Staying Mobile As You Age

Can you get down to the ground? Can you get back up off of the ground? Staying mobile as you age is important so you can keep moving in all the ways you need to. Right now, you just might feel creaky or sore. Maybe your knees hurt going up stairs, or your back hurts when you try to lean over too far. Maybe you can still get down to the floor and up again, but it’s a lot harder than it used to be. 

Who Wants to Sit on the Floor, Anyway?

Children most often would rather sit on the floor than furniture it seems, but it isn’t too long before they are sitting at desks at school, then chairs at work, and so on. In Western society, sitting ON things is normal. If you look at many other cultures, however, sitting on the floor or squatting low to the ground is much more common. Even the most elderly people sit or squat for religious services, eating, and working. It may look uncomfortable to us, but for them it’s normal – and easy. They’ve been working on the flexibility, mobility, and strength required to do this their whole lives. 

On a group run the other day, we had to duck under a large fallen tree that was blocking our path; one person said she didn’t know if it was harder squatting down or getting back up. In another conversation, someone else was telling me about the yoga classes she was doing; she loved them because a lot of the exercises are done standing. She finds sitting on the ground difficult, due to the tight hamstrings many runners have. I didn’t say anything, but both of these people would feel better by working on their mobility, even if it’s just sitting down on the ground and getting back up again! 

Experiencing restrictions in your movement doesn’t have to be “normal”. One great tip to staying mobile as you age is to keep using your body in all the ways you need to, like walking, bending, squatting, and reaching. If you’ve started avoiding certain movements because you’re stiff or it’s hard, that’s a good sign you need to work on your mobility. Even better than just moving your body is to do a type of exercise that improves your mobility and flexibility, not just keep it the same. Pilates is a good option. 

Pilates for Staying Mobile

If you look at the original 34 Pilates mat exercises and the order of them, you’ll notice the first exercise has you laying flat on your back. To get there of course, you start standing, then squat to the ground to sit, then lay on your back. (My current squat-to-sit involves a bit of a “thud” to get there. I’m working on it!)

As you work your way through the exercises, you’ll see that you start laying down, but then sit, balance on your butt, and lay on your front or your side. There is a lot of movement, and as you progress into more advanced exercises, less of your body stays in contact with the floor. The exercises get more difficult and they require more precision and control. The final mat exercise is the pushup plank, where you start standing, then roll down and walk out into a plank, do a number of pushups before walking your hands back toward your feet, and roll back up.

You Can Do This

Joseph Pilates is a good example of what’s possible by staying mobile as you age. You can find old photos and videos of him doing Pilates in his older years. As he once said, “A man is as young as his spinal column” For him, the spine was the key to physical and emotional well-being, and neutral spine alignment was at the center of that. No matter how stiff you are today, with time and practice, you can gain your own flexibility and mobility back, making moving through your daily life easier.