It had been 3 weeks since I last went to my yoga class. Between holidays and a busy schedule, it had just fallen off the radar. At first, my body resisted, but then the stiffness left my body, the muscles relaxed and the movements were easier.
Just a couple weeks of not doing yoga (yet doing tons of walking in NYC) caused a significant change in my body.
We need to keep moving in different ways, not for fitness, but for functional fitness. It’s about being able to put your arms back into coat sleeves. It’s about bending over to put on your socks. It’s about being able to lift the grandkids. It’s about being able to pick up something off the floor.
It’s about being able to get up off the ground after a fall, it’s about being able to help someone who is helping you into a wheelchair – functional fitness matters as we age. Don’t get me wrong, moving for fitness and heart health is all good for you too, but if you want to avoid nursing home, senior functional fitness is where it is at.
The more you keep your joints and muscles moving in different ways, and add some body weights or actual weights to your workouts, the stronger you will be.
1. Keep Moving in Different Ways
When you want to remain independent where you live, it’s important to keep moving, in all ways!
Want to try something new? Check out these different exercise options you can explore and learn to do at home, or join a class….
Yoga
Strength Training
Zumba
Pilates
Boxing
Barre
Cycling
Swimming
Urban Poling
Walking is great for you, but you need a variety of exercises to ensure all muscle groups and joints are put through their paces.
2. Add Strength Training to What You Do
You don’t want to just move, but to push yourself. Moving with weights or doing weight training strengthens muscles, supports your joints and muscles better protect your bones if you fall.
You don’t need fancy gym equipment. Using your own body weight can be an amazing way to add more muscle. Or carry soup cans while you walk. Or pick up and set down your grocery bag 5 times before you unpack it.
Adding a bit of strength training will go a long way to improving and maintaining your muscle function for years to come!
3. Work on Your Balance
Did you know your balance involves your eyes, your ears, your muscles and especially your core (your stomach & back). Keeping balance is hard work because all these systems need to work together to keep you off the floor!
Learning some very beginner balance moves, and working on them every day can truly increase your chance at independence.
4. Increase Your Range of Motion
Slow and gentle movements allow your muscles, tendons and ligaments to slowly stretch, to slowly be less tight, to slowly allow for more movement. Incorportating range of motion or yoga-like exercises will help your joints and muscles to remain flexible and be able to bounce back quicker after an injury.
Fiercely preserving your range of motion of each joint means that tasks such as getting dressed, putting on socks and shoes, wiping your butt after going the batrhoom – will be tasks you can continue to do for a long time!
5. Push Yourself
It’s great if every day you walk 2km, but every once and while, make yourself walk further. Challenge yourself and your body. Look for small things you can do to safely push yourself a bit more. It’s in the pushing, the adding, the challenging – that is where our muscles grow and gain strength. Push yourself to keep moving!
YOU write the story of what your silver years will look like. Your action (or inaction) now will set the tone for the later years. If you just want to sit and not move, then one day you’ll be doing just that, in a nursing home. If you want to fiercely stay in your home as long as possible and maintain your independence as long as possible, start planning to put these 5 elements into your weekly goals to keep moving.
