As a caregiver, you may be wondering about getting (or keeping) your aging parents or loved one fit and looking for exercises at home for seniors. As you probably already know, exercise is important for all of us, especially seniors over 70. It helps them maintain their independence and can go a long way to delay the typical effects of aging.
Establishing an exercise program for the elderly can be a lot easier than you may think. And in this blog post, I’m going to give you a sort of a template that you can use to get started. Having a template will let you modify as you need to and use for what works for your or your care recipient’s lifestyle.
So, medical professionals recommend that seniors should try to get about 150 minutes of moderate endurance activity throughout each week spread out over several days. This could include things likes walking, cycling, or swimming. They also give as examples, water aerobics or Zumba classes. But this may be too generic for some and out of reach or the question for other. Is there a simpler exercise routine for seniors at home? Yes.
There are two major factors when it comes to designing a workout program for the elderly (or anyone for that matter). These are 1) your realistic availability to do it, and 2) the actual exercises in your routine.
Let’s consider your availability or the time you can set aside to work the program. You’ll need to set up a schedule first of all. This schedule should be based on what you can realistically keep to considering all the other things you may have on your plate. And it can change as needed.
Start Exercising Slowly and Then Build Up
In most cases, if you and your care recipient are just starting out, the exercise routine will start out slow and progress to something more strenuous as time goes on. This means that the actual exercise sessions will be relatively brief in duration. Depending on your loved one’s conditioning (and/or attitude) it may be better to also have set days such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
The reason for this is when someone starts a new physical activity, it’s likely they will have increased aches and pains. Sometimes for several days. It’s to be expected. A rest day in between will help keep people from quitting altogether. You’ll keep this initial schedule for up to 2 weeks to let the body adapt to the new exercises and movements. On the days in between the exercise bouts, don’t let your care recipient become a couch potato. Keep them active with light activities that require them to change position or walk around rather than sitting in the recliner.
So, what exercises should you do to get started? I sort of addressed it in the guide you can find here. Something to keep in mind is that exercises for the elderly or seniors should be functional and should target the “posterior chain” muscle groups.
The reason for this is two-fold. Functional exercises are actually “productive”, meaning it isn’t wasted movement and energy that really serves no purpose (I*’m looking at you “leg kicks sitting in a chair” or peddling on a “Cubii”). If you’re going to exert energy, it needs to help a person improve their function or posture.
This brings us to the second point of working the “posterior chain” muscle groups. These are typically the muscle groups that get neglected by the sedentary lifestyle of most seniors. They are on the back of our bodies and they act to hold us up against gravity and they also work to keep our posture in good condition.
Simple Full Body Exercise Program
When designing a workout program for seniors, it’s a good idea to do a “modified” full body workout. What I mean by this is that you should simply do exercises and movements that work the upper body as well as the lower body. There should be no “split” exercise routines that work the upper body one day and the lower body the next at this point. It’s also a good idea to pick 1-2 movements for the uppers and lowers. Ideally the movements should be compound (multiple muscle groups) versus isolated (single muscles) movements.
When exercising, you have to track what you’re doing so you know what you’ve done, for how long, and when to advance. This can be done with a simple spiral notebook or a (my preference-desk sized) calendar. The date, “sets and reps” or duration, need to be recorded to track your consistency and your progress.
In most cases thera-band or thera-tubing products can be used. These are pretty convenient, light weight, (relatively) inexpensive, and safer to start with. When a person becomes stronger and more committed to exercising, dumbbells or kettlebells may be used also. But, these are generally made of heavy metal and you wouldn’t want to drop one on your toe or nice hardwood floors!
Upper Body Exercise Suggestions:
The first exercise I recommend for the upper body is the “upright row”. This movement works several muscles in the arms, shoulders, and upper back and strengthens the posterior chain groups of the upper back. When done in standing it also works on the “core” stability and balance.
