Focusing on aerobic exercise for seniors allows you to highlight heart-healthy movement in your routines. Focus on safe movements like Tai Chi and light cardio for the benefits without the risks.
Are you getting enough exercise in your weekly routine? According to studies from the CDC, seniors should get roughly two and a half hours of exercise every week. When mixing in rest days and your other activities, it's not easy to reach 150 minutes!
Zanesville is the perfect city for seniors looking to focus on aging and exercise. Our city is great for art lovers and historians alike, providing you with dozens of museums and attractions. Whether you're here for Vasehenge or the iconic Y-Bridge, there's always something to add to your days.
If you're curious about the low-impact cardio seniors need, we're here to help. Read on to learn more about aging and exercise.
The world of fitness is jam-packed with routines, ideas, and trends. What is aerobic exercise, and what makes aerobic exercise for seniors superior to other formats?
Aerobic exercise is a style of low-impact cardio that focuses on flexibility and stability. To borrow the Cleveland Clinic's definition, these exercises focus on using large muscle groups in repetitive, simple motions. These workouts focus on continuous and constant movement to keep your heart healthy.
As you research exercises, you'll likely come across measures of "impact." The impact of a workout is how hard it is on your joints, bones, and muscles. Heavy weightlifting, for example, is a high-impact exercise.
Aerobic exercises provide the low-impact cardio seniors need. These exercises are easy on your joints while still helping you stay active, happy, and healthy.
Some common exercises include:
Senior wellness programming often focuses on aerobics for its ease, health benefits, and group-centric nature. In short, it's a simple and common category of exercise that helps seniors stay healthy.
What are the best exercises for senior exercise routines? One of the first things to note is that these exercises are often done in a group format.
Partially, this is for the efficiency of teaching as many students as possible. However, there are also health benefits to exercising in a group.
Group fitness in assisted living communities is ideal for battling loneliness and isolation. According to Michigan Medicine, roughly a third of all seniors above the age of 50 feel lonely or isolated.
These exercises can be done alone, but we strongly recommend you find classes. You'll rarely have to look any farther than your living community!
Here at Clay Gardens Place Assisted Living, we're proud to offer you such opportunities. Browse our activity calendar to see what events are coming up next.
Tai Chi is a meditative exercise that focuses on enhancing your balance. Somewhat similar to the intensity of Yoga, Tai Chi uses slow and steady movements.
That contrasts with yoga's focus on poses and stationary relaxation. Rather than posing, you'll continue moving through your entire workout.
Tai chi is popular for fitness in senior communities due to its focus on balance and stability. Improving your balance reduces your chance of a fall while also improving your health. It's also easy to customize, which makes it perfect for people with chronic conditions or mobility limitations.
Yoga is a common and well-known exercise that focuses on flexibility and relaxation. But sitting on the floor is tough for some seniors, and getting back up can pose a fall risk! Chair yoga is ideal for people battling limited mobility.
As the name suggests, chair yoga is nothing more than doing yoga while seated in a chair. These chairs often have handles on the side to help you with stability and balance, as well as getting back up.
Many aerobic exercises will focus on pools and being in the water. There's even a name for this style, creatively dubbed water aerobics.
Staying in the water eases the weight and pressure on your muscles and bones, but especially your joints. Physical therapy is often done in a pool for this reason.
Some exercises are as simple as treading water. Group fitness in assisted living communities often focuses on pool-based water classes.
Many aerobic exercises are safe and easy to do alone, especially ones like chair yoga or tai chi. These are low-intensity exercises that are also simple and adaptable. That makes it perfect for customizing them to what you need.
That said, we don't recommend working out alone for two excellent reasons.
The first is that it presents dangers to the average senior. If you fall while trying a new movement, no one is there to help you. You also may experience medical emergencies.
Second is that you won't have anyone to correct your mistakes. If you're doing an exercise wrong, it's great to have someone there to help you improve. Health is a place for effectiveness, not pride and correctness!
If you're struggling to find comfortable exercises, consider what's making them uncomfortable. Are you still getting used to a new routine, or are your exercises causing you pain? Have you considered how the amenities your community offers may help you complete different exercises?
Some level of discomfort and soreness is expected. But if your exercises are putting you in pain, you should discontinue those exercises. Speak to a medical professional about finding exercises that you can comfortably and reliably complete.
Understanding aerobic exercise for seniors means taking time to consider how it fits in with aging and exercise. Find the best low-impact cardio seniors can safely do and work to adapt it to your exercise routine.
Here at Clay Gardens Place, we know how important staying active is to you. Our residents enjoy tai chi, bingo, chair volleyball, billiards, and educational programming to help fill the days with joy and laughter. Schedule a tour today to see how we can help your golden years shine.