Walking, lifting, and even swimming, health experts say staying active can make you look and feel younger. Anything that gets the heart beating faster and your muscles and joints moving is going to have health benefits. Exercising as we age can help with chronic pain. it can also prevent injuries and falls. Regular exercise has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, depression, and memory loss and can boost mood, confidence, and mental health.
Doing exercise, it’s even more critical as we age because the benefits increase as we get older. Health experts say not only can exercise improve your energy levels, your memory, and your mood, but it can also help with bone and muscle strength and help you maintain your independence. But if you need to get used to an active lifestyle, we suggest starting slow.
People as they start exercising, especially as they start exercising in their later years do need to know their limitations. Choose something you enjoy doing and make it become a routine. Also, have a goal in mind. Adding some type of physical activity can even help reverse some of the symptoms of aging. Experts say that it is never too late to get started. Here are our three tips for staying active as you get older:
- Stay social. Exercising with someone not only can be more motivating but also holds you more accountable.
- Make active choices. Choose the stairs instead of elevators, work outside in your garden, walk with a friend instead of meeting for lunch or stretch while you watch TV.
- Be safe. start small. Go slow. Exercise is not about taking risks; it’s about slowly building up stamina and strength.
Age is no barrier to starting or continuing an exercise routine. We will suggest you some exercises that you can do in the comfort of your home. For this first exercise, if you don’t have waits at home, you’ll need two bottles of water or two cans from the cupboard. There are two ways you can tackle each of these workouts. there will be an easy option and then a hard option for each. So, choose which one you’re most comfortable with. Now on to the weighted arm toners.
Hold weights in each hand by your side. Complete a bicep curl, bending at the elbows to lift the weights towards your shoulders. From this position, push your weights above your head, straightening out your elbows and completing a shoulder press. Try not to tense your neck or shrug your shoulders during this movement. Now onto your lower body resistance exercises.
We’ll start with squats. So, bending at the knees and hips, squat downwards. your right should always be higher than your knees. Insure your knees don’t protrude too forward, whilst sticking your bottom out behind. Pause and then slowly return to the starting position. as you stand up tall again, push up through your heels, squeezing your bottom muscles as you do so. You can complete this exercise standing behind a chair, holding on for extra balance and support if needed.
So, with some wall pushups from a standing position, place your hands on the wall, shoulder-width apart. The further your feet are away from the wall, the harder the exercise will be. Standing on the balls of your feet, bend at the elbows to lower your body towards the wall. You should almost be close enough to kiss the wall. Push back, straightening at your elbows. you should feel the muscles in your shoulders, chest, and triceps working. If this is too easy, try completing it with your hands on a bench rather than the wall.
Now let’s try the sit-to-stand exercise. From the sitting position on the couch, stand up squeezing your bottom muscles as you do so. Then you need to slowly sit back down. Remember don’t fall back into the couch, control your movements. As you get better, try not to lean on your legs and do it purely to generate strength from your legs. Don’t use the armrests and complete more repetitions as you feel comfortable.
Now that’s great stuff, well done. These exercises will help with your strength and flexibility, which is particularly important. You’re now well on your way to becoming healthier and happier. All you need to do is start and you will feel the positivity and the improvement in your health after only a few days.
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