For those over 65 years of age, exercise is essential for ensuring your independence and and to keep you feeling good. For seniors who are very de-conditioned, most any activity that challenges the body will improve strength, but what kind of exercise should one choose? A recent study including 111 trials and 55,000 people concluded that targeted exercise reduces the risk and rate of falls in seniors (1). This review emphasizes the necessity of exercise that is multifaceted, including at least two of the essentials: 

• Strength;
• Balance;
• Mobility (flexibility and posture); and
• Endurance

One easy way to include all of these components, and save time,  is to participate in appropriate “functional”  exercise. Let’s take the squat, for example. This movement is necessary for rising from a chair or toilet, and getting out of the car. It uses multiple muscles of the lower body and actually requires some complex neuromuscular control to execute smoothly. Depending on how far down you are able to move comfortably, you may even stretch some of the back of the ankle and hips. 

For those unfortunate enough to suffer through injury or chronic disease, this exercise can be modified. For example, limit the bend in the knees and focus attention on moving the hips back. Sure, there are exercise machines and other resistive exercise that can help strengthen these areas, but to really improve balance, it is best to stand, contend with gravity and move in all three planes space, as we do on a daily basis.  

What do you do to improve your coordination and promote healthy aging?  Let us know.

To learn more, get your FREE down load of Chapter 1, Balance for Every Body: 

lhttp://www.persistentperformance.com/free-download.htm

(1) Gillespie LD, Robertson MC, Gillespie WJ, Lamb SE, Gates S, Cumming RG, Rowe BH. Interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009 Apr 15;