Picture this: you're at a party, chatting with friends, when someone drops their glass. Without thinking, you swoop down to catch it, executing a perfect squat and rising smoothly – all without a creak, pop, or groan. Your friends' jaws drop. "How did you do that?" they ask, amazed. I'll tell you how: it's all about being limber and supple.
As a 59-year-old, I feel like I've discovered the fountain of youth, and it's not a magic potion – it's mobility.
Forget wrinkle creams and fad diets, the secret to turning back the clock is in your own body. So, buckle up – or should I say, limber up? – because I'm about to share how you can transform from a creaky door hinge into a well-oiled machine.
The Missing Link in Your Fitness Journey: Mobility
Mobility can help you become a much younger version of yourself, yet it's the missing piece in most people's physical fitness puzzle. And that's a shame because keeping joints and muscles supple and staying limber should be a priority for everyone – but especially for those over the age of 45.
For a mature adult, being supple typically refers to physical and mental flexibility, adaptability, and resilience.
To be physically supple means maintaining flexibility in joints and muscles, having good range of motion, and being able to move with ease and fluidity.
To help you in this endeavor, I've included a video below.
Getting Limber Is Your Key to Vitality
To be limber is a highly valuable quality for older adults, as it allows the mature person to maintain vitality, engage more fully in various activities, and better handle the changes that come with aging.
The Journal of Sports Sciences recently examined multiple studies on the impact of various mobility techniques. It established significant enhancements in performance and overall health due to the incorporation of mobility work into training regimens because it enhances movement efficiency and reduces injury risk.
Additionally, research in J. Clin. Med. highlights the benefits of mobility training over traditional exercises, emphasizing how mobility training positively affects myofascial structures, which are crucial for maintaining vitality and functional movement.
Being limber is an exceptional feeling because you are physically flexible and capable of moving easily and gracefully.
Getting limber builds your confidence because you have a good range of motion in your joints and muscles, allowing you to bend, stretch, and perform movements without stiffness or discomfort. It makes you feel young, strong, and highly capable!

Being limber is often associated with improved mobility, injury prevention, and better physical performance in fitness and daily activities.
Stretching, Pilates, and yoga are common methods used to become limber.
However, I also prefer to use mobility and stability tools to do specific flexion exercises and drills.
Flexion exercises refer to movements that involve decreasing the angle between two bones at a joint, essentially "bending" the joint. In mobility and fitness, flexion exercises are crucial for promoting functional movement patterns and enhancing joint flexibility.
A Quick Caveat: When Flexibility Can Hold You Back
While I've been singing the praises of flexibility and suppleness, here's a curveball for you: sometimes, being too flexible can actually be detrimental to your overall fitness and functionality.
I know, I know – it sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out.
Many people believe that the more flexible you are, the better. However, extreme flexibility without corresponding strength and stability can lead to joint instability and increased risk of injury.
Here are some surprising facts that challenge the "more flexible is always better" mindset:
Stability Trumps Flexibility
In many functional movements, joint stability is more crucial than extreme flexibility.
A stable joint allows for efficient force transfer and reduces injury risk.
Strength & Flexibility Must Balance
Muscles need a certain level of tension to generate force effectively.
Too much flexibility can reduce this tension, potentially decreasing power output.
Sport-Specific Flexibility
Different activities require different levels of flexibility.
For instance, a gymnast needs more flexibility than a sprinter, who requires more muscle stiffness for explosive power.
The Role of Fascia
This connective tissue throughout our body plays a crucial role in force transmission and proprioception.
Overstretching can potentially disrupt fascial health and function.
Dynamic VS Static Flexibility
While static stretching has its place, dynamic flexibility – the ability to move joints through their full range of motion during activity – is often more functional and beneficial for overall performance.
The key takeaway? Aim for balanced mobility – enough flexibility to move freely and comfortably, combined with the strength and stability to control those movements.
It's not about doing the splits; it's about moving efficiently and pain-free in your daily life and chosen activities.
So, as you embark on your journey to become more supple and limber, remember: the goal isn't to become a human rubber band, but to achieve optimal, functional mobility that serves you in your everyday life.

Balance is key, and sometimes, a little bit of "stiffness" in the right places can be your best friend.
Flexion Exercises: The Secret Sauce for Supple Joints
To get limber, we do spinal flexion moves where the spine bends forward, like in a crunch or sit-up.
Or, we do exercises that involve bending at the hip joint, such as leg raises, marches, or lunges.
Knee flexion is important, too. For example, hamstring curls, where the knee bends – bringing the heel toward the glutes.
Flexion exercises improve joint mobility, helping joints move through their full range of motion without restriction. They counterbalance extension exercises (which lengthen a joint angle) and are essential in injury prevention, improving posture, optimizing movement efficiency, and getting generally supple.
I still care about being strong, just like I did when I was younger. However, what's different today is that I now understand being supple and limber are necessary ingredients for looking and feeling youthful.
In other words, no matter how much muscle you have and no matter how lean you might be, if you lack flexibility, then you, therefore, lack youthfulness. To be overly stiff is to be aged.
Self-Assessment: How Limber Are You Really?
To become limber and supple, it's helpful to ask yourself some tough questions and answer them as honestly as you can:
- Am I pliable? Do I bend easily? Do my knees or shoulders make clicking sounds?
- Do I have good joint articulation? Can I unroll my spine like a red carpet (or do several vertebrae plop down at once as if they're fused)?
- How is my motion capacity? Can I easily coordinate different parts of my body to move, or am I feeling a bit clumsy lately?
- Can I easily elongate my muscles beyond their resting length? Or when I stretch, do my muscles and tendons feel short and stiff?
- If I've been sitting a while, do I moan audibly when I get up from the chair? Can I stand still for long periods or go for long walks without experiencing discomfort?
The flexion exercises in this video help remedy these challenges while also developing balance. They include:
- glute bridge on small stability balls under the feet
- birddog on small stability ball
- single-leg bridge on small stability ball under one foot
- glute bridge with stability ball under the scapula
- Russian twist, sitting on a small stability ball.
Conclusion: Becoming a Whole, Supple Person
Of course, to be supple is not just a physical event. There is a mental and emotional side to being supple that is equally important as you age – such as having open-mindedness and adaptability to new ideas or situations, resilience in facing challenges, and the ability to adjust your perspective and approach.
In other words, flexible people tend to be flexible all over – inside and out.
If that sounds good to you, I encourage you to make mobility drills a regular part of your weekly self-care regimen. That way, you can look and feel better, virtually turning back the clock on your body.