In your 60s, now-or-never alarm bells start ringing when it comes to fitness. Will I still be able to get off the sofa in ten years’ time? I don’t want to be a frail OAP – especially as I’ll still be working into my 80s (negligible pension).
I swim three times a week, do Pilates and walk 12,000 steps a day. The problem is, women like me don’t get out of breath enough to raise our heart rate. After hating the gym for 30 years, I found one I liked but after two years it closed – so I’m very conscious I’ve stopped doing the hated squats and thrusts.
Offered the chance to meet osteopath and fitness coach James Davies, I jumped at it. David Beckham says he’s ‘incredible’. Joe Wicks describes him as his body coach. Davies spends much of his life darting around treating the rich and famous, from Kylie Minogue to Ruth Langsford (he fixed her frozen shoulder). He always sees clients in their homes, so has a chance to look at how they eat, sleep and sit on the sofa.
Davies, 38, also previously worked as an official therapist for the Team GB Olympics squad, treating athletics superstars such as Mo Farah and his idol, Linford Christie. Davies’ bestselling book, Body: Effective Tools To Heal Pain, Restore Health And Prevent Injury*, offers advice to those without a celebrity osteopath on speed dial.
Liz Hoggard is put through her paces by James Davies, who says you can sidestep a hip replacement with gentle strengthening and mobility exercises
He passionately believes that pain is not an automatic part of ageing. Yes, we get wear and tear and are more prone to injuries, worn cartilage and joint problems, but so often it’s due to lazy posture, slouching or working muscles incorrectly. He’s shocked that it’s the norm to assume you need a knee or hip replacement when so many conditions can be treated with gentle strengthening and mobility exercises.
‘You need to keep mobile because as we go beyond 60, if you have a fall, you don’t want to break a bone,’ he explains. ‘You want to be strong. I have clients in their 80s and 90s who are working – among them actor David Jason, 85 – and others in their 60s still making action films. Actors are becoming more like athletes.’
When I visit Davies’ Surrey studio – a light, airy space with an electromagnetic treatment bed and life-size anatomical skeleton – he exudes positivity. He wants to help us future-proof our bodies against chronic problems caused by habits such as sitting at screens and craning over phones.
‘People are scared to move,’ he says. ‘Or they try to fast-track their fitness by lifting weights, but they don’t know how to move their bodies.’ Pain can arise from inactivity: we have to get everything pumping on a daily basis, as this affects our circulation and regulates the body. We also need to develop cognitive flexibility, he says. ‘The body always finds the easy route and gets into bad habits. The brain goes, “I’m not used to this movement. I’m going to seize up”.’
He picks up that I pulled a hamstring two years ago and it’s made my right hip weaker. ‘Over time we form imbalances,’ he says, ‘so you’ve had to move your back and bum more to compensate. Your back is tight, but if you start doing my exercises [see below] you will get looser, which will give you confidence.’
David Beckham with James Davies, whom he calls ‘incredible’
With three kids under 12, Davies understands life-juggling. But he has a mantra: ‘There are 144 x ten minutes in a day. You just need to exercise for one of those ten minutes. And that can be a mix of strength, mobility, balance – you set the rules.’
You can start with just ten minutes a day, but ideally you’d build up to doing two or three ten-minute blocks. Our body craves variety of movement, Davies explains. ‘We should be like Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music, jumping and skipping along, but we don’t skip any more.’
I try to summon up my inner Julie Andrews when he asks me to do six exercises to assess flexibility, strength and balance. I only pass four. I can do a plank (with light swearing) but not a press-up. So he breaks it up into stages. I find the overhead squat impossible, but Davies teaches me to do it against the wall and slide down – success. His ‘leg out and balance’ exercise defeats me because my coordination is poor. But we video it and I later master it at home.
I find jumping on the spot a bit mortifying, but Davies teaches me how: with my back straight, landing with slightly bent knees so I have to make more effort to jump up again. ‘Do ten of those every day,’ he tells me. ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re out of breath.’
