Try as we might to avoid it, aging is a natural part of life. As you get older, certain things like exercise will become more difficult. However, it’s far from impossible. You’ll just need to make adjustments to account for any health conditions you might have. For example, you’ll need to figure out if you can exercise with a catheter if you have one.
Regardless of what you’re dealing with, some exercises are better for older adults to do than others. We’re here to go over some of the ones we think you’ll be able to handle on your own.
Daily Walks
Going on daily walks is a good starting point for people who haven’t worked out in a while. You might be surprised to find out that walking is a great exercise for losing weight, especially if you’re consistent about it. While running might be better for quickly dropping the pounds, walking doesn’t cause lower joint pain like running does. This is something many seniors will appreciate about their long walks.
Yoga and Pilates
If you’re more interested in strengthening your core, both yoga and Pilates are great options. Yoga is a bit slower, which means it’ll involve some weight-bearing positions that you’ll need to hold for a long time. Pilates is a bit faster-paced, so it avoids this issue. Either way, both options are great for older adults.
Water Aerobics
A classic exercise that’s good for seniors to partake in is water aerobics. These programs utilize the natural buoyancy of water to give your joints a break while working out. Plus, the resistance of the water acts as a form of adding weights to your routines. Through these programs, you can focus on just about any muscle group you’d like to improve on.
Swimming Laps
If water aerobics doesn’t seem like the right option for you, but you like to spend time in the pool, regularly swimming laps is a great way to improve your cardio. In some cases, swimming might be more beneficial for you than running ever could have been, especially since there won’t be any hard impacts on your joints. It won’t take very long to get tired, but the more often you go, the more your overall endurance will improve.
Resistance Band Workouts
Finally, if you’d like to truly focus on muscle gain in a more ordinary way while still avoiding heavy weights, you should look into resistance band workouts. Due to the nature of these bands, you can make the exercises as easy or strenuous as you’d like. All you have to do is stretch the band out further to get more resistance out of it. With this type of equipment, you can work most of your muscle groups with ease.
Dianne Pajo is a Certified Personal Trainer based out of the Chicagoland area with a passion for music, combat sports, and animals. She enjoys competing in amateur boxing and kickboxing, but in her other leisure time, you can find her performing music around the city. She is also a dog mom of 2.