How to become flexible at 60

I do remedial Pilates (online now as she has relocated ) which has kept my bouts of painful sciatica away for many years. Also good for balance although I still find it difficult standing on one leg with my eyes closed 😬My instructor is a physio and really knows her stuff.

I spent a fair bit of time in lockdown looking for good online exercise videos, until I found Fabulous Fifties, which I still use regularly despite being a couple of months off my fabulous seventies now. There’s a paid subscription angle to their videos these days, but I’ve never gone down that route, just using the wide range of the free ones on YouTube, some of which are aimed specifically at flexibility.

fabulous50s.com/top-5-mobility-exercises-for-women-over-50/

I used to do regular yogalates, but was warned by my doctor that some yoga moves are not suitable for people like me with osteopenia. Even with FF, I avoid moves that call for too much stretching.

Please find a good yoga teacher .
Mine is fantastic - far better than the one that I used to go to .
She was just intent on showing off . Some of her pupils were competitive .
It was also a fashion show .
I do chair yoga and the other people in my class have mobility issues as well .
I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to do normal yoga again .

Tai chi? Gentle and very good for “bendiness” without being too energetic. It is excellent for balance.

I go to a sit fit class age range 66-92 we always do stretching as part of our warm up exercises so no pulled muscles during the main exercises and do stretching as part of cool down routine. We exercise sitting down and behind the chair and some walking exercises which can involve walking on our toes. Sit fit is not a soft option form of exercise but full on and every bit of our bodies get a workout. We use weights on our legs ,long resistance bands and circular. Every 4-5 weeks we do circuit training in pairs using different equipment and it fun . Our group meets in a local church. Monday there where 15 of us. We all have health and mobility problems but turn up every week no matter how we feel because it's does are bodies good but also our minds as you have to concentrate on some of the exercises to do them correctly plus it's a social thing.

I do 7 warm up exercises once dressed every morning which involves some stretching and gets my body ready for the day . Then do 400 rotations on my static pedals .

The key our instructor tells us you need to feel the stretch but if you feel pain stop.

I don’t know, I feel like stretching is dangerous for older people because their joints aren’t at full health, and stretching them may cause them to loosen too fast. But that’s just my uneducated guess

I asked my osteopath what was the best simple exercise for older people and she said stretching.

If you can find a good teacher and a class you like, tai chi is excellent for overall suppleness, balance and relaxation, bodily awareness and help with painful conditions. Qigong classes are similar, like tai chi but without the sequence called 'form'.

I’m coming up to 66, very overweight and need to do something.

I have widespread arthritis, fibromyalgia and ME, among other things and find exercise so hard.

I'm 78 and I do a SitFit class at my local village hall. It combines chair yoga with standing stretches and balance work and we also do sitting-down dance routines with a lot of arm work. It's great fun and a real work-out. At home I continue with stretches and balancing and I dance round the kitchen (but only when no-one can see!)

Interesting one: there is a 70 year old woman locally who is a brown belt in karate and took it up to keep fit, defend herself and meet people. I don't know if this would suit all older people, as any martial art is hard work physically, but it would be good to keep fit./

I do a fair amount of walking and golf using a stick for one and an electric trolley ( not a buggy) for the other. Just went back to learn to swim but it made back pain much worse. I am starting chair yoga as soon as my visitors go.

I do yoga, Pilates and swimming . I feel toned and am way more flexible than I used to be. I’m in my 70s. Don’t use age as an excuse.

I go to a Mature Movers class at my local community centre. It’s a National organisation that runs keep fit classes for older people. They’re great fun and I never thought I would say that about an exercise class.

Yoga, yoga,yoga. Done it on and off all my life. Recommended.
Lots of different approaches. Hatha , pranayama (breath and stretching), many others.
It can just be lots of gentle but effective stretching or much more.
Can you find a good teacher in your area ? I think the "Wheel of Yoga" is a sort of central or regulatory body for yoga in the UK which could recommend a teacher.
Classes to suit all ages and existing degrees of flexibility.
Not at all competetive.
Try and get hold of Richard Hittleman's "Yoga 28 Day exercise plan" from the 1960s/70's?
Also I swim but not for everyone.
Good luck. Happy stretching.

I did yoga classes for a year in my 40s and loved it. I did it at home from a video every morning in my 50s. In my early 60s I did another year’s course of yoga then I developed a form of vertigo (BPPV) and found there were a lot of poses I could no longer do which was really frustrating.

Now I just do some stretches and balancing exercises every morning but I do miss attending a class.

I bought a Chair Yoga book for Seniors from Amazon nice big pictures, I do the exercises every morning without fail and find them beneficial and seem to cheer me up also ...

Snap!

Started Pilates six years ago at 60… took a few years to really enjoy it but now do it four times a week and also do dance classes, aqua fitness and walking…it’s definitely possible to improve fitness as well…side effect is dropping a ton of weight and taking charge of what I eat…you can do it…find an exercise you enjoy! Makes all the difference!

The most important thing is to keep moving as much as you can. Then add in some of the great suggestions above. But your willingness to make changes is the biggest positive.

I also found adding a good quality turmeric supplement really helped my joints - both my big joints like hips and knees, but also my small finger joints.

Swimming is good too if you have the facility nearby.

Earlier this year I signed up for a Pilates class. It has utterly changed my life. I have lost weight, toned up and my fitness levels have increased. I take four pilates classes every week plus two yoga. Later this year I am going on a Yoga Retreat. It is never too late to take control. I am in my mid sixties.

When I retired I was very unfit and stiff. I joined a seniors exercise class where we did a range of exercises and really enjoyed it. I did Pilates which I preferred to yoga. When I decided to lose weight, I added in swimming and walking 10,000 steps a day.
I've stopped this now except for the walking but my flexibility is still better than when I was working.

Our instructor about a month ago decided to do chair based yoga. While we did it and I did enjoy it. I paid for it the next day. Next class I said please never do yoga again everyone else said the same thing. They all hurt the next day.

What we do is fun and you feel it and I like doing circuit training. Plus after the warm up we do different exercises each week but like the warm up the cool down is the same.

I don’t do any of those things but I do keep active. Just been in hospital for an operation and doctor said i was very fit for my age - 77. Now i feel like 50 😄😄

I second yoga. I remember years ago saying to my yoga teacher that I needed WD40 on my joints. She said "yoga is the WD40"

I should do more but even the hour and a half each week keeps me active
I walk and dance as well.
I'm 75 and there are older people in my classes who are a darned sight fitter than me.