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People aged over 50, when thinking of exercising, will look at gyms, yoga studios, and health clubs with trepidation. Often, this is because of fear: fear of looking weird and not knowing what to do; price may also be a major factor.
Unfortunately, this is the time when many who seek to improve their physical state simply give up and take a nap, or watch a movie, and eat something unhealthy.
A long time ago, the choice for the population over 50 exercisers was to exercise at home. They would purchase magazines on topics such as fitness, books on aerobics, counting their calories, muscle building, running and yoga; but then came the inception of exercise videos.
Now, we have fitness programs daily on cable. These programs deal with everything including yoga, chair exercises, aerobics, (with and without weights), and Pilates. The difficulty is you must be ready to workout when the TV show airs, which might not fit your schedule.
Determining what type of exercise regimen is best for you is often a very intimidating objective for the uninitiated. Running is more than likely out of the question for people who are overweight or who are out of shape. Riding a bicycle may prove too difficult also.
Another smart choice to help you get started is to buy a regular aerobic chair or chair exercise video. This allows the new comer to slowly break-in, keep motivated, and progress at their own pace.
Exercises while sitting can greatly add aerobic conditioning to your daily exercises, help avoid joint damage, increase your metabolism to help lose weight and finish all your everyday chores with refreshed vigor.
To allow for steady progress to greater fitness, many of these videos offer beginning, intermediate and advanced levels of fitness.
In order to get started:
- Make sure you discuss your program with your General Physician before starting it.
- Begin at a slow pace that you know you will be able to repeat several times a week.
- Increase your participation steadily from one to two days a week, to three and eventually four. Rest on days you don’t work out.
- If anything hurts, either stop or try it slower, or with less resistance and let your body try to be more adjusted to the new requirements you’re trying to place on it.
- Drink plenty of water to replenish what you’ve lost by sweating and to rid your body of toxins. This is an excellent way to detoxify the body; you will burn calories and gain strength and energy at the same time.
- Reduce calories, eat sensibly, and you will see quick results.
The body needs to be challenged to improve, so you should re-evaluate your progress once a month so you do not become comfortable in your routine. After you can easily do an exercise program easily, celebrate and go on to something more difficult. This may include: standing or step aerobics, bicycling, swimming, jogging, weight lifting, and more.
The essential thing to remember when exercising as an over 50 year old is that if exercises seem difficult, don’t loose your heart; gather courage and be proud of yourself, that you have at least initiated the first steps towards making your life better. Stay with it, do it consistently, and stay brave.
