Chair exercises – Should you do some?

My mum is eighty three and a few years ago she had to
have a knee replacement. Most times she can get around
fine and still does her exercises. however there are still times when
she finds the knee pains her. But she loves her exercises with
Peggy and hates to miss out just because her knees feel
otherwise.

The simple solution
She does her exercises from a chair!
She’s a gutsy lady 😀

There are so many people who say they can’t exercise because they
can’t move around easily. Peggy says, any movement is good
movement and encourages everyone, no matter what their health
challenges are, to join in and follow along in whatever way they can.

If you visit our website you will see Peggy with a chair-bound class
at the frail care community she goes to. Best though is that you can
see how much they love to join in and get their bodies moving.

I am lucky to be very fit and able still but I too find a lot of body
fitness can be gained from joining in the chair exercises.

So I guess what I’m trying to say in a nutshell is – Don’t discard
the chair exercises they have so much value no matter how healthy or challenged you are.

Join Peggy in a chair exercise and bring your weights with you 🙂
(2 x 500 grams or 2 x 1 lb)

Chat soon
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Coordination exercises help your brain communicate
better with your muscles http://bit.ly/1ReZdE9

Do you feel like a ‘Weeble”?

A person wrote to me the other day saying he felt like a Weeble.
Do you remember them? Those funny little egg-shaped wobbly
toy people of the 80’s. My kids loved them!

Well a Weeble might be fun to play with, but it’s really not much
fun to feel like one!

But how can we keep our balance?
Surely it’s an age thing and fades as we get older….

If I have learned nothing else – its that like everything in life if
you don’t use it you loose it and as we get older the ‘using’ part
means – do some exercises to keep the skill sharp or loose it!

This is why Peggy starts her classes with some special balance time
and lots of her routines involve balance as well.

Why do we bother so much with balance?

• Well firstly it hurts to fall and
• Many a time can seriously damage your future health.
• Secondly it feels horrid if your head spins and
• Having to hold on to someone or something if you want to move
  is frankly annoying…

So let’s work on the balance together
Pop on over to YouTube and practice away

Do feel free to share this with your friends so they can
practice keeping their balance as well 😀

Chat soon
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“I see a world on the edge of a blade. Without balance, it will
fall.”  Victoria Aveyard, Red Queen

Yes, Today is the day too experience some sensational exercises

We have some really BIG and Great news today!

Peggy is so determined to get her 175,320 over 50’s exercising to
BeFit that she has agreed to release some exercises every
month for free exercising 😀

So we have been beavering away making some individual exercise
videos for you!
——————–
Here’s what you need to do now to get started…
——————–
FIRSTLY: Make sure you’re going to get regular exercise updates as I
post them.Please SUBSCRIBE to our BeActive BeFit Over 50 YouTube channel.

This will ensure you are first to get notification of fresh exercises
and – this is important, It also means you don’t have to hunt ever
again in the crowded YouTube arena for our sensational videos 🙂

SECONDLY:

• Click on the videos and get exercising and
• Come back as often as you like.
• There is no time restraint or cost involved…..

So what are you waiting for? Lets get on over there now
and ENJOY!! 😀

Chat soon
******************************************************************************
Please share this with your friends, or on Facebook and
Twitter – Let’s get everyone exercising – It’s FUN!
Here’s the link to those FREE exercises

BeActive,BeFit Challenge To Get 175,320 Over 50’s Active!

I was having coffee with my friend and exercise instructor Peggy the other day. We were actually practicing using a camera as we want to send video messages to our subscribers.

The camera work is not great (still learning the art!!) as you will see but the ideas we discussed are Grrreat!!

Get to see the challenge and join in too!

Now decide to join the 175,320 over 50’s we are striving to get active in our lifetimes! Start your new active life and start feeling and looking good.

