What is MBF (Movement Beyond Fifty)?

Have you ever felt in your adult life that your body no longer moves like it used to? If so, MBF is for you.

Millions of people all around the world feel that they are losing movement competence as they age. However, this decline can be mitigated to a large extent by regular physical activity. The MBF approach is an excellent alternative to combat this problem that largely affects Western societies.

MBF (Movement Beyond Fifty) is a movement system based on 3 fundamentals:

1. Breathing
2. Movements on the floor
3. Getting up and lying down on the floor

It was initially created to help frail older adults to recover from falls but it quickly became a form of exercise that could benefit any adult. Why? Because it works on fundamental movement patterns that we all use in our daily lives, such as squatting, pushing or lunging.

To better understand what MBF is all about, let me talk a little bit about each one of the MBF components and why they are so important in this system.

1 – Breathing:

In MBF we will emphasize nasal and diaphragmatic breathing, that is, we will breathe exclusively through the nose (both in inhalation and exhalation) and we will breathe into the belly (diaphragmatic breathing) instead of breathing into the chest.

What are the advantages of breathing this way? The advantages are enormous but in the context of MBF we do it for two main reasons:

• Better oxygenation
• Better movement

Why do we OXYGENATE better by breathing this way?

• When we breathe exclusively through our nose, we exhale less carbon dioxide (CO2), keeping more of this gas in our body. CO2 is the key variable that allows the release of oxygen from the red blood cells to be metabolized by the body. This is called the Bohr effect.
• Breathing exclusively through your nose will slow down our breathing, giving more time for gas exchange in your lungs, resulting in 10% to 20% more oxygen uptake in the blood.
• When we breathe through our nose, we have access to a gas that we produce in our nasal cavities called Nitric Oxide which plays an important role in a series of systems in our body, including the circulatory and respiratory systems, being able to influence our blood flow and oxygenation levels.
• Diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing) is a breath that causes air to reach the lower part of the lungs. This is very important in optimizing body oxygenation as the lungs are larger at the bottom, which is where the highest concentration of blood is found.

And why do we MOVE better breathing this way?

Nose breathing seems to be more connected with diaphragmatic breathing, which is when we breathe using predominantly our diaphragm. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle located at the level of the lower ribs which, during inspiration, lowers its structure, pressing our organs and viscera. This creates an intra-abdominal pressure that will provide stability to our spine. Good central stability will help us to better express our mobility, strength and power.

If you don’t have stability in your spine to support a given movement, it’s like shooting a cannon from a canoe or shooting a slingshot whose stick is not stable. In both cases things probably will not go well.

2 – Movements on the floor

The good thing about moving on the floor is that you don’t have to worry about falling. The floor offers us safety, reduces the perception of threat in relation to falls, as well as any protection mechanisms that may exist (e.g. high muscle tone).

• The floor offers us stability as our body is supported by the floor, this can help us explore our mobility in an effortless and safe way.
• Improves our body awareness due to the contact of our body segments with the floor. This contact can give us information about our static and dynamic posture.
• Floor work helps us feel comfortable on the floor again. Most adults do not feel comfortable being on the floor, this is because they have become more distant from it over the years. It is this distance from the floor that leads to a decline in people’s ability to move.

3 – Getting up and lying down on the floor

• Helps to improve basic movement patterns such as squatting, lunging or pushing.
• Improves body awareness through movement.
• It’s an excellent way to work on our mobility, stability, coordination, balance, cardio and strength.
• Helps reduce the consequences of a fall.

Saying that, my objective with this system is to stimulate a movement practice that is sustainable with the aging process in order to promote movement longevity, that is, the ability of an individual to maintain an active lifestyle throughout his lifetime. No fancy equipment is required, just your body and the floor.

And the good thing about this approach is that it doesn’t take away your energy, on the contrary, it fills you with vitality. It’s not working out, it’s working in. Look at the video bellow, give it a try and I promise you won´t regret it.

Unleash the potential of your fifties with our specially crafted five-week fitness program. Visit our website and start your transformative journey today!