PT Personal Trainers

How should we train when we are senior?

Nowadays the fitness and health industry is growing and many are working out regularly in gyms or even outdoors.

Among the elderly population, it is common to think that physical exercise is not an activity that suits their age, leading to many not engaging in any physical activity, either through fear or ignorance of the best strategy to follow.

The term elderly is assigned to a person over 65 years of age or between the ages of 50 and 64 but who has significant clinical conditions or physical limitations that affect movement, physical fitness or physical activity.

We define the elderly according to these parameters since the physiological age does not always correspond to the chronological age. The level of physical fitness can vary between people with the same age range and with very different exercise responses.

As we age, the different systems that form our bodies begin to lose their capacities faster. When prescribing exercise for an elderly person, it is important to realize the level of individual health and functionality as physical capacities are lost differently from one person to another and with greater incidence in this age group. For this reason, it is important to work out in order to counteract the tendency of our movements to get numb.

For example, with the gradual aging of our systems and with reduced capacities, the risk of falling is higher and with more damage, since after the first fall, the likelihood of a further fall may increase 2 to 3 times that year in people of this age group.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PREVENT FALLS AND IMPROVE MY PHYSICAL CAPABILITIES?

There are already many scientific studies that have come to the conclusion that the answer to an increase in longevity may be the exercise. Several studies are also showing great improvements in the health and functionality of the elderly, where risks such as falls, for example, are greatly reduced by a well-designed and structured training prescription.

HOW SHOULD I KNOW WHAT TO DO?

PERSONAL TRAINERS HELPS...

The prescription of training at this stage of life should aim at a general development in which the different systems will be stimulated.

The weekly training plan should include an aerobic component, flexibility / mobility, strength and conditioning training and also neuromuscular training (balance, agility, proprioceptivity).

It is essential to realize that when designing the training plan for an elderly person, we must know the physical path of that person over the years and start working in a harmonious and progressive way from that level always with the aim of giving or improving the autonomy and functionality.

Talk to Personal Trainers and learn how to train at any stage of your life.

Francisco Barbosa text