The Best Full-Body Stretches for Healthy Aging

The best stretches for middle age

In your 50s, you may start to experience noticeable changes in your flexibility, your muscles’ ability to stretch, according to Melissa Garcia, DPT, CSCS, a physical therapist based in Seattle. You may notice more difficulty getting up from the floor, reaching items on a high shelf, or getting into bed.

“The downside to losing flexibility is that things you do every day start to seem a lot more difficult,” Garcia says. “Ultimately, you have to compensate to work around the lack of flexibility and you may eventually lose the ability to complete the task altogether.”

So, for this age group, maintaining muscle stretch is the priority. These three movements will stretch your entire body forward, back and side to side.

The longest stretch in the world