We all think it will never happen to us. We see older people pushing their walkers along and think, ” Nope, not me, never”. And then old age hits.
That was my mom right up until a few years ago. She was well into her 80s and still cheerfully calling people younger than herself “old dears.” Then, almost overnight, her knees decided they were no longer going to play ball, and the dreaded walker became part of her life.
Now my mom has always been active, exercised regularly, and eaten relatively healthily. However, I can’t help but wonder if there were things she could have done to prevent her from needing the walker. And there is one race that seems to age remarkably well, and that’s the Japanese.
5 Japanese Mobility Moves That Keep You Supple
Japan has one of the longest-living populations on earth, with a life expectancy of around 85. A lot of it has to do with how mobile they still are.
A big part of that comes down to how they move all day, every day. Sitting on the floor, squatting to reach a low cupboard, and getting up again a dozen times a day. The body keeps the range of motion it uses and loses the range it doesn’t use.
Here are five Japanese habits that keep the machinery oiled.
1. Seiza
Seiza is the traditional Japanese way of sitting on the floor. You kneel, fold your legs neatly beneath you, rest your bottom on your heels, and sit tall. That’s it. The Japanese have done it for centuries, at meals, at ceremonies, at home.
Sitting this way puts your knees and ankles through a full bend and gently coaxes back the flexibility most of us start losing after 40. It also nudges you into sitting upright, which your lower back will thank you for.
Start with just 20 or 30 seconds, pop a cushion between your bottom and your heels to take the pressure off, and build from there.
2. The Japanese Squat
Watch older people in Japan, and you’ll see them drop into a full, flat-footed squat to weed the garden, wait for a bus, or reach something low, then rise again like it’s nothing. Heels flat on the ground, bottom low, back straight.
In much of Asia, this is simply a resting position, learned in childhood and never lost.
For us, it’s a revelation, because it works exactly on the joints that give out first. With the heels staying down, your ankles move through their full range, which is the very thing that keeps you steady when you walk on uneven ground.
It opens the hips, strengthens the thighs, and keeps the knees moving through a proper bend instead of the stiff little quarter-bend most of us shuffle around with.
If a full squat feels miles off, hold onto a door frame or the kitchen counter and lower as far as feels safe, letting the support take some of your weight. Those everyday squats and reverse lunges that build the muscle around your knees and hips are a good stepping stone while you work toward the full thing.
3. Getting Up From the Floor Without Your Hands
In a floor-sitting culture, people get down to the ground and back up countless times a day, using their own strength rather than hauling on the furniture. That single habit trains core, legs, hips, and balance all at once, which is a powerful combo.
Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death after the age of 65. The strength and balance to lower yourself down and rise back up under your own steam is the same strength and balance that stops a stumble from becoming a broken hip.
Sit down on the floor, then get back up using as little help as you can manage. Use a hand at first if you need it, then a fingertip, then see if you can do it with none. You’ll be amazed how that ups the ante.
Retest yourself in a month, and you’ll feel the difference. Falls, and the fear of them, are woven through so many of the habits that quietly age us faster than they should, and this is one of the simplest to turn around.
4. Radio Taiso, the Morning Wake-Up for Your Whole Body
Radio Taiso is a short set of gentle calisthenics broadcast on Japanese radio every single morning, and it’s been going since 1928. Reaching up to the sky, twisting at the waist, swinging the arms, bending at the hips, loosening the shoulders. The whole routine takes about ten minutes, and millions of people do it daily in parks, workplaces, and their own kitchens.
I remember when I was about 23, my boyfriend at the time worked at the Honda factory, and every worker, blue and white collar, had to do this at the start of the day. Everyone would gather on the factory floor and do this before starting work.
It’s low impact, no equipment, nothing sudden or jarring, and you can make it as gentle or as brisk as your body wants that day. It takes every major joint through its natural range first thing, which is exactly what stiff, older joints need to stay supple.
Fun little fact for you. It’s essentially the world’s oldest surviving fitness class, and it may be one reason Japanese people age so well.
5. Japanese Interval Walking
Researchers at Shinshu University had older adults alternate three minutes of brisk walking with three minutes of gentle strolling, repeated several times, several days a week.
The results were remarkable. Compared with plodding along at one steady pace, the interval walkers gained noticeably more aerobic fitness and, crucially for staying off a walker, real leg strength, with knee muscle strength improving by up to 17%.
Their blood pressure came down, too. All from the act of walking, just with the pace changed up.
It’s kinder on the joints than running, and you can do it anywhere.
If you’d like a few other gentle movements, these everyday exercises for the over-50s are a good starting point.
Disclaimer: I’m a blogger sharing what I’ve learned, not a doctor or a physiotherapist. If you have knee, hip, or back trouble, or any balance concerns, check with your GP or a physio before trying these, especially the kneeling and squatting ones. Move within your own comfortable range and stop if anything hurts.