Bags after 60? Coach says to ditch the push-up and start with these four morning moves.
Bags are one of the most misunderstood topics in fitness, especially after the age of 60. Most people think that bags are just extra fat around the hips and thighs, so they think the only solution is to lift more, do more cardio, and restrict calories. But the body is much more complex than that. Yes, the bags contain fat tissue, but what you are really seeing is a combination of fat accumulation, fascial tension, rotational changes, postural changes, hormonal changes, and decreased tissue quality.
As a fitness trainer, I want to echo this whole conversation. Fascia is a network of connective tissue that surrounds every muscle, nerve, blood vessel, organ, and joint in the body. It helps maintain form, distribute force, and coordinate movement throughout the system. As we age, especially after age 60, fascia loses hydration, flexibility, circulation, and adaptability. Hormonal changes, decreased range of motion, poor sleep, inflammation, and decreased cardiovascular function all begin to alter tissue quality.
This is one of the reasons why hips get heavier, flatter, stiffer or even less supported with age. The body basically adapts to the forms of stress placed on it. This is why reducing points does not work. You cannot select fat from one area of the body. But you can absolutely improve the quality and function of the tissues underneath and around it. This is a very different conversation.
Instead of trying reducing stemswe need to focus on improving circulation, proprioception, force distribution, connective tissue quality, muscle support, neurological flow, and movement flexibility. The body is designed for adaptation, not rigidity. One of the biggest mistakes people make as they age is getting too tight and tight. As tissue quality improves, posture improves, rotation improves, mobility improves, and force distribution improves. The body often looks better as a byproduct of better performance. These four morning exercises do all of that, and they can help you strengthen those saddle bags without endless push-ups.
Why is fabric quality important?
Most people think of the glute as a simple muscle, but the glute maximus is a huge fascial structure that has extensive connections to the pelvis, sacrum, thoracolumbar fascia, and hip flexors. The quality of this fabric completely affects the quality and even the appearance of the hip.
When the gluteal fascia becomes tight, short, compressed, or weakly vascularized, the entire posterior aspect of the hip changes mechanically and visually. Therefore, improving circulation, flexibility of movement and fascial adaptation becomes very important after the age of 60. This also explains why two people with the exact same amount of body fat can be completely different in structure.
People also forget that tissue quality isn’t just muscular or facial, it’s also neurological. Muscles and fascia work just as well as the nervous system that supplies them. If the neurological flow is reduced, if there is compression around the spine or pelvis, or if the proprioceptive input is altered, the quality of movement and function of the tissue will change dramatically.
This is very important as we age. Aging is not just about gaining fat or losing muscle. Aging is often associated with loss of flexibility, circulation, hydration, proprioception, flexibility, and neurological efficiency. The goal is not only to look younger, but the goal is to maintain younger looking tissue.
Hip proprioception
This first exercise works directly on the proprioception and balance we talked about, re-teaching how your hip stabilizes and supports you. We divide it into three stages.
Muscles trained: Glute medius, glute maximus, hip stabilizers, core
How to do it:
- Balance on your right knee and try to keep your hip, shoulder and ear in line.
- Once you’re set, lift your front leg and balance, keeping your front foot off the ground.
- Hold your position and balance here for 60 seconds, then move on to step two.
- For the second step, line up your hips, shoulders, and ears again, then lift your front leg and the back of your back leg.
- Balance more on the knee with less base and hold for 60 seconds.
- For the final step, find your initial balance, lift your front leg, then your back leg, adding a slight swing or thrust from your front hip while maintaining your balance.
- The more you move that front leg, the harder it is to keep your balance while standing.
Recommended Sets and Reps: No matter what stage you’re in, do one to three sets of 60 seconds per leg.
Form tip: Keep your hips, shoulders and ears in line. There will be some movement, but try to fit everything.
Lunge course
The oblique lunge brings a change of motion and distribution of force to the hips and thighs and works the lateral hip through the dynamic range.
Muscles trained: Gluteus medius, gluteus maximus, quadriceps, adductors
How to do it:
- Lean on your left leg.
- Step your right leg behind you and out to the side, then drop into a lunge.
- Keep your chest forward and your posture straight.
- Go down as deep as you can. If you can get your knees to the ground, great.
- Go back and return to the middle.
- Step with the left foot, hit the base, keep your body square, drop down and turn yourself back up.
- While maintaining your position, go back and forth, drop down and move up.
For more of a challenge, keep that back leg tight as you land on the front leg. This gives you a wider range of motion and forces you to work on the balance piece. It’s easier to put the rear wheel directly behind you because it gives you a wider and longer wheel base.
Recommended Sets and Reps: Go back and forth for 10 on each side for 20 repetitions. Do one to three sets.
Form tip: As you go down and up, keep your body square and your posture straight.
Glute Medius Stretch
It’s a myofascial stretch for the midsection, and it directly targets fascial alignment and rotation in the lateral aspect, where bags tend to occur.
Muscles trained: Medius rosacea, lateral fascia of the hip, hip rotators
How to do it:
- Place your right foot over your left foot. Place your right leg even with the knee.
- For more of a challenge, lift that leg higher and keep your stance high.
- Once you’ve found the right position, dorsiflex your lead leg and pull it back.
- Keep your posture straight and use your opposite hand or elbow if you can, to pull your leg across your body.
- Keep your hips on the ground without lifting anything up.
- When bending the ankle, pull the right leg with the left hand.
- Extend your right arm, spread fingers, bend wrist, lock elbow and spiral.
- Push forward with your right hand as you tuck your chin, lift your chest and stretch your legs.
- Hold for 30 to 90 seconds, then gently release and switch sides.
Recommended Sets and Reps: If you hold for 30 seconds, switch sides back and forth so that you repeat three times on one side. If you hold for 90 seconds, only do one side.
Form tip: Imagine that your hip is pinned to the ground so that you don’t lift as you pull your leg across your body.
L2/L3 ELDOA
We finish with L2-L3 ELDOA. We use this because it’s the nerve root for this part of the body where we tend to get our bags, so it ties the whole neurological part together.
Muscles trained: Spine stabilizers, core, hip flexors, postural chain
How to do it:
- Sit up as tall as you can, keeping your ears, shoulders and spine straight and aligned as much as possible.
- Bend the legs back, turn the feet and knees inward, and walk with your feet as wide as possible.
- Keep your chin slightly vertical and your eyes looking one to two feet forward.
- Extend your arms forward, spread the fingers, bend the arm back and open the spiral.
- Raise your arms straight above your shoulders and stretch them as far as possible.
- Pull the legs back, turn the feet and knees in, and push your calves into the ground.
- Breathe in from your belly as you stretch overhead with your fingers spread out and your wrists behind your head.
- When you’re done, rest one arm, then the other, then one leg, and then the other.
Recommended Sets and Reps: Hold for 60 seconds, one set.
Form tip: Keep your ears, shoulders and hips in line and breathe from your belly as you reach overhead as high as you can.
