Joint Mobility/Health for older guys

Hello everyone!

Christmas is approaching fast, and I want to give some sort of joint mobility book to my father.

He was a fairly advanced athlete in his days but - unfortunately - suffers from quite a few injuries, with one of them being arthritis.

He likes to go running, but had some hip pain lately which kept him stationary und let him gain a couple pounds in the last months.

I want to give him something, which will help him get back on track and stay active. I researched joint mobility books and really only found "Super joints" by Pavel Tsatsouline and, even though I have one of his kettlebell books, I am not quite sure about the guy.

Does anybody here has some opinions about this book or can recommend other ones? I guess "Liquid Steel™" won't come out before Christmas, right?

I read it a couple of years ago now, can't remember it very well but from what I can remember it was pretty good. Explains the concept of stretching the joint rather than the muscle in a pretty nice way and has a pretty comprehensive set of exercises for all the joints.

As for it being appropriate for an older person, the book mentions this Russian surgeon who did the listed exercises everyday and was well into his later years and was still able to last all day in the operating theatre, much longer than his younger counterparts. I know this doesn't prove how effective the program is but it's pretty remarkable.

Might have to unearth my copy for some more prehab until liquid steel™ come out, thanks for reminding me of this

Thanks, so I guess it's worth buying. I just figured that those type of exercises may be dangerous, if not done correctly. Therefore, the right instructions are crucial.

I just reviewed my copy. I think Pavel is someone most men can easily relate to, and his information is actually quite good, if at times somewhat exaggerated. He has a safety first attitude, and joint mobility by nature should not be done to extremes, as Pavel emphasizes.

I tend to buy from here, as they offer free world wide shipping

http://www.bookdepository.com/Super-Joints-Pavel-Tsatsouline/9780938045366

Yoga wise some ideas are Vini-Yoga or if they are more athletic to some one like Doug Swenson. (His brother David is also good, but i don't recommend older people to start with Ashtanga, after some experience with yoga i can be great, Doug's system has a lot of the same ideas i work with now in my classes.) Google will give you some ideas if you go this route.

In any case, yoga has forgotten a lot of this basic joint mobility work. In fact, because i'm a big believer in it, i see that many students think it's too easy, and completely misunderstand the point. Yet all of the older yoga teacher's i know do incorporate this type of work into their classes, the younger have eschewed it, in favor of 'glamour' poses, a big mistake!

A combination of both is the best medicine, and not all that far away from traditional gymnastic preparation.

Sorry for the short rant, in any case, if possible, get an accompanying DVD, i'm pretty sure that there is one for Super Joints. Seeing the movements is very helpful for learning them.

Get Steve Maxwell's Encylopedia of Joint Mobility. Most thorough list of exercises for each limb of the body with detailed instruction. I consider this a better value than other joint mobility systems out there!