I recall reading a story about a man who would, every day when leaving for work, jump over his garden wall. Never used the gate, always jumped the wall. When asked the reason for this he said that if he jumped the wall every day there would never come a day when he couldn’t do it.

Ageing is inevitable, a decline in mobility and cognition will affect us all eventually but this man was completely right we can delay the process. If you continue using it, you’ll never lose it.

We enjoy activities every day that are designed to give both our brains and our bodies a workout. Every morning we start the day with seated exercises, these really get the blood flowing and it is amazing how quickly our muscles become more flexible, even at our age.

Recently we have introduced resistance training to our exercise regime. Resistance training is an exercise that enhances muscular strength. Don’t be fooled by the bright colours, these bands are effective when used regularly and provide a whole host of benefits including improvement in muscle strength, balance, coordination, flexibility, and range of motion. Resistance training also helps reduce bone loss and eases arthritis pain. During resistance training muscles are forced to move against tension, this tension can be increased or decreased by the individual allowing for a workout that is suitable for all abilities.

This exercise is extremely popular, you do what you can in your own way, we set ourselves individual challenges and never have to worry about keeping up with anyone else. It is thought that stretching may release endorphins that help to reduce pain and enhance your mood and whilst we have only just started on resistance band training, I can certainly confirm that it makes me feel good and raises my spirits ready for the day ahead.

Sadly, none of us have the ability to tun back time and start leapfrogging our garden walls but it is not too late for us to look after what we have now.