All the exercises can be done at home. ‘Don’t do them all in one go, or it will be overwhelming,’ Davies advises. ‘Try one out before work. Pace yourself and find out how quickly you recover from it.’
He’s also a fan of getting outdoors: ‘Go to the park for a 12-minute run or power-walk and see how much distance you can cover. If you can do 2.1km, excellent; 1.8km to 2.1km is good. But even less than 1.5km, you don’t need to feel ashamed.’
He is for reward as well as effort: ‘We’re all Formula 1 drivers rushing around. We need pit stops. I’ll have an ice bath or sauna. I get a massage every month. It works for me, but I want to get people to think for themselves.’
There’s a difference between pain and discomfort, he stresses. It should never hurt. But if you’ve had previous surgeries, are limited in movement or have a sharp pain, stop the exercise and seek guidance.
Then – bliss – I get a treatment. An hour after he has massaged muscles, clicked joints and used acupuncture and cupping (to rid the body of toxins), I’m moving freely.
‘You have a blockage above your hip, Davies tells me. ‘Old injuries can lie dormant.’ He recommends exercises that strengthen my quad muscles (at the front of the thigh, above the knee) and advises that I lie in bed with the soles of my feet pressed together, in a diamond shape, hands above my head. ‘It will rest the pelvis, open the hips.’
That’s the joy of a coach who is also an osteopath. Davies understands what his exercises do to the body. As he puts it, ‘People may have a trainer who looks beautiful, from an aesthetic point of view, but so often they have really poor knowledge of the human body.’
THE ONLY 6 EXERCISES YOU NEED IN YOUR 60S by James Davies
If at first you don’t succeed, don’t be hard on yourself: you can always adapt and work up to the full movement over time
1. Single-leg stand to sit
This challenges balance and hip and knee strength, as well as how you engage your core. Stand in front of a chair with a high seat or extra cushion, arms to the side or on your waist. Lift your left foot, squat as close to the chair as you can and sit for a two-second pause. Rise again and repeat with the right foot. You can do it slowly, and come up, then test it again. It’s a good workout as it really challenges your quads. Aim for ten on each side.
2. Floor to stand
While we should all be able to get up off the floor and sit down again, even 20-somethings can find it hard, hence this exercise. Stand comfortably, feet flat and space around you. Without leaning on anything, cross your legs and sink to a sitting position on the floor. Now try to get back up again. Put both hands on the floor to steady you, and push up using a swinging action to propel you forward. Try five reps, without favouring one side: muscles and joints should work as a team.
3. Overhead squat
This tests shoulder flexibility, the relationship between back and hips and whether you can lift up using the strength of your thighs. Sink low and raise your hands over your head, pelvis down, back straight. Engaging your core while trying not to tilt forwards, push up again to standing. If it’s too hard, slide to a squat against a wall, holding in your abs. Raise your hands against the wall, heels always down. Keep the position for two seconds then use your muscles to get back up. Go for ten reps.
4. Standing elbow to knee
Reach your left arm straight out in front of you and your right leg straight back. Then bend your arm and leg, drawing them in until your elbow touches your knee. Repeat on the other side. This move challenges your balance and strengthens your abs, hips and lower back. Aim for ten reps on each side. If you can’t quite get elbow to knee, touch with your forearm or hand instead, keeping the movement slow, steady and controlled.
5. Sit and reach
This is a flexibility test for hamstring and lower-back flexibility. Sit with your legs fully extended, feet 10-12 inches apart. With your palms facing down and your hands overlapping, reach forward as far as possible, keeping your knees extended and back straight. Can you touch your shins? Toes? Beyond the toes (the ultimate goal of this exercise)? Perform the movement two or three times, maintaining each reach briefly and breathing steadily.
6. Leg out and balance
While standing, raise one leg and hold it out in front, to the side or behind you, balancing on the other leg. Look straight ahead and hold the position for up to a minute, then repeat on the other side. This strengthens your core, thighs and quads, improving balance and stability. At your own pace, aim to complete two to three holds per side. Try reducing hand support or closing your eyes as you progress, for an added challenge.