In addition to strengthening the back muscles, it stretches the muscles of the “anterior chain”. The muscles that, when too tight, cause the shoulders to roll in and can frequently lead to shoulder problems with impingement.
This movement is also good for posture. It helps address that typical curve in the upper back that we see in so many of the elderly. Rowing through the complete and available (pain free !) motion, causes the upper back to “extend” or straighten. It also helps to bring the shoulder blades back and down and will help your loved one “stand up straight”.
Another upper body movement is the overhead tricep extension. This can be done in standing but I recommend it be done in sitting initially (I couldn’t find a decent picture with a person seated). For most seniors, it’s a movement that they have probably not had to do for quite some time. Doing this movement in sitting prevents potential falls or unsteadiness that can happen in standing as they try to coordinate the movement.
The overhead triceps extension targets the “pushing muscles” (rather than the pulling muscles) of the arms that are needed to help seniors get out of a chair, off the bed, and use a walker better. These “pushing muscles” help support the body when a person is vertical.
Also, the overhead aspect of the movement helps to stretch out the tissues in the shoulder joint without putting a lot of strain on the delicate rotator cuff muscles. This movement will also decrease symptoms of impingement.
Note: If your loved one has had a shoulder replacement or rotator cuff repair, start out with a simple tricep push down exercise rather than the overhead movement.
Lower Body Exercise Suggestions:
My “go to exercise” that seniors should do for the lower body is the “modified squat”. I usually modify it and call it a “sit to stand squat”. This can be done from a chair or bench. The higher the bench, the easier it will be to perform. And, depending on the amount of knee pain someone may have, you may want to start “as high as possible”.
This movement is fundamental and functional. It encompasses most all activities that we do during the day. Sitting down on and Standing up from the bed, the toilet, a wheelchair, the car, the breakfast/dinner table, etc.
The movement strengthens the muscles in the lower and upper legs, the hips and the lower back. It helps with balance and also endurance. It truly is an all around movement and should be done by all (not just the elderly).
The second lower body exercise that packs a lot of benefit into it is the simple heel raise. That’s right, standing on your tiptoes. This movement strengthens the calf muscles that help keep a person upright and also the muscles used to propel us forward as we are walking. The calf muscles are essential for climbing an incline or stairs.
But in addition to the calf muscles being strengthened, the heel raise exercise strengthens the toes, or more correctly the “intrinsic muscles” of the feet. Most don’t realize that it’s the toes that keep us from toppling over onto our faces when we stand up. We would have a hard time balancing and holding ourselves up if it weren’t for our toes.
Another thing that many have not grasped about the elderly is that because they are frequently “off their feet”, their calf muscles and tissues in their feet shorten and get tight and weak. This is because when we sit and lie down for extended periods, our feet are generally in the “toes pointed” position. This causes tightening of the calf muscles and pitches us backward when we try to stand up (watch your care recipient stand up next time. Pay attention to their feet. Chances are you’ll notice them stand on their heels and take a relatively long time to shift their weight to their forefoot-if at all).
Make an Exercise Schedule
So, how to get started? Well, remember, you’re dealing with someone up in age that probably has not done targeted strengthening for quite some time. You’ll want to start out pretty slow and with a relatively light amount of resistance. I usually recommend people start with a number of sets and reps that are easy to do and easy to remember. Many physical therapists work in sets of 10 repetitions. Not that there’s anything magical about “10 reps”. It’s just easy to remember. 1-2 sets of 10 reps with each movement and then a short walk is all that’s needed to get started.
Rather than recording your “sets and reps” in the journal or on the calendar as you complete them, it would be better to write out your sets and reps into the future and also indicate which days you’ll increase in resistance, rep numbers or sets. This gives your loved one a visual goal to hit each day and it helps embed the suggestion that “this is what needs to be achieved each session”.
Keep in mind that this blog post contains “suggestions”. Each person is different. Each may have varying diagnoses or health challenges. A home physical therapist can help you tailor a program of exercises for seniors that is more specific to your individual needs.