Walk Without Pain with These 5 Exercises (Perfect for 60+)

Hey there, April of Yes2Next, here with my mom, Aiko, and Anna Mochi, who's modeling what we're going to be doing in this workout today. We're going to do five gentle leg stretches to keep you strong and mobile, all right? Now, it's important to have flexible muscles so that you can walk and be able to stay independent. Absolutely. All right? How does that sound, Mom? Sounds good. You know, we've got to keep our legs strong, so muscles have a lot to do with it. You've got to keep them stretched. That's right. All right. We'll take a pause here and get started. Okay, Mom. Want to have a seat? Sure. Okay. Have a seat. Thank you very much. All right, everybody. So, let's just do a nice little gentle warm-up, okay? Just to get our legs moving in case you're just coming in cold here. Yeah. All right? Yeah. All right. Just march it out gently. All right? Just give me some nice little heel touches forward. Okay. That's it. Good job. And just step it out from the center, right and left. Good. All right. Really nice. And breathe, everybody. Yeah. Don't stop breathing. Keep breathing. Sit tall. But don't fall asleep like that one over there. Okay. All right. Okay. Nice work. Okay. So, our first stretch is going to be a calf stretch. Okay? So, all I want you to do is come to the edge of your chair, okay, and just put your heels on the floor. Okay? Both heels. Right? Both heels in front of you. Legs straight. Okay? Really straight. And what I want you to do is try to pull your toes as close to your chest as possible so you really feel that stretch. Yeah. You feel that, Mom? Oh, yeah. Okay. I'm going to hold you here for a count of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. And rest. Okay. Nice. You can feel it. Oh, yes. Breathe it out. Okay? I'm going to do that one more time. Okay. Really stretch those calf muscles. You know, and also this one. Okay. Here we go. You ready? Yeah. This one is great for ankle flexibility. You know, really, when you walk, you have to have flexible ankles, right, to be able to move. Okay? So, this is great for your ankles and your calves, and you're probably feeling your legs, too. Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Keep them straight. Your feet. Oh, yes. You can twinkle your toes if you want, but that's fine. Just keep them toes up. Yeah. Toes up. Bring them to the chest. Okay? Breathe. 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. And rest. Nice job. Okay. Good work. Okay, so now, building on that, we're going to do a hamstring stretch. So, we had both legs out. We're just going to put one leg out straight. Same thing that we did last time with the calf stretch, and we're just going to hinge at the hips with our back straight. Okay? Back straight. Reach for the toe. So, hold this here for 10, 9, good, 8, 7, 6, 5, breathe, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Very nice. Nice. And come up gently. Yeah. Really nice, everybody. Breathe. Take a breath. We have to do the other side. Yeah. Okay? So, heel on the ground. Toe up to the ceiling. Hinge at the hips with the back straight. And reach. Reach. Breathe. Okay. Keep that back straight. That's right. You should feel this in the back of your thigh, that's your hamstring, and probably up and down, even your calf. Yeah. Okay? So, building on that calf stretch. Yeah. 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. And come up gently. I can feel it. Very, very nice. Okay. Good work, everyone. Take a breath. Inhale. And exhale. Okay. Nice work. That's really nice. Okay. Our next exercise is just bringing our knee to our chest. Okay? So, we're sitting tall. Okay? And we're going to lift our knee up. And you can put your hands underneath your thigh and bring your knee to your chest. If you want to put it on your shin, you can do that, too. A little bit more. That's more. Okay? But that's up to you. Just whatever your range of motion is here. We're really working on stretching our glute muscle here. Okay? Yeah. And you probably feel that in your hip, too. Just get some mobile. Okay? Yeah. And if you're really ambitious, you can even, like, turn. But that's okay. We're not doing that. Show off time. Okay. Good. And relax. Good job. All right. Sit up tall. Take a breath. And the other