Latest news with #ShreyVazir
Tom's Guide
4 days ago
- Health
- Tom's Guide
I'm a personal trainer — this physiotherapist's 5 back exercises for ages 55+ are a game-changer for flexibility and pain relief
Back-strengthening exercises are crucial for improving posture, building spine and shoulder stability and reducing the likelihood of developing posture-related injuries. A strong back can even improve exercise performance, reduce hunching and help you avoid muscle weaknesses related to inactivity. The best way to target your back muscles is by using a series of pull exercises combined with mobility. Thanks to a physiotherapist, you can now try five of the best back exercises for ages 55+ to help you build flexibility and improve pain relief. Here they are. Before we dive into the exercises themselves, I want to introduce you to Shrey Vazir, whose easy-to-follow YouTube channel has become a small obsession of mine recently, especially as I regularly train my dad, who is in his 70s. Vazir focuses on an important age category — the over 50s — which is roughly the age at which sarcopenia (muscle mass loss) begins to accelerate. As a result, this is also around the time to be making a strength and resistance program a regular and consistent addition to your daily routine to avoid muscle and bone density loss and prevent pain and injury. Vazir is considered an advanced physiotherapist specializing in low back pain, and his five favorite and simple back pain exercises highlight two key areas: strengthening the muscles of the core, hips, legs and surrounding the spine, plus beginner-friendly stretches to improve flexibility. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. It's worth mentioning that while stretching for flexibility offers short-term improvements, you may find you're back to square one the next day. True flexibility from stretching alone is a bit of a unicorn — long-term change comes from a smart and efficient combination of targeted stretches, mobility exercises and strengthening. With a mass of misinformation available on social media, it's important to find someone you can trust when deciding on the best exercise routine for you. I'm a firm believer that you should be lifting weights (even if it's your bodyweight only) and keep moving well into your later years. In short, don't let someone tell you that hitting a certain age means you need to switch up your routine entirely. Yes, we do have to work against the natural changes in hormones, metabolism and body composition as we age. But I know plenty of people over 50 who are stronger and fitter than they were in their 20s. According to this video, the exercises are gentle and are recommended by Vazir at his clinic in Toronto, Canada. You can modify them if they are too easy or too difficult. Watch the video below for his demonstrations, guidelines and suggestions for scaling, plus sets and reps. This is considered an 'easy' stretching exercise you can perform on your back. Simply take your knee or knees up to your chest and hold behind your leg or legs to draw them closer. Focus on keeping your lower back supported throughout. Vazir recommends 5 sets per leg and hold for 10 seconds each time. Also considered a beginner-friendly move, you'll just need a chair or bench to sit on. From here, Vazir guides you to slightly open your legs and place your feet apart, then place your hands on your thighs or between your legs and slowly slide them downward as you bend forward to stretch out your lower back. Try 10 reps with a 5-second hold each time. The first strengthening exercise on Vasir's list is the crunch, which has been modified for a beginner-friendly version. Seated on a bench or chair, Vazir asks you to cross your arms over your chest, squeeze your stomach, then drive your chest forward toward your thighs. We offer some crunch variations here if this exercise feels too easy. Repeat for 2 sets of 10 reps. On your back, tighten your stomach and draw your belly button toward your spine (activation), then hold that tension and lift your knee into the air, lower it and repeat on the other side. Aim for 2 to 3 sets of 10 reps (5 per leg) or lift both legs together if you prefer. We love a dead bug exercise, and so does Vazir. Lay on the floor — legs lifted to 90 degrees and arms extended above your chest. One at a time, you'll extend one arm and the opposite leg, then return to center and switch sides. If you prefer, you could just hold the dead bug position without moving your arms and legs. You could also try just arms, just legs, or even one arm and one leg (in a hold) at a time — Vazir demonstrates your options. Hold for 10 to 30 seconds and repeat 3 sets.
