6 Flexibility Exercises for Older Adults

This is Jim. We're in his art studio to show you some flexibility exercises, which you should do after every exercise routine. Flexibility is going to help you in simple everyday tasks like getting dressed, even buckling your seatbelt, and painting. Flexibility exercises should be done after you do your strength exercises, and also after other physical activities like gardening, running, playing tennis, and painting. The first flexibility exercise that we're going to do, we're going to use these tiles as props. So what I'd like you to do is go ahead and hold this for me. I'm going to demonstrate first. So I'm going to take the towel, I'm going to put it over, sorry about that, put it over my right shoulder, and then I'm going to stand up straight, abs in, shoulders back, and pull down with my left arm, stretching my right shoulder and arm. This is called the arm and shoulder stretch, and you're going to do it three to five times. Each time you do it, you're going to hold it for 10 seconds. So you've got your right arm up, left arm behind you, and go ahead and stretch, pulling down. Now remember, stretching is just a slight tension, no pain. What I want you to do is hold that stretch for 10 seconds. 10 seconds. Yes, 10 seconds. And you're going to do it three to five times on each side, and then do it again, okay? So let's do it for five more, four more. Now keep that posture good for me, three, and feet are shoulder distance apart, two and one, relax. Now other arm. Other arm. So hold on to that, flip it over. Now sometimes you're tighter on one side than you are on the other, and this arm is definitely tighter. So what I want you to do, try and keep that shoulder, see this, the shoulder is tighter also. So pull down now, breathe, breathe. When you relax, it allows you to stretch or get a better stretch. Remember, just a slight tension. If you feel any pain, that's when you back off. So what I want you to do is hold it for five, four, three, two, relax. Okay, and once again, hold it down for 10, nine, eight, seven. Don't turn that way so I can see you. Three, two, and relax. You've got one more to do. All right, okay, take it down and stretch for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one, and relax. You're done. Now could you feel that stretch? Ready to paint a masterpiece now. Great. Fabulous. Very loose. Good. Feels terrific. Question, you pull this arm down as far as you can get it, is that the idea? It's a slight tension, no pain. Because remember, stretching is, there's no pain involved. If you feel a discomfort, bring it back up some, okay? Good question though. Okay. Jim, this is a stretching exercise that's going to help your back, okay? Right. Okay, so what I want you to do, let's go ahead and sit forward in the chairs. I want you to relax everything, relax your shoulders, take a nice deep breath in. Now, if you've had back surgery, this might not be a stretch that you want to do unless you've talked to your doctor first. Now you're okay with that, aren't you? Perfect. Okay, well head up, abs in, pull those shoulders back for me. What I'd like you to do is reach back with your left hand and take the right hand on the outside of the left thigh and twist, turning, and holding. Now I want you to take another nice deep breath and just relax into the stretch. And what we're going to do is we're going to hold this stretch for 10 to 30 seconds, but for today we're just going to hold it for 10 seconds. And we're going to bring it back to face forward. How does that feel? Good. Can you feel a little bit of a stretch? Yeah. Okay, you look like you're pretty good. So let's take it back, left hand back again, right hand on the outside of the left thigh, and stretch, turning. Once again, take a nice deep breath just to relax into the stretch. Now you would do this three to five times on each side. So we're going to do it one more time. So take it back to the forward position. And okay, here we go, last time. And reach over the right hand and stretch back. And hold for five, four, three, two, and bring it back to the forward position. Okay, you ready to do the other side? Yeah. Now, how did that feel? Was it, do you think you can make that stretch a little bit more? I mean, can you take it a little bit more intense? Let's go to the limit. Okay, let's take it. Here we go. This time, instead of just reaching the back of the chair like this, what we're going to do is reach way up high, turning, and just doing the same stretch, but reaching a little bit further back. Okay, now your goal is to hold that stretch for about 30 seconds. So, but once again, we're just holding for about 10 seconds. And we're going to go ahead and come back to the face forward position. How'd that, can you feel the intensity? Yeah. Can you feel a little stretch in that back? A little stretch. Feels good. Okay, let's take it back again. Here we go. Reaching back all the way to the back of the chair and turning, keeping those shoulders back, abs in, nice deep breath. And back to that forward position. We've got one more to go, Jim, okay? Here we go. Take it back. Wave high on that back of the chair and hold for five, four, three, two, and one. Back to face forward. Okay, you think you can add that to your routine every day? Absolutely. It's a great, it's a great stretch. You may not think about your ankles often, but they're essential for every step you take. Stretching