Changing Your Exercise Routine After 50

October 15, 2024

According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, American adults should get between 150 and 300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, in addition to at least two muscle-strengthening activities a week. The recommendations are based on evidence that shows a link between a sedentary lifestyle and an increase in all-cause mortality.

As you grow older, your body and lifestyle change, so it makes sense that your exercise routine should change as well. The benefits of regular exercise on physical and mental health are numerous, including improved cognitive function, alleviating depression, muscle mass and bone density maintenance, and reduced risk of many illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Most importantly, exercising as you age can help you maintain your independence and improve your overall quality of life.

What to Consider Before Getting Started

Before beginning any new exercise routine, it’s important to check with your doctor first. “If you have any medical conditions, always see your healthcare provider before beginning an exercise program,” says Karol Watson, a cardiologist at UCLA. Patients with arthritis, for instance, could find high-impact exercise bothersome for their joints, so their physician might recommend low-impact cardiovascular activities, such as walking or swimming. In contrast, patients with high blood pressure might need to avoid heavy weightlifting until they’ve received clearance from their doctor.

After checking with your doctor, another thing to consider is your lifestyle outside of the new exercise routine. In order to maintain your ability to exercise and promote recovery, you’ll need to think about taking care of your body before and after physical activity. “That includes being hydrated and fueling your body with nutritious food,” says Elizabeth Gardner, an orthopedic surgeon at Yale. “It also includes stretching both before and after your workout to help keep your muscles happy and prevent injury.”

Walking is the Number One Recommendation

For heart health, Watson says walking is the number one type of movement she tells all of her patients to begin doing once they hit the age of 50. That’s because walking is the most foundational, universal workout that almost anyone can do. “The best way to start out with an exercise program is with regular walking,” Watson says. “Walking has all of the same health benefits of more intense exercises such as running.” You may receive the benefits faster with running, but the benefits remain the same, including working all of the same muscles. Even better, walking isn’t as risky for older fitness goers as it’s associated with lower rates of injury. Since it’s a low-impact exercise, walking is far easier on the joints than running, where you’re pounding the pavement repetitively.

Walking is something anyone can do no matter where they live, whether urban or rural, and it doesn’t require a gym membership so there are no financial barriers. Plus, spending time outdoors for activity increases the benefits of exercise through increased sunlight and nature exposure. Just because walking is simple doesn’t mean it has to be boring, as there are many ways to vary your walking, like increasing your pace, walking on an incline to incorporate a resistance factor, or giving Nordic walking a try, where you incorporate ski-like poles for more of a total-body workout. Walking doesn’t just have to be part of your workout. Incorporating bursts of walking throughout your day is also beneficial.

Swimming for Overall Health

Swimming is another low-impact exercise that can be done outside if you swim in a natural body of water or outdoor pool. It is one of the few exercises that work the entire body while also improving cardiovascular function. If you don’t find the repetitive motion of swimming laps enjoyable, then a water aerobics class, which has similar benefits, might be a better fit for you.

For those over 50, there are a multitude of health benefits to swimming, such as an increase in lung capacity. Since lung capacity naturally decreases as you age, which can make it more difficult to breathe, regular swimming can improve your overall respiratory function. One of the most surprising health benefits of swimming is improved brain function. As swimming increases blood flow to the brain, the production of new brain cells is stimulated, which improves mental clarity and focus and can help prevent age-related cognitive declines.

Yoga, Pilates, and Tai Chi for Balance

While yoga, pilates, and tai chi will improve your balance, which becomes increasingly important as you age in preventing falls, all three of these activities also represent a good balance between getting both a physical and mental workout. While all forms of exercise have mental health benefits, yoga, pilates, and tai chi are designed to be particularly meditative. Stretching and mobility exercises such as these will improve your flexibility and joint range of motion, all contributing to preventing injuries.

While both yoga and tai chi will strengthen your core, pilates is known for being an excellent core workout. Having a strong core helps with back and joint pain, posture, and even respiratory function. Many people don’t even realize their cores’ weakness until they try Pilates. “We humans tend to live along a single plane of movement, working the same muscles daily,” says Houston Methodist athletic trainer Leanne Wonesh. “These repetitive movements are what make us so leg and chest dominant. The goal of Pilates is to balance your muscles by targeting and strengthening the ones you don’t usually use in your day-to-day life but would benefit from them being stronger,” she says.

Dancing Your Way to Health

You can easily do dancing at home or a class in your community. When you dance with others, you’ll not only be getting the benefits that come from moving your body, but you’ll be bonding with others as well. You may try ballet, salsa, or tap dance classes on your own and meet others to dance with in class, or if you have a partner, ballroom classes will cover a variety of styles perfect for beginners.

