One of the leading reasons of reduced mobility as we get older is osteoarthritis. It may seem counter intuitive, but regular exercise has a large role in keeping joints and their supporting parts healthy and strong.
Over time, regular exercise has been shown in clinical studies to improve joint flexibility and to prevent joint and muscle injuries. Even if you have some mobility problems, you should try to participate in at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise 3-5 five times per week. If you can, you also should do 30 minutes of strength training at least 2 times per week.
Remember when you do any type of exercise routine, it is important to stretch. Stretching will improve your flexibility, and this reduces chances of injuries. Stretching helps joints to move through the full range of motion.
Also, before you work out, warm your muscles with low intensity exercise, such as yoga or walking. And after each work out, you should try to stretch your major muscle groups, including your thighs, calves, neck, shoulders and hips.
Clinical studies also have shown that as we age, we are more likely to get regular exercise IF we also did so at a younger age. Therefore it is important for us to try to get into the swing of exercising as young as possible. Of course, it is never too late to start any type of exercise program, even if you never regularly exercised before in your life.
What type of exercises you can do will depend upon your mobility. Some of the most popular forms of exercise for seniors include walking, swimming, yoga, chair exercises and strength training with light weights.
For those who have decreased balance, it still is possible to get a work out!
Activator Rehab Walking Poles by Urban Poling
Some of the exercises you can do include walking, lifting the walker and even partial squats. Of course, you also can engage in various water exercises, including water walking and swimming.