Share with your friends (Even together Peggy and I don’t personally know 175,320 people.) We request a lot of help here please, so sharing liberally is encouraged 😀

Join the challenge and let us know how you do either email, Tweet, Facebook or send us a video. To show our thanks and happiness that you have decided to ‘BeActive’ & ‘BeFit’ claim your FREE ‘Convertible Cruising’ Exercise and then get another 3 exercises to add to that after watching this video ‘Good News’ (You’ll see why we called it that!)

So go on then Go get that video and get yourself some variety to do your exercising to – this video has – Warm up – Cardio – Stretches & Cool-down- All  FREE to start your ‘BeActive, BeFit’ Collection and more importantly help keep (or get) you fit so you can keep enjoying life as you get older…

I do hope you will share this with your friends and tell us about it so we can add them to our list of Active Over 50’s – one closer to that 175,320 goal 😀

Be Active Be Fit Over50

https://www.behealthyover50.com/

Can Regular Exercise Change Your Mood?

I have often thought that when  I do a bit of exercise I always feel in a lighter mood afterwards. Seems I might be on to something ha! ha! as if I were a scientist!

Anyway it seems we should treat the  mind and body as one because in fact when we work out it boosts the production of key neuro-chemicals that are essential to our health and mood. Exercise has been proven to increase the levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and endorphins in the body. These chemicals create a euphoric feeling that strengthens the body and stimulates the mind. See that’s what I said 🙂

So it stands to reason that a regular exercise routine has the best benefits for our health and mood. When we work out every day our bodies build up a surplus of these feel good chemicals. When we only exercise once in a while, it causes our body chemistry to fluctuate. These fluctuations are responsible for our ups and downs throughout the day. By having a surplus of these chemicals in the body it helps us to stabilize our mood and how we feel.

Exercise Benefits To Mood In Many Ways….

1. It reduces stress and stress has a big influence on both physical and emotional health. Exercise can reverse the negative effects of stress and help us feel good.
2. Exercise can help us feel better about our selves. When we look and feel healthier and fitter we have a better self esteem, never a bad thing.
3. Exercise boosts the production of serotonin as we said and this is a brain chemical that regulates mood.

All in all the benefits to our health are many….

• Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart and the cardiovascular system which in turn has a positive effect on your blood pressure.
• Exercise increases your energy levels stimulating your metabolism, which, means healthier weight management and more self-confidence, which, goes a long way to improving mood.
• Exercise will help you to burn excess fat, adding to your self-esteem.
• And finally you can strengthen your bones with strength training that will stimulate the density of your bones. So important as we get older.

There are many benefits to both health and mood when you exercise on a regular basis. The body and mind are inter-connected. What effects one will effect the other.

Learning about this connection is a good way for seniors to live longer and healthier lives.

Some Exercise Tips

• Pick an activity that you enjoy. Anything we make hard we eventually stop doing. You have to make exercise fun!
• Include exercise into your daily schedule. This way it becomes a habit. After a while you will wonder how you ever lived without exercising.
• Classes are a fun way to get into exercise. They are held on a regular schedule and there are many types of fitness classes available.
• Workout with a friend. A friend can help you to stay motivated.

Even Diet Can Effect Your Mood

A good diet can also effect your mood. A diet in complex carbohydrates has been shown to increase serotonin levels. Try adding healthy carbs like oats with skim milk or multi-grain bread with peanut butter to your diet before your workout. This will help to give you more energy for your work out and help to stimulate serotonin levels at the same time.

It’s suggested that you work out for 30-45 minutes 3-5 days a week. If you have a hard time doing this you can start smaller and work your way up.
Remember to have fun and enjoy yourself!

A great way would be to jooin me and exercise with Peggy’s Over 50’s Exercise Videos. You can even get some free classes if you click here 🙂

The Biggest Fear For Seniors Is…..

Building Blocks for Senior Fitness – It’s Never Too Late

It’s so important for you to be active during your senior years – not only to keep you as healthy as possible, but to maintain your independence. That’s the most important thing for most people as they age – keeping their independence and not being forced into an assisted living space.

