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Elderly And Senior Endurance

Exercises Improve Your Heart
Health
If you are looking for one of the best resources on elderly
endurance training exercises for seniors on the internet,
you found it!

The benefits of Elderly endurance training in a senior exercise

program are

Increased endurance, energy level, increased fat metabolism,

and prevention of heart disease
This works best if you workout at least three times a week spaced
out with a 48 hour rest in between
It is possible to improve with a two day a week workout but we
prefer at least three days
Two days a week is not likely to help you loose weight but really any
amount of exercise is better than no exercise at all.

Start a walking program

One of the easiest forms of Elderly

endurance work is brisk walking. Walking has been referred to as the
"King of exercises".

If you are a low fit person, start with 2 - 5 minutes of continuous

walking.

Try this a few times per day. Then build up to 30 minutes, 3 or 4 times
a week.
Older adults can safely walk as much as 60 minutes a day.

Beginners or those with balance problems, joint problems should walk

first on flat surfaces or indoor at a mall.

Then you can gradually work up to more uneven surface as your

balance and joints permit.

Tips for healthy feet

Keep nails filed straight across the top
Wash your feet daily with mild soap and water and dry thoroughly.
Those with diabetes should check their feet daily for redness,
ingrown toe nails and blisters.
Gradually build up your pace.
A healthy senior can safely walk between 1 to 3 miles per hour.

Hiking or walking shoes are the best

choice for your elderly endurance program.

Regular sneakers or tennis shoes are not ideal because they are
designed for more side to side movements in sports.
Look for a shoe with thick soles to provide cushioning and good heel
support for increased stability.

Thick socks will increase your comfort and reduce the risk of
blistering.

Finding your correct training range for

elderly endurance exercises

Endurance exercises include brisk walking, stationary

bike riding, running, low impact aerobics, swimming, water aerobics,
cycling or any exercise that makes you breathe faster and your heart
to speed up.

Endurance exercises or activities should be performed at least 2 times

per week.

For optimal improvement in your heart and lungs and muscles, try 3 to
5 times per week.

Think of how much easier it will be to walk, grocery shop and play with
your grandchildren!

Your workout should be intense enough to make your heart beat

faster and your breathing to increase but not so high as to over stress
your system.
This is your training zone. Try to work out in this range to get the most
benefit out of your endurance exercises.

Below you will find three good ways of monitoring your intensity
level for your endurance activities and finding your training zone. Pick
one that will work for you and your situation.

Method 1: Maximum Heart rate :

This method is the most precise when finding your training zone for
your endurance exercises, but can be the hardest to learn.

Take a breath... and see if you can

follow along...
A good range for the typical senior exerciser is between 65% to 80%
of your maximum heart rate, which is 220 minus your age.

If you have been inactive for a while or have limiting health problems,
keep your heart rate between 50% and 75% of your maximum.

For example....

A healthy 75 year old man with a maximum heart rate of 145

needs to exercise between 16 and 21 beats

when counting for 10 seconds.

Find your age on the chart below, and follow to get your heart rate
range for a 10 second count.

Take your pulse at approximately 5 minutes into the exercise.

Take your pulse again at approximately 10 minutes into your

endurance exercise or after the hardest part.

Take your pulse just after your cool-down.

To find your pulse on your wrist: Use the

pads of your two fingers tips.

Place your finger tips just below the wrist creases at the base of the
thumb.
Press lightly until you feel a pulse

(which is the blood pulsing under your fingers).

If necessary, move fingers around until you feel the pulse.

Review the 10 second counts so that you don't have

to do math in your head while exercising.

Slow down for the pulse count but keep your legs moving.

It is usually better to take your pulse at your wrist (radial artery)

instead of your neck ( carotid artery).

It is possible to press too hard on the carotid artery which could cause
slowing of the pulse.

Wow..eeeehhhh!...

I know this sounds complicated.....

But once you find how many beats per 10 seconds you need to
have.... you are done!

Method 2: Rate of Perceived Exertion:

Don't like the previous heart rate method?
Too complicated?

Want an easier way to tell how hard you are working during your
workout?

An easier method is to just rate your feeling of how hard you are
working on the 0 to 10 scale.

This is called the "Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion."

For most older adult exercisers, you can work in the "moderate" to
"strong" range which is 4 - 5.

