This video features 6 flexibility exercises designed specifically for adults over age 50. These exercises can be performed at home, at work, at the gym—almost anywhere! You’ll need a sturdy arm chair, a hand towel, a mat or soft floor, a bath towel, and an exercise partner.

In this video, Go4Life fitness instructor Sandy Magrath demonstrates a series of flexibility exercises that target several areas of the body. She explains the importance of doing flexibility exercises after finishing strength exercises and other physical activities, adding that flexibility exercises can help with everyday tasks such as getting dressed or buckling your seatbelt. The exercises included in this video are the shoulder and upper arm stretch, back stretch, ankle stretch, hamstring stretch, hip stretch, and buddy stretch.

To perform the hamstring stretch, Sandy demonstrates how to use a chair to safely get down and back up from the floor. The buddy stretch is an exercise done with a friend to stretch your back, shoulders, arms, and legs in a see-saw fashion using a bath towel.

The Go4Life Campaign from the National Institute on Aging focuses on encouraging older adults to make exercise and physical activity a part of their daily life. Use the Go4Life Everyday Exercises to practice the four types of exercise that are important for older adults: strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance:

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This video was developed by the National Institute on Aging ( part of the National Institutes of Health (

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