5 Movements That Reveal Your Fitness Weaknesses

As you age, weaknesses can lead to injuries. These weaknesses can then result in stumbling, falls, disability, declining health and premature death. Most of us know of at least one elderly person who fell and broke their hip and then died soon after.

Once movements such as picking something off the floor or walking up a flight of stairs becomes a challenge, your overall quality of life tends to decline. A lack of mobility will result in more inactivity.

Some Age Related Weaknesses Are:

1. Poor balance

2. Poor posture

3. Poor coordination

4. Weakness in your arms, hips and legs

5. Lack of core strength

6 Lack of flexibility

Since many of these fitness changes occur slowly, most people don’t realize that their physical fitness is so poor until they have an accident, or find themselves unable to move around as they once did. It is difficult, but not impossible to turn things around at almost any age.

Here Are 5 Simple Assessment Tests:

Having a strong core, strong legs and a strong upper body will allow you to maintain good posture, balance and stability. You will then be able to conduct everyday movements like reaching and bending more easily and safely.

The "Read More" link below explains all of these assessments in detail:

1. Assess your upper body strength with a push-up

2. Assess your core strength with a forearm plank

3. Assess your hip flexibility, balance and leg strength with a squat

4. Assess your shoulder strength and range of motion with a dumbell overhead press

5. Assess your balance and coordination with a forward lunge

Functional Movement Is Part of Health & Longevity:

If you maintain good functional strength, movement, balance, flexibility and coordination, there is nothing stopping you from leading an active life well into old age.

A declining quality of life, along with declining health, is a result of restricted mobility and subsequent inactivity. Once you stop moving, your body inevitably starts degenerating. The five simple movement tests above, provide easy measures of where your weaknesses are and what you need to work on.

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