8 Essential Fitness Reminders for Older Adults

In addition to improving your cardiovascular and respiratory health, exercise plays a key role in preventing lifestyle diseases and strengthening your body to prevent falls as you age. Yet, some common myths about exercising as an older adult keep many from getting the physical activity they need.

Here, we have these 8 essential fitness reminders that will dispel the common myths for your healthier living:

Any exercise is better than none.

While you reap the most physical and mental health benefits from regular exercise, if a daily “workout” just isn’t appealing, don’t forgo physical activity altogether. Research shows that any exercise is better than none in helping stave off diseases like dementia, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke as you age.

Everything from gardening to cycling or vacuuming, and even hiking with your grandkids will help you stay moving for a long time.

It doesn’t have to cost you a thing.

The thought of expensive gym memberships shouldn’t keep you from getting the physical activity you need to stay healthy. The SilverSneakers program, for example, offers free access to over 16,000 participating gyms across the country for seniors with certain Medicare Advantage plans.

Want to skip the gym altogether? Try your local senior center for free group fitness classes like Zumba or Yoga.

Track your progress.

Setting a daily or weekly goal for exercise will not just drive you to stay physically active but will give you a sense of purpose and accomplishment too. For older adults with chronic illnesses like diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis (RA), fitness goals may play an important role in your disease management plan.

Whether you are tracking your steps each day, logging miles, or counting up the minutes in which you exercise, monitoring your progress towards realistic goals will help. One 2015 study even found that when a group of women with RA used a pedometer, journaled about their exercise, and set small incremental goals, they increased their step counts by 159 percent!

There’s an app for that.

If you are one of the almost 50 percent of adults over 65 who owns a smartphone, one motivator for getting more exercise could be at the tip of your fingers.

Apps like Map My Walk, MyFitnessPal, Aaptiv, and 7-Minute Chi offer you a variety of helpful information and encouragement including guided exercise instruction and fitness ideas. Many also track useful metrics like the number of miles walked, your heart rate during activity, calories burned, etc.

A buddy can help.

Working out with a friend or partner boasts powerful benefits. Not only can they provide the emotional support and encouragement you might need to get out and try a new exercise activity, but researchers have also found that working with other people can actually reduce your perception of how much effort you are exerting.

This can lead you to exercise longer and harder than you might otherwise would have. Plus, if you have safety concerns about certain activities, having a buddy along to spot you can give you the confidence to go for it.

It shouldn’t hurt.

While some muscle soreness is a natural side effect of moderate to vigorous exercise activity, sharp, searing, radiating pain is not. Throw the ‘no pain, no gain’ mentality out the window to protect yourself from fitness injuries like muscle strain, tendinopathy, and sprains.

If recurring soreness in your feet, legs, arms, or back is bothering you, talk to your doctor. They may recommend helpful aids you can wear during exercise like orthotic inserts that cushion your heel and provide arch support, braces to support vulnerable joints, and compression sleeves to improve circulation.

Have fun with it.

Forget sweating it out in a stuffy gym. When it comes to really enjoying routine physical activity, get creative and think outside the box. Is there a senior dancing group you can join? Have you always wanted to try yoga or tai chi? How about juggling, golf, or aqua jogging? The ideas truly are endless! Discover different ways to maintain healthy habits as you age.

Do it sitting down.

Mobility issues that make standing or walking for long periods of time difficult can wield a huge blow to your fitness routine. The truth is, however, seated exercises can be just as plentiful and varied as standing ones. Chair yoga, seated aerobics, resistance band exercises, seated weightlifting, and pedal exercising are just a few activities you can find free instructional videos for online to do sitting down in the comfort of your own home.