May 26: Senior Health & Fitness Day
National Senior Health & Fitness Day is a nationwide health and fitness event for aging adults. May 26 recognizes the importance of regular physical activity, and highlights what local organizations are doing to improve the health and fitness of older adults in their communities.
Seniors need regular exercise to maintain muscle tone, boost endurance and gain independence. The primary rule is to only provide enough exercise that will stimulate adequate blood flow to all the vital organs, as well as maintain muscle mass. Muscle tends to atrophy during the later stages of a person’s life. You should keep hard-earned tissues through both cardiovascular exercises, stretching routines and weight training. In the beginning, it is important that you do an overall assessment of the senior citizen first, to ensure that he or she can do all the exercises without much trouble.
Exercise programs should be very flexible, so routines and movements change every week or so, depending on individual progress and feeling. Striving to maintain or boost strength, flexibility and strength, should be an achievable goal. During the first few sessions, you can ask the professional to help you in assisting the senior go through the different movements.
Whether following a fitness or yoga workout on YouTube or in a group setting, proper execution is crucial to attain the various objectives and goals. Be sure to ask a physician or therapist to go through all of the movements with you when starting an exercise program to make sure all movements are designed to help and not hinder you. Use a log book and fill in all the details of every workout. Logging workouts helps to track your progress and provide accountability, especially when deciding to exercise alone or in a small group.