Maintaining your health as you enter your golden years is an important part of preventing or reducing the symptoms of various diseases. Getting regular exercise can even help you ward off unwanted injuries like unnecessary sprains or falls. Balanced with a nutritious diet and the proper warm-up techniques, physical activity can be enormously beneficial to your body, thought processes and even your emotions. Below are a number of resources specifically written for seniors who want to add safe, low-impact and accessible exercise to their daily and weekly work out routines. Consider beginning your foray into physical activity by reviewing the stretching and activity methods listed below, then you can create a plan based off of the information. Once you’ve mastered them, incorporate them into the first and last parts of your senior workout routines so that you can get the most out of your exercise time.
- Senior Stretching Program (PDF): This illustrated guide provides seniors with specific instructions on how to complete stretching exercises by themselves or with a chair.
- Best Stretching Exercises for Senior Citizens: Livestrong provides a list of stretching techniques aimed at senior citizens. This article includes a list of explanations about the stretches and the benefits they provide.
- Senior Stretching Exercises: Here, a list of stretching exercises are listed and explained. Videos accompany the explanations to help seniors learn from real-time visual examples.
- Elderly Flexibility Stretching Exercises for Seniors: This article provides stretching techniques for seniors with special emphasis on types of stretching, and discussions on how stretching impacts the elderly. You’ll find information like how much stretching you need to do, guidelines for stretching, and videos that will help you with your flexibility.
- Stretching Towards Better Health: These are stretching exercises that are grouped by the specific muscles that they affect.
- Wonderful Walking: Ohio State University offers a guide to walking specially written for senior citizens. In it, you’ll find an explanation behind the benefits of walking, instructions for warming up, and the "five points of correct walking" guidelines.
- Resource Manual for Active Seniors (PDF): This 25-page manual provided by the University of Oregon is a lengthy booklet exploring the benefits of numerous low-impact exercises for seniors.
- Senior Fitness Research Roundup: This web page offers medical explanations on the benefits of exercise for senior citizens.
- Exercise and Seniors: Exercise guidelines for adults over 65 years old from medical professionals.
- Promoting Successful Aging: This website is a master course on how to age well using physical exercise and a healthy diet. Quizzes at the end can even help you retain the information.
- Health Promotion for Seniors: Health information for seniors, including physical activity and nutrition tips, are included here. There is also a section about unintentional injuries.
- Increasing Physical Activity As We Age (PDF): This pamphlet differentiates physical activity and exercise for seniors, suggests what types of exercises you may need, and even includes a section with advice for people with disabilities.
- Healthy Aging Column: Colorado State University provides seniors with a short column on why exercise is beneficial to them, and includes suggestions for physical activities.
- Physical Activity Guidelines for Older Adults: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created this resource guide for seniors with information about physical activity, and list numerous outgoing links that help illuminate the concepts discussed.
- Senior Exercise Resource Guide (PDF): This resource guide provides a number of quizzes that seniors can take that will help them determine what kind of exercise programs are appropriate for them.
- Exercise: A Guide From The National Institute of Aging: This lengthy guide, separated by chapters, is a wonderful book on aging and exercise. It touches on safety issues and examples of exercises, including those that focus on strength and balance and those that can be done on a floor. Advice on nutrition is also given. Appendixes with charts, information about target heart rates, and additional resources are also available.
- Senior Health: Benefits of Exercise: This short article informs readers of the many health benefits that physical activity can have for seniors, including the prevention of disease and the management of stress and moods. Seniors are encouraged to be as active as possible in it.
- Stay Well: Fitness for Seniors (PDF): This illustrated guide, written by New York City’s Department for the Aging, provides a structured workout regimen for seniors. It includes specific instructions that seniors should take while working out.
- Mature Fitness: Safe exercise practices and tips for senior citizens.
- Injury Prevention: Senior Fall Prevention: This website gives seniors advice on how to prevent falls by exercising more often.
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