FEELING GREAT: Keep your body supple with a swim, bike ride or just a walk

“As you do begin to lose flexibility in muscles and joints you’ll notice increasing difficulty with the simplest of tasks, such as putting socks and shoes on, getting in and out of the car without a struggle and even carrying out the simplest of household chores."

When was the last time you could touch your toes?Let’s talk about flexibility – the ability to stretch and the ease with which you can freely move or bend.

Without some degree of flexibility, life can be a bit more difficult than you might like and if you're 50 or over, you’re probably already beginning to lose it on a daily basis.

As you do begin to lose flexibility in muscles and joints you’ll notice increasing difficulty with the simplest of tasks, such as putting socks and shoes on, getting in and out of the car without a struggle and even carrying out the simplest of household chores.

The big problem is this: not many people are open to the idea that you can increase your flexibility.

It’s as if stiffness and a lack of freedom of choice when it comes to movement are inevitable as you age.

And sure, they are – to some degree!

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t slow down these effects, or even reverse them. So, how do you reduce the impact of muscles and joints getting stiffer and tighter by the day?

The answer is really simple: don’t stop!

The temptation is to think that because you’re feeling tighter and stiffer, you should stop and wait for the stiffness to go.

More often than not, that’s the worst thing you can do, and rarely does it do anything other than get worse.

Swimming, bike riding and walking are all fabulous ways of preventing flexibility problems as you get older – even if you only do 30-40 minutes, three times a week.

When you do any of these things, before you drop back on the sofa, stretch a few of the muscles you usually have problems with.

At this point, after a nice run, swim, walk or ride around town, your body is in the best state it possibly can to be stretched out, because it’s warm.

It’s so much easier and safer to stretch muscles and joints when you’re warm.

My own routine is to stretch at the halfway mark, and then again at the end of my bike ride or run.

I’ll pull over and stretch all my shoulder, back and leg muscles for about 10-15 minutes.

And let me tell you; It feels great when I’m done.