Besides being a form of exercise that you may greatly enjoy, the physical benefits include improved balance, mobility, and reduced joint pain. According to a Saint Louis University study, just two dance sessions per week reduced the amount of pain medication needed by those over 80. In addition to its physicality, dancing also gives your brain a workout. It involves quick decision-making and having to memorize routines and steps, which can create new neural pathways in the brain and help keep the brain cognitively fit.

When to Include Resistance Training

After adapting to some form of aerobic activity, stretching, and some balancing exercises, then it’s time to add at least two sessions of resistance training per week to your exercise routine. A comprehensive exercise plan that includes both cardio that gets your heart rate up and strength training will yield the best results for your overall health. Resistance exercises can include movements that utilize your body weight, like push-ups and squats, resistance machines that you’ll find in a gym, and weight training with dumbbells. If you’re not sure where to begin, then invest in a few sessions with a personal trainer who will make sure you do the right exercises for your goals, as well as show you how to do them correctly to avoid injury.

Insureyouknow.org Perhaps the most important thing about exercising is finding the ones that you’ll stick with because you enjoy them. An active lifestyle includes activities like gardening, walking the dog, and playing with your children and grandchildren. If you’re a social person, then finding someone to workout with can make exercise more enjoyable. If you like sports, then tennis or golf may be more your style. With Insureyouknow.org, you can keep track of the exercises you try out, analyze the progress you make, and store all of your health records in one place. By prioritizing exercise as you age, you’ll experience a multitude of benefits to your overall health.

Do You Need Long-Term Care Insurance?

December 4, 2018

No one likes to think about growing old. In fact, many people pretend that it’s never going to happen. But instead of fearing the inevitable, it’s better to plan for it.

In addition to starting to save for retirement at an early age, it’s important to think about what you’re going to do if your health starts to decline. According to AARP, by the time you hit 65, chances are 50-50 that you’ll need long-term care (LTC) due to chronic illnesses, disabilities or other conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease. And it’s not cheap; if you pay for it yourself, you’re looking at an average annual cost of $140,000.

LTC insurance can help. LTC insurance is different from health insurance, which you’ll still need. It helps cover costs that your regular health insurance won’t, such as help with daily activities like bathing, getting dressed and eating. These services may be provided in your home or at a nursing home or assisted living facility.

Unfortunately, LTC insurance is cost-prohibitive for many due to poor planning on the part of insurance companies. When these policies were first introduced, insurers greatly underestimated the amount they would pay out in claims. People were living longer, but they weren’t necessarily staying healthier, so insurers were paying for care longer than they had anticipated. In addition, insurers thought people would prefer to receive care in their homes, but many opted to move into more expensive assisted-living facilities.

As a result, many insurers stopped offering LTC insurance. In 2000, 125 companies were selling standalone LTC policies; by 2014, only 12 companies were. Those that still do sell them have raised their premiums drastically. For example, earlier this year, Mass Mutual announced it was raising premiums on existing policies by 77 percent. Today, premiums average $2,700 a year.

There are options you can consider if you can’t afford LTC insurance. Maybe relatives can help with your care. Maybe you can pull some equity from your home. Maybe you can build up your savings even more and plan on paying for future LTC out of pocket.

But if you have a family history of Alzheimer’s or simply believe LTC insurance would bring you more peace of mind, it may still be your best bet. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you start looking for a policy:

• Begin your search in your 50s or early 60s at the latest. Prices rise sharply as you age. You can pay 10 percent more for a policy when you buy it at age 65 rather than at 64. Keep in mind that you won’t qualify for coverage if you wait until you actually need care because then you will be considered as having a preexisting condition.
• Shop around. Like with any other major purchase, it’s important to do your homework and research your options. If the process sounds daunting, you might want to consider getting assistance from an insurance agent or broker.
• Look into group rates. Premiums may be more affordable if you qualify for a group rate through an employer-sponsored plan or plan offered by a professional organization you belong to. Before you sign up, be sure to read the fine print and find out if you can keep the policy if you leave the organization.
• Consider a joint policy. You may get a better rate by purchasing a single policy that covers you and your spouse or another family member. The discount is typically 30 percent off the price of separate policies. If you’re interested in going this route, you’ll want to find out what the maximum benefit is for everyone under the policy and consider whether that will be enough for both of you.

If you do purchase an LTC insurance policy, be sure to keep all related paperwork safely stored on InsureYouKnow.org along with all your other important documents. It’s the best way to make sure you can find them quickly and easily should the need arise.