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{This is a collaborative post}
As we get into our middle-ages, it can become all too clear that we don’t have the physical prowess as we did in our youth. You might not quite be over the hill just yet, but keeping yourself in good condition becomes a little more work. As such, here, we’re going to take a look at what you can do to make sure you’re getting the exercise you need as you get a little older, and how to make sure you’re doing it safely and securely.
Get your heart pumping
First of all, let’s talk about making sure you’re doing the right kinds of exercises. Aerobic exercises typically tend to be the easiest ones to get into since they don’t require as much equipment. Simply put, this is any exercise like jogging, skipping, swimming, and dancing that gets your heart pumping, improving your cardiovascular system. For instance, you can make use of a walking app to get 20 minutes or more in, 3 or 4 days a week. To make sure you’re not pushing yourself too hard, you want to exercise at a pace where you can carry a conversation, as this ensures you’re able to get enough breath to support the processes of the body during exercise.
Support your body
You don’t have to want to build a body replete with rippling muscles in order to see the benefits of some strength training. In fact, as we grow older, it becomes more important than ever to build the muscle that will help support the rest of our bones. This can help prevent issues in bone strength in later life, as well as improving your posture, reducing your chances of a back injury. There are plenty of body-weight strength-building exercises that can help you build a reliable level of bodily muscle. However, you can also look at using light hand weights for a range of simple exercises. You can add these into your cardio exercises or do separate sessions, whichever feels most comfortable.
Stay limber and stay happy
As we get older, one of the biggest risks to our bodily independence is when we find we’re not able to move as well as we could before. You might feel right now that you can’t bend over as much as you could in the past or aren’t quite as flexible. As we get older, this can extend to things like an inability to climb up the stairs or into the bath. The best way to prevent this is with stretching and flexibility exercises like yoga. These can help you greatly increase and retain your body’s range of motion. Furthermore, you should be stretching before and after every single exercise you do, anyway. Otherwise, you can end up injuring yourself, delaying your next workout session which can, in turn, diminish the results of your otherwise healthy lifestyle.
Be mindful of impacts
One of the risks that you have to be aware of is that if you haven’t been building the muscle that supports your joints, you are more likely to experience pain and inflammation there. Some exercises can help reduce this, but some exercises can exacerbate the issue, too. For instance, running is what’s known as a high-impact exercise, meaning that the shocks it causes to places like your ankles and knees can result in painful inflammation. If you find that your body is prone to this, you should aim to improve the muscle supporting those joints, but also be doing low impact exercises to make sure that it doesn’t happen as often.
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Bringing the fight to inflammation
As we get older, our back and joints tend to be less able to take the kind of pressure that exercise puts on, as mentioned. However, aside from choosing exercises that go a little easier on these parts of the body, we can also make sure that we’re fighting any pains at the source. Inflammation and swelling can take you out of commission for days after an exercise if you’re not careful. For that reason, you can find remedies for inflammation and buy CBD oil that can help your body relax post-exercise. It can help mitigate any pains you might feel after a workout and allow you to get back up and into your groove all the sooner.
Make sure your diet is supplying your workouts
If you want to see positive results from your workouts, then you also need to ensure that you’re getting the fuel to support the development of a healthy body. This, of course, means eating a balanced diet and making sure you get enough carbs and proteins to give you energy for your workout sessions and to support muscle development. However, it also means going for a health check to make sure that you’re not suffering from any vitamin or mineral deficiencies. As women get a little older they are more likely, for instance, to have a ferritin deficiency. This can result in an inability to process iron well, which can lead to a whole range of health issues.
How much and when should you exercise?
Allowing your body the time it needs to recover after an exercise is crucial. If you don’t, then you risk your chances of injury which can put you out of working out for even longer. When that happens, you lose the consistency of exercise that maintains a healthy body and start to slide back on what progress you have made. It’s recommended that you work out between 150 to 300 minutes every week. If you’re doing low-intensity workouts, you need to do more, but if you’re doing high-intensity workouts, you should keep to the lower end of the scale. Similarly, if you’re doing a high-intensity workout, then it’s recommended that you allow your body a day to rest after the fact.
There is no age where it becomes okay to stop exercising or taking care of yourself. In fact, as we get older, our risks of losing our range of mobility and developing chronic pain grow if we don’t keep up with our exercise.