The building blocks of fitness for seniors are simple and if you begin following them no matter what your age, you’ll reap many benefits. The trick is to find activities that you enjoy and you’ll stick to. Even on days you don’t feel like exercising, it’s important that you find ways to move and keep up your energy level.

Below are the key building blocks to keeping fit as you age:

• Flexibility – To keep up with your grandchildren and enjoy life to the max, you’ve got to maintain your flexibility and full range-of-motion. Being able to lift your arms over your head to reach for things and able to bend to tie your shoes are just a couple of reasons to maintain your flexibility. Try to keep muscles and joints flexible with exercise.

• Strength – Maintaining a certain amount of strength is very important preventing bone loss, improving your balance to prevent falls and building muscle. Such daily activities such as opening jars and carrying groceries are all functions of how much strength you have. Resistance bands, weights or machines which focus on strength training are great to build your strength.
• Balance – One of the biggest fears for seniors is falling. so this building block is very necessary as falls can take away your independence in an instant. Maintain confidence in your balance by practicing good posture. A friend of mine Peggy has some great exercises to music which gets us, of all ages to stretch, lift small weights and gently build strength and improve balance – all the while we are having fun – the best motivation to keeping fit :).
• Endurance – Build your endurance by engaging in cardio-building exercises. A good amount of aerobic exercise such as walking at a brisk pace, swimming, dancing, climbing stairs and hiking can help your heart pump faster. When you build your endurance, you’ll also decrease fatigue and have more energy for the things you want to do.

These building blocks to fitness are appropriate for anyone, including children – but become especially important to build on as you age. You can find senior fitness classes online to do in your home. at BeActive BeFit

The key is to remain active, no matter which stage you are in life. Even if you’re wheelchair bound, you can participate in chair exercises. If you only have a small amount of mobility, be creative and find ways to exercise when you’re cleaning house or running errands.

Don’t forget mental exercises when building your fitness. Your mental acuity is another important factor in maintaining your independence and enjoying life to the fullest.

Keeping fit is always a good idea, but is especially important as we get older. 

To good health
www.beactivebefitover50.com

 

How to Overcome Your Fear of Ageing

 Why are we afraid to grow old, anyway?

Here are some things you can do to accept the process while keeping fit and healthy:

How to overcome our fear of ageing

1.    Admit that you are afraid of growing old.  Admitting one’s fear to oneself  often brings us to a point where we can do something about it.  If we sweep our fears under the rugs of our minds, it festers.

2.    Ask yourself (even make a list) of what it is exactly you are afraid of about ageing.  Are you afraid of a family trait or a family predisposition to disease?  Did your grandparents or parents have Alzheimer’s disease?  Did they have a predisposition to stroke or cardiovascular disease?

3.    Learn about your fears.  If it is a disease, then read up on it and consult your doctor about it.  Get yourself tested.  And if there are medically proven strategies to prevent or delay the symptoms, it would be good for you to make those strategies a part of your daily life.  If it involves a lifestyle change, then change your lifestyle.

4.    Break down the problem of ageing into small bits so that you can better process them and so that you can better be able to strategize how best to prepare for them.  Preparation is key.

5.    Save up money.  Invest in health and life insurance for yourself.  Make a will and designate a proxy who will decide on your healthcare in case you succumb to disease.  Simplify and organize your affairs.

6.    Maintain and work on relationships with people who mean a lot to you.  Keep in touch with the younger people in your family and in your community.  Sometimes, fear of ageing is a matter of perspective.  If you are good in math, why don’t you find kids in your area who are struggling with math and help them with their homework? If you play a musical instrument, why don’t you teach the younger people?  Start with your grandchildren, or with your neighbour’s kids. Instead of them being stuck in the house just watching TV, teach them how to bake cookies, tell stories to them, listen to their stories.

