The number one reason why older adults need assisted living care is that they lack leg strength. If you can’t get up out of a chair, walk up a flight of stairs, or navigate your own living quarters you cannot live alone.
You have been upright and mobile all of your lives, but maintaining your independence isn’t a given. You have to work for it. Use it or lose it! Physical inactivity is one of the biggest predictors of unsuccessful aging. How physically independent you will be ultimately depends on how well you can walk. Exercise really is the key for keeping you mobile and able to function independently.
So why aren’t older adults exercising? Why do they make a half hearted effort to join but then drop out after one exercise class? Why aren’t seniors attending exercise classes even when they are free or paid for by their insurance plans?
Are they afraid (if they don’t think about it, maybe it will go away) or are their expectations are so high that if they aren’t “cured” after one class, they figure it isn’t worth the effort? Have they had their fill of over-complicated workouts? Do they find that classes with too much emphasis on technique or breathing sequences turn them off? Are youthful trainers talking about “core exercises” and “work ethics” scaring them away? Exercising isn’t easy for older adults. Stiff joints and the specter of pain is a real part of their lives. There has to be an easier way.
There is an easier way. It is called walking, and it is being touted as the new exercise. Everywhere people are putting one foot in front of the other in the name of fitness. An article in (The Times: London (UK): September 21, 2010) discussed how walking is striding ahead in the fitness popularity stakes.
Do you feel that you are too old to walk with enough speed and determination for it to qualify as exercise? That isn’t necessarily so. I encourage you to look into walking and fitness videos for seniors (the public library has them if you want to look before you buy). Jane Fonda has put out two new videos. She is 72 now and her DVDs are for seniors and older seniors.
Obviously what you gain from walking depends on how often you do it and how much effort you put into it. To see improvement you are going to have to become a regular. You need to walk a little further and a little faster each time you go out there. You can also build your stamina by using walking videos that you can do in your own living room.
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