Wellness Café

Exercise – Energise your ageing with exercise

Apr 18, 2017

Exercise – Energise your ageing with exercise

Of course you’ll want to go into your future walking tall, with intention, without joint pain, and lots of flexibility, right? All this is possible with a little care and attention.

For both men and women, from about the age of 35, each year the body tends to start to loose muscle and gaining fat. So the work needs to begin early. There are 3 types of exercise that are important for everyone.

Firstly, you need to slow down the natural muscle loss by doing weight bearing exercise. So, into the gym and lift some weights! Or, if this feels to daunting on your own, most gyms hold classes that include weight lifting, or weight bearing exercises. Even better, take your partner with you. Doing classes together can be fun and good for both of you.

You may come to enjoy the gym so much that you decide to progress to the free weight section. Get some guidance from a trainer. It really is satisfying to learn how to get your form or posture right for each exercise, and to experience your body working each muscle group. This is an intriguing way of building a new caring relationship with your body. Weight bearing exercise is especially important for women as a means of preventing osteoporosis.

Many people have all sorts of reasons for not liking the gym. Whenever I have carefully explored their reasons, it seems to come down to the fear of the unfamiliar environment, not knowing what to do, feeling out of place, and often feeling very self-conscious. Me too! Getting used to this new environment takes some courage and perseverance. Yet it does not actually have to be difficult. You can overcome this by going with a buddy who knows the ropes, or get a personal trainer for you and your buddy, and learn together. Build encouraging, supportive relationships, join classes, and make friends in the class.

The experience will become more familiar and you will begin to ‘own’ the space. Working through this apprehension leads to a surprising benefit of a huge boost in both self-confidence and self esteem

Secondly, in addition to building muscle, doing exercises like Pilates and yoga will strengthen your back and abs so that your posture is upright. Your flexibility will be ensured enabling you to bend, stretch and reach, and be graceful in all movements. There are such classes at gyms, and even other free online classes you can do at home with your family.

Thirdly, you need cardiovascular exercise; like running, cycling and swimming, where you get your pulse rate up and ‘break a sweat’. This is important for your lungs, heart and vascular system. It helps ward off cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

For information about a good, healthy way of exercising, log onto the MEMBER PORTAL and scroll down to

Road to wellness: General Health for general wellness tips. Or log onto MYPLAN to set up a personal exercise plan.

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