Exercises for Older Adults

Why Is Exercise Important for Older Adults?

Although regular exercise is always an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle, getting physically active becomes especially crucial in later years. In addition to the usual benefits of physical activity, such as weight management and improved mood, older adults receive some extra advantages when they work out.

The top benefits of exercising for older adults include:

• Disease prevention: Although diseases like osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease and depression are more common among older adults, adopting a more active lifestyle can help prevent these diseases. Regular exercise may also reduce the symptoms associated with these conditions.
• More independence: Additionally, seniors who exercise regularly are less likely to depend on others. Routine exercise promotes older adults' self-reliance by boosting their ability to walk, dress, cook, eat, bathe and use the restroom on their own.
• Boosted brain function: Research has found that older adults who exercise regularly experience improved cognitive health. In fact, getting active on a consistent basis can significantly reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease or dementia.
• Better balance: Because falling tends to be a higher risk for older adults than younger adults, improving balance with age is important. Research shows that exercise can reduce the likelihood of a fall by 23%.

Best Types of Exercise for Older Adults

To experience the health benefits listed above, older adults must participate in regular physical activity. Ideally, older adults should try to do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week. However, certain types of exercises are better for seniors than others. For the best results, older adults should do their best to include aerobic, strengthening and multi-component exercises in their weekly routines.

Keep reading to discover some of the best exercises for seniors in each of these categories.

Aerobic Exercises for Older Adults

Also known as cardio, aerobic physical activity gets your heart beating faster and you breathing harder. By increasing your heart rate, aerobic exercise helps build your endurance and get your blood pumping. From biking to pushing a lawnmower, any aerobic activity performed at a moderate or vigorous intensity level can qualify as aerobic exercise.

One of the most accessible and least stressful aerobic activities for older adults is walking. Whether it be a lap around the neighborhood or a hike through the woods, walking is a great cardio choice that strengthens the muscles, lowers the risk of disease and promotes a healthy lifestyle overall. For some older adults, walking is a bigger challenge than others, so the suggested distance and pace may vary by individual.

Another excellent, low-impact cardio idea for older adults is water aerobics. This exercise has become an extremely popular activity among seniors because it provides a challenging workout without putting excess strain on the joints. While the water brings natural resistance, the buoyancy of the water limits the amount of pressure on the joints. In this way, water aerobics allows older adults to improve their strength, balance and flexibility without overly stressing the body.

In particular, Aqua Zumba® is perfect for older adults searching for a high-energy, low-impact exercise option. Aqua Zumba® combines all the fun of a Zumba® dance fitness class with water resistance, resulting in a pool party unlike any other. The natural resistance from the water makes the Zumba® routine more challenging to help improve both muscle tone and conditioning.

Other top aerobic exercises for older adults include:

• Riding a bicycle, either outdoors or stationary
• Some types of yoga
• Certain forms of yard work, such as raking leaves

Strength Exercises for Older Adults

Along with aerobic activity, it's crucial for older adults to do some strength exercises on a regular basis. These exercises will help seniors avoid losing muscle as they get older. It can also help older adults maintain a healthy weight and stay healthy by contributing to a higher metabolism, supporting glucose control and even alleviating the symptoms of certain diseases like diabetes.

The key to gaining the health benefits strength training has to offer is doing each strength exercise to the point where it's difficult to do another repetition without assistance before stopping. Doing about two or three sets of 10 repetitions of a strength movement, such as a sit-up or a bicep curl, is a reliable plan for working the muscles enough without over-working them.

The strength exercises seniors choose to do should work all of the body's major muscle groups, including the legs, back, hips, abdomen, chest, arms and shoulders. Doing dumbbell exercises is a great way to make sure each muscle group gets worked throughout different strength training sessions. These specific exercises allow older adults to isolate muscle groups to increase their strength, balance and flexibility.

Here are some of the best dumbbell exercise moves for seniors:

• Tricep extensions
• Front raises
• Bent-over rows
• Shoulder presses
• Bicep curls
• Weighted crunches
• Goblet squats
• Weighted lunges
• Standing calf raises

If you don't have a gym membership or dumbbells at home, you can still get a complete strength training workout in. In fact, one of the best workout routines for older adults is a circuit of bodyweight exercises. These activities help to build strength, tone muscles and counteract the effects of muscle atrophy that many seniors experience.

Try doing these bodyweight moves for strength training:

• Wall push-ups
• Squats or chair squats — sitting to standing
• Step-ups to a chair or bench
• Hip bridges
• Bird dogs
• Wall sits
• Planks and side planks

Along with dumbbell and bodyweight moves, older adults may enjoy these strength exercise options:

• Working with resistance bands
• Heavy-duty gardening like shoveling
• Certain types of yoga

Multicomponent Exercises for Older Adults

Completing multicomponent exercises is highly beneficial for older adults because they include more than one type of physical activity, such as aerobic activity, strength exercises and balance training. In this way, multicomponent physical activities can help older adults get a total body workout full of cardio, strength and balance exercise advantages.

Doing multicomponent exercises on a regular basis can help improve physical function by covering many aspects of fitness and reducing the risk of injury from a fall by incorporating balance moves. As a bonus, many multicomponent workouts are done as group exercise classes in a community setting, providing seniors with social benefits, too.

Specifically, Zumba Gold® is a group fitness activity specially designed for older adults who love the fun dance moves in traditional Zumba® but need a lower intensity class. The Zumba Gold® choreography focuses on balance, coordination and range of motion. Participants can leave feeling empowered, knowing they just worked on all the core elements of their fitness, including cardio, muscular conditioning, balance and flexibility.

For active older adults who want to concentrate even more on muscle conditioning and strength training, Zumba® Gold Toning is the perfect solution. Zumba® Gold Toning classes use lightweight Zumba® Toning Sticks to work participants' muscles even more and give a whole new meaning to total body workout. The strength training exercises included in Zumba® Gold Toning will help seniors preserve their muscle mass and strength while having a blast.

Other multicomponent physical activity options for older adults include:

• Tai chi
• Walking with weights
• Certain sports, such as tennis