Benefits of group exercise for older adults
👯♂️Community!💃
😃My Older Adults (Recycled Teenagers) classes are some of the friendliest sessions I run and the class isn't just about getting some exercise, they're also about meeting up with friends!
🤗Social interaction is so important for our mental health, plus when you work out with friends you enjoy it more!!!
🦴Bone density🦴
👍Exercising builds strength in our bones! This is important at any age and the more bone density we build up in our youth the more we have in reserve for when we start to age, but we can still slow down the loss of bone density as we get older by doing weight bearing exercise!
🩸Cholesterol levels!🩸
🩸We had 2 kinds of Cholesterol in our bodies and exercise increases the GOOD cholesterol and decreases the BAD kinds so you kind of get a 2 for the price of 1 situation!👍👎
👩Plus, when we exercise in a group we work harder than when we exercise alone and the harder we work the more benefits we see in terms of cholesterol markers!🩸
⚖Balance training⚖
😃As we get older our balance does tend to deteriorate, but there are things we can do about that! When you attend a group exercise class designed specifically for older adults your instructor is there to give you tips that will help you to improve your balance and feel more stable in the long run!
🦵Flexibility!
👵As we get older our muscles do get a bit tighter and stuffer, but there are things we can do to reduce the impact that we feel as a result of these changes!
🤩Group exercise classes designed for older adults often include an extra long stretch session designed to target the muscles that tend to get a little bit stiffer as we age. The warm up is generally a little bit longer and includes lots of mobility movements to encourage you to use your full range of movement and prevent shortening of the muscles!
👯♂️The more you do these exercises the more benefit you will get from them and research has shown that not only do we work harder when we exercise in a group, but we are also more likely to adhere to our programme and attend more regularly! Win win!
🧠Cognitive Ability!🧠
🧠As we get older and stop working, we can stop using our brains so much and our brains can get a bit lazy and sluggish! As the old saying goes, 'Use it or lose it'!😮
☀In all my older adults classes we include exercises that challenge our brains as well as our bodies! Simple things like switching up the order of the exercises or changing them very slightly can have a massive impact on how hard your brain is working.
🧠Doing things on a daily basis that keeps your brain ticking over will help improve your cognitive function. Add it to an exercise class and you've got a full workout for the body AND the brain!🦵💪🧠
👍Protection!👍
❤Exercise is excellent for helping protect us against a variety of illnesses and diseases, things like diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease and many more!
👯♀️When we exercise in a group we are much more likely to adhere to our programme. Making that commitment to your instructor and fitness friends that you're doing to be there makes you much more likely to attend on those days that you might feel a bit less motivated!
💪🦵Plus, research shows that we work harder when we exercise in a group we work harder without even realising it! When we work harder we get more benefit and more protection from all those diseases too!
Comments