Exercise Is More Important Than Ever
It’s a fact that a body at 50 or 60 years old is not the same as one at 20. It won’t be appropriate for you to perform the same tasks. But maintaining your freedom and a high standard of living as you age depends on exercise. What therefore should you consider in order to maintain your health without endangering yourself?
Types of Exercise
Everybody requires a different kind, regardless of age. Exercise that increases heart rate and forces you to breathe more forcefully increases endurance and burns calories. Weightlifting or strength exercise maintains your muscles prepared for action. Exercises for flexibility help you maintain your suppleness so you can move freely and prevent injuries. After 50, balance training becomes crucial for preventing falls and maintaining an active lifestyle.
Select the Appropriate Tasks
Less jumping and hammering during lower-impact exercise is better for your joints. You’ll obtain more exercise for your money by engaging in certain activities that offer multiple forms of exercise. Choose activities that you enjoy doing, please! Based on the restrictions of any medical conditions you may have, your doctor or physical therapist can recommend better options or ways to modify sports and exercises for you.
Strolling
Easy and efficient! It improves your endurance, fortifies the muscles in your lower body, and aids in the prevention of bone disorders like osteoporosis. Including it into your day is simple. It might be social or you can go it alone. You can workout and converse with a companion or group at a reasonable pace.
Running
Try jogging to raise your heart rate if you prefer to perspire a little bit more when you work out. Your joints should be alright as long as you go at a steady pace, use appropriate footwear, and take walking breaks. Grass or soft surfaces like a track could be beneficial as well. To reduce your risk of injury, focus on your hips and calves and do additional stretching and strengthening exercises.
Dancing
Whatever style you choose is fine: ballroom, queue, square, even dance-based aerobics programmes like Jazzercise and Zumba. Your endurance, muscle strength, and balance will all increase with dance. It causes you to move in all directions, which burns a lot of calories. Studies reveal that picking up new skills is also very beneficial to the brain. Furthermore, you can be having so much fun that you won’t even realise you’re working out.
Playing golf
Walking is a big part of this sport’s benefits—a typical round entails around 10,000 steps, or roughly 5 miles! Additionally, swinging takes strong balance and a calm, focused mind. It also employs your entire body. You can get even more exercise if you pull or carry your clubs. But it’s still worthwhile to use a cart. In addition to getting some fresh air and relieving tension, you’re still using your muscles and making progress.
Cycling
Because your legs don’t have to bear your weight, it’s particularly beneficial if you have painful or stiff joints. The exercise increases blood flow to your muscles and strengthens your hips, legs, and back. You steer with your arms and shoulders and maintain balance with your abs. As a result of the resistance, your bones are also strengthened. For a variety of health concerns, specially made bike frames and seats can make riding safer and more comfortable.
Tennis
Racquet sports, such as badminton, squash, and tennis, may be very effective at extending your life and reducing your risk of cardiac death. Tennis players who play two or three times a week report reduced body fat, increased “good” HDL cholesterol, and improved endurance and reaction speeds. It also strengthens bones, particularly those in the neck, low back, and arm. For a less strenuous, more sociable workout, play doubles.
Strengthening Exercise
One of the biggest causes of people feeling less energetic as they age is muscle loss. You can increase your strength, muscular mass, and flexibility by lifting weights, using resistance bands, working out on a machine, or performing exercises using just your body weight, such as push-ups and sit-ups. It will simplify tasks like stair climbing and grocery shopping. Although it’s not required, you can join a gym. Shovel work and digging in the garden also count!
Swimming
In the water, you can work out for longer than on land. Your joints won’t be overworked or strained by weight, and the resistance of the water helps to strengthen your bones and muscles. Like jogging and cycling, swimming laps burns calories and strengthens your heart, but you won’t likely become too hot. The dampness facilitates breathing for asthmatics. Exercise that involves the water helps patients with fibromyalgia think more positively.
Yoga
Your muscles, as well as the tendons and ligaments that keep your bones together, will be strengthened and stretched by actively holding a sequence of poses. It also qualifies as a form of meditation when done mindfully. Yoga can help reduce anxiety and depression as well as blood pressure and heart rate. To find a class or style that suits both your fitness level and interests, check them out.
Tai Chi
This silent practice is also referred to as “moving meditation.” Breathing deeply, you flow from one posture to the next with your body moving slowly and gently. It can strengthen bones and heart health in addition to being beneficial for balance. It might lessen arthritic stiffness and pain. It may even improve your quality of sleep.
To What Extent?
You should engage in moderate aerobic activity for at least 150 minutes each week if your health is good. It works best when stretched out over three days or longer, and done for ten minutes at a minimum each day. Additionally, dedicate at least two days a week to working out the muscles in your arms, shoulders, chest, hips, back, abs, and legs.
In general, the benefits increase with the amount of activity you get. Moreover, everything is preferable to nothing.
Begin Gradually
This is particularly crucial if you haven’t worked out in a long or if you’re beginning a new activity that your body isn’t used to. Start with ten minutes and work your way up to increasing the duration, frequency, or intensity of your workouts.
When to Give Your Doctor a Call
Warning symptoms that may arise from exercise include nausea, dizziness, breathing difficulties, and problems with balance and chest pain. Inform your physician as soon as possible.
Your body will not heal as quickly as it once did. You could have overdone it if the next day your joints or muscles hurt. Turn it down and observe the results. Consult your physician if the discomfort persists.