As we age, strength training becomes even more important in ensuring our bodies are capable of handling the rigours of everyday life. It doesn’t need to be overcomplicated, however, nor does it have to involve heavy lifts or high-impact exercises.
Iain Behr, who runs the Instagram account @behrmovement, believes there are three movement patterns capable of predicting how much freedom you retain in your body later in life – and they don’t require any weights. For him, it’s less about building bigger muscles and more about future-proofing your everyday physical capabilities.
‘Dads over 50. These aren’t “fitness exercises” – they’re future insurance. They’re life skills,’ Behr says on Instagram. ‘If you can do them now, your future stays open. If you can’t, fast-forward 10 to 20 years and your world gets smaller.’
But rather than testing whether you can complete 10 pull-ups or rep out plenty of push-ups, Behr’s formula is a little more straightforward – and perhaps even more revealing of your body’s ability to move.
3 Movements to Predict Future Freedom1. Strength and Balance
Starting from a lunge, Behr drives his back leg straight out in front of him so it’s at a 90-degree angle of hip flexion as he stands tall. His other leg balances and keeps his body stable, with the top position held for a couple of seconds before the movement is reversed.
It’s a dynamic movement that builds quad, glute and core strength, while also teaching control and coordination on both sides of the body. Behr argues it helps keep your legs strong and your core engaged to ensure you’re always well balanced, helping to reduce your risk of falling as you get older.
‘Can you get off the ground, stand tall, and hold one leg without wobbling? That’s fall prevention and independence,’ he says.
2. Mobility and Stability
Behr prescribes a slow burpee, without the explosive element or the push-up, to test your hip mobility and upper-body strength. From a standing position, lower yourself to the ground into a high plank before standing back up. He places his feet outside his hands in both directions to further challenge hip mobility.
‘You need mobility to get there. Strength to control it. Stability so nothing collapses halfway,’ Behr adds.
3. Multidirectional Range
‘Real life doesn’t happen in straight lines. You either dominate your environment or it dominates you,’ Behr says.
As a result, a lunge complex performed in four different directions helps maintain that range of movement and rotational ability. The four exercises include a forward, lateral, diagonal-back and reverse lunge.
Why it Works
Staying mobile as you get older means staying strong through a range of dynamic movement patterns, rather than the fixed positions traditional resistance training often prescribes. By testing yourself with these three movements, you can see whether you’re ageing well or whether you need to start prioritising the health of your muscles and joints.
While Behr recognises this style of training might not build the most aesthetic physique, he suggests your joints will thank you for prioritising how you move and embracing the low-impact nature of the approach.
‘After 50, freedom isn’t built by workouts,’ he says. ‘It’s built by movement you can trust. If staying independent matters more than looking impressive, this is where you start.’
If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.
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Ryan is a Senior Writer at Men’s Health UK with a passion for storytelling, health and fitness. Having graduated from Cardiff University in 2020, and later obtaining his NCTJ qualification, Ryan started his career as a Trainee News Writer for sports titles Golf Monthly, Cycling Weekly and Rugby World before progressing to Staff Writer and subsequently Senior Writer with football magazine FourFourTwo.
During his two-and-a-half years there he wrote news stories for the website and features for the magazine, while he also interviewed names such as Les Ferdinand, Ally McCoist, Jamie Redknapp and Antonio Rudiger, among many others. His standout memory, though, came when getting the opportunity to speak to then-Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher as the club won League One in 2023.
Having grown up a keen footballer and playing for his boyhood side until the age of 16, Ryan got the opportunity to represent Northern Ireland national futsal team eight times, scoring three goals against England, Scotland and Gibraltar. Now past his peak, Ryan prefers to mix weightlifting with running – he achieved a marathon PB of 3:31:49 at Manchester in April 2025, but credits the heat for failing to get below the coveted 3:30 mark…
You can follow Ryan on Instagram @ryan.dabbs or on X @ryandabbs_