite well and that's

the early sign that stiffness is setting

in but if you start to work on it like

this just going from one to the other as

long as it's painfree to do so it will

improve over time now for many people

this can be quite fatiguing because what

we're doing is we're working muscles or

isolating muscles that aren't used to

being isolated but if we do it

consistently they will become stronger

so that's that side let's have a look at

the other side so we bend the leg up

like this the line of force is going

straight down and then that's like your

pivot point so you're rotating across

cross like this and then you're going to

go the other way like that and you can

see that movement there for me feels a

bit stiffer which means I should

probably spend longer working on medial

rotation which is turning the thigh

inwards like that and then coming back

out into external which I'm quite good

at now as a side note you might find

that most men tend to be quite stiff

going into medial

rotation and that's because re version

of the hip is more common in

men and women tend to be a bit better in

their hip rotation but both sexes should

practice this at least for a couple of

minutes a day just to keep that hip

mobility good doesn't take that much

practice to start to see improvements

but the benefits on your mobility and

your walking and your strength are

definitely worth it so those are the

three movements that over 50s should do

daily I often give these movements out

to my clients and if they do them over

time what it does is improve their

Mobility help them move with less pain

and better strength and leads to better

overall health so if you give them a go

I hope they help you please do drop a

comment below let me know how you got on

if you gave them a try and if you want

to get more from me you can pick up a

copy of my book it's called thriving

Beyond 50 and you can find it on Amazon

using the link below anyway thank you so

much for watching I appreciate your time

and watching these videos and I'll see

you on the next one