There is something fascinating about the human body.
It does not know whether a movement disappeared because you became older or because you simply stopped practising it.
It responds to the demands it receives.
When we continue using a physical ability, the body has a reason to preserve and refine it. When an ability is no longer required, the body gradually reduces the resources devoted to maintaining it.
This is the biological truth behind the familiar expression:
“Use it or lose it.”
It is not a literal law that applies identically to every tissue or every person. But it captures a well-established principle: muscles, connective tissues, bones, joints and movement skills adapt to what we repeatedly ask them to do.
The problem is that modern life asks very little of our bodies.
Think about your own day.
How often do you sit on the floor?
How often do you crawl?
When was the last time you climbed over something, hung from your hands or jumped across an obstacle?
How often do you balance on one leg, reach fully overhead, rotate your spine, move sideways or walk backwards?
How frequently do you carry something heavy while walking?
Do you need to run to collect water?
Do you spend hours cultivating the ground to produce your food?
Do you climb trees, fish for your dinner or regularly rest in a deep squat rather than sitting in a chair?
For most people, the honest answer is:
Almost never.
Not necessarily because we are incapable of these things, but because modern life no longer requires them.
We drive instead of walking.
We use lifts instead of stairs.
We buy food without growing, gathering or hunting for it.
We shop online.
We sit in cars, office chairs and sofas for hours.
Technology has made our lives more comfortable and efficient. However, it has also removed many of the physical challenges that shaped human movement throughout our history. Modern mechanised environments allow—and often encourage—much more sedentary behaviour than the environments in which our bodies developed. Research examining physical activity from an evolutionary perspective has described this mismatch between our biology and contemporary living.
Modern life has not only reduced how much we move.
It has reduced how many different ways we move.
The body responds exactly as an adaptable biological system should.
It adapts to the life we give it.
Little by little, movements that are no longer practised become movements that are more difficult to access. Our usable ranges become smaller. Confidence diminishes. Coordination becomes less precise. Eventually, we may interpret these changes as inevitable consequences of age.
But age is only part of the story.
In many cases, we are also experiencing the consequences of years—or decades—during which our bodies were no longer asked to express their full movement potential.
That realisation transformed the way I understand exercise, movement and healthy ageing.
The Lesson More Than Forty Years of Teaching Taught Me
When I started teaching movement forty years ago, I was asking many of the same questions that most coaches and fitness professionals were asking:
How can we become stronger?
How can we improve cardiovascular fitness?
How can we prevent physical decline?
These were—and remain—important questions.
But over time, I realised that they were incomplete.
My professional and personal background was always closely connected to integrated movement. I taught gymnastics, martial arts and physical education in Portuguese state schools. I served as a Portuguese national kickboxing coach and practised many different sports and disciplines, including basketball, handball, volleyball, canoeing, aikido and ballroom dancing.
In gymnastics, we created and performed sporting and acrobatic routines.
In martial arts, we reacted to another person and solved movement problems in real time.
In team sports, we had to communicate, cooperate, change direction, make decisions and adapt to an unpredictable environment.
Movement required balance, coordination, reaction, timing, precision, rhythm, creativity, problem-solving and teamwork.
The whole body participated.
Movement had meaning.
Movement had a purpose.
Later, after moving to Australia, I began working as a personal trainer in 2012. For approximately three or four years, I worked in traditional gyms.
Like many fitness centres, these gyms were physically and conceptually divided into two main areas:
The cardio area.
And:
The strength-training area.
Without necessarily intending to, the fitness industry had also divided our understanding of the human body into those same two categories.
Cardio.
Strength.
As though these two capacities represented the complete picture of human movement.
Cardiovascular fitness is essential.
Strength is essential.
We develop both at Empowered Ageing.
However, the body is also balance, mobility, coordination, timing, rhythm, reaction, proprioception, spatial awareness, adaptability, motor control, joint health and the capacity to organise many parts of the body simultaneously.
Even while I was working in traditional gyms, I never felt fully connected or motivated by that environment.
The programmes could improve strength and cardiovascular capacity, but something felt incomplete.
Looking back, I understand why.
My movement background had never been built around machines or isolated muscles. Gymnastics had never taught me to see the body as a collection of separate parts. Martial arts had never asked me to move simply to strengthen one muscle.
I was accustomed to movements that were integrated, challenging and purposeful.
I was not searching for another collection of exercises.
I was searching for a more complete understanding of human movement.
Every discipline, course, client and teaching experience added another piece to that puzzle.
Then, in 2014, I discovered Animal Flow training system.
When Theory Became Practice
One of the systems that profoundly influenced my understanding was Animal Flow®, created by movement educator Mike Fitch.
