Six Exercises For Baby Boomers

In the U.S., there are roughly 74 million baby boomers.  Staying fit and active is an essential part of maintaining good health, but it looks different then when you were in your twenty’s or thirty’s.

Basically, fitness equals longevity. Studies have shown that exercise will reduce your chances of dying prematurely from cancer, heart disease, and many other health problems.  But, how do you fit a regular routine into your lifestyle, especially if you are still working? Lifefone would like to offer six exercises for baby boomers.

Stretches:
Doing gentle stretches every day will help your muscles remain limber and improve your flexibility. Stretching is particularly important prior to any strenuous type of exercise like running, tennis, or basketball.

Get Up:
If you are still working, and especially behind a desk, it’s important that you get up and move from your desk for a short walk every hour. The constant sitting, and repetitive behaviors take a toll on the muscles, joints and organs, which can result in pain, poor posture, loss of mobility, and stress.

Wall Sits:
Again, when it comes to jobs that are mainly done behind a desk, back pain can be a normal part of every day life. Exercises like wall sits can help alleviate back pain, and help to strengthen your quads. To do a wall sit requires a flat back, thereby effectively working to relieve your back. Add a stability ball for inner thigh work, and you can build in a quick, but effective workout in just five minutes.

Cardio:
Basically, anything that uses your full body to get your heart pumping can be a cardio workout. You want to maintain a good pace for at least 30 minutes. This can include walking, running, swimming, biking, or on days when the weather isn’t the best for being outside, an exercise video.  If you don’t have time for a full 30 minutes a day, break it up into three 10-minute sessions.

Strength Training:
As you get older, the muscles get smaller, and begin to lose the ability to contract. You can change that by doing strength training. Strength training is also essential to regulate glucose metabolism that will fight against diabetes.

Exercises like bicep curls and triceps extensions, and pushups – either from the floor or on a wall – are good choices for strengthening your muscles. You can add in modified squats and lunges which work many muscles at once.

Balancing:
Balance is one of the first agility skills that decreases as you age. You can work on your balance anywhere. You can stand on one foot in the grocery line by standing on one leg holding onto the cart. You can work on balance in your kitchen, or any other place where you have a spot for stability if you need it. Standing on your tip-toes for a few seconds can also help improve your balance. This should be done every day, for about 2-3 minutes.

Maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle as a boomer doesn’t have to be hard like a strenuous full-court basketball game or tennis match. All of these tricks will help keep your body in good shape. The more active you are on a daily basis, the stronger you will be for the more strenuous types of exercise, like hiking or kayaking.

No matter what form of exercises you do, LifeFone recommends you always have a medical alert device available to you . We have systems that are home-based and on the go for your active lifestyle.