the plank
Five years ago, singer Cher, then 71, bragged about her ability to hold a plank for five minutes. If true, that impressive score is about five times higher than the typical “good” benchmark: movement is now a common metric for fitness. Placing your forearms on the ground, your body raised, and your weight on your toes strengthens your core, improving balance and lower back muscles, and reducing your risk of injury.
A stronger core also helps with household chores like gardening, DIY, and cleaning, all of which require small movements that activate your core.
Up the ante by making a pivot table, he suggests coach matt roberts. Starting from the same position, raise one arm in front of you, holding it straight, then lower it back down, before repeating with the next arm. Then repeat with each leg. “That’s a good alternative way to test the strength in the core,” he says, adding that “it’s a fairer test.” [of strength] than pure passive proof for many people”.
Stand up from a sitting position
The sit and reach test is commonly used to measure lower back and hamstring strength, as well as flexibility. It involves sitting in a chair with no arms and seeing how many times you can stand up from a sitting position every minute.
A study by the Medical Research Council showed that participants who could do this more than 36 times in one minute were twice as likely to be alive 13 years later than those able to repeat the movement just 23 times.
Roberts suggests that standing up from a seated position on the floor, without using your hands, is a better fitness metric. A 2020 study from Okinawa, Japan, which has one of the highest numbers of centenarians in the world, found movement to be a strong predictor of longevity.
Another article published in the European Journal of Cardiology asked more than 2,000 adults between the ages of 51 and 80 to repeat the action and found that those who struggled were five to six times more likely to die six years later, compared to able-bodied people. to do it with ease. “Even more relevant,” the authors wrote, “is the fact that a 1-point increase in the sit-to-stand score was associated with a 21 percent reduction in mortality.”
push-ups
Being able to do 40 push-ups in one minute reduces the risk of heart disease by 96 percent among middle-aged men, according to a 2019 study from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. For a good push-up technique, have your hands facing forward with your elbows close to your body. “The shoulders should remain directly over the hands at all times and the body should be completely straight,” says Roberts.
grip strength
This is measured with a hand dynamometer, held with the elbow bent at a 90 degree angle, while squeezing the handle as hard as possible. The result is a strong indicator of bone mineral density, which declines with age, and of heart health, mobility, and cognitive function.
A study of 140,000 people found that for every 5kg of grip dexterity loss, the likelihood of death increased by 14 percent and the risk of heart attack increased by seven percent. To improve your grip, try exercises like single-arm hanging from an overhead bar (30 seconds is a good start), pull-ups, and push-ups.
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