Animal Flow is a structured, ground-based bodyweight movement system influenced primarily by gymnastics, parkour, hand balancing, breakdancing and animal locomotion. Mike Fitch’s contribution was not the invention of animal-inspired movement itself, but the creation of a teachable system with defined techniques, components, progressions and a shared movement language.
The official Animal Flow system contains six components: Wrist Mobilisations, Activations, Form Specific Stretches, Travelling Forms, Switches and Transitions, and Flow. The Form Specific Stretches, for example, are full-body mobilisations that move dynamically through different ranges, while the transitions combine mobility, strength, stability and coordination.
As the education surrounding Animal Flow evolved, Mike and other educators increasingly discussed joint preparation, joint capacity, usable ranges of motion and ideas associated with Functional Range Systems and Kinstretch.
These were not the original scientific foundations of Animal Flow, and Controlled Articular Rotations are not one of its six official components. Nevertheless, the growing emphasis on joint control and usable range helped me connect biomechanical theory with practical movement education. Animal Flow itself has acknowledged this continuing dialogue with Functional Range Systems within its educational community.
For me, this was an important turning point.
Not because Animal Flow gave me all the answers.
It did not.
But it helped connect ideas that I had been exploring for decades.
I was no longer only studying movement theoretically.
I was experiencing those principles through my own body.
I could feel how supporting my body on my hands and feet changed the demands placed upon my wrists, shoulders, spine, hips and ankles.
I could feel how transitions through different angles required the nervous system to organise the body as one coordinated whole.
I experienced how strength, mobility, balance, timing, spatial awareness and concentration could be trained inside the same movement.
Through my Animal Flow education, practice and mentorship experiences, theoretical knowledge became practical knowledge.
And this matters.
Knowing that joints should move is not enough.
Knowing that we should explore different planes, angles and ranges is not enough.
We also need systems and teaching methods capable of translating those principles into safe, progressive and engaging practice.
Animal Flow provided one valuable model for doing that.
Early research into quadrupedal movement training is still limited and has largely involved younger adults, so we should not exaggerate what has already been demonstrated. However, one eight-week study found improvements in functional movement scores and some active hip and shoulder ranges after quadrupedal movement training. Another smaller study reported improvements in cognitive flexibility and joint-position awareness at a specifically trained shoulder angle. These findings are promising, although they cannot automatically be generalised to every person or to all older adults.
Animal Flow became an important influence on my work, but it was never the final destination.
It joined the knowledge I had gained through gymnastics, martial arts, physical education, strength training, functional training, rehabilitation principles, neuroscience and decades of observing people learn to move.
All these experiences contributed to the development of the Empowered Ageing approach.
We Were Not Designed to Exercise Without Meaning
For most of human history, movement was not separated from life in the way it often is today.
People did not squat because a fitness instructor wanted them to complete fifteen repetitions.
They squatted to prepare food, work near the ground, build, gather and care for children.
They did not carry objects because they were following a resistance-training programme.
They carried water, tools, firewood, food and children.
They climbed.
Reached.
Balanced.
Pulled.
Pushed.
Walked and ran over irregular ground.
They threw objects, rotated, changed direction and reacted to the environment.
Movement solved problems.
Movement completed tasks.
Movement had a reason.
This may help explain why many people find conventional exercise difficult to sustain. Human beings are often more engaged when an activity feels meaningful, enjoyable, challenging or connected to a personal objective.
This does not mean that structured exercises or repetitions are useless. They are valuable tools.
But repetitions should serve a purpose rather than becoming the entire purpose.
Research into exercise participation in older adults also recognises that motivation, individualisation and meaningful engagement influence whether people begin and continue exercising.
Purpose creates engagement.
Practice creates adaptation.
When the two come together, exercise becomes something more meaningful.
It becomes a way of rediscovering what it means to be a moving human being.
The Science Behind Healthy Movement
Movement is not simply a way to burn calories or make muscles stronger.
It is a biological stimulus that affects many systems at the same time.
When we move:
- muscles produce force;
- bones experience mechanical loading;
- joints change position;
- connective tissues adapt to tension and compression;
- circulation responds to the metabolic demands of the tissues;
- the nervous system coordinates sensation and action;
- and the brain continually refines its internal representation of the body.
The body is constantly receiving information about what it is expected to do.
When a movement is practised consistently, the nervous system becomes more familiar with it. When a muscle is progressively loaded, it adapts. When balance is challenged safely, the sensory and motor systems have an opportunity to refine their responses.
The opposite is also true.
When abilities are rarely used, performance tends to decline.
This is particularly relevant after the age of 60—not because improvement is no longer possible, but because many people have accumulated years of limited movement variety, sedentary behaviour, pain, fear or avoidance.
The World Health Organization’s guidelines for adults aged 65 and over do not recommend only aerobic activity. They also emphasise muscle strengthening and multicomponent activities involving functional balance and strength.
