Old age does not mean that you should stop working out. You should have at least 150 minutes of exercise every week comprising mainly of endurance activities. These activities include cycling, walking, swimming, and others.
So, what are the benefits of exercise for seniors? Here are some of the great benefits that those with advanced age can get from workouts:
- Improves mobility, balance and flexibility – This is critical to minimize incidents of falls
- Strength training helps to reduce the impact of chronic illnesses such as arthritis
- Assists in maintaining and loss of excess weight – Workouts enhance metabolism, which tends to slow down with old age. They also help in muscle building, which ensures the burning of more calories
- Enhances sleep
- Uplifts moods and improves self-confidence
- Assists the brain in many ways like preventing memory loss, dementia, and other conditions, and slows down brain disorders like Alzheimer’s
Exercises for the aged
The following are some workouts that seniors can perform:
Aerobic activities
Aerobic activities are very helpful to aged people because they assist with torching calories, bringing down levels of blood pressure and cholesterol, enhancing cardiac health, and ensuring proper joint movement. They also help to have high overall energy levels. To start, seniors should do five-minute cardio sessions for a few days a week to keep their heart rate high, and then keep working to achieve 30 minutes of aerobic exercises on most days. Some of the endurance activities for seniors that have moderate intensity include walking briskly, swimming, as well as tennis and others. For more intense aerobic workouts, running and hiking are great choices.
While doing the aerobic workouts, the seniors as well as other exercisers could include steroids in their routine. They will help to supplement the workouts, thus keeping you fit by increasing metabolic activities and helping in muscle development. For quality steroids and steroid mixes, users should buy from reliable sellers such as 120 kgs.
Curling biceps
With advanced age, even lifting light things or moderately heavy objects could become a problem. Practising arm curls could help to strengthen the muscles involved with those lifting movements. To do these workouts, you could be seated or standing. You need to hold the weight while keeping your hands down and at your sides. With the elbows drawn inwards and palms pointed upwards, you need to bend your elbows and raise the weights, moving them to your chest. Maintain that position for a second and then slowly lower your arms down. Perform a set of 10 reps, rest, and then do another set.
Stretching your upper body
To reap the most from your workout program, flexibility is crucial. You can aim at working your arms and chest muscles. You need to stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms at your sides. Take your arms backwards and let the hands hold each other. You then need to pull your shoulders backwards and keep to that position for around 30 seconds, then release. Repeat the process five times and rest, then do the movement again.
Modified push-ups
Seniors may have trouble completing the traditional pushups, but they can do modified ones to enjoy the same benefits of working the shoulders, arms and chest muscles. Wall push-ups are great modifications of traditional push-ups. You need to stand facing a wall standing an arm’s length away. Next, lean forward and press your arms flat onto the wall. Bend your elbows outwards to gradually let your upper body move towards the wall. Hold the position for a while and then straighten your arms again, returning your body back to the original position. Perform a set of ten reps, take a short break, and then do another set again.
Conclusion
Seniors need to keep working out although the pain, limited mobility, and other factors can make the performance of various exercises difficult. This will call for modification of such exercises, and with the assistance of your fitness expert or physician, you can work around them. The aged should also go for low-impact exercises as well as water aerobics like swimming because they help them to keep fit without straining.
