If there is one thing that really scares an older adult it is the risk of falling. There are many reasons why older adults are more exposed to falling, but we must not fall into the trap of believing it is part of the process of getting older. We know we cannot stop the ageing process. But we can change HOW we age, by using exercise to prevent the loss of muscle and our ability to move with daily activities. We have covered this topic in great detail previously in many articles (see how to prevent falls with seniors) but I wanted to provide a simple easy to read info-graphic to explain this topic to as many people as possible. Many of the pictures shown in the image below are clients aged between 70 and 85 years from our Stronger For Longer class we hold twice per week. This proves that even at the age of 70 plus you can still improve and work on things that prevent the potentially fatal consequences from a fall.

Here is another recipe from Mel to give you some ideas of how to eat healthy but still have food that tastes amazing! This is a follow up to her previous recipe of slow cooked beef. In recent months we have shared a stack of content relating to the Keto diet and how important it is to eat a good variety of fats and proteins for this eating method to work. Where people usually get stuck is coming up with new recipe ideas to keep their nutrition healthy, but at the same time tasty. I hope you have a go at making this dish as it is delicious.

These past few months with gyms being shut I have had many online consultations to help people create training programs in their own home. Most of the time these programs are designed with the intention of restoring function to a faulty movement, or correcting muscle imbalances causing chronic pain. To achieve this I had to teach them how to stabilise more efficiently using a handful of exercises that have a strong focus on movement. Within just a few weeks most of these people were feeling much better and beginning to look to do more which was great. However, there was one question that continually came up during the review consultation which was, “Do I need more exercises as I don't think my other muscles are doing anything?” The simple answer to that question is no. While I have seen a big shift in the last 10 years towards functional training methods, there is still a lack of understanding as to how much these integrated movements do. And more specifically how many muscles are used when you complete these complex movement patterns. In this article I will explain why you DO NOT need an exercise for each muscle group, and why it is more important to design your program around improving movement patterns instead of strengthening individual muscles.