Heart Healthy Aerobic Exercise

Getting your heart pumping and the blood flowing is important for your health. Endurance is what enables you to continue engaging in the activities you enjoy. Low impact activities that are fun and fit in with your interests are perfect.

Remember, low impact doesn’t mean a lack of intensity! What you want to avoid is excess stress on joints, like hips and knees, but you still want to get the improved stamina and endurance that an aerobic workout will give you. If you weren’t a runner before, it might not be the time to take up the challenge of running a marathon but a lot can be said for a brisk walk the works up a sweat.

Instead, these are some good low impact exercise options:

• Swimming
• Water aerobics classes
• Low impact aerobics classes
• Dance classes
• Cycling – outdoors, indoor or new underwater cycling classes
• Hiking – or even a high speed walk through the park
• Elliptical machines at the local gym

Strength Exercises to Tone Muscles

Muscle loss happens as we age, beginning in our 40s and accelerating as we get older. This loss contributes to your ability to remain active, mobile and balanced. Staving off this loss—also known as sarcopenia—is best done through exercise.

Strength exercises are well documented for preventing the loss of muscle mass, if performed at least three times a week so don’t sweat it if cardio is not your thing.  Strength training is an effective way of staying active as you you get older.

• Nautilus weights at your gym—enlist the support of a trainer to put together a routine that gives you an all around strength training workout.
• Light free weights, either on their own in a series of exercises or while you’re walking
• Resistance training with bands or using your own weight as the counterbalance.

Combining Stretching and Strengthening for the Win!

If weights aren’t your thing, you can do exercise that complement your aerobic activities, strengthen your core and muscles AND help you maintain balance and flexibility. Try:

• Yoga
• Pilates
• Tai chi

Create a schedule for yourself that mixes it up a little so that you get in aerobic, strength and stretching workouts, several times a week. By alternating the types of workouts, you keep it stimulating, which increases the chances of your sticking with a routine. Plus, you’ll be working out different muscles with different exercises and giving the ones you used last time a chance to rebuild. Even better if you can work out with a friend.