The body is more than cardio and strength.
Our training should reflect that complexity.
Why Every Joint Matters
Muscles do not exist simply to become larger or stronger.
One of their primary roles is to produce and control movement.
And movement occurs through joints.
Each joint has a particular structure and a range of possible functions.
The spine flexes, extends, side-bends and rotates.
The shoulders provide extensive mobility while also requiring active control.
The hips combine mobility, stability and force transmission.
The knees manage large forces while bending and extending.
The ankles adapt to the ground and help the body absorb, transfer and produce force.
The many joints of the feet allow us to respond to changing surfaces.
The hands and wrists help us support, manipulate, grip and interact with the world.
The biomechanics of these relationships can be partly explained through arthrokinematics.
Arthrokinematics describes the small movements that occur between joint surfaces—including rolling, gliding and spinning. These movements happen alongside the larger, visible movements of a limb, known as osteokinematics.
When you raise your arm, for example, you see the arm moving.
What you do not see is the complex relationship between the head of the humerus, the shoulder socket, the shoulder blade, the clavicle and the surrounding tissues.
A movement that appears simple from the outside is often remarkably complex inside the body.
Neumann’s Kinesiology of the Musculoskeletal System provides a detailed scientific foundation for understanding these interactions between muscles and joints.
This is also why “moving through full range” needs to be understood correctly.
It does not mean forcing every person into the theoretical maximum range of every joint.
Joint structure, previous injuries, surgery, pain, medical conditions and individual anatomy all matter.
The objective is to help each person progressively explore the widest safe, controlled and useful range available to them, while improving strength and confidence within that range.
Mobility without control may not be useful.
Strength without sufficient movement options may also be limiting.
Healthy movement requires both.
What Happens When Movement Options Become Smaller?
Joint mobility naturally changes across the lifespan, although the amount of change differs considerably between joints and between individuals. A study involving participants from childhood to age 92 found that age-related mobility loss was joint-specific rather than identical throughout the body.
When joints and movement patterns are rarely explored, several consequences can develop:
- Reduced usable range of motion. Activities such as reaching overhead, turning, kneeling or stepping over obstacles become harder.
- Greater stiffness and movement discomfort. Muscles, connective tissues and joint capsules may become less tolerant of positions they rarely experience.
- Reduced strength and control near the edges of the available range. A person may technically possess some mobility but lack the strength or confidence to use it.
- Less precise balance, coordination and body awareness. The nervous system receives fewer opportunities to practise organising the body in varied positions.
- Greater difficulty with everyday functions. Getting dressed, entering a car, reaching a shelf, recovering balance or standing up from the floor can become increasingly demanding.
Flexibility and mobility interventions can improve range of motion in older adults, although research is still developing regarding exactly how flexibility training should be prescribed and how much it independently influences broader functional outcomes.
It is important not to claim that limited movement automatically causes arthritis or systemic inflammation.
Arthritis, pain and inflammation are influenced by many factors, including genetics, previous injury, metabolic health, body composition, immune processes and mechanical loading.
However, inactivity can contribute to stiffness, weakness and poorer function, while appropriately prescribed exercise can improve pain, stiffness, function and muscle strength in people who already have conditions such as knee osteoarthritis.
This is not simply a story of ageing.
It is also a story of adaptation.
And the hopeful news is that adaptation can work in both directions.
Movement Supports the Body’s Natural Maintenance Systems
The body already possesses sophisticated systems for maintaining internal balance and processing substances it no longer needs.
The liver transforms many metabolic products.
The kidneys filter the blood and produce urine.
The lungs remove carbon dioxide.
The digestive system processes and eliminates digestive waste.
The lymphatic system helps return excess fluid and proteins from the tissues to the circulation and participates in immune function.
Movement does not magically “flush toxins” out of muscles or joints.
Scientific evidence does not support that simplified explanation.
What movement does is more precise and no less impressive.
Muscle contractions contribute to venous return.
Changes in pressure during breathing help the movement of blood and lymphatic fluid.
Joint motion changes pressure within and around tissues.
Articular cartilage has no direct blood supply and depends largely on exchanges involving synovial fluid and the surrounding joint environment. Repeated, appropriate loading and unloading contribute to fluid and nutrient exchange within joint tissues.
Movement therefore supports the conditions in which the body’s own transport, maintenance and repair processes can operate.
The body already knows how to care for itself.
Our role is to provide the best possible environment:
Movement.
Appropriate loading.
Nutrition.
Hydration.
Sleep.
Recovery.
Breathing.
And sufficient time.
Why Empowered Ageing Looks Different
People sometimes ask why our programmes include:
Floor work.
Rolling.
Crawling patterns.
