Senior Exercises Ideas

Exercise counts as an important activity no matter how old you become, but it's especially important as you age. Your body begins to lose up to five percent of its muscle mass starting in your forties. Further, starting in your fifties, that number jumps to one to two percent per year. Other benefits include staving off heart disease and diabetes and helping to reduce the pain of arthritis. Here are five exercise ideas that seniors can do to keep them fit and happy.

CardioYou don't need to do hours of cardio exercises to benefit your body. Five to 10 minutes of exercise a couple of times a week will get you started.

Five to 10 minutes of exercise a couple of times a week will get you started. Once you're in shape, you can bump that amount up to 20 or 30 minutes two or three times a week. Some good aerobic exercises for seniors include swimming and walking, which are low impact.

Arm Raises

With just some elastic exercise

bands or some five pounds

weights, you can keep your

arms and shoulders in shape

with some arm raises. Keep

your feet flat and at least

shoulder-width apart to form a

good base. Do two sessions of

10 reps each.

Wall Ups

You've no doubt experienced the benefit of pushups, but as you age, conditions such as arthritis may make kneeling uncomfortable. Try to do wall pushups or wall ups instead. Stand about a foot from the wall, with your hands placed flat on the wall. Lean into the wall until your chest touches the wall, then push away from the wall until your arms are straight. Do two reps of 10.

Standing Leg RaisesOne of the problems you may encounter as you get older is balance or more specifically, losing your balance

To do this, hold the back of a chair and kick your leg in a backward direction, holding the position once it's raised behind you as far as you can go. Keep the knee straight. Do two reps of 10.

Doing standing leg raises not only helps with your balance, but also firms up the buttocks, thighs, and hips.

Last ThoughtsFor exercise to be effective, you need to do it a couple of times a week. Before starting an exercise plan, make sure to take a visit to your doctor. Finally, it's never too late to begin building muscle. A study in Boston showed that seniors who exercised increased their walking speed by 12 percent and their leg strength by 113 percent! It really is never too late to start exercising.

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