7 things that the elderly should pay attention to if they don’t rush into fitness

　　7 things to pay attention to when exercising for the elderly

　　1. The elderly’s fitness plan should focus on integrating four different types of exercise : Endurance, strength, balance and flexibility. Strength training is proven to be the most effective when it comes to preventing and reversing muscle weight loss.

　　2. Do more compound exercises that mobilize more muscle groups, such as squats, deadlifts, lunges, rows and push-ups. Compound exercises like these use more muscle fibers than leg extensions that train one muscle group in isolation.

　　3. Gradually increase the amount of training, change the number of training times in each group, or incorporate some tricks, such as combining arm curls with lunges. Or challenge your balance and perform arm curls while standing on one foot.

　　4. Set fitness goals and evaluate them every three months. elderly Exercise routines should be varied frequently rather than following the same regimen for months as the muscles become accustomed to doing the same movements. To increase muscle endurance, a simple way is to shorten the rest time between each exercise set or increase the training reps.

　　5. Make sure to meet the recommended amount of exercise for the elderly, which is 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, which can be broken down into 20 minutes per session, 7 times per week； 30 minutes each time, 5 times a week ； Or 50 minutes each time, 3 times a week ； It's enough to sweat a little, but don't get cold. Stretching before and after every workout will help keep your spine strong and flexible.

　　6. Don’t push yourself. Elderly people can reduce exercise or temporarily stop exercising for a few days when they feel tired or busy. If you feel uncomfortable during exercise, you should stop exercising immediately and seek medical treatment in time. Before starting to exercise, seek guidance from your doctor and professional trainer. If you have high blood pressure or a back injury, avoid high-intensity strength training.

　　7. Physical exercise cannot completely replace healthy lifestyle. Only by removing highly processed foods and sugar from the diet, refraining from smoking, and drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can the health effects of promoting physical exercise and extending life span be achieved.

　　What exercises should not be done by the elderly?

　　1. Turn your head quickly

　　When you hear someone calling you, turning your head quickly can easily cause headaches and dizziness. In severe cases, it may even induce acute attacks of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, neck fractures, etc. Have high blood pressure, cervical spondylosis, osteoporosis, etc. disease Middle-aged and elderly people especially should avoid turning their heads quickly.

　　Suggestion: Turning the head is mainly a movement of the neck. The cervical arteries supply more than 80% of the blood to the brain. The signals sent by the brain must go down through the neck. The neck is an important "lifeline". The cervical vertebrae of the elderly are extremely fragile, so they should slow down when turning their heads, or turn slowly instead.

　　2. Sit-ups

　　Most middle-aged and elderly people have more or less problems with their cervical and lumbar spine. Coupled with osteoporosis, doing sit-ups can easily cause irreversible damage to the cervical and lumbar spine. In addition, this exercise causes great changes to the head, which can easily lead to increased blood pressure and accidents for people with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

　　Suggestion: This type of exercise is not suitable for middle-aged and elderly people. It is recommended to choose some exercises with a smaller range of motion. Health preservation starts from the little things in life, rather than being achieved overnight.

　　3. Climb the stairs

　　For people after the age of 50, body muscles decrease by 3% to 5%, and the corresponding balance becomes worse. Among elderly people who fall, more than 51% are related to stair climbing, which kills 20,000 people every year. As we age, our joints degenerate. When going up and down stairs or climbing mountains, the knee joints bear 3 to 5 times the usual weight, which accelerates joint aging.

　　Suggestion: If the elderly need to go up or down stairs, they must hold on to the handrails.

　　4. Bending to pick up heavy objects

　　Regarding the exercise of bending down to pick up heavy objects, it is actually harmful to anyone. If the strength is not in place, it is easy to slip to the waist, and even the blood pressure rises suddenly. Especially for middle-aged and elderly people, this exercise should be avoided.

　　Suggestion: When picking up heavy objects, you should take a "three-step" approach: the first step is to move your body closer to the heavy object.； The second step is to bend your knees and hips and hold the object firmly with both hands. ； The third step is to extend your knees and hips so that you can pick up the object.