EXERCISE AND AGING

Exercise is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. Daily exercise can improve one’s mood, promote an active lifestyle and reduce a person’s risk for a host of ailments, including diabetes and heart disease.

Despite the importance of exercise, many people live sedentary lifestyles into their golden years.

Seniors who want to embrace a healthier way of life and get more physically active should first consult with their physicians before beginning an exercise regimen. Certain medications may limit just how far seniors can push themselves, while pre-existing conditions may make specific types of exercise off limits.

After discussing their limitations with their physicians and developing a safe exercise routine, seniors can heed the following tips to avoid injury but still get healthy.

Pick a partner. Whether it’s a spouse or a friend who is physically active or wants to be, try exercising with a partner, at least initially. Doing so can provide the motivation you need, and partners can serve as safety nets should you need assistance completing an exercise or

suffer an injury and require medical attention. Personal trainers can serve as your partners, and many gyms offer discounts to seniors on personal training services.

Start slowly. Seniors who have not been physically active for some time should take a gradual approach to exercise. Instead of heading right for the treadmill, exercise bike or elliptical machine, start walking every day. When it rains, find a treadmill you can walk on.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends seniors begin by determining how many steps they can take in a day and then gradually working toward 10,000 to 15,000 steps per day. Utilize step-counting apps on your smartphone to track your progress.

Apply the same slow approach to strength training exercises, lifting only very light weights at first before gradually increasing the weights as your body acclimates to the exercises.

Stretch. Bodies that have been inactive for lengthy periods of time are inflexible, and lack of flexibility

increases your risk for injury. The AAOS recommends that seniors warm up their bodies before stretching with five to 10 minutes of low-intensity activity such as walking. Then stretch gently, remembering to relax and breathe during each stretch.

Switch things up. When strength training, do not work the same muscle group two days in a row. Muscles need time to recover. If you prefer circuit strength training where you exercise various muscle groups in one day, do not strength train on back-to-back days, leaving at least one day in between strength training sessions so muscles have ample time to recover. No one is too old to exercise.

It’s not uncommon for men and women in their so-called golden years to think they are too old to exercise. Some may feel that their toned-down workouts cannot possibly be making much of an impact, thanks to the physical limitations old age has put on their bodies, while others may think it’s unwise for those in their 70s or 80s to be physically active. But no one is too old to exercise, as exercise helps the body stay strong and fit even when you can no longer max out on the bench press or squat hundreds of pounds.

Scaling back your exercise routine will be necessary as you get older, but that does not mean you cannot still enjoy and benefit from physical activity.

Continuing to exercise as you age is a great way to improve your quality of life and stay as active as possible well into your later years.

COURTESY OF METRO CREATIVE If you’ve lived a relatively sedentary lifestyle and want to change that as you get older, it’s a good idea to start slowly. Pick a partner with whom to exercise and begin with something simple — like walking every day.