i wish i'd had deportment lessons

Oh hollysteers what memories your description brought back to me!

I was the same - mini dress, long flowing hair as I walked to work in the summer sun, and your coltish’ expression was completely right!

Now I am still able to walk quite quickly and I concentrate on my posture as much as possible, but do I still feel coltish?

Unfortunately not ?!

I sometimes catch sight of myself in a shop window and I look OK striding by. Other days I am bent forward with shoulders hunched up. Then I had a lightbulb moment. Dry day = shoulders back, head high. Rainy or windy day = head down, hunched back.

It is the rain jackets, of course. The hoods are always too loose and if you stand tall they fall/blow off.

It's the little things that can make such a difference! If you're having a tough time with your osteoarthritis, I recommend trying: www.halfthebattlecoach.com

We didn’t have our heads in our phones .....

I love people watching outside cafes etc and I’m always surprised how many people, men and women, seem to make so much effort walking as if they have forgotten how to walk simply and I don’t mean just old people. Arms swinging, head forward as if it’s a big effort. They seem to have no sense of their own body and it looks so ungainly and ugly. I’m not including those who are really having difficulty walking.
I remember around the age of seventeen feeling like a young colt, long hair flying, short shift dress and walking round the summer city, head held high, full of wellbeing. Well time has passed, but when I’m out, I try to remember that young girl and hold my head up and walk faster, makes me feel better.

Vegansrock getting fit again after my hip replacement I decided to give Pilates a try. I am 80, and must have been at least 40 years older than everyone else in the class. I struggled to get down. I struggled to get up. My glasses fell off, then my hearing aids fell off. I managed to get through to the end of the class, but decided that Pilates is not for me!

dressing can be a hazardous activity.
most accidents happen in the home.
I would counsel against putting on trousers standing up.
trousers are involved in a high percentage of accidents.
I used to read the statistics from the home accident survey reports, crossed my desk at work, and this fact always stuck in my mind.
I am now understanding it experientially.

It's never too late to start!
My wonderful daughter has been my inspiration. She was very unfit and very overweight (20 stone) but has halved her body weight since taking up exercise - running in particular. (She's now 35)
I started running last May (couch to 5k) I found it really hard at first but now I run 3 mornings a week and my joint problems and general level of fitness have improved tremendously. I wouldn't have believed that it could make such a positive difference to the way I can move. This summer I will be 70 so, honestly, it's never too late to start.

Well done Jane must test mine lol not tonight though

If you can do that at eighty thats good Vegansrock. I am in my seventies and I exercise every day, but it's getting harder. The walks now are less than 6 miles, in the end age catches up with all of us, despite deportment lessons. If you can do anything it's watching your weight and to exercise every day in some way and keeping it up, once you stop you seize up.

I used to use toning tables but the place shut down nearby; you could put as much effort in as you wish and it was quite enjoyable.

paddyanne I'd better not try the inversion table then!

I can do that standing up from sitting in a chair without using hands 10 times in 10 seconds. Just tried. I feel so proud!

@Grannygravy1 Sorry,I read that quickly, and thought you had teeth on just one of your legs. I must get out more.

Callistemon the inversion table is meant to be great but I cant use it because I have high blood pressure.I have a power plate machine at home too and I love it it's helped a lot with my back and its great for toning

I too have trouble rising from a crouched position but the thing I really suffer with? Standing on one leg!! I honestly look like a surfer trying to balance!

"The Truth About Getting Fit" BBC was on a week or two ago.

Found it interesting(last 15 mins bit boring) but worth watching.

At the start it told you how to test your fitness level.
It was something to do with how long it took you to sit up and down off a chair in a certain amount of time.

Also it proved that doing 3 ten min fast/exercise a day was more beneficial than our 10,000 steps and was achieved faster.
Was an interesting programme. Im sure its available on catch up if anyone's interested.

Don’t forget, the Duchess is still a young woman- I could do all those things at her age, but recently (I am 75) I have lost all strength in my upper legs. I am fine at walking, standing, even dancing, but if I crouch down I have to have some sort of support to get up. It’s all to do wit age.

Absolutely! I’m afraid all my landings recently have been unplanned, on my bum or flat on my face ! (apart from happy landings on a plane visiting my sons and baby DGD in Oz)

Yes, 12 years of ballet was very good for my deportment and flexibitity too, but I'm sure I wore out all my joints and spine with the landings!

Soubresaut, wasn't it?

I, like Grandma70s did years of ballet and it was very good for my posture and flexibility. I do wonder ,though if it was the cause of crumbling lower spine ( at quite a young age, 30!) and replacement hip and knee in later years ....

jennyvg I daren’t crouch nowadays as I’m sure the same thing would happen to me.

lucywinter I won't try the powerplate then!!

I am 62
Once again I am reminded of the wide range of ages on GN!

anno

It's not me, the autocorrect changed it three times!

^hanging upside down;
DD has something like that but I was too nervous to try it!

anjo I think that is my problem, I have always been a "tripper^ and am constantly watching where I put my feet, added to which orthotics have made my walking worse.

How can I walk with my head held high when my sons instructed me to 'watch where I put my feet' after I had several falls last year? I must look a bit sad!