While everyone in most age brackets can work hard to stay fit and have a healthy life, seniors have more benefits to reap. This is because as you get older, you are prone to more damage from physical injury. But with exercise and the right workout routine, you can protect yourself more if you have a stronger body.
As we age, our muscle mass and strength wanes, especially if we don’t do anything to maintain our muscles properly. However, if we keep building our muscles, we’ll live a more active life as we get older, resulting in a longer and healthier life.
Luckily for you, we are here to talk about that. The best part about this is that we will be talking about some workout routines that don’t need any equipment or just need basic things like chairs, tables, etc. Here are some of them.
Water Aerobics
Water aerobics has been getting more and more popular lately, not just for seniors but for any age. This is great because you can do this if you have a swimming pool at home. If not, you might want to visit the nearest pool in your area or just skip this altogether. Exercising in the water is especially great for seniors because it helps them with arthritis and other forms of joint pain.
By exercising in the water, the buoyancy of the water puts less stress in their joints, making them do exercises safely without risking any joint pains. Additionally, you don’t need to have weights to do strength training because of the water-resistance. Water exercises can help them improve their flexibility, balance, and strength.
Some routines they can do are leg lifts, flutter kicking, arm curls, standing push-ups, aqua jogging, and more.
Chair Yoga
Chair yoga is also a low-impact exercise optimal for seniors. It improves strength, balance, and mobility, which are crucial health aspects for older adults because these aspects tend to wane away as you get older. Also, chair yoga puts less stress on the joints, bones, and muscles.
Besides that, chair yoga doesn’t only improves seniors’ physical health but also their mental health. Studies suggest that seniors who regularly engage in chair yoga have an improved quality of sleep, lower chances of getting depression, and an improved general sense of well-being. Some of the exercises they can do in chair yoga are overhead stretch, seated cat stretch, seated cow stretch, seated twist, etc.
Lying Hip Bridges
If you want a more specific exercise routine, let’s start with lying hip bridges. This routine is optimal for your glutes and opens up your hips for flexibility. This is great if you’re a senior who spends a lot of time sitting and lying down.
What you have to do is to lie flat on your back with your knees bent. Make sure your back is flattened to the ground so you can do this properly. Now, squeeze your bum and raise your hips. Make sure that you push through your entire foot. After that, you can slowly lower your hips until it touches the floor, and then you can do this routine again.
If you want your hips to be stronger, you can pair this routine with a rowing machine if you have it at home. There are a lot of lists about the best rowing machines for every individual online if you want to buy one for yourself.
Wall Push-Ups
You can do this simple exercise routine if you want to improve your upper body strength, especially with your arms and chest muscles. First, stand 2 feet away from the wall and touch the wall with your palms at shoulder length. Keep your body straight, and then you can bend your elbows diagonally to your sides to lower your chest on the wall.
And then slowly, you can push against the wall until you go back to your starting position. If you find it hard, you can stand closer to the wall until your body strength increases, and you can go back to standing 2 feet away.
Quadruped Opposite Arm and Leg Balance
This exercise is optimal to improve your balance, strength, and coordination in your pack abdominals. First, get on all fours with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Keep your back flat, and then slowly lift your hand to reach straight in front of your shoulders.
Do the same with your opposite leg at the same time. Do it for three breaths or as long as you can, and then after that, do the opposite arm and leg.
Final Words
Most seniors tend to have a lot of body and joint pains due to their age, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Seniors can still live a life full of energy if they keep themselves physically fit and active. By following the tips above, not only are they taking care of themselves but their loved ones because they will have a lot more time to spend with them.
