Modifying exercises for seniors

You might want to check out exercise videos on YouTube. I'm 72 and have compromised lungs so aerobic exercises are nearly impossible for me. I've been very sedentary so am just beginning to put a regular program together. Right now, I do stretches every morning which really help. Then I do a chair yoga program. I also have two other chair routines that I use but can only do about 15 minutes of each at this time. Last, I am trying to do a beginner walking program by Leslie Sansone but can only do 5 minutes ... so, I try to do at least two 5 minute "chunks" a day ... and try for a third sometimes. I'd really like to be able to build up strength and stamina ... but must do so in baby steps.

My stretching program: Stretchin' to the Classics by Richard Simmons ... who does not speak a word. It's just stretching to classical music. It's about 15 minutes and I can do all of it.

The chair yoga program I do is: Self Quarantine Yoga: A Relaxing 30 Minute Chair Yoga . I am able to do the full program with only a couple of modifications. The sound on your computer must be turned way up. Just remember to turn it back down afterwards.

The other two chair programs are:
.....Chair Exercises for Seniors - Senior Fitness
.....25 Min Chair Exercises Sitting Down Workout - Seated Exercise for Seniors

Walking. Search for Leslie Sansone beginner walking. She has several. Just try a different one each day until you find the one that best suites your need.

Once you've decided which video's will work for you, you can set them to "Watch Later". There is an option on the left side of the screen and anytime you check the "watch later" button on a video it will appear there. You can go into that category and organize your choices. For example, I like to do the Stretchin' video early in the morning so I've moved it to the top of the list.

Hope that helps. Good Luck.

mylittlerainbow wrote: »

I went searching for "exercise" and "seniors" and found this thread. It's very discouraging when you go to a video and it says, "If a little old lady can do 10 reps of this, it isn't good enough for you." I am almost 72 myself and do what I can. I found many of the videos above - Leslie Sansone and also Jenny McClendon's channel for beginners and seniors. But it's hard to know what (and how much) we should do as we age when we read through the posts on this message board. I would hope this renews this thread and I can hear from more of you.

This may not be what you were looking for, but I'm going to rant a little.

Any exercise a senior wants to do, and is able to do, is "exercise for seniors".

I think you may be referring to what I sometimes characterize as a "tyranny of low expectations" for seniors, when you're talking about stuff like "If a little old lady can . . . it's too easy.". I've had 30 year olds look me in the face in our mutual spin class, and tell me they need to take spin class now, "before they get too old". Say what, baby girl? 😆

Those of us who've been on earth for a while are, as individual humans, not much different from anyone else: We have a set of personal capabilities, and possibly some constraints or limitations. We work within that framework, and carefully, experimentally figure out what we're capable of. We can surprise ourselves.

There are young people with disabilities or other limitations (psychological or physical), and they adjust for them. There are octogenarians who compete in triathlons (sometimes even Iron Man distances). (Check these people: https://www.rickrickman.com/gallery.html?gallery=The+Wonder+Years&folio=Portfolio&vimeoUserID=&vimeoAlbumID=#/1)

I'm 64 now. I wasn't routinely active until my mid-40s, after stage III cancer & its full-bore treatment. I already had some arthritis, some connective tissue problems, and whatnot. And I was class 1 obese, and stayed obese for another decade plus, even while becoming routinely quite active, even competing in races (rowing), not always unsucessfully.

I'm far from a physical marvel now, but until the pandemic I was taking classes at my Y and rowing (on-water) alongside people decades younger (and holding my own, outworking some of them), as well as people 20+ years older (and sometimes being outworked by them). (That, too, was true even when I was obese, even though some people think obese people can't be remotely fit. That's a myth, too.) It's not age per se, it's not bodyweight per se, it's all individual.

If you have specific questions, ask them. But, based on my best reading of what you wrote here so far, I'd say we can do whatever we turn out to be able to do, all of us, any age.

If you know you have injuries or physical limitations, ask your doctor for guidelines (but don't automatically freak out if s/he has bought into that "low expectations" idea - if so, consult a trainer who's a senior working with senior athletes, or someone like that).

Then just start doing new things, starting slowly, building up gradually. This is exactly what I'd tell a younger person trying to make fitness improvements, BTW. You'll find any concerns or limitations before disaster strikes, if you sneak up toward them slowly. Start with things that seem easy and achievable, then just keep improving, and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do X purely because of age. That's silly nonsense. If you accidentally slip over into a problem area, seek a physical therapist, a trainer, an osteopath, a massage therapist, or whatever and put things back together; then go on, with a new awareness of your personal boundaries.

There's ample research showing that with the appropriate exercise stimulus, seniors can gain muscle, improve balance, increase cardiovascular fitness, and more, even quite late in life, even with super limited exercise history.

Speaking here only for myself, as I've aged, I find that I de-train a little faster when I take a break from working out, and it takes a little longer than it used to to rebuild. Seemingly, I can still develop capabilities to do pretty much anything I put my mind to (mindful of true physical limitations/pre-existing injuries, just as a young person would need to do).

It may take me a little longer to get there, and I'm a little more careful to avoid injury (because of that self-knowledge about the cost of de-training). I'm less resilient to cumulative physical stress than when I was much younger, i.e., if I'm going to do a truly challenging workout, I don't want to underfuel and precede it with a night of poor sleep, deep-fried onion rings, and craft beer, because that's trouble waiting to happen). I need to plan recovery into my workout schedule more thoughtfully than when I was much younger, for similar reasons.

I'm not saying those things will apply to you, either. That's just what I see in myself.

Here's what I've been doing lately, as maintenance mode exercise (after a period of moping and inactivity due to my rowing club being closed due to the pandemic): I'm doing a moderate steady-state rowing machine workout 6 days a week, and strength training (in an idiosyncratic way) with dumbbells 3 days a week (every other day). The rowing machine bits have been 20-50 minutes, usually topping out around 70% heart rate reserve because I'm mostly interested in aerobic base right now.

Before the pandemic, my routine for over a decade was about an hour of on-water rowing 4 days a week in season, and 2 other days of a regular all-ages spin class at my Y. In Winter, I usually do a 200km rowing maching challenge between US Thanksgiving and Christmas (200km total, around 40 minutes x 6 days a week, depending on the year) plus the spin classes, then backing off to a lighter rowing machine schedule, the spin classes, and some random other stuff: Weight training, maybe a little swimming, etc. In Spring, when weather permits, back to the on-water/spin schedule.

So, repeating myself: Start with trying something, anything, that sounds/feels manageable, whether officially "for seniors" or not. If and as that goes well, increase the challenge a little, and keep going. Rinse and repeat. Don't let people convince you that an older age is in and of itself a disability. It isn't. At most, it shifts our odds around a little.

Do you have specific questions about whether certain exercise modes can work for you? Do you have known issues you feel a need to work around? Do you have questions about what other seniors here do, or have developed a capability to do while already a senior? If so, please post, I'm sure you'll get replies.

P.S. Sorry, that was a rant, and a long one. The "low expectations for seniors" thing just sets me off, I'm afraid. 🙄😆