Alive Fitness and Wellness with Irina Moore

Alive Fitness and Wellness with Irina Moore II am an education and fitness professional. It aids muscle hydration, joint mobility and can help chronic pain.

My passion is fascial fitness and I teach my own unique Fascial Flow Pilates and help people with joint pain using Block Therapy.

The article in today’s The Times “The superfit sixties. Can you keep up?” made me pick up my “pen” (aka my phone) and sh...
26/09/2026

The article in today’s The Times “The superfit sixties. Can you keep up?” made me pick up my “pen” (aka my phone) and share a few thoughts. 📱

It makes some good points about nutrition, and the women featured are undoubtedly strong, disciplined and inspiring. But I think an important part of the conversation about fitness in our 60s is missing.

Strength matters enormously as we age. Resistance training has well established benefits. But being strong isn’t only about how much weight we can lift, how much muscle we can build or how often we go to the gym.

We also need to ask:

How well does the body move?

The body doesn’t move in straight lines. It rotates, spirals, shifts, loads, unloads and transfers force across the whole body. Our understanding of fascia and myofascial connections also highlights how interconnected the body is.

That’s why my own training and that of my clients increasingly includes rotation, spirals, cross-body movement and varied planes of movement alongside strength.

Think:

Load. Rotate. Flow.

The aim is to temind the body to work as one connected system, rather than simply isolating individual muscles.

Many of the women featured came to serious training relatively late in life, so they have accumulated a comparatively short training history. Looking fantastic and lifting impressive weights after a few years is wonderful, but we don’t yet know what several decades of repeatedly loading the same movement patterns might mean for the body.

That isn’t an argument against strength training. It’s an argument for thinking beyond strength alone.

We should also stop suggesting that getting fit in your 60s requires an expensive gym membership, a complicated programme or three to four hour-long sessions every week.

The goal of training as we age shouldn’t simply be to look fit or lift heavy. It should be to build a body that is strong, mobile, adaptable and able to move well in every direction.

Strength is part of healthy ageing.
Movement and tissue quality is its essence.

What are your thoughts 💭 🤔

23/09/2026

Do you stretch? Does it help?

I don’t stretch anymore (thank you for knowledge and education).

What do I do instead?

I bounce on a Pilates ball every day. Sometimes it is just my feet, sometimes my arms, sometimes the whole body.

🦶 Why bounce the feet on a Pilates ball? (Part 1😉)

The plantar fascia and surrounding tissues are rich in collagen, water and sensory receptors. Gentle rhythmic loading creates a repeated compression–decompression cycle, which helps facilitate fluid movement through the extracellular matrix and support the relative sliding of tissue layers.

The small oscillations also provide varied sensory input through the foot, while creating movement through the plantar tissues, ankle, calf and hip.

Rather than aggressively “releasing” or “breaking up” fascia, think of it as mechanically stimulating the tissue and encouraging movement, fluid exchange and glide.

💧 Load → release → fluid redistribution → glide → repeat.

How to do it:

1. Ball under the forefoot.
2. Very gently load/unload it.
3. Slowly shift weight toward the heel, then forefoot.
4. Turn the foot slightly inward/outward.
5. Notice whether the sensation becomes warmer, softer or more mobile.

Rather than trying to bounce hard, try 30–90 seconds of very small, comfortable oscillations, occasionally changing the angle of your foot.

Sometimes less pressure and more movement is the key🔑 .

🦶✨ Give your fascia a little bounce.

My first field mushroom pick of the season! 🍄‍🟫✨There’s something about an autumn walk through the woods, basket in hand...
19/09/2026

My first field mushroom pick of the season! 🍄‍🟫✨

There’s something about an autumn walk through the woods, basket in hand, searching for wild mushrooms that always lifts my mood and fills me with joy.

Mushrooms are little nutritional powerhouses, providing essential nutrients including vitamin D, iron, potassium, calcium and zinc. They can also support immune function, heart and gut health, and may have benefits for brain health.

One of my favourites is the beautiful parasol mushroom — delicious grilled, fried or added to soups and stews. 😋
Parasol mushrooms specifically tend to collect and concentrate certain minerals from the soil, so they can be very high in essential minerals such as iron, calcium, potassium, and zinc.

I also love chanterelles and ceps, although sadly they don’t grow in our area.

Do you enjoy mushroom hunting? 🍄‍🟫
And what’s your favourite mushroom?

Just a few little memories from our break in Tenerife ☀️🌊After long stressful 8 months, this break was very much needed....
15/09/2026

Just a few little memories from our break in Tenerife ☀️🌊

After long stressful 8 months, this break was very much needed. Some sunshine, beautiful views, slow days and time to switch off.

Beautiful island, lovely memories, and exactly the reset we needed 🤍

A few days ago, I shared a post about DEXA results, and so many of you asked me to explain the numbers in a little more ...
07/09/2026

A few days ago, I shared a post about DEXA results, and so many of you asked me to explain the numbers in a little more detail. So, here is the follow-up using my own DEXA results as an example. 🤍

One thing I always want people to remember is that DEXA reports can look a bit intimidating at first — lots of numbers, abbreviations and scores — but the basic idea is actually quite simple.

I am 66, so, what do my numbers mean?

🦴 My T-scores were:
• Left femoral neck: −0.5
• Total left femur: −0.5
• Lumbar spine (L1–L4): −0.9

A T-score tells us how someone’s bone mineral density compares with the average bone density of a healthy young-adult reference population.

A score of 0 is around that reference average. A negative number means the measurement is below that reference average, and a positive number means it’s above it.

Importantly, my scores are nowhere near the −2.5 threshold used in osteoporosis classification in the appropriate populations, and my report classified my BMD as normal.

Then we have the Z-score.

🦴 My Z-scores were:
• Left femoral neck: +1.4
• Total left femur: +0.7
• Lumbar spine: +0.7

A Z-score compares bone density with an age-matched reference population. So a positive Z-score means my bone density is above that reference average.

In other words, my results were reassuring: normal BMD, T-scores between −0.5 and −0.9, and Z-scores between +0.7 and +1.4.

But — and this is really important — bone density is only one part of fracture risk. Your doctor would also consider things like age, previous fractures, medications, medical conditions and other risk factors. A DEXA result should never be interpreted in isolation.

And one final point: T- and Z-score interpretation depends on the person and their clinical context, so please don’t compare your numbers directly with mine and assume they mean the same thing for you.

I hope seeing a real-life example makes your own DEXA report feel a little less confusing. ❤️

Save this post for the next time you see a T-score or Z-score and think, “What on earth does that mean?” 😅

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