your ankles goes a long way in helping with balance, going up and down the stairs safely, and even preventing falls. Bud here is going to help by demonstrating ankle stretches. Hi, Bud. Hi. How are you doing? Good, how are you doing, Sandy? Fantastic. Okay, you ready to get to work? Always. Okay, what we're going to do, we're going to sit on the edge of a bench or a sturdy chair. We're going to lean back just a little bit, okay? Okay. Draw those abs in tight. We're going to lean back. We're going to take those legs out straight. Now, if you're short on time, you can do double leg stretches, but what we're going to do is we're going to start out with single ankle stretches. Oh, okay. Right leg first, okay? Right. Stretch that ankle down, pointing your toe away from you, okay? You're going to hold that stretch 10 to 30 seconds. Bring it back up. You're going to push down again. Now, you'd want to do this three to five times, and bring it back up. Now, do you feel a slight stretch on the back of your leg? I sure do. Good. That means you're doing it properly. Good. Let's take it back down again. Point that toe. Bring it back up. Okay. Now, left leg. Here we go. Point the left toe away from you as far as you can. Can you feel a little bit of stretch? Now, remember, stretching is just a slight tension, no pain. The more you do this, you're going to increase that range of motion. Let's do one more. Okay. And take it down. Okay. Perfect form here. Now, we're going to do a double ankle stretch, but we're going to make sure that we hold the stretch for 10 seconds each way. Okay. First, we're going to point the toes down. 10 seconds. Here we go. We've got five more seconds. That's great. Now, can you feel a stretch in the back of your leg? I sure can. Perfect. That means you're doing it right. Take it up. Point toward the ceiling or toward your body. For 10 seconds. Three more seconds. And let's take it down again. And hold it. Here we go. Back up toward you. We've got one more time to do. Ready? Now, the more you do this, the better your flexibility is going to get. And maybe tomorrow when you get out of bed, those ankles aren't going to be quite so stiff. I hope so. That'd be a good thing, wouldn't it? I sure would. Bring it back up. We've got 10 seconds. And hold, hold, hold. Five more. Last two. One. Keep up the good work, bud. Thank you. Jerry, we're going to do three exercises today. The first exercise is going to be getting down on the floor exercise. The second one, stretching the backs of the legs or your hamstrings. The third one, we'll be getting back up off the floor. That's good. Now, these are important movements because you need them in everyday life. Because how often do you need to get up and down off the floor? Enough. Yeah. Well, you need them to get down on the floor if you want to play with your grandkids. Or what if you drop something? I do that all the time. That's right. So what we're going to do is we're going to take it one step at a time, very slowly. I want you to grasp the chair on both sides of the chair. Okay. Take your right knee down to a bent knee. Go ahead. Take that left leg down to a bent knee position. We're going to reach out with our left hand, rolling our hips down. Take it to a reclined position, back to your elbows. Straighten those legs out for me. And just go ahead and take it all the way down. Comfortable? Okay, good. That was a great job. What we're going to do next is the hamstring stretch or the back of the leg stretch. So what I want you to do, take that left leg, bring it to a bent knee position, foot flat on the floor. We're going to bring that right leg up straight. As you bring it up, it's going to bend slightly. Grab behind the calf muscle. Give a slight tug, just a slight tension now. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Relax. Hold that stretch for 10 to 30 seconds. And we're going to take it back down. We're going to do it again. So we're going to take that leg to a straight leg position. Bring that right leg up. As it comes up, it's going to slightly bend. Grab behind the calf muscle, if you can reach it, and bring it to slight tension. As you're bringing it forward, I want you to take a nice deep breath in through your nose, out through your mouth. Relax. Hold. 10 to 30 seconds. Let's go ahead and take that leg back down. Now as you're taking it back down, you can take it to a straight leg or a bent knee. Now we're going to bring it back up. Grab behind the calf, in through your nose, out through your mouth. Relax. Hold. 10 to 30 seconds. And take it down. Now what we're going to do is we're going to go ahead and do the other leg. So let's straighten both legs out. Bring that right leg up to a bent knee position now. Foot flat on the floor. Bring the left leg up straight. Let it bend. Grab behind the calf. Bring it to slight tension. