If you think that regular exercise classes are not for you, there are other ways to stay fit: walking and hiking; bicycling, outdoors and inside on an exercycle; dancing, jazz and square dancing; tennis and squash; and exercise with machines such as Nautilus equipment.
Walking, as briskly as possible, is perhaps the most convenient and beneficial exercise if you are older – almost everyone can do it, almost anywhere, almost anytime, and it doesn’t cost anything. It places little strain on your heart and joints while improving the functioning of your muscles and bones, and benefiting your cardiovascular system. Get yourself some good walking shoes -with sturdy heels, flexible rubber soles, and uppers made of materials that ‘breathe’ such as leather or nylon mesh. Walk wherever it is the most pleasant and convenient in your neighbourhood, but preferably not city streets that would expose you to too much air pollution from vehicles and dust.
Think about the amount of walking you actually do each day and how small changes in your habits can increase the activity: leave the car in the garage, and walk to the shops, to the railway station or to work. Walk the dog. Walk to visit a neighbour. Walk to the newsagent for the daily newspaper instead of having home-delivery. If you take the car for shopping, park in the furthest slot and not the closest to the supermarket. Park half a mile from your office building and walk the remainder; then increase the distance from work as your energy increases. At your work place, walk up stairs instead of taking the lift, and in your lunch break, instead of talking get walking!
If weather is bad and you have to stay indoors, there’s no need to abandon exercise. Have a treadmill for long-distance walking, right in your living room or office. Some models change angles so that as well as level walking you can give yourself the extra challenge of going uphill or downhill.
Exercise bicycles and rowing machines are often better than hard-impact exercise if you have joint or foot problems. Exercise bicycles can take up little space in the corner of a room, and some fold away smaller still, fitting into the tiniest of cupboards. (However, don’t store your equipment – you may forget to use it!) Some have magazine racks for reading while cycling, to stave off boredom, and movable hand-levers to work upper arms as well as legs. There are bicycles that not only measure speed and distance, but also tell you the time spent cycling, calories expended, pulse rate and work rate (calories per hour).
Swimming can be a gentle way of embarking on an exercise programme and is beneficial if you are already osteoporotic or arthritic, for flexing your muscles, and helping stiff joints, while being buoyed by the water. Build up gradually with short swim sessions until you can be more vigorous.
Whatever activity you do, be sure to have warm-up and cool-down periods, so that muscles are limbered up and not strained, and the pace of your heart and lungs speeds up and then returns to normal. Regular stretching can be for everyone, to prevent muscle strain or injury, improving circulation and increasing your range of motion, while relaxing you.
Your body contains 200 bones and 600 different muscles, all benefiting from exercise to some extent. Medical opinion is agreed that most of us should be more active, and it’s never too late to start. You don’t have to buy fancy home equipment or join expensive clubs to be fit. Whatever you do will bring dividends. While running and aerobics may be too strenuous if you are elderly, make small changes in your lifestyle to put more activity into your day.
If you are already doing some form of exercise, how does it
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