Best Exercises For People Over 70

If you are over 70, then you should be doing these three moves every single day. And the best news is, well, you can do these moves from bed. Okay, so follow along. The first move is the lying hamstring stretch. So grab yourself a towel and use this to be able to facilitate this stretch. Take it and put it over the ball of your foot like this while you're in a lying position. Not the arch and not the heel, the ball of the foot up by the toes. Now from there, you're going to straighten your bottom leg and straighten your top leg until you feel a stretch coming through your calf and your hamstring like this. If for some reason this causes any discomfort in your hips or your lower back, go ahead and bend this leg. Or if you need to, put a pillow underneath this leg as you do this stretch. From there, pull your toes towards your nose and you'll feel the stretch deepen in your calf and in your hamstring at the same time. Then take a big belly breath into your belly. Exhale and try to pull yourself a little bit deeper into the stretch. Now the goal is to hold this stretch for around 60 seconds, taking a few deep belly breaths. And every time we exhale, trying to relax and let that stretch go just a little bit deeper. Now once you've done 60 seconds on the left side, go ahead and switch legs. You don't even have to move your arms down. You can just do it like that. Put it over the ball of the foot, lift your toes towards your nose and start over. You'll feel that tension in the hamstrings. Try to think about loosening those muscles up. Take a big belly breath in. And as you exhale, pull it a little bit closer. Don't forget to let those toes come towards the nose. We want to stretch the calves and the hamstring, that whole back side of the leg, because this tends to make your body feel so much better. All right, once we've done 60 seconds of these, then what you're going to want to do is bring it down and slowly come to an upright position. And in this upright position, we're going to do a shoulder stretch. That's going to help you improve your upper back posture and make your shoulders, upper back, and neck feel a whole lot better. So coming to the edge of the bed, you can take both of your hands and put them out behind you like this. If you're a complete beginner, then your fingertips are probably going to get wider and they're going to be pointed outward like this. The more you bring your arms behind you and the more you point your fingertips backwards, the deeper this stretch will be. Once you find a position where you start to feel a little bit of a stretch in your shoulders, we want to not do this. We don't want to roll the shoulders forward or shrug them up towards the ears. We want to drop the shoulders away from the ears and pull them back while lifting the chest. The way to think about this is almost imagine lifting your sternum towards the sky as your hands are planted behind you. Lift as much as you can and every few seconds take a big belly breath in. And as you exhale, try to come a little bit more forward. Lift a little bit more. You can even lift your face toward the sky as well. You can hold this position for 30 to 60 seconds as you open up your upper back, your chest, and your shoulders and start to improve your posture, making your body feel a whole lot better. Now once you've done this one for 30 to 60 seconds, bring your arms back forward. I'm going to show you a move that you probably haven't seen before to open up the hips and wake up the muscles of the hip external and internal rotators. This one's called the seated clamp. So bring your feet together in a nice tall position. Relax the shoulders. Now open the hips as much as possible and then squeeze the hips closed as much as possible. And when we open the hips, you can let your ankles roll to the outside, creating a little bit of an ankle stretch at the bottom. And you also want to open those hips to the point where you start to feel the muscles here and here on the outsides of your hips firing. Then as you bring the knees together, flatten the feet and squeeze the knees together so that you feel the muscles on the insides of the thighs activating as well. Go back and forth, slow and controlled, trying to get as much range of motion as you possibly can and trying to activate the muscles inside and outside the hips. Now once you've done this for one full minute, well, you can stand up and go about your day and these three moves will have made your body feel so much better. Now that you know the three moves that will make your body feel amazing, here's a follow-along routine that you can use to make your body feel amazing. Up next, lying towel hamstring stretch on the left side. Get ready. You should feel this in your hamstring on the back side of your lifted leg. Go at a comfortable pace and take a breath if you need to. Do your best and best means doing what is safe for you. I know that you're capable of greatness. Slow progress is better than no progress. Make this workout a part of your daily routine. You can do this. Just take one step at a time. Three, two, one, you made it. Up next, lying towel hamstring stretch on the right side. Get ready. You should feel this in your hamstring on the back side of your lifted leg. Don't hold your breath. Make this a habit. This is so good for you. You're doing great. Keep building your energy. Stay determined. Stay focused. I know you can do this. Do you? Every moment counts. Build to the you you want to be. Take care of your body and your body will take care of you. Three, two, one, you made it. Up next, shoulder stretch. Get ready. Listen to your body and know when to rest. Don't hold your breath. Remember, form first, intensity second. This is the true fountain of youth, so keep moving. Strive for progress, not perfection. Feel the movement throughout your whole body. Only do what feels good for you. One day at a time, and today is your day. Three, two, one, and great job. Coming up, seated clam. Get ready. Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. Remember, staying in control is more important than the number of reps you can do. We're always changing. It's up to you to decide what that change looks like. Listen to your body and know when to rest. Even if you can only do one rep, do it with perfect form. Listen to your body. You're doing great. Keep building your energy. Change takes time and effort, but you're worth it. Be your best self. Three, two, one, yes, looking good. Nice work on following along to this simple routine. Now, if you like these stretches and you want workouts that are appropriate for people who are over 70 that help you gain strength and flexibility safely, well, that's what we do at WeShape. If you want to try a free workout, all you've got to do is click the link below. And if you like this video, I'm sure that you'll love this video right here.