Senior Fitness - 5 Areas of Focus To Remain Independent

Remaining independent is a primary focus for many people as they get older. Being able to do your activities of daily living (ADLs) is a way to maintain your agency and feeling of autonomy. Below are 5 areas of focus for people who are on their aging journey and want to feel more confident about what you can do remain strong and independent.

1. Strong Sense of Community

   While this is not actually an aspect of fitness, it is so important that it's worth mentioning and worth mentioning first. One of the biggest drivers for longevity and happiness as you age is being part of a community and having a sense that you are not alone in this process. Fostering your friendships and relationships with loved ones is so important because it will often be your motivation to put in the work required with exercise and fitness. You want to be strong and capable to do your favorite activities with and amongst your community.

   Goal: Prioritize time with friends and loved ones, even if it's only a phone call or text message, but stay connected.
   

2. Muscle Mass

   You don't need to look like the people at Muscle Beach in Venice to get the benefits of additional muscle mass. Having more muscle mass is vital to your overall metabolic and heart health. For people who have Type II diabetes or prediabetes, adding more muscle mass will help you better manage your blood sugar. Muscle tissue is one of the places we can store blood sugar within our body. So the more muscle we have, the more sugar we can store, which gets sugar out of the blood stream which lowers our fasting blood sugar levels or HbA1C. You start to lose muscle mass in your 30's and 40's but it becomes much more pronounced and you really feel the effects in your 60's and 70's. The earlier you can get back into strength training, the better. And it's so important to understand that it's never too late to get stronger or add muscle mass. Goal: Strength training 2x/week and adequate protein intake

   
   

3. Balance and Stability

   Walking is a single leg activity although most people wouldn't immediately think of it in those terms. Getting older can come with increased risks from walking like trips and falls. However, there are many activities that can be done to work on maintaining balance and stability. Senior fitness to remain independent has to incorporate strength and balance training for it to be a complete program. Strength training is one of the best ways to improve balance and stability. Often times people will think about "balance training" in terms of standing on uneven surfaces or Bosu balls, but regular strength training is one of the best ways to improve both balance and stability. Very often it is a lack of strength that shows up as poor balance and a lack of stability. Goal: Strength training 2x/week and adequate protein intake
   

4. Breathing

   We often take breathing for granted because it is one of the processes of the body that happens without us thinking about it. While this is very convenient, there is a downside. If we aren't aware of our breathing, we may not notice that we are breathing in poor positions or not breathing fully. Luckily, breathing is also one the processes we can control, which means we can train it. Your breath is an incredibly powerful tool if you know how to harness it. There are specific ways to train your breath and breathing to increase energy, feel more alert, train your exhalation muscles, train your inhalation muscles, help you sleep, help you lower stress, and improve your posture.
   

   Goal: Become more aware of your breath throughout the day.
   

5. Cardiovascular Health

   Finally, we have to talk about cardiovascular health. Everyone has a different relationship to "doing cardio", but hopefully you can understand it's overall importance to your health. Improved cardiovascular fitness is associated with lower rates of all cause mortality (any cause of death), cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, dementia, diabetes, better blood pressure management and better cholesterol levels.

   The best baseline activity you can do for cardiovascular health is walking. Walking delivers so many benefits from increasing bone mineral density to balance to blood sugar metabolism. It's hard to overstate the importance of daily walking. And if you want double or triple benefits - try walking with friends (community) while being mindful of your breathing :) Goal: Aim for 150 minutes of low-intensity exercise per week - for most people walking fits this description.

Conclusion:

Folks in Paradise Valley and Scottsdale tend to be very active and we live in one of the best places to maintain physical activity and fitness due to the weather, and mountainous geography.

If you're interesting in putting all of this into a coherent plan, don't hesitate to reach out. In-home personal training is available in Paradise Valley and parts of Scottsdale. Getting older has plenty of question marks and unknowns, but there is still plenty that you can control. Take advantage of these factors within your control so you can age with confidence and live life on your own terms.