As we age many things change. We may experience more fatigue. Our joints may become stiff and painful. We may have lingering back pain. We may have trouble healing wounds. And our reflexes slow down, making falls more likely. This is all the more reason to make exercise a priority.
Exercise for seniors, however, may be quite different from typical exercise. While finishing a marathon, competing in a tennis tournament, or hiking the Grand Canyon may not be on our list of exercise goals, what may be a whole lot more important is simply being able to move without pain.
Functional fitness means fitness that makes the activities of daily living easier. This may mean getting up off the couch, leaning down to pick something up off the floor, walking up or down stairs, or getting in and out of the car. Whatever the activities are that are difficult for us, functional fitness is designed to make those things easier.
For example, if getting up off the couch without assistance is hard for us, functional fitness exercise would be created to mimic that activity and help us gain the muscle strength, coordination, and balance that makes getting up off the couch easier.
Making Movement Mimic Life
So often when we think of exercise, we think of long treadmill sessions, running, or lifting weights. These are all great forms of exercise, but if our concern is being able to get in and out of the car without help, these types of exercise may not help much.
Functional fitness is all about making life easier. We may not need to walk four miles on a treadmill because this is not a requirement of daily living. We may, however, need to create exercises that are similar or the same as the activities that plague us on a daily basis.
If we have trouble getting in and out of the car, for example, we could begin by holding on to the car door and window frame, lowering ourselves toward the car seat, and then, without sitting all the way down, lifting ourselves back up again. We could also stand facing away from the car seat and lower ourselves as far as we can without assistance.
These sorts of exercise may not seem like exercise, but they will make getting in and out of the car easier, which is the point of functional fitness. Likely, because they are hard for us, they will also burn a lot of calories.
Getting Down and Getting Up
One of the biggest challenges we have when we get older is simply getting up and getting down. For example, let’s say that our internet goes out and the router is on the floor beside the bed in the corner of the room. The only way to reach it is to get down on the floor, lean sideways and look to see if the cable is connected.
This may sound simple, but with achy joints, lack of coordination and balance, and declining muscle strength, maybe not so much. Further, the ability to get up and get down without using both hands is an accurate predictor of overall health. Yet, it is also something that might have to be done, in some form or another, several times a week. We could, for example, also drop something behind the toilet and, again, have to get all the way down on the floor to reach it.
Using functional fitness principles, we could design exercises that would make this activity much easier. For example, we could begin by lowering ourselves to our knees, then standing up again. Once this becomes easier, we could add leaning forward to our hands and knees. Lastly, we could advance to our elbows and knees, and then stand up again.
The idea is that, over time, getting down and getting up becomes less challenging and reaching down to check the internet cable, not such a headache.
Reducing Falls
One of the most common causes of injuries for seniors is falling down. As vision may change, it may become harder to see and avoid things in our way. Our balance may also be compromised and what may seem like simple activities may cause us to lose balance and fall. And when we do lose balance, it may be more difficult to catch ourselves because our reflexes are not what they used to be.
Falling down can lead to broken bones, cuts and bruises, and even black eyes. For this reason, the National Council On Agingstates that preventing falls is a critical component of maintaining seniors overall physical and mental health.
Reducing falls begins with not only checking vision and performing a household survey of possible causes of injuries, but also performing the exercises that will help us improve the balance, coordination, and strength needed to not fall. For example, we could begin by stepping up and down on a curb. We could proceed to stepping over items like stuffed animals, dog toys and shoes.
We could move toward balance exercises like standing on one leg, rotating around while on two legs, and even standing on balance boards or wobble boards. Balance boards, for example, are designed to disrupt our balance so that we may develop the coordination and reaction time needed to recover it. In essence, losing balance and failing to regain it is exactly why we fall. Therefore, by performing an exercise that puts us in this position we get better at responding to balance changes and quickly reacting so that we don’t fall.
Exercise is a great way to improve our health and our quality of life. Functional fitness exercises that mimic life, make getting up and down easier, and reduce the chance of falling take this one step further – to make the activities of daily living easier. For seniors, this may be the most important reason to start exercising.
