Many people over 50 enjoy
participating in sports and other recreational activities. An overall fitness program is probably the
easiest way to make sure that you work each area of your body, but if you hate
it and it bores you the chances are pretty good that you won’t stick with
it. The key is to figure out how to get
moving while having some fun at the same time.
Many active sports count as
exercise. Because you are having fun,
sports don’t seem like exercise but will still improve your overall
fitness. The idea is not to think
“old.” Every year thousands of seniors
participate in Senior Olympics, but you can enjoy playing on a local sports
team or mastering an individual sport just as much as you did when you were
younger.
Revisit or find a new sport
that interests you. After you have
identified something that appeals to you, make plans to find out how to become
involved. Use a little common sense and
factor in your current level of fitness before jumping in. Of course there is a chance that you may fall
down and you may hurt yourself, but you can do that slipping in the bathtub and
that isn’t fun at all. The level of risk
will depend on what sport you select (low for walking or golf to higher for
skating or down hill skiing). You can
make your selection according to how fit and how adventuresome you feel. A good trainer/instructor will focus on
safety techniques as you work your way through various levels on instruction.
Stop caring about whether
you look foolish or not, even if you are the worst one in your class, you can
still enjoy the process. Anne
Carothers-Kay wrote an article for Heart Healthy Living (Winter 2009) about a
mature woman who decided to learn how to figure skate after loosing a family
member to early age heart disease. Her
advice was to do what you love whether it is dancing, skating, golf or tennis. Start where you are and stick with it instead
of dreaming of the finish line. Don’t
blame or use age as an excuse not to enjoy yourself, and try to be realistic. You will never be as agile and as active as
you were when you were 16, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy what you
are doing.
I finally bought a new
racquet last summer and had the time of my life taking lessons and playing
tennis for the first time in many years.
The students ranged in age from 18 to 70 and we all had a good time. One age group wasn’t any better or any worse
than the others, so a good time was had by all.
Winter is coming. If you haven’t
played in the snow in a long time, it might be time to dust off your cross
country skis or buy some of those new light weight snow shoes. So, are you ready to “get active” with me?
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