Mobility masterplan! 10 essential exercises for a strong, active, happy life – whatever your age

Whether your goal is to get super-fit, or to stay independent as you get older, you need a combination of flexibility and strength. Here’s how to look after both your muscles and your joints

You can’t afford to ignore mobility as you get older. If you can’t get in and out of the bath, or on and off the bed or the toilet, independent living is going to be difficult. But long before you reach that point, reduced mobility can be a problem. Everyone wants to be able to scratch their own back or grab a jar from the top shelf in the kitchen. This isn’t just about extending or bending your body into the required positions: you also need enough strength to be able to do stuff when you’re in them. As physiotherapists put it, mobility is your ability to move your joints actively rather than passively. Flexibility and gravity will get you down on to the toilet; it’s mobility that will get you back up again.

Look, I’m 61, with a 61-year-old’s plumbing. I think about toilets a lot, and about what the next 39 years of my life could look like. But whatever age you are, mobility should matter to you because it helps you to have fun. If you play tennis (there’s no accounting for tastes, and at least it’s not golf), it will help you reach a high ball and smash it back over the net. If you have dogs, it will help you throw a ball for them and pick up their poo. If you want to delight your grandkids with a handstand, it will even help with that.

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