If your parents or grandparents are yet to participate in water exercises, it’s time for them to have a new experience and enjoy the benefits of these activities.
Water exercises are a great way for older adults to stay healthy and fit. They are low-impact, easy on the joints and, as such, ideal for older people. The water buoyancy reduces gravity pull, making your loved ones feel lighter and more balanced. The natural qualities of water also provide resistance when moving around within it, which is a great way to develop muscle strength.
Although our older loved ones may find it challenging to engage in physical activities, water exercises should bring enthusiasm and fun to their exercise routine. This will help them lead happy, fun-filled and active lifestyles. While Seasons Retirement does not offer access to water exercises or water activities at this time, we encourage our residents to access pool spaces or classes offered locally around their area.
These water exercises for seniors are safe, fun, beneficial, and moderately intensive for your older relatives. Let’s check them out.
This is one of the most straightforward water exercises for seniors, similar to regular land walks. Older adults who enjoy brisk walking will appreciate the similarity to this water activity. It generally involves starting from the pool’s shallow end, then walking back and forth from one wall to the other.
As your older loved ones walk in the water, the water offers some resistance, making the routine more challenging. The activity is an excellent way to burn calories and help develop muscle strength. Also, water walking can help relieve back pain, helping to maintain an ideal overall posture.
Arm curls in water strengthen the arms and build upper body strength. For this exercise, older adults can use a pair of water weights for more resistance. To carry out this exercise:
Your older ones should continue this process in slow movements and repeat the steps until they are satisfied.
Older adults can increase the intensity of their water workouts with aqua jogging. They’ll burn lots of calories due to the exercise intensity.
Water jogging requires one to continue alternating their legs — as they would when jogging — inside water. Your loved ones can practice jogging forward and returning to the starting position. They can increase their pace depending on their fitness level.
Aqua jogging increases the heart rate and can reduce the risk of a heart attack. While practicing this exercise, ensure your older loved ones stand upright and lean forward slightly.
Often used in swimming styles, flutter kicking offers excellent health benefits for older people. This exercise helps build the lower body muscles of the thigh, core, and glutes.
It’s a fantastic option for cardio exercise that’s also low-impact, and it’s well-suited for older adults since it can be performed with or without a kickboard. Flutter kicking is suitable for older adults, as it isn’t challenging to achieve and helps to tone the muscles.
To perform this exercise:
Depending on their strength, older adults can increase their kicking duration.
Pool exercises for seniors, like chest fly, focus on the chest region.
For this exercise,
Using water weights for this exercise helps increase water resistance and maintain strength.
Standing push-ups are great for building the upper body and improving balance, coordination, and agility.
To begin this exercise,
This effective cardio activity improves body strength without stressing your older loved one’s joints.
Leg lifts focus on the legs, strengthening the leg muscles. The resistance the water provides makes it possible to work the leg muscles.
For this exercise,
While doing this, you can point your toes while swinging the leg forward and relax it as you swing back. Aside from exercising the leg muscles, leg lifts also help improve balance.
Water marching is a simple and effective water aerobics for seniors. It’s similar to the regular marching on land. This exercise makes the whole body move, and the water resistance allows you to work harder. As a result, your older ones burn more calories.
To begin,
While marching, the right hand should move in sequence with the left leg, and the left hand should move in line with the right leg. Older adults should ensure to maintain a straight posture while practicing this exercise.
Swimming is an effective full-body exercise for older adults that help improve flexibility and range of motion. It works the hands, legs, and all major body muscles simultaneously.
This activity is ideal for older adults who want to practice low-impact cardio exercises. Swimming improves cardiovascular health in older adults, helping to reduce blood pressure and maintain good cholesterol levels.
Water exercises provide older adults with more creative and fun ways to exercise — different from regular land workouts.
These exercises are not very intensive and so are ideal for older adults. It’s advised to begin with more straightforward exercises before proceeding to the advanced ones.
At Seasons Retirement, we provide valuable information on various topics concerning older adults, in line with our commitment to improving the lifestyle of our residents.