side. So, lift that knee up and put your hands underneath your thigh or you can put it on your shin. Bring that up. For a deeper stretch. Yeah. Just do as much as you can. That's right. Yeah. And if you can just lift up a little bit, that's fine because you're working it. Okay? Okay. Stretch out that glute. Good. Breathe. Five. Four. Three. Two. And one. And relax. Good job. Nice job. Okay. I'm giving myself a little nice thigh massage here. This is actually really good to do, you know, to just, like, loosen up the thighs. What's this muscle here? This is, yeah, your rectus femoris. This is your, I'll just call them your front thigh muscles. It's just easier to say, but just a nice little gentle, gentle massage for your thighs. Often have tight quadriceps, this is our quadricep muscle. Okay. So, really nice work, everybody. We're going into a side leg stretch next. So, we're sitting in our chair and we're just going to kick one leg straight out to the side. Okay? And we want that foot to be flat on the floor. That's where you really feel it. So, that inner thigh. You feel it right here? Yeah. Okay. Let's hold this. You can sit tall. You can even put your hands on your opposite thigh here and you can lean into it, but I feel this stretch just sitting here like this. Yeah. Okay. Breathe. Don't forget to breathe. Hold here for another. Keep breathing. That's right. That's for sure. Five. Four. Three. Two. And one. Very nice, everybody. Okay. Bring it into center. Wow. Feel that in your inner thigh? I really feel it. Oh, that felt good. Okay. Let's do the other side. Okay? I'm going to kind of cross. I'm going to hold my chair a little bit so I can get out of here. Okay. Great. Okay. Remember that. Straight leg, foot on the floor flat, everyone. Okay? Okay. Just sit. Yep. Hold it there. Now, let me give you a variation, too. If you can't do this, you can just sit here and have your knees out like this. Good idea. Knees over ankles. Good. And just press your hands into your thigh. You may feel just the stretch right here at the inner thigh. Okay? Mm-hmm. Good idea. Keep it going. Good work. Yeah. Hold you here for another five. Four. Good. Three. Two. And one. And relax. Okay, everyone. Yeah. Nice, nice work. Okay. Take a breath. Relax. Okay. And the last one we're going to do is a hip flexor stretch, so let me demonstrate this. So, you're going to have one butt cheek on your chair, and that front foot is flat on the floor, and you're just going to bring that back leg back, and you can have your toe on the floor, and you'll feel a nice stretch here in your hip flexor and thigh. Yeah. Okay? You feeling that, Ma? Yeah. Okay, good. Let's just hold it here. Your hips are square to the side here. Okay? So, hold that. This is great. You know, we sit all day, and it's really important to stretch out these hip flexor muscles. Sitting in front of that computer. Oh, yes. Mm-hmm. Even watching TV. You know what? Get up and do some stretches. Walk around and do some nice stretching. Okay. Hold you here for five. Four. Three. Two. And one. And bring the leg in. Come back to center, please. Okay. You've got to do the other side. Okay. So, remember that one but cheek on. Don't fall off. Balance work. The front foot is flat on the floor. Okay? And you can have that toe. Yep. Have the toe. Yep. You can bend this leg. There you go. And bring it in. Yep. Okay. Bring it in. You can notice that my leg is perpendicular to the floor. Okay? My toe is on the floor, heels up, and I'm just really stretching this hip flexor. Yeah. Okay. So, breathe, everybody. Okay? Take a breath. Oh. This is a good stretch. Breathe it out. Excellent. You're looking good. Five. Four. Three. Two. And one. And relax. Nice work. I really felt that even in my thigh. All right. Well, nice job on these five gentle leg stretches. Again, that you can do every day. And it's very important to stretch like this after you work out or walk. All right. To, you know, maintain your flexibility, relax, but also prevent injury. Okay? All right. So, nice work. If you like this video, please give a like, share, comment, and subscribe to our channel. We always love to help you stay strong and really appreciate your support. So, look forward to seeing you in a future video. And in the meantime, keep moving forward. Bye. See you soon.