Rotations.
Balance challenges.
Reaching.
Changes of direction.
Transitions between standing and the floor.
Movement on the hands and feet.
Unilateral and contralateral patterns.
Rhythm.
Reaction.
Coordination.
Problem-solving.
And complex three-dimensional movement.
The answer is simple.
Because modern life no longer provides enough of these experiences.
If daily life no longer challenges our joints, balance, strength, coordination and movement vocabulary, our training needs to recreate those opportunities deliberately.
This does not mean that every person should perform the same movement.
It does not mean that an 80-year-old beginner should immediately crawl, jump or move through advanced Animal Flow transitions.
Complex movement does not have to mean fast, extreme or unsafe movement.
A movement can be complex because it asks several systems to cooperate—even when performed slowly, with support and within a small range.
At Empowered Ageing, complexity is adapted.
Movements are selected according to the person’s health, experience, confidence and current capacities.
We progress from simple to more demanding.
From supported to independent.
From familiar to less predictable.
From isolated practice to integrated movement.
We use Animal Flow as one valuable system, but not as the only answer. We also draw from gymnastics, martial arts, strength and balance training, mobility work, games, dance, fall-prevention practice and other movement disciplines.
Our movements are varied, but they are not random.
They have intentions.
They have technical principles.
They have progressions.
They are designed to help people preserve and expand movement options.
Options to kneel.
Options to reach.
Options to rotate.
Options to recover balance.
Options to carry something safely.
Options to move confidently through unfamiliar environments.
Options to get down to the floor and stand back up.
Options to continue living independently.
Strength matters.
Cardiovascular fitness matters.
We train both.
But they are parts of a much richer picture.
Research comparing multicomponent and strength-focused programmes in older adults has found that both can offer benefits, while multicomponent approaches may provide additional advantages for gait, functional capacity and broader physical abilities.
The body is complex.
Healthy movement should respect that complexity.
The Body Can Still Adapt at 70, 80 and 90
Ageing changes the body.
Recovery may be slower.
Muscle protein synthesis can become less responsive.
Some joints may contain structural changes that cannot be completely reversed.
Previous injuries and health conditions matter.
We should not promise that every limitation can disappear.
But we should also reject the belief that meaningful improvement is no longer possible.
The human body remains alive and responsive throughout life.
Muscle can become stronger.
Muscle fibres can increase in size.
Balance can improve.
Movement skills can be learned.
Confidence can be rebuilt.
Usable range can increase.
Daily functions can become easier.
A landmark study involving frail nursing-home residents in their nineties showed that progressive resistance training produced substantial improvements in strength, muscle size and functional mobility. Research in older adults has also demonstrated that skeletal muscle retains the capacity to respond to resistance training at the cellular and fibre level.
Progress at 80 may not happen at the same speed as it did at 20.
But slower progress is still progress.
The aim is not to deny ageing.
It is to create the conditions in which the body can express as much of its remaining adaptive capacity as possible.
We Are Not Fighting Ageing
Perhaps this is the most important lesson I have learned through more than forty years of teaching movement.
We are not trying to stop ageing.
Ageing is one of life’s greatest privileges.
What we are trying to prevent is the unnecessary loss of function, confidence and independence.
The body continues listening throughout life.
The question is:
What message are we sending it every day?
Whenever we explore another safe range of motion…
Whenever we practise a movement that has been forgotten…
Whenever we balance…
Rotate…
Reach…
Move down to the floor…
And stand back up again…
We send the body an important message:
“This ability still matters to me.”
And the body often responds by continuing to invest in that ability.
That is why, at Empowered Ageing, we do not simply teach exercise.
We help people rediscover and develop the extraordinary movement potential with which they were born.
Because the goal is not simply to live longer.
It is to move through life with greater freedom, confidence, purpose and independence.
And, above all, with better health and quality of life.
Written by Arlindo Martins
Founder and Healthy Ageing Movement Coach at Empowered Ageing
Selected Scientific References and Recommended Reading
- Richardson, M. J. et al. — “Quadrupedal Movement Training Improves Markers of Cognition and Joint Repositioning”
- Fiatarone, M. A. et al. — “High-Intensity Strength Training in Nonagenarians”
- Verdijk, L. B. et al. — “Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy Following Resistance Training Is Accompanied by a Fibre Type-Specific Increase in Satellite Cell Content in Elderly Men”
- Stathokostas, L. et al. — “Flexibility Training and Functional Ability in Older Adults”
- Medeiros, H. B. O. and Araújo, D. S. M. S. — “Age-Related Mobility Loss Is Joint-Specific”
- Allan, D. A. — “Structure and Physiology of Joints and Their Relationship to Repetitive Strain Injuries”
- Animal Flow — Official website and description of the six components