Tom's Guide
29-05-2025
- Health
- Tom's Guide
Physiotherapist reveals the 5 exercises that reverse aging — and they're backed by science
Forget cardio for a moment. Want to reverse aging? A physiotherapist recommends trying these five exercises, which are backed by science. You can use your bodyweight to perform them, or add a set of the best adjustable dumbbells or weights of your choice to increase resistance and intensity. Shrey Vazir, founder of Mind Body Horizons, is a physiotherapist with over 300K subscribers who are looking to improve their pain, performance and mobility through strength training and rehab. But you'll be surprised, because we're not talking about lifting heavy weights here — just adding simple compound exercises to your routine gradually, using your bodyweight. These are especially useful to help fight against sarcopenia — muscle mass loss that accelerates as you reach over 50 years old. According to research (more on that below), it's both preventable and reversible in just 12 weeks with the right exercises. Here they are. These exercises focus on the key muscle groups in the body and can be scaled accordingly to suit your ability. And the best bit is, we're hardly breaking the internet here; these are all well-known exercises that most people can manage with a little guidance. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Squats target the hips, quads, hamstrings and glutes, but also your back and core, improving trunk stability and endurance. Vazir tells us that squat strength can translate to performing everyday activities better, picking up an object off the floor or getting up from the sofa, for example. Try two sets of 10 reps and hold a weight to make squats harder. You can also use a chair to make it easier, sitting on the seat with every rep. Increase the reps and sets as you get stronger. Vazir also recommends following the 'Golden Rule of Rehab,' which is consistency and progress over intensity — this is progressive overload. Here's how to do squats step-by-step. Your back and core benefit from the modified crunch. This move hits the abs, but also the deeper core muscles, including the transverse abdominis and multifidus. Vazir explains how to do this step-by-step, but we also cover how to do crunches, with variations to try. Vazir's variation is accessible for most people and supports the lower back, so it's worth trying if you prefer an entry-level crunch exercise. Whichever version you try, never pull with your neck — drive with your core muscles and continue to breathe. Vazir recommends adding more reps, holding a weight to your chest or reaching your upper back higher off the mat to progress the crunch, or performing a partial crunch with less range of motion if you need to scale things back. Start with two sets of 15 reps. 'Lunges engage your back and abdominal muscles, helping to relieve stress on your spine and ease back pain,' Vazir says. You can increase bone density and improve hip and knee health with lunges. Here's how to do reverse lunges step-by-step. Hold on to a chair in front of you for extra support and ensure your back knee reaches almost to the floor. Aim for a set of 10 reps on both sides to start with. When you feel balanced, remove the chair, then add weight. Increase the reps and depth of your lunge as you improve. Learning the push-up is fundamental for building core and upper-body strength, targeting the muscles responsible for pushing — the frontal deltoids, triceps and pectoral muscles. Aim to reach your chest as close to the floor as possible, and keep your elbows close to your body. Aim for two sets of 10 reps and increase over time. You can perform wall push-ups (hands against the wall while standing) and gradually move your feet further away from the wall as you get stronger. Make the modified push-up harder by lifting your knees away from the floor and performing push-ups from your toes, keeping your body in a straight line. If you can perform 10 to 20 reps — Vazir says this is the gold standard for everyday activities. You can incorporate glute bridges regularly into your daily routine, even performing reps as a standalone exercise when you have some spare time. Remember to give your glutes a healthy squeeze and engage your core muscles as you move. Add weight to your hips to make this more challenging, or perform a single-leg glute bridge variation by lifting one leg away from the floor to engage more of your outer glutes and work one side of your body at a time. As you build strength, lift your hips higher but avoid arching your lower back. Aim for one to two sets. In the video, Vazir discusses sarcopenia in more detail and explains how it's a major reason that muscle power, mass and strength decrease with age, also increasing the likelihood of falls and injury in older adults. The exercises above target and strengthen the lower and upper body, including the core, hips and back muscles, all contributing to better posture and reduced risk of injury, helping you to defy the effects of aging for longer. Compound exercises — movements that target multiple muscle groups and joints — are thought to be the most effective for this very reason, because they hit multiple large muscle groups at once, coupled with the process of progressive overload, which I touched on above. Progressive overload simply means increasing the intensity and/or volume of your chosen exercises over time, whether that means adding weight or throwing in extra reps and sets. As long as your muscles are still being challenged, you can progress and build strength. A study published in Geriatric Nursing in 2023 concluded that 12 weeks of resistance training with progressive intensity improves physical performance and muscle strength in older individuals. In fact, there are bodies of research on the topic supporting it. With regards to squats, repeated sit-to-stand exercises have been shown to reduce muscular effort and increase knee extensor strength in older adults. But you can be any age to benefit from strengthening your legs with squats! Then there's your upper body. The Journal of Athletic Training suggests playing around with your hand position during push-ups to emphasize certain muscle groups more. For example, the evidence shows you can work the triceps harder with a narrower arm position — think diamond push-ups. If you're ready to get started, make these exercises into a short circuit workout, performing each for two sets of 10-15 reps as per the guidelines Vazir recommends above.
