Your senior may find that exercise holds a lot of benefits for her, but it’s important that she doesn’t injure herself in the process. Some of these tips can help her to stay as safe as possible while getting a good workout in.
Start out Slowly with Easy Exercises
If your elderly family member tries to start out her exercise plan with high-intensity exercises that demand a lot of time and effort, she’s more likely to give up. Starting slowly with exercises that are easy for her to do allows her to ramp up her activity level. This gives her a chance to acclimate her body to moving more.
Incorporate Warmup and Cool Down Activities
Warming up and cooling down can feel like a waste of time for a lot of people, but these are part of the workout process for a reason. When your senior takes the time to stretch and to warm up before exercising, that helps her muscles to get moving slowly and to prepare for more intense activity. Afterward, cooling down and stretching more helps her to avoid cramps and other injuries.
Make Sure Your Senior’s Clothes Fit the Activity
When your senior wears the right clothes to exercise in, that helps her to avoid injury, too. Clothing that is too loose can get caught on her feet or on exercise equipment, and that can cause her to lose her balance and possibly to fall. Your senior’s footwear is equally important because that helps her to stay stable. Make sure her shoes are appropriate to exercise in and that they fit her well.
Always Make Sure She’s Cleared to Exercise First
Before your senior starts exercising, she needs to talk with her doctor. Her doctor can determine whether it’s safe for her to be exercising and can recommend activities for your senior to try. This ensures that your elderly family member knows what her limits are, right from the start. It also gives her a baseline that she can refer to after she’s been exercising for a little while.
Regular exercise helps your senior to build her stamina, helps her to regain muscle tone and can help her to sleep better. But your senior may worry that she doesn’t have the energy or the time to exercise now. Working with senior care providers can free up both time and energy so that your aging family member has both to spare.