We have many clients from all walks of life at the DVCC with different pastimes and hobbies. Whether your goal is to compete in a local marathon, be more efficient in the garden, or simply be able to play for longer with your grandchildren, then it’s important to exercise as you age.
But what specific exercises can you safely do to complement your workout? You may have heard a lot of talk about Tai-Chi, Pilates, or swimming. In our years of experience helping people transform their bodies and lives, we’ve found that these activities certainly won’t harm your health.
But if you want a stronger body for longer then you’ll need to do these 3 key exercises as well:
1. Resistance Training
It’s good to put your heart under a certain amount of resistance in order to get the blood pumping and get a more intense workout.
You can try normal squats as a great way of strengthening your legs for activities such as gardening, where you’re on your knees a lot. They’re also useful for tightening your glutes as well. And check out these simple exercises for helping with just about anything, from walking up and down stairs to getting out of your chair more easily.
2. Prone Raises
If you’re able to lie down flat on the floor, the best way to perform prone raises is to simply place your hands behind your neck or waist and lift upwards, holding for a few seconds at a time. If you find this uncomfortable, then you can use a Swiss Ball to help. We’ve got plenty of videos here you can check to make sure that you’re doing your prone raises right to strengthen your lower back area.
3. Strength Training
If you thought that lifting weights was just for body builders then think again.
Lifting weights isn’t only for bulking up your muscles (in fact, you’d have to lift a whole lot of weights and do some pretty intense training to really bulk up after 60).
But the great thing about strength training is that you’ll keep your muscles strong this way and stop them from losing more muscle tone. So, if you want to be able to pull up more weeds, or lift your grandchildren easily then you’ll need strong muscles to help.
Combine these three exercises with your regular routine, walking, cycling, or just doing the shopping and you’ll look after your health for longer as you age.
