How to Adjust Your Workout Routine as You Age
September celebrates Healthy Aging Month, which encourages people of all ages to improve their daily habits, have a positive perspective on aging, and commit to a healthier lifestyle.
Healthy aging starts long before we hit “old age.” As the years go by, we lose muscle mass, and old injuries can flare up in unexpected ways, causing mobility and balance challenges. If you’re wondering how to adjust your current fitness routine to help you age healthily and prevent injuries, or to accommodate a new mobility or balance challenge, Y@HOME is here to help.
We’ve put together some of our favourite workouts and tips to address common concerns about staying physically active while aging, and how to adjust your routine to best meet your needs.
Looking after your balance, strength and mobility today will help you remain independent tomorrow, so that you can enjoy your senior years doing what you love.
Don’t stop strength training
You may have strength trained regularly when you were younger, but as we age, many of us can stop going to the gym in favour of incorporating low-impact and low-intensity activity into our daily routines, such as walking after a meal. This is all well and good – we always need the cardio – but we shouldn’t be neglecting strength training. As we age, we lose muscle mass, and regular strength workouts will help to keep our muscles strong.
If you’re wondering why we still need strong muscles as we get older, think about the next load of groceries you may need to carry out of your local store, or lifting that bag of flour onto a shelf. We may not think about it, but strength training matters a lot when it comes to our daily activities!
'“How much should I lift?” you may ask. If you’re new to traditional strength training, we recommend a progressive strength training model. Start with lighter weights that still provide a challenge, and as it gets easier, start increasing the load.
This beginner-friendly, HIIT-style workout blends strength, balance, and gentle cardio in under 30 minutes. If you’re looking for an approachable yet complete set of strength workouts to build your foundation, this workout is perfect for you.
Join Waad, Fitness Team Lead at the Bettie Allard YMCA and Moving Through Menopause trainer, in this beginner strength workout. She’ll take you through five basic movements, focusing on your form so that you can feel confident working out while staying injury-free.
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Join Adam for a month-long strength training challenge! This challenge is broken up week-by-week, progressively getting harder to challenge you and your fitness goals!
Combine strength training with exercises that improve coordination, reaction time and lower-body power.
The strength of your muscles is important for aging healthily and being able to continue to do the activities you love, but it’s not the only factor when it comes to fitness and aging. Our body’s ability to produce “power,” or the ability to quickly catch ourselves when we stumble or slip, is equally important. And just like our muscle mass, it also declines with age.
Strength produces force – for example lifting something overhead to put away on a shelf, but power is our ability to produce enough strength to prevent a fall when we suddenly lose our balance. When choosing your strength workout and balance workouts, try to find ones that combine traditional strength training with exercises that improve coordination, reaction time and lower-body power. Our BOSU ball workouts are great for this, but you can also focus on functional strength workouts or workouts that utilize compound movements.
Karen takes you through a challenging balance-focused workout using the BOSU ball. BOSU balls are a multi-functional piece of equipment that can challenge your balance and stability, adding a layer of difficulty to your regular workout. If using a BOSU ball is too challenging, simply do the movements on flat ground.
Build strength that supports your everyday movement. This full-body functional strength workout challenges every major muscle group and improves balance and coordination, helping make daily tasks easier.
This twist and tone workout uses gentle rotational exercises to help you build core strength and coordination. Karen adds optional weights for an extra challenge, as well as a traditional floor workout to focus on your core, glutes, and lower back, helping to improve your balance and power.
Incorporate a day of balance-specific exercises
Traditional strength training is important, but try to incorporate a balance-focused workout into your weekly routine. Balancing exercises work to strengthen your core, lower back and legs to improve your coordination, stability and mobility, helping to prevent falls, which are the most common cause of injury in aging adults.
You can try barre (use a chair or table as your barre), yoga, a BOSU ball, or our new MSINGI Wind workout!
Raise your heart rate and tone your muscles with this full-body low-impact cardio and strength workout. Marisol will take you through a series of stretches and conditioning exercises on the barre, and then speed it up so you can get your cardio in! Grab your chair or table and get moving!
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Ingrid introduces rotation, balance, and mobility movements inspired by the movement of the wind and set to uplifting afrobeats. Move with fluidity and control as you explore balance and rotational challenges.
Practicing yoga daily helps to restore your mind-body balance, grounding yourself in the present and allowing you to process the emotions of the day. Try this 30-minute flow first thing in the day, or as a wind-down before bed.
Try Variations with our Chair Workouts
If you’re experiencing mobility challenges, or have trouble with balance, try a chair workout variation! This allows you to keep up with your fitness and strength routine, without the worry of injuring yourself due to a fall. They’re also great for when you’d rather watch a movie on the couch, rather than workout.
Improve your strength, cardio and flexibility in this fully seated workout. Mike uses mini circuits, so if you want a progressive challenge, start with lighter weights, and then move on to heavier weights!
This no-impact workout is designed to improve the range of motion around your joints. All the exercises in this video will have you safely moving, contracting and relaxing your muscles through a complete range of motion to increase fluid movement, strength and endurance.
Improve your balance with Cheryl’s simple mobility and balance routine. She uses a chair for extra support and safety during this routine.