How Often & How Long Should the Elderly Exercise?

Exercise controls weight, boosts your mood, relieves the symptoms of chronic conditions and helps with daily function. These benefits shouldn't be reserved for the young. Any exercise the elderly can do will be beneficial, but working up to a regular routine that includes cardiovascular and strength training will provide the best results in the long run. Always consult with your physician before beginning a program, especially if you have a chronic condition or have not exercised before or for a long time.

  1. Recommendations for Cardiovascular Exercise

    • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults over age 65 get a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise weekly. Moderate-intensity activity is sustained movement that gets your heart beating faster and your breath coming quickly. Power walking, heavy gardening and doubles tennis all count. If you are very fit already, you can do just 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, such as jogging, to fulfill your health goals. Doing more than these minimum amounts of exercise can mean even greater health benefits.

    Strength Training and Balance

    • Elderly people should aim to strength train all the major muscle groups a minimum of two days per week. Do these exercises on nonconsecutive days. Use your body weight, dumbbells, barbells, machines, resistance bands or even an active yoga class to train the hips, legs, back, chest, shoulders, arms and abdomen. Make balance training a part of your regular routine as well. Simply standing on one leg for 30 to 90 seconds or working with a balance pod or stability ball enhances your proprioception, or ability to recognize where you are in space. Balance deteriorates with age, increasing your risk of falling. Tai chi is another way to enhance balance.

    Obstacles

    • You can never be too old to start exercising. Your first forays may not be lifting 100-pound dumbbells and running a marathon, but you can get out and be active. A sedentary lifestyle reduces your daily function and makes you reliant on other people to do simple tasks such as grocery shopping and cooking. You can't stop the aging process with exercise, but you can delay its effects. Regular physical activity reduces the chances that you'll develop dementia, Alzheimer's, heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, high blood pressure and obesity. If you fear exercise puts you at risk of falling and will zap you of energy, think again. Exercise, especially that which involves balance and strength training, actually makes you steadier so you reduce your risk of a dangerous fall, and can energize you. Even if you are confined to a wheelchair or have arthritis, you can do exercises for your upper body or in a pool or use an arm ergometer to build cardio health.

    Considerations

    • If you don't know where to start, consult a personal trainer who specializes in the elderly population. You can also seek out classes specifically for people over age 65. Even if these resources are out of your reach, you can start slowly with a simple walking program that will get your heart pumping. Simple strength exercises performed with a resistance band are an option for an at-home program. You can purchase the bands at sporting good stores, and most come with a user guide. If the recommendations for the minimum amount of exercise are too much for your current fitness, do what you can, and gradually work up to more exercise over several weeks or months.