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Relax. Hold. 10 to 30 seconds. Take it back down. How'd that feel? Good. Good. Okay. Jerry, that was a great job. So here's what we need to do. We need to get back up off the floor. Okay. Okay. So let's go up to a bent elbow position, kind of like you'd watch TV. Lean over to your left side. Roll over. Take the right hand, just so you can get up to your knee's position. Press the outside of both, with both hands. Take the right leg up. Left leg up. Draw the abs in tight. Stand up straight. And good job. Stretching your hip and inner thigh muscle is a great way to keep from getting sore. It's also going to loosen up those muscles that you use to get up and down off the floor, which Mitter and I are going to do right now. Mitter, you ready? Here's what I want you to do. Let's go ahead. Feet shoulder width apart. We're going to, you're just going to mirror what I do, okay? Okay. So let's start out. One knee down. The other. And what we're going to do, we're going to lean this way. Take it down. Slowly. Bringing the knees around. And taking it down to one elbow. The other. And lay flat on your back. Relaxing, isn't it? Okay, now this is a stretching exercise, so you want to stay relaxed. Let's go ahead. Bring both knees up to a bent knee position. Feet flat on the floor. I'd like you to keep your hips flat on the floor and shoulders flat on the floor at all times. Okay, we're going to take the right leg down, but what I want you to do is I want you to take it down slowly. Okay. Breathe in. And out. And just hold it down there. Each stretch, you want to hold 10 to 30 seconds. And take it back up. Okay. You'll do three to five repetitions of each leg, but right now we're working the right leg. Take it down again. Hold. Relax. Bring it back up. Now what you want to do is make sure that that other leg stays up nice and straight for me. Okay, let's take that right leg down again. All of it? As far as it'll go. Stretching is just slight tension, no pain. So if you feel any discomfort, take it up a little bit. How's it feeling? Pretty good, yeah. I can feel the stretch, yeah. Good. Okay, now what we're going to do is we're going to go up. Both legs are up. Now we're going to do the left leg. Same way like we did. Same way. Nice and slow. Relax. The more you do this, the bigger the range of motion will get. Bring it back up. Now wait for my cue, okay? Let's take it back down. You want to hold these stretches. 30 seconds can seem like a long time. Okay, let's bring it back up. Okay, you're doing a great job here. Thank you. Let's take it back down. Last time. Take it down slowly. Left leg. I can feel it, yeah. And bring it back up. Okay, now once again, you do this three to five times, 30 seconds for each stretch, but what we're going to do now is we're going to get back up. So let's take it up to bend elbows, like this. Okay, now you're going to take this arm, you're going to roll over to your hip, and what we're going to do is get to one knee, the other knee, and then once again, one knee, the other knee, and great job. Wow. You did a wonderful job. Can you feel that stretch? Yes. These are great exercises and stretches. You can do these every day if you want to. Perfect. Okay, good job. Thank you, Sandy. You're welcome. This is an all-over stretch, not only because it stretches you all over, but once you've completed this chapter, your physical activity and exercise program is all over. This is a buddy stretch. We have Susanna and Luis here to help us. Now, this stretch is going to stretch your back, your shoulders, your arms, and your legs. So what I'd like you to do is pick up the towel, right about there. Perfect. Now, this is, you're going to be like a seesaw back and forth. Now, you don't want to pull too hard because we don't want to hurt either of you. So go ahead. I want you to relax. Take a deep breath and lean back, and we're going to hold each stretch for about 10 seconds. So lean back, Luis, and there we go. Susanna, that's great. Now, can you feel your back stretching just a little bit? Yes. It feels good. It feels great. Okay. Now, Luis, you're coming forward. Susanna, you're leaning back. Now, take it nice and slow. I like how you've got those arms extended, stretching those shoulders out. You're making them work here. I like that. Okay. Let's do four, three, two, and one, and take it back. Here we go. Now, you would normally do this three to five times, holding 10 seconds on each side. So, let's take it back. Susanna, you're leaning back now. Now, can you feel the stretch in your legs? I certainly can. How about you, Luis? It's great. This is a great form. Okay. What we're going to do, come forward, hold right there. Put the towel down for just a second. What I'd like to do is reposition your legs. Okay. I want you to take your feet in just a wee bit. There we go. Now, grab the towel. This is going to change the stretch just a little bit. When we had the legs a bit wider, we would stretch a little bit of the inside of the leg. Now, you might feel a little bit more on the backs of the legs. Okay. So, remember, start out slow. We don't want anybody to get hurt. Okay. Now, Luis, you're leaning back first. Perfect. I like that nice deep breath. There he goes. Oh, he's almost to the floor. How's that on your back? Oh, yeah. It's good. Now, come forward. Here we go. And now, we're going to hold that stretch for 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. And take it back. Now, the longer you hold the stretch, the better. But for now, 10 seconds is good. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. One more time. Here we go. It's kind of fun having a buddy to do something with, too. It is. It makes exercise and physical activity a lot more fun. Okay. So, come forward, both of you, at the same time. Let's go ahead and put the towel down. This is a great all-over stretch, and I hope you enjoyed it. How does it feel? Oh, it feels great. Great exercise. Great workout. How about you, Luis? Oh, great.