Hello Everybody,
Walking for fitness is an excellent way to achieve weight loss, heart health and general wellbeing. It is also easy enough to do and does not disrupt other activities, as daily visits to the gym may. However, if it is your only form of exercise it can result in you becoming stiff and inflexible in the back and the backs of legs as you build more muscle in those places.
A few minutes a day, or every other day, spent doing upper body exercises can avoid this.
Advice from the National Institute on Aging, published on the excellent Parentgiving website, shows that making small changes when it comes to strength building can have big benefits, even for those people who may have already lost a lot of muscle. Increases in muscle mass that aren’t even visible to the eye can still make it easier to get up from chairs or climb stairs. Some of the exercises for Seniors, to build strength in the upper body include:
Arm raise - While sitting down and holding light hand weights, raise your arms at the same time, holding them straight out, then sideways. Hold the position for one second and then slowly lower your arms to repeat and do 8-15 repetitions. The back should remain flat against the chair and the feet on the floor.
Bicep curls - While in a seated position and holding a light hand weight, raise and lower one arm at a time to curl the bicep up. Hold it for one second and slowly lower, then do 8-15 repetitions.
Tricep extension - In the same seated position as the others, gently lower the weight behind your back, while using the other hand to support your arm. Hold it for one second and then slowly lower it and repeat with 8-15 repetitions. The opposite arm should always support the one with the weight that is going toward the back.
Some upper body exercise is a good idea to increase your flexibility and compliment your walking for fitness program. With it will come better balance and less risk of falls, so it is well worth doing. But remember fitness and weight loss are not just ends in themselves, the idea is to become more active in order to have a better quality of life. That is really what it is all about.
See you soon
Peter Stockwell
23 September 2009
Photo. freefoto
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