Give it a try.. it actually works quite well.

Method 3: Talk Test:

Still too complicated?

Want a VERY easy method to tell how hard you are working and
make sure you are training correctly and safely in your training zone?

Try the talk test. It doesn't get much simpler...

 Basically, you should be able to
speak in your normal voice and tone during your exercise session.

If you are out of breath and are unable to speak regularly, then you
need to lower your intensity level by slowing down.

How's that? Easy, eehh?

http://www.americantrails.org/resources/health/wayoflife.html

Resources and Library:

Health & Fitness

Hosted by AmericanTrails.org
Regular exercise provides a myriad of health benefits for seniors including a stronger heart, a positive
mental outlook, and an increased chance of remaining independent.

Walking as a way of life

By Emily Smith; for Partnership for a Walkable America, University of North Carolina
Highway Safety Research Center

ENJOYING TRAILS IS A HEALTHY, LIFE-LONG HABIT

"Use it or lose it."

That's what doctors these days are telling senior citizens about their bodies. But seniors needn't think
they have to sign up for high-impact aerobics classes or run 10K races to stay in shape. Instead,
fitting a simple 35-minute walk into their daily activities can keep them physically strong and agile.
"Walking is a tremendously good activity for senior citizens. It's cheap, it's simple, almost anybody
can do it and it Walking has a multitude of health benefits for everyone. It helps seniors has very real
benefits for maintain mobility and independence. Older adults," said Dr. Michael Pratt, the acting chief
for the Physical Activity and Health Branch in the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta (CDC).
Dr. Pratt, is a member of the "Partnership for a Walkable America," a coalition of private, state and
federal organizations united with the common cause of increasing public awareness about the benefits
of walking. Regular exercise is a must for older adults if they want to maintain mobility and
independence, Dr. Pratt said. "Statistics show that most older adults aren't getting enough activity and
we know that they stand to benefit from regular exercise," he said.
In fact, Americans in general don't get enough exercise, Dr. Pratt said. According to the Report to the
Surgeon General on Physical Activity and Health issued by the CDC in July 1996, sixty percent of
Americans are not regularly active and 25 percent are essentially sedentary.
Sedentary Life Can Be Deadly
New studies are showing that sedentary lifestyles can result
in muscle loss and significantly lowered aerobic capacity.
"What health experts
Researchers at the Department of Physical Education at San
have now discovered is Diego State University recently completed a 23-year study
that regular exercise involving two groups of middle-age men. One group
exercised regularly for 23 years. The other exercised
can help prevent many
approximately five years and then stopped.
of the conditions that
When researchers tested the fitness of the men at the end of
frequently lead to a the study, they found those who hadn't exercised had lost 41
ride in an ambulance to percent of their maximal aerobic power while those who
exercised lost just 13 percent. These results were interesting
the hospital."
since decreased aerobic power has long been thought to be a
natural product of aging.
Additionally, the researchers found that none of the men in
the exercise group developed high blood pressure, although two men in this group had high blood
pressure initially. In contrast, 60 percent of the men who didn't exercise developed high blood
pressure. Another health bonus the researchers discovered was that the blood pressure of the men
who exercised was 25 percent below the average of men their age.
Brain Power
Research has also shown exercise is good for the mind. In a recent study at Scripps College in
Claremont, Calif., researchers compared 62 exercisers, ages 55 to 91, with an equal number of people
in the same age bracket who didn't exercise to determine the possible effects regular activity might
have on cognitive skills. Both groups were given a one-hour series of tests assessing memory,
reaction time and reasoning.
The results? The exercisers performed significantly better in all reaction-time tests, all reasoning tests
and in two of the three memory tests. "I think this study strongly suggests that exercise is important
in preserving our mental abilities as we grow older," said Louis Clarkson Smith, Ph.D., who conducted
the research with Alan A. Hartley, Ph.D.
The Benefits Of Walking
According to Partnership member Mark Fenton, "The elderly have some special physical concerns that
can be helped with regular exercise like walking."
"As people get older," he said, "they seem to be at greater risk of developing osteoporosis and with
regular exercise like walking, that seems to be forestalled." Fenton, editor of the Boston-based
Walking Magazine, adds that the psychological benefits of regular physical activity for older adults are
immense.
"We see again and again that regular exercise gives an improved sense of self-worth and an improved
sense of purpose," he said. "It's also clear that regular activity may reduce the likelihood of clinical
