Daily physical activity is vital to a healthy life. Moving regularly can help fight off common diseases, improve your mental health, and strengthen your body. But how much is too much? Pushing things beyond your limit could have several adverse effects, including injury and anxiety. As you age, it’s essential to adjust your workout regime to avoid any harmful outcomes.
At The Gardens at Barry Road assisted living community, we encourage all residents to enjoy an active lifestyle. This means getting out for social walks or enrolling in a community exercise program. But remember, certain exercises do more harm than good. If you’re looking to stay fit and safe, here are seven exercises older adults should avoid.
Many popular workout programs include high-intensity moves designed to build muscle and tone your body. The problem is that these same workouts can cause serious strain and pain on older adult bodies. To keep your body in top condition, avoid the following.
Although crunches and sit-ups are common workouts, they’re not as effective as you think. Not only do they not work out your core, but these moves also strain your neck and back muscles, which can lead to painful injuries.
Squats, with or without weights, put a ton of pressure on your knees and joints. This exercise will cause discomfort and may throw your balance off, causing you to fall. To avoid knee damage or injury from falling, it’s best to leave this move in the past.
Leave the deadlifting to the bodybuilders. The potential for injury and pain with deadlifts is high. Your back, arms, and shoulders are all at risk with this move.
Although rowing seems easy enough, it can cause long-term damage to your shoulders. When you row, it’s common for a small tendon in your shoulder to become pinched between the bones. While this might not cause pain immediately, ongoing rowing will ware down that tendon over time.
Every time you run, you put the weight of your whole body on your leg, knee, and foot joints. This can lead to discomfort and injuries that make getting around difficult or even impossible.
Whether you use gym equipment or your own staircase, repeatedly climbing stairs for long periods puts too much stress on your legs and knees. Like long-distance running, this stress can lead to larger mobility issues.
Using a leg press requires you to lean back in a way that is likely to cause damage to your lumbar spinal disc. Like most of the activities listed above, the potential injuries from leg presses could mean you have trouble walking in your daily life.
Now that you know which exercises to avoid, it’s time to talk about the ones you should try. Generally speaking, older adults should aim for low-impact exercises that target all different areas of the body. Partaking in a variety of workouts is one of many ways to keep daily movement interesting and fun. If you’re looking for a new workout, try some of the following activities.
Sticking to a daily workout regime can be tough. Luckily, you can employ a few tricks to make the process fun and rewarding.
Some of the physical benefits of working out are obvious. Working out makes you feel stronger and can help you maintain a healthy weight. But there are a handful of other physical benefits you might not think about. Working out regularly can:
Similar to having a solid morning routine and a nutrient-rich diet, working out regularly provides several mental health benefits. Physical activity is known to:
Whether you’re a workout expert or looking to develop a routine for the first time, learning your body's limits is important. Everyone's body changes with age, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep up with an active lifestyle.