7.    Retire from work, but, do not retire from life.  Learn something new every day.  If you’ve always wanted to learn how to play chess or use the computer, then go to the community centre and enrol in a class.  Go to the local community college and enrol in a course.  Learn something new.  Read, write and document your life.  Set up a blog and write about your experiences.  Make your own history and make it a story of your struggles and eventual triumph.

8.    Think of ageing and even death as rites of passage just as entering kindergarten, graduating from high school, getting into college, graduating from college and getting a job.  Celebrate milestones.

9.    If you wonder if there is life after ageing and life after death, well, then, you must start taking your spiritual life seriously.  Search for spiritual truth.  Ask yourself the hard questions and seek to find answers to them.  Read the Holy Scriptures and see if you can find eternal life.  Only remember that eternal life is not meant to be lived here on Earth – it is to be lived after this earthly life (all religions teach that).  If you do not believe in any religion, think of yourself as crumbling into the dust of the earth that will nourish the crops for tomorrow’s generation.

Choose your battles.

You will not find an elixir of life that will keep you from ageing.  You will not find a fountain of youth that will melt away the years.  There is no miracle cure or wonder drug that will keep you young.  It doesn’t exist.  Every living thing will eventually age and die. From the moment we were conceived, our bodies were in the process of ageing.

Since ageing is inevitable, what you can choose is how you age – you can choose to mature as you age.

You can take responsibility for how you age.  You can eat healthful foods that will help keep you strong and better able to defend yourself against the onslaught of infection and injury.

You cannot prevent loss of muscle and bone density, loss of visual and auditory acuity that are all associated with advanced ageing – but you can make sure that you do not abuse your body or your mind so that you can age with as much grace as can be had.

Joy is not for the young only
It is for everyone who knows how to see the good in life.

Go well
Sally
www.behealthyover50.com
Join our chat on Twitter  @BeFitOver50 or
Leave a comment on http://www.facebook.com/Be-Fit-Over-50

How to Live to be 100+

Why Exercise Is Vital!

Comedian, George Burns, said at 100 years of age,

“If I knew I was going to live this long,
I’d have taken better care of myself.”

Many people will live to a ripe old age no matter how badly they take care of themselves, only thanks to good genes. But the benefits of exercising well into your senior years can determine the quality of life you enjoy or not.

As you age, muscle mass decreases to the tune of about 3 to 5 percent per decade after you’re forty years of age!
Since muscles keep us fit and strong and help to burn calories and maintain weight, serious problems could develop if you let your muscles deteriorate.

Without strong muscles, which also contribute to our bone strength and balance, you could lose some of your mobility and much or all of your independence. The good news is that if you’re a senior who has been a couch potato all your life, it’s not too late to exercise and build muscle mass.

The best exercise for building muscle mass is weight lifting and/or resistance bands. In a recent study, when male and females ranging from age 72 to 98 years of age lifted weights three times per week for a total of ten weeks, they increased thigh muscle mass by almost 3%. After three months of lifting weights they were able to increase their walking ability from 25 minutes to 35 minutes.

That’s an amazing increase in endurance and vitality.

No matter what your age, you can be sure that strength and endurance will increase within days of beginning an exercise program. And, it’s not just the muscle mass that will keep you going. The brain sends signals through the nervous system about which muscles are needed for the movement you’re about to take. When you exercise, that signal becomes stronger and your muscles will get the signal more clearly.

Exercise for seniors is also vital because it increases endurance. When your endurance ability decreases as you age, you become more susceptible to diseases such as cardiovascular, mobility impairment and premature death. Severe fatigue, trouble breathing and muscle cramps are also results from lack of exercise in seniors.

Flexibility and balance are also good side effects from seniors engaging in exercise. Bones become brittle and balance may deteriorate enough to cause serious falls as you age.

So exercise while you can to prevent a catastrophic illness or fall which could take away your independence and your overall health.

Go well
Sally
www.beactivebefitover50.com
Join our chatter on Twitter  @BeFitOver50 or
leave a comment on Facebook Be Fit Over 50