Get Out and Exercise, Experience Great Benefits

Fitness tips from Heidi Kimmes, Saint Therese Fitness Specialist

Last month’s blog post, Fitness, talked about developing a fitness plan. This month, Heidi Kimmes, Saint Therese of New Hope fitness specialist, shares about the benefits of exercise, general guidelines and exercise tips.

The benefits of exercise:

• Regular physical activity helps older individuals perform Activities of Daily Life (ADL), such as eating, bathing and dressing, and allows them to maintain independence longer.
  • Decrease in these ADLs is high with advancing age, especially for seniors 85 years and older
• Disease prevention and management of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and arthritis
• Stress management and psychological well-being
• Weight control
• Increases longevity
• Slows the physiologic changes of aging that impair exercise capacity
• Optimizes age-related changes in body composition

General exercise program guidelines for seniors:

• All seniors should avoid inactivity. Adults who participate in any amount of physical activity gain some health benefits.
• A fitness routine should include both cardiovascular fitness and resistance training.
• If adults are looking for substantial health benefits, they should engage in physical activities for at least 30 minutes, on five or more days of the week.
• For weight loss and more extensive health benefits, adults should engage in 60-90 minutes of exercise on most days of the week.
• When seniors are unable to reach the 30 minutes of exercise a day because of chronic conditions, they should be as physically active as their abilities and conditions allow.
• The American Heart Association recommends taking 10,000 steps per day for health purposes.

Get Fit - Exercises to do on your own to meet the above guidelines:
Cardiovascular Endurance Exercises:

• Engage large muscle groups in continuous, rhythmic activity
  • Ideas include: walking around your retirement home, jogging, cycling, swimming, stair climbing, aerobics and water exercise
  • Cycling is a great non-weight bearing activity for adults and older adults with exercise limitations. Saint Therese Wellness Centers feature the NuStep and Biodex cycling equipment.

Resistance Training Exercises:

• Work a muscle or a group of muscles by overcoming resistance several times consecutively.
  • Should be done two days a week for major muscle groups
  • Ideas include: free weights, machines, theraband/rubber tubing and large therapy balls
    • Free weights require balance and some skill to perform exercises properly and safely. Using free weights may require supervision.
    • Resistance equipment is located in the Saint Therese Fitness Centers. These machines are safer than free weight exercise for the older adults.

Exercise tips for at home.
Looking for a few exercises to do while watching your favorite television program in your senior apartment? Here are a few simple exercises with great benefits:

• Find a wall and place hands at chest level, shoulder width apart, against the wall. Take a large step away from the wall and do some push-ups (1 or 2 sets of 10).
• Work out your hips—holding onto the back of a chair or your kitchen sink, simply keep your right leg straight and kick it forward (15 times), backwards (15 times) and out to the side (15 times). Continue with the left leg.
• While sitting in your favorite recliner, try going from a sitting position to a standing position 10 consecutive times. Easy? Take a break and try 10 more.
• Also from your recliner, you can march your knees up and down from a seated position. Time yourself for 30 seconds. As it gets easier, try increasing your time to a minute.

Heidi Kimmes, Fitness Specialist
Heidi has been an exercise specialist at Saint Therese of New Hope since 2011. Exercise and sports have always been a personal interest. In high school Heidi was a three-sport athlete and enjoyed various other recreational activities and in college she continued to play basketball, her favorite sport. Heidi always knew that she wanted an occupation in health and fitness. She attended Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall and graduated May 2009 with a degree in Exercise Science. “I could not have asked for a better place to be,” said Heidi. “I enjoy coming to Saint Therese every day and working with individuals to improve their lives!”