Personal Trainer Alejandro

Most people over 40 can’t pass this mobility challenge.

Can you get up off the floor without using your hands?

It sounds simple, but this ability is strongly connected to mobility, balance, coordination, lower body strength, and confidence moving through different positions.

The good news is that this skill can be trained.

Start by spending more time on the ground. Sit on the floor while watching TV, reading, or stretching. Explore different positions like cross-legged sitting, side sitting, kneeling, deep squats, and seiza. For many people, a few months of regular ground sitting can improve mobility, proprioception, and comfort moving close to the floor.

Next, practice getting up using your hands as training wheels. Use a chair, a wall, or the floor for assistance while you build strength and coordination.

Over time, work on your hip drive, lunges, kneeling positions, ankle mobility, and leg strength. Eventually you’ll find yourself getting up from a kneeling position, a deep squat, a roll, or even seiza without needing your hands at all.

It’s not easy, but it’s one of the most practical movement skills you can develop as you age.

Can you do it? Let me know how you got up.

One of the biggest mobility tests that most adults fail is the deep squat.

Not because they’re weak, but because years of sitting in chairs can lead to stiff ankles, tight hips, and reduced mobility.

The deep squat isn’t just an exercise. It’s a position.

If your heels lift off the ground, elevate them with a rolled-up yoga mat or a couple of books. If your hips feel too tight, sit on yoga blocks or a small stool and gradually expose your body to the position.

Then start addressing the limitations:

• Ankle rockers to improve ankle mobility
• 90/90s to improve hip internal and external rotation
• Tailor’s pose to improve inner thigh flexibility
• Supported squat holds to build strength and confidence in deeper ranges

Remember, mobility is not just flexibility. It’s flexibility, stability, and strength working together.

The goal isn’t to force yourself into a perfect squat overnight. The goal is to gradually earn access to the position and make it feel comfortable again.

Can you comfortably hold a deep squat for 30 seconds?

Want to move better, feel stronger, and keep your body performing at your best?

Try this mobility and strength routine:

• 90/90 Hip Rotations
• Single Leg Lifts
• Supine Rotations
• Prone Lift-Offs
• Single Leg Glute Bridges
• Elevated Figure Four Stretch
• Elevated Clam Shells
• Cossack Hovers
• Hamstring Stretch to Runner’s Lunge

This routine will help improve hip mobility, core stability, glute strength, and overall movement quality.

A few minutes of movement each day can go a long way toward reducing stiffness, improving flexibility, and helping your body feel its best.

Consistency beats intensity when it comes to mobility. Keep showing up, and your body will thank you.

Which exercise is your favorite?

Want better balance, stronger knees, and more control over your hips?

Try this simple routine:

10 airplane poses using assistance if needed

10 sprinter starts using assistance if needed

10 single-leg calf raises or an isometric calf hold

20 seconds of chair pose

20 seconds of a yoga lunge

If squats and lunges aren’t an option, perform knee extensions instead

Finish with:

10 front leg raises

10 side leg raises

10 kickbacks

Use assistance whenever needed.

These exercises challenge your balance, strengthen the muscles that support your knees, improve ankle stability, and build the hip strength needed for walking, hiking, running, and everyday movement.

You don’t need an intense workout to improve how your body moves. Sometimes a few minutes of focused movement is all it takes.

Want to make your ab exercises harder without adding weight?

Grab a yoga block.

By squeezing the block throughout the movement, you’ll create an isometric contraction through the shoulders, chest, and core. Holding the block away from your body also creates a longer lever arm, increasing the demand on your trunk and forcing your abs to work harder.

Try 20 flutter kicks with the yoga block overhead. This will challenge your lower abs and your ability to maintain core stability.

Try 20 Russian twists while squeezing and rotating the yoga block from side to side. This will strengthen your obliques and rotational strength. The yoga block also acts like training wheels for weighted twists, helping you learn proper mechanics before progressing to a dumbbell, kettlebell, or medicine ball.

Try 20 toe touches with the yoga block. Reaching for the block encourages a greater range of motion and increased upper ab engagement.

Finally, hold a hollow body position for 20 seconds while squeezing the yoga block overhead. This will challenge your deep core muscles and improve your ability to maintain a stable spine.

Remember, progression isn’t always about adding more weight. Sometimes improving leverage, increasing tension, and refining technique can make an exercise significantly more challenging.

You don’t need an hour-long workout to move better.

Try this quick full-body mobility flow:

• 10 Hinge to Squats
• 10 T-Spine Twists
• 10 Lateral Lunges
• 10 Tabletop to Down Dogs
• 10 Hamstring Stretch to Runner’s Lunges

In less than 10 minutes you’ll work on hip mobility, thoracic spine rotation, hamstring flexibility, ankle mobility, and overall movement quality.

This is one of my favorite active recovery routines for days when you’re feeling stiff, sore, or just need to get your body moving.

Consistency beats perfection. A few minutes of movement every day can make a big difference in how you feel.

Can you complete all 50 reps?

How strong are your hips?

Try this simple hip routine:

• 10 Single Leg Lift-Offs to strengthen your hip flexors, which help with hiking, running, and swimming.

• 10 Figure Four Contours to improve internal and external rotation, building better hip mobility and stability.

• 10 Elevated Clam Shells to target the glute medius, an important muscle for lateral movement and single-leg balance.

• 10 Single Leg Glute Bridges to strengthen the glute max, the powerhouse muscle responsible for hip drive.

Strong hips aren’t just about flexibility. They’re about strength, stability, and control. Practice these exercises consistently and your hips will thank you.

Knee pain doesn’t always mean you need less movement. Sometimes you need the right movement.

Start with 30 seconds of a chair pose hold to build knee strength through an isometric contraction. Then perform 10 reps of single-leg glute bridges to strengthen the glutes and improve knee tracking. Follow that with 10 elevated clam shells to build lateral hip strength and knee stability. Next, do 10 inner thigh lift-offs to strengthen the muscles that help keep your knees aligned. Finish with 10 reps of the hovering tabletop to down dog to improve knee extension and mobility.

Strong hips, glutes, and inner thighs help support healthy knees. Stay consistent, move within a pain-free range, and focus on quality over quantity.

If you have severe or persistent knee pain, make sure to consult your doctor or physical therapist.

You don’t need a gym to train your calves. You just need a few minutes while your coffee brews.

Start with relevé calf raises to target the inner calf. Then move into regular calf raises and aim for as many reps as possible. The goal is volume. Keep going until your calves are close to giving out.

Next, perform 20 pigeon-toe calf raises to hit the outer calf. By now, your calves should be burning.

Hold the top of a calf raise for an isometric contraction to build ankle stability and endurance.

Finish with 10 single-leg calf raises on each side to develop strength, power, and balance.

A few minutes a day can go a long way. Train while you wait.

If you can do 10 knee extensions, 10 lateral leg raises, 10 medial leg swings, 10 kickbacks, 10 relevé calf raises, 10 assisted single-leg RDLs, and 10 reps of hip internal and external rotations, then you have a knee warm-up that trains more than just the knee.

You’ll improve blood flow to the joint, strengthen the glutes, adductors, calves, and hamstrings, and improve hip mobility and control.

A lot of knee pain isn’t just about the knee. It’s often related to weak or stiff muscles above and below it.

Use this routine before walking, running, hiking, squatting, or any lower body workout to help your knees move and feel better.

Strong knees need strong hips, strong ankles, and consistent movement.