The Best Exercises for Seniors Ahead of Healthy Aging Month

By Carmine Ciliento

At Crunch Fitness, we are big on the idea of your play-span matching your lifespan. In short, it’s the idea that you should be able to live a healthy life that affords you the ability to do the things that you enjoy doing for as long as you can. In that sense, exercise becomes an investment for you in later years. Being able to tap into your piggy bank of fitness in your later years is a crucial part of longevity. 

That being said, it’s never too late to start focusing on your health. One of my first personal training students told me, “the key to a long life is being able to pick yourself up off the ground.” In my 20s, this sounded more like a metaphor (even though she literally refused my help to get her off the ground after a set of planks). I now realize the importance of having the strength to pick yourself up. As we age, there becomes a bigger concern of the impacts of falling and an inability to stand up on one’s own. While there is no exercise that’s exclusive to seniors, below are some solid staple workouts to help age gracefully, and allow you to pick yourself up off the ground. 

Walking

Walking has had a lot of good press for its potential fat-loss benefits. It is important to realize that it’s a foundational human movement pattern that has been part of what we’ve done for thousands of years. The dawn of modern technology has made us very effective as a species at getting things done without the need of moving from our chair. 

When walking, we should look to make sure we have rotation through our spine, which assists us in counter balancing our legs. We should also make sure we are getting extension through our rear hip, ensuring that our knee winds up behind our torso. Both of these are ranges of motion that can become limited over time, and lead to more reserved gaits. 

Assisted Squats and/or Lunges

Assisted squats and/or lunges are a great way to strengthen our lower bodies. Oftentimes people think if you lack the strength to do a single rep that these exercises are off the table. However, using some sort of outside assistance like putting one’s hand on a box, or utilizing a suspension trainer, such as the TRX can make these lower body compound movements accessible to everyone. Assisted step ups could be another option here, as well. 

Hand Elevated Push-up

In an attempt to get oneself off the ground, you will inevitably need to use your upper body muscles to push you up. The hand elevated push-up is a variation that uses a similar concept as the assisted squat and lunge, by taking a bodyweight movement and making it easier. You do this by positioning your hands up on an elevated structure, such as a box, or even a set of stairs, then you follow through on a push-up motion. In doing this, you reduce how much of your body weight you are pressing, and lower the barrier of entry to this staple movement pattern.

Ultimately, keeping moving on a consistent basis is one of keys to longevity. The exercises mentioned above serve as a great primer and foundation for seniors looking to improve their movement practice. The aim should be to build upon some of these assisted movements, working towards performing them unassisted. 

Carmine Ciliento is a Fitness Manager at Crunch Fitness.