During your teens, twenties, and thirties, you can start your fitness journey without many complications as you have all the energy in the world and your body is very flexible. Even though you are obese, you can work your way up if you work hard. However, as you age, there will be more complications to get started with fitness, especially if you never had experience with workouts before.
As you age, your testosterone levels drop which becomes very hard to put on muscle mass. There might be further complications like diabetes, joint pains, and other cardiovascular constraints, etc. In these cases, you need to carefully plan your exercise programs. To help you better with this, we have listed down a few effective tips that can help you to get started with your fitness journey.
1) Consult health professionals:
If you have health complications, better consult a doctor to know at what intensities you can work out and what are your exercise limitations. For instance, if you are diabetic, you are most likely to be recommended to eat high-carb food before your workout session so that your blood glucose level doesn’t drop. Likewise, depending on your health complications, your doctor will set guidelines. If possible, connect your doctor and personal trainer so that they can work together to build an effective workout program.
2) Start slowly:
As an older citizen, you have to start your exercises slowly and slowly build upon that. As your metabolism and testosterone levels will be lower, you need more time to build muscle. You cannot eat like a 20year old and get away as their metabolism is completely different from the older people. Patience is the key to slowly building an exercise routine and making it a habit to see results quickly.
3) Choose low-intensity workouts:
For older citizens, it’s not recommended to do high-intensity workouts especially the ones who haven’t had any prior experience with exercise. Choose low-intensity workouts like walking, sports, or anything that you enjoy. To workout in the comfort of your home, you can try chair exercise programs offered by Sit and Be Fit. You can find chair exercise DVDs, exercise books, audio, and much more.
4) Include your friends:
If you have friends of similar age, then try to include them in your fitness journey. Try to have a walk after lunch, join dance classes together or you can use family gatherings for playing any sports. If you make your exercise routine fun by including your friends, you tend to be more consistent with it. Set small exercise goals for each other and try to achieve them.
5) Track the progress:
Progress makes you stay consistent and motivated to stay fit. Track the progress even if it’s minor progress to know how effective your workout program is. To measure your cardiovascular fitness, you can check your resting heart rate. If your resting heart rate has decreased, it shows that your cardiovascular fitness has improved. Likewise, find ways to track the progress of various aspects of your fitness.
6) Fix your nutrition:
As you age, your metabolism significantly drops and you don’t need more calories as it is hard to digest. To preserve lean mass in your body, have adequate protein and ensure you have more complex carbohydrates than simple carbohydrates so that you stay full for a longer time. Cut down junk, sweets and have more vegetables and fruits. If possible. Measure your calorie intake in a day and set them according to your goals.
Conclusion:
To wrap up, the other few things you can do is to focus on strength training which helps you maintain your bone density. Also, as you age, your balance decreases which can lead to injuries as well, so focus on balance exercises too. We hope this article helps you to get started with your fitness journey even in your 50s, 60s, and further.
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