As you enter your retirement years, you will hopefully find time to pursue the things that matter most to you, things you might not have had time to explore fully when you were working. For some this means reading tons of books, for others it may mean gardening, cooking or learning to swing dance! Whatever you decide to pursue, maintaining strength and flexibility is crucial for a high quality of life as you grow older – looking and feeling great will instill confidence and allow you to vigorously pursue your post-retirement goals, whatever they may be and these movements for seniors shared in this article will help you achieve that.
Aerobic, low impact workouts are good for the heart and keep your bones and muscles strong.Trustworthy, high-quality retirement residences should offer a wide variety of classes, including aqua fit, chair yoga and aerobics classes with music. The great thing about group classes is that there is a level of dedication and joy in sharing the experience with friends – you’re more motivated to attend the class, and the workout will be more fun!
Walking or driving to a park or hiking path is a way to get in some great exercise while enjoying nature and having a great conversation. An appreciation for the changing seasons connects you with the earth, and the endorphins you get from walking will put you in a good mood to have a great conversation with your partner or companions.
Since we’ve established that staying fit is crucial to your overall retirement experience, let’s run down some tangible ways to get your fitness fix on a daily basis. Without further ado, here are three great types of movements for seniors:
Swimming
Swimming is perhaps the best low-impact exercise because you are floating free in water. Using a flutter-board, doing the crawl,breast-stroke or taking an aqua fit class that relies on the gentle resistance of the water are all great ways to stay fit in the water. Most YMCAs have a swimming pool with slow and medium paced lanes for those who take their time, and top-quality retirement communities like Allseniorscare.com have heated, saltwater swimming pools that you can access without leaving home!
Chair Exercise/ Resistance Bands
Getting into the habit of doing core strengthening chair exercises (great for bone density) or working with an elastic resistance band for just twenty minutes a day can make a huge cumulative difference in your health over time. Once again, the benefit of living in a quality retirement community is that they often offer chair exercise classes several times a week. If you and a buddy agree to go to each class together or exercise together on the off days, it will be more fun and you’ll be more motivated.
Walking
For many seniors living in high-rises or urban community centers, walking is not such an attractive choice, since the atmosphere might be loud and unpleasant. Having a treadmill installed is one solution, but really the best thing is accessing parks and paths in the forest since proximity to greenery and nature has been shown to reliably boost your mood.
Staying active is fun, rewarding and helps to improve mood and every other aspect of your life. It can be difficult to muster the motivation sometimes, but once you get in the habit of exercising daily you’ll quickly see that there are many benefits and zero drawbacks. Stay active, strong and flexible to get the most out of your retirement years using some of the movements for seniors shared above!