depression -- a problem among the elderly who may begin to feel they are a burden to their family.
With regular exercise, they can continue to be contributing members of society and if they want, they
can get involved in volunteer work or part-time work."
Other health benefits from regular physical activity such as walking include:
 Reduced risk of dying prematurely
Decreased risk of dying from heart disease
Decreased risk of developing colon cancer
Reduced risk of developing high blood pressure
Help in reducing blood pressure in people who already have high blood pressure
Decreased risk of developing diabetes
Lower risk of developing hypertension
Increased muscle strength, flexibility and sense of balance, all of which reduce the risk of falls
Help in controlling weight
"I think what's really notable is just how much benefit there is for older adults to be physically active,"
DL Pratt said. "We used to think that once you got to a certain age, it really didn't make any difference
anymore, but what we're finding out is that even men and women into their nineties can see major
increases in cardiovascular fitness and strength with regular physical activity."
America's Exercise Habits
Exercise seems to be something that comes naturally to people who were born and raised before the
automobile boom and are now in their eighties and nineties, according to Maggie Spilner, an editor
for Walking Magazine who has written a column on walking for the publication since 1988.
"My grandmother walked to work every day because she didn't know how to drive a car but my
mother, who is now 74, drives her car everywhere and doesn't get any more exercise than what it
takes to run a household," she said. "From what I have seen, our parents have been at greater risk
than any other generation," she said. "They were caught in the middle of an industrialization
movement in this country."
Spilner said those who are now in their nineties relied on foot for the most part to get around while
the generation that followed developed daily patterns that depended on automobiles. "Our generation
knows enough to exercise," she said, "but the lifestyle of our parents sapped them of any exercise.
Preventative Medicine
What health experts have now discovered is that regular exercise can help prevent many of the
conditions that frequently lead to a ride in an ambulance to the hospital, according to Dan Manz, a
past president of the National Association of State Emergency Medical Service Directors, a Partner
agency.
"From an emergency medical service perspective, what continues to be the leading ambulance call in
America is cardiovascular problems and certainly the population that is highly at risk for that is the
elderly," Manz said. "Clearly aerobic exercise like walking is a key to reducing the risk of heart attack."
Manz cautioned, however, that those with heart problems should check with a physician before
beginning an exercise program.
According to Dr. Pratt, regular exercise can make a difference in the strength and endurance of older
Americans. "We've found that loss of strength and endurance that appear to be due to aging are really
due to inactivity," he said. "Studies show that one in three men and half of women are completely
sedentary in their leisure by the time they reach 75-years-old."
The Independent Life
By far the biggest difference regular exercise can make in an older person's life, however, is in
increasing their chances of remaining independent and able to care for themselves, Fenton said.
"Exercise seems to be at the heart of maintaining functional mobility and independence and that's
critical for an older person," he said. "Regular exercise can mean the difference between a continual
fulfilled life or the beginning of their demise."
Elberta Stutts, an 80-year-old retired employee of American Bakeries in Dorada, N.C., can attest to
that. "I walk about three and a half miles a day in my neighborhood and the last time I had my check-
up at the doctor's office, the nurse said: 'From what I can tell, you have the heart of an athlete."'
What's more, Mrs. Stutts said she has gotten to know her community through her daily walks. "I
started walking for exercise when I quit work and I only knew maybe the next door neighbor or the
neighbor across the street," she said. "But I've gotten to know everybody in the neighborhood now.
What's so near is that when I don't walk for a couple of days, my neighbors start calling me, wanting
to know why I haven't been out walking."
Mrs. Stutts added that her daily walks keep her feeling positive about life. "I can be feeling down and I
can get out and walk and it helps me a lot to keep my head on straight," she said.
Start Now!
It might also be of interest for seniors to know that it's never too late to begin exercising, said Dr.
Pratt.
"One of the issues with older adults, particularly with women, is that many have grown up thinking
that exercise is not for them," he said. "They think if they're not athletes, they shouldn't be active."
"To this, I would like to say that it's never too late to start. Most of the benefits of exercise that accrue
for younger adults also apply to older adults, no matter when they begin exercising," he said.