Part 1: From Stiff to Mobile

Use these 4 dumbbell exercises to help open up your shoulders and upper back: 1. Pronated Dumbbell Fly

I love this exercise for stretching out tight shoulder and chest muscles from sitting and pressing movements.

Start with a light weight. Lower down to a full-stretch, rotate to unwind, and return to the starting position.

More MOBILE at age 48 than I ever thought possible!

Thanks to @kneesovertoesg's @atgexercise system.

Here's 4 of my favorite ATG exercises for better hip mobility 🧵 1. Deep Squat

The full-range squat and all its variations is my all-time favorite exercise!

You can start with just bodyweight.

Elevating your heels and/or holding a weight in front of you as a counterbalance can help you get deeper.

If squats bother your knees, regress the load to a pain-free level by using assistance from your hands.

Leg Day for Strength & Flexibility: 1. DEEP Squat

Start with two lighter warmup sets, working up to a weight that challenges you for 10 reps.

Goblet loaded, back squat, or front squat are each great options.

Believe it or not, you can drastically improve mobility in your 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond with smart strength training.

I'm living proof.

Here's a thread with 4 @atgexercise stretch + strength moves that can scale to almost any starting level: 1. Seated Good Morning

The primary purpose here is to improve strength and flexibility in the adductor muscles in the inner thighs.

Keep an arch in your lower back and your shoulder blades retracted throughout.

You can use a cable machine, dumbbells, or even a barbell.

At 48, my knees are stronger than ever—despite ACL surgery in my early 20s.

@kneesovertoesg's @atgexercise system is the reason why.

This thread shows my route to long term knee health in my 40s...

(And to be clear, this is NOT where I started—and not even necessary for most people’s goals—but a fun ability nonetheless!) 1. Start in Reverse

Backward walking, dragging a sled, or spinning a treadmill backwards is the perfect place to start improving “bad” knees.

The knees go over the toes on every step—strengthening the quadriceps muscles for better knee protection.

At 48, my hip mobility is better now than ever—thanks to @atgexercise training.

These are the 4 exercises I've consistently used the most to get here. The great thing is that they all scale to almost any starting level: 1. Couch Stretch Pulse x 20

If you have trouble getting into this one comfortably on the wall, try starting with an incline bench instead.

I never would have thought that I could be more athletic and mobile now at almost 48 than I was at 28...

I used simple, balanced strength training routines like this to get there. You can too: 🧵 1. Sled

I tore my ACL at 23 on one side and my Achilles at 29 on the other.

So now in my late 40s, healthy lower legs and knees are top priority.

I like to start my workouts from the ground up with a sled, treadmill, or even backward walking/jogging if no equipment is available.

10 years ago, I was 37, overweight, and struggling with the day-to-day grind.

Now in my late 40s, I'm more athletic, healthy, and mobile than ever.

I used simple, balanced training routines like this to get there—you can too:
🧵
Optional Warmup: Backward Treadmill x 5 minutes

Whenever I have access to a sled or the @atgexercise Backward Treadmill, I use it as a daily warmup and efficient cardio tool!

3 ATG Movements For People Who Work at Desks

Read this thread if you SIT a lot: 1. Back Extension

In my opinion, this machine is the safest and most effective way to train the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings at home.

(Beginner, Basic and Pro versions shown)

*If you don’t have a back extension machine, you could substitute a high-rep offset RDL (demonstrated in the 4th clip)

I used to think my plantar fasciitis pain was permanent...

Here's how I finally beat it:
🧵

(Hint—it wasn’t ice, rest, orthotics, stretching, compression sleeves, acupuncture, or cortisone shots—although I tried all those too)
After much trial and error (and lots of money spent on new shoes, inserts, night sleeves, and other gadgets), I finally figured out a simple truth:

The soleus muscles in my lower legs were WEAK.

You Can Improve Athletic Performance In Your 40s

This is a series of threads showing exactly how I did it—and what I'm doing to continue to improve.

Part 10: Balanced Exercise
As I’ved learned from @kneesovertoesg's @atgexercise system, the human body thrives on balance.

This may be THE most important factor for maintaining (and even improving!!) athleticism as we age.

You Can Improve Athletic Performance In Your 40s

This is a series of threads showing exactly how I did it—and what I'm doing to continue to improve.

Part 9: Mobility Standards Being flexible on its own doesn’t necessarily make you more explosive or athletic.

But it does provide greater access to strength and helps the body to work more efficiently as intended.

You Can Improve Athletic Performance In Your 40s

This series shows how I did it at 47.

Part 4: “Bulletproof” Against Common Injury
If you want to improve athleticism and continue to play sports, obviously injury prevention is a MUST.

As I learned from @kneesovertoesg, this requires a “reserve” of physical ability greater than the demands that you ask of your body.

You Can Improve Athletic Performance After 40

This is a series of threads to show you how

Part 3: Strengthen Lower Legs
Why?

More conventional workout programs adds muscle mass and power to the upper body, hips, and thighs, but the muscles below the knees are often neglected.

You CAN Improve Athletic Performance After 40

Here’s a series of threads on how I did it.

Part 2: How To Start, With Zero Equipment:
🧵 The first @atgexercise training program I followed after discovering @kneesovertoesg a little more than 4 years ago was "Knee Ability Zero".

Zero because you don't need any special equipment to do it.

This was a perfect introduction, especially since it was during the Covid period and most of the gyms were still closed.

Must Read For People Who Sit A Lot

4 Common-Sense Tips:
🧵 This is Part 10 in a series on how to counteract the effects of too much sitting.

This thread will shift focus to habits you can adopt outside of the gym to combat a sedentary lifestyle.

Desk Workers ⬇️⬇️

Here's a 4-Part Stretch Circuit to Help Counteract Too Much Sitting:

(Sitting Solutions, Part 8/10)
1. Butcher's Block Stretch x 45 seconds

This is my current favorite upper body stretch.

It's great for opening up tight lats, triceps, and upper back muscles.

Hold a weight plate or a stick with your hands wider than the line of your elbows to keep your shoulders externally rotated.

Engage your core muscles and keep an anterior pelvic tilt for more stretch on your upper back.

For more challenge, extend your knees into a full plank as shown.

If you don't have a weight bench, a coffee table can work too.

Sitting too much?

Sitting every day at a desk can lead to weak/tight abdominal muscles.

Lengthen + strengthen your core with the 3 moves in this thread.

(Sitting Solutions, Part 5 of 10)🧵


1. We all probably spend too much time sitting—looking down at a phone or a computer with rounded, hunched shoulders.

The abdominal muscles can often become shortened as a result.

My go-to move to change that is called the pullover, and it scales to ANY strength level.

How to Use Weight Training to Counteract Excess Sitting

Part 4 of 10:
🧵
The last thread in this series was on my favorite anti-sitting exercise for the upper body, the full-range dip.

Today's thread is on my go-to exercise for the posterior chain—the Romanian deadlift.

As an English teacher for 25 years, I made my students sit a lot... 🤦‍♂️

But now I help people undo the effects of too much sitting.

Sitting Solutions: Part 2 of 10 🧵 In this thread, I'm going to break down what I think is the best lower body exercise to counteract the negative effects of excess sitting:

It's called the ATG Split Squat.

The average person sits too much.

Research shows sitting for 8+ hours per day without exercise corresponds to a risk of dying similar to that of smoking.

Scary stuff! But what can we do about it?

(Sitting Solutions, Part 1 of 10) 🧵🧵 As a kid, I never wanted to sit.

Every time I went through a doorway, I had to jump up and touch it.

My parents’ house had handprints on the ceilings and over all the doorways.

When you’re a child, it feels good to move.

Running and jumping is natural and fun.

(I'm trying to get back to that feeling now at 47.)