Thursday 9 May 2013

The Best Exercise Equipment for Adults Over 65


Working out is commonly associated with young people and athletes, but seniors older than 65 can also benefit significantly from staying physically active. Low impact fitness equipment, which limits joint strain and injury, might help seniors maintain heart health, joint health insurance and physical strength to continue living independent and productive lives.

Resistance Bands

Resistance bands are flexible strips or looped rubbery material such as latex or surgical tubing. Resistance bands are a type of exercise equipment for seniors because the resistance provided by the bands comes from tension created by stretching the bands, as opposed to the weight of the bands themselves. This significantly cuts down on the chance of injury, since a dropped band cannot hurt your body; even if the band snaps from the body, the pain cause is generally superficial, while an iron weight punching the body forcefully can cause bruising or break bones. An additional advantage to resistance bands is they are inexpensive and very portable, to allow them to easily be carried in a bag and triggered trips. Allowing the body to visit a week or two without exercise will encourage deteriorating--exercise bands might help prevent excessive gaps between workouts.

Stationary bikes

Stationary bicycles are a great low impact workout solution. Running is extremely hard on the knees, hips and ankles, as well as walking can be a problem for some seniors. Stationary bikes allow the muscles from the legs to engage without putting a lot of stress on the joints, which could enable seniors to get longer cardiovascular workouts compared to what they could otherwise. Another advantage of stationary bikes is that they leave the hands and torso free to act independently from the legs--it is quite possible to read, watch TV, or perhaps use a computer while getting a good work out on a stationary bike. Recumbent stationary bikes could be even more comfortable, since the seats often distribute pressure across a lot of body.

Elliptical Machines

Elliptical machines are another kind of stationary cardio machine present in many fitness centers. Elliptical machines allow users to face upright and move the feet within an elliptical motion, which is a hybrid of biking and running. In the same then the hand may be used to pump handles to make the system go faster. The benefit of elliptical machines is that they fairly closely mimic the kind of workout that one would receive from running but involve much less joint impact, since the feet never leave the foot platforms from the machine. If pumping the arm handles is uncomfortable, you can just use the legs to drive the device and